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LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 WILLIAM LAUD 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY 
 
 BY 
 
 C. H. SIMPKINSON, M.A. 
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD 
 RECTOR OF FARNHAM 
 AND EXAMINING CHAPLAIN TO THE LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER 
 
 WITH PORTRAIT 
 
 LONDON 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 
 1894 
 
ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 An apology is necessary when any new writer 
 attempts to deal with a period which has been so 
 constantly and so learnedly treated as the first 
 half of the seventeenth century. But this, I think, 
 is to be found in the strange misrepresentations 
 of the career and character of William Laud, 
 which are prevalent at the present day, and which 
 are mainly to be attributed to the fierce invective 
 of Macaulay and to the cold criticism of Hallam. 
 It is owing to the far-reaching influence of these 
 two writers that a man who was looked upon as 
 a martyr by more than half his contemporaries, 
 and who was revered as a saint by the great bulk 
 of the generation which restored the Church of 
 England after his death, is now considered by 
 many to have been a pedant, a bigot, and a perse- 
 cutor. I have tried, therefore, to show Laud as 
 he appeared to himself, and to judge his acts sym- 
 pathetically. No one, as his correspondence and 
 his private diaries prove, was more conscious than 
 he was of his faults and of his mistakes ; but he 
 knew he had great ideals, and was saddened and 
 
iv 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 sometimes embittered by the obstinate opposition 
 which a resolute minority of the nation offered to 
 his reforms in the administration of the Treasury 
 and in the development of commerce, to his far- 
 reaching schemes for the improvement of educa- 
 tion, and, above all, to his efforts to make worship 
 outwardly devout, and religious teaching liberal 
 and practical. 
 
 This opposition prevented his natural alliance 
 with many of the great men who were working 
 in his generation for the progress of liberty. 
 They misunderstood him, and he misunderstood 
 them ; and this mutual misunderstanding was one 
 cause, and a very important one, of the great 
 Rebellion ; but 250 years after his death our 
 minds are wide enough to comprehend and admire 
 both sides. 
 
 Three statesmen did more for the progress 
 of Great Britain than any of their contemporaries 
 in the struggle : Sir Harry Vane, the younger, 
 first gave practical shape to government by Parlia- 
 ment ; the Marquis of Argyle moulded with con- 
 summate skill the Scottish Kirk and the Scottish 
 character ; and William Laud decided the future 
 of the English Church. None of these men are 
 popular just at present, because they are little 
 studied ; and Vane's stiffness, and Argyle's 
 physical cowardice, alienate our sympathies until 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 v 
 
 we grow more intimate with their intentions ; 
 while Laud is disliked because he has been made, 
 most unjustly, the scapegoat for the miseries of 
 the great Rebellion. 
 
 The materials for a history of Laud and his 
 times are very plentiful, though we know all too 
 little of the early stages of his extraordinary 
 career. His own voluminous writings tell us 
 much about him ; and the large collection of 
 memoirs by his contemporaries, from the stately 
 picture gallery of Clarendon, where each great 
 personality stands out in life-like form, glowing 
 with the colours of his passions and his ambi- 
 tions, down to the gossiping letters in which 
 Garrard informs his patron Wentworth of the talk 
 of London town, renders the period peculiarly 
 interesting. Unhappily much of this light is lost 
 in the last and the critical year of Laud's power, 
 and we have to grope doubtfully among conflicting 
 shadows, till once more his own full story of his 
 trials and troubles and the accusations of his 
 enemies make the closing scenes clear to us. 
 Professor Gardiner's monumental work on the 
 first two Stuart reigns is, of course, a guide to 
 which all less competent students owe more than 
 they can express. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Reading and Oxford, ........ 3 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Country Parishes; Presidency of St. John's College; 
 
 Gloucester Deanery, 22 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Bishopric of St. David's ; Rival Parties, . 35 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Under the Ministry of Buckingham, .... 61 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Attempts to Reconcile King and Parliament, . . 81 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Principles of Government, ...... 101 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Administration of Church and State, .... 123 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The Chancellorship of Oxford, ..... 157 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Development of the Opposition, 172 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Life at Lambeth, igi 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Policy in Ireland and Scotland ; The First Disturbances, 207 
 
viii 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 The Short Parliament of 1640; Final Attempts to 
 
 Unite King and Commons, 230 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 The Convocation of 1640; The Fall of the Archbishop, 245 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Imprisonment and Trial, ....... 265 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 The Execution of the Archbishop, ..... 276 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Devotional Life, 283 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 A. The Projects of the Aristocracy, .... 293 
 
 B. The Navy under Charles I. and Laud, . . . 295 
 
 C. The Army at Berwick in 1639, ..... 296 
 
 Index, ........... 301 
 
Authorities for the Earlier Chapters. 
 
 Heylin's Cyprianus Anglicanus ; i Laud's Diary; Wood's Athenac 
 Oxonicnses ; Wood's Annals of the University of Oxford ; Fuller's 
 Church History, edit. 1842; Fuller's Worthies; Bp. Andrewes' 
 Works; Neale's History of the Puritans ; Eden's State of the 
 Poor; Isaac Walton's Lives; Sibbes' Works ; Hacket's Life 
 of Archbishop Williams; Spelman's Works; Howell's Familiar 
 Letters; Autobiography of Lord Herbert of Cherbury. 
 
 1 This is a life of the archbishop by one of his chaplains ; 
 Heylin was admitted to Laud's intimacy in 1627, and had every 
 means of knowing the facts of his life and the principles of his 
 policy; it may be considered the authorised biography. 
 
 The references to Laud's Works are in general to Wharton's 
 original folio edition ; but when volumes vi. or vii., or the 
 sermons are mentioned, the edition of the Works published in 
 the Anglo-Catholic Library is referred to. 
 
 I 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 READING AND OXFORD, 1573-1605. 
 
 .1 Great Man — Birth at Reading — Childhood and its 
 Impressions — St. John's, Oxford — State of the Uni- 
 versity — Laud's Dislike of Calvinism— Causes of 
 Success — Laud's Projects — A Grave Offence. 
 
 Among those signs which seem to believing; men 
 to prove the presence of God in history, we must 
 reckon the appearance at critical opportunities of 
 some great man, who, himself imbued with the 
 spirit of the age, knows how to give to religious 
 and political movements a practical and permanent 
 shape. The seventeenth century was fertile in such 
 leaders : John Eliot is still revered as the boldest 
 orator of English liberty ; John Pym first gave 
 method to party organisations in carrying the 
 elections for Parliament ; the course of the Civil 
 War was decided by the military and civil genius 
 of Oliver Cromwell ; while Sir Harry Vane, the 
 younger, found means to supply an executive 
 such as now rules us, formed by a committee of 
 the majority in Parliament ; and the Marquis of 
 Argyle gave to Scottish politics and Scottish 
 
4 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. 
 
 opinions a form which has lasted almost to our 
 own days. 
 
 All these men were of gentle birth ; they rose 
 naturally to the front as the requirements of the 
 time called for their leadership ; but William Laud, 
 a son of the people, had to make his own way by 
 his own talents into that class from which rulers 
 are selected. 
 
 He was born on the 7th of October, 1573, 
 being- the only child of his mother's second 
 marriage, in the town of Reading. There his 
 father was engaged in the cloth trade, for which 
 the position of the place, on the banks of the 
 Thames, between London and Oxford, was parti- 
 cularly well suited. A single entry in his Diary 
 refers to this period of childhood and gives us the 
 clue to that firm, resolute character which we are 
 told was already built up when he first appeared 
 in Oxford life, "In my infancy I was in danger 
 of death by sickness ; " and it appears that through 
 his early years he was so delicate that no one 
 expected him to live. The sense of special pre- 
 servation by the hand of Providence convinced 
 his parents, and convinced the boy himself, that 
 he was destined to some great future, and that a 
 work was set him which God would help him 
 to accomplish. This conviction gave him that 
 extraordinary confidence in his own career which 
 enabled him in later days to hold his own 
 among the high-born men of England, and that 
 
i573-«9- 
 
 BOYISH SURROUNDINGS. 
 
 5 
 
 stubborn courage which seemed so astonishing in 
 a person of such puny frame and feeble constitu- 
 tion. Delicate health kept the boy from the 
 sports of his more robust school-fellows and 
 brought him to listen to the conversation of his 
 elders, and to think over the reminiscences of the 
 past and the problems of the present which 
 were suggested by the town and trade of Read- 
 ing. His father could remember the days when 
 the last abbot of the now ruined abbey had been 
 •dragged away to London and executed for his 
 opposition to the royal supremacy ; and could tell 
 of the high hopes which the Reformation had 
 excited in its early days, for it had seemed to pro- 
 mise to rid England of an ecclesiastical tyranny 
 which suppressed freedom of thought, and of rulers 
 whose covetousness stifled trade. But the Reading 
 cloth- makers had soon found that the nobles who 
 inherited the abbey lands were even more rapa- 
 cious and arbitrary than the Churchmen whom 
 they had ousted. There had been evil days in 
 England when greedy regents ruled in the name 
 of the child King Edward VI. and pretended 
 to be inspired with a love for pure and Puritan 
 religion. There had followed days yet more evil 
 when half-Spanish Mary and Spanish Philip 
 governed England together and burnt in the 
 (lames of Smithfield and Oxford the most eloquent 
 of the English bishops, the most pious of the 
 English clergy, and many of the most upright of 
 
6 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. 
 
 the middle class. Only the nobles had escaped 
 all suffering, for they changed their religion with the 
 times willingly enough, so long as their posses- 
 sions were safe. 1 Freedom of thought and vigour 
 of commerce were little cared for till Elizabeth sat 
 upon the throne. 
 
 Then the great queen, most thoroughly 
 English by descent and by temperament of all 
 our sovereigns, had set to work to regenerate her 
 distracted people. She had been seriously ham- 
 pered by the nobles, and the heads of the three 
 haughtiest English houses, Percy, Neville and 
 Howard, had been found guilty of treason during 
 the perils of her reign, while Romanist and 
 Puritan had done their utmost to impede the 
 growing union of the English nation. With her 
 two great ministers, the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, 
 and Archbishop Parker of Canterbury, she had 
 built up a new England out of the ruined materials 
 of the old. Nobles and country gentry were com- 
 pelled to obey the law. Trade was fostered 
 everywhere, and the spirit of adventure which was 
 to make England supreme had been stimulated 
 by the queen's admiration for the rough and 
 hardy seamen who sailed the seas under her flag. 
 
 In the English Church, the last remnants of 
 the long Roman tyranny, against which clergy 
 and laity had so often rebelled, had been now 
 destroyed ; but its immemorial privileges, and its 
 
 1 See Parliamentary History of Mary's Reign. 
 
I573-S9- 
 
 POLICY OF THE QUEEN. 
 
 7 
 
 ancient traditional organisation, had been diligently 
 preserved. The queen had never allowed Parlia- 
 ment to interfere with the Church, and it was her 
 purpose to use its hierarchy in order to educate 
 and influence the masses of the people. 1 Because 
 it was so genuinely English, the Elizabethan 
 Church system had been accepted by the great 
 bulk of Englishmen. Little by little the lower 
 classes who loved the old ritual, and the middle 
 classes who delighted in the modern innovation of 
 constant sermons, felt they could combine, and 
 must combine (if England was to remain free and 
 once more to grow great), in the worship offered 
 to them by the Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 This was the English history which was being 
 acted round Laud as he passed his quiet child- 
 hood in Reading ; and he heard from the sober, 
 sensible trades-people who resorted to his father's 
 house that the country was still imperilled by two 
 extreme parties which would accept of no com- 
 promise, the Puritans and the Romanists, each a 
 small minority, but dangerous from their reso- 
 lution and fanaticism. 2 
 
 As he formed his opinions, and dreamed his 
 dreams of ambition, something told all who had 
 
 1 Cf. the imprisonment of Peter Wentworth in 1593, which 
 made a great impression upon Laud (Answer to Lord Hayes Speech 
 against the Bishops, p. 58). 
 
 2 See Heylin's History of the Reformation, which gives us the 
 history of these times written by one of Laud's pupils. 
 
8 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. i. 
 
 to do with him that he would one day play a 
 great part. His schoolmaster bade his brilliant 
 pupil never forget his humble birthplace when 
 he had climbed to be one of the rulers of his 
 country ; and the charities of Reading attested 
 in after years the fidelity of the boy's affections. 1 
 His relations and friends offered advances of their 
 hard-earned money to ensure for the clever child 
 an education worthy of his talents. 
 
 But if the politics of England would be the 
 principal subject of conversation in Reading circles, 
 the cloth trade had interests also on the continent. 
 Those were the days of the wars of religion. 
 France and Holland and Germany were deluged 
 with blood shed in civil war. Italy and Spain 
 groaned under the terrors of the Inquisition. 
 Most intimate ties of commerce and literature 
 bound England to France and the Netherlands ; 
 the English people were thrilled with horror at the 
 • news of the murder of William the Silent (1584), the 
 Liberator of Holland, by Balthasar Gerard, and at 
 the constant plots of other Romish assassins whom 
 Elizabeth's better fortune somehow baffled ; 2 while 
 the murder of Coligny (1572) and thousands of the 
 noblest of France in the St. Bartholomew massacre 
 poured into London and the eastern counties crowds 
 of refugees who spoke of that horrible night with 
 
 1 Things Projected, xvi., and Works, vi. 470-474, and vii. 652, 
 etc. The Grammar School and other charitable institutions were 
 greatly enriched by him. 2 See list in Wallins;ton, a contemporary. 
 
STRUGGLE AGAINST ROME. 
 
 9 
 
 curses upon the Roman Pope for blessing the 
 murderers. 
 
 In the chaos of French politics two statesmen 
 saw the true path for the nation to follow out 
 of the intricacies of religious strife. Michel de 
 l'Hopital, Chancellor to Charles IX., had tried 
 to persuade king and people to build up a strong 
 free Church, independent of Rome, yet retaining 
 the ancient ceremonial and the ancient hierarchy, 
 and which should train men to work and to worship 
 together with the widest divergences of religious 
 opinion. L'Hopital died of a broken heart ( 1 573) ; 
 but Henry of Navarre, more buoyant and more 
 fortunate, was already fighting and negotiating 
 to reconstruct a strong: monarchv which should 
 compel the respect of the riotous Romanist mobs 
 and ambitious Romanist preachers, as well as of 
 the aristocratic Huguenots and grasping feudal 
 nobles. These great minds cannot have failed 
 to furnish suggestions to English statesmen, and 
 among them to Laud, for the reformed English 
 Church and State. 
 
 Then came the anxious days of the Armada 
 (1588), while all England hung breathless on the 
 issue, wondering how towns such as Reading would 
 fare if Parma and the terrible army who had 
 sacked Antwerp could secure a footing on English 
 soil. It was the middle classes which saved 
 England in those days ; a few nobles might 
 appear fitfully on the scene, but the small gentry 
 
IO LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAI D. 
 
 and traders of Devon and the south coast were 
 the real conquerors of the Armada. The lesson 
 sank deep into the boy's heart : it fixed the 
 political opinions of his life. 
 
 Laud was always the opponent of aristocratic 
 rule ; and he dreaded the alliance of the nobles 
 with Papists or with Puritans through the whole 
 of his career ; for it seemed to him that events 
 had clearly shown that the Crown was the chosen 
 instrument of Providence for the salvation of the 
 country. Queen Elizabeth had been anointed 1 with 
 consecrated oil ; she had been endowed by her con- 
 secration with divine powers both in Church and 
 State ; through those powers she had been enabled 
 to deliver England from foreign interference : and 
 therefore Laud formed an intense dislike for Puri- 
 tan speakers in the Commons, and for Puritan 
 preachers like Thomas Cartwright, who. in claim- 
 ing supremacy over her as "God's silly vassal," 
 seemed to him almost to vie in disloyalty with 
 Cardinal Allen and Parsons at Rheims and Douay, 
 who were despatching a constant succession of 
 assassins to butcher her as God's enemy. 
 
 It was in 1589, in the year following- the defeat 
 of the Armada, that W illiam Laud was sent up 
 
 1 Cf. the expressions of old Acts of Parliament against Papal 
 encroachments, e.g., 33, Edw. III.. " reges sacro oleo uncti spiritu- 
 alis jurisdictionis sunt capaces ". Sir H. Spelman. the greatest 
 authority of the day on ecclesiastical law, and subsequently a friend 
 and follower of Laud, considers the royal unction to have given, 
 the king the government of the Church {Works, i. 148-154). 
 
1589. 
 
 l'L KITAN RULERS AT OXFORD. 
 
 to the College of St. John the Baptist in Oxford. 
 There his first year's work was so successful that 
 he was elected to a scholarship: but he felt him- 
 self out of sympathy with the prevalent party in 
 the university. If the Elizabethan Church settle- 
 ment was being sincerely accepted by the mass of 
 the English people, it was not as yet the religious 
 profession of the leading men of the university of 
 Oxford. W ith all her wisdom in the selection of 
 ministers, Elizabeth had made many mistakes ; 
 and the worst blot upon her reputation for saga- 
 city is the trust which she reposed in Robert 
 Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Did the queen fancy 
 that a man who owed her all must be absolutely 
 loyal? II so, she was deceived. Leicester was 
 a man of pleasure and himself no Puritan ; but he 
 shared the ambitions of his class, and like many 
 of the new nobles whose fortunes were built upon 
 monastic lands, saw in the Puritan party a valuable 
 instrument for future aggression against the Crown. 
 His influence with the queen had secured for him 
 the coveted post of Chancellor of the University 
 of Oxford, which he held till his death in 1588; 
 and seconded by E lizabeth's clever secretary, Sir 
 Erancis Walsingham, who unlike his mistress and 
 Burleigh and Parker looked upon the Puritans as 
 the most loyal of Englishmen, 1 he had thoroughly 
 Puritanised the university, until it had lost most of 
 its Church feeling and was pouring out a flood of 
 
 1 Wood's Antials of the University of Oxford, ii. 227. 
 
12 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. 
 
 teachers and preachers who would in their turn 
 Puritanise England. The v ice-chancellor was 
 invariably a Puritan ; the Regius Professor of 
 Divinity, Dr. Laurence Humphry, had been a 
 refugee at Zurich during the persecution under 
 Philip and Mary and had become a firm believer 
 in the Calvinistic doctrine of the Divine decrees ; 1 
 he wished to remodel the English Church to the 
 shape of that of Geneva. The most popular preacher 
 in Oxford was Dr. Reynolds, who was shortly to 
 lead the Puritan party against Bishop Bancroft in 
 the Hampton Court conference ; while the most 
 prominent of the younger tutors was Dr. George 
 Abbot, who afterwards as Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury did more to stimulate the growth of Puritanism 
 than any man of his time. All these teachers were 
 renowned for their personal piety, and were them- 
 selves learned and capable. But, unfortunately 
 for itself, Puritanism had choked the vigour of 
 university life by its absorbed attention to doc- 
 trinal questions. The number of undergraduates 
 was small. Interest in intellectual questions was 
 weak. Oxford had less than its usual influence 
 over the country. 2 
 
 The Society of St. John's was, however, opposed 
 to the prevalent tone of Oxford ; and Laud found 
 
 1 Wood's Athcnae, i. 241, 242; Annals, ii. 240. 
 
 - Chancellor Hatton complains in 1590 of the neglect of 
 lecturing and teaching, and carelessness about university dress 
 (Wood's Annals, ii. 242). 
 
I5S9-93. 
 
 THE TUTOR OF ST. JOHN'S. 
 
 13 
 
 himself in a college where loyalty to primitive 
 Church ideas was still in fashion, and where the 
 principal tutor, Dr. Buckeridge, was an accom- 
 plished student of the ancient fathers. 1 From 
 St. John's, guarded by his unfailing loyalty to his 
 own college, Laud could look out with some con- 
 tempt on a university in which drunkenness was 
 prevalent, and was said to be fostered by the 
 newly-introduced habit of smoking tobacco; 2 in 
 which learning was satisfied with the study of 
 Calvin's Institutes ; and where the Puritan chiefs, 
 divided into two hostile camps of sublapsarians 
 and supralapsarians, argued interminably the 
 question whether the Divine decrees of rigid 
 election and reprobation dated from before or 
 after the fall of Adam. About this ceaseless 
 strife Laud agreed with Sir Henry Wotton, 3 the 
 keenest observer of the day, that " the itch of dis- 
 putation will prove the scab of the Church," or as 
 George Herbert more melodiously phrased it in 
 his address to the Church : — 
 
 But when debates and fretting jealousies 
 Did worm and work within you more and more, 
 Your colour faded and calamities 
 Turned your ruddy into pale and bleak, 
 Your health and beauty both began to break. 
 
 From these unending wrangles he learnt the dis- 
 like which he showed afterwards to all public 
 
 1 Wood's A thenae. 
 
 2 Wood's Annals, ii. 290. Cf. State Papers, vol. 182, No. 11. 
 
 3 Walton's Life of Wotton. 
 
14 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. i. 
 
 discussion upon insoluble problems. Stimulated 
 by the cheers of partisans and eager at any cost 
 to foil an antagonist, the disputants grew inflated 
 with pride and indifferent to truth, while their 
 listeners lost the calmness of judgment which is 
 necessary to genuine learning. Here surely, he 
 reasoned, were to be found just limits to toleration : 
 and in the years of his power it became his 
 principle of government that men might be allowed 
 to hold what they pleased, and to talk about what 
 they pleased, but that these high matters ought to 
 be kept out of the pulpit and the press, else they 
 would deluge England with blood. 1 For himself, 
 his interest always lay in practical duties. Aristotle, 
 the teacher who showed how character was shaped 
 by habit, at once attracted him and became his 
 master " in humanities ", 2 Already a good scholar 
 and diligent student of the classics, he was guided 
 by Buckeridge to the study of Church history and 
 the writings of the fathers and famous Churchmen ; 
 and he began to equip himself to assail the Goliath 
 of Puritanism who seemed to him to sit like a 
 nightmare on the awakening Church of England, 
 stifling freedom, art, learning and devotion with 
 the huge, inert mass of its terrible doctrine of the 
 I Hvine decrees. 
 
 1 He was confirmed in these views by the murder of Barneveldt 
 in 1619, which he considered a direct consequence of the Synod of 
 Dort (see letters to Vossius). 
 
 - His love of Aristotle continued to the end of his life; Against 
 Fisher, sect. xvi. 6. 
 
'5 S 9 93- 
 
 INFLUENCE OF OTHER TEACHERS. 
 
 15 
 
 Naturally the strongest enemy of Puritanism, 
 Lancelot Andrewes, became the enthusiastic boy's 
 model as a student and his hero as a religious 
 leader. He admired Andrewes for his wide 
 learning, which extended over fifteen languages ; 
 and for that eloquence which was now drawing 
 thousands of Romanists into the English Church, 1 
 while it swayed men's souls to righteous action 
 and to the exercise of devotion. He cordially 
 agreed with the indignation felt by the High 
 Churchmen against the doctrine ot election as 
 the Puritans taught it, "saying almost all of 
 them that God from all eternity reprobates by far 
 the greater part of mankind to eternal fire, without 
 any eye at all to their sin. Which opinion my 
 very soul abominates. For it makes God, the 
 God of all mercies, to be the most fierce and un- 
 reasonable tyrant in the world. For the question 
 is not here what God may do by an absolute act of 
 power, would He so use it upon the creature which 
 He made of nothing ; but what He hath done, and 
 what stands with His wisdom, justice and good- 
 ness to do." 2 
 
 Nor was the little world of Oxford even in 
 those dull days left unstirred. Foreigners began 
 to hear of a growing interest in learning among 
 a section of the students ; and many wandering 
 
 1 In the North, where he was chaplain to Lord Huntingdon 
 {Cassan, Bishops of Winchester, ii. 82). 
 
 2 Laud's Works, folio, i. 503. Mozley's Laud, 162. 
 
16 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. i. 
 
 scholars came to visit the once famous university 
 and to talk of the studies and discoveries of the 
 continent in the frank freemasonry of hall and 
 common room. A special influence on Laud's 
 opinions must be attributed to the arrival of 
 Josephus Barbatus, strange and startling figure, 
 a learned Copt from Egyptian Memphis, who 
 lectured for a few years on his own mother tongue 
 and described the ancient Bible lands, and dis- 
 coursed about the Bible languages, proving to the 
 men of Oxford that there was a Christianity 
 beyond Europe, older and more conservative than 
 that of Rome. 1 Such a revelation of unknown 
 Churches widened the ideas of Laud, as similar 
 opportunities had widened the mind of Luther, 
 and led him to study the methods by which Rome 
 had made herself absolute mistress of the religious 
 world in the West. 
 
 Under such teaching and with such principles 
 Laud passed successfully through his Oxford 
 career. He was elected fellow of the college in 
 1593, and in 1598 became grammar reader; in 
 1600 he was ordained deacon and in 1601 priest 
 by the Bishop of Rochester; for the see of Oxford 
 was at this time kept vacant in order that the Earl 
 of Essex might pillage its revenues. In these 
 years he had several times to contend against 
 severe illness which hindered his progress, and 
 
 1 Wood's Athcnae, Fasti, i. 166. Cf. Argument against Fisher, 
 based on the absence of the Greeks from Trent, sect, xxvii. 3. 
 
1593-1602. A POPULAR LECTURER. 17 
 
 had the grief to lose his father and his mother, to 
 both of whom he was devotedly attached. 1 His 
 own college had become proud of him for his 
 classical learning and his remarkable gifts of 
 orator)- ; but he was as yet unknown outside the 
 university. 
 
 Fame was won suddenly and unexpectedly in 
 1602, when he was appointed divinity lecturer 
 at St. John's. It had been the fashion of the 
 Puritan lecturers to speak of Lanfranc and Anselm, 
 Bonaventura and Thomas Aquinas as teachers of 
 falsehood, while they traced the true Church through 
 obscure and sometimes dubious sects, the Albi- 
 genses, the Hussites and the Lollards down to a 
 sudden new life at the Reformation of the fifteenth 
 century. Now the magnates of the university 
 heard with amazement and horror that the new 
 divinity lecturer at St. John's spoke of the 
 English Church as having lived one consecutive 
 life through its succession of bishops, derived 
 from Roman and British sources ; and that he 
 was tracing the history of the Visible Church of 
 Christ through the oppressed Churches of the East, 
 and in the West through the hated hierarchy of 
 Rome ; and was even maintaining that the Roman 
 Church was in essentials a true Church, though 
 marred by many errors which he unsparingly 
 denounced. 
 
 But when this blow was followed up two years 
 
 1 Diary, anno 1594 and 1600. 
 
1 8 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. 
 
 later in 1604 by two theses for the degree of 
 Bachelor of Divinity, in which Laud defended 
 the positions (1) that baptism was necessary to 
 salvation, and (2) that there could be no true 
 Church without diocesan bishops, indignation 
 knew no bounds. If so, Calvin and Knox were 
 alike unchurched, and Cartwright had been a 
 false teacher. The quaint humour, the learning, 
 the keen dialectic, the vivacity of the man de- 
 lighted the younger portion of the university. 
 His teaching, adopted by his pupils, repeated in 
 many districts, and discussed in widespread 
 pamphlets, was welcomed by the great mass of 
 the nation, who. remembering the practical piety 
 of their parents, refused to believe they were 
 doomed to everlasting death for differing from 
 Calvin. But Oxford Puritanism was too strong 
 to be easily vanquished ; and his opponents re- 
 solved that so skilful an assailant must somehow 
 be overwhelmed. They reviled him as a Papist ; 
 they scorned him as a hypocrite. Under the lead 
 of Dr. George Abbot, they pelted him with 
 pamphlets and sermons in which there were no 
 limits to abuse, until, in the words of one of the 
 vice-chancellors, "the pulpit and sacred function 
 of preaching became instruments of private re- 
 venge 'V 
 
 Such a persecution was just what Laud en- 
 joyed. The point in his character which most 
 
 1 Wood's Annals, ii. 276. 
 
1603-5. 
 
 PURITAN l'KRSl'XUTION. 
 
 19 
 
 surprised men was his confidence in himself. 
 He was now sure that he had been saved in 
 infancy for the special work of God. The words 
 " Blessed are ye when men shall persecute you 
 and revile you" elated him. His position became 
 rapidly strengthened, and his tenets took definite 
 shape. But he was no mere partisan ; the 
 Church, he clearly discerned, must embrace all 
 parties, accepting what was true from Rome and 
 from Geneva alike. The strong personal piety of 
 Geneva attracted him, because of that inspiring 
 confidence in the presence of God which had sent 
 out the heroes against Spain, and had comforted 
 Cranmer and Latimer at the stake. 1 But the 
 mass of the people would need a beautiful ritual, 
 and carefully cultivated habits of devotion ; they 
 must be stimulated to faith and hope by attend- 
 ance at the Holy Communion, and by a well- 
 grounded confidence in the efficacy of their bap- 
 tism. Hume has given a most just account of his 
 intentions when he writes : " Laud and his asso- 
 ciates by reviving a few primitive ceremonies 
 corrected the error of the first reformers and pre- 
 sented to the frightened and astonished mind some 
 sensible exterior observances which might occupy 
 it during its religious exercises, and abate the 
 violence of its disappointed efforts ". 2 The gene- 
 
 1 Cf. his patronage of Dr. Richard Sibbes, author of two 
 well-known devotional works, The Bruised Reed and the Smoking 
 Flax, and the Soul's Conflict. - Hume's England, vii. 42. 
 
20 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. 
 
 ration which had grown up with him at Oxford 
 held to him, and had elected him proctor in 1603, 
 the first year in which he was qualified, by stand- 
 ing, for the office. The election was so successful 
 that his enemies accused him of a well-organised 
 canvass ; 1 and long after, when he was in the 
 Tower, Lord Saye and Sele taunted him as a 
 skilful organiser of a university faction, and "fit 
 for factions only ". 2 In reality, Laud had known 
 nothing of the honour in store for him, and was 
 much surprised at his election. Every one laughed 
 at his little stature, at his confident and somewhat 
 fussy manner ; but a man who can be caricatured 
 without becoming contemptible is certain of 
 success, and his genial, affectionate way of ruling 
 was favourably contrasted with that of a very 
 disagreeable colleague who discharged his proc- 
 torship, they said, "cum parvo ( — a) Laude ". 3 
 
 But at this time he was drawn into an error 
 which his enemies never forgot, and which he 
 himself could never forget or forgive. He had 
 become chaplain to the Earl of Devonshire, 4 
 better known as Lord Mountjoy, a soldier dis- 
 tinguished in the Irish wars, and a man of 
 that affectionate and impulsive nature which was 
 frequently to call out Laud's devoted friend- 
 ship. Between this nobleman and the divorced 
 
 1 Wood's Fasti. 
 
 3 Wood's Athenae, ii. 55. 
 
 2 Speech against the Bishops. 
 4 Diary. 3rd Sept., 1603. 
 
THE DEVONSHIRE MARRIAGE. 
 
 2 I 
 
 Lady Rich, he was persuaded, in the festivities of 
 Christmastide, 1605, to perform the marriage cere- 
 mony. The king, James I., was incensed. The 
 party with which Laud was associated was bitterly 
 annoyed ; one of their leaders, Dr. Howson, 
 had just published a book on the sanctity of 
 marriage. Friendship had persuaded Laud to an 
 action which his judgment condemned, and his 
 principles declared detestable. The abstemious, 
 self-controlled, ecclesiastical leader, always a 
 severe judge of his own actions, felt that he had 
 condoned sin. St. Stephen's day, the anniversary 
 of the marriage, was henceforth throughout his life 
 a day of humiliation and bitter repentance. 1 
 
 1 See DcvjIvms. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 COUNTRY PARISHES— ST. JOHN'S— GLOUCESTER, 1606- 
 
 1621. 
 
 Life and Work in the Country — Troubles of the Peasants — 
 Contested Election at St. John's — Revival of Music 
 and A rt — Restoration of Ceremonial at Gloucester — ■ 
 Influence with the King — Nojnination as Bishop. 
 
 The wrong act of unthinking friendship related 
 at the end of the last chapter ruined Laud's pro- 
 spects of any high promotion for some five years. 
 The larger part of this period was spent by him 
 in country livings, 1 with an occasional return to 
 Oxford. Bishop Neile of Rochester, a man of 
 remarkable penetration in selecting capable men, 2 
 had become his patron, and was determined to 
 bring him before the notice of the king directly 
 the scandal of the Devonshire marriage was suf- 
 ficiently forgotten ; meanwhile he employed Laud 
 chiefly in his own diocese. These years of country 
 retirement proved invaluable for the future ; Laud 
 seldom failed to be interested in the duty which 
 
 1 Diary. 
 
 2 Neile was the son of a tallow-chandler, a most able contro- 
 versialist and attractive preacher, but no great scholar. He was 
 a trusted counsellor of James I. Godwin : Le Neve : Heylin. 
 
 (22) 
 
i6o6-i i. 
 
 THE PARISH PRIEST. 
 
 23 
 
 lay to his hand, and spent his time in quietly and 
 humbly preaching the Gospel to the poor. In his 
 seclusion he formed for himself some ideal of the 
 life of ;i parish priest. There were already some 
 fine examples in England ; Copinger at Laven- 
 ham had 900 communicants in his parish. 1 The 
 generation of Laud's friends and Laud's pupils was 
 soon to present a series of beautiful models, such 
 as Herbert at Bemerton, and Sanderson 2 at Booth- 
 by Pannel, who are instances chosen among scores 
 of devoted parish priests, many highly born :i and 
 magnificently learned, ministering to rich and poor 
 alike. It was Laud's custom to set apart each year 
 a large proportion of his income to provide pen- 
 sions for the infirm and aged. He preached and 
 catechised, visited the sick and relieved the miser- 
 able, formed habits of regular prayer, and continued 
 his diligent studies. 4 Intercourse with the country 
 gentry and peasantry showed him how much the 
 poor suffered from oppression at the hands of local 
 magnates, and the serious distress under which, 
 as Acts of Parliament prove to us, large numbers 
 of the people then laboured. Barley-bread was 
 their staple food ; 5 meat they seldom tasted ; the 
 want of fuel 6 in the South of England made cooking 
 a luxury of the rich and deprived the labourers of 
 
 1 Fuller's History. - Walton's Lives, passim. 
 
 3 Cf. Barnabas Oley, Preface to Country Parson, p. 131, ed. 
 1836. 1 Cf. Herbert's Country Parson. 
 
 5 State Papers, vol. 187, No. 12, show us buckwheat eaten by 
 the poor. 6 Cf. Monson's Naval Tracts, p. 489. 
 
24 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. n. 
 
 all variety of diet. The guilds which had suc- 
 coured them in sickness, the prototypes of the 
 modern club, had been pillaged by Henry VIII., 
 whose covetousness had involved these in the 
 ruin which he had wrought on so many institutions 
 connected with the Church. And while the lower 
 middle classes were constantly advancing in wealth 
 and comfort, the poorest grew poorer year by year. 
 Employment was often hardly to be found ; and 
 the terrible laws against vagrants, framed bv the 
 aristocratic Parliaments of Elizabeth and James, 
 brought imprisonment, flogging and even the 
 gallows upon hundreds of poor wretches who 
 were ready enough to work if they could find any 
 situations. 1 All these sorrows of the peasants 
 Laud kept in his mind till his opportunity should 
 come. Nor did he fail to comprehend that the 
 poorer classes, which formed after all the great 
 bulk of worshippers, needed thoughtful attention 
 if they were to be trained in the spiritual life. 
 The elaborate argumentative sermons which the 
 famous Puritan preachers loved and their disciples 
 imitated, left the huge mass of the nation, as 
 George Fox, the Quaker. 2 has so graphically told 
 us, in the condition of brute beasts. 3 They heard 
 
 1 See Baker's Chronicle, 412, for riots among the poor in 1609. 
 Eden's State of the Poor, i. 119, 139, 550, 596, etc. Wheat was 
 32s. a quarter and wages were about 8d. a day (Eden, i. 152). " The 
 number of the poor do dailie increase" says a tract of this time, 
 quoted by Eden, i. 155. Wheat rose to 50s. at Norwich in 1630. 
 
 2 A utobiography. 
 
 :l Cf. appalling description in State Papers, 182, 1. 
 
1 6 1 1. 
 
 THE PRESIDENCY OF ST. JOHN'S. 
 
 25 
 
 unheeding, for the preaching did not touch their 
 lives. Indeed the preachers themselves said: 
 ''The ignorant peasants are like Bruits". 1 
 
 Always resolutely practical and attentive to 
 the most minute details, Laud made up his mind 
 that simple instruction in the elements of the 
 faith and a dignified and reverent worship were 
 the first requisites in every parish church. When 
 he had the power he would try to provide these 
 throughout the country ; and he was soon to be 
 called to greater offices, in which he could do 
 more to carry out his projects. In 161 1 he was 
 elected President of St. John's, after a hot contest; 2 
 and shortly afterwards appointed chaplain to the 
 king. His influence in the university had been 
 already restored, and he now became the recognised 
 leader of a party little inferior in numbers and in 
 power to the Puritan party. Above all, it was 
 the party of the rising generation. With it 
 was associated the revival of beautiful worship 
 and of learning. Men began to feel tired of 
 herce denunciations ot Rome, " fuller of railing 
 than of reason," 3 of severe logical arguments 
 to prove the eternal ruin of the vast majority 
 of mankind. 4 A milder religious feeling was 
 gaining strength. Preachers spoke of the free- 
 
 1 Baxter's Autobiography. 2 Diary and Heylin, p. 56. 
 
 :i Laud's Works (folio), i. 160. 
 
 4 See a good instance of such Puritan preaching in State Papers, 
 vol. 280, No. 54. 
 
26 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. 
 
 CH. II. 
 
 will of each sinner which Almighty God was 
 longing to fortify with His loving" grace. Careful 
 catechetica.1 instructions in the moral and the 
 spiritual life were taking the place of abstruse 
 sermons on Sunday afternoons. The benefits to 
 be derived from the sacraments were being 
 emphatically taught by many of the parish clergy. 
 The communion-table, which had stood in the 
 middle of the church, a convenient receptacle for 
 hats and cloaks while the congregation listened to 
 a sermon, and often treated as the natural place to 
 sum up the parish accounts, was in many places 
 moved to the upper end of the chancel, railed 
 round and covered with silk or velvet. It was to 
 worship and not to preaching that attention was 
 now being directed. Beautiful church music was 
 sedulously cultivated in cathedrals and the great 
 churches, especially in London ; x since experience 
 seemed to indicate that it made worshippers more 
 conscious of the presence of God. The awful 
 mystery of the Holy Communion was treated 
 with reverence and solemnity ; for men felt that 
 there Christ actually approached their souls. 
 And as they realised the vastness of the love 
 and power of God, they were less willing to 
 condemn their neighbours, or to conceive it 
 possible that their personal opinions could form 
 
 1 Orlando Gibbons was at this time organist of Westminster 
 Abbey (Burney, History of Music). 
 
i6ii-i6. REVIVAL OF DEVOTION AND LEARNING. 27 
 
 the only narrow ledge on which mankind might 
 creep into heaven. 1 
 
 With this milder and more liberal tone came a 
 revival of learning. The old fathers were eagerly- 
 studied : Greek and Hebrew were cultivated : and, 
 as leader of the movement, Laud already cherished 
 hopes of setting up in England a Greek printing 
 press, and developing the study of Oriental lan- 
 guages by founding professorships and accumulat- 
 ing manuscripts. It was noticed that the discipline 
 of the university was stricter; more attention was 
 given to study and less to controversy ; by many 
 men the wearing" of the university dress was con- 
 sidered desirable and important, and the use of 
 distinctive clerical attire was becoming the fashion. 
 The College of St. John's was enlarged, and 
 increased in numbers. Its services became 
 stately and musical ; to the horror ot the Puritans 
 an organ was erected in the chapel. 2 But angry 
 attacks could now be treated with calm indifference. 
 Everybody praised Laud's administration of the 
 college ; those who had opposed his election as 
 president were won over by his conciliatory 
 manners ; and above all by the generous fashion 
 in which he promoted them to college offices ; the 
 fairness of his judgment and his self-sacrifice for 
 
 1 For an instance of the highly devout life of earnest Church 
 laymen of the day read Howell's Familiar Letters, i. 193, 252-4 
 and passim. 
 
 • Diary. 
 
28 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. ij. 
 
 the advantage of the society were spoken of on all 
 sides 1 The clothmaker's son had become the 
 strongest power in the University of Oxford, and 
 through Oxford was influencing England. 2 
 
 Still George Abbot, now appointed Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury by a Court intrigue, held 
 the ear of the king ; he had taught lames I. to 
 dread Laud as fussy and meddlesome ; as one 
 who stirred controversy and loved strife : and a 
 mysterious atmosphere of Arminian heresies and 
 Popish tendencies gathered round the mention of 
 his name ; his promotion in the Church was 
 stopped, lest this incendiary should set all Eng- 
 land on fire. But the best answer to these charges 
 was that where Laud was known he was popular, 
 and was becoming acceptable to all parties ; and 
 accordingly in i6i6, :! when he was already forty- 
 two, he was named Dean of Gloucester. 
 
 The deanery was poor and obscure ; but it 
 afforded opportunities to extend the rising Church 
 party. By the Puritans the cathedrals were 
 treated as remnants of Popery, and were marked 
 out for destruction ; or, if this should prove 
 impossible, they were determined that they should 
 be used only as convenient halls for preaching. 
 
 But now Laud was specially commissioned by 
 the king to restore dignity of worship at Glou- 
 
 1 Wood's Athcnac, ii. 56. Laud's Answer to Lord Sayc and 
 Selc about the Liturgy, 474. 
 
 - Laud was appointed Archdeacon of Huntingdon in Decem- 
 ber, 1615. :l Diary, November. 
 
1615-21. THE DEANERY OF GLOUCESTER 
 
 2 9 
 
 cester Cathedral. 1 Supported by his residentiary 
 canons, he removed the communion-table to the 
 chancel and placed it altar-wise against the eastern 
 wall. 
 
 Once more the ponderous nave and delicate 
 lofty choir were brightened with surpliced proces- 
 sions, while strains of sweet and inspiring" music 
 filled men's thoughts with anticipations of a 
 present God. Choristers and clergy were taught 
 to bow towards the altar as they entered the 
 chancel, and to do reverence at the name of Jesus. 
 It was a practice which the new dean very 
 strongly advocated, as reminding worshippers of 
 the honour due to their Saviour and of the means 
 by which He imparted Himself to human souls. 
 But these innovations, as they called them, were 
 detestable to the Puritans ; and the old Bishop of 
 Gloucester, Miles Smith, a learned Hebraist and 
 one of the most distinguished of the translators 
 of the Bible, 2 refused to enter the cathedral till 
 the former arrangements were restored. To him 
 the change seemed a return to Popery, and the 
 full horror of that fiery persecution was familiar 
 enough to his memory, though forgotten by the 
 younger generation. It was an unavoidable 
 collision between the new and the old. The aged, 
 conservative bishop, who felt that he needed no 
 outward signs and aids to worship when he would 
 hold communion with the God of his long life 
 
 1 Laud's Works, vi. 239, 241. - Wood's Annals, 228. 
 
30 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. ii. 
 
 and expected all others to meet God as easily as 
 he did, was irritated and incensed by the more 
 liberal dean, who in his turn could not give way 
 because he found the need of music and cere- 
 monial to keep the mysterious presence of God 
 clear and real to men deafened by the bustle of 
 the world. 
 
 There were fierce Puritan sermons preached 
 in the city of which the martyr Hooper had been 
 bishop— Hooper who had suffered imprisonment 
 rather than wear the surplice ; and there appeared 
 even a danger of ritual riots, but they were 
 speedily suppressed by the civic authorities, who 
 welcomed the more beautiful services, were de- 
 lighted to be free of the interminably long contro- 
 versial sermons, and were by no means averse to 
 a religious teaching which seemed more tolerant 
 of their weakness, and made no sins of merriment 
 and recreation. Laud's influence at Gloucester 
 does not however appear to have been very strong, 
 while the violent preaching of his opponents 
 kindled that bitter sectarian spirit which was after- 
 wards to make the town a stronghold of Parlia- 
 mentary opposition, and then to tear it asunder in 
 an internecine strife which Baxter describes as 
 rendering it one of the most unhappy places in the 
 country. 1 Dividing his time between the Court, the 
 university and the city of Gloucester, Laud con- 
 tinued to enhance his reputation ; now defining 
 
 1 Autobiography, p. 41. 
 
I62I. 
 
 TRAINING FOR THE EPISCOPATE. 
 
 31 
 
 and defending die position of the English Church 
 against Rome ; now entering upon vigorous contro- 
 versy against thepromoters of Presbyterianism; now 
 explaining the Declaration of Sports by which King 
 James encouraged recreation and amusement on 
 Sunday after the afternoon service. Consequently 
 the shrewd king, intensely fond of clever sermons, 
 who had almost compelled the eloquent Donne to 
 be ordained because he was convinced he could 
 sway London from the pulpit of St. Paul's, 1 be- 
 came increasingly interested in Laud, and in 1621 
 had him elected and consecrated Bishop of St. 
 David's. 
 
 Ecclesiastical and political power had been long 
 deferred ; he was forty-eight, and the first vigour of 
 his life was gone ; but he had enjoyed a complete- 
 ness of training such as was the good hap of none of 
 his chief contemporaries in Church or State. He 
 had passed through every grade in the university, 
 had been the familiar friend of great scholars, both 
 English and foreign, with whom he had studied 
 the chief necessities of the time in research and in 
 education. He had learnt how to control subordi- 
 nates; how to conciliate his equals; and how to hold 
 his own without disrespect to his superiors. In his 
 parish incumbencies he had experienced for himself 
 the difficulties of the country clergy, stripped of 
 many of the old endowments 2 and thwarted by the 
 
 1 Walton's Life of Donne. Baker's Chronicle, p. 427. Both 
 writers were personal friends of Donne. 
 
 2 All through his life he did his utmost to improve the miser- 
 
32 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. it. 
 
 power of the local magnates in their efforts after 
 a more refined worship and for more definite 
 instruction of their people. He had noted the 
 dull, hard life of the peasants under the despotic 
 control of Puritan nobles and gentry, 1 who even 
 on Sunday permitted no brightness or enjoyment 
 to their dependants. At Gloucester he had been 
 confronted with the growing indolence of the 
 cathedral chapters. He had recognised the 
 various causes which were sapping the power 
 and influence of the bishops. And he began to 
 think he saw how the strength and usefulness of 
 the Church could be restored ; and the means by 
 which Gospel preaching and solemn worship might 
 become both real restraints upon brutal passions 
 and inspirations to holiness. At least he would 
 not fail from ignorance of the people he had to 
 govern, or want of sympathy with the masses ; 
 and he was convinced that God Himself had 
 appointed him to a great career. Nor was he 
 unsupported by the approval of the nation, for 
 no one was more definitely marked out by the 
 popular voice for high office than Dr. William Laud. 
 
 able incomes of the clergy, often not £3 a year. Cf. Accounts of 
 Province, 554, etc., and his quarrel with Abbot, who cared nothing 
 for the clergy, Diary, 29th March, 1624. Sir H. Spelman tells 
 us that the tithes of 3845 incumbencies had fallen into lay hands, 
 while 5439 still remained to the clergy {Apology, 35) Only 144 
 Benefices in England were worth over /"40 a year (State Papers, 
 vol. 279, No. 7). 
 
 1 Cf. laws to forbid working people to enter the alehouses, and 
 dislike shown by Parliament to social guilds (Eden, i. 143, 597). 
 
Further Authorities in Addition to those already Quoted. 
 
 Sir T. Baker's Chronicle of the Reign of fames I., continued 
 for Charles I. by another hand ; Laud's Conference with Fisher ; 
 Laud's Letters ; Speeches in the Parliamentary History ; 
 Baxter's Autobiography ; Rushworth's Collections ; Harrington's 
 Works; Herbert's Works; Laud's Diary becomes much fuller 
 after 1621. 
 
 3 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 BISHOPRIC OF ST. DAVID'S, 1621-1625. 
 
 Laud's Conception of the Episcopal Office — The Commons 
 and the Constituencies — The King — Laud's Diocesan 
 Administration — Conference with Fisher — Royal In- 
 structions on Preaching — The Two Parties in the 
 Church. 
 
 Laud had long desired a bishopric. He was per- 
 fectly well aware of his talents for rule. He was 
 bent upon carrying out in practice the great schemes 
 which he had dreamed over in youth and steadily 
 thought out in middle life. More than once in 
 his letters to his Iriends he complains that he is 
 being passed over for inferior men. Frankly 
 ambitious, he never assumed that decent or pru- 
 dish veil of modest)' with which so many conceal 
 their desire for high office. Nothing: could have 
 been farther from his thoughts than to hesitate 
 about occupying a prominent place in the manage- 
 ment of Church and State directly he could get 
 it ; and now he rejoiced that his opportunity was 
 come. 
 
 Elevation to the episcopate completely revolu- 
 tionises a clergyman's position : at one step he 
 becomes a ruler, and a ruler invested with a com- 
 mission from Christ Himself, all the more impres- 
 
36 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. in. 
 
 sive to others, all the more awful to himself, be- 
 cause it is indefinite. The bishop dares not be 
 disobeyed ; rather true humility of the heart dic- 
 tates firmness to the most timid will ; since, ruling: 
 as Laud maintained jure divino} he feels himself 
 to be under the personal control of God's Spirit in 
 directing the affairs of the Church. 
 
 Every bishop has an anxious responsibility to 
 see that Church rights and Church privileges are 
 not diminished under his charge. And at the 
 crisis of national history in which Laud lived, it 
 seemed certain to him that he was called upon by 
 God to vindicate the influence of the Church 
 against the magnates of the land. Without 
 acknowledging this fixed idea, whether we call it 
 fanatical or see in it a real mission, we can never 
 appreciate Laud's life and character. 
 
 But in order to regain her independence the 
 Church needed allies ; and could there be any 
 doubt as to the expediency of maintaining the 
 alliance which had now lasted so many years 
 between the Church and the Crown ? The men 
 who had helped Laud to his high position, Bishop 
 Neile and Bishop Buckeridge, were personal 
 friends of the king : while they were already 
 
 1 Speech against Leighton, and Speech on the Censure of Burton, 
 Prynne and Bastwick. Cf. Diary, January, 1627, where he speaks 
 of the importance of printing Andrewes' opinion to the same effect; 
 and Answer to Lord Saye's Speech against the Bishops, where Laud 
 maintains that our Saviour had Himself instituted the episcopal 
 office (pp. 18, 19). 
 
l62I. 
 
 THE GENTRY AND THE TOWNS. 
 
 37 
 
 disliked and distrusted by the great rival power 
 in the State, which now began to assert itself, 
 the majority in the House of Commons. 
 
 A combination of two important classes, the 
 country gentlemen and the burgesses of the large 
 trading communities, composed this majority, 
 working at a similar policy under very different 
 impulses. The country gentry felt and resented 
 the curb which by the legal system of England 
 the Crown had placed upon their authority in 
 their own districts, but they were equally jealous 
 ot the reviving power of the Church. The great 
 towns, in constant communication with the busi- 
 ness circles of the City, 1 followed the lead of 
 London, and in London James I. and Charles I. 
 after him were personally unpopular. James from 
 his awkwardness and conceit of wisdom, Charles 
 from his refined tastes and stately silence, were 
 ill-fitted by nature to gain the affections of the 
 populace of their capital.- They did not, perhaps 
 they could not, resort to those little tricks of 
 popularity by which their great predecessor 
 Queen Elizabeth, and their clever successor 
 Charles II., turned the citizens of London into 
 a royal bodyguard. In London the two first 
 
 'Baxter's Autobiography. Dr. Stoughton says that in the 
 first election under Charles II., when London had elected Opposi- 
 tion members, ministers stopped the post for fear of the effect on 
 the other constituencies. 
 
 a Heylin's Life of Laud. 
 
38 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. cm. hi. 
 
 Stuart kings seldom showed themselves, and 
 many of its inhabitants did not even know them 
 by sight. 1 This unpopularity had been increased of 
 late years by the unthrifty administration of Buck- 
 ingham, which had weakened credit and left the 
 Channel at the mercy of pirates. Moreover, 
 London was the stronghold of Puritanism ; in the 
 early days of King James his Calvinistic bias had 
 increased the number of Puritan preachers in the 
 capital ; afterwards foreign intercourse, and the 
 great immigration from Flanders and from 
 France, had swollen the Puritan ranks. 
 
 Thus the influence of London and of the 
 country gentry secured successive majorities in 
 the Parliaments of James and Charles, which in- 
 sisted on limiting the royal prerogative and 
 supported the Puritan party in the Church. But 
 men who knew the motives which decided the 
 elections, and the restricted numbers of the elec- 
 torate, could hardly regard the opinion of the 
 Commons as endowed with that semi-sanctity 
 with which it has been invested by many modern 
 writers ; while there was certainly some foundation 
 for the claim of Laud and his associates that they 
 themselves were the defenders of the people 
 against an overweening aristocracy 2 and a purse- 
 
 1 Heylin's Life of Laud. 
 
 " Harrington's Valerius and Pubhcula : "The people then under 
 lords dared not to elect otherwise than as pleased the lords". 
 The Oceana shows how dissatisfied thinking men were with the 
 
l6 21. 
 
 laud's appeal to the people. 
 
 39 
 
 proud plutocracy, which together were able to 
 manipulate the Lower House. Even to the end, 
 when he was imprisoned by the triumphant 
 Commons of the Long Parliament, Laud main- 
 tained that he represented the larger and the 
 better part of the people. 1 And already an intense 
 distrust of the House of Commons, almost amount- 
 ing to hatred, was growing up in the minds of him- 
 self and his friends. It was a fatal jealousy, but it 
 was no unreasoned prejudice. They felt that the 
 Commons were really intent on stifling all freedom 
 of opinion in religion and in politics ; hostile to that 
 growth of art, learning, and literature, which was 
 to become the glory of the Laudian rdgime ; in- 
 sisting on immunity for the vices of the upper 
 class,- while they deprived the down-trodden peas- 
 ants of their innocent amusements ; champions of 
 a bitter persecution even to death of harmless 
 Romish priests and Popish recusants ; 3 while abroad 
 the so-called popular House cared nothing for a 
 high policy, such as should make England the 
 honoured arbiter of the nations. Indeed, too 
 often their conception of international relations 
 was that of the free-booter : " We are poor," said 
 Sir John Eliot in one memorable debate, " Spain 
 
 elections. The Parliaments of James I. passed several acts to 
 keep down wages, evidently in the interests of the rich (Eden, i. 
 142). 
 
 1 Speech in Defence of the Bishops, p. 42, published in 1641. 
 
 2 See proceedings against Laud for his punishment of Lady 
 Purbeck and others. 3 Sir R. Verney's Diary, p. 147. 
 
40 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. hi. 
 
 is rich. There are our Indies. Break with them, 
 we shall break our necessities together." 1 And it 
 seemed to show an incapacity for great affairs when 
 the Commons, 2 after insisting that the Govern- 
 ment should declare war to help the Calvinist 
 cause in Germany, dealt out money with a hand 
 so niggardly that it was never possible to strike 
 any blow of importance. 3 Indeed in the long 
 economical reign of Elizabeth they appear to have 
 lost the conception of generous giving. 4 
 
 All men in the nineteenth century are agreed 
 that the Commons under the Stuarts, in spite of 
 their shortcomings, were guiding the Constitution 
 into the course which could best ensure English 
 greatness and English freedom. But this was 
 certainly not evident in 1621. Rather it seemed 
 to very many that the victory of the Commons 
 meant a tyrannical aristocratic Government, and 
 that the king was the true protector of the poor. 
 Therefore Laud naturally allied himself with King 
 James, and attempted to rebuild the power of the 
 Church with his support. 
 
 The character of James I. has seldom been 
 fairly treated by historians ; 5 the king was a 
 
 1 Quoted by S. R. Gardiner, Buckingham and Charles I., i. 30. 
 - In 1624. :< Pari. Hist., vi. 103 ff. and 336. 
 
 4 Pere d'Orleans, viii. 23, shows us the foreign opinion on this 
 matter. Cf. Carte's Ormond, i. 50. 
 
 5 See among others, Baker, 426 ; Fuller; Carte's Ormond on 
 the settlement of Ulster; and most of James's contemporaries, for 
 
l62I. 
 
 CHARACTER OF JAMES I. 
 
 41 
 
 learned scholar and fond of ecclesiastical order. 
 Association with the writers and artiscs, who 
 were attracted to the Court by the Prince of 
 Wales and the Marquis of Buckingham, had modi- 
 fied his earlier predilection for Calvinism ; and, as 
 he grew older, he grew more devout. The beau- 
 tiful services which one of his chaplains, Dean 
 Williams, had instituted in Westminster Abbey, 1 
 and which were imitated in the Chapels Royal, 
 satisfied the cravings of the king, who was as 
 sentimental as he was conscientious, for comfort 
 and for rest. He cordially endorsed Donne's 
 expression : " Oh, the power of church music ! 
 that harmony added to this hymn has raised the 
 affections of my heart, and quickened my graces 
 of zeal and fortitude "." 
 
 The sermons, at once learned and spiritual, 
 by Bishop Andrewes, and a galaxy of famous 
 preachers whom he had appointed to be his chap- 
 lains, provided him with that intellectual food 
 and that philosophical support by which he was 
 enabled to resist the enticements of the insinuat- 
 ing Jesuit confessors who gained over so many 
 of his less thoughtful contemporaries. It was 
 Andrewes whom he summoned to preach before 
 
 a very high estimate of his abilities : on the contrary, Mrs. 
 Hutchinson, and Weldon's scandalous Memoirs. 
 
 1 See Hacket's Life of Williams for the pretty pride with which 
 the dean exhibited his service to the French ambassadors, as 
 superior to theirs. 
 
 2 Walton's Lives, i. 74. 
 
42 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. hi. 
 
 him on the great festivals of the Church. It 
 was for Andrewes' ministration that he called 
 constantly on his death-bed. The king, therefore, 
 appeared to Laud the safest and strongest ally in 
 his far-reaching schemes ; and he set himself to 
 gain over the royal mind such an influence as his 
 brother-prelates, Neile the Clerk of the Closet, 
 and Andrewes the Dean of the Chapels Royal, 
 now enjoyed. He could see nothing inconsistent 
 in combining the office of a minister of State with 
 that of a bishop ; and frequently quoted the 
 example of many great English saints, of St. 
 Ambrose and St. Augustine, and of the high 
 priests and prophets among the Israelites. 1 
 
 Though he was seldom consulted on political 
 affairs during the first years of his episcopate, the 
 new Bishop of St. David's became at once a man 
 of marked influence in questions which concerned 
 the Church. And as the rulers of 1 6 2 1 would 
 soon vanish from the scene, the prim Oxford 
 don, whose genial humour and keen sarcasm 
 rendered him so conspicuous a figure at Court, 
 and who was possessed of the uncommon gift ot 
 making the gayest courtier think about spiritual 
 concerns, would shortly rise to the first place in 
 the State, and have his opportunity to show 
 whether ecclesiastical rule was possible in Eng- 
 land in the seventeenth century. Fuller describes 
 him to us as "of low stature but high parts: 
 
 1 Answer to Lord Saye in Defence of the Bishops, pp. 1-22. 
 
l62I. 
 
 PROBABLE PRIMATES. 
 
 43 
 
 piercing eyes, cheerful countenance, wherein 
 gravity and pleasantness were well compounded, 
 admirable in his naturals, unblamable in his 
 morals, being very strict in his conversation": 1 
 evidently a person well equipped for the great 
 task which he believed God had set him. 
 
 Before Laud's consecration an untoward event 
 occurred which had a most serious effect on 
 the history of the Church. Shooting in Lord 
 Zouch's forest, Archbishop Abbot let fly his shaft 
 into a herd of deer, and killed the keeper, who 
 was driving them towards the huntsmen. Had 
 he (it was the ecclesiastical excitement of the 
 moment) by his ugly deed rendered himself 
 irregular and forfeited his archbishopric? and if 
 so, who would succeed him? It was natural that 
 this question of the succession should have its 
 unnoticed influence in forming the opinion even of 
 the learned as to his offence. Edward Coke, the 
 greatest of living- lawvers, who loved Abbot as 
 a Puritan, and dreaded some High Church suc- 
 cessor, pronounced it legal for bishops to hunt, 
 since by the common law a bishop was to be- 
 queath to the king his pack of hounds. If he had 
 hounds he must hunt ; if he hunted such accidents 
 could not be avoided ; so argued the acute 
 lawyer." 
 
 Two clergymen stood forward in all men's eyes 
 as likely to be primates. 'I he Lord Keeper, Wil- 
 1 Fuller's Worthies, i. go. '-' Heylin's Life, p. 82. 
 
44 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. hi. 
 
 liams, Dean of Westminster, was on the eve of 
 consecration to the great and rich see of Lincoln. 
 He was a man of decent personal piety, most 
 attentive to the outward decorum of the Church 
 services, a sagacious administrator, liberal in his 
 ecclesiastical opinions and gifted with singular 
 penetration in reading the signs of the times. But 
 he was not trusted by the clergy : they doubted 
 his sincerity and questioned his truthfulness. 
 They believed him capable of any intrigue to hold 
 his power. It was often remarked that he tried 
 to keep well with all parties, and that in spite of 
 his professions of disinterested zeal he had accu- 
 mulated in his own hands many rich benefices. 
 Nor did he succeed in his efforts to win the affec- 
 tions of the Puritans ; Lord Save said ot him : 
 "Were our Saviour upon earth the Bishop of 
 Lincoln would betray Him again, if He stood 
 cross to his ends ". 1 
 
 The other candidate was the ideal bishop of 
 the day, Andrewes of Winchester, a man of saintly 
 and beautiful life, against whom, even in those 
 libellous times, none had ever dared to breathe a 
 breath of scandal : one of the greatest scholars, 
 and the greatest preacher of his generation ; whose 
 sermons are even now read with enjoyment and 
 admiration for their piety of reflection, their wise 
 counsel and their deep theological learning. 
 Once already the voice of the nation had desig- 
 
 1 Quoted in D'Israeli's Charles I. 
 
1621. 
 
 APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSK >N. 
 
 45 
 
 nated him as the fittest primate, when a Court 
 intrigue had seated Abbot in the chair of St. 
 Augustine. He was absolutely free from worldly 
 ambition, and never sought to extend his influence 
 beyond the pulpit and the altar. But Williams 
 had the ear of the king and the ear of Bucking- 
 ham, and Court influence was again likelv to out- 
 weigh personal merit. 
 
 Probably this dread decided the question : 
 High Church bishops and Puritan lawyers alike 1 
 supported the legality of a royal rescript to remove 
 Abbot's disabilities. He was restored to his 
 position, though his authority in Church affairs 
 was gone. Neither Williams nor Laud would 
 receive consecration from a primate whose hands, 
 as they said, were stained with human blood ; and 
 they were consecrated by a commission of bishops 
 selected by the king. 2 
 
 To the Puritans, who rejected all meaning in 
 episcopal consecration, these scruples seemed 
 ridiculous and superstitious. By men who were 
 engaged in maintaining against Roman contro- 
 versialists the genuine character of English orders, 
 and the purity of the apostolical succession in 
 the English Church, they were felt to be most 
 serious ; 3 nor were they despised by that wide- 
 spread class of thoughtful and devout laymen 
 
 1 Howell's Familiar Letters, i. 107. 
 
 2 Heylin's Life of Laud, 82. Diary, sub anno 1621. 
 
 3 See Spehnan, Works, ii. 112. Cf. Panzani's Memoirs. 
 
45 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. in. 
 
 whose influence is so conspicuous through these 
 troubled times. 1 
 
 At first three great ecclesiastical interests 
 absorbed the new bishop's attention, and his 
 treatment of them defined his position before the 
 watchful eyes of the nation. These were (i) the 
 condition of his diocese, (2) the growing propa- 
 ganda of Romanism, and (3) the angry preaching 
 ol the Puritans. As a diocesan bishop Laud did 
 not distinguish himself until his promotion to the 
 see of London. Distant St. David's was hardly 
 a diocese to which in those days an ecclesiastic 
 full of ambition was likely to banish himself. A 
 very few months was all that St. David's saw of 
 her bishop during his five years' episcopate. The 
 long journey, the rough and miry roads, the 
 ignorant and scattered population seemed to the 
 scholar and courtier sufficient excuses for non- 
 residence. 2 Though later in life he became a 
 severe disciplinarian in the matter of episcopal 
 residence, and compelled his suffragans to give 
 their personal attention to the round of dio- 
 cesan duties, now he lived in London and the 
 neighbourhood ; candidates for ordination had to 
 travel up to the capital to their bishop ; confir- 
 mations must have been few and irregular, and 
 
 1 The lives of men like Lord Derby, the Dukes of Rich- 
 mond and Ormond, Lord Capel, Lord Falkland, Mr. Hyde, 
 Herbert's friend Mr. Woodnot, etc., illustrate this. 
 
 - Comp. Works, vi. 247, and Diary, 24th Aug., 1625, and State 
 Papers, vol. 150, No. no. 
 
1621-25. LAUD'S NEGLECT OF ST. DAVID'S. 47 
 
 yet the men of his school were perfectly well 
 aware that in the growing neglect of confirmation 
 Lay one of the most ready handles for their Puritan 
 opponents. 1 Where was the need of bishops if 
 baptism was complete without their blessing ? 
 They were intriguing at Whitehall for better 
 preferment, men said, leaving any wolves, who 
 chose, to devour their flocks. And in his latter 
 years there is nothing which Laud in his reports 
 to the king notes as a surer proof of the increasing 
 power of the Church than that people have come 
 "very thick to receive confirmation, to the numberof 
 some thousands in the diocese of Peterborough ". 2 
 None the less the bishop was in constant 
 correspondence with his officials on matters ot 
 discipline and administration. There is a curious 
 entry in his Diary of indignation against a salt- 
 petre-maker who had desecrated the graves at 
 Brecon in search of saltpetre, 3 which illustrates 
 how attentive he was even to details. He pro- 
 vided his house at Abergwilly with a handsome 
 chapel. He devoted much time and money to 
 putting the churches of the diocese in order ; 
 and visited and preached assiduously when his 
 duties at Court could be conveniently left. There 
 was very little Puritanism in Wales ; 4 the people 
 
 1 Heylin, p. 10. - Account of Province, 1639. 
 
 ;! Diary. 13th December, 1624. 
 
 * It will be remembered that Wales was universally on the 
 royal side through the Civil War. 
 
4 8 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. ii 
 
 were devout and attentive to worship. It was not 
 hard for a bishop to persuade himself that he was 
 more wanted elsewhere. But the Church suffered. 
 
 Meanwhile Laud was devoting his powers to 
 what appeared to be the most threatening danger 
 of the moment. Roman Catholicism was again 
 on the increase in England. The kino- was 
 hankering after a Spanish match for his son, 
 Prince Charles. Under the crafty influence of 
 the Spanish ambassador, Gondomar, the penal 
 laws against Romanism had been laid aside to 
 rust. Roman priests swarmed in England, secu- 
 lar priests and Jesuits, bitter in dislike towards 
 each other, 1 and all the more diligently rivalling 
 one another in making converts. Hundreds of 
 families who had conformed for a time were 
 being reconciled to Rome, especially in the North. 
 And at Court the Jesuits were very successful. 
 The Papacy still exercised a magic charm over 
 people who wished to enjoy all the pleasures and 
 advantages of this life and yet find heaven's gate 
 open at the last hour : and it was becoming the 
 fashion for statesmen, courtiers and great ladies 
 to have a Romish priest smuggled into their 
 chamber of death. The first hot zeal of the 
 Reformation, the fierce, irreconcilable detestation 
 of Rome as the Scarlet Woman and the Crowned 
 Antichrist, was fast cooling. And just as in 
 France Protestantism was being steadily ex- 
 
 1 Panzani's Memoirs. 
 
1622. 
 
 THE PRACTICE OF DEVOTION. 
 
 49 
 
 tinguished since Henry IV. had said the Crown 
 of France was well worth a Mass, and persuaded 
 his courtiers to imitate his example ; so the culti- 
 vated classes of England, who shrank from Puri- 
 tanism with its professed preference for what was 
 bare and ugly, its jealousy of music and decora- 
 tion and ritual as hindrances to the simple meeting 
 of the soul face to face with God, were likely to 
 be drawn insensibly into Romanism, unless some 
 middle way could be attractively set before them. 
 " I could speak with no conscientious persons 
 almost, that were wavering in religion, but the great 
 motion which wrought upon them to disaffect, or 
 think meanly of the Church of England, was that 
 the external worship of God was so lost in the 
 Church (as they conceived it) ; and the Churches 
 themselves and all things in them suffered to lie 
 in such a base and slovenly fashion in most places 
 in the kingdom." 1 
 
 The English religious leaders were meeting 
 this tendency by elaborating beautiful worship, 
 by disciplining the religious feeling, by declaring 
 without compromise the mysterious efficacy of 
 Holy Communion, by well-reasoned preaching. 
 Anglicans felt they had by no means the worst of 
 the arguments. " Where was your religion to be 
 found before Luther?" inquired a clever priest at 
 Rome of Sir Henry Wotton. " My religion was 
 to be found then where yours is not to be found 
 
 1 Laud in Trials and Troubles, p. 156. 
 4 
 
So 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. hi. 
 
 now, in the written word of God," replied Sir 
 Henry ; " but do you believe all those many 
 thousands of poor Christians were damned that 
 were excommunicated because the Pope and the 
 Duke of Venice could not agree about their tem- 
 poral power, even those poor Christians that knew 
 not why they quarrelled ? " " Monsieur," cautiously 
 replied the priest in French, " excusez moi." 1 
 
 But Buckingham was on the point of being 
 gained to Rome ; 2 his mother was almost a pro- 
 fessed convert ; 3 and the king, always a zealous 
 Anglican, thought it well to organise public con- 
 ferences for controversy between the courtier 
 Jesuit confessors, and some of the learned scholars 
 of the English Church. It fell to Laud's share to 
 bring out in strong relief the differences between 
 the Churches. This he did by challenging the 
 adoration of images ; the invocation of saints ; 
 the adoration of the Sacrament ; the administra- 
 tion in one kind only ; the doctrine of purgatory ; 
 and prayer in an unknown tongue. It was from 
 the Bible that he derived all his arguments ; it 
 was the defence of the authority and sufficiency of 
 the Bible to which he devoted his most careful 
 dialectic. 4 " Religion," he said, " as it is professed 
 
 1 Walton's Lives, i. 187. 
 
 2 Pere d'Orl£ans, ix., 240 shows us the Jesuit hopes of gaining 
 
 him. 
 
 s Diary, 23rd April, 1622. 
 
 4 See the Book against Fisher, and specially pp. 48-58 and 80- 
 95 for the authority of Scripture. It took him so much time to 
 
1622. 
 
 CONFERENCE WITH FISHER. 
 
 in the Church of England is nearest of any Church 
 now in beine to the Primitive Church, and there- 
 fore not a religion known to be false/ 7 The con- 
 ferences were published later, 1 and exhibit the 
 wide learning and the acute intellect of the Bishop 
 of St. David's ; his bitterest enemies in religious 
 opinion admitted it was the strongest book on 
 the subject. 2 And though the Countess of Buck- 
 ingham was held back from Rome only for a short 
 period, her son, now Marquis of Buckingham, was 
 henceforth a firm and soon a devout Anglican. 
 Taking Laud as his spiritual counsellor 3 he was 
 once more seen at the Holy Communion ; he 
 entered keenly into the English differences with 
 Rome and with the Puritans, and became a vig- 
 orous supporter of the great bulk of Englishmen, 
 both clergy and laity, who refused to break the 
 links with the past and to destroy the old Church 
 constitution, while they rejected what they con- 
 sidered the superstitions of the middle ages and 
 the usurped power of the Papacy. For the time the 
 advance of Romanism was stayed ; and Laud was 
 marked in the Roman archives as a man to be 
 gained at any cost or to be destroyed. 4 
 
 prepare this for publication that he had, most unwillingly, to give 
 up preaching in his later years. 
 
 1 Works, vol. ii., in Anglo-Catholic Library. 
 
 " e.g., Sir E. Dering (Wood's Athenae, ii. 65). 
 
 3 Diary, 9th June, 1622. 
 
 4 Testimony of the Roman hatred is given in Wharton's edition 
 of Laud's Works i. 616, in Laud's Trials and Troubles, p. 338, 
 
52 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. hi. 
 
 But the Puritan party were only the more 
 incensed against him. The Jesuits should be 
 executed, not reasoned with, they said. 1 The 
 concession that Rome was a part, though a cor- 
 rupt part, of Christ's Church, was to them 
 insufferable. In his later days the heaviest 
 charges would be those which imputed to him 
 Romanising tendencies, and made it treasonable 
 that he had connived at the existence of seditious 
 Jesuits, who taught that persecuting kings might 
 rightfully be deposed. 
 
 But the Jesuits were not the only teachers 
 who maintained the right of deposing tyrannical 
 kings. A sermon preached by Mr. Knight, 
 Fellow of Broadgate (or Pembroke), at Oxford, 
 put forth the doctrine that resistance to the king 
 was justifiable if he turned tyrant, or forced 
 blasphemy or idolatry upon his subjects — 
 ominous growlings of distant storms. The vice- 
 chancellor impounded Knight, and requested 
 Laud as an Oxford bishop to bring the matter 
 before the king. Knight escaped with a scolding; 2 
 but the fierce controversial preaching of the 
 Puritans against Papists and Anglicans was 
 considered so dangerous that the liberty of 
 preaching was curtailed by royal letter issued 
 to the archbishops. Preachers were to follow 
 
 by Sir H. Mildmay, a Puritan M.P., and for Laud's own conviction 
 of it, see pp. 16 and 162. 
 
 1 S. R. Gardiner's History, passim. 2 Heylin, 91. 
 
1622. 
 
 RESTRAINTS ON PREACHING. 
 
 53 
 
 the articles ; in the afternoon they were to cate- 
 chise ; 1 politics in the pulpit were forbidden ; 
 controversy was limited, and none but bishops 
 and deans were to handle in public such subjects 
 as predestination, election, reprobation, and the 
 universality or irresponsibility of God's grace. 
 All preachers were exhorted to pay special atten- 
 tion to the rules of life. 2 Little did the royal 
 counsellors, among whom both Williams of 
 Lincoln and Laud of St. David's must at this 
 time be reckoned, realise how impossible it was 
 for the passionate Puritan, convinced of his former 
 sin and his present election by God into a state 
 of indefeasible grace, 3 to shut up his beliefs in his 
 own heart. Even hard-working and educated 
 preachers like Gouge and Sibbes were harassed 
 by such prohibitions. As for the extreme Puritans 
 who would not hesitate to wade deep in blood on 
 their grand but hopeless crusade for erecting on 
 earth the reign of God's saints, they could not 
 
 1 See for the way this was carried out the charges against 
 Bishop Harsnet, Parliamentary History, vi. 316, and Laud's 
 Accounts of his Province, pp. 526, 540, 541, 545 and passim. 
 
 2 Heylin, 93 and 94. They were issued 4th August, 1622. 
 See Carlyle's Cromwell, letter ii. Prynne did not hesitate to 
 
 say : " Let any true saint of God be taken away in the very act of any 
 known sin, before it is possible for him to repent ; I make no doubt 
 or scruple of it, but he shall be as surely saved as if he had lived 
 to have repented of it ". 
 
 And see Bancroft's assertion at the Savoy Conference, in 
 1605, that the doctrine of predestination was producing much 
 wickedness of life. 
 
54 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. hi. 
 
 suffer such shackles for an instant. How dull 
 sounded now the simple moral and religious pre- 
 cepts of the Sermon on the Mount to the ears 
 of men who had wrangled over the awful question 
 of the Divine Fore-knowledge, and who con- 
 sidered the future of each man as " o'er-ruled by 
 fate inextricable, and strict necessity ". Certain 
 that they alone could be saved, what recked the 
 more fanatical Puritans, who were soon to be 
 masters in England, of the fate of the bodies or 
 the souls of the worthless crowd around them ! 
 Toleration of opinion was as yet impossible ; 
 Laud would try to enforce it and would fail. 
 Toleration of different forms of outward worship 
 and organisation was still more impossible and 
 was detestable to Puritan and liberal Churchman 
 alike. 1 Fire and steel would have to decide 
 whether scholar or enthusiast should preach the 
 Gospel ; and they would settle at the same time 
 whether king or gentry should control the Civil 
 Government. There are moments in the life of 
 nations when a struggle between opposing ten- 
 dencies is inevitable ; and the sects must either 
 have been trodden into toleration of other opinions, 
 or left free to work out to logical limits their tenets 
 of election. Moderation they could never tolerate; 
 and it was no Puritan, but Jeremy Taylor, a pupil 
 of Laud, and himself soon to be an Anglican bishop, 
 
 1 See Bacon, essay De Unitate Ecclesiae ; and the speeches 
 in Parliament, passim. 
 
1622-5. 
 
 LAUD AND THE PURITANS. 
 
 5 5 
 
 who was to plead with the English Government for 
 " the Liberty of Prophesying ". 
 
 As we turn from the pages of Milton, com- 
 pelled to an unanticipated sympathy with the 
 hero of the epic, the fallen archangel, full 
 of thoughts of strife and war and wrath, to 
 the sweet, soothing, spiritual songs of George 
 Herbert, the saintly poet of the Laudian move- 
 ment, of whose Temple 20,000 copies were sold in 
 a few years to be the comfort of 20,000 English 
 households, we see vividly how irreconcilable 
 were these two parties. To Marshall or to 
 Burgess, to Prynne or even to Baxter, the 
 parsonage life of Bemerton was contemptibly 
 mean, with its gentle toleration, its simple helpful- 
 ness of sympathy, its humble self-forgetfulness. 
 The vision of God which inspired the Ironsides 
 at Drogheda and Dunbar was not the vision of 
 God portrayed in Herbert's study : — 
 
 Then weep, mine eyes, the God of love doth grieve ; 
 Weep, foolish heart, 
 And weeping live, 
 For death is dry as dust. Yet, if we part, 
 Sad as the night whose sable hue 
 Your sins express; melt into dew. 
 
 In the clash of the strife between Jesuit and 
 Puritan in England and throughout Europe, the 
 school of Laud and Andrewes, and Herbert and 
 Izaac Walton turned their eyes upon that "dear 
 mother" Church of England, whom they felt to 
 be truly evangelical. 
 
56 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. hi. 
 
 A fine aspect in fit array, 
 
 Neither too mean, nor yet too gay, 
 
 Shows who is best : 
 Outlandish looks may not compare ; 
 For all they either painted are 
 
 Or else undrest. 
 
 So the last years of King James passed 
 stormily along. The Bishop of St. David's had 
 little part to play in the wild excitement of that 
 strange Spanish match, which sent Charles on his 
 madcap journey to Madrid, and seemed likely for 
 a few months after his return to despatch English 
 armies in chivalrous career over Germany to 
 drive back the advancing forces of Rome. 
 
 The warmth of Laud's heart flames out in 
 entries in his Diary, in special prayers composed 
 for private use, in rejoicings over the safe return, 
 in watchfulness that the absent duke at Madrid 
 should not lose his power with the king ; for this 
 sedate, severe bishop was the most faithful of 
 friends, and capable of feeling and inspiring the 
 most sincere affection. But his hand is shown 
 only in the careful attention paid to the arrange- 
 ments of Anglican worship in the prince's house- 
 hold while he was at the Spanish Court ; in order 
 that his Christian faith might be justified to the 
 ignorant and scoffing Spaniards, who spoke of the 
 English as pagans ; and that he himself might 
 compare it favourably with the sumptuous ritual 
 of Rome. 1 
 
 1 See in Heylin the vessels and linen to be provided for the 
 altar, and Howell's Letters from Madrid. 
 
1625. 
 
 DEATH OF KING JAMES. 
 
 57 
 
 On 27th March, 1625, King James I. died 
 after a short illness, and the news reached White- 
 hall while the Bishop of St. David's was preaching 
 before the Court a Lenten sermon, which the sobs 
 of the Duke of Buckingham and his own emotions 
 terminated abruptly. 1 
 
 1 Diary, 27th March, 1625. 
 
 For the projects of the aristocracy, see note A on p. 292. 
 
Further Authorities. 
 
 The Calendars of State Papers; Laud's Sermons; Memoirs of Sir 
 Philip Warwick ; Hamond L'Estrange's History of the Reign of 
 Charles I.; Clarendon's Life; Clarendon's History of the 
 Rebellion; Mrs. Hutchinson's Memoir of her husband ; May's 
 History of the Long Parliament ; Macpherson's Annals of Com- 
 merce ; Lilly's Life and Times. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 UNDER THE MINISTRY OF BUCKINGHAM, 1625-1628. 
 
 Character of Charles I. and of Buckingham — Points of 
 Dispute between King and Commons — Nicholas Ferrar 
 — Dr. Montague and the Remonstrance of the Three 
 Bishops — Commission of Bishops — Sermon on Unity to 
 Third Parliament of Charles — Death of Buckingham. 
 
 Charles I. ascended the throne under the most 
 favourable auspices. The people were delighted 
 at the breach of the Spanish match, and the 
 preparations for a religious war. The new king 
 was known to be scrupulously conscientious and 
 devoutly religious. It was noted that, unlike his 
 father, at the special request of Bishop Laud he 
 joined in the prayers of the Royal Chapel, instead 
 of expecting the sermon to be commenced im- 
 mediately upon his entrance. 1 They heard with 
 approval how sternly he rebuked an Irish 
 Romanist noble who interrupted the royal de- 
 votions by loud conversation in the anteroom. 
 Men whispered about the story that the prince 
 had said to his favourite bishop that he could 
 never be a lawyer since nothing would induce 
 him to plead the cause of a rascal. 2 
 
 1 Laud's Diary. - Ibid., 1st February, 1624. 
 
 (61) 
 
62 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. iv. 
 
 Scholars and writers and artists were capti- 
 vated with a sovereign who was not only a 
 patron but a genuine admirer of all that was 
 beautiful and well written ; and who himself was 
 no mean student in literature, " a competent 
 judge in music," 1 and in art an accomplished 
 critic of the styles of the great painters of the 
 Renaissance. Rubens and Vandyke painted for 
 him ; Milton wrote masques and pastorals for 
 his courtiers ; Waller, Davenant, Crashaw and 
 Herbert were among the band of graceful and 
 devotional poets who expressed the feelings and 
 aspirations of the dominant party. Manuscripts 
 of Greek, Arabic and Hebrew were added to 
 the libraries ; and the royal collection of pictures 
 was soon to be the best in Europe ; while the 
 faultless architecture of Inigo Jones was ready to 
 construct palaces and porticoes and galleries for 
 the refined pleasures of an educated society 
 delighting in the revival of art and learning. 
 
 Dignified and silent ; passionately proud of 
 England ; loving order and decent economy ; 
 upright in all his dealings, and a pure and dutiful 
 husband, 2 Charles seemed to be the king exactly 
 suited to the mind of the serious Englishmen who 
 formed the bulk of the middle classes. He had none 
 of the pedantry and none of the insolence of his 
 father. He was brave, and intent on making his 
 country play a chief part in the affairs of the world. 
 
 1 Playford, quoted by Burney, iii. 361. 
 - Mrs. Hutchinson's Memoirs, p. 127. 
 
1625. 
 
 CHARLES AND BUCKINGHAM. 
 
 63 
 
 Parliament seemed to him his surest and strongest 
 ally in the struggle which he now proposed to 
 undertake against Romanism in Germany. 
 
 Why, then, did such a king fail ? Un- 
 doubtedly because of the mistakes of his early 
 years, and the undisciplined character of his first 
 Prime Minister The Duke of Buckingham had 
 been intoxicated by too facile a success. Magni- 
 ficently handsome, extraordinarily attractive, quick 
 at expedients, prolific of great ideas, he had no 
 patience and no diligence. 1 Having made him- 
 self necessary to Charles by his assistance in the 
 Spanish journey and the French marriage, he had 
 been allowed to treat the new king as his equal, 
 and felt himself privileged to despise every other 
 Englishman. He had enriched himself and his 
 family at the expense of the nation. " Hark how 
 the waggons creak with their rich lading," said a 
 shrewd observer, 2 as men who had come to Court 
 "with the common carrier" were seen driving 
 home with "a full train of baggage ". In so 
 doing, and by his extravagant wars, he disordered 
 the finances and left the State loaded with a debt 
 which all Laud's thriftiness could only gradually 
 pay off. 
 
 Nor was Charles the man to set himself right 
 with his people. An impediment in his speech 
 made him dislike speaking in public, and he felt 
 
 ■ See Clarendon's History, i. 48-64. 
 
 ' 2 See Lilly's Memoirs, and VVeldon's Court of King James. 
 
64 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. iv. 
 
 that a few words from the royal pen ought to be 
 enough to clear up all misunderstandings. But, 
 as will appear, an explanation of the royal policy 
 was the last thing the leaders of the Opposition 
 desired. 
 
 Historians and essayists take pleasure in dis- 
 cussing how the king and the Parliament might 
 have been reconciled ; in discoursing, as if in 
 some nineteenth century newspaper, on the value 
 of responsible ministers, and the advantage that a 
 king should reign and should not govern ; in 
 pointing out exactly where the sovereign exceeded 
 his rights, and where the Parliament overpressed 
 its claims. Such discussions waste ink. The 
 king was master; for 150 years the kings of 
 England had been masters, choosing their own 
 ministers, and using their Parliaments as a means 
 sometimes to ascertain and redress the grievances 
 of their subjects, sometimes to support their own 
 power by the proof which the easy passage of new 
 laws afforded that the nation was united in the 
 decision. By the aid of Parliament, and because 
 the nation and the king wished it, the power of 
 the feudal nobles had been swept away. By Act 
 of Parliament, at the suggestion of the king, the 
 Papal authority in England had been abolished 
 and the monasteries destroyed. By the advice of 
 Parliament acting under the lead of her ministers, 
 Queen Elizabeth had set forward England as the 
 leader of the anti-Romanist party in Europe, and 
 
1625. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COMMONS. 65 
 
 had succoured and founded the Republic of the 
 Low Countries. Yet opposition in Parliament 
 had been crushed and often punished by the 
 Tudor sovereigns. Above all Queen Elizabeth 
 had sternly repressed any interference by the 
 House of Commons in religion. That was a 
 matter for the Convocation and herself ; it was 
 the advice of the spirituality which she required in 
 spiritual affairs. 
 
 The sovereign then had so far been supreme. 
 It was most unlikely that he would allow the cur- 
 tailment of his power except under compulsion. 
 Rather he had every intention to increase it after 
 the manner of his brothers of France, Spain and 
 Austria. But the country gentry and lawyers 
 and great merchants who composed the Commons' 
 House were equally resolved to rule England. 
 It was calculated that the united incomes of the 
 members of the House of Commons trebled the 
 revenues of the peers. Wealthy, powerful, each 
 in his own little corner of England strong enough 
 to bully the parson about his doctrines and the 
 peasant about his pleasures, the English gentle- 
 men naturally resented a mismanagement which 
 they felt themselves wise enough to set right ; 
 and, perhaps it was quite as natural, talked over 
 the ill-fated precedents of Henry III., Richard II., 
 and Henry VI., kings famous alike for their love 
 of art and for their misfortunes. 
 
 The struggle was inevitable. It was by no 
 
 5 
 
66 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. tH. iv. 
 
 means inevitable that victory should be with the 
 Commons. 1 At present the Crown appeared the 
 stronger ; and the tendencies of the day in the 
 European community, which exert such a magical 
 influence over men's minds, and which are so con- 
 stantly used as arguments for new movements, 
 pointed to monarchical victory. Holland was the 
 one prominent Republic, and there a great family 
 was monopolising power. 
 
 The influence of the Bishop ol St. David's was 
 at once evident on the accession of King Charles. 
 He was appointed to preach the sermon at the 
 opening of the new Parliament, to which the king 
 and Buckingham looked eagerly forward as pledged 
 by the action of its predecessor to support them 
 in their championship of the Protestant cause in 
 Germany. He succeeded his friend Bishop Neile 
 of Durham as Clerk of the Closet to the king, a 
 post which at once gave him a confidential relation- 
 ship to the sovereign ; and soon, on the death ot 
 Bishop Andrewes, was promoted to be Dean ol 
 the Chapels Royal and to control the ritual of the 
 royal worship. He was asked to provide the king 
 with a list of the leading divines in England marked 
 P. and O., Puritan and Orthodox. He was com- 
 manded to confer with Bishop Andrewes 2 of 
 Winchester, "the great light of the Christian 
 world " as he reverently styles him in his Diary, 3 
 
 1 Pere d'Orleans, ix. 237, 238. 
 1 Diary, gth and 10th April, 1625. 
 3 Ibid., 21st September, 1626. 
 
NICHOLAS FERRAR. 
 
 6 7 
 
 as to the government and discipline of the Church, 
 and especially to discuss with him the position of 
 the Church of England towards the five articles of 
 the Calvinistic Synod of Dort held in 16 19. 
 
 It was just about this time that Laud had the 
 opportunity of assisting an attempt to show the 
 Roman cavillers against the English Church that 
 
 o o 
 
 his communion possessed resources for the culti- 
 vation of a devout life of retirement and self- 
 recollection. Nicholas Ferrar, soon to be founder 
 of the community of Little Gidding, came to him 
 for ordination on Trinity Sunday, 1025, in Henry 
 VI I. 's chapel at Westminster. Laud gave him 
 deacon's orders and never ceased to take the 
 deepest interest in the fortunes of the Little 
 Gidding family. 1 Apparently Ferrar's character 
 and Ferrar's self-denial and asceticism deeply 
 impressed him ; for we find him recording in his 
 Diary a few weeks later a dream in which the 
 saintly Bishop Thornborough of Worcester stood 
 by him, and invited him to a quiet and simple life 
 of work within the limits of his own diocese. It 
 was one of those dreams which Laud noticed and 
 from which he drew practical instruction. Great- 
 ness he still sought for ; but pomp and luxury he 
 put decisively from him. 2 
 
 The first Parliament of Charles I. met in 
 June, 1625. The king welcomed its meeting, and 
 demanded at once large grants for the war in 
 
 1 Ferrar's Life, by his brother. 2 Diary, Sept., 1625. 
 
68 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. iv. 
 
 Germany, which had been undertaken at the 
 request of the last House of Commons. A bill 
 was proposed to enforce more reverent observ- 
 ance of the Sabbath, which the king accepted. 1 
 A solemn fast was proclaimed at the request of 
 the Commonsby order of the king and Convocation. 
 Religious sympathy seemed firmly established 
 between the king and Commons, and without 
 religious sympathy in those days political concord 
 was impossible. But three weeks after the open- 
 ing of Parliament, the House of Commons, leaving 
 thequestion of the German war, commenced a fierce 
 attack on a book of Dr. Montague, Vicar of Stanford 
 Rivers. Montague had found that some members 
 of his flock were being stealthily seduced to 
 Rome. He proceeded to attack the Roman 
 doctrines, but in so doing disclaimed Puritanism 
 and the Synod of Dort. The Commons lashed 
 themselves into fury in a committee on religion. 
 They accused Montague of Arminianism and of 
 Popery. They attempted to drive him from the 
 Church. Thereupon Bishop Buckeridge of 
 Rochester, Bishop Howson of Oxford and Bishop 
 Laud of St. David's petitioned the Prime Minister 
 to protect Montague. 2 They asserted that some 
 of Montague's doctrines were unquestionably taught 
 
 1 Heylin, p. 129. 
 
 2 Laud's Works, vi. 244. Andrewes, Mountain of London and 
 Neile of Durham afterwards supported the former three (Works^ 
 vi. 249). 
 
1625. 
 
 FIRST PARLIAMENT OF CHARLES. 
 
 69 
 
 by the Church of England, and that some were 
 difficult scholastic questions on which latitude of 
 opinion must be allowed. They took their stand 
 on the Act of the Submission of the Clergy in the 
 reign of Henry VIII., which allowed the king's 
 supremacy in religious matters, acting by the 
 advice not of Parliament but of Convocation. 
 They maintained that the Convocation of bishops 
 and clergy must remain the judge of spiritual 
 causes, and that a submission to secular judges 
 would be disobedience to the ordinance of Christ : 2 
 nor would the Church of England, which had 
 thrown off the yoke of Rome, bow to the decision 
 of a foreign synod, like that of Dort, or admit that 
 the House of Commons could decide matters of 
 doctrine. 
 
 It was a daring act, for it at once brought down 
 upon these bishops the wrath of the majority in the 
 Commons ; but Laud's convictions were too strong 
 to fear the danger. " I could easily," he says, 
 " have been as gracious with the people as any, 
 even the worst, of my predecessors. But I have 
 ever held it the lowest depth of baseness to 
 frame religion to serve turns, and to be carried 
 about with every wind of vain doctrine, to serve 
 and please other men's fancies, and not a man's 
 own either understanding or conscience." 2 
 
 1 Cf. Spelman's Works, i. 141. "The bishops ought to ex- 
 clude the temporal Lords," much more the Commons, "when it 
 cometh to the decision of a question in theology ". 
 
 2 Trials and Troubles, p. 161. 
 
70 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. iv. 
 
 The appearance of the plague adjourned the 
 Parliament for the moment ; but meeting soon 
 after at Oxford they proceeded to attack Bucking- 
 ham and were dissolved on the 12th of August. 
 
 From Oxford Laud set out for his diocese. 
 Sunday by Sunday, during the three months of 
 his stay, he preached in the principal parish 
 churches ; he consecrated the chapel he had 
 built for his own house at Abergwilly. and rejected 
 as unfit the solitary candidate who came forward 
 for ordination. In November he returned to 
 London, preaching in important centres on the 
 road, for he was zealous for the spread of religion, 
 and could not be accused either of want of earnest- 
 ness in duty or of indifference to preaching. In 
 both these points he took Bishop Andrewes as 
 his model. The two bishops were accustomed to 
 attend prayers together before consulting on the 
 needs of the Church. 1 
 
 At the coronation, appointed for 2nd February, 
 1626, Laud was directed to act as Dean of West- 
 minster. By his desire, in order to secure perfect 
 reverence, the king rehearsed in the abbey his 
 part of the ritual two days beforehand ; and the 
 magnificent ceremony was carried through without 
 a touch of disorder. The king wore white, 2 the 
 colour of holiness and humility, instead of purple. 
 A huge crowd filled the abbey and its approaches. 
 All were impressed with the dignity and the de- 
 
 1 Diary, ioth April. 1625. 8 Heylin, p. 138. 
 
1G26. 
 
 SECOND PARLIAMENT OF CHARLES. 
 
 71 
 
 vout character of the service. Every detail of 
 the ceremony was well seen by the congregation. 
 It is characteristic of the vice-dean that this gave 
 him the most intense satisfaction. 1 The Ruler of 
 the world had been served with decency and 
 order. 
 
 Laud was again appointed to preach at the 
 opening ot the second Parliament of Charles on the 
 6th of February, 1626. The sermon - was a bold 
 and eloquent attempt to persuade members to 
 avoid the two rocks on which the friendly relation 
 between king and Commons had previously 
 been wrecked. Acknowledging the weakness of 
 the Church, the representative of the spiritual 
 power, and the growing strength of the Commons 
 who represented the secular power, he appealed to 
 them to leave the Church her independence in the 
 day of her weakness, and not to claim the right of 
 dictating doctrine. Then he went on to explain 
 that the authority held by the king was of Divine 
 origin, and thus " the foundation of his people and 
 of all the justice that must preserve them in unity 
 and in happiness ". Therefore they ought not to 
 treat the king's personally chosen ministers as 
 enemies. The appeal was passed over by the 
 new House, nor was this surprising; for the 
 Government was now becoming embroiled with 
 France as well as with Germany. Buckingham's 
 administration had not been successful ; and 
 
 1 See Diary, 2nd February, 1626. - Works, vol. 1. 
 
72 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. iv. 
 
 renewed attacks upon him, culminating at last 
 in impeachment, brought the Parliament to an 
 unsuccessful close in June of the same year. 
 The king was resolved not to abandon his 
 servants, 1 and he had been brought up to look 
 on Buckingham as a brother. 
 
 On the 20th of June Laud was appointed Bishop 
 of Bath and Wells. 2 He now shared much of 
 Buckingham's unpopularity. He was known as 
 his intimate friend, as the chief counsellor of the 
 Government in religious matters, and as the 
 prominent opponent of Puritanism. Taxes were 
 being illegally collected ; soldiers billeted in 
 towns and villages filled England with disorder. 
 People were saying it was better to be oppressed 
 by a foreign enemy than to be undone at home. 
 The King of Denmark and the Palatinate were 
 far away and aroused little interest. Even the 
 Protestants of Rochelle were not dear enough to 
 the English mind for any great self-sacrifice. 
 The Puritans would rather see the Papists perse- 
 cuted and executed at home and let the Huguenots 
 perish in France. Buckingham was a mere child 
 in the hands of Richelieu, who had now made 
 himself the all-powerful minister in France ; and 
 the French Court knew how to play upon the 
 feelings of the Opposition in England, finding in 
 the Jesuits ready agents for stirring up hatred 
 against the Anglican bishops, and being thus able 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, vi. 430. 2 Diary. 
 
1626-7. 
 
 BISHOPRIC OF LONDON. 
 
 73 
 
 to keep open the breach between king and Com- 
 mons. Bitter libels written against him at this time 
 affected Laud's nerves ; one night he dreamt that 
 he was being overthrown at Court ; another night 
 that he was reconciled to Rome in spite of earnest 
 protests. 1 On foreign politics, on the direction of 
 the war, on ordinary secular administration he had 
 no influence : the burden of other men's mis- 
 takes weighed heavily upon him. 
 
 Meanwhile in the affairs of the Church his in- 
 fluence had become supreme. The succession to 
 Canterbury had been already promised to him, 2 
 and he was appointed Bishopof London on the 1 7th 
 of June, 1 627, and named one of the commissioners 
 who should administer the affairs of the Church 
 during the sequestration of Archbishop Abbot. 3 
 This sequestration was a high-handed act ot the 
 royal authority, which declared the archbishop in- 
 capable of properly performing his duties. Abbot's 
 health had been shaken, his influence had been 
 destroyed by his manslaughter of Lord Zouch's 
 keeper. He had thrown down the reins and let 
 Puritans and High Churchmen run riot in the 
 Church. To some men this seemed well enough, 
 for it was a method by which the Church could 
 include all. To Laud it was intolerable. In one 
 parish there was a solemn ritual, beautiful music, 4 
 
 1 Diary, 14th Jan., 1627, 8th March, 1627. 
 
 2 Ibid., 2nd October, 1626. :i Ibid., October, 1627. 
 
 4 See Burney's History of Music for attention paid to church 
 
74 LIFE AND TIMES OK WILLIAM LAUD. ch. iv. 
 
 and earnest preaching on the moral and spiritual 
 duties of the people ; so simple that the people often 
 thought the preachers were men of slight learning : 
 " Our parson," said the people of Childrey to a 
 wanderingOxonian."is one Master Pococke,a plain, 
 honest man, but, master, he is no Latiner". 1 In the 
 next parish some ill-paid and ill-educated curate 
 droned through the prayers while the congregation 
 were assembling : then the rector entered from the 
 vestry in his Geneva cloak ; with hot and fiery 
 eloquence he defended the high Calvinism ot the 
 Synod of Dort, dilated on " God's absolute de- 
 crees," 2 and comforted his followers with the con- 
 viction that their salvation was indefeasible, however 
 ill their neighbours might fare. 3 In such churches 
 the communion table was so ill guarded that on one 
 occasion while the congregation sat wrapt in atten- 
 tion to the preacher's eloquence, a dog stole in 
 and carried off the loaf set ready for the Holy 
 Supper. The story spread like wildfire, to the 
 horror of pious Churchmen. 
 
 Sadder by far was the utter disorganisation of 
 the clergy which Abbot's long neglect had allowed 
 to come about. Sir B. Rudyard in his place in 
 
 music, publication of metrical psalms, etc., at this time (iii., 356- 
 387)- 
 
 1 Twells' Life of Pococke, the great Eastern scholar, p. 95. 
 
 - Mrs. Hutchinson, p. 100. Life of a Fifth Monarchy Man, by 
 Rogers, gives a graphic description by a listener. 
 
 1 Baxter's Autobiography complains bitterlv that the Puritan, 
 teachers spoke little of the love of God. 
 
1627. 
 
 CONDITION OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 75 
 
 Parliament complains : " There are some places in 
 England where God is little better known than 
 among; the: Indians". 1 Round Baxter's home' 2 in 
 Shropshire few of the clergy could preach ; many 
 of them were addicted to drink, some officiated 
 with forged orders, several had been ordained 
 because they were fit for nothing else. 
 
 Nor was the work of the Church being 
 properly discharged abroad. The efforts to 
 Christianise the Indians in Virginia had been 
 thwarted by the jealousy of the Puritans, 3 in 
 spite of the efforts of Ferrar, and the eloquent 
 hopes which Donne had expressed from the 
 pulpit of St. Paul's that England would be the 
 means of the worlds conversion. All these 
 troubles were attributed to Abbot's supineness 
 and ignorance of parochial duties. 
 
 Now under the commission of bishops there 
 was a still more general removal of the communion 
 table to the chancel, where it was covered with 
 rich cloths and guarded by a rail. 4 The reins of 
 discipline were drawn tighter. Devotional books, 
 which to many men savoured of Popery, were 
 prepared and issued, and were much used by the 
 ever-increasing number who found no near com- 
 munion with God in the Calvinistic preaching, 
 but longed for prayer and quiet meditation. 5 
 
 1 Pari. Hist., viii. 164. 2 Baxter's Autobiography, p. 54. 
 
 3 See in Ferrar's Life the fatal influence of the Puritan Earl of 
 Warwick upon the Virginian Company. 
 
 4 Heylin, 162. ' Ibid., 1(14. 
 
76 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. iv. 
 
 To soothe the political excitement and give- 
 people's thoughts a fresh direction, instructions 
 were issued to preachers to point out the terrible- 
 perils which threatened the reformed religion 
 abroad, and to appeal for help in raising a loan 
 which should support an army in Germany under 
 the King of Denmark, and should equip a fleet 
 to succour the Huguenots in Rochelle. But these 
 efforts were ot no avail. The arrogance and 
 extravagance of Buckingham had alienated the 
 people. They could think of little but their own 
 grievances. Farmers whose goods were plundered ; 
 peasants whose wives and daughters were not 
 safe from bands of undisciplined soldiers newly 
 pressed into the service ; country gentlemen who 
 were smarting from letters under the privy seal 
 demanding a large loan to the king ; merchants 
 who were compelled to pay customs' dues without 
 authority of Parliament, and then found no pro- 
 tection for their commerce at sea, 1 cared little for 
 an unfortunate King of Denmark or a landless 
 elector palatine, or for Duke Soubise and Mayor 
 Guiton, whose hot-headed rashness had driven 
 Rochelle into unnecessary revolt. 
 
 A Parliament must meet once more, or 
 England would be bankrupt. And how would 
 
 1 See on these points Wentworth's speech, Parliamentary His- 
 tory, vii. 369, and speeches of Phelips and Seymour, 364, 362, and 
 Kushworth, i. 449. Cf. the petition of the women, whose husbands 
 had been imprisoned in Sallee for years, to the king (State Papers, 
 vol. 306, No. 85 ; cf. 316, No. 52). 
 
i628. 
 
 THIRD PARLIAMENT OK CHARLES. 
 
 77 
 
 Parliament act? It was opened on the 17th of 
 March, 1628, with a sermon from Laud. Taking 
 for his text Ephesians iv. 3, 1 " Endeavouring to 
 keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace," 
 he preached on the need of political and religious 
 unity. "Unity — a thing so good that it is never 
 broken but by the worst of men. Nay, so good 
 it is that the very worst men pretend best when 
 they break it. It is so in the Church; never 
 heretic yet rent her bowels, but he pretended that 
 he raked them for truth. It is so in the State ; 
 seldom any unquiet spirit divides her union, but 
 he pretends some great abuses which his integrity 
 would remedy." " Now the breakers of the bond 
 of peace, both in Church and Commonwealth, are 
 pride and disobedience ; for these two cry one to 
 another, that is pride and disobedience: 'Come, let 
 us break the bond'." The exhortation was taken 
 to heart and the early days of this Parliament 
 were the most hopeful of the reign. Sir Thomas 
 Wentworth took the lead in the Commons. 2 His 
 directness of purpose, moving eloquence and bold 
 hatred of misgovernment produced the Petition of 
 Right, in which the old liberties of the subject 
 were vindicated from arbitrary imprisonment, 
 from quartering of soldiery, and from illegal taxa- 
 tion. It was the one session of Parliament in the 
 reign of King Charles in which any attention was 
 
 1 Laud's Works, vol. i., Anglo-Catholic Library. 
 
 2 Parliamentary History, viii. 97, 107, 120, 163, etc. 
 
78 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. iv. 
 
 given to the condition of the poor, or any laws 
 framed for their advantage. 1 
 
 But the House of Commons would not be 
 content. It was far more interesting and excit- 
 ing to enter upon political strife than to devise 
 methods for the slow progress of the people. 
 After a few weeks Wentworth lost control of 
 them. Once more they attacked Buckingham. 
 Once more they proposed to decide a doctrinal 
 standard for the Church of England, and accused 
 the two most prominent bishops, Laud of London 
 and Neile of Winchester, of making innovations 
 in religion. 2 Doctrine and the affairs of the Church 
 the king was convinced were, alike by the law of 
 the land and the law of Christ, outside their control. 
 On this point he would not yield an inch, though 
 he allowed Laud to defend his action before the 
 House of Lords, who absolved him of the accusa- 
 tions brought against him. As for the proposed 
 impeachment of Buckingham, Charles claimed 
 most unwisely that his favourite must always be 
 above attack ; nor would he sacrifice the meanest 
 of his servants without proof sufficient to satisfy 
 himself that they had disobeyed his orders. With 
 singular want of tact he had promoted and would 
 
 1 Eden, State of the Poor, i. 155. 
 
 2 These chiefly rested on their supposed support of Dr. Man- 
 waring, who had preached some very unwise sermons. It was 
 proved by peers present at the time that Laud had advised the king 
 to prevent their publication (Parliamentary History, viii. 213). 
 
lf)2S. 
 
 MURDER OF BUCKINGHAM. 
 
 79 
 
 continue to promote the ecclesiastics 1 whom the 
 Commons condemned. Once more king and 
 Commons were drifting hopelessly apart, and 
 Parliament had been prorogued for a time, when on 
 the 23rd of August Buckingham was assassinated 
 by Felton at Portsmouth. It was a blow which the 
 king never forgot or forgave to those orators of 
 the Commons whose furious eloquence had in- 
 spired Felton's act.' 2 And it was a bitter personal 
 grief to the Bishop of London. But his influence 
 was not shaken. It was enormously increased. 
 The king now turned naturally to the guidance :i of 
 the man who had always set before him the high 
 ideal of a Christian Government for the good of 
 his people, and who had enforced upon him that 
 he was anointed by God Himself to administer 
 justice, and succour the poor, and make his 
 nation great. With Weston at the Treasury, 
 and Wentworth, just created Lord Wentworth, 
 President of the North and privy councillor, he 
 would have henceforth to carry on the govern- 
 ment of the country. How would the new 
 ministers fare ? Could they fill the empty- 
 Treasury? Could they restore order in disturbed 
 England ? Could they re-assert the mastery of 
 the seas and protect the injured commerce of 
 England ? Could they save Rochelle, or patch 
 
 1 Montague and Manwaring especially. 
 
 - Parliamentary History, viii. 244; Baker's Chronicle, 442. 
 
 1 Diary, 27th August, 1628. 
 
8o LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. iv. 
 
 up some peace with France ? Above all, could 
 they calm an infuriated Parliament ; discover a 
 modtis vivendi between the king and Commons ; 
 fix the boundaries between the spiritual and the 
 temporal ; establish some new and satisfactory 
 principle for the relations of the executive and 
 the legislative ? 
 
 It was an appalling task. Laud's eiffectionate 
 nature was shattered into ill-health 1 by the death 
 of his brilliant friend, whom he had nursed in 
 illness, and known 2 how to calm in passion, and 
 whom he had guided from a life of licence to 
 some yearning for religion. He was unfamiliar 
 with the State business. He was not well 
 acquainted with the capacities of his colleagues. 
 His was the greatest influence in the council, yet 
 he had no control over the other heads of depart- 
 ments. It was hardly conceivable that the first 
 encounter between Parliament and untried min- 
 isters, unpopular from previous associations and 
 ill served in the Commons by badly chosen 
 subordinates, could have any but ill success. 
 Neither party could be blamed for failure under 
 such unfavourable conditions. But if, for the 
 third time in four years, king and Parliament 
 parted in anger, would the king consider Parlia- 
 mentary government possible? Would Parliament 
 ever again be able to repose confidence in the king 
 and the king's ministers? 
 
 1 Diary and Works, vi. 257 (letter to Vossius). 
 
 2 e.g., Diary, 18th May, 1624. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ATTEMPTS TO RECONCILE KING AND PARLIAMENT, 
 
 1628-1629. 
 
 Laud and his Fellow-ministers — Concessions Despised by 
 the Commons — The Commons' Resolutions — Dissolution 
 — Laud's Regret — His Refusal to adopt Tyrannical 
 Measures. 
 
 The new Government had a difficult task before 
 it. Engaged by the king's promises in a hopeless 
 duty, the deliverance of Rochelle, which was now 
 held locked in the grip of Richelieu, it could but 
 send out to certain failure the fleet which lay 
 at Portsmouth. The peace with France 1 which 
 followed was necessary and prudent, but could 
 bring no reputation to those who negotiated it. 
 
 At home ministers would be compelled in a 
 few months to face an estranged House of Com- 
 mons, with an empty Treasury. They were per- 
 sonally unpopular with that House, having all, 
 with the exception of Wentworth, owed their 
 offices to the friendship and patronage of Buck- 
 ingham ; and Wentworth the country party 
 detested as an "apostate". 
 
 1 It was not actually published till ioth May, 1629 (Rushworth, 
 ii- 23, 25). 
 
 (81) 6 
 
82 
 
 LIKE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. 
 
 Was it possible to prove to the Opposition, 
 without insulting the memory of the king's dearest 
 friend, that there was a true desire in the Executive 
 to work harmoniously with them ? At least it must 
 be tried. The Earl of Arundel, the most repre- 
 sentative and the proudest of the great peers, an 
 attack upon whom had irritated the House of 
 Lords, was reconciled to the kin^ and called to 
 the Council Board. Cottington was appointed 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Dorchester 
 Secretary of State ; both these appointments 
 might prove popular, as both men had recently 
 opposed Buckingham. 
 
 The resistance to the payment ot tonnage 
 and poundage, which was now justified by some 
 merchants under the shelter of the Petition of 
 Right, was very tenderly handled, and the council 
 refused to proceed to extremities against the recal- 
 citrants, awaiting a settlement of the question in 
 Parliament. Weston, the new Lord Treasurer, 
 was a cautious and prudent minister, averse to 
 war, and economical in his management. It was 
 openly announced that the king was willing to 
 admit that his right to tonnage and poundage 
 rested upon the grant of Parliament. The abuses 
 in the quartering of soldiers were checked with a 
 firm hand ; and no opportunity was given for 
 accusing the Government of violations of the 
 personal liberty of the subject which had been so 
 definitely vindicated in the Petition of Right. 
 
RKLIGIOUS CONCILIATION. 
 
 83 
 
 The religious question was more difficult to 
 handle. Montague, so angrily condemned in the 
 last session, had been appointed Bishop of Chi- 
 chester ; Abbot and Laud were engaged in his 
 consecration when they received the news of 
 Buckingham's death. Montague's elevation to 
 the bench of bishops was sure to give offence. 
 But his book Appello Ccesarem, the cause of his 
 condemnation, was called in by authority, on the 
 ground that it was calculated to disturb the peace 
 of the Church; so were Dr. Manwaring's sermons 
 upon the king's prerogative. 1 A staunch Calvinist, 
 Dr. Potter, formerly tutor to the king, was chosen 
 for the vacant Bishopric of Carlisle. 2 This was 
 done that it might be impossible to say that divines 
 tainted with Arminianism were the only men who 
 obtained promotion. Archbishop Abbot, who was 
 even suspected of secretly plotting with the Puritan 
 leaders, was recalled to Court, graciously received 
 by the king, and commanded to attend the council 
 regularly. 2 The leading bishops assured him 
 publicly that they repudiated the tenets of Ar- 
 minius, 3 whose name indeed had been brought into 
 the debates with very insufficient knowledge. At 
 the same time some laws against the Romanists 
 were put in force ; a proclamation was issued 
 
 1 Parli.imentary History, viii. 243, and Rushworth, ii. 43. 
 - Baker's Chronicle, 443 ; Life and Works of Charles I. 
 
 ' Arminius was a Dutch professor who taught very emphatic- 
 ally the freedom of the human will, etc. 
 
8 4 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. v. 
 
 against the Jesuits ; and another for the seizure 
 of the Titular Bishop of Chalcedon, who was exer- 
 cising episcopal functions in the Pope's name in 
 England. 
 
 It was hoped that a reissue of the king's 
 instructions on preaching, which prohibited the 
 open discussion of burning questions of doctrine,, 
 would calm men's minds before Parliament met in 
 January, 1629. In fact the king and his ministers 
 were prepared for wider toleration than had yet ex- 
 isted in England, and at the same time were most 
 anxious to meet the Commons half way. They 
 would repress Popery so far as it was possible 
 without bloodshed. They would give Puritans 
 and Calvinists a share in the control of the 
 Church, so long as they observed the Anglican 
 discipline and did not refuse to live in peace with 
 divines of broader views. Actions, not opinions, 
 were to be controlled by law. The king and the 
 bishop alike refused to go farther, and they would 
 not execute Roman priests, nor imprison men who 
 did not acknowledge the Divine inspiration of 
 the Dutch Synod of Dort. 1 
 
 Laud had established relations with several 
 members of the House in the previous session ; 
 he had obtained the king's consent to a new Act 
 for the observance of Sunday : 2 he had succeeded 
 in getting an Act for the re-establishment of 
 
 1 See Laud's Epistle Dedicatory of Book against Fisher. 
 
 2 Parliamentary History, viii. 243. 
 
1629. TEMPER OF THE OPPOSITION. 85 
 
 Sutton's Hospital at the Charterhouse passed 
 through both Houses : 1 he had further persuaded 
 Sir Benjamin Rudyard, one of the most temperate 
 and capable members, to introduce a bill for the 
 better endowment of some of the miserably pro- 
 vided livings in England, a matter which he always 
 had greatly at heart.' 2 But there still remained an 
 atmosphere of suspicion, the natural consequence 
 of the daring and uncertain policy of Bucking- 
 ham. Laud and W eston had been his followers ; 
 the king had been his friend. The Commons 
 would only trust a ministry selected by them- 
 selves ; and would only feel confidence when they 
 had inaugurated a policy of persecution against all 
 who did not agree with them. 3 
 
 This temper was shown immediately Parlia- 
 ment met. Selden, the greatest lawyer in the 
 House, declared that the Petition of Right had 
 been infringed by the punishment of Savage 
 in the Star Chamber. This Savage had acknow- 
 ledged himself an accomplice in the assassination 
 
 1 Cf. Parliamentary History, viii. 243, with Works, vi. 1-4. 
 
 - Cf. Sir B. Rudyard's speech, Parliamentary History, viii. 
 165, and Diary, 12th April, 1626, and Things Which I have Projected, 
 x. Rudyard's speech is not reported by Rushworth, who is not 
 always trustworthy in relating matters to the credit of the 
 Royalists. 
 
 3 See the refusal to give a copy of charges (made against him 
 in the House) to a Roman priest. He had to get them through 
 a Puritan acquaintance (Parliamentary History, viii. 292). Pere 
 d'Orleans bitterly asserts (viii. 231) that persecution of Roman- 
 ists was the only sure means of popularity with the Commons. 
 
86 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. v. 
 
 of Buckingham, and, according to the brutal 
 practice of the clay, had been sentenced to have 
 his ears cropped. The impetuous Phel ps claimed 
 privilege of Parliament for a merchant member 
 whose snoods had been seized — an extension of 
 privilege which was certainly most unusual. The 
 Government vainly asked the Commons to settle 
 down to the discussion of supply, promising to 
 remedy any breach of the Petition of Right, and 
 to redress all grievances. Sir John Eliot once 
 more gained the leadership of the Opposition, 
 and led the House in an eager attack upon the 
 levying of tonnage and poundage ; on the respite 
 from execution granted to Romish priests; 1 and on 
 the innovations, as he styled them, in religion. 
 
 Unhappily for England, Eliot was an idealist, 
 little versed in the business or the practical re- 
 quirements of the time. In the complications of 
 foreign affairs he took scanty interest. 2 In 
 religion he posed as the strictest of Calvinists, 
 and as the stern persecutor of every opinion 
 which his party pronounced unorthodox. 3 The 
 
 1 He complained fiercely that a priest condemned under the 
 sanguinary laws of Elizabeth had not been executed (Parlia- 
 mentary History, viii. 304 ; cf. 302, 305, 325). 
 
 2 He had never understood that France was now decidedly 
 more powerful than Spain (speech in Parliamentary History, viii. 
 158). For the enfeebled state of Spain as compared with France, 
 see Hist. Gen. d'Espagne, vol. viii., and Howell's Letters. Some of 
 the Puritans realised the danger later. Cf. Ludlow's strictures on 
 Cromwell's policy, in strengthening France, which he inherited 
 from Eliot (ii. 559). 
 
 3 Yet his religious works published in prison were so broad 
 
1629. 
 
 SIR JOHN ELIOT. 
 
 87 
 
 difficulties of carrying on Government without 
 money to supply fleet or army, or even to provide 
 pay for the judges and the other officials, with a 
 heavy load of debt incurred in wars which had 
 been undertaken at the wish of the Commons — all 
 these were nothing to him. Passionately earnest, 
 magnificently though somewhat bombastically 1 
 eloquent, knowing how to stir the feelings of the 
 House, perfectly careless of danger to himself 
 and free from self-seeking, filled by study with 
 a conviction that the Commons had lost many 
 powers which they had once wielded, Eliot was 
 the least fitted of leaders to save England from 
 civil war. Even his friend John Pym, the future 
 leader of the Long Parliament, shrank from his 
 extreme measures. But he carried all before him. 
 
 At his instigation the House formed itself into 
 a committee of religion. The king's instructions 
 to preachers were severely handled. He would 
 hinder, some members declared bitterly, the 
 preaching of the Gospel. "Oh, Mr. Chairman," 
 said Eliot in speaking of Montague's mild Armin- 
 ianism, " this breaks the hearts of all, for if God be 
 God let us follow Him, and if Baal be God let 
 us follow him, and no longer halt between two 
 opinions." 2 How could they exist if they might not 
 
 in their views that we must believe he was carried away bv the 
 impulse of the hour. 
 
 ' See speeches in Parliamentary History, e.g.,\iu. 311. 
 
 1 Pari. Hist., viii. 296. 
 
88 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. v. 
 
 hear Sunday by Sunday that they, the chosen few, 
 were to be saved, while the preacher fulminated 
 forth terrible denunciations on the fate which 
 awaited their ecclesiastical opponents, garnished 
 with many pointed allusions to Midian and to 
 Moab ? No doubt such fanatical Puritans were 
 but a small minority in the Commons, as they 
 were certainly a small minority of the great and 
 serious party which is usually described as Puri- 
 tan. The important point was that for the 
 moment their influence was supreme. The 
 numerous supporters of the Court were too 
 timid for open resistance ; they never attempted 
 to take a division which would have shown the 
 existence of differences among the members ; and 
 the religious fanatics swept along the whole 
 House in their wake, for all leading politicians 
 in the Opposition felt it to be their interest to 
 support them. It was resolved that "we the 
 Commons now in Parliament assembled do claim, 
 profess and avow for truth the sense of the Articles 
 of Religion which were established in Parliament 
 in the reign of our late Queen Elizabeth, which 
 by public act of the Church of England, and by 
 the general and concurrent exposition of the 
 writers of our Church, have been delivered to 
 us, and we do reject the sense of the Jesuits and 
 Arminians". 1 
 
 The Commons were soon made conscious that 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, viii. 274. 
 
i6ig. CAMPAIGN AGAINST ARMINIANISM. 89 
 
 their resolution was ridiculous. What precedent 
 could they quote for laying down the rule of faith 
 in England, so evidently the privilege of Convo- 
 cation ? What was the public Act of which they 
 spoke so loudly ? Who were the Arminians 
 against whom they fulminated ? The most pro- 
 minent High Church preachers always declared 
 that they cared nothing for the tenets of the Dutch 
 professor Arminius. The leaders of the Opposition 
 answered by putting forward as the tests of ortho- 
 doxy the Lambeth Articles composed in 1595 by 
 Archbishop Whitgift and a few friends, 1 the Irish 
 Articles, which certainly could not bind the 
 English Church, the acts of the Synod of Dort, 
 and books of Calvinistic professors at the univer- 
 sities. It was evident that they had got out of 
 their depth. It was evident also that they were 
 setting up an intolerable tyranny in England. It 
 was certain that the Church would not submit to an 
 assembly of country gentlemen and lawyers, elected 
 after all only by groups of well-to-do citizens and 
 prosperous gentlemen and farmers, and in no 
 sense representative of that huge inanimate mass 
 of artisans and labourers, who would one day 
 claim a right to be heard. 
 
 Nor was the Puritan party in the House safe 
 from the charge of inconsistency. Rudyard said 
 sadly in committee : "I observe that we are 
 always very eager and fierce against Papistry, 
 
 1 Fuller, Church History, sub anno. 
 
go 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. 
 
 against scandalous ministers and against things, 
 which are not in our power ;" but "an adversary- 
 may say that we choose our religion because it is 
 the cheaper of the two, and that we would willingly 
 serve God with somewhat that costs us nought ". 
 " Scandalous livings cannot but have scandalous 
 ministers." " It will lie heavy upon Parliament, 
 until somewhat be effected." 1 
 
 But all this could not check Eliot ; he was 
 resolved once more to attack and imprison Mon- 
 tague, who should be declared no legal bishop. 
 Prebendary Cosin of Durham should be punished 
 tor his ritual practices at Durham Cathedral, and 
 for his book of devotions so popular among the 
 members of the Court, which was now impugned 
 in the House as savouring of Romanism. Gossip 
 was quoted against Bishop Neile of Winchester, 
 that he had forbidden his canons to preach against 
 the Pope ; and Oliver Cromwell had an old story 
 from 1617 of some anti-Puritan sayings of this 
 Popishly-inclined prelate.' One of the canons of 
 Winchester — so a member had heard — used to 
 cross two napkins on his dinner-table and then 
 humbly do reverence to the cross. Evidently he 
 was an emissary of the Pope. 3 Hotter and hotter 
 grew the debate. Romish priests, it appeared, 
 had actually been protected by the judges against 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, viii. 165. 
 
 2 Ibid., 289, 293. 
 
 6 Nicholas, Notes, quoted by S. R. Gardiner. 
 
DEBATES IN TflK COMMONS. 
 
 91 
 
 witnesses who swore that "common rumour" 
 pointed them out as having celebrated mass in 
 England. 
 
 What clearer evidence could be needed that 
 the ministers were bringing England back under 
 the Roman yoke ? They would impeach Weston, 
 the Lord Treasurer, whom Eliot described as an 
 oppressor of the deepest dye, ransacking history 
 to find tyrants ferocious enough to compare with 
 this cold, accomplished English gentleman, whose 
 prime ambition was to make himself a competent 
 fortune. All the ministers, all the officials should 
 be swept away. In vain the Speaker declared that 
 the king had ordered him to adjourn the House. 
 He was held down in the chair by main force, 
 while resolutions were passed that : — 
 
 "Whosoever shall bring in innovation in re- 
 ligion, or by favour seek to extend or introduce 
 Popery or Arminianism, or other opinions disagree- 
 ing from the true and orthodox Church, shall be 
 reputed a capital enemy to this kingdom and 
 commonwealth ". 
 
 " Whosoever shall counsel or advise the taking 
 and levying of the subsidies of tonnage and pound- 
 age, not being granted by Parliament, or shall be 
 an actor or an instrument therein, shall be likewise 
 reputed an innovator in the government, and a 
 capital enemy to this kingdom and common- 
 wealth." 
 
 "If any merchant or other person what- 
 
92 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. 
 
 soever shall voluntarily yield or pay the said 
 subsidies of tonnage and poundage, not being 
 granted by Parliament, he shall be likewise re- 
 puted a betrayer of the liberty of England and an 
 enemy to the same." 1 
 
 So it had come to this that any man who dis- 
 agreed with the religious opinions of a chance 
 majority of the House of Commons must expect 
 to pay the penalty with his life. 
 
 The intolerant resolutions were carried by accla- 
 mation ; the House declared itself adjourned ; and 
 the members poured out to proclaim what they had 
 done. The breach between king and Commons 
 was complete. Of necessity the Parliament was 
 dissolved. It seemed impossible that the two 
 powers could exist longer in the State. Eleven 
 years would pass before Parliament would meet 
 again. Laud notes in his Diary : " The Parlia- 
 ment, which was broken up this ioth March, 
 laboured my ruin ; but God be ever blessed, for it 
 found nothing against me ". No one was more 
 conscious than he how terrible was an impeach- 
 ment by the House of Commons, and that few 
 men, however complete their innocence, could 
 hope for acquittal. 2 He was glad that it was 
 gone and that a breathing space was left for work 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, viii. 332, and Baker's Chronicle, 443. 
 
 2 The impeachment of Cranfield in 1624 was considered by 
 most calm observers to have been very unfairly managed {Parlia- 
 mentary History, vi. 132 onwards; cf. Howell's Letters, etc.). 
 
1629. LAUD'S OPINION OF THE COMMONS. 93 
 
 which seemed to him all-important. During the 
 next eleven years he was to exercise the chief 
 authority in England. 
 
 But before we proceed to describe the adminis- 
 tration of Laud, let us pause for an instant to con- 
 sider the accusation brought against him that he 
 was an enemy to liberty. His letters to the 
 famous foreign scholar Yossius, 1 to whom he often 
 poured out his heart, show his sincere sorrow at 
 the failure of the Government to come to terms 
 with this Parliament, in which he had tried so 
 hard to secure unity by every allowable conces- 
 sion. But to Laud there was an institution, the 
 interests of which towered above all other interests. 
 The Church of God had been commissioned to 
 save the world ; it held its authority direct from 
 the Lord Jesus Christ ; 2 men's temporal needs 
 could not be weighed for a moment against the 
 spiritual. Herein lay his strength to influence the 
 future, but his weakness in winning his way 
 during his lifetime ; for a devout and scrupulous 
 Christian seldom becomes successful as a states- 
 man ; and an ecclesiastical leader too often foroets 
 in the apparent interest of the Church some impor- 
 tant principles of political progress. 
 
 Next to the Church Laud reverenced the 
 king. Reading literally the Biblical command to 
 "honour the king," he looked upon him as com- 
 
 1 Works, vi. 265, 278, 294, 300, etc. 
 
 2 Speeches against Leigliton and Prynne, and Works, passim. 
 
94 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. v. 
 
 missioned from on high for the work of govern- 
 ment. 1 The king's solemn consecration by the 
 Church wave him the ri^ht to interfere in Church 
 
 o o 
 
 affairs. 2 He was its supreme governor on earth, 
 bound, however, to rule by the advice of the 
 bishops and clergy, and having no right of himself 
 to declare doctrine. 15 But God had oiven no such 
 sacred office to the House of Commons. Here 
 Laud reaffirmed the Tudor theory, 4 that Parlia- 
 ment was a body intended to represent to the 
 kincr the needs and desires of the constituencies ; 
 and to bring before the king grievances caused by 
 the misconduct of provincial and central officials, 
 or by ill-framed or obsolete laws. He had tried to 
 effect a reconciliation between king and Commons 
 when he first came to be chief counsellor ; and 
 every action of his administration had been in- 
 tended to prove his sincerity. But the Commons 
 had flung the king's professions of loyalty to the 
 constitution back in his face ; they had miscon- 
 
 1 It should be remembered that when statesmen spoke of the 
 king as "absolute," they meant only that he had no rival or 
 superior, such as pope or emperor. Cf. Sir T. Davys, Solicitor- 
 General, to the Irish Recusants, in Carte's Ovmond, i. 39. 
 
 ' J See note on page 10. 
 
 '■' " That God hath entrusted into the hands of His priest " 
 
 (Speech for the Liturgy, p. 510, folio). 
 
 4 Cf. Works, vii. 631. Answer to the remonstrance of the 
 Commons drawn up by Laud for the king : " Let us see modera- 
 tion and the ancient Parliamentary ways and we shall love 
 nothing more than Parliaments". 
 
i62g. 
 
 1'OSSIIiLF. COURSES OF POLICY. 
 
 95 
 
 strued all his acts ; l they had set themselves up as 
 rulers of the Church contrary to the law of Christ ; 
 •contrary to the law of the land they had tried to 
 wrest from the king the reins of civil government ; 
 and by claiming a right to interpret and administer 
 laws' 2 had invaded also the province of the judges. 
 In this manner the Lower House had become 
 ■dangerous for the moment to the liberties of 
 Church and people ; but Laud felt a it was desir- 
 able to restore the regular course of Parliaments so 
 soon as the confusion of ideas about its functions 
 had been properly cleared up. And th s he might 
 have accomplished if he had obtained a free hand in 
 administering the Government, and if he had not 
 trusted too much to his own honesty of purpose, 
 forgetting that equally honest men were misjudg- 
 ing him day by day. 4 
 
 Several courses now lay open to Laud in order 
 to secure a majority in the House of Commons. 
 He might gain the leaders and make it their 
 interest to assist the Government. The sincerity 
 of the Opposition seemed doubtful both to him and 
 to the king ; and as three of the most prominent 
 
 1 There is no real proof that the king had tried to delude the 
 Commons in his first ill-expressed answer to the Petition of Right. 
 - Parliamentary History, viii. 307. 
 ; Trials and Troubles, 172. 
 
 4 See the bitter feeling in Mrs. Hutchinson's Memoirs, p. 129. 
 Sir T. Roe writes of him in 1634 as " very just, incorrupt and above 
 all mistaked by the erring world ". Sir T. Roe was a political 
 opponent. Cf. the Jesuit historian, Pere d'Orleans, ix. 266: 
 " Laud was a zealous Protestant for his own sect". 
 
96 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. v 
 
 members of it, Digges, Littleton and Noy, soon 
 accepted office, there was some cause for this 
 scepticism. Selden they were sure they could 
 gain at any time ; Coke's blind love of money would 
 make him an easy acquisition ; 1 even Eliot they 
 believed to be eager for office, but the ghost of the 
 murdered Buckingham forbade such an alliance. 
 If this course had been successfully adopted, there 
 was little question that the Commons, forsaken by 
 their leaders, would have voted for the king with a 
 facility equal to their former rugged distrust ; for 
 it was the practice of the Stuart Parliaments 
 never to come to a division if they could avoid it, 
 in order to present at all costs an appearance of 
 unity. 2 But underhand ways were impossible to 
 the open-minded probity of Laud. 
 
 Or the Government might have manipulated 
 the elections as Queen Elizabeth's ministers and 
 Queen Mary's had often done ; and Wentworth 
 was soon to show in turbulent Ireland how easily 
 a House of Commons could thus be managed. 3 
 Or they might have compelled submission by 
 executions and imprisonments ; there were striking 
 contemporary examples abroad ; Richelieu taught 
 his enemies to fear him by the execution of Mont- 
 
 1 See instance of Coke's rapaciousness, State Papers, vol. 280, 
 No. 12. 
 
 2 See Parliamentary History. 
 
 3 Cf. Cromwell's management of elections, Ludlow, ii. 498,. 
 578, and especially 600-602 and 617 ; and for reigns of Edward VL 
 and Mary, Heylin's Reformation. 
 
i62g. THE DUTY OF FORGIVENESS AND MERCY. 0/ 
 
 morency, 1 and the tragic fate of Calderon struck 
 terror into the opponents of Olivarez ; 2 but severe 
 punishments became rare under the ministry of 
 Laud, who prayed several times a day that he might 
 be enabled to forgive his enemies, and often inter- 
 ceded for the pardon of libellers. 3 
 
 These limitations to his action, set, as he be- 
 lieved, by the laws of God, caused him to risk failure. 
 He was thoroughly convinced that his life was in 
 constant danger from assassins ; and that his exe- 
 cution must follow the victory of his opponents. 4 
 But he had no fear of death if by dying he could 
 secure for the Church freedom of thought and 
 liberty to work out her constitution and her wor- 
 ship upon the primitive lines. And if it could so 
 happen that he should seal his principles with his 
 blood, it was certain that these would become a 
 part of the intellectual and spiritual inheritance of 
 the English race. 
 
 In his attempt to free the Church and make it 
 once more a power in England, now and again 
 passion blinded his eyes when he found himself 
 thwarted by an ignorant hatred of learning and 
 beauty ; and his indignation led him to sanction 
 some occasional acts of oppression which in his 
 better moments he sorrowfully reprobated. But 
 
 1 Howell's Letters, i. 242. 
 
 2 Hist. Gen. d'Espagne, viii. 76. 
 
 3 State Papers' Calendar, 1629-31, p. 362. 
 
 4 Letters to Vossius and to Wentworth. 
 
 7 
 
98 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. v. 
 
 none the less he consistently observed the evan- 
 gelical command which one of his own Oxford 
 disciples, Henry Vaughan, has so exquisitely 
 rendered : — 
 
 Who with the sword doth others kill, 
 A sword shall his blood likewise spill ; 
 Here is the patience of the saints 
 And the true faith which never faints. 
 
Further Authorities. 
 
 The Strafford Letters; Laud's Accounts of his Province to the King; 
 Ludlow's Memoirs; Panzani's Memoirs, edited by Father 
 Berington, show us the dissensions among the Roman 
 Catholics and their efforts at Court. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT, 1629-1633. 
 
 Quiet in England — Fatal Indifference to the Desire for 
 Popular Government — Protection of the Poor — Royal 
 Instructions for Better Government of the Church — 
 The Feoffees — The High Commission as a Court of 
 Morals — Growing Devoutncss. 
 
 The passionate proceedings and unmeasured 
 violence of the Commons at the close of the last 
 session in 1629 had by no means commended 
 them to the good sense of the people ; 1 and 
 apparently the majority of the members were 
 heartily ashamed of the conduct of their more 
 noisy and ambitious colleagues. On the whole it 
 was felt to be just that Sir John Eliot and other 
 leaders should be imprisoned for misdemeanour in 
 refusing to adjourn at the king's bidding, and in 
 holding down the Speaker forcibly in his chair. 
 When brought to trial a few months later they 
 were condemned by the courts and sentenced to 
 considerable fines. 
 
 Eliot evaded payment of the heavy sum im- 
 posed on him by a transfer of his property to 
 
 1 Autobiography of Sir Symonds D'Ewes, a strong Puritan 
 and member of the Long Parliament. 
 
 (IOI) 
 
102 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vi. 
 
 trustees, and died a few years later while still in 
 prison. To the others the king was willing 
 enough to show mercy. For Eliot, who had led 
 the assault upon Buckingham, and had, so he 
 always believed, been the indirect cause of the 
 assassination, he could feel no pity. A release, 
 which might have saved the great patriot's life, 
 was mercilessly refused. 
 
 With these proceedings Laud had little to do ; 
 nor did he exercise any commanding influence 
 over foreign politics. The king, having no 
 resources for war abroad, was compelled to look 
 on while the battle was fought out in Germany 
 between Romanist and Protestant. He could 
 only assist the reformed princes with occasional 
 small grants of money, with the sympathy of him- 
 self and the nation, and by permitting the enlist- 
 ment of troops in his dominions. 1 Laud, who had 
 the most intense horror of war and bloodshed, 
 and who, even in such a cause as this, refused to 
 counsel armed interference," did his utmost to 
 draw the Calvinists and Lutherans of Germany 
 into one Church, whose numbers might defy per- 
 secution : it was a great grief to him that this 
 attempt proved unsuccessful. The nation, in so 
 far as its voice was expressed in Parliament, had 
 shown no sincere desire for foreign war. Herself 
 
 1 There were many English and Scotch regiments in the 
 army of Gustavus (State Papers, passim). 
 
 2 Letters to Wentworth, passim. 
 
1629-30. QUIET AFTER THE STORM. IO3 
 
 at peace, England attracted to her shores an in- 
 creasing commerce, partly from her own colonies, 
 chiefly at the expense of the Low Countries ; and 
 London was fast becoming the greatest port of 
 the world. 1 Some of the merchants resisted the 
 payment of tonnage and poundage ; but their 
 opposition was gradually overcome because the 
 judges upheld the king's claim to these customs. 
 At the same time the law courts proved their 
 independence by checking any attempts to inter- 
 fere with the personal liberty of individuals, so 
 distinctly vindicated by the Petition of Right. 2 The 
 state of things was unsatisfactory, but not intoler- 
 able. Society gradually settled down, 3 and after a 
 time even John Pym accepted office under the 
 Crown as Lieutenant of the Ordnance; while Selden 
 wrote books in defence of the foreign policy of 
 the Government. 4 Charles and his ministers 
 indignantly disclaimed any projects of military 
 despotism, and their sincerity was self-evident 
 since the Court itself remained defenceless and 
 unguarded. There were no troops to repress a 
 rising against tyrannical acts ; and the incidents 
 of the early days of the Long Parliament were 
 soon to show how completely the royal authority 
 
 1 London at this time became the bank for Spanish payments 
 to the Netherlands (Continuation of Baker's Chronicle, 447, by 
 Edward Philips). Cf. Howell's Letters. 
 
 - Rushworth, ii. 80. :i State Papers, vol. 162, No. iS. 
 
 * Wood's Athenae, ii. 36 and 181. Selden's Mare Clausum 
 gained him the thanks of Laud and other privy councillors. 
 
104 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. VI. 
 
 was devoid of force to resist even a well-organised 
 demonstration by the populace of London. 
 
 This want of military force is probably for- 
 gotten by those historians who speak of the eleven 
 years which followed as if they were a Reign of 
 Terror. Indeed, through these years there were 
 no political executions, and no executions for 
 religion. 1 The atrocious but familiar punishment 
 of the pillory, with its accompaniments of 
 flogging and ear-clipping and nose-slitting, was 
 resorted to now and again ; 2 men were accustomed 
 to see these barbarities constantly employed as 
 deterrents against ordinary criminals ; but to 
 state that the name of each political sufferer is 
 still a household word is enough to prove those 
 sufferers few. Imprisonments which seldom 3 lasted 
 long, and fines which were constantly remitted, 
 were the more usual sentences of the courts. 
 
 Under the economical administration of 
 Weston, the firm hand of Wentworth, and the 
 decided and distinctly liberal policy of Laud, 
 which fostered trade and encouraged learning, 
 
 i The " Romish Recusant" in his Life of Laud (Kegan Paul, 
 1894) speaks of one priest executed in these years. He admits it 
 was contrary to the orders of the Government and gives no details 
 or references. 
 
 '-The Parliament had used it against its own enemies (cf. Parlia- 
 mentary History, vi. no) ; and did again, Carlyle's Cromwell, ii. 487. 
 
 3 There were occasional cases of prolonged imprisonments, 
 at times it would seem because fanatical prisoners refused to be 
 released. See an extraordinary case, S. P., vol. 427, No. 107. 
 
1629-30. 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF MINORITIES. 
 
 the nation prospered, and rose to a height of 
 wealth and comfort which it had not previously 
 attained. But this gave men all the more desire 
 for a share in the Government, and an influence 
 upon the progress of the State. 
 
 And here lay the first error of the administra- 
 tion. Charles, Weston, Cottington, even Went- 
 worth and in some degree Laud, fancied the 
 people would be satisfied with material prosperity. 
 They forgot that while this absolutely contents 
 the majority of men, the world is ruled by small 
 minorities of the active and the restless, and that 
 if these are not repressed by force, or enlisted by 
 interest on the side of stability, difficulties are 
 certain to arise. But at present there seemed an 
 astonishing ease in carrying on the Government. 
 Weston found means to meet necessary expendi- 
 ture. Shortly the revival of an old law was to 
 provide the State with a powerful fleet and make 
 England mistress of the narrow seas. 
 
 Puritanism appeared to have been flung off like 
 a nightmare with the dispersion of the terrible ma- 
 jority in the Commons. The mass of the people 
 welcomed the festivals and the sports, which the 
 Laudian bishops and clergy taught to be lawful on 
 Sundays, 1 after the community had duly discharged 
 its service to God. When Chief Justice Richard- 
 son tried to suppress these on the western circuit, 
 
 1 The Declaration of Sports was republished in 1632 (Baker's 
 Chronicle, 454). 
 
I06 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vi. 
 
 he was summoned before the council, confronted 
 with the strongly expressed opinion of the Bishop 
 of Bath and Wells and his leading clergy, that 
 village festivals were a source of peace and har- 
 mony, where mirth seldom degenerated into de- 
 bauchery ; and, having been sternly scolded by 
 Laud for interfering outside his province as a judge, 
 departed weeping, " choked," as he said, "by a 
 pair of lawn sleeves ". 
 
 In every community the country gentry, des- 
 potic so far, found themselves confronted by the 
 clergyman who had the Star Chamber at his back. 1 
 This famous court, composed of judges and privy 
 councillors, was by statute commissioned to inter- 
 fere in all those cases where justice could not be 
 had at common law, and was designed to be the 
 protector of the weak and the ignorant. In aris- 
 tocratic Yorkshire, Wentworth, now Lord Presi- 
 dent of the North, compelled the haughtiest nobles 
 to obey the law courts, and respect the rights of 
 the poor, and his mode of action was being copied 
 by the Government throughout the country. For 
 it was one of Laud's strongest convictions that, as 
 all men are equal in the sight of God, so ought 
 
 1 See for the nobles' hatred of the Star Chamber Lord 
 Andover's speech in moving its abolition, March, 1641 (Parlia- 
 mentary History, ix. 189); for its support of the clergy, 5. P., vol. 
 325, No. 1, etc. ; for its defence of the poor against the great, S. P., 
 vol. 277, Nos. 45 to 48, and cf. 278, Nos. 26 and 27 and 325, No. 
 5 ; for oppressions by great men after its abolition, Lilly's Memoirs ; 
 for its action as a court of equity, its chief duty, S. P., vol.313, No. 33. 
 
1629-30. 
 
 CAKE OF THE POOR. 
 
 IO7 
 
 they to be equal in the eye of the law. 1 The care 
 of the poor he considered to be the special duty 
 of the king, and during the bad harvests of 1629 
 and 1630 caused great pains to be taken to pre- 
 vent the indigent from suffering, by forbidding the 
 export of corn, and through instructions issued to 
 the justices and other officials. 2 He himself was 
 munificently generous at all times ; it was his cus- 
 tom in every parish and benefice which he held to 
 allot a large part of the income to the poor, and at 
 Lambeth in later years he was adored by his poorer 
 neighbours. 3 Certainly much required to be done 
 if all Englishmen were to share in the prosperity of 
 England. Therefore orders poured out from the 
 Privy Council under the inspiration of the Bishop of 
 London, sometimes unwise, constantly unsuccess- 
 ful, but always proving a distinct desire to render 
 the lives of the lowest class of Englishmen more 
 comfortable. Men might laugh at a command that 
 Friday should be observed as a fast day, but they 
 could not deny the importance of the object when 
 they were specifically asked to distribute the 
 
 1 Instructions to judges, Rushworth, ii. 80, 261, 294. 
 
 - See full reports from Norfolk justices in 1630. State Papers, 
 igi, 44 and passim; Rushworth, ii. 197; Strafford Letters, i. 459. 
 In 1631 a special commission to protect the poor was sent out, 
 Rushworth, ii. app. 82 and ii. 333, S. R. Gardiner, sub anno. For 
 the protection given to the poor and to chanties by the Star 
 Chamber, cf. S. P., 6th February, 1C35. 
 
 3 See also constant allusions in Diary to the weather as affect- 
 ing the poor, e.g., 20th March, 1631, and 17th July, 1632. 
 
I08 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vi. 
 
 money economised among the starving. Or the 
 builders might be annoyed at a set of directions, 
 the germ of our Building Acts, that no new 
 houses should be erected unless they were built 
 of solid materials and provided with larger 
 windows ; but evidently such a change must 
 benefit the health of the poorer classes. The 
 improvement of criminals was not forgotten, nor 
 the due training of children, nor the raising of 
 rates for the relief of the indigent under the 
 famous statute of Elizabeth ; and the officials were 
 specially commanded to watch over the proper 
 apprenticing of boys when their parents could 
 not afford them a cjood start in life. 1 Such ad- 
 ministrative improvements were evidently the 
 result of the years spent by the new chief 
 minister in country parsonages. And as he 
 knew the ignorance of the officers bv whom 
 most of these changes would have to be carried 
 out, he obtained a proclamation from the king 
 ordering the nobles and gentry to leave London 
 for their own counties, and there to devote them- 
 selves to the guidance and protection of the poor 
 under the jealous supervision of the Star Chamber. 
 
 Regulations were also issued for the proper 
 payment of workmen in the employment of the 
 State, 2 and of the seamen who were pressed for the 
 
 1 Eden, State of the Poor, 1372, 156-164, and long reports of 
 justices to the Privy Council in the State Papers. 
 
 2 State Papers, vol. 280, No. 17. 
 
1629-30. 
 
 CHURCH AFFAIRS. 
 
 IO9 
 
 royal fleet, 1 while customs were remitted in bad 
 times on the necessaries of life, so that the poor 
 might be sufficiently supplied. 2 England was to 
 be governed with scrupulous economy, strict 
 justice and diligent attention to the rights and 
 comforts of all. But these plans of Laud and 
 Wentworth were often frustrated by the pleasure- 
 loving nature of the queen, by the irresolute 
 character of Charles and his expensive delight 
 in the artistic and beautiful, by the corrupt pro- 
 ceedings of several of the ministers, and by the 
 indifference or hostility of the local magnates. 
 
 Meanwhile Laud's special province was the ad- 
 ministration of the Church. Though he was not 
 yet archbishop, he was the king's most trusted 
 counsellor, and the king, by the advice of the 
 bishops, could compel Archbishop Abbot to 
 execute the law. And if the Bishop of London's 
 purpose could be accomplished, the Church would 
 once again be made so rich and so powerful as 
 to be able to hold its own in political affairs 
 against any attack which could be reasonably 
 anticipated, and to guide the destinies of the 
 nation. 
 
 Though Laud's Diary shows us his constant ill- 
 health in the years 1629 and 1630, during which he 
 was unnerved by the sudden loss of Buckingham, 
 no weakness could reduce him to inaction. In 
 
 1 State Papers, vol. 285, No. 40. 
 - Ibid., vol. 285, No. 39. 
 
I IO LIFE AM) TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. 
 
 December, 1629, the king, at the request of the 
 Bishop of London, and the new Archbishop 
 Harsnet of York, issued to the archbishops a 
 series of instructions, 1 the object of which was to 
 temper and sharpen the weapon of Church influence 
 so that religion might be fostered and the monarchy- 
 find a powerful ally against the authority of the 
 nobility and gentry. Brought up among the 
 commercial classes, trained in the free society 
 of the university, and successful there by the 
 power of persuasion and the force of moral 
 influence, Laud was not ignorant that it would be 
 impossible to govern England unless he could 
 draw the people to his side ; and this he was 
 convinced could be done through the pulpit and 
 the press. But the powers of the Church could 
 not be effectively' used until he had reformed the 
 bishops. The episcopal appointments had of late 
 been carefully made, men of strong character 
 being consecrated to the vacant sees, mostly dis- 
 tinguished for learning and piety, and trained as 
 parish priests to understand the difficulties of the 
 society with which they had to deal. Such experi- 
 ence was now felt to be essential in a bishop ; for 
 his wantof acquaintance with parochial duties, which 
 left him ignorant of the people and of the poor, 
 was often alleged as a main cause of Archbishop 
 Abbot's failure, 2 and for the relaxation of moral 
 
 1 Heylin, 188, and Rushworth, ii. 7 and 30. Cf. State Papers, 
 vol. 153, No. 41. 2 Fuller, iii. 473. 
 
1629-30. 
 
 REFORMS IN THE CHURCH. 
 
 and devotional discipline under his administration. 
 The younger generation of parish clergy for the 
 most part were set upon improvements in public 
 worship, and opposed to the discussion of meta- 
 physical religion; and, as the prominent Calvinist 
 preachers preferred the independence of the lecturer 
 who had no cure of souls, it was difficult to find 
 even an occasional Calvinist for promotion to the 
 bench, in order to prove that no party would be 
 passed over, and that the new Government was 
 determined to practise a strict neutrality with 
 regard to doctrinal views. 1 
 
 But, in spite of what had been done, some of 
 the older and less devout bishops still looked upon 
 a bishopric as a worldly advancement, and were 
 constantly watching for a chance of a richer dio- 
 cese. The instructions were therefore first directed 
 to compel the bishops to reside in their diocesan 
 houses, in order that they might travel through 
 their dioceses, confirming, conferring with clergy 
 and laity, preaching, inspecting the condition of 
 fabrics, and enforcing the reverent observance of 
 public worship. 2 Laud, who had by no means been 
 absorbed in the diocese of St. David's, now gave 
 an example to his colleagues by himself preaching 
 at Paul's Cross on the anniversary of coronation 
 day. He also set his face most resolutely against 
 the evil practice of enriching relations by granting 
 beneficial leases, and of making a private fortune 
 
 1 Appointments of Potter, Morton, etc., show this. 
 
 2 Cf. State Papers, vol. 153, No. 40. 
 
112 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vi. 
 
 from the revenues of the see ; and did all he 
 could to control his colleagues into a like un- 
 selfishness. 1 
 
 But if it was all-important that the bishops 
 should become leaders of opinion through the 
 exercise of personal influence, there was nothing- 
 more disastrous to the progress of the Church than 
 the condition of the parish clergy. Baxter 2 and 
 others describe to us the disgraceful character of 
 large numbers of incumbents, ignorant, avaricious, 
 often immoral, who had been ordained during the 
 lax administration of Archbishop Abbot. In 
 future (such were the directions of the king at 
 Laud's suggestion) men must be carefully ex- 
 amined and tested before they were admitted into 
 holy orders, 3 and, so far as possible, the clergy 
 should enjoy a university training. A high 
 standard of self-sacrifice was expected of them ; 
 Laud was horrified on hearing of a debate at 
 Oxford as to whether or no the parish clergy 
 were compelled by their office to administer the 
 sacraments to those dying of the plague. 4 
 
 The independence of the clergy needed also to 
 be protected. The man who lived in the house 
 and sat at the board of some great country gentle- 
 man might enforce penance on an ignorant milk- 
 
 1 Works, vi. 389. State Papers, vol. 270, No. 6. 
 "Autobiography, p. 32, and Rudyard's speech, Parliamentary 
 History, vi. 422. Cf. State Papers, passim. 
 
 3 Cf. State Papers, vol. 308, No. 39. 
 
 4 Cf. Ibid., vol. 174, No. 45. 
 
1629-30. 
 
 TREATMENT OF PURITANISM. 
 
 1 '3 
 
 maid who had been led astray, and might thunder 
 denunciation against an immoral plough-boy ; the 
 vices of the squire would go unreproved, and his 
 high-handed acts might even appear to be sheltered 
 by Church authority. Laud's own mistake in 
 earlier life showed him the dangers to which great 
 men's chaplains were exposed. If the clergy were 
 to be the champions of the poor, if they were to 
 be the upholders of the equal laws of God against 
 vice in high places and in low, the system by 
 which so many were engaged as chaplains of great 
 country houses must be repressed. In future no 
 one under the rank of nobleman was to be allowed 
 a resident chaplain. 1 
 
 Puritanism would need careful handling. In 
 many places it had been the custom for years to 
 disregard the rubrics. These were now to be 
 strictly enforced. Popular lecturers, paid by 
 Puritan congregations," must read prayers in 
 a surplice and no longer sit by the vestry fire 
 till the moment was come to ascend the pulpit. 
 Even the congregation would have to attend 
 worship if they wished to hear the preaching. 
 Nor did the instructions forget the necessity 
 for simple teaching. Disputatious and dogmatic 
 sermons were leaving no place for the guid- 
 ance of the Gospel 3 in the duties of ordinary 
 
 1 Heylin, igi. 
 
 -The lecturer could be dismissed at a fortnight's notice 
 (Accounts of Province, 527). :! Hobbes' Behemoth. 
 
 8 
 
114 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vi. 
 
 life. The afternoon sermon was ordered to be 
 replaced in every church with catechising by- 
 question and answer on the elements of faith and 
 practice. The Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the 
 Ten Commandments were once more to take 
 their old position as the foundation of Christian 
 instruction. The directions against preaching 
 controversially and handling the subjects which 
 divided Calvinist and Arminian were also to be 
 obeyed. On such dangerous themes, the pulpit 
 must observe a masterly silence. 
 
 It was natural that these instructions should be 
 carried out very irregularly. In many dioceses 
 the bishops still winked at disregard of the law ; 
 some bishops enforced them with exasperating 
 harshness, 1 while in the diocese of Canterbury they 
 remained a dead letter. It argues well for the 
 personal influence of Laud that in the diocese of 
 London there was very little opposition, and that 
 few clergy needed to be coerced even with censure. 
 It was the bishop's practice to send for contuma- 
 cious incumbents, and quietly persuade them to be 
 silent on the burning controversies. 2 Even Dr. 
 Gouge, the chief Puritan preacher in London, 
 acknowledged and appreciated his conciliatory 
 
 1 Cf. Wren of Norwich later on ; speeches against him in 
 Parliamentary History, ix., and May's Long Parliament, p. 82. May's 
 authority is greatly discredited by his application for a monopoly 
 from the Crown, which was refused, to his great indignation. 
 
 2 Accounts of Province, 526. 
 
1630. THE FEOFFEES. I 1 5 
 
 treatment. 1 But with the rich citizens of London 
 Laud was less popular than with the clergy, since 
 he was determined to enforce the full payment of 
 the tithes which the great men of the city had 
 hoped to confiscate to their own use, after the 
 fashion of many of the country landlords. 2 
 
 Meanwhile Laud was dealing in another 
 direction a strong blow to secure the necessary 
 elasticity for the Church. 3 In 1626 a body of 
 clergy and laity had organised a fund for the 
 buying up of tithe impropriations 4 which had 
 fallen into the hands of laymen, and restoring 
 them to religious uses. But these men, called 
 the feoffees, being of the Puritan school, were 
 naturally anxious to retain the control of the 
 clergy whom they provided, and therefore kept 
 the funds and the appointments in their own 
 hands. There was a lecturer at St. Antholin's in 
 the city under this system, paid for by the tithes 
 of Presteign in Radnorshire, itself a parish very 
 ill provided with clergy : this lecture became a 
 great gathering place for those who disliked the 
 present conduct of Church affairs. 5 Similar 
 lectures were set up in important centres through 
 
 1 State Papers, 19th October, 1631, Gouge's letter. 
 
 2 Cf. State Papers, vol. 291, No. 101. 
 
 3 Heylin, 198; Fuller, iii. 361. 
 
 4 Out of 9284 parishes in England, the tithes of 3845 had been 
 impropriated, chiefly by laymen, after the Reformation (Baker, 
 450- 
 
 5 Heylin. 
 
Il6 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vi. 
 
 the country. The clergy who held these lecture- 
 ships were paid servants of the feoffees, and 
 could only hold office so long as they preached 
 acceptable doctrine. The Court of Exchequer 1 
 decided that such a trust was illegal, and confis- 
 cated the impropriated tithes to the king's use ; 
 they were restored to the parishes to which they 
 had formerly belonged. Shortly afterwards, by 
 Laud's advice, Sibbes, the most eloquent preacher 
 and most spiritual writer among the feoffees, was 
 promoted by the Crown to the charge of Trinity 
 Church in Cambridge : a post in which he exer- 
 cised immense influence. 
 
 Such appointments made it evident that there 
 was no desire to crush independent thought and 
 teaching. 2 But if he could effect it, Laud was 
 determined to rescue patronage from bodies of 
 trustees, who by their very existence are intended 
 to hinder those modifications in teaching and 
 worship which the ever-changing condition of 
 society demands; and by his determined action he 
 secured liberty for the Church to advance with the 
 times. People who only saw the immediate advan- 
 tage of an increased income for the clergy, and had 
 no sight for the future, blamed him bitterly ; :! but 
 the wisdom of his course has been made plain by 
 experience. 
 
 1 In 1632. Cf. Heylin, 200, and Diary. 
 - Warwick's Memoirs, 88. 
 
 3 Garrard to Strafford; Baker's Chronicle; Prynne's Works; 
 Mrs. Hutchinson ; May's Long Parliament, 
 
1630. 
 
 THE mk;ii commission. 
 
 117 
 
 At the same time the rights of the clergy 
 against powerful laymen were vindicated by the 
 action of the High Commission Court, This 
 court had been instituted by Parliament 1 under 
 the Tudors to exercise the royal jurisdiction in 
 ecclesiastical matters, and was composed of bishops, 
 privy councillors, and lawyers. Before it, in these 
 years of Laud's supremacy, were brought cases of 
 flagrant immorality among that class which was 
 too great and powerful to be locally dealt with ; 
 and here, by royal authority, such punishments 
 were meted out to them as the inferior courts of 
 the bishops and archdeacons inflicted upon the 
 poor and humble. Among others Lady Purbeck 
 (who had forsaken her husband for Sir Robert 
 Howard) and her paramour were fined and im- 
 prisoned by the High Commission. 2 
 
 This was a cause of some indignation ; but 
 much more anger was felt some time later when a 
 severe sentence was passed against a distinguished 
 lawyer in this court. 3 Sherfield, Recorder of 
 Salisbury, one of the Opposition leaders in the 
 last Parliament, being annoyed by a window in 
 
 1 Pym admits this in his speeches in Parliament of 1628. Cf. 
 Parliamentary History. 
 
 a Cf. case of Lord Dudley in April, 1635 (State Papers), of Sir 
 Giles Alington (Baker, 450) ; and of Mr. South of Grantham (Laud's 
 Account of his Province in 1634 > an d State Papers, passim, e.g., vol. 
 312, No. 45, and vol. 424, No. 39). 
 
 ;i Laud's Works, vi. 13; Heylin, 215, and accusations against 
 Laud by the Commons. 
 
Il8 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vi. 
 
 the Church of St. Edmond, Salisbury, which 
 represented God the Father, and to which he 
 thought some of the worshippers did reverence, 
 persuaded the vestry to order its removal. But 
 as the Puritan Davenant, then Bishop of Salis- 
 bury, in annoyance at such open disregard of his 
 authority, forbade the vestry to proceed, Sherfield 
 shut himself into the church, and smashed with 
 his stick the offending window. He was sum- 
 moned before the High Commission, fined and 
 compelled to apologise publicly to the bishop. 
 Great men could no longer be a law unto them- 
 selves, and felt and said that England was losing 
 her freedom. Laud would hear more of his tyran- 
 nical oppression of Sherfield and of Sir Robert 
 Howard when the day of retribution dawned.. 
 
 Such sentences as that on Sherfield might be 
 brought up with some fair excuse, when the pre- 
 dominant party had lost its ascendency, as proving 
 an unfair bias in this court against the Puritans. 
 But a study of the acts of the High Commission 
 shows us other causes for its unpopularity. Gentle- 
 men of ancient name and high repute in their 
 counties who were sentenced to stand in a white 
 sheet, and do public penance in their own parish 
 church for ugly acts of immorality, were not likely 
 to allow themselves or their friends to forget the 
 stern measure meted out to them by the Church, 
 when the opportunity of revenge was come. 1 Evil- 
 
 1 State Papers, vol. 324, fol. 1 and 10, and vol. 325, No. 53. 
 
1630-36. 
 
 THE CENSORSHIF OF MORALS. 
 
 119 
 
 doers of every kind who had been imprisoned or 
 fined ; 1 comfortable corporations who had been 
 scolded severely for providing a handsome ceme- 
 tery for themselves while they buried the poor in 
 some distant corner of the parish ; 2 husbands 
 obliged to provide alimony for their deserted 
 wives ; 3 simoniac patrons and clergy who had 
 been mercilessly reprimanded by the archbishop, 
 while they lost the fruits of their transactions ; 4 
 all these cherished a bitter feeling against the 
 coercion of the High Commission and fed their 
 animosity secretly ; until at last they began to feel 
 this well-founded and patriotic as they read in the 
 public prints the attacks upon the hated court 
 for prohibiting the circulation of libellous or 
 unorthodox books, 5 and dispersing conventicles 
 of Anabaptists. 6 
 
 The courts of High Commission and of Star 
 Chamber became unpopular in the country ; 7 
 
 1 State Papers, vol. 261, fol. 314 and 315. 
 
 2 Ibid., vol. 324, fol. 16. 
 
 3 Ibid., vol. 261, fol. 312, 268 and passim. 
 
 4 Ibid., vol. 261, fol. 320. 
 
 6 Ibid., vol. 261, fol. 257 and 273. 
 
 6 Ibid., vol. 261, fol. 264, where the Puritan Dr. Gouge is being 
 supported in his efforts "to reclaim schismatics". 
 
 7 Contrast the usual account of these courts with the tables 
 given by Dr. S. R. Gardiner; from 18th February, 1634, to 19th May, 
 1636, six clergymen were suspended for preaching against cere- 
 monies, etc., and five for crimes. A study of the records in the 
 State Papers shows how little of the business of the court had to 
 
120 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vi. 
 
 they were specially obnoxious to the lawyers who 
 formed a large proportion of the House of Com- 
 mons ; and they were swept away without opposi- 
 tion in the early days of the Long Parliament. 
 Happily they were never revived, for they served 
 to confuse the functions of judge and minister, 
 because in them ministers were allowed to sit as 
 judges of their own administration ; and the Long 
 Parliament itself was to give the best proof, in its 
 many acts of tyranny, of the injustice which such 
 a confusion of the judicial and executive is sure 
 to cause. Yet thoughtful men regretted them as 
 filling a place else left vacant in the judicature of 
 England, and it was some time before a further 
 development of the judicial system could discharge 
 their duties. A great judge spoke of the startling 
 growth of fraud and perjury in the law courts 
 since the abolition of the Star Chamber ; 1 and the 
 chroniclers indicate the ugly increase of immorality 
 and horrible sensual offences, as well as of bias- 
 do with the repression of Puritanism. Its work was chiefly for 
 morals, e.g., State Papers, vol. 147, No. 66. Cf. Clarendon's Re- 
 bellion, book iii. 
 
 The largest receipt in one year for fines in the Star Chamber 
 was £7375 in 1635, a startlingly small sum when compared with 
 the fines levied by the Long Parliament. The State Papers show 
 the general mildness of treatment. 
 
 Selden (Table Talk, quoted by " Romish Recusant" in Life of 
 Laud) reminds his listeners that there were more laymen than 
 clergy in the High Commission. 
 
 1 Sir M. Hale, quoted by Sir P. Warwick, p. 175. The busi- 
 ness of the Star Chamber was mainly with private suits which 
 could not be decided in the ordinary courts. 
 
1630-33. 
 
 PURITAN IRRITATION. 
 
 121 
 
 phemy and practices of magic, 1 which was coinci- 
 dent with the fall of the Hkjh Commission Court. 
 
 Meanwhile, a spirit of outward devotion and 
 reverence was growing through England. In the 
 North especially, where the comparative ignorance 
 of the people made sermons without worship less 
 endurable, and where the simple peasantry wel- 
 comed the renewal of the old stately forms, the 
 revival of ritual was marked. This was particu- 
 larly irritating to Puritan travellers. Tracts spread 
 broad-cast in the South asserted that an image of 
 our Saviour had been set up in Durham Cathedral 
 for worship. In vain did Cosin, the most influential 
 of the canons, laughingly point out that it was a part 
 of Bishop Hatfield's somewhat barbaric tomb which 
 a traveller's tale had magnified into an image of 
 the Saviour. Men believed the story ; that was 
 enough. Evidently the court was fast leading the 
 nation back to Rome. Was it not years since the 
 last Jesuit had been hung, drawn, and quartered? 
 Were not new churches being built in London, 
 and solemnly consecrated too, as if there were a 
 special holiness in such places? 2 Were not the 
 communion tables being everywhere moved to the 
 east end and placed " altarwise " ? Was not St. 
 Paul's Cathedral, that "rotten relique of Popery," 
 being fast repaired and beautified at a cost which 
 
 1 Lilly, Memoirs. See in Rogers, A Fifth Monarchy Man, the 
 strange desire for magic and necromancy felt often by the Puritans. 
 'Diary, 16th January, 1631. 
 
122 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vi. 
 
 men said was mounting to ,£100,000? Had not 
 Nicholas Ferrar at Little Gidding founded a com- 
 munity for devotion and meditation which was 
 nearly as bad as a Popish monastery ? Were not 
 pious men from time to time summoned before the 
 High Commission and forbidden to preach the 
 comfortable doctrine of strict predestination ? The 
 queen was a Papist : the king was a Papist at 
 heart ; soon a new legate would sail solemnly up 
 the Thames, as Pole had done seventy years 
 before, and the fires of Smithfield would be 
 relighted. 1 
 
 ^rynne's Hidden Works of Darkness. Ludlow's Memoirs, i. 6. 
 State Papers, vol. 148, No. 66, and vol. 161, No. 39. The presence 
 of Panzani, who was commissioned by the Roman Court to come 
 to England at the end of 1634, seemed to support these accusations. 
 He was sent by Urban VIII. to settle the angry quarrels between 
 the seculars and regulars ; to arrange about the appointment of 
 a bishop in England, much opposed by the Jesuits, but greatly 
 desired by the laity, whose children were left unconfirmed ; and to 
 represent the Papal views to the queen. He also interposed in 
 the disputes about the legality of an oath of allegiance which 
 most lay Romanists were willing to take, and the refusal of which 
 exposed them to conviction for high treason ; but which was dis- 
 liked at Rome, since it acknowledged the rights of a Protestant 
 king ; see Berington's edition of Panzani's Memoirs. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF CHURCH AND STATE, 1631-1637 
 
 St. Paul's Cathedral — Church Extension — The Archbishop- 
 ric — The Project of a Patriarchate and Opposition to 
 Puritanism — The Eastern Counties — Going too Fast — 
 The Reform of the Treasury — War with Corruption — 
 England Mistress of the Seas — Prosperity. 
 
 As Bishop of London, Laud had the best of 
 opportunities for showing to all England what 
 was his conception of Anglican worship and 
 Anglican teaching. The grandest of the cathe- 
 drals of England had been neglected for years. 
 St. Paul's, the mother Church of the richest city 1 
 in the world, was perishing day by day because 
 there were no endowments for its repair. Such 
 a condition of things was insufferable to the man 
 who now took the lead as champion of light and 
 beauty, of art and learning. The sight of the 
 miserable little tenements which the greed and 
 carelessness of the chapter had allowed to grow 
 like hideous excrescences upon the walls of the 
 great building, and which not only hid its beauties, 
 
 1 In Charles I.'s reign London seems at last to have outstripped 
 her rivals, Amsterdam, Genoa and Venice. See Howell, who knew 
 each city well. 
 
 (123) 
 
124 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vn. 
 
 but irritated the reverent and devotional feelings 
 with which pious men should approach one of the 
 most sacred places in England ; the turmoil of 
 buying and selling, of gossiping and news-telling, 
 which had converted the long, stately nave of 
 Bishop Maurice into " Paul's Walk," a noisy 
 centre of business and dissipation ; the disused 
 and dilapidated choir, no fit home for the cele- 
 bration of the most solemn mysteries of God, 
 filled the new Bishop of London with indignation 
 and impatience. The king was invited to the 
 city on a state visit. After service and sermon 
 he proceeded to inspect the cathedral. In his 
 train came many a student of architecture, many 
 a creative artist ; greatest of all that architect 
 whose severe and faultless method still draws our 
 sympathies away from the predominant Gothic, 
 Inigo Jones, English born and Italian bred, the 
 king's surveyor. 1 
 
 The inspection was decisive. Something 
 must be done, and that promptly. Lord Brooke 
 and the Puritan leaders might grumble out the 
 hope that all the cathedrals, so long the homes of 
 idolatry, would soon be demolished ; but their 
 vandalism found little favour even with the 
 puritanically disposed citizens of London, who 
 could not refuse affection to the church of their 
 ancestors. It was soon evident to Inigo Jones, 
 
 1 See Rushworth, ii. 90-93, for the repair of St. Paul's ; State 
 Papers, vol. 188, Nos. 27 and 37. 
 
THK RESTORATION OF ST. PAUL'S. 
 
 125 
 
 to whom the work was committed, that more 
 than ,£100,000, an immense sum in those days, 
 would be wanted to put the cathedral in order. 
 Then there would be internal fitting's to secure 
 full dignity of worship ; and further, Laud, ever 
 attentive to a wise policy which should not 
 harshly offend those who could not agree with 
 him, stipulated for a great portico at the west 
 end ; in which the merchants might meet, and the 
 newsmongers might gossip, without making the 
 house of God a house of merchandise. 
 
 The Bishop of London, out of his already over- 
 burdened income, guaranteed £100 a year, and 
 would give anything more that he could scrape 
 together. The work which his predecessors had 
 only talked over, he was determined to carry 
 through. By his widespread influence, citizens, 
 ministers, great nobles, clergy of more fortunate 
 cathedrals all over England, contributed liberally. 
 By the 16th of December, 1632, shortly after the 
 repair had been decided upon, between ,£5000 and 
 £6000 had been paid into the Chamber of London. 
 
 The restoration was immediately commenced 
 at the choir, and so cordially was it taken up 
 by the nation that in 1641 considerably over 
 £100,000 had been collected. And this did not 
 include several magnificent private gifts. When 
 Inigo Jones brought to the king the plans which 
 he had prepared for the great western portico, 
 Charles declared it so beautiful a conception that, 
 
1 26 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. 
 
 CH. VII. 
 
 for the honour of God, and the embellishment of 
 his capital, he would himself undertake the whole 
 cost, which amounted to nearly £1 1 ,000/ A friend 
 of the bishop, Sir Paul Pindar, expended ,£10,000 
 upon the decoration and fittings of the interior ; 
 other gi'ts followed, and the work was pushed on 
 so energetically that the cathedral was just ready 
 for the full glory of worship when Laud fell. 
 
 Modern feeling is inclined to stand aghast at 
 the strange blending of the classic and the Gothic 
 which Inigo Jones had wrought, but it is noticeable 
 that there seemed nothing incongruous or in- 
 artistic about it to the great body of nobles, 
 scholars and artists who filled the Court of 
 Charles, and who delighted in the stately cere- 
 monial services celebrated with all the pomp of 
 vestment and procession and genuflection which 
 Bishop Laud now introduced into London. St. 
 Paul's was crowded with worshippers, and became 
 the centre of worship in England. The most 
 earnest and eloquent of English preachers might 
 be heard there, or at the neighbouring Paul's 
 Cross, Sunday by Sunday." In these sermons 
 disputation on hard school questions was the only 
 forbidden ground. The preachers were not ex- 
 pected to confine themselves to one set of theo- 
 logical opinions so long as they instructed their 
 hearers in the spiritual mysteries, and in the 
 moral duties. Many distinguished men became 
 
 1 Laud's letter to the lord mayor, vi. 369. a Works, vii. 369. 
 
1631-3. CHURCH RESTORATION AND EXTENSION. I 2J 
 
 famous at St Paul's. It was here that Jeremy 
 Taylor's eloquence was first heard. 1 The beauti- 
 ful music, 2 the poetical hymns, :i the solemn cele- 
 brations of holy communion, the all-pervading 
 air of reverence were gradually to train men, so 
 the bishop hoped, to a religion of the heart as 
 well as of the mind, a holy habit of intercourse 
 with God, a strong delight in duty. 
 
 While the restored St. Paul's was the most 
 famous monument of Laud's episcopate in 
 London, the restoration of other churches was not 
 forgotten, nor the building of new churches in grow- 
 ing suburbs. 4 These it was his custom solemnly 
 to consecrate 5 with a ceremonial, originated or 
 revived by Bishop Andrewes, which was bitterly 
 satirised by the Puritan pamphleteers. What 
 good was done, they scoffingly asked, by these 
 bowings and scrapings and mutterings ? Did he 
 imagine that God was only to be found in a spot 
 over which certain incantations had been used ? 
 
 And herein lay indeed one of the chief points 
 
 J Bishop Heber's Life of Taylor. Laud's Works, vi. 437. 
 3 Burney's History of Music, iii. 356-387, for church music of 
 the time. 
 
 3 See " Hymns " in Howell's Letters ; George Wither's Hymns ; 
 Sandys' Paraphrases, etc. 
 
 4 Similar proceedings went forward in other dioceses. Arch- 
 bishop Neile reports that, in the diocese of York, £6500 was 
 expended during 1635 on the restoration of churches (State Papers, 
 vol. 312, No. 841. 
 
 ■' Diary, 7th June, 1631, 17th July, 1632, 26th May, 1632. 
 
128 LIKE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vii. 
 
 of difference between the two schools of thought. 
 To the Puritan the church was a preaching house, 
 in which some well-trained speaker pressed upon 
 the listener's mind a conviction of sin, and the 
 means to gain the forgiveness of an angry God. 1 
 For this purpose there was no need of beauty : 
 " I want the chapel cheap," said the Puritan Lord 
 Bedford, as he conferred with Inigo Jones on the 
 building of a new church for Covent Garden, " in 
 short, I would not have it much better than a 
 barn ". 2 The nobler side of their preference for 
 ugly churches is brought home to us by Milton : 
 "Tell me, ye priests, wherefore this gold, where- 
 fore these robes and surplices over the Gospel ? 
 Is our religion guilty of the first trespass and hath 
 need of clothing to cover her nakedness ? . . . 
 Ye think by these gaudy glisterings to stir up the 
 devotion of the rude multitude ; ye think so be- 
 cause ye forsake the heavenly teachings of St. 
 Paul for the hellish sophistry of Papism. If the 
 multitude be rude the lips of the preacher must 
 give knowledge, and not ceremonies." 3 But to 
 Laud the church was the hallowed spot in which 
 a poor weak human soul came into the presence 
 
 1 Prynne's Works. Cf. Cromwell, letter i., and Carlyle's com- 
 ments ; Rogers' Fifth Monarchy Man ; and State Papers, vol. 267, 
 No. 90, where a Puritan preacher asserts that " preaching is the 
 ordinary means ordained by God to salvation," and therefore 
 urges the necessity of two sermons every Sunday. 
 
 - Cunningham's Life, 35. 
 
 :; The Reason for Church Government, book ii. chap. ii. 
 
1631-3. LAUD'S conception of worship. 
 
 1 29 
 
 of his Maker and his Father for prayer and 
 praise. His school dwelt on the importance of 
 having a fixed place for devotion where the train 
 of spiritual thought could quickly be resumed. 
 When the worshipper entered, he should bow 
 reverently to the holy table, collecting his thoughts 
 in prayer ; not because the Saviour was there 
 present in the consecrated elements (this was 
 a distinction from Romanism which Laud con- 
 tinually emphasised), 1 but because it was the table 
 of Christ, and symbolised the covenant of grace 
 which He had made with His people. And this 
 reverent feeling should be deepened by every 
 external aid ; by magnificent architecture, by 
 melodious music, by solemn ritual, by careful 
 decorum of demeanour, all valuable habits for as- 
 sisting the worshippers to realise that God Himself 
 was present. The sermon was to be subordinate. 
 No one took more pains about preaching, or was 
 more diligent in finding and promoting preachers 
 of talent, and most of the great preachers of the 
 Restoration were first brought forward by him ; but 
 he would have no one preach who would not pray. 
 It was a point of principle as much as of discipline 
 that the lecturers should lead the prayers of the 
 congregation whom they were about to instruct. 
 The bare sermon as the only worship of the day 
 was hateful to Laud. After communion in prayer, 
 teacher and taught could understand each other. 
 
 1 Cf. Book against Fisher, sect. xxxv. 
 
 9 
 
130 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vii. 
 
 This war, therefore, against the Puritan lec- 
 turers he carried on by gentle means, but with 
 iron will. The Vicar of St. Botolph's without 
 Aldgate had agreed that his parishioners might 
 appoint a lecturer at their own charges to do half 
 his work, if they would first increase his vicarial 
 stipend by ^"30 a year. Both parties were con- 
 siderably surprised to find that the bishop con- 
 sidered them in this comfortable arrangement to 
 be buying and selling the charge of souls. 1 
 
 On the whole the diocese of London settled 
 down comfortably enough. A few lecturers were 
 deprived for nonconformity, and paid out the 
 bishop for the inconveniences which they endured 
 by the savage libels which they published against 
 him. Laud's affectionate nature always suffered 
 from bitterly expressed dislike : he writhed under 
 the charges of hypocrisy, dishonesty, and even of 
 acts of immorality which they did not hesitate to 
 invent ; but he suffered in silence, for he felt he 
 was performing his duty to the Church and nation. 
 Occasionally he considered the libels too serious 
 to be left unanswered. Sometimes they could be 
 refuted by his acts, as when he publicly celebrated 
 the marriage of one of his chaplains in reply to 
 the accusation that he considered celibacy obliga- 
 tory on the clergy. 2 Sometimes his chaplains were 
 instructed to publish books on great questions of 
 
 1 Cf. State Papers, vol. 177, No. 34. 
 
 2 Heylin, 212 
 
ARCHBISHOP OF CAXTKKISURY. 
 
 131 
 
 principle. 1 Once and again some specially malig- 
 nant charge against the Church, which he could 
 not treat as a mere personal accusation, induced 
 him, as in the case of Prvnne and of the detestable 
 punishment inflicted on Leighton, 2 to permit trial 
 and sentence in the Star Chamber, unless the 
 offender chose to appeal to the more severe justice 
 of the King's Bench. 
 
 The Opposition grew more angry as the success 
 of the new ecclesiastical policy proved more con- 
 spicuous, and as Laud's power with king and 
 people increased. 
 
 On 6th August, 1633, he came to visit Charles 
 at Greenwich. " My Lord's Grace of Canter- 
 bury," said the king, " you are very welcome." 
 Abbot was dead, 3 and the long-expected primacy 
 was vacant. The last obstacle to the reform of 
 the Church of England had been removed (so both 
 Charles and Laud felt) by Providence : and their 
 
 1 Jeremy Taylor's Works, v., "Episcopacy Asserted"; Heylin, 
 
 etc. 
 
 2 Young Leighton, son of this savage libeller, was carefully 
 looked after by Laud ; he was afterwards the saintly Archbishop 
 of Glasgow. The king would have pardoned Leighton if he had 
 not broken out of prison. Leighton horrified people by applying 
 to himself the prophecies of the sufferings of Christ; he called 
 the bishops " men of blood," and advised his readers to repeat 
 Felton's praiseworthy act (Rushworth, ii. 55). I can find no con- 
 temporary proof of Neale's assertion in his History of the Puritans 
 that "Laud took off his cap and thanked God for the sentence " 
 on Leighton ; which seems to be taken from Leighton's Epitome, 
 published many years later, quoted by Dr. Gardiner, i. 184. 
 
 3 See Carte's Ormond for the carelessness of the archbishop 
 in his latter years in the discharge of his duty, i. 5. 
 
13- 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. 
 
 CH. VII. 
 
 joy was probably shared by the majority of English- 
 men : exaltat ecclesia, writes Sir Thomas Roe in 
 congratulating Laud. 1 For indeed all seemed to 
 be going well. England had never been more free 
 from disturbances. Trade had never been so 
 vigorous. London was becoming more and more 
 the chief emporium of the world's commerce. 2 The 
 king had just been crowned in Scotland, and Laud, 
 after a personal visit to the chief towns and much 
 conversation with the chief people, had come to 
 the conclusion that a liturgy might safely be intro- 
 duced into that country. 
 
 The Church had welded England into one in 
 the old days ; her influence had made Wales a 
 part of England. Was it not possible that in the 
 Church life would be found the necessary force of 
 sympathy to combine the whole population of the 
 two islands into one nation, with one king, one form 
 of worship, one legal code, and — since Laud and 
 Went worth always looked forward to the full 
 revival of the Tudor Parliamentary system — one 
 Parliament ? Could the archbishop help adding in 
 his own heart that of this magnificent empire, 
 already extending over the world, he would be 
 first patriarch ; 3 and, as men had said of old about 
 Anselm (it was a tale he loved to tell), Papa 
 alterius orbis, Pope of a second, of an English 
 
 1 State Papers, 20th August, 1633. 
 
 2 Cf. Ranke's England, ii. 55. 
 
 3 See the Pere d'Orleans, ix. 249. 
 
1633. ATTEMPTS AT A PATRIARCHATE AND REUNION. I 33 
 
 world ; but no tyrant Pope, rather the constitu- 
 tional leader of a free, liberal, learned Church, 
 strong in organisation, dignified in worship, 
 devout in prayer, champion and deliverer of 
 the poor, which might do for the West what 
 Alexandria and Constantinople had failed to do 
 for the East ? Even wider schemes than this — for 
 a general reunion of Christendom 1 which would 
 leave Rome isolated in its corner of south-western 
 Europe — were already being sketched out. Emis- 
 saries from Canterbury were working to reconcile 
 Lutheran and Calvinist in Germany, and to 
 establish some agreement between the German 
 Protestants and the Anglican community ; while, 
 at the same time, Pococke, Laud's new Arabic 
 reader at Oxford, was negotiating on his behalf 
 with Cyril Lucaris, the learned patriarch of Con- 
 stantinople, and Graves, his agent in Egypt for 
 the collection of hieroglyphics and manuscripts, 
 had opened correspondence for him with the 
 patriarch of Alexandria. The affection and 
 admiration felt for Laud by the leading foreign 
 scholars seemed to promise that at least the 
 foundations of unity could be laid, and the 
 
 1 See letters to Pococke, Works, vi. 521, etc., and Twells' 
 Life, 49-72. Sir T. Roe's embassy to the Sultan in 1621 had 
 gained many privileges for the Greek Church, and commenced 
 that intercourse which brought us the Alexandrine MS. of 
 the Bible (Athenae, ii. 52). The patriarch, Cyril Lucaris, during 
 Pococke's sojourn in the East used to attend English worship 
 (Twells' Life, 49). 
 
134 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vn. 
 
 historic episcopate, meeting in general council, 
 might yet recover its liberty from the autocratic 
 Popedom. Schemes for foreign missions to the 
 Indians in America, and even to the Mahommedans 
 of Turkey, floated before his eyes. 1 
 
 Wentworth, the strong, decided, clear-sighted 
 statesman, to whom Laud clung with an affection 
 not unmixed with such admiration as a shy, sensi- 
 tive scholar must naturally feel for the man of war 
 and action, had restored Ireland to order, and was 
 on the eve of summoning a Parliament. He had 
 curbed the power of the great nobles, and had com- 
 menced the reform of the Irish Church, always a most 
 dear object to the heart of the new archbishop. 
 
 The law apparently, so the judges had 
 decided, would bear out all the king's acts : and 
 without guards and without police, without exe- 
 cutions and without wars, 2 Charles seemed to be 
 growing as potent in England as Louis XIII., his 
 brother-in-law, was in France ; and to be in a fair 
 way to rule his country according to his own 
 will, unless he preferred the old English custom 
 of periodical Parliaments. And if the king was 
 strong, what honour was reflected upon Laud, the 
 chief architect of his fortunes ? Two years later 
 the position of Charles' great minister seemed so 
 secure and so magnificent that Sir Thomas Roe 
 writes to the Queen of Bohemia about him : " Being 
 
 1 Twells' Pocockc, 77. 
 
 2 Correspondence of Laud and Wentworth, passim. 
 
i6 3 3-4- THE ARCHIEPISCOPAL VISITATION. 
 
 135 
 
 now so great he must choose and make new ways 
 to show he knows and can do more than others, 
 and this only hath made Cardinal Richelieu so 
 glorious 'V But it was not fame which the arch- 
 bishop coveted ; he desired to perfect the English 
 Church and State according" to his own ideals ; 
 and this could only be accomplished by hard work 
 at the details of administration and the most dili- 
 gent attention to the wants of the people. Two 
 purposes specially interested him at this time : he 
 was determined to complete the reform of the 
 Church, and to purify the administration of the 
 Treasury from the corruptions which the Lord 
 Treasurer, Weston, had fostered for his personal 
 advantage. 
 
 The first of these objects could be secured by 
 a visitation of the whole province of Canterbury, 
 diocese by diocese, on his own authority as 
 metropolitan. For three years, beginning in 
 1634, the vicar-general, Sir Nathaniel Brent, 2 was 
 sent to every diocese in the South of England 
 to reform abuses and to enforce the law. The 
 clergy were compelled to attend to their duties ; 
 immoral clergymen were brought before the 
 High Commission and deprived ; communion 
 tables were removed to the upper end of the 
 chancel ; and communicants obliged to receive the 
 holy sacrament kneeling. 
 
 1 State Papers, 5th April, 1635. 
 
 " For Laud's instructions see State Papers, 22nd February, 1634. 
 
136 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vn. 
 
 Two large dioceses caused the archbishop 
 special anxiety. Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 opposed his claim to visit, and, though the courts 
 supported the metropolitan, it was quite clear that 
 the directions for placing the communion tables in 
 the chancel, and for suppressing- such lectureships 
 as were held at the will of lay patrons, would not' 
 continue to be carried out when the vicar-genera] 
 had departed. Worse still, the morality of the 
 county of Lincoln was shown to be in a grievous 
 condition ; 1 and. in this diocese conspicuously, 
 great numbers of people were found by the visitor 
 to have been excommunicated for neglect in paying 
 the fees due to the legal officials of the bishop. 
 Laud directed the excommunications to be taken 
 off and watched his opportunity to put the diocese 
 into safer hands. He felt keenly the disgrace 
 brought upon the Church by the use of spiritual 
 penalties for pecuniary gain. 2 
 
 The diocese of Norwich was the most difficult 
 to govern in all England. Large numbers of 
 foreign settlers had poured into it from France 
 and Holland, flying from Roman persecution. 
 So great was the compassion felt for them that 
 the bishop had given up his episcopal chapel 
 for a French service. 3 These new-comers had 
 added by their industry and technical skill to 
 
 1 State Papers, gth September, 1634, and Laud's Accounts of 
 Province. 
 
 " Accounts of Province, 555. :1 Ihid. 
 
i634- THE DIOCESE OF NORWICH. 1 37 
 
 the riches which made Norfolk rank next to 
 Middlesex in wealth among the counties of 
 England; 1 but they remained foreigners in a 
 strange land, with no interest in its religious and 
 social progress : ' 2 and they stirred a strong feeling 
 against ceremonial of any kind. There was a 
 commercial danger also, for now that Holland had 
 established her freedom they, and many English 
 with them, were being tempted across the North 
 Sea by liberal offers from the rulers of the 
 Republic. :! Such departures seriously injured trade 
 and engendered discontent. At the same time 
 Puritanic feeling in the diocese was developed by 
 the close connection between Norfolk and London, 
 where most of the commercial families had repre- 
 sentatives. 4 And yet, when the rebellion came, 
 Norfolk proved to be less Puritan in its sym- 
 pathies than many writers have supposed. Lynn 
 was devout in its churchmanship and resolute in 
 its loyalty. 5 Long lists of malignants were pre- 
 sented to the Parliament for fines ; and a riot 
 in Norwich in 1648 could only be extinguished by 
 numerous executions, 0 while Colchester was the 
 
 1 Mason's Norfolk, 303; Drayton's Polyolbion, xx. 12. 
 
 I This was probably the chief reason for Laud's attempt to 
 break up the foreign congregations (State Papers, 19th December, 
 1634, and passim). 
 
 3 Mason's Norfolk, 409; Laud's Accounts of Province, 549. 
 
 4 State papers, wills, deeds, etc. 
 
 5 Mason's Norfolk, 282, 410. 
 
 II Ibid, 304. 
 
I38 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vn. 
 
 last retreat of the conquered Royalists. It was the 
 military genius and the swift blows of Oliver 
 Cromwell which forced the eastern counties into 
 the famous Association. For Laud's work had 
 been carefully done in the diocese of Norwich. 
 Bishop Samuel Harsnet, the baker's son of Col- 
 chester, 1 a good scholar and a hard-working 
 clergyman, though despised for his low birth by 
 the country gentry, had enforced the royal instruc- 
 tions about catechising and reverence in worship." 
 Then on Harsnet's elevation to York the Prime 
 Minister had attempted to win over the Puritans 
 of the eastern counties by sending them the 
 witty Bishop Corbett, whose gay humour lights up 
 many a dull page of contemporary documents, and 
 whom Wood describes as "a quaint preacher and 
 therefore much followed by ingenious men " : 3 and 
 later he hoped to hasten the establishment of Church 
 ritual by the appointment as Corbett's successor of 
 the stern Bishop Matthew Wren, of " a severe, sour 
 nature, but very learned," 4 who proved so strict a 
 disciplinarian that in 1638 he was moved to Ely, 
 and succeeded by Montague, the hero of many a 
 
 1 Morant's Essex, book ii. 121. 
 
 2 Parliamentary History, vi. 312-319, for absurd accusations 
 brought against him by a man who wished to be Archdeacon of 
 Norwich. 
 
 3 Wood's Athenae, and State Papers, vol. 150, No. 80. Garrard 
 describes his death-bed: "prayers ended, he gave them all good- 
 night and died " (State Papers. Sept. 18, 1635). 
 
 4 Clarendon's Rebellion. 
 
1634-5- RESISTANCE IN THE EASTERN COUNTIES. 1 39 
 
 Parliamentary debate and the author of The New 
 Gag for an Old Goose, written against Romanism, 
 a keen disputant and bright and educated preacher. 
 The rule about the position of the communion table 
 was enforced with decision. But Laud's advice to 
 his suffragans was to be cautious ; and he accepted 
 the objections urged by many clergy against com- 
 municating at the rail, as a reason for introducing 
 the practice gradually and after persuasive instruc- 
 tion ; though he pointed out that no difficulty had 
 been experienced in bringing up over 2000 com- 
 municants at St. Giles', Cripplegate, to the east 
 end with reverence and solemnity. 1 
 
 Upon the mass of the inhabitants the combi- 
 nation of clever preaching and strictness had had its 
 effect ; but Wren's severity drove the more deter- 
 mined men into revolt. Three thousand people, it 
 was said in Parliament, had lied to Holland, 2 and 
 though the records prove that only 1350 emi- 
 grated between 1630 and 1640, and that many of 
 these went for purposes of trade,' evidently others 
 resented what they felt with justice to be a perse- 
 cution. At one time, out of the 1500 clergy in 
 the diocese no less than thirty were suspended for 
 nonconformity; 4 and one case shows in a most 
 
 1 Accounts of Province, 557. Cf. State Papers, vol. 417, No. 31. 
 - Speeches against Wren. Parliamentary History, 1641, and 
 Clarendon's Rebellion, i. 316. 
 :t Mason's Norfolk, 409. 
 4 Accounts of Province, 542. 
 
140 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vii. 
 
 unpleasant light the occasional tyranny of the 
 High Commission Court. 
 
 A popular minister, Ward of Ipswich, was 
 imprisoned for several years for attacking the 
 Prayer Book. It was an injudicious act, for such 
 a punishment was startlingly excessive. 1 The 
 English community, so indifferent to logic but so 
 impatient of personal wrongs, discussed the harsh 
 treatment of the pious Ward of Ipswich. Perhaps 
 he was a little mad, people said, in his melancholy 
 fits, but he had helped many souls. They missed 
 his ministrations ; they resented his sufferings. 
 Did the archbishop in the vast number of details 
 which he had to supervise forget Ward of Ipswich 
 and his indignant congregation ? 
 
 Indeed, it is in cases like these that we see the 
 future peril of the Government. The few years 
 in which ceremonial Puritanism had been allowed 
 to conduct the services as it pleased, under Abbot 
 and Buckingham, had accustomed men to ir- 
 reverent and slovenly worship. The English race 
 had formed a di si ike to k neeling. To a large 
 proportion of sincerely religious men, outward 
 reverence has often appeared unnecessary, and 
 even a hindrance to faith. 
 
 But to Laud this seemed entirely contrary to 
 reason. "I evidently saw," he says, "that the 
 public neglect of God's service in the outward face 
 of it, and the nasty lying of so many places dedi- 
 
 1 State Papers, passim, and Accounts of Province, 1634-5-6, etc. 
 
1634-5- EXTERNAL HELPS TO RELIGION. 141 
 
 cated to that service, had almost cast a damp upon 
 the true and inward worship of God, which, while 
 we live in the body, needs external helps, and all 
 little enough to keep it in any vigour. And this 
 I did to the utmost of my knowledge, according 
 both to law and canon, and with the consent and 
 liking of the people ; nor did any command issue 
 out from me against the one or without the other 
 that I know of." 1 
 
 But outward reverence enforced by men of 
 very superficial religion opened the way for 
 dangerous and natural criticism. The vicar-general 
 was not the archbishop ; men might ridicule Laud 
 for his prim manners and small stature ; yet, after 
 all, they soon found his religion was genuine, and 
 that he was no self-seeker. Brent followed the 
 fashion ; high Anglican to-day, he would be furious 
 Puritan 2 when Pym and his colleagues ruled in 
 England. The lawyers, who presided in the ec- 
 clesiastical courts, and whom the bishops in spite 
 of every effort could not replace with more spiritual 
 men, 3 were mostly like Brent, eager to use their 
 offices for profit ; the Church got the discredit of 
 
 1 Trials and Troubles, p. 224. Cf. support given to the removal 
 of the nonconformist minister of St. Catherine Cree by the con- 
 gregation, State Papers, vol. 261, fol. 282 and 291 ; a similar case at 
 Ware, vol. 261, fol. 298, etc., etc. 
 
 2 He gave evidence against Laud at his trial (Wood's Athcnae, 
 i. 161). 
 
 3 Cf. the troubles of the saintly Bishop Bedell of Kilmore 
 (Life). 
 
143 I.IKE AND TIMES OK WILLIAM LAUD. CH. vn. 
 
 these men's acts through no fault of her own. Nor 
 were the lawyers only in fault, since many of the 
 clergy imitated the archbishop's ritual without the 
 archbishop's piety. To the multitude, difference in 
 outward observances will always seem more im- 
 portant than doctrinal disputes. The huge ma- 
 jority, who were not ill-pleased to see Puritan 
 ministers silenced for dooming them all to ever- 
 lasting misery because they did not take the 
 trouble to assent to their teaching, kicked when 
 they were forbidden to loll in the seats, or to walk 
 about and discuss crops and prices during the 
 prayers ; and disliked being obliged to take their 
 part in worship and to kneel for communion before 
 the eyes of their fellow-townsmen. 1 
 
 The archbishop was asking too much of his 
 countrymen. To persuade them to decorous 
 worship would be the work of time and gentle- 
 ness. He strove to hurry it on;' 2 and he would 
 fail, for the present moment ; until the cold severity 
 of Puritanism, 3 repressing all bright amusement, and 
 exacting profession of a profound personal religion 
 which most men could not feel, would drive the 
 
 1 Laud allowed that it was legal to communicate in pews if 
 the worshipper knelt (Works, vi. 478). He was most anxious that 
 they should be quietly persuaded to come to the rails (Accounts of 
 Province, 543). For irreverence in church, cf. State Papers, vol. 154, 
 No. 94. - Sir P. Warwick, go. 
 
 3 In Mrs. Hutchinson's Memoirs of her husband she tells us 
 that she, like other godly persons, disliked every kind of amuse- 
 ment (i. 27, 94). 
 
1634-5- 
 
 THE EARL OK PORTLAND. 
 
 '43 
 
 nation back thankfully to the gentler teaching of 
 the Church. Therefore, though the visitors were 
 usually well received and readily obeyed, 1 a certain 
 bitter taste remained in several districts, and the 
 archiepiscopal visitation was undoubtedly one 
 cause of the growing unpopularity of the Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 But perhaps the want of careful supervision in 
 the conduct of the visitation, and the absence 
 through the province of that conciliatory spirit 
 which Laud had shown in winning over the 
 Puritans in his former diocese of London, and 
 which he still employed in dealing with his own 
 diocese of Canterbury, was in the main due to the 
 archbishop's being occupied through these years 
 in the reform of the administration of the Treasury. 
 Wentworth, crippled and hampered in his work 
 of building up Irish prosperity, was continually 
 denouncing the Lord Treasurer Weston, now 
 Earl of Portland, to his friend.' 2 Laud himself 
 was perplexed and irritated by complaints of 
 corruption at the Treasury, bribes taken from 
 monopolist companies, difficulties put in the way 
 of merchants who would not offer presents to the 
 Treasurer. While Weston lived nothing could 
 be done ; his easy ways and readiness to produce 
 the necessary money made him agreeable to the 
 
 1 State Papers, 1635, etc., passim. 
 
 -Strafford Letters, passim. Laud's Works, vii. 102, 115, ijo, 
 162, etc. 
 
144 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vn. 
 
 king, and popular with the queen. But on the 13th 
 of March, 1635, Weston, the " Lady Mora " 1 of the 
 Laud and Strafford letters, died, and Laud, fearing 
 lest Cottington, "the Lady Mora's waiting-maid," 
 as they called him, and as unprincipled as Weston 
 himself, would become treasurer, most unwillingly 
 accepted a seat on the Board of Commissioners 
 for the Treasury. 2 Even the active mind of the 
 primate, indefatigable in his attention to the 
 smallest matters, could hardly supervise the 
 details of the visitation, while he superintended 
 his diocese and the ordinary business of the 
 Church, reformed the Universities of Oxford and 
 Dublin, interested himself in the Church affairs of 
 Scotland and Ireland, watched the religious con- 
 dition of the regiments in foreign service and the 
 English communities abroad, attempted to recon- 
 cile in Germany Lutherans and Calvinists, 3 and 
 settled the necessary reforms of the Treasury. 
 " To manage all was no better than a glorious 
 burden." 4 The details of the visitation, and these 
 were all-important since they affected the interests 
 of great numbers of individuals, fell into the hands 
 of Brent, and the consequences we have seen. 
 
 1 This was the name given to Weston, Earl of Portland and 
 Lord Treasurer, because of his dilatory ways, by his two fellow- 
 ministers. ' Diary. 
 
 3 Laud's Works, vi. 410, vii. 112, and State Papers, 30th January, 
 1634- 
 
 4 State Papers. Letter from Nicholas on Laud's appointment 
 to the Treasury. 
 
i635- 
 
 FINANCIAL REFORMS. 
 
 145 
 
 Laud threw himself vigorously 1 into his new- 
 duties of finance ; he was determined to free the 
 king from debt ; in the quiet of his palace at 
 Croydon he took counsel with prominent mer- 
 chants, whom he admitted to his friendship, as to 
 the best means of developing trade. 2 For the 
 Treasury was on the verge of bankruptcy ; each 
 year closed with a deficit ; an immense floating 
 debt crippled any settlement ; and yet a fleet 
 was necessary to vindicate England's supremacy 
 over the seas, and to show France and Holland 
 that she was still a power in Europe. The 
 Parliament which could so easily supply the 
 funds the king refused to hear mentioned. 
 Economy was therefore the first requisite, 3 and 
 Laud began by securing a thorough investigation 
 of the royal accounts in spite of the opposition of 
 Cottington, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 The new First Commissioner had a weekly report 
 of the finances laid upon the Board. He secured 
 a proper adjustment of the expenditure to the 
 receipts. His hand was seen in all the dealings 
 of the Treasury. 
 
 But he could not carry his point in all the dis- 
 putes at the Treasury Board. Windebank, an old 
 
 1 See State Papers in March, 1635, for the remarkable stir in 
 every department of Government. 
 
 2 Every year part of the king's debts was paid off (Clarendon, 
 Life, i. 21-28; cf. State Papers). 
 
 3 Fuller, iii. 475. State Papers. 
 
 IO 
 
146 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vii. 
 
 pupil, and appointed by his recommendation 
 Secretary of State, 1 one of his dearest personal 
 friends, deserted him in the crucial division on the 
 rival soap companies," which came about in this 
 wise. 
 
 All Englishmen in those days agreed on 
 the importance of keeping to England the manu- 
 facture of English soap. But in order to secure 
 this, Weston had set up a soap company of his 
 own friends who were to pay the king openly 
 ,£20,000 a year, and himself secretly £2000. 
 As this company was largely composed of 
 Romanists, the soap was called Popish soap, and 
 was most unpopular in London. The older soap 
 manufacturers, now Weston was dead, offered to 
 form a new company, and to pay the Treasury 
 ,£40,000 a year ; they were vigorously, even 
 passionately, supported by Laud ; but Cottington, 
 suave, full of wise expedients, perfectly self-con- 
 trolled, carried the day against the archbishop, 
 whose zeal in insisting upon his convictions was 
 already making him somewhat imperious in manner 
 and overbearing in argument. The Popish soap 
 was not a success, if we may trust the defeated 
 minister ; he told Wentworth that his clothes 
 washed in it " smelt mighty ill ". But these 
 wrangles over the monopolies were at least 
 public enough to show the people that individual 
 
 1 See letter ccxxxvi. Works, vii. 43. 
 
 2 Diary, 12th July, 1635. 
 
1635-6. 
 
 TREATMENT OF MONOPOLIES. 
 
 147 
 
 ministers found in them a source of personal profit, 
 and that the specious reasons urged in defence of 
 them, about the improvement of manufactures and 
 keeping the profits of England for the English, 
 were not the sole motives in their creation. The 
 monopolies became continually more discredited 
 and unpopular. Wentworth often persuaded 
 Laud that they could only serve to build up 
 private fortunes for royal courtiers ; but it was 
 ■difficult to change the system. 
 
 It was still more deplorable to Laud that 
 other ministers were encouraging the king in 
 heavy expenditure at Richmond Park. " I am 
 alone," he writes to Wentworth, " in those things 
 which draw not profit after them." Hamilton, 
 Holland 1 and the rest were using their influence 
 with the king to fill their own pockets. At last a 
 specially flagrant case of attempted corruption 
 brought on a pitched battle between the archbishop 
 and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Cottington 
 saved the briber from prosecution, but he lost the 
 treasurer's staff, which by Laud's advice (as Went- 
 worth could not leave Ireland) was given to Juxon, 
 Bishop of London, on the 6th of March, 1636. The 
 king announced that he chose Juxon as a clergy- 
 man, because he could trust the clergy; and that 
 he had selected him among the clergy, because 
 he had no children, and therefore less private 
 
 1 E.g., Lord Ormond paid Holland £15,000 to secure his sup- 
 port to his marriage with one of the king's wards (Carte, i. 8). 
 
148 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vii. 
 
 ends to serve. Laud was delighted. "No 
 churchman," he writes in his Diary, "had it 
 since Henry VI I. 's time. I pray God bless him 
 to carry it so that the Church may have honour, 
 and the king and the State service and con- 
 tentment by it, and now, if the Church will not 
 hold themselves under God, I can do no more." 1 
 Juxon proved an admirable treasurer: he was 
 popular with men of all parties. 2 Now, at last, no 
 one doubted that every shilling of the taxes found 
 its way into the national treasury. His modest 
 diligence is shown by his instruction to a high 
 permanent official to arrest and criticise anything 
 which he considered novel and detrimental in the 
 treasurer's own acts. 3 
 
 But his appointment was a fatal success. 4 
 Forest courts had been set up to compel men who 
 had encroached upon the forests to pay fines to 
 the king. As gentlemen and small squatters paid 
 their fines they cursed the episcopal Lord Treasurer. 
 Ship money was now being exacted from every 
 county in England, illegally as many thought, 
 though the law courts upheld the royal claim. 
 The tax added to the unpopularity of the bishops. 
 Was not a bishop treasurer, and the archbishop the 
 
 1 Diary , 6th March, 1636. 
 
 2 Strafford Letters, letter from Garrard, ii. 55, and Sir P. War- 
 wick, pp. 93-95. He was not molested even by the Long Parliament. 
 
 * State Papers, and Wood's Athenae, ii. 1145. 
 4 May, Long Parliament, p. 33. 
 
1635-6. DEVELOPMENT OK COMMERCE. 149 
 
 king's most trusted counsellor? A new book of 
 rates for customs was brought out and enforced ; 
 it increased the king's revenue by ,£70,000 a year, 
 and was far less troublesome to the merchants. 
 But what right had the Crown to alter the rates 
 without consent of Parliament ? Everywhere men 
 complained that power had fallen into the hands 
 of the Church ; and the scrupulous honesty of the 
 new administration made no amends to the laity 
 for the loss of influence. The Church was rising 
 as a mighty power to suppress wickedness and to 
 defend the weak ; but it was objected that Christ's 
 commands were carried out, not as He desired by 
 persuasion and example, but by force and coercion. 
 
 The results which the new energy of the 
 Government could show were undoubtedly magnifi- 
 cent. The monopolies were curtailed ; and courtiers 
 compelled to surrender patents which checked the 
 free development of trade. 1 A postal system was 
 gradually created to carry letters at fixed rates 
 through England, and even into Scotland, and to 
 foreign countries ; 2 an invaluable aid to men of 
 business. New companies were founded to or- 
 ganise fresh routes for commerce, and to attract 
 to England the carrying trade of the world. 3 Em- 
 bassies to distant potentates in the East opened 
 
 1 State Papers, March, 1635. 
 
 - Macpherson's A nnals of Commerce; Rushworth, ii. 145; State 
 Papers, vol. 291, Nos. 114 and 294, No. 62. 
 
 3 Macpherson's Annals of Commerce, sub anno 1630, etc. 
 
150 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILI I AM LAUD. ch. vii 
 
 opportunities for English merchants in many new 
 markets. 
 
 But if this progress was to be maintained, 
 it was evidently necessary to make England re- 
 spected abroad. Turkish pirates from Sallee, 
 and Flemish privateers from Dunkirk, preyed on 
 English traders, and made the very Channel itself 
 dangerous to navigation. 1 France and Spain and 
 Holland sneered at a kingdom which had no fleet 
 to protect its ports or to vindicate its claims to the 
 sovereignty of the seas. It was annoyance at the 
 refusal of Parliament to support him in foreign 
 enterprise which had originally alienated the king 
 from the House of Commons. His pride demanded 
 that England should again become a great power. 
 A paper prepared by Secretary Coke at the wish 
 of the king and Laud in June, 1634, 2 a few months 
 before Portland's death, exhibits the dissatisfaction 
 which they felt at the feebleness of the foreign 
 policy of the kingdom. This they were now de- 
 termined should be gloriously reversed. Noy's 
 suggestion about ship money supplied them with 
 the necessary means. In 1635 a great fleet was 
 equipped ; 3 year after year it put to sea ; the Turk- 
 
 1 State Papers, vol. 279, No. 106. 2 Ibid., vol. 269, No. 51. 
 
 3 Laud's Works, vi. 498, 513. Garrard to Strafford. Baker's 
 Chronicle, 455. Howell, i. 256. A description published at the 
 time tells us that the great ship launched at Woolwich soon after 
 and called the Sovereign of the Seas was 1637 tons, 128 feet long 
 and 48 feet broad. The ship cost £80,000, and carried ninety-six 
 guns. Cf. Gussone's Relations. 1635, quoted by Ranke. 
 
1635-7- 
 
 THE NAVAL SUPREMACY. 
 
 151 
 
 ish pirates were driven from the Channel ; the 
 Dunkirk privateers were severely punished for 
 their attacks upon the post boats and the coasting 
 craft j 1 finally the pirates were pursued, in 1637, to 
 the African coast; at Sallee, their dreaded harbour 
 of refuge, they were obliged to accept the terms 
 dictated to them, and thousands of unfortunate 
 captives were restored to their homes in England. 2 
 The French and Dutch were compelled to strike 
 their flags to the royal admiral of England, 3 who 
 had now recovered for his master the sovereignty 
 of the narrow seas. Behind the fleet the train 
 bands, now improved in discipline and efficiency by 
 constant exercise, and w r ell armed from the royal 
 arsenals, defied foreign invaders, 4 and provided a 
 force which, being officered by the nobles and the 
 gentry, could not be dangerous to English liberty, 
 but could make the king a redoubtable ally to any 
 of his great neighbours. 
 
 1 State Papers, vol. 295, No. 65. For their ravages, cf. vol. 
 162, Nos. 62 and 83. 
 
 - State Papers. Baker's Chronicle. Accounts of Province, 1637. 
 Laud took special interest in the proper reception of the released 
 English slaves (Laud's Works, vi. 498, 513). 
 
 3 The Dutch were compelled by the new fleet to pay £30,000 
 for the right of fishing, and to acknowledge the English sove- 
 reignty of the narrow seas. Cf. Mason's Norfolk, 261, for the pro- 
 tection given to the commerce of the eastern counties by the 
 Whelps. 
 
 4 There was some fear of a French invasion in 1635 (State 
 Papers, vol. 298, No. 63). For train bands, see State Papers, vol. 
 310, Nos. 44 and 45, vol. 287, No. 55. 
 
152 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vn. 
 
 But this unparalleled prosperity 1 earned for the 
 Government no gratitude ; rather it gave men 
 leisure for discontent. It was free play for their 
 own talents in ruling, and free discussion of their 
 opinions political and religious, that the gentry and 
 merchants wanted. But the bishops held power, 
 and the bishops tuned the pulpits, and the bishops 
 regulated the press. 2 Everywhere men, when they 
 found themselves in collision with authority, en- 
 countered ecclesiastics, and these ecclesiastics, 
 they were taught by nobles like Lords Saye and 
 Brooke, by angry country gentlemen and sup- 
 pressed lecturers, had resolved to give them over 
 tied hand and foot to Rome and the Inquisition. 
 
 1 Extract from Roberts' The Merchant's Map of Commerce, 
 published 1638. "When I survey every kingdom and great city of 
 the world and every petty port and creek of the same, I find in 
 each of them some English prying after the trade and commerce 
 thereof." English traffic used to be confined to the export of the 
 staple merchandise of the country, " such as are cloths, lead, tin, 
 some new late draperies, and other English real and royal com- 
 modities"; now England was become the emporium of the world, 
 and its ships the world's carriers. England had superseded Venice 
 and actually supplied that city, and took the traffic of India, Arabia 
 and Persia to Italy and to France. Manchester and the cotton 
 trade were rising into importance; Manchester also manufactured 
 linen. Here we have the first mention of its manufacture in Eng- 
 land. England rivalled Holland, and supplied Scandinavia and 
 Muscovy, and its goods were to be found throughout France and 
 Spain. 
 
 The Capuchins write to Italy, " England is an abundant 
 country and hath no taxes " (p. 309 of The Relation of Their Mis- 
 sion). Cf. Clarendon's Rebellion, and even Ludlow, i. 174. 
 
 2 Every book had to be licensed by the archbishop, the Bishop 
 of London, or one of the universities. 
 
i635-7- GOVERNMENT POPULAR W ITH THE POOR. 1 5 3 
 
 Besides, as the Puritan lords and gentry were 
 always repeating, the bishops and priests were 
 " base-born, " x and nobles had an hereditary right 
 to rule England. The clergy were believed to be 
 grasping at all the great offices ; one was named 
 as future Master of the Rolls ; another as Secre- 
 tary of State ; a third as Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer. 2 Nor was the Government popular at 
 Court ; the courtiers detested its economy, and 
 longed to dip greedy hands into the money bags 
 of the State, and persuaded the queen to become 
 the head of a party opposed to Laud. Only the 
 working classes rejoiced to find that their oppres- 
 sors were controlled ; and heard with amazement 
 and delight that the judges on circuit had special 
 directions to see them righted ; 3 and that many of 
 the worst oppressions had been severely punished 
 in the Star Chamber. But the working men were 
 not yet a power in England ; and their sympathy 
 would avail Laud little. 4 
 
 It was still possible and most important to 
 conciliate the professional classes : from their 
 ranks the clergy were drawn ; they benefited 
 
 1 Mrs. Hutchinson, i. 133; Lord Saye's Speech against the 
 Bishops, and Prynne, Cantor bur ie's Doom. 
 
 2 Garrard to Wentworth, Strafford Papers, ii. 2. 
 
 3 Rushworth, ii. 294, for Lord Keeper Coventry's Instructions 
 to the Judges on Circuit. 
 
 4 See Baxter's Autobiography, p. 30, and Ludlow's Memoirs, i. 
 121, for hostile testimony to the affection felt for the Government 
 by the common people. 
 
154 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vii. 
 
 greatly by the universal prosperity ; many of their 
 number were promoted to office ; and the Govern- 
 ment was most diligent in encouraging and 
 developing education. But they were to be 
 alienated by some severe and barbarous punish- 
 ments, which now agitated people's minds ; and 
 as peace and prosperity afforded leisure for atten- 
 tion to events which in stirring times pass unheeded, 
 news writers, and historians after them, have been 
 compelled to enliven the dull years of quiet progress 
 by giving exaggerated prominence to a few legal 
 sentences ; and thus the uniformly merciful 
 government of Charles I. gained a name for 
 cruelty and oppression, while few remember the 
 executions under Elizabeth, or those in the Reign 
 of Terror under Harry Vane and Oliver Crom- 
 well. 1 
 
 1 Guizot, blindly following Neale's Puritans, a valuable work, 
 but one requiring careful handling, has written a description of 
 these prosperous years of Charles I. in his English Revolution 
 which is no better than a parody. 
 
 For the navy, see Note B on p. 295. 
 
Further Authorities. 
 
 The two principal authorities for this part of Laud's life are 
 Anthony a Wood, as quoted above; and Laud's Account of 
 his Chancellorship (Wharton's edition, pub. 1700). The letters 
 to Vossius are often very valuable. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OXFORD, 1630-1641. 
 
 Toleration of Opinion — The Chancellorship of Oxford — 
 Repression of Indiscipline — Cultivation of Eastern 
 Languages — The Learned Press — Royal Visit — En- 
 couragement of Mathematics and Science — Resignation. 
 
 No part of the voluminous Laudian literature is 
 so interesting or so delightful to the student as the 
 history of his dealings with the University of 
 Oxford. Indeed, here and here alone, we can 
 study the free working of the great archbishop's 
 will. For in the university he was supreme ; and 
 in the university he worked with kindred minds, 
 of whom most loved him as a friend, while all 
 followed him as their leader. In State affairs the 
 imperious will of Buckingham or of Strafford 
 constantly swayed his judgment ; the intrigues 
 of Cottington and the obstinate delays of Weston 
 hindered his reforms. Even in Church affairs 
 bitter and ignorant opposition or the faultiness 
 of irreligious instruments hampered, as we have 
 seen, the free play of his far-reaching ideas, and 
 introduced an intolerance which was foreign to his 
 nature. Therefore it is to the university that we 
 see him turn for refreshment ; it is with the uni- 
 
 (157) 
 
IS8 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. viii. 
 
 versity officials that he opens his mind in corre- 
 spondence. To gain privileges for the university 
 seems to him like a personal victory. His 
 collections of coins and manuscripts and objects 
 of interest are for the university. The university 
 is his "dear mother". When his admirers and 
 flatterers propose to call the university institutions 
 after him, he instantly checks the project ; there 
 shall on no account be alterations in the old 
 familiar names. And in the busiest and most 
 anxious weeks he always finds time to plan and 
 execute schemes and reforms for the prosperity of 
 the university. At Oxford Laud had raised 
 himself to be leader of the Liberal party, if that 
 word may be justly applied to the body of men 
 which fought for the advance of learning, and the 
 progress of free opinion. 1 He had never lost 
 touch with the heads of the university ; and when 
 the chancellor, Lord Pembroke, died in 1630, the 
 most influential men at once pronounced that 
 Laud was the only magnate able to raise the 
 university to its former high renown as one of the 
 great centres of European learning, to restore its 
 discipline, and by his influence with the Govern- 
 ment secure full scope for its development. The 
 Puritan party did indeed bring out a rival in the 
 person of the new Earl of Pembroke, one of the 
 most empty-headed and self-seeking men of his 
 time. But the prestige of Laud carried all before 
 
 1 Clarendon's Life, i. 55-66. 
 
1630. ELECTION TO CHANCELLORSHI1 
 
 159 
 
 it, and the chancellorship was offered to him and 
 accepted at London House in May, 1630. His 
 religious policy in the university is well ex- 
 pressed in a letter which he wrote to Vossius in 
 the preceding year : — 1 
 
 " I have always made every effort that those 
 rough and difficult subjects should not be discussed 
 before the crowd ; fearing that under pretence of 
 truth we should injure piety and charity. I have 
 always laboured for moderation, so that passionate 
 minds, to whom religion is far from being the first 
 love, should not disturb the rest. And this, per- 
 haps, has not made me popular, but I remember 
 how earnestly our Saviour commended charity. 
 How cautiously and patiently the apostle advised 
 men to deal with the weak ! If the craft of men 
 •destroy me, and I become the prey of the victor 
 in the strife, my reward is with me, nor shall I 
 look for comfort outside myself except in God. 
 
 "It is better to pray against the self- wrought 
 ruin of the reformed Church in England and 
 Holland, which I fear, than to predict its coming. 
 For I do not wish to be a true prophet on such a 
 condition. But I will say no more, lest dealing 
 with the troubles of the time I should utter feelings 
 which I specially wish no one to know. Only one 
 thing will I tell you. God helping me, I will do 
 my best that truth and peace may kiss each other." 
 
 The university was intended to be a place of 
 
 1 Laud's Works, vi. 265. 
 
l6o LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vra> 
 
 religious training and of liberal learning, not of 
 purposeless, dogmatic discussion. How is it, my 
 lord, he writes to the Bishop of Winchester 1 during 
 his chancellorship, that while "so many good 
 scholars come up from Winchester to New College," 
 that college breeds " so few eminent men " ? And 
 he begs him as visitor to see into it : being: con- 
 vinced that the explanation will be found in the 
 character of their course, in which letters, logic 
 and mathematics are neglected, while under- 
 graduates have to find their staple food in Calvin's 
 Institutes, a very useful book among others, ac- 
 cording to Laud's judgment, for a divinity student, 
 but utterly unfit to be a foundation of general 
 learning. 
 
 He at once proved his intention to be com- 
 pletely neutral as chancellor between the contend- 
 ing parties of Puritan and Anglican ; for in the first 
 weeks of his office the vice-chancellor is directed 
 to censure two preachers ; one for attacking the 
 Calvinist Synod of Dort, another for denouncing 
 Anglican ceremonialism in religion. 2 If it can be, 
 he says, he will not allow the terrible and bloody 
 scenes 3 of recent religious controversy in Holland 
 to be reproduced in England : and for this purpose 
 he forbids heated public discussion : men may 
 think and hold what they will, but they shall not 
 
 1 History of his Chancellorship, p. 82. 
 - Ibid., p. 8. 
 
 :i Lord Herbert's Autobiography. 
 
1630. TOLERATION OF OPINION. 161 
 
 publicly stir popular passions. In pursuance of 
 this policy, individual Puritans were constantly, 
 through the eleven years of his chancellorship, 
 treated with the greatest gentleness. A proctor 
 who had scruples about wearing a surplice was 
 advised to find a substitute at the university com- 
 munion. Even fierce sermons were forgiven to 
 men who acknowledged their brea.ch of university 
 good manners. The regius professor, Prideaux, 1 
 was admitted to Laud's friendship, and invited, 
 though inclined to Puritanism, to supervise Chil- 
 ling-worth's defence of the Church against Rome, 
 which was being composed and published at 
 Laud's instigation. Only when there was a de- 
 liberate rebellion, and an attempt to pit the vice- 
 chancellor against the proctors, did Laud grow 
 severe to the offenders. Then he struck hard, 
 and quickly quelled opposition. 
 
 The University of Oxford became once more 
 the chief home of learning in England : and 
 naturally the scholars, writers and poets of the 
 •day took the side from which they received patron- 
 age and sympathy, while the one notable excep- 
 tion proved by his own career the blighting in- 
 fluence of Puritanism on the inspiration of 
 literature. Those works of John Milton, which we 
 read and love, were written either during the 
 government of Laud, or after the Restoration. 
 
 1 Cf. State Papers, vol. 174, No. 45. For Prideaux's high opinion 
 of Laud see Warwick, p. 88. 
 
 I I 
 
l62 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vim. 
 
 But few lines are rescued from oblivion in the 
 mass of his compositions under Puritan rule ; and 
 a Presbyterian or Anabaptist press censor would 
 have made short work with Paradise Regained or 
 Paradise Lost. W ith much that was noble, ex- 
 hibiting in many cases a deep sense of duty, and 
 in many cases evincing an intense devotion to God 
 and a consciousness of His immanent presence, 
 the Puritan party was in its very nature obscur- 
 antist. 1 It might draw to itself for a moment 
 the lovers of liberty, because, though it was for 
 government by a single person in Holland, in 
 England it happened to be on the side of 
 government by Parliament ; and some of its 
 higher ideals might attract noble and educated 
 minds ; but these were sure sooner or later to find 
 the uncongenial alliance impossible. There was no 
 free play for the intellect within the iron-bound 
 prison of the doctrine of Divine decrees, and the 
 mind which had enslaved itself to this pitiless fate 
 would rest content without further progress in 
 learning ; while all fresh discoveries or speculations 
 could only upset the comfortable repose of the 
 soul which had been convinced of its own excep- 
 tional favour in the sight of God. 2 
 
 1 " Ordered that all such pictures at Whitehall as have the repre- 
 sentation of the Second Person of the Trinity or of the Virgin 
 Mary upon them shall be forthwith burnt' 1 (Parliamentary Ordinance 
 of 1645). And the writer in Pictorial History says: "Music must 
 be considered as having lain dormant in England from the death 
 of Charles I. till his successor mounted the throne" (p. 566). 
 
 - See refusal of Puritan schoolmasters to teach Latin gram- 
 
1630-6. DISCIPLINE AND LEARNING REVIVED. 163 
 
 For many years Puritanism had been dominant 
 at Oxford ; and though much had been done in 
 Laud's earlier days for the revival of learning, the: 
 university still groaned in the trammels of the 
 Institutes of Calvin. Discipline was of the laxest, 
 and it was a favourite amusement for under- 
 graduates to poach the king's deer at Woodstock. 
 There were 300 ale-houses in the town of Oxford ; 
 university dress had dropped out of use ; the 
 proctors were treated with contempt. The chan- 
 cellor set to work in earnest ; 1 200 ale-houses were 
 closed ; drinking in college common-rooms was 
 checked ; graduates and undergraduates were 
 compelled to wear cap and gown, " in order that," 
 as a distinguished teacher put it, "having these 
 perpetual monitors about us, we may not be 
 forgetful of the places wherein we are, and the 
 end for which we came hither, viz., to grow in 
 piety and good letters ". The proctors and other 
 dignitaries were to be treated with respect. A 
 riding school which had become a centre of rowdi- 
 ness was put out of bounds: Mr. Crofts "is to 
 carry back his great horses as he came ". Candi- 
 dates were mercilessly rejected at the examinations. 
 There should be no more ignorant graduates, nour- 
 ished only on the Institutes of Calvin, sent out to 
 be blind teachers of the blind, men often "who 
 could not distinguish quisquis from quz'sque," as 
 
 mar, because it contained the names of pagan gods (Laud's Works, 
 folio, i. 546). 1 Cf. State Papers, vol. 203, No. go. 
 
164 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vni. 
 
 they sat opposite their examiners on the new- 
 raised seats which the chancellor caused to be 
 provided, answering the questions amid a crowd 
 of onlookers, delighted at their helpless flounder- 
 ing. It became a real distinction to obtain the 
 B.A. degree. Before they could even qualify for 
 examination, students had to prove attendance at 
 lectures in grammar and rhetoric, in the ethics, 
 politics and economics of Aristotle, in logic, 
 moral philosophy, geometry and Greek ; while for 
 the M.A. degree, three more years had to be 
 spent in studying geometry, astronomy, meta- 
 physics, natural philosophy, Greek and Hebrew. 
 
 Nor were these requirements merely nominal. 
 No one should be excused examination. A 
 doctor of divinity in those days had to be a 
 real divine. Young noblemen, who, trading on 
 their high birth, dared to transgress discipline, 
 were ruthlessly sent down, for Laud did not care 
 how great and proud their fathers might be ; 
 "the base-born archbishop," as the Puritan press 
 insolently called him, was for equality. 
 
 Upon this foundation of careful instruction he 
 raised his edifice of deeper learning. The Hebrew 
 professor was provided with a canonry at Christ- 
 church, so was the public orator. An Arabic 
 lectureship was endowed with the archbishop's 
 own meagre savings. The famous Pococke, the 
 first lecturer, was sent to the East to perfect 
 himself in the language, and to bring home manu- 
 
1630-6. 
 
 EASTERN STUDIES. 
 
 I6 5 
 
 scripts. 1 In future, the Bible would be seriously 
 studied and criticised in its own tongues, with all 
 the assistance that history and philology could 
 afford. 1 ' It was a special direction to the new 
 lecturer to treat Arabic in its relation to Hebrew 
 and Syriac. The archbishop could feel that while 
 ignorant sectaries might draw their reckless 
 conclusions from phrases in the English transla- 
 tion, and from dangerous notes in the Geneva 
 edition, at least they would have scholars at hand 
 to correct them. 
 
 Hundreds of manuscripts in every tongue, 
 Chinese, Persian, 3 Turkish, Arabic, Armenian, 
 Russian among them, as well as Greek and 
 Latin, were presented on various occasions to the 
 library by Laud. Any one who wanted to find 
 favour with him knew the sure way was to send 
 a new and rare manuscript for Oxford ; it was the 
 weak spot through which unworthy and self- 
 seeking men could obtain his favour. Time and 
 money he lavished on the collection. He eagerly 
 hoped to recover the lost work of Clement of 
 Alexandria, the Hypotyposes. It was a delightful 
 recreation to turn from the dry business of the 
 Treasury or Board of Trade in the company of 
 
 1 Twells' Life, 67, 72. 
 
 - Ibid., 38. Syriac was studied by all the leading scholars of 
 that time. 
 
 :1 Lord Denbigh's mission to Persia in 1631 opened a connec- 
 tion between that distant country and England (Lodge's Life). 
 
166 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vm. 
 
 Weston and Cottinsjton, Coke or Vane, to discuss 
 the date and history of some new-found manu- 
 script. He was constantly regretting that he had so 
 little time for the diligent study which had been a 
 characteristic of Bishop Andrewes of Winchester. 
 
 But. above all, he had set his heart on what he 
 describes as a learned press. In 1631 he obtained 
 from the king a patent for the university to print 
 books, a privilege already possessed by Cambridge ; 
 and the university, agreeing with the Stationers' 
 Company that they would waive their right to 
 print the Latin grammar and the Bible for three 
 years on an annual payment of ^200, devoted 
 this sum at his direction to the manufacture of 
 type in Greek and Eastern alphabets. Rich 
 nobles who were admitted doctors of law at the 
 king's visit to the university were summoned to 
 read a thesis, or to pay £20 as a fine to the 
 learned press. Printers were brought over from 
 Holland ; and special officers appointed by the 
 university to superintend the work. 1 
 
 It was felt to be essential to discipline and to 
 steady progress that the vast undigested mass of 
 university statutes should be arranged and pub- 
 lished under the chancellor's supervision. A short 
 summary of those affecting the daily life of under- 
 
 1 The publication of the Parisian Polyglot Bible in 1(133 had 
 stirred Laud to greater emulation (Works, vi. 337). 
 
 Henry Jacob was helped by Laud to retain his Merton Fellow- 
 ship (Works, vi. 462) because he was an Oriental scholar. 
 
i6 3 6. 
 
 ROYAL VISIT TO OXFORD. 
 
 graduates was printed in a little book, and pre- 
 sented to them at matriculation ; lest, as the arch- 
 bishop said, they should unwittingly perjure 
 themselves in their oath to observe the university 
 laws. His digest of the statutes remained in force 
 lor more than 200 years ; it was considered almost 
 sacrilege to alter it. The letters about Oxford in 
 these eleven years give the clearest impression of 
 the zeal for learning, the patient attention to de- 
 tail, the calm, clear judgment, the strong, unshaken 
 will, the indefatigable diligence of the archbishop 
 chancellor. He corresponded on terms of friend- 
 ship with all the great foreign scholars, and con- 
 stantly sought their advice and support. 
 
 Perhaps it was the proudest moment of his life 
 when the Court visited the reformed university in 
 1636. 1 The king and queen with their princely 
 nephews of the palatinate lodged in Christchurch. 
 There plays were performed before them : the 
 " Persian Habits," procured for one of these plays, 
 caused special delight : the queen could not be 
 satisfied without seeing them again at Windsor. 
 
 The mornings were occupied in visiting the 
 city and the colleges, many of which had been 
 restored and enlarged in these years of learning. 
 They walked in Lord Danby's new " Physic 
 Garden " by the banks of the Cherwell, which the 
 chancellor exhibited as a welcome stimulus to the 
 scientific studies which he desired to foster. They 
 
 1 History of Chancellorship, 102-105. Cf. Evelyn. 
 
168 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. vin. 
 
 noted the handsome marble pavements in Queen's 
 College Chapel, and its excellently designed wains- 
 cotting : Magdalen Chapel too had been put in 
 beautiful order : in the chapel windows the gor- 
 geous new painted glass produced a play of 
 gemmed colour and reverently subdued light. 
 But the crowning joy of the archbishop was to 
 entertain his sovereign in the hall of the splendid 
 new quadrangle which he himself had added to his 
 own college of St. John the Baptist, and to show 
 the artist king the beauty of the architecture and 
 the careful arrangements for serious study. 
 
 The chancellor remained after the king's 
 departure in consultation with the heads of the 
 university. There was Dr. Prideaux, soon to be 
 bishop in the Puritan reaction ; Dr. Duppa, the 
 future tutor of Charles II.; Dr. Baily, once the 
 bitter personal foe of Laud, now promoted by his 
 forgiving influence to be president of St. John's ; 
 Dr. Frewen, the vigorous reforming vice-chan- 
 cellor ; his godson Chillingworth, doubtless, the 
 great controversialist ; and many another soon to 
 be distinguished as scholar, saint, apologist, or 
 administrator through the fiery persecution, or 
 when the good times returned. The archbishop 
 was at his best ; genial, full of wit and humour, 
 entering into learned jokes, and stimulating the 
 scholars to fresh discoveries. He was delighted 
 with the good discipline, the studiousness and the 
 reverence of the university. 
 
1636. 
 
 MATHEMATICAL STUDIES. 
 
 169 
 
 I n one direction of study he considered Oxford 
 still somewhat unenlightened, 1 and he urged upon 
 the authorities of St. John's the pursuit of mathe- 
 matics and physical sciences, for which he had 
 provided facilities in his new buildings. This 
 zeal for scientific study infected many of his 
 disciples, who became the founders of the Royal 
 Society. On leaving Oxford he slept a night with 
 his friend Dr. Bancroft, the bishop of the diocese, 
 at his new episcopal residence in Cuddesden, 
 which he had done so much to secure for the see. 
 Then making provision (how characteristic it is of 
 the man's consistent attention to the details of 
 his duties ! ) that his steward should immediately 
 pay every item of the expenditure he had incurred 
 in Oxford, 2 he returned to the busy cares of Lam- 
 beth — intent, all too unsuccessfully, on securing 
 for the metropolis that same learned peace and 
 calm liberty which had appeared to him so happy 
 in the atmosphere of Oxford. 
 
 But Oxford was never long out of his thoughts. 
 Every week he received a report from the vice- 
 chancellor. Friends wrote on all matters of 
 importance ; nothing escaped him. The printer 
 shall be dismissed if the Romanists gfet hold of 
 Chillingworth's sheets before they are published. 
 A Jesuit has seduced an undergraduate and car- 
 ried him off to St. Omer ; the chancellor will not 
 
 1 Laud's Works, vii. 192, 434, 612, etc. 
 '-' Chancellorship. 121. 
 
IJO LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. CH. vm. 
 
 be satisfied till he has the boy back in Oxford, 
 and settled in the true faith. An Arian under 
 the hypocritical cloak of a private tutor is leading 
 men astray ; he must be exposed and expelled. 
 The Westminster supper at Christchurch ought to 
 be discontinued, for it is making" factions in the 
 college. 
 
 No wonder the university grew and throve. 
 From 2000 in 1 6 1 1 the number of students had 
 increased in 1638 to over 4000, and was multiply- 
 ing year by year. The care bestowed upon the 
 grammar schools 1 provided an ever-growing supply 
 of eager undergraduates who delighted in the stu- 
 dious atmosphere of the beautiful city. Oxford was 
 full of learned men, who were carrying their newly- 
 acquired knowledge through the length and 
 breadth of England ; Haunting it, perhaps, too 
 often in the faces of ignorant and powerful squires, 
 who vowed to pay off the score when they sat 
 snug and omnipotent in the House of Commons 
 at Westminster. 
 
 Then, just as the great work is accomplished, 
 comes the final scene. The chancellor is in the 
 Tower ; Pym is all-powerful ; the censorship of 
 the press is practically at the mercy of Prynne. 
 Learned inquiry is hateful to the majority of the 
 Commons. Oxford is accused of Popery. Laud's 
 
 1 For Laud's attention to Westminster School, see Stanley's 
 Westminster Abbey ; for his foundation at Heading see Heylin ; for 
 his help to Winborne, State Papers, vol. 291, No. 28 (cf. vol. 219, 
 No. 55). 
 
1641. T1IK PURITAN REACTION AGAINST LEARNING. IJI 
 
 clay is done, and he resigns his chancellorship. 
 Let them elect some other chancellor who can 
 protect them a little in this deluge of Puritan 
 narrowness, and pray for happier times. So the 
 curtain falls on a work which could neither be 
 destroyed nor forgotten ; Oxford still cherishes 
 the memory of her great alumnus. 
 
 Empty-headed Pembroke becomes her chan- 
 cellor. War turns her scholars into soldiers. A 
 victorious Parliament sets to work to reform her ; 
 and in its reformation almost reforms Oxford and 
 learning with her off the face of the earth : till 
 Laud's pupils return to rebuild the edifice he had 
 so painfully and carefully erected. The history of 
 Laud's Oxford chancellorship makes it clear 
 enough why the forces of art and literature, of 
 learning and scientific research, came to be 
 marshalled on the side of the Anglican party 
 and to play so great a part in the Restoration. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE OPPOSITION, 1637-1639. 
 
 Development of the Opposition — New Antagonists — Star 
 Chamber Cruelties — Their Failure — Land's Dejec- 
 tion — Attack on Bishop Williams — The Roman 
 Propaganda — Romanists and Puritans. 
 
 We have seen how successful and how liberal was 
 the policy which Laud shaped and practised in 
 educational matters ; and how deeply his religious 
 ideas had already struck their roots into the 
 national life ; nor can we withhold our admira- 
 tion from the stern economy which he had tried 
 to institute in the management of the Treasury, 
 and from the vigorous impetus which his sympathy 
 and patronage had given to trade. But in the 
 ordinary administration of the Government he had 
 by 1637 come into dangerous collision with the 
 most powerful classes and the most thoughtful 
 political minds in the nation. It was not the 
 Puritans in particular who desired that Parliament 
 should take its place as the leading factor in our 
 English Government. Rather the wiser leaders, 
 who appeared at this time to be leagued with 
 
 (172) 
 
laud's scruples. 
 
 173 
 
 Puritanism, were only using that religious move- 
 ment as a means to arouse the enthusiasm of the 
 nation against the Stuart system of government. 
 And there remained but two methods by which 
 the growing indignation againstthe king's ministers, 
 which the memoirs of the time help us to trace 
 among the thinking minority, could be successfully 
 abated. One method was a severe policy of re- 
 pression such as Richelieu had organised in 
 France, such as Wentworth might easily have 
 organised in England. It would have required 
 the creation of a standing army ; but for this 
 Wentworth felt the means were not difficult to 
 find. 1 
 
 Happily for the liberties of England there were 
 two insuperable obstacles to such a policy in the 
 condition of things then existing. One was to be 
 found in the gentle, placable nature of the king : 
 "there is a mare pacificum in that breast," 2 says 
 Laud, more than once, writing to Wentworth ; 
 and a king who dallied for two years with the 
 Scottish revolt was hardly likely to consent to a 
 policy of blood. 3 But the far more serious ob- 
 stacle lay in Laud's own character. He considered 
 it a religious duty to forgive his enemies. Even 
 when he was convinced that his own life was in 
 
 1 Strafford Papers, i. 173, ii. 136, 250, etc. Probably he would 
 have removed the lord-lieutenants and put the trained bands into 
 the hands of creatures of the Government. 2 Works, vii. 425. 
 
 3 Cf. Lilly, Life and Death of Charles I., and the king's own 
 words on the scaffold. 
 
1/4 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. ix. 
 
 danger from some "secret Felton," he assures 
 Wentworth that, though the law of libel and the 
 precedents of Udal, Penry and others under 
 Queen Elizabeth would more than justify the 
 execution of a prominent libeller, "for my part 
 I desire no blood" ; x and as a matter of fact the 
 first marked step towards political toleration in 
 England was taken by Laud, when, during his 
 administration, he took care that no man should 
 lose his life for politics. In this respect the eleven 
 years of Charles' so-called arbitrary government 
 contrast most favourably with the fifty years which 
 followed them. 
 
 But if Laud would not suppress the rising 
 opposition, could he be made willing to conciliate 
 it? Edward Hyde, now climbing into promin- 
 ence as a barrister, seems to have had hopes that 
 he could persuade the archbishop, and through 
 him the king, to attempt once more a policy of 
 periodical Parliaments. 2 But this the king ab- 
 solutely refused ; he would hear nothing of Parlia- 
 ments ; and among the artistic pleasures of 
 Whitehall he never ceased to feel that all was 
 going well. Nor was Laud himself hopeful of 
 seeing" a House of Commons which would allow 
 religious toleration. Therefore the Government 
 was still carried on without the assistance of the 
 kino's natural counsellors. But there were no 
 preparations against a possible rebellion. The 
 
 1 Works, vii. 329. 8 Clarendon's Life, i. 70. 
 
A DILEMMA. 
 
 175 
 
 old English system of police and military forces 
 remained unaltered. A few officers of justice 
 executed the writs of the courts, and were obeyed 
 rather from habit than from any fear which they 
 could inspire. The only serious force at the dis- 
 posal of Government consisted of the trained 
 bands of London under the city magistrates, and 
 the county militia under the gentry and great 
 nobles, composed of the classes in whom dislike 
 of the Laudian theology was most prevalent, 
 and officered by the natural members of the two 
 Houses of Parliament. 1 Such a system made 
 tyranny impossible, for it left the king at the 
 mercy of his people. 
 
 Unwilling to repress and unable to conciliate, 
 the minister, who in spite of all his influence was 
 seldom allowed to work his own will, was placed 
 in an impossible position. He was obliged to 
 admit that something must be done : and if the 
 great leaders, Saye and Brooke, Warwick and 
 Bedford, Pym and Holies, were left to plot in 
 peace, the libellers at all events must have their 
 pens checked ; and severe chastisements must 
 prove that the Government would not be insulted 
 with impunity. Hence came about the most start- 
 ling severity of the period, which is so graphically 
 related for us in the pages of Fuller, 2 and which, 
 
 1 There is an excellent account of the constitution of this 
 force in Mason's Norfolk, 247. 
 
 - Fuller's Church History, iii. 386. 
 
176 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. ix. 
 
 more than anything else, has made Laud so 
 unpopular with posterity. 
 
 On 30th June, 1637, three pillories had been 
 erected in Palace Yard. They were for members 
 of the three learned professions, William Prynne, 
 a lawyer ; Henry Burton, a clergyman ; and John 
 Bastwick, a physician. An immense crowd had 
 assembled to see how these libellers would face 
 their punishment, for the Star Chamber had de- 
 creed that, after standing in the pillory for some 
 hours, each man was to lose his ears by the knife 
 of the executioner. Burton was the first to suffer ; 
 the pillory made a good pulpit for the nonce ; and 
 all felt that a man who was willing to face such 
 shame and pain for his opinions must at least be 
 worth listening to. " Methinks," he said, " I see 
 Mount Calvary where the crosses were erected. 
 If Christ was numbered amongst thieves, shall a 
 Christian think much for His sake to be numbered 
 among rogues ? " Soon his head was smothered in 
 blood under the executioner's knife, but he en- 
 dured manfully and did not flinch. The crowd 
 " howled," some with fury, some with compassion 
 as they saw his sufferings. Bastwick followed 
 with equal courage. " Indeed," he said, " I wrote 
 a book against Antichrist the Pope ; and the Pope 
 of Canterbury said it was written against him. 
 But were the press open to us, we would scatter 
 his kingdom, and fight courageously against Gog 
 and Mao-ogr" " Mrs. Bastwick got a stool, kissed 
 
THE LIBELLERS IN THE PILLORY. 
 
 177 
 
 him, his cars being cut off she called for them, and 
 put them in a clean handkerchief and carried them 
 away with her." 1 
 
 Prynne was the last to face the knife. "Rather," 
 said he, "than I would have my cause a leading 
 cause to the depriving of the subject's liberties, 
 which I seek to maintain, I choose to suffer my 
 body to become an example of this punishment." 
 The words imply that he had deliberately refused 
 to use his right to appeal from the Star Chamber 
 to the ordinary law courts, because he either had 
 no confidence in the soundness of his case, or 
 distrusted the impartiality of the judges. The 
 sayings were repeated and remembered. These 
 men had suffered, it seemed, for religion, for 
 freedom of opinion, for personal liberty. It is 
 true that the libels were atrocious, 2 and the punish- 
 ment the usual reward of libel, but the crowd had 
 assembled to listen and see, not to reason. 3 The 
 archbishop, men said, was mean and cruel to use 
 the law for his own personal revenge ; this was 
 shamefully inconsistent in a minister of Christ, and 
 
 1 Strafford Papers, letter from Garrard, ii. 85. 
 
 - Bastvvick had published a blasphemous litany (Baker, p. 
 457) ; and he had called the bishops "servants of the devil " (Parlia- 
 mentary History, ix. 60). He had been cautioned and then fined 
 previously in the High Commission (State Papers, 261, fol. 97 
 and 178). Burton and Prynne had used much the same language. 
 Burton is said to have been made an enemy to the Court by 
 not getting the high preferment he had expected ; he had been 
 attached at one time to Charles' household (Sanderson's Life of 
 Charles I., 218; cf. Salmonet, i. 88). 3 Wallington, i. 90. 
 
 12 
 
1 7 8 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. en. ix. 
 
 especially in one who so vigorously vindicated his 
 claim to be a successor of the apostles. 
 
 Nothino- is more dangerous to rulers than 
 
 o o 
 
 to be thought guilty of a spiteful use of power. 
 Laud indeed had refused to concur in the sentence 
 on Prynne, Burton and Bastwick ; "because the 
 business hath some reflection on myself, I shall 
 forbear to censure them and leave them to God's 
 mercy and the king's justice "- 1 But these words 
 prove that he must take his share of responsibility 
 for barbarous and useless punishments which he 
 might undoubtedly have prevented. The thought 
 certainly crossed his mind that Prynne could 
 legally be sentenced to death for his constant libels. 
 Such action would have been cruel ; it might 
 have successfully checked attacks on the Govern- 
 ment. As it was, the punishments were worse than 
 useless. To the leaders of the Opposition the 
 imprisonment of three noisy followers, who could 
 exercise far more influence by their sufferings 
 than by their talents, caused no inconvenience. 
 Such troublesome allies were well out of the way : 
 and concerning John Lilburne, one of the two 
 or three other libellers who suffered about the 
 same time, Henry Marten, the wittiest of the 
 members of the Long Parliament,' 2 remarked 
 " that if there were none living but himself, 
 John would be against Lilburne and Lilburne 
 
 Laud's speech in Star Chamber. 2 Cf. Ludlow, iii. 91. 
 
FAILURE TO DETER OPPONENTS. 
 
 179 
 
 against John ". l When the time came for action 
 a very subordinate part would be assigned 
 to these virulent writers. But their punish- 
 ment and their popular triumph had exposed 
 the weakness of a Government which had not 
 guards enough even to drive awav a mob from 
 Palace Yard.' 2 Their sufferings, enormously ex- 
 aggerated, and spoken about as if they were being 
 inflicted every day by the brutal myrmidons of 
 tyrannical rulers upon the upholders of liberty, 
 were described with fullest details in pamphlets 
 spread broadcast over England ; and became the 
 topic of conversation in every alehouse where 
 men met. The punishments inspired no dread 
 because they were so infrequent and in themselves 
 not sufficiently terrible ; and the Star Chamber 
 grew to be hated without being feared. Elizabeth 
 with her wholesale massacre of Roman priests, 
 hardly strong enough to mount the ladder after 
 the constant application of the rack ; 3 Cromwell 
 with his awe-inspiring scaffolds, where bands of 
 splendidly equipped cavalry surrounding the con- 
 demned 4 made patent the strength of the Govern- 
 
 1 Forster's Lives, iii. 217, but Wood's Athcnac, ii. 174, attri- 
 butes the words to Judge Jenkins. Cf. Hutchinson, ii. 160. 
 
 2 See Relation of Capuchin Mission, 346, "The king hath no 
 guards," and Ranke's England, ii. 66, " Foreigners were surprised 
 to see how completely the king was in the hands of his people, 
 that there were hardly any fortresses to which he could fly for 
 safety in time of need ". 
 
 J See Howell's contemporary comparison of the policies of 
 Elizabeth and Charles, iv. 450. 
 
 4 Execntionsof Charles!., Hamilton, Holland, and Capcl, pub. 1650. 
 
l8o LIFE AND TIMES OE WILLIAM LAUD. CH. ix. 
 
 ment and the weakness of its opponents, knew 
 how to evoke a well-calculated terror. The 
 secret prisons, the tortures, the burnings of the 
 Inquisition, to which the proceedings of the 
 Laudian bishops were sometimes absurdly com- 
 pared, 1 made men's blood run cold with fright. 2 
 But no Englishman in those rough days 3 feared 
 the loss of a little blood, or a few minutes' pain 
 which would leave him active as ever for the future. 
 And, indeed, no one took the trouble to express 
 pity for the ordinary petty criminal, or for the 
 poor Papist Pickering who lost his ears in the 
 pillory a year later "for saying the king was a 
 Papist at heart and the Protestants devils". 4 
 
 Laud seems to have been perfectly conscious 
 that the policy of the pillory had proved a mistake. 
 He laments to Wentworth its failure as a deter- 
 rent ; nor could Wentworth give him any sound 
 advice as to how he should check the libels. 5 Per- 
 haps it was the feeling that no one was frightened 
 by the pillory which caused the Star Chamber to 
 inflict that horrible cruelty of a public whipping upon 
 Lilburne in 1637, which blots its usually gentle 
 list of sentences. The archbishop often speaks, 
 
 1 Russel's Life of Spottiswoode, xliii., quoted by Ranke. 
 
 2 Howell's Letters describe this, i. 218. 
 
 3 Cf., e.g., Howell's Familiar Letters, i. 25 and 28, and iv. 
 493 ; Cromwell, Letters, xcix. and ci. ; and the acts of the Scotch 
 Presbyterians. 
 
 4 Garrard to Strafford, July, 1638. 
 
 5 Strafford Papers, ii. 119. 
 
1637. DEJECTED CONDITION. l8l 
 
 in the constant succession of lengthy cyphered 
 despatches which he sent to Dublin, of the evil 
 days which he is sure must be expected, unless 
 they could carry "Thorough" through quickly. 
 His health was becoming more and more un- 
 certain ; and he felt himself growing old, for at 
 sixty-four 1 (he was born in 1573) most great men 
 of those days were worn out ; Andre wes had died 
 at sixty-one ; Salisbury at forty-eight ; King 
 James at fifty-eight ; Richelieu would only live to 
 be fifty-seven; Pym to be fifty-nine; Oliver Crom- 
 well to be fifty-nine. It was time for him to be 
 retiring, and to spend his last years in devotions 
 as Lerma had done in Spain ; 2 for his elasticity 
 was gone, and his endurance was becoming ex- 
 hausted ; but he had no successor ready to hand. 
 He had lost by this time that bright, genial 
 manner which had won the hearts of the young 
 Oxford Fellows ; had captivated the royal cour- 
 tiers at Whitehall ; had made him the intimate 
 friend of Buckingham ; and had even persuaded 
 the citizens of London to open their money 
 bags for the restoration of St. Paul's. Men 
 complained now of the rough impatience of the 
 primate ; at Lambeth he had become inaccessible 
 to visitors from the country, or sent them home 
 offended by his harsh and hurried rejection of their 
 
 1 Letters to Strafford prove that he expected his death in this 
 year. 
 
 1 Howell, i. in. 
 
182 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. ix. 
 
 courtesies. He had mortally wounded by his rude- 
 ness the self-love of Argyle, 1 who was to repay 
 him bv becoming the most cunning engineer of his 
 ruin. He himself felt the change that had come 
 over him as he spoke with Edward Hyde in the 
 Lambeth Gardens about the unintentional sharp- 
 ness of his voice and manner.' 2 His letters to 
 Wentworth lose the quaint humour and the love 
 of amusing anecdote 3 which are so characteristic 
 in the early days of their intimacy. Overwork 
 had strained his nerves. Now the tone at best is 
 a humorous melancholy. " I prophesied, and it 
 proves most true, that the old wife of Canterbury 
 would prove a notorious shrew to me. And I'll 
 tell you a pretty tale by-the-bye, and 'tis true. 
 When I first came to Lambeth there were in the 
 walks sono'-thrushes which even becjan to sing in 
 February, and so continued, and the nightingales 
 followed in their season. Both of these came my 
 first year, I think to take their leave ; for neither 
 of them hath appeared ever since : and I presently 
 said I should have a troublesome time in that see, 
 and so it proves." 4 
 
 And a few months later he writes in the same 
 key : " Oh, my lord, I am grown old and extreme 
 
 1 Sir P. Warwick, p. go. 
 
 2 Contrast his reception of the Dutch ministers of English 
 congregations in September, 1635 (State Papers, vol. 297, No. 21), 
 with Clarendon's Life, i. 71, and State Papers, vol. 314, No. 67. 
 
 ^ Laud's Works, vii. 70. etc. 4 Ibid., vii. 416. 
 
1637-8. THE ATTACK ON BISHOP WILLIAMS. 1 83 
 
 weary of this my pen, yet I am willing to endure 
 all, if not more, than I am able (for very crazy I 
 was last week, and my frequent letters to my Lord 
 Marquis of Hamilton by his Majesty's command 
 lie heavy upon me) to give you a full, true and 
 real account of all your busiriess. And now, my 
 lord, I shall conclude sadly. It is not the 
 Seottish business alone that I look upon, but the 
 whole frame of things at home and abroad, with 
 vast expenses out of little treasure, and my mis- 
 giving soul is deeply apprehensive of no small 
 evils coming on. God in heaven avert them ; but 
 I can see no cure without a miracle, and I fear 
 that will not be showed." 1 The ill-health of states- 
 men has often exercised a decisive effect on the 
 course of politics, and made them fear imaginary 
 perils so vividly as to leave them blind to their 
 real dangers. A serious mistake of Laud's at 
 this time well illustrates his irritable and fatigued 
 condition. 
 
 Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, had been de- 
 prived of the Great Seal early in the reign of 
 Charles, and had retired to Buckden, his diocesan 
 residence. As lord keeper he had used his in- 
 fluence at the close of James' reign to attempt the 
 overthrow of Buckingham, who had been the 
 original architect of his fortunes : disgrace had 
 naturally followed detection. But the king could 
 not be satisfied until he was ruined. Williams 
 
 1 Laud's Works, vii. 456. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. ix. 
 
 had always been Laud's enemy and Laud's rival : 
 and entries in the Diary prove how much jealousy 
 and apprehension Laud had felt regarding* him, 
 till the archbishop had gradually persuaded him- 
 self that with Williams religion was only a ladder 
 for ambition. Of this he was so convinced that 
 when the Bishop of Lincoln became involved in 
 lawsuits with the Crown he persistently refused 
 to appeal to the king on his behalf. 1 It is noticeable 
 that while Charles and Laud forgave their personal 
 enemies as a religious duty, the enemies of Buck- 
 ingham could never recover their favour. Eliot 
 had expiated by his death in the Tower the elo- 
 quent words which the king believed were the 
 cause of Felton's crime. And the treatment of 
 Williams was certainly unwise ; it was probably 
 unjust ; for there is no real proof that Laud was 
 correct in saying: "The Bishop of Lincoln has been 
 the root of all the mischiefs which have befallen 
 Church and State for many years past ".' 2 Con- 
 sequently they allowed the Opposition at this time 
 the spectacle of a bishop, learned, diligent, capable, 
 to all outward appearance devout, imprisoned in 
 the Tower on a charge of tampering with witnesses 
 in a lawsuit. Even before this their harshness 
 
 1 Laud speaks of many intercessions made by him for 
 Williams with the king, but they certainly ceased at this time. 
 There is no proof that he had owed his advancement to Williams 
 in any way. This rests on a story in Hacket which has naturally 
 quite a different explanation. 
 
 2 Laud's Works, vii. 396. 
 
1637-8. THE INFLUENCE OF BUCKDEN. 
 
 I8 5 
 
 had driven Williams into the arms of the discon- 
 tented nobles. 1 At Buckden he had brought up the 
 sons of several great peers ; at Buckden he had 
 somewhat ostentatiously set the example of what 
 a prelate should be who was not cumbered with 
 the affairs of State, hospitable and genial, affording 
 to his guests the cheerful refreshment of artistic 
 and musical services, strict in his ordinations, zealous 
 in his superintendence of his clergy, broad and 
 liberal in his ecclesiastical policy, friendly to men 
 of all opinions and all classes.' 2 From Buckden 
 came the only pamphlets 3 and books which could 
 in the judgment of the learned answer the weighty 
 and witty defence of Laud's system which his 
 chaplains issued at his direction. Thus Bishop 
 W illiams in the Tower seemed to stand forward as 
 the natural mediator between High Church and 
 Low Church. Men could point to his principles as 
 the true alternative to the present plan of govern- 
 ment, and assert their fidelity to the Church while 
 they assailed the archbishop. It was this prosecu- 
 tion of the Bishop of Lincoln, following upon 
 the pillorying of Prynne and his friends, which 
 seemed to give colour to the charge spread by 
 seditious tracts broadcast over England that the 
 archbishop had laid a deep and dark design to 
 
 1 Hacket's Life of Williams. 
 
 Compare his friendship w ith Nicholas Ferrar. 
 :{ Fourteen hundred copies of Williams' book on the altar were 
 sold immediately after publication (vide Strafford Papers). 
 
l86 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. ix. 
 
 reintroduce Popery. Specious evidence was not 
 lacking ; the Lord Treasurer Weston was believed 
 to have died a Papist ; Secretary W'indebank was 
 suspected of Popish leanings ; some of the bishops, 
 notably Goodman and Montague, were accused 
 of negotiating with the Papal envoys; 1 Romanism 
 was spreading at Court, and had gained many 
 converts. 2 The queen 3 had even dared to take the 
 young Prince of Wales to mass. The Papal 
 envoys were received by the king ; and instead of 
 executing Jesuits the Government was doing its 
 utmost to persuade the recusants to take a modified 
 oath of allegiance. 4 
 
 So far as Laud was concerned, never had he 
 been so active and so resolute in his opposition to 
 Rome, though he always refused to persecute the 
 Roman Catholics. 5 At the council board,' 1 and at 
 
 1 See Life of Laud by a " Romish Recusant :: . 
 - Capuchin Relation, pp. 314-343. 
 
 3 For the bitter hatred felt for the queen by the Puritans see 
 Ludlo\v : s comment on her death, iii. 226; and cf. Tillieres, p. 205. 
 
 4 Clavcndon Papers. See the whole question in Berington's 
 
 Panzan'i. 
 
 5 Epistle Dedicatory of Book against Fisher. The system 
 seems to have been this. The priests and Jesuits were arrested 
 and convicted according to law; but then released on bonds given 
 by their friends that they would come before the courts for sentence 
 when required [State Papers, vol. 308, Nos. 66, 68, 69, 70; and cf. 
 Berington's Panzani). 
 
 * Diary, 22nd October, 1637 ; Laud's Works, vii. 379. The 
 " Romish Recusant " absolutely acquits Laud of intrigues with 
 Rome, though he accepts the evidence against Montague. See 
 Con's Letters. 
 
1637-9. STRUGGLE AGAINST ROMAN ENVOYS. 
 
 private interviews with the king-, he was constantly 
 demanding that English men and women should 
 not be allowed to attend the queen's chapel. 1 At 
 this time he republished his Book against Fisher, 
 the Jesuit. His efforts to reconcile the recusants 
 to the English Church and " to break the bonds 
 which united them to the chairof St. Peter" 2 were at 
 times so successful as to call out the jealous watch- 
 fulness of the Roman Curia. :; He had been deeply 
 offended when emissaries from the Pope pressed 
 upon him the offer of a cardinal's hat, 4 pointing 
 out that in reunion with Rome lay the real safety 
 in the struggle against the Puritans. The Roman 
 claim to be the only and the original Church of 
 Christ struck him as not merely ill-grounded, but 
 even ridiculous; "there is no greater absurdity 
 stirring this day in Christendom than that the 
 Reformation of an old corrupted Church must, will 
 we nill we, be taken for the building of a new ; 
 the Catholic Church of Christ is neither Rome nor 
 a conventicle;" 5 and though he was perfectly con- 
 
 1 Englishmen were driven from the chapel by force. Cf. 
 Lilly, Life and Death of Charles, p. 146. 
 
 2 Salmonet, i. 226. 3 Evelyn's Diary. 
 
 4 Diary, 4th and 17th August, 1633. Pere d'Orl^ans, the 
 Jesuit historian, is confident that Abbe Siri spoke without evidence 
 in stating that Laud intrigued with Cardinal Barbarini, ix. 260; 
 while on the other hand the " Romish Recusant " tries character- 
 istically to throw doubt on the offer of the cardinal's hat to Laud. 
 
 5 Epistle Dedicatorv of Book against Fisher. Cf. sect, xxvii. 
 2 of the book, where he comments on the absence of the Greeks 
 from Trent. 
 
1 88 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. ix. 
 
 scious that his adhesion was worth any price which 
 the Papacy could pay, he always showed the most 
 profound distrust and dislike of the Papal court. 
 " So long as the Jesuits write and maintain 
 that ' faith given is not to be kept with heretics,' 
 and the Church of Rome leaves their doctrine 
 uncensured (as it hath hitherto done), A. C. 
 shall pardon us that we come not to Rome, 
 nor within the reach of Roman power, what 
 freedom of speech soever be promised us." Rome 
 is "a very safe place, if you mark it, for us to 
 come to ; just as the lion in the apologue invited 
 the fox to his own den ; safe perhaps for coming 
 thither, but none for coming thence ; vestigia nulla 
 retrorsum 
 
 Rejected and thwarted by the archbishop, the 
 Romanists had proceeded to organise an opposi- 
 tion party in the Court. It was headed by the 
 queen, 2 who detested Laud's economy, and was 
 continually urging the king to extravagant building 
 and to lavish gifts ; all too successfully, since Laud 
 complains to the Irish deputy: "We will spend on 
 and not be sensible of our wants till extremities 
 seize upon us," :i and again: "As for the king's 
 coffers, the lock of them is too much at command 
 and there be many keys ". 4 Cottington sup- 
 
 1 Book against Fisher, sect. xxi. 7. 
 
 2 Laud's Works, vii. 172, 334, etc. Cf. Hobbes' Behemoth, 
 and Lilly. 
 
 :i Ibid., vii. 451. 
 
 4 Ibid., vii. 511. For royal extravagance see State Papers, 
 vol. 288, Nos. 11, 51, 100, vol. 289, No. 70, etc. 
 
1637-9- THE COALITION AGAINST THE MINISTERS. 1 89 
 
 ported her with his skilful knowledge of political 
 life : Holland, Jermyn and Percy, hungry for 
 grants from the Crown, besieged the ears of the 
 king with complaints of the archbishop's meanness. 
 Hamilton had his own interests to serve, and ex- 
 ercised his preponderant personal influence with 
 the king on their behalf. Windebank was afraid 
 to support the archbishop. And soon a new 
 Secretary of State, Sir Henry Vane, bringing 
 about a malign alliance 1 between the party of the 
 queen and the party of the Puritans, would finally 
 place the archbishop " between two factions, very 
 like corn between two mill-stones," 2 and in so 
 doing seal his fate. The instability of the king's 
 character, though he was firm enough when in 
 the archbishop's company, made him incapable 
 of resisting the blandishments of his charming 
 and beautiful wife, and the insinuations of some 
 of his accomplished courtiers ; and added to his 
 minister's embarrassments. " I believe nothing 
 in Court but what I see done," 3 Laud writes one 
 day; and another day: " 'Tis a wonder to see 
 the king so constant ". 4 The ground was slipping 
 
 1 The alliance was all the more dangerous because it was not 
 avowed. Each party was intriguing against the minister. Further 
 Baxter (Autobiography, p. 76) gives it as his opinion that the Papists 
 hatched several of the sects, and that there were secret Papists 
 in the Parliamentary army. Cromwell later on had Jesuits in his 
 pay ; see " History of Penruddock's Rebellion " in Ludlow, iii. 514, 
 and cf. Hutchinson, ii. 178. 
 
 - Laud's Works, vii. 380. r ' Ibid., vii. 421. 
 
 4 Ibid., vii. 181. 
 
190 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. 
 
 from beneath his feet. Jesuit and Puritan 
 alike were persuading the people that he was 
 a tyrant. He was detested by the great nobles 
 and country gentry because he had checked their 
 oppressions and severely punished their vices ; 1 
 while the Londoners and other commercial com- 
 munities disliked him because he was opposed to 
 Parliaments, and was levying taxes which they 
 considered to be illegal. 
 
 But the charge of Popery was the most deadly 
 of all those which were whispered against him ; ~ 
 for the hatred of Rome had become by this time 
 firmly engrained in the character of the whole 
 English people. " I was born in 1588," said the 
 Earl of Oxford to a Romanist who tried to 
 bring him over, " and christened on the 5th of 
 November." 3 
 
 1 Lilly's Life and Death of Charles I., p. 162. 
 
 - Nehemiah Wallington's Historical Notices. May's Causes of 
 the Civil War and Hobbes' Behemoth. Foley's Records of the 
 English Province, Society of Jesus, appears to show fewer English 
 enrolled as Jesuits during this period. 
 
 3 Fuller's Church History, iii. 309. 
 
 Note. — The Count de Tillieres, who was for some time inten- 
 dant of the queen's household, gives us full details in his memoirs 
 of her political action. He blames her secret alliance with the 
 Puritan chiefs and her opposition to Laud, and explains it on 
 p. 201 (ed. 1863) : " Soit qu'elle fut fachee qu'un autre qu'elle 
 gouvernat son mari, soit qu'il lui donnat les memes sujet de plainte 
 qu'avait fait l'autre (i.e., Weston : this refers to the queen's extrava- 
 gance), soit qu'etant jointe a la cabale des Puritains, elle voulut 
 choquer un homme qui n'etait pas dans leurs interets". 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 LIFE AT LAMBETH, 1622-1640. 
 
 Friendships — Neile — Buckingham — Noy — Windebank — 
 Wenhcorth — Hyde — The Household — The Ferrars. 
 
 Since the archbishop had no domestic interests to 
 divert his thoughts at Lambeth from the dangers 
 which threatened his policy, and no family affec- 
 tions to console him for the loss of popularity, it 
 was natural at times that he should be bitterly- 
 depressed by the rising storm of opposition. His 
 father and mother had died while he was a young 
 man at Oxtord ; of his half-brothers and sisters, 
 who apparently had settled in London, he saw 
 little, 1 and most of them died before he rose to 
 power ; 2 for his nephews and nieces he did as 
 much as the heavy ecclesiastical calls upon his 
 purse would allow him, though he refused to 
 benefit them by his public patronage. 
 
 1 This did not arise from his neglect, but from the difference of 
 interests ; he would now and then drive straight from Whitehall 
 to visit them (Diary, 3rd January, 1625). 
 
 '- Letters to Wentworth. 
 
 (190 
 
192 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. CH. x. 
 
 He had deliberately adopted the celibate life, 
 and persuaded his friend Juxon, his successor 
 in the see of London, and lord treasurer, to follow 
 his example, because he considered that without 
 family he gave no hostages to fortune, and left 
 himself free to carry out the work of reforming 
 the miseries of the Church, to which he believed 
 God had specially destined him. 1 His affections 
 therefore could only find an outlet in friendships 
 and in that kindly interest which, as his Diary 
 shows us, he always took in the affairs of his 
 servants.' 2 
 
 Of his early friendships we know little. From 
 1608 to 1640 he lived in the closest intimacy with 
 Dr. Neile; and when that prelate became Bishop 
 of Durham Laud made Durham House his 
 London home, until his own elevation to the 
 metropolitan bishopric. The patronage which 
 Neile bestowed upon him he repaid with interest, 
 as his own power increased ; and he persuaded 
 the king to appoint his friend, first to the see of 
 Winchester, and then to the primatial throne of 
 York. But no letters, and only a few bare entries 
 in his Diary, remain to prove their terms of 
 friendship. 
 
 It is when Buckingham appears on the scene 
 that we are first admitted to the affectionate 
 warmth of Laud's heart. That magnificent noble, 
 
 1 I'uller, Church History, Hi. 476; and Trials and Troubles, 161. 
 - Diary, 23rd July, 1624; 26th October, 1635, etc. 
 
I622-S. 
 
 INTIMACY WITH 15UCKINGU AM. 
 
 193 
 
 whose personal beauty dazzled the nation, whose 
 easy grace made him for some years the darling 
 of the House of Commons, so calmly self-con- 
 fident that he could be courteous to the meanest 
 of the people, and never forgot his politeness 1 
 under the most savage invectives of Eliot and of 
 Coke (both at one time his clients and his 
 admirers), exercised a similar fascination upon 
 Laud. From the 9th of June, 1622, when, as he 
 records, " My Lord Marquis Buckingham was 
 pleased to enter upon a near respect to me. The 
 particulars are not for paper," until the 24th of 
 August, 1628, when "the news of the Duke of Buck- 
 ingham's death came to Croydon, where it found 
 myself and the Bishops of Winchester, Ely and 
 Carlisle, at the consecration of Bishop Montague 
 for Chichester with my lord's grace," Buckingham 
 is the central figure in his thoughts. Sometimes 
 we come upon a letter to the duke, as on the 13th 
 of December, 1625 : 2 " I am heartily glad to hear 
 your lordship is so well returned and so happily as 
 to meet so great joy. God hath, among others 
 His great blessings (and I know your grace so 
 esteems them), sent you now this extraordinary 
 one, a son to inherit his father's honours, and the 
 rest of God's blessings upon both. So soon as I 
 came to the end of my journey I met the happy 
 news of God's blessing upon your grace, and it 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, vii. 42. Cf. Clarendon's Rebellion. 
 - Laud's Works, vi. 247. 
 
 13 
 
194 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. x. 
 
 seasoned all the hard journey I have had out of 
 Wales through the snow." Sometimes there are 
 entries in the Diary meant for no eye but his own, 
 as on the i ith of January, 1623: "My Lord of Buck- 
 ingham and I in the inner chamber of York 
 House" ; the 1 6th of May, 1624: "I watched with my 
 Lord of Buckingham. This was the first fit that he 
 could be persuaded to take orderly ;" and the 22 nd 
 of May : " My Lord Duke of Buckingham missed his 
 fit"; the 3rd of January, 1625 : "The duke brought 
 me to the king. There I was about an hour and 
 a half reading papers and talking about them with 
 his majesty and my lord duke;" the 23rd of Janu- 
 ary, 1625, Sunday night: "The discourse which 
 my lord duke had with me about witches and 
 astrologers " ; Sunday, the 4th of September : " I was 
 very much troubled in my dreams. My imagina- 
 tion ran altogether upon the Duke of Buckingham, 
 his servants and family ;" the 25th of September : 
 " I was told that the Duke of Buckingham had a 
 son born, whom God bless with all the good 
 thing's of heaven and earth ". 
 
 After Laud's appointment to London, and the 
 great increase of his power in the State, his letters 
 have been preserved to us in large quantity. 
 From these we learn of several very intimate 
 friendships which cheered the period of his ad- 
 ministration. Of Noy, the famous attorney- 
 general, he writes : " I have lost a dear friend in 
 him, and the Church the greatest she had of his 
 
1628-34- 
 
 FRIENDSHIP WITH WINDEKANK. 
 
 condition since she needed such". 1 Sir Thomas 
 Roe, Sir Henry Wotton and Vossius are in constant 
 correspondence with him. But two were specially 
 close friends : the first was Windebank, an old 
 pupil at St. John's, whom he persuaded the king 
 to make Secretary of State in June, 1632. He an- 
 nouncestheappointment in a characteristicletter : — 2 
 To Secretary Windebank, 
 S. in Christo. 
 Mr. Secretary, — For though you will think 
 perchance that I am apt enough to jest, yet I know 
 you will believe these enclosed. And this present 
 day in the afternoon at council, Secretary Cooke 
 is by his Majesty's special command to declare it 
 to the Lords. So now you have a second cure to 
 attend as well as your son-in-law. The name of 
 the parish is S. Troubles. And now I return you 
 your prayers for me : God send you as much 
 health as you may have business. I have sent 
 Dr. Ducke to bring you the news, that the women 
 may abuse him for his last week's knavery. I 
 pray you make haste up, and follow the directions 
 of this enclosed. And among other benefits I 
 doubt not but the very naming you to this place 
 will make them at Oxford look well to your son. 
 So in great haste I leave you to the grace of God, 
 and rest, 
 
 Your very loving friend, 
 
 Guil., London. 
 
 Diary, ioth August, 1O34. 
 
 2 Laud's Works, vii. 43. 
 
I96 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. x. 
 
 But Windebank gradually deserted his patron, 
 evidently under the influence of the queen's 
 chaplains, who, in their constant intrigues against 
 the archbishop so soon as they realised him to be 
 the strongest barrier against the restoration of 
 Popery, persuaded the secretary that his only safe 
 alliance was with the queen's party. Little by 
 little a coldness grew up between the former 
 friends, which Laud felt bitterly. 
 
 His other most intimate friend was Thomas 
 Wentworth, afterwards Lord Strafford. The 
 outspoken consistent bishop had for some time 
 distrusted the new minister who had been so lately 
 the leader of the Opposition. But on the 21st 
 of January, 1631, took place that conversation "in 
 my little chamber at London House" 1 which 
 bound the two men in the most intimate alliance, 
 only to be severed by death. Laud constantly 
 requested his friend to burn his letters, but happily 
 his wishes were disregarded, and from them we 
 obtain the most distinct picture of the archbishop's 
 life in the years when he ruled England. The 
 first portion of a letter to be transcribed shall be 
 that in which he thanks his friend for con- 
 gratulations on his appointment to Canterbury : — 2 
 
 " Now, my lord, why may you not write as 
 whilom you did to the Bishop of London ? The 
 man is the same, and the same to you ; but I 
 see you stay for better acquaintance, and till 
 
 1 Diary. - Laud's ]\'orks, vi. 312. 
 
i6 3 3- CORRESPONDENCE WITH WENTWORTH. 197 
 
 then you will keep distance. I perceive also 
 my predecessor's awe is upon you, but I doubt 
 I shall never hold it long ; and I was about to 
 swear by my troth, as you do, but I remember 
 oaths heretofore were wont to pass under the Privy 
 Seal, and not the ordinary seal of letters. Well, 
 wiser or not, you must take that as you find it ; 
 but I will not write any long letters and leave out 
 my mirth, it is one of the recreations I have always 
 used with my friends, and 'tis hard leaving an old 
 custom, neither do I purpose to do it ; though I 
 mean to make choice of my friends, to whom I 
 will use it." The next 1 shows the overwhelming 
 character of the work described in chapter vii. : — 
 " I can scarce keep open my eyes, it is so late ; 
 therefore I end abruptly, and with hearty wishes 
 tor your good, answerable to that you do for God 
 and His Church, I leave you and yours to His 
 blessed protection ". The next two extracts refer 
 to some presents which Wentworth had sent 
 him : — 2 
 
 " Therefore truly I suspect that either they 
 use worse salt to the eels than to other fish, or 
 less than such great fish require, or else there 
 is some incorrigible muddiness in the eel while 'tis 
 fresh. Your lordship sees what a skilful fish- 
 monger I am grown. But this learning I have 
 all the Lent long, and a kind of unmannerliness 
 which accompanies it, contrary to the proverb of 
 
 i Laud's Works, vi, 360. 2 Ibid., vii. 331. 
 
198 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch.x. 
 
 a gift horse, whose mouth should not be looked 
 into. But now Easter is coming you shall see I 
 shall be more civil. I have also received the cap 
 which you sent me ; but I cannot tell you how it 
 may be to my liking (for that is the thing you 
 wish) because, to deal truly with you, I have quite 
 forgotten whether it be to be used for winter 
 travel in the daytime or for the night. But sure 
 the perfume is so strong that whether I use it by 
 clay or by night it will fill me with headache, and 
 if it be for night use, quite mar my sleep. But 
 your lordship must needs be at the pains to send 
 me word how I must use it. As for the pad- 
 saddle and the martin's fur, I will stay your own 
 leisure for them; yet this I'll tell you, and you 
 may be sure of it, I will not use my great horse 
 till I have that saddle. And if you think that I 
 will not ride him then neither, the matter is not 
 great." And again : — 1 
 
 " I thank your lordship for my lamp. I have 
 not yet had leisure to try it, but I will as soon as 
 I can, and then give your lordship an account of 
 it, as now I give you thanks for it. Within two 
 days after I received the lamp, I received from 
 you a rich saddle, the Dutch pad which you 
 spake of to me. And the first opportunity I can 
 get to step to Croydon, I will, God willing, try 
 that also, and see how easy it will prove. All the 
 fear I have of it by view is, that it rises too high 
 
 1 Laud's Works, vii. 418. 
 
1633-9. CORRESPONDENCE WITH WENTWORTH. 199 
 
 before. But it may be that it is my fault of skill 
 that judges so ; but, however that prove, you have 
 been at too much cost with me, for the saddle is 
 too rich, this being not an age for any bishop to 
 go, or ride, or almost do anything else like him- 
 self." 
 
 Then we come to more serious matters mixed 
 with humorous comments. 1 
 
 " I am sorry to hear you say that the gout will 
 not leave you. And yet that is no wonder ; for 
 there is not one of a thousand that once comes to 
 have it in his feet that can ever shake hands with 
 it afterwards and bid it farewell. You make a 
 good use of it when you think of Cosha. But 
 sure your thoughts would grow wild there. And 
 more service a great deal may you do at the 
 council table, so long as the gout hangs in your 
 heel and lets your head alone. But your next 
 thoughts please me very well : that you will never 
 withdraw from the king our master's service in a 
 storm, though I am not of opinion that any valour 
 of yours could make anything stir but your tongue, 
 were you fettered indeed with the gout. 
 
 "I'll assure you I was very proud of my justice 
 in the sentence which I gave concerning the hung 
 beef. And it was well executed : for it did as 
 well deserve to be hanged as any beef in England. 
 And now I see your lordship's approbation of my 
 sentence given in that very weighty controversy, 
 
 1 Laud's Works, vii. 532-3. 
 
200 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. 
 
 it doth very much encourage my justice : as I 
 doubt not you shall find in your cause the next 
 term, if it prove as good and justifiable as this did, 
 otherwise you were best look to it. As for your 
 promise of sending me more, I like it well. And 
 the condition better, that no Scottish Presbytery 
 might be permitted to eat of it at my table. For 
 I'll assure you, I will ne'er admit a lay elder of 
 them all, if I may know him, much less will I teach 
 any of them the way to your house for more. 
 Only, I pray, take heed they do not find the way 
 of themselves, for as yet, to my apprehension, I do 
 not see ' thorough ' in anything. 
 
 " And this last line of mine is answer enough 
 and too much to the next passage of your letter. 
 For as for your half a dozen men that would set 
 their hearts upon the business, you shall do well 
 to send Diogenes with his lantern to look for them. 
 Not but that I think there are more than so many 
 to be found ; but because my eyes are dim and 
 cannot discern them. And I pray God, you do 
 not prophesy, that there will be no thinking of 
 ' thorough ' till things come to greater extremity. 
 And then, for aught that any man can promise, it 
 may be too late. As for the trained bands, there 
 are many disputes raised which you shall have 
 more at large in my side paper if I can come to 
 any certainty." 
 
 From other letters we see him at Lambeth, 
 swinging a book in his chamber for exercise ; or 
 
1633-9- 
 
 FRIENDS AT LAMBETH. 
 
 20 1 
 
 pacing up and down the great stone gallery, and 
 longing for the company of his friend, Lord 
 Scudamore ; 1 or delighted with a present of a cat 
 which Lady Roe has sent him from Germany ; or 
 worried with the volume-like letters which he has 
 got to answer from Scotland and Ireland ; or gliding 
 across in his barge to Whitehall to have a long talk 
 on business with the king after dinner, or to dis- 
 cuss deep philosophical questions with him and the 
 students and artists of the Court. 2 Then in the 
 spring he is looking for the reappearance of his 
 pet tortoise. 3 Or the famous Hales comes to 
 visit him, and walks with him in the garden at 
 Lambeth, till they thoroughly understand one 
 another, and part — Hales astonished at the arch- 
 bishop's learning, and satisfied that the troubled 
 times require prudence in what is written and 
 published ; the archbishop planning what he can 
 do to reward the philosopher, and make work 
 easier to him by driving away the res angusta 
 domi. Or Edward Hyde comes in, and, as they 
 pace among- the shrubberies, tells Laud what a 
 bad name he is getting in the city of London, and 
 how the country gentry complain of his want of 
 courtesy, when he hurries them out of his Lambeth 
 study on discovering that they have only come to 
 flatter him. There was little time for pretty com- 
 pliments in those busy days when he was "late to 
 
 ' Works t vi. 367. 2 Diary, and Works, vii. 283. 
 
 Benson's Laud, p. ri. 
 
202 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. x. 
 
 bed," and "extreme weary"; but no one on 
 reading the Diary and Correspondence can fail to 
 see the sincerity of the man, the greatness of his 
 purpose, his keen sympathy with affliction, and 
 his true attachment to his friends. 
 
 Any spare time and attention had to be given 
 to the supervision of that huge household of 
 chaplains, gentlemen, servants and friends, who 
 occupied at this time " the ninety-seven chambers " 
 in the palace of Lambeth and were organised for 
 work and prayer, study and public writing in a 
 manner which evoked admiration and made it 
 possible for the archbishop to supervise every 
 department of State business, except the one 
 which the king jealously withheld from his cogni- 
 sance, the office for Scottish affairs. 
 
 A visit to the archbishop at Lambeth by an 
 unknown scholar shall conclude the chapter. 
 We have seen the deep interest which Laud 
 had taken in the community of Little Gidding : 
 Nicholas Ferrar had died in December, 1637 ; 
 but at Easter, 1640, his nephew Nicholas, who 
 at the age of twenty-one was already master of 
 twenty-four languages, came to London to present 
 a polyglot Bible to Prince Charles. Laud intro- 
 duced him to the king, sent him to Prince Charles, 
 and then received him and his father at Lambeth, 
 on the morning of Easter Eve. 
 
 After a few words with the young man, he 1 
 
 1 See Rev. J. E. B. Mayor's Two Lives of Ferrar. 
 
1640. VISIT OF YOUNG NICHOLAS FERKAR. 203 
 
 " took his father aside and said : ' Let your care 
 now cease for your hopeful son, or for his future 
 preferment, or estate, or present maintenance. 
 God hath so inclined the king's heart, and his 
 liking to your son, and the gifts God hath en- 
 dued him with, that having been informed of his 
 virtuous pious education, and singular industry 
 and Christian deportment, and of his sober incli- 
 nation, he will take him from you into his own 
 protection and care, and make him his scholar and 
 servant ; and hath given me order that after the 
 holidays being past I should send him to Oxford, 
 and that there he shall be maintained in all things 
 needful to him at the king's proper charge, and 
 shall not need what he can desire to further him 
 in the prosecution of those works he hath begun 
 in matter of languages; and what help of books, or 
 heads, or hands he shall require, he shall not be un- 
 furnished with : for the king would have this work 
 of the New Testament in twenty-four languages 
 to be accomplished by his own care and assistance ; 
 and to have the help of all the learned men that 
 can be had to that end. Assure yourself he shall 
 want for nothing. In a word, the king is greatly 
 in love with him, and you will, and have cause to, 
 bless and praise God for such a son.' 
 
 " So John Ferrar, being ravished with joy, in all 
 humble manner gave thanks to my lord's grace. 
 And they returning to Nicholas Ferrar, my lord 
 embraced him and gave him his benediction. 
 
204 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. x. 
 
 Nicholas Ferrar, kneeling down, took the bishop 
 by the hand and kissed him. He took him up in 
 his arms and laid his hand on his cheek, and 
 earnestly besought God Almighty to bless him 
 and increase all grace in him, and fit him every 
 day more and more for an instrument of His glory 
 here upon earth and a saint in heaven, 'which,' 
 said he, ' is the only happiness that can be desired, 
 and ought to be our chief end in all our actions. 
 God bless you ! I have told your father what is 
 to be done for you after the holidays. God will 
 provide for you better than your father can. God 
 bless you and keep you.' So they parted from 
 his Grace." 
 
Further Authorities. 
 
 e correspondence of Laud and Wentworth here becomes in- 
 valuable. Carte's Life of the Duke of Ormond; Baillie's Letters 
 and fournals; The Verney Memoirs; Nehemiah Wallington's His- 
 torical Notices; The Hamilton Papers; Sir Ralph Verney's 
 Diary ; Mentet de Salmonet, Histoirc des Troubles de la Grandi 
 Bretagne, ed. 1660 ; May's Causes of the Civil War, Maseres 
 edition ; Lilly's Life and Death of Charles I., Maseres' edition 
 Memoires du Comte Leveneur de Tillieres. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 POLICY IN IRELAND AND SCOTLAND- THE FIRST 
 DISTURBANCES — 1633- 1639. 
 
 Wentworth in Ireland — Reform of the Church and 
 University — Ministers for Scotland — Laud's Mistake 
 about the Clergy — Secrecy in the Scotch Office — The 
 Army on the Frontier — Pacification of Berwick. 
 
 Laud and Wentworth had always realised the 
 dangerous complications in which the existence 
 of two semi-independent nationalities within the 
 empire might at any time involve their system. 
 If they were to maintain the Tudor plan of govern- 
 ment, by the king for the people, they must be 
 free from dependence on the will of Parliament ; 
 and war or rebellion would necessitate the raising- 
 of funds which Parliament alone could supply. 
 They therefore turned anxious eyes upon Ireland 
 and Scotland. 
 
 Ireland Wentworth took into his own charge. 
 There to some extent he could carry out his ideal 
 of a strong and beneficent executive, drawing to 
 itself the affections of the people by its financial 
 probity, its industrial energy, its sternly impartial 
 administration of justice ; and there he never 
 
 forgot to listen with attentive sympathy to every 
 
 (207) 
 
208 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xi. 
 
 complaint made by Parliament in the name of the 
 people ; for Ireland was far from the Court and 
 from the harpies who fed upon the gentle-natured 
 Charles. 1 Laud's share of this work had been to 
 defend the Irish administration at the council 
 board. Had it not been for his influence the re- 
 call of Wentworth would on several occasions 
 have been certain ; and he had brought the Irish 
 bishops, clergy and university into alliance with 
 the lord deputy. 2 As Chancellor of the University 
 of Dublin, to which office he was elected in 1634, 
 and by his personal influence with many of the 
 prelates, the archbishop had materially aided 
 Wentworth in the pacification of Ireland. Irish- 
 men could be made, and were made, contented and 
 happy by a strict police and by the protection and 
 development of commerce and industry, such as 
 secured to every man the fruits of his labour, and 
 opened to all fresh opportunities of advancement ; 
 and never were Irishmen less brow-beaten by " the 
 great ones " :i than in those prosperous years. But 
 neither statesmen considered these measures a 
 full solution of the Irish difficulty. A rich and 
 thriving community would agitate for freedom, 
 and for a share in the government of the empire. 
 Then the differences of education, of habits, of 
 
 1 Carte's Ormond, vol. i. 
 
 2 Laud's Works, vii. passim, and Carte's Ormond, i. 
 
 3 Strafford Correspondence, ii. 93. Carte's Ormond, i. See 
 Lives of Strafford. 
 
1634-9- 
 
 A BRITISH NATIONALITY. 
 
 209 
 
 religion, would threaten a schism between the two 
 countries. Prosperous Ireland would become a 
 peril to the imperial interests of England unless 
 the Irish could be absorbed in the English race; 
 unless the educated classes could be imbued with 
 English ideas, and English principles, and English 
 ambitions ; 1 while the cultivators of the soil, and 
 artisans, and smaller traders came to practise 
 English habits and to live with English surround- 
 ings.' 2 Thus it was an article of Wentworth's 
 political creed that the university and the Church 
 must mould the future. Romanist Ireland would 
 never be loyal Ireland ; Laud in the University 
 of Dublin was to do for the Irish gentry and pro- 
 fessional men of the new generation what he was 
 doing so successfully for England through Oxford. 
 Meantime an able and popular clergy might with 
 the support of the Government teach the Irish 
 peasantry to love the Prayer Book and to look to 
 the Church as their protector ; and thirty years 
 might see them weaned from Romanism with a 
 success as complete as that attained in England. 
 
 A good deal was achieved in this direction. 
 The Irish bishops and clergy were compelled to 
 reside each in his diocese or benefice, and were 
 allowed on no pretence whatever to hold prefer- 
 ment in England ; there was no playing with duty 
 
 1 Strafford Papers, i. 299. 
 
 a The Irish children were to learn English (Laud's Works, 
 vi. 374). Cf. Irish Narratives of 1641, Camden Society. 
 
2IO LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. XI. 
 
 for the coadjutors of Laud and Wentworth. 
 Pluralists like the Archbishop of Cashel, who held 
 sixteen livings, were compelled to disgorge. Lay- 
 impropriators received equally severe treatment ; 
 of one of the greediest of them Laud writes : 
 " Dermot O'Dingle hath a mighty swallow," 
 "three vicarages at once and not one stick 
 by the way". 1 Everywhere neglected and im- 
 poverished parishes were being put into working 
 order. The Irish articles, which were strongly 
 Calvinistic, were repealed by convocation, and the 
 English accepted in their stead. The new bishops 
 were carefully selected at Laud's advice by the 
 king ; and the lord deputy himself was authorised 
 to appoint to all inferior dignities. Moreover, as 
 it was found that the episcopal chancellors were 
 both ignorant and corrupt, and able to hinder 
 many of the reforms of devoted bishops like the 
 saintly Bedell, 2 directions were given by Laud's 
 desire to the lord keeper Coventry to choose in 
 England suitable lawyers of repute for these diffi- 
 cult appointments. Meanwhile the Romanists 
 were watched with a jealous eye, and their propa- 
 ganda diligently repressed. 3 Things had gone so 
 well that the deputy ventured to assemble a 
 
 1 Laud's Works, vii. 69. Carte's Ormond, i. 72. 
 
 2 Bedell, with Laud's support, translated the Bible into Irish ; 
 it was just ready for print when the Great Rebellion broke out and 
 stopped their plans (Heylin's History of the Reformation). 
 
 1 Strafford Papers, i. 187, and passim. 
 
i6 34 -9. THE GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 21 I 
 
 Parliament and obtained Parliamentary sanction 
 for all his plans. From Ireland there would be 
 no danger so long as Wentworth's hand controlled 
 it. 1 But if resolute government was withdrawn, 
 the outbreak would be all the more terrible, since 
 •every evil-doer of every party felt and found his 
 liberty of action curtailed, and was burning with 
 regret for the wild anarchy of former times." 
 
 Scotland required still more delicate handling ; 
 but this Scotland had not obtained. It was an 
 axiom with Charles that Scotland must be ruled 
 by Scotsmen ; and there were few Scotsmen of 
 influence likely to endanger themselves for the 
 plans of a Government which was intent on cur- 
 tailing the greatness of the local magnates. Two 
 classes of men stand out prominently during these 
 years in the history of Scotland. There were the 
 successful preachers, men usually of noble personal 
 piety but devoted to the most extreme principles 
 of their Reformation, and by the narrowness of 
 their experience unable to extend sympathy in any 
 degree to those of different training and of dif- 
 ferent nationality. Scotland under their guidance 
 would prove to be her own worst enemy ; and 
 would fall for the first time in her stormy history 
 under a foreign tyranny supported by a standing 
 army which she herself was compelled to pay. 
 Side by side with these estimable men, and 
 employing them continually as cat's-paws to pull 
 
 1 Carte's Ormond, i. 88. 2 Wallington, ii. 216. 
 
2 12 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. 
 
 out their chestnuts, were the leaders of the 
 -Scottish nobility ; Argyle, whom Laud had per- 
 sonally offended ; Rothes, whose ruined fortunes 
 required the chances of a revolution ; Montrose, 
 who was annoyed by the king's reception of 
 him at the Court of Whitehall ; Loudoun, and 
 many others like them brought up in an atmo- 
 sphere of intrigue, educated to consider the 
 advance of their personal power in their own 
 districts the one object worth striving after, and 
 now discontented because the Crown was seeking 
 to deprive them of their oppressive privileges. 1 
 To the nobles the Episcopal Church was most 
 hateful because they held many acres of the 
 bishops' lands ; while the Presbyterian preachers 
 shrank from the bishops and the liturgy because 
 bishops and a liturgy existed in the Roman Church. 
 
 James I. had succeeded in partially restoring 
 the royal authority in Scotland by skilfully playing 
 off the preachers against the nobles ; he had 
 gradually acquired greater power than his pre- 
 decessors and had set himself to strengthen this 
 by establishing a new episcopal hierarchy which 
 he had endowed with some control over the 
 clergy, and which he employed as a local counter- 
 poise to the nobles. After his accession to the 
 English throne he had prepared the way for the 
 reintroduction of a liturgy. But he died just as 
 his schemes were ripened. 
 
 1 Rushworth, ii. 392. Baillie, i. 7. 
 
1629-37. LAUD POWERLESS IN SCOTTISH AFFAIRS. 213 
 
 Charles, who had left Scotland when he was 
 two years old, knew little of the Scottish character, 
 and had no sympathy with Scottish habits ; but in 
 his father's Court he had imbibed strong Scottish 
 prejudices which induced him to refuse to discuss 
 at the English council table the details of any of 
 his Scottish measures. Laud and Wentworth 
 managed Ireland ; they were almost entirely 
 ignorant of the affairs of Scotland, and at first 
 had no conception of the serious nature of the 
 Scottish outbreak. 1 The part of chief adviser for 
 Scotland was assigned to the Marquis of Hamil- 
 ton, a man who shared the tendency of his famous 
 house toward a tortuous and irresolute policy ; he 
 had gained the king's affections by his skill in 
 tennis and in hunting, 2 but he was universally 
 disliked and distrusted ; " the air of his counte- 
 nance," said a shrewd observer, "had a cloud 
 upon it ". 3 
 
 But though Laud was never allowed to interfere 
 with the Scottish administration, his ecclesiastical 
 
 1 Laud's Works, vii. 402, 426, 468, pro%'e this. " The secret is 
 between the Marquis of Hamilton and the king," writes Laud to 
 Wentworth so late as 30th July, 1638 ; cf. Strafford Papers, ii. 325 ; 
 Clarendon's History, i. 172. See also the defiance sent to France 
 in the middle of the Scottish troubles; when Richelieu asked for 
 English neutrality during his attack on Dunkirk (Pere d'Orle'ans, 
 ix. 264), Charles answered that he would send a fleet and 15,000 
 men to defend it. This shows how little ministers dreaded Scot- 
 tish outbreaks. Cf. Carte's Ormond, i. 88. 
 
 2 Sir P. Warwick, 104; and Burnet's Hamilton, p. 4. 
 
 3 Charles was afterwards convinced of his treachery (Ludlow 
 iii. 260, letter to the queen). 
 
214 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. CH. xi. 
 
 policy was so cordially admired and accepted by the 
 king that in the general direction of the Govern- 
 ment his principles were constantly followed and 
 his advice occasionally invited. 1 And Laud 
 flattered himself that the king could use the 
 Church of Scotland as he was using the Church 
 of England to be the foundation of rule for the 
 good of the people. In thinking the influence 
 of the Church great upon the life and politics 
 of Scotland he was right enough ; but he had 
 misjudged the feeling of the popular preach- 
 ers towards episcopacy and towards England. 
 Anxious to bring the Scottish Church into line 
 with the Church of England, and thus to draw 
 more closely the bonds which united the two 
 countries, on his two journeys to Scotland, once with 
 James I. and again for the coronation of Charles, 
 he had allowed his predilections to mislead him as 
 he visited the towns and talked with the leading 
 men, and had been too strongly impressed when 
 at the coronation of Charles no serious difficulty 
 was raised by the clergy or onlookers about the 
 wearing of the episcopal and clerical robes usual 
 in the English Church. 2 Therefore he had deter- 
 mined to persuade the king to give the bishops 
 a share in the administration, and on the first 
 opportunity the chancellorship had been confer- 
 red on Archbishop Spottiswoode of St. Andrews. 
 
 1 See his letters to Scotch bishops, etc., e.g., Works, vi. 438,, 
 444. 2 Salmonet, i. 4. 
 
1629-37. ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH CHURCHES. 
 
 215 
 
 Several of the great nobles, seeing the direction 
 in which the wind was blowing, offered to restore 
 Church lands in Scotland if they might receive in 
 exchange richer properties in England. To this 
 also Laud persuaded the king, and imagined that 
 it proved a real desire to restore the wealth and 
 authority of the Church. " Conformity," he knew, 
 " must be the work of time ; " 1 but conformity, he 
 had no doubt, could be secured by patience. Other 
 acts of the executive, and new laws passed by 
 the Parliament of Scotland, tended to check the 
 authority of the nobles. And, bitterest of all, the 
 purified administration of the English Treasury 
 had stopped the leaks through which so much 
 English money had found its way into the 
 pockets of the great men in Scotland, who began 
 to think that the English opposition was not likely 
 to prove so jealous a guardian of the money-chest. 2 
 Meanwhile Richelieu was troubled at the 
 growing power of the King of England ; 3 French 
 schemes for aggrandisement were frequently 
 hindered, while a mighty fleet, the product of 
 ship-money, held the Channel. There is sufficient 
 proof that French agents entered into communica- 
 tion 4 with the discontented in Scotland, France's 
 
 1 Laud's own endorsement of State Paper, vol. 286, No. 16. 
 
 '-' Lord Warwick made a great fortune out of the Rebellion. 
 According to Walker's History of Independence many others took 
 large sums for themselves when they got power. Cf. Mason's 
 Norfolk, 306; Ludlow, ii. 513; Hutchinson, i. 263; Holies' Me- 
 moirs, and Milton's History. 3 Martin, France, xi. 484, etc 
 
 4 Baker, p. 469. According to Andreas de Habernfield, the 
 
2l6 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xi. 
 
 old ally, 1 as well as with the discontented in England 
 who were chafing at the exaction of ship-money and 
 the discontinuance of Parliaments. To the cardinal- 
 minister, the interests of the Papacy were of no 
 account.' 2 " No Popery " he found would be a 
 valuable political cry in Scotland ; and it was easy 
 to put a brave colour on this cry by misrepresent- 
 ing events in England, or by partially revealing- 
 some of those secrets of the English Court which 
 many of Charles' most trusted courtiers betrayed 
 to France. England should be occupied at home ; 
 it had been peaceful already too long for the 
 interests of its neighbours. 
 
 Nor did the Scottish nobles and clergy fail to 
 find sympathisers in England. The leaders of the 
 English Opposition had kept up correspondence 
 with them since they had accompanied Charles 
 on his magnificent journey into Scotland for his 
 coronation. And when finally it appeared to the 
 Scottish bishops that the fitting moment had come 
 for the introduction of a liturgy, preachers and nobles 
 saw their opportunity to recover political power. 
 
 French and the Jesuits were at the bottom of the whole disturbance 
 (Wharton's edition of Laud's Works, i. 573). In 1638 Richelieu 
 was very much troubled at the reception of Marie de Medici in 
 England, and redoubled his intrigues in England and Scotland 
 (Hist, de Louis XIII., par P. de Griffet, iii. 155). Cf. Rushworth, ii. 
 840. Pere d'Orleans, ix. 264. Clarendon, ii. 137. Carte's Ormond. 
 
 1 See Tillieres, pp. 206-261, for French intrigues in Scotland in 
 1628, on the ground of the former alliance. 
 
 2 See Martin, Histoire de France, xi. 511, seq., for scheme of a 
 Gallican Church under a patriarch and independent of Rome, 
 considered by Richelieu. 
 
1637. BLUNDERS OF SCOTTISH BISHOPS. 2 1 7 
 
 The Scottish bishops had given them every 
 right to protest. The new Prayer Book had been 
 authorised neither by synod nor by Parliament ; 
 in spite of Laud's counsel, 1 constantly repeated, it 
 had been carefully kept from public knowledge 
 until the day appointed for its first use. 2 All that 
 was officially known was that it was modelled upon 
 the English liturgy, with some alterations which 
 had been approved, slanderous tongues did not 
 hesitate to say suggested, by the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury. It was easy enough to go a step 
 further and assert that the new prayers had been 
 seen and were full of Popish doctrine ; :! street 
 gossip was sure that they were to be used as a first 
 step to reintroduce Popery. 4 The passions of the 
 populace were skilfully stirred ; they were in- 
 flamed by the stupid secrecy of the responsible 
 men ; every conscientious Presbyterian was made 
 anxious and filled with alarm. And thus it was 
 natural that at the very first reading of the Prayer 
 Book on the 23rdof July, 1 637,ariot broke out in the 
 cathedral of Edinburgh. 5 Well-informed persons 
 were confident that the whole thing had been organ- 
 ised by nobles and great ladies. 6 At all events by 
 
 1 Trials and Troubles, 168, etc. - Baillie, i. 2. 
 
 3 Accounts of Condition of Province, p. 551. 
 
 4 Cf. Clarendon, i. 165. 
 
 s Laud's Works, vi. 554; vii. 374, 390 and 490, show his dis- 
 gust at the mismanagement in Scotland. 
 
 ,; Clarendon's History, i. 162-175 ; Strafford Papers, ii. 264, etc.; 
 Guthry's Memoirs, p. 20. Cf. Salmonet, i. 29. 
 
2l8 LIFE AND TIMES OK WILLIAM LAUD. ch.xu 
 
 a clever precaution the women took the lead in 
 the open assault upon Episcopacy ; it was they who 
 disturbed the service by their outcries and missiles ; 
 it was they who nearly murdered the Bishop of 
 Edinburgh in the streets ; then as the weakness 
 and irresolution of the Government became evident, 
 ministers, nobles, merchants, citizens and farmers 
 followed in their wake. 1 The Solemn Covenant 
 was signed in the Grey Friars Churchyard ; the 
 royal castles were captured ; and the authority not 
 only of the bishops but of the king himself was 
 broken in a few weeks. 
 
 That the Rebellion originated largely in the 
 anger of the nobles at the resumption of Church 
 lands 2 and at the growing power of the bishops 
 is clearly proved by the articles afterwards ex- 
 hibited by the Scottish commissioners against 
 Archbishop Laud ; they prove also how cleverly 
 national and religious bigotry had been aroused 
 against the interference of the English bishops 
 and the supposed intention to introduce Popish 
 practices. One specimen is enough ; Laud was 
 seriously accused of directing the Scottish priests 
 to represent the Deity by turning their backs 
 upon the people in the communion service, and 
 the reference was given to Exodus xxxiii. 2$. s 
 
 1 Guthry's Memoirs, and Baillie's Letters and Journals. 
 
 2 Cf. Skinner's Life of Monk, p. 15, and Salmonet, i. 11, etc. 
 
 3 Laud's History of Trials and Troubles, 116 ; letters in Works* 
 vi. 494, 503. 
 
i6 3 7- 
 
 LAUD KEPT IN IGNORANCE 
 
 2 I 9< 
 
 But for many months neither Land nor Went- 
 worth anticipated any serious results from the 
 Scottish disturbances. 1 Negotiations were being 
 conducted by Hamilton and others who kept the 
 despatches to themselves ; and it seemed impos- 
 sible that the Royal Council in Scotland should be 
 so incapable as to lose control over the kingdom 
 without a struggle. The English Opposition v ere 
 better informed, and they were not likely to lose 
 such a chance of guiding the flames of discontent 
 into England also. 2 For it began to look as if 
 the king would have no further need of Parlia- 
 ment. Under Juxon's economical management 
 debts were being fast cleared off ; 3 and the ordin- 
 ary revenue more than sufficed for the expenditure. 4 
 Only a few months before the riot in Edinburgh 
 the judges had decided in February, 1637, by a 
 small majority that ship-money might legally be 
 collected from the inland counties without the 
 consent of Parliament ; this would maintain the. 
 fleet. The forest courts under Lord Holland, 
 the chief justice in Eyre, were continuing their 
 demands of heavy fines from those who had en- 
 croached, often scores of years before, upon the 
 
 1 This is evident from the little attention paid to them in the 
 correspondence ; and the first allusion to Scotch troubles in the 
 Diary is 29th April, 1638. 
 
 " Wood's Atheyiae, ii. 30, etc. 3 State Papers. 
 
 4 The ordinary revenue and expenditure of these years was 
 about £600,000 a year. The taxes in France reached £5,000,000; 
 and debt grew there. 
 
220 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xi. 
 
 ancient boundaries of the royal forests ; here was 
 an income for the queen and courtiers. And the 
 Treasury had resorted to several expedients, 
 hardly illegal in themselves, but all pointing to 
 a resolution which the king was said to have 
 formed never again to summon a Parliament. 
 Many conscientious people declared that the king 
 intended to find laws authorising him to take what 
 he chose from his subjects with no Act duly dis- 
 cussed and voted by the representatives of the 
 people. 1 And as the power of the Government, 
 though, as we have seen, it had no armed force 
 at its disposal, still appeared too strong for open 
 resistance, the only course the Opposition could 
 adopt was to persuade men to delay the payment 
 of ship-money, 2 to resist the removal of the 
 communion table from the nave, which Bishop 
 Williams of Lincoln now maintained was its legal 
 position, and to claim and assert their right to 
 receive the communion standing. But, after all, 
 such measures might annoy, they could not over- 
 throw the Government. 
 
 How then could the passionately ambitious 
 leaders, who had always determined to rule 
 
 J Simonds d'Ewes. 
 The first writ of ship-money issued in 1635 was paid up 
 speedily (State Papers, vol. 302, No. 45). In later years collection 
 proved more difficult. It was often unjustly assessed by the 
 sheriffs ; this was one cause of its unpopularity. A few, like 
 Hampden, refused to pay on political grounds, but most of the 
 ■complaints were of unfair assessment (State Papers). 
 
i£>37-S- 
 
 THE ENGLISH OPPOSITION. 
 
 22 1 
 
 England and who believed that Laud was fast 
 leading them to Rome, throw away the oppor- 
 tunity offered by Scotland ? They opened nego- 
 tiations with the Scottish leaders ; Lord Saye and 
 Sele, Lord Brooke and others promised the Scot- 
 tish ministers to establish the Presbyterian system 
 in England ; they caressed the nobles with the 
 assurance that they should obtain practical inde- 
 pendence in their own districts and the sole 
 influence in the central Government ; they stimu- 
 lated resistance by their avowed belief that the 
 king had not popularity enough to raise an 
 English army, nor money enough to pay it, and 
 that the English people would support the Scots. 
 
 So the months rolled on with negotiation and 
 intrigue. Laud's voice was raised resolutely for 
 peace ; not that he had any doubt of the power 
 of the king to repress the rising; in England he 
 was sure that public opinion sided with the 
 Government ; the press was in the hands of the 
 Church, 1 and the curtailment of the lectureships 
 gave the bishops the disposal of the pulpits through 
 which they would exercise the strongest influence 
 upon the congregations. In Ireland Wentworth 
 held ready an army which might at any time 
 form the nucleus of a force to be used against the 
 Scots. But the archbishop detested war ; he says : 
 " Differences in religion I conceived might better 
 
 1 See measures to suppress unlicensed printing in 1637 
 (Heylin, 341). 
 
LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xi. 
 
 be composed by ink than by blood " ; 1 and " all those 
 domestic evils which threaten a rent in Church or 
 State are with far more safety prevented by wisdom 
 than punished by justice ". 2 He had always urged 
 upon the Scottish bishops the importance of 
 strictly legal action ; if they had now violated 
 the law, the new service book, so he advised, 
 ought to be publicly withdrawn. 
 
 But, as we have seen, Laud had little influence 
 upon the conduct of Scottish affairs. He has no 
 responsibility for the vacillating" character of the 
 negotiations. And, though, as matters grew 
 more serious, it became necessary to consult the 
 English council, he was by no means omnipotent 
 at Court. The queen desired war ; the courtiers 
 represented to the king that he was being insulted; 
 and as by the advice of Hamilton and other 
 Scottish counsellors 3 Charles absolutely refused to 
 make terms with rebels and insisted on an armed 
 demonstration in 1639, Laud finally recommended 
 him to call upon his people for an army and for 
 supplies. This plan was adopted. The nobles 
 and gentry were summoned to lead their retainers 
 in person to the North in order to repel the 
 threatened invasion of the Scots ; the clergy took 
 
 1 Trials and Troubles, 167. 
 
 2 Epistle Dedicatory of Book against Fisher. 
 
 3 The Earl of Lanerick was Secretary for Scotland ; he was 
 Hamilton's brother ; he was only twenty-one. See list of other 
 Scotch nobles at Court in Heylin, pp. 354 and 355. 
 
1639. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. 
 
 223 
 
 the lead in contributions of money ; the diocese of 
 Norwich, which was supposed to be the hot-bed 
 of Puritanism, sent ,£2000 ; the Archdeaconry of 
 Winchester gave ^1300; and money flowed in 
 from all sides. 1 Only a few of the Puritans held aloof, 
 and with them the larger part of the Romanists 
 dissuaded, so it was said, from supporting the 
 Anglican king by a special letter from the Pope. 2 
 
 The action of the Government proved its 
 •complete assurance that it possessed the support 
 of public opinion ; and that the nation would 
 place its arms and its money at the king's dis- 
 posal. And Laud's confidence was justified. 
 Lord Warwick had long been looked upon as 
 the head of the Puritan party, in spite of 
 his dissolute private life ; 3 but even he did not 
 venture to fail in mustering and despatching to 
 the front the train bands of Essex, of which 
 county he was lord-lieutenant. 4 Only Lord 
 Saye and Lord Brooke showed any sign of dis- 
 affection ; they refused the military oath when 
 they reached York and were sent back con- 
 temptuously to their homes. 5 
 
 Lord Essex, on whom the Opposition thought 
 they could count, accepted the office of lieutenant- 
 
 1 Heylin's Life, 358; Laud's Works, vi. 558; Rushworth, ii. 
 819. Rossingham News Letter, 1st April, 1639. 
 
 2 Rushworth, ii. 821. Cf. Rossingham News Letter, 1st 
 April, 1639. 
 
 Lodge, Life of Lord Warwick. * State Papers, 1639. 
 
 s Heylin, 362. 
 
224 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xu 
 
 general to the new army ; nor was his support 
 merely nominal ; his rapidity of movement and 
 skill secured Berwick, 1 though Scottish councillors 
 flying from Edinburgh assured him, when they 
 met him as far south as York, that Lesley and his 
 hosts were close at their heels. 2 He was desirous 
 to strike a blow at Edinburgh quickly before the 
 enemy was prepared. A powerful army soon 
 gathered on the frontiers ; Lord Arundel, the 
 greatest and proudest of the ancient nobility, was 
 at its head. The Court favourite, Lord Holland, 
 had command of the horse, appointed against 
 Laud's advice to please the queen ; 3 the minister felt 
 that here lay the weak place, for he dreaded the 
 intrigues of such courtiers who preferred their own 
 personal advantage to the interests of Church and 
 State, and, to gain popularity with the Puritans, 
 muttered to their confidants that the war was a 
 bishops' war. But there was a loyal spirit in the 
 army as a whole ; 4 the men were eager to come 
 to blows with the ancient enemy ; 5 we see, in the 
 letters written from the camp by Sir Edmund 
 Verney, that the troops, insufficient and ill 
 equipped at first, 6 gradually grew into a compact 
 
 1 State Papers, April 3, 1639, Coke to Windebank. 
 
 2 Heylin, 363. 3 Laud's Works, vii. 523. 
 
 4 State Papers, vol. 423, No. 67, shows some disaffection but 
 more loyalty. 
 
 5 State Papers, vol. 417, No. 65, and Heylin, 360. 
 
 6 Verney Memoirs. Court and Times of Charles I. ; letters from 
 the army. Cf. Baillie and Hamilton Papers. 
 
STRENGTH OF THE ARMY. 
 
 225 
 
 and powerful force, 1 in which the brilliant feudal 
 cavalry of the great nobles and wealthy gentry, 
 numbering some 8000 men, vied with the well- 
 drilled infantry which Wentworthhadsent overfrom 
 Ireland in order to form the backbone of a some- 
 what raw mass of soldiers, selected from the train 
 bands of the counties. The generals and experi- 
 enced officers were confident that by a vigorous 
 advance they could drive Lesley's army before them 
 and restore the royal power in Scotland by force ; 2 
 while the blockade of the Scottish ports, which 
 Wentworth and Laud advised as a gentler alter- 
 native, must soon have compelled the insurgents to 
 submit themselves to the king. 3 The fleet held 
 the narrow seas and made it impossible for the 
 friends of the revolt in Holland and France to 
 land the arms which they had prepared. 
 
 But Charles was surrounded by Scotsmen 
 who could not be expected to welcome an 
 English invasion nor to rejoice in the pros- 
 
 1 Verney Memoirs. Cf. Warwick, 129; Heylin, 363 to 367; Baker, 
 466; Hutchinson, i. 175. See State Papers, 4th April, 1639, tne 
 account of arms, ordnance, and ammunition that day despatched 
 from the dockyard; and vol. 422, No. 63; and Rossingham News 
 Letter, 1st April, 1639, for the sums of money sent to the army. 
 
 2 For comparative strength of armies, cf. State Papers, vol. 424, 
 No. 50, and vol. 421, No. 60. Col. Monk (afterwards Duke of 
 Albemarle) always gave it as his opinion that throughout the war 
 and even after the Battle of Newburn on 28th Aug., 1640, when 
 the Scots had obtained arms from abroad, the English forces were 
 decidedly the stronger (Skinner's Life, p. 18). Baillie, i. 210, 
 puts the Scots at 12,000. Heylin and Baker say " they had not 3000 
 musquets amongst them ". 3 Strafford Papers, ii. 234 and 235. 
 
 15 
 
226 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. XI. 
 
 pect of an English success ; Scottish lords-in- 
 waiting insinuated excuses into the royal ear ; 
 Scottish gentlemen of the bedchamber searched 
 the royal pockets in the night and sent the most 
 detailed information across the border ; 1 Scottish 
 nobles at Court spread rumours of the enormous 
 force with which Lesley was advancing, and for a 
 time gained credence, as the Verney papers prove 
 to us. 2 The Marquis of Hamilton had no desire 
 that his countrymen should be crushed ; 3 lying in 
 the Forth with a royal fleet, he carried on nego- 
 tiations with the popular leaders ; he allowed 
 Montrose to capture loyal Aberdeen and to 
 scatter the Gordons ; 4 in a constant flow of letters 
 he assured the king that the Covenanters would 
 submit peaceably. Hamilton had probably begun 
 already that double game of treachery to both 
 sides which eventually brought him to the block ; 
 but his younger brother, Lanerick, now Secretary 
 for Scotland, exercised an influence over the kino- 
 all the more dangerous because of his sincere 
 belief that the Covenanters were genuinely 
 desirous for peace. Bright, open, sprightly in 
 conversation, this nobleman had learnt from his 
 strong-willed mother "' to be a firm Calvinist as 
 
 1 Strafford Papers, ii. 325. Guthry's Memoirs, 47. State Papers, 
 417, No. 85. 
 
 - Cf. Rushworth, ii. 909, and Heylin, 363. 
 
 * Guthry, 48, and vacillation shown in Hamilton Papers. Cf. 
 Burnet's Hamilton. 4 Salmonet, i. 69. 
 
 ' See State Papers for the part taken by old Lady Hamilton at 
 this time (vol. 420, No. 121, etc.). 
 
PACIFICATION OF BERWICK. 
 
 227 
 
 well as a devoted servant of the throne : per- 
 suaded himself, he persuaded the king that it was 
 only the irritating mistakes of his counsellors 
 which had produced the revolt. 1 His arguments 
 were supported by Holland ; as general of the 
 horse he held the command of a reconnaissance 
 into Scotland and had retreated in disorder at the 
 news that a strong body of troops under Lesley 
 was preparing to attack him. The disgrace of 
 this repulse Essex was eager to blot out by an 
 advance in force ; but Holland, who in Laud's 
 absence exercised the strongest influence with the 
 king, wished to cover his discredit by posing as 
 the mediator of a successful compromise. Always 
 irresolute, Charles gave way ; in spite of the en- 
 treaties of Laud and Wentworth, necessarily 
 weakened by distance, he agreed to the Pacifica- 
 tion of Berwick on the 15th of June, 1639. He 
 dismissed his troops, who returned home full of 
 contempt for his vacillation ; Arundel felt himself 
 discredited ; Essex considered that he was de- 
 spised, since the king had rejected his advice and 
 now sent him away without thanks for his services ; 
 other great nobles like the showy and chivalrous 
 Newcastle had received personal rebuffs ; it would 
 be hard indeed to assemble such an army again. 
 
 The terms of the Pacification of Berwick 
 proved the dread which the English army had 
 inspired ; for the Scots agreed to surrender to the 
 1 See Lodge, Life of Lan trick. 
 
228 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. 
 
 king the principal fortresses, and to restore the 
 expelled and plundered royalists. But all they 
 desired was to gain time ; time to supply them- 
 selves with munitions of war from Germany and 
 Holland ; time to drill an army ; time to make 
 themselves friends in England and to organise an 
 English opposition against a king who had proved 
 himself irresolute and incapable before the eyes of 
 the assembled leaders of both nations. 1 In the 
 friendly meetings with Scotsmen at Berwick 
 many an English nobleman came to see the profit 
 he might make by the ruin of the Church and the 
 pillage of her property. Their strong feelings of 
 patriotism had been dangerously played with and 
 weakened in spite of the archbishop's advice. 2 
 Scores of little borough votes would be marshalled 
 by great landowners against king and bishops at 
 the next opportunity; and the little borough votes 
 controlled the Parliament. 3 
 
 It was soon made evident that the Scots had 
 no intention of observing the Pacification of 
 Berwick ; they refused to keep their promise of 
 restoring the property of the bishops ; everywhere 
 the royal authority in Scotland was still disregarded, 
 and a powerful Scottish army was assembled on the 
 frontier where the deluded king had left the English 
 fortresses ungarrisoned at the mercy of the foe. 
 
 1 Heylin, 367; Clarendon, i. 197. 
 - Trials and Troubles, 168. 
 
 3 See Verney Memoirs for smallness of constituencies. 
 
1639-40. 
 
 THE KARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 229 
 
 If there was to be a war under such dangerous 
 ■conditions there was only one minister who would 
 be likely to conduct it successfully. The pacifica- 
 tor of Ireland must try his hand at pacifying 
 Scotland. Therefore the long-felt desire of Laud 
 that the Irish deputy should be summoned to 
 England 1 and put at the head of affairs was now 
 gratified ; and Wentworth became Earl of Strafford 
 and chief counsellor to the king in January, 1640. 
 
 Laud's Premiership was at an end ; the vigour 
 with which he had arranged the mustering of 
 the great army and had equipped it with ordnance 
 and money 2 proved that he held England perfectly 
 under control ; but nothing would induce him to 
 imitate Richelieu and take that part in actual 
 fighting which he considered incompatible with 
 the clerical office. Therefore he was absent at the 
 crisis of his career ; the courtiers for the moment 
 obtained the upper hand ; Charles failed to carry 
 through his purpose ; and the fatal loss of pres- 
 tige endangered the settlement of the English 
 Church, and the unity of the British Empire. 
 What would have been the change in the course 
 of history if the English army had crushed Lesley, 
 had advanced to Edinburgh and dictated peace to 
 Scotland, with Essex as the king's general and 
 Laud as the king's counsellor ? 
 
 1 Works, vii. 177, 273. 2 Hamilton Papers. 
 
 For the comparative strength of the armies on the frontier, 
 see Note C, p. 296. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE SHORT PARLIAMENT OF 1640. 
 
 The Elections— Laud's Hopes — Temperate Character of 
 the New House — Pym's Skilful Leadership — Hyde's 
 Compromise — A brupt Dissolution — Laud's Expectation 
 of Death. 
 
 The new Earl of Strafford had no hesitation in 
 persuading the king that it was necessary to 
 summon a Parliament. He was personally familiar 
 with the arts by which a majority could be formed 
 in the Commons whether for opposition or for the 
 support of the Government ; and he was con- 
 vinced of his capacity to manage both electors 1 and 
 elected. 2 The archbishop gave him his cordial 
 support ; 3 they both disliked the doubtful legality 
 which hung round many of the expedients of the 
 Treasury, and considered it most important that 
 
 1 There is no proof of royal interference in these elections, but 
 the Government certainly did not leave Pym a free hand as they 
 did in the autumn. 
 
 2 As a rule there was no representation of the minority oni 
 committees, e.g., in Long Parliament (Pari. Hist., ix. 45, 496). 
 
 3 Diary, 5th December, 1639. 
 
 (230) 
 
1640. 
 
 HOIT'.S OF PARLIAMENT. 
 
 ^3' 
 
 these questions should be publicly debated and 
 settled in the (jreat council of the nation. 1 
 
 Nor did the time seem to observers to be un- 
 favourable. Many of the bitterest speakers of 
 1628 were dead. The success of the administra- 
 tion during the last eleven years, which had proved 
 that the Government could be carried on without 
 a Parliament, would make members all the more 
 unwilling to risk another breach with the Crown, 
 while the revelation of the intrigues detected be- 
 tween the Scots and France must stir resentment 
 in every English patriot. To make concessions 
 in order to maintain the union of Britain under 
 one sovereign would be creditable to the popular 
 leaders ; while the minister who could re-establish 
 <mod relations between kin^ and Commons would 
 deserve renown. Laud thought that Strafford was 
 peculiarly well adapted for this task, on the accom- 
 plishment of which he had set his heart. 
 
 But they both forgot how different the con- 
 ditions in England were to those of Ireland ; at 
 the English council table Laud and Strafford 
 counted for only two votes among many. The 
 king, vacillating between their advice and the 
 queen's persuasion, liked at times to show his inde- 
 pendence of his chief ministers. He obliged them 
 to share with Hamilton, whom they now distrusted 
 
 1 Laud's Book against Fisher, pub. 1639, speaks strongly of the 
 supremacy of Parliament, p. 211, e.g., "The statute laws which must 
 bind all subjects cannot be made and ratified but in Parliament". 
 
232 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xii. 
 
 and despised, the counsels for the Scottish cam- 
 paign and the Scottish negotiations. 1 In spite of 
 their fulsome protestations of affection for Straf- 
 ford, the haughty Arundel, the mindless ir- 
 resolute Northumberland, and other great nobles 
 in the council claimed in their hearts the su- 
 preme power as the due of their high birth, 
 and disliked his overbearing manner, while they 
 ridiculed Laud as a parvenu. Holland and 
 Cottington were intent on their own interests and 
 would always cut the shape of their policy to en- 
 large their pockets ; they were already intriguing 
 with the Opposition. 2 The most serious point of 
 all was to decide upon the representative of the 
 Government in the House of Commons. This 
 office was left to the new Secretary of State, Sir 
 Henry Vane the elder, who had been appointed 
 against the advice of Laud and by the influence 
 of the queen ; the two leading ministers could not 
 now succeed in obtaining his removal. Vane had 
 proved himself an adroit diplomatist on foreign 
 embassies, but he was without Parliamentary 
 experience ; he was an hereditary rival of Went- 
 worth's family, was a dependent of Hamilton and 
 Holland, and belonged to that Court clique 
 which they directed against the honest adminis- 
 tration of the Treasury, and to which the Jesuits' 3 
 
 1 They were called the Junto of Three (Lady Carlisle's letter, 
 quoted by Lodge, vii.). 2 State Papers. 
 
 3 Baker, p. 470, asserts that Con had aided Richelieu's chaplain, 
 
1640. 
 
 CHARACTER OF THK NEW HOUSE. 
 
 233 
 
 hatred of Laud had given substance. His strong- 
 willed and capable son was the intimate of Pym 
 and Martin, and combined the Puritanism of the 
 first with the latter's aspirations for a republic ; 
 he was already betraying secrets of the Court to 
 the group of politicians who had promised the 
 Scots that they would wreck the Parliament. 
 
 On the 13th of April, 1640, the Commons met. 
 On the whole the elections had gone well for the 
 ■archbishop's hopes. 1 Though Puritan and Jesuit 2 
 had had their influence in the constituencies, the 
 House was mainly composed of moderate men, 
 vexed certainly at many of the measures of the last 
 few years, prepared neither to support to the full 
 Laud's Church policy, 3 nor the system of taxa- 
 tion constructed by Weston and Noy. and full of 
 many grievances ; but possessed of a strong 
 feeling that a compromise between king and 
 Parliament should be attempted if possible. 4 
 Laud and Strafford had expected no more than 
 this ; they were themselves most anxious to 
 redress the numerous personal and local wrongs 
 of which an arbitrary Government hears nothing 
 
 Chamberlayne, in stirring up the Scotch troubles. Carte, Ormond, 
 i. 89, speaks of the Jesuits as swarming over from St. Omer at 
 this time to stir trouble. Just here, when we should have been so 
 grateful for information as to the proceedings of the Roman party, 
 " the Romish Recusant " gives us none, in his Life of Laud. 
 
 1 See his fears in Works, vii. 502 and 513. 
 
 2 Works (folio), p. 584. 3 Parliamentary History, viii. 397-457. 
 * May, in The Causes of the Civil War, speaks indignantly of 
 
 "*' the obedience and compliance'' of this Parliament. 
 
234 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xir_ 
 
 till a storm of discontent breaks out against its. 
 agents. The redress of private and public 
 grievances they considered the first duty of every 
 Parliament. They had also prepared the king's 
 mind to surrender ship-money, which the judges, 
 had only justified as a temporary expedient ; to 
 admit that his right to tonnage and poundage 
 rested on Parliamentary grant alone ; and to 
 reform the Earl Marshal's Court. All these 
 concessions were promised or implied in the lord 
 keeper's speech when the king opened Parliament. 
 But they were determined to insist that under the 
 critical circumstances supply must for once take 
 precedence of grievances ; if the Commons would 
 vote subsidies to replenish the Treasury, so that the 
 Scottish army could be confronted with a strong 
 force, and the northern garrisons of Berwick, New- 
 castle and Carlisle set in order, the king pledged 
 his word by their advice to continue the session 
 until Michaelmas, so as to give full opportunity to> 
 discuss necessary reforms in the administration. 
 The lord keeper was instructed to point out that it 
 would be disgraceful to leave the northern counties 
 at the mercy of their ancient enemy, and that the 
 Scottish nobles had gone so far as to send an invita- 
 tion to the French king to interfere on their behalf. 
 
 The Commons elected Glanvill, a moderate 
 constitutionalist, as their speaker ; they proved 
 their temperate intentions by a stern rebuke 
 administered to a member named Peard wha 
 
1640. 
 
 r\ m's ABLE opposition. 
 
 235 
 
 spoke of ship-money as "an abomination"; 1 the 
 tone of the speeches' 2 contrasted strikingly with 
 those violent claims to settle the doctrine of the 
 Church and those savage invectives against the 
 ministers which had brought about the catas- 
 trophe of 1629. But Pym and his friends had 
 promised the Scots that they would break up the 
 Parliament ; 3 after several speeches from others 
 on the grievances of Englishmen and the neces- 
 sity of keeping well with the king, the great 
 leader of the Opposition rose in his place ; no one 
 knew better than he the temper of his audience or 
 was more capable of varying his tone to suit their 
 feelings of the moment ; and if he was already 
 possessed with the idea that to the House of Com- 
 mons and not to the king belonged of right the 
 control of the destinies of England, no one had 
 been more quick to perceive that this House of 
 Commons was not prepared for so great a revolu- 
 tion : with measured and temperate utterance he 
 recalled to their minds their ancient privileges, 
 violated, as he maintained, by the law courts in 
 1629 ; he dwelt upon the hardships imposed upon 
 men of sincere religion by the Declaration of 
 Sports, by compulsory kneeling for communion, 
 and other innovations ; he concluded with those 
 
 1 Clarendon's Rebellion, i. 208. 
 
 3 See those of Waller and others in Parliamentary History t 
 viii. 441. 
 
 * Clarendon, i. 218. 
 
236 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xii. 
 
 pecuniary grievances which were sure to inflame 
 the mass of new members ignorant of the neces- 
 sary expenses of Government and familiar with 
 the meaningless cry that the king should live 
 of his own. 1 When he sat down he had taken 
 captive the imagination of the wavering members; 
 they had been as sheep without a shepherd ; this 
 was the man they would follow. All applauded 
 the mildness and clearness of his principles. 
 There was no Wentworth 2 in the House to rise on 
 the other side and to set forward against the long 
 catalogue of petty annoyances some great concep- 
 tion of imperial Government. Vane sat silent and 
 allowed himself to be swept along with the 
 stream ; suffering the great body of moderate 
 members to feel that the Crown intended to 
 insist upon its usurpations, and leaving them to 
 forget the defenceless North and the public 
 interests of England. 
 
 Under Pym's leadership the votes of the 
 House began to show that it was resolved to give 
 precedence to the redress of grievances, and had 
 no immediate intention of granting supplies. 
 Still, men like Edward Hyde, who began his 
 political career in this Parliament, 3 and Glanvill, 
 
 1 The growing expenses of Government had long made this 
 impossible. There was no separation as yet of the civil list from 
 the military and civil expenses. 
 
 - Wentworth's sickness during the Short Parliament kept him 
 «ven from giving full instructions to the privy councillors in the 
 House. :i See his Life, i. 83. 
 
164c 
 
 PROPOS E D COMPROMISE. 
 
 237 
 
 the Speaker, made their influence felt as the days 
 went on ; and Pym did not venture to throw off 
 the mask and to open those direct attacks upon 
 ministers which in the next Parliament were to 
 make him famous. 
 
 After several feebly-conceived efforts to per- 
 suade the House to vote supplies, Vane was 
 commissioned to go down with a definite proposal. 
 The king would give up ship-money, allowing 
 the judgment of the judges to be called up before 
 the Lords on a writ of error and to be reversed, if 
 the Commons would vote him twelve subsidies. 
 We are told that this was done against the advice 
 of Laud and Strafford, and that they had so far 
 modified the resolution of the council as to get 
 Vane authority to accept eight subsidies. Hamp- 
 den, most popular from his resistance to ship- 
 money, rose in his place to oppose the motion ; 
 such a grant, according to him, would crush the 
 tax-payer to the ground ; but when Glanvill, 
 speaking from the floor as the House was in 
 committee, pointed out how small would be the 
 sum payable by individuals, even of large estate, 
 and Hyde interposed with an amendment that 
 the House would consider the proposal, it became 
 evident that the Moderate party was likely to 
 prove the stronger. Many members, while 
 refusing to throw out the proposal, thought that 
 the king should make further concessions before 
 they granted so large a sum. Vane stiffly repeated 
 
2$S LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. mi. 
 
 his former statement; the king would take no less, 
 and orant no more ; but it is said that Herbert, 
 the Solicitor-General, a persuasive speaker, held 
 out hopes of conciliation. The second day's 
 debate lasted from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m., and then 
 the Opposition could only succeed in securing 
 an adjournment. W hat malign influence could 
 they find to convince the king and his council 
 that the Opposition would be victorious, and 
 so make definite the breach between Crown and 
 people ? 
 
 Vane hastened to Whitehall ; he informed the 
 king that the House would grant him nothing ; he 
 out-talked the Solicitor-General, who always dis- 
 trusted his own judgment, and he thoroughly 
 incensed Charles against the Commons. The 
 kins: agreed to summon a council at 6 a.m. the next 
 morning, the 5th of May, and then declared his 
 decision to dissolve a Parliament whose members 
 evidently cared nothing for their country. Vane 
 repeated his statement that the Commons "would 
 not give one penny," and seems also to have per- 
 suaded the king that they would vote the war with 
 Scotland to be unjust. 1 Strafford and Laud, who 
 arrived late, owinor to a mistake about the hour, 
 had no opportunity of forming an opinion on the 
 possibility of working with the House of Com- 
 
 1 The State Papers show that Pym had intended to raise this 
 question in the hope of confusing the issues. 
 
1640. CAUSES OF THE DISSOLUTION. 
 
 239 
 
 mons, and found that the king's decision was 
 already settled without their advice. 1 
 
 So strangely does the personal character of 
 •comparatively unimportant men decide the course 
 of events. In the early days of the Covenant, 
 Montrose had taken no very high position among 
 the leaders in Scotland ; his adhesion to the cause 
 had been short-lived ; yet it. was his enthusiasm 
 and skill which by crushing Aberdeen and the 
 Gordons had made the rising a success. 2 And 
 now Sir Henry Vane, hitherto an almost unknown 
 man, had broken down by his misrepresentations 
 the last hope of agreement between king and Parlia- 
 ment in England. Royalist writers accused him 
 of a deliberate treachery such as that by which he 
 afterwards destroyed his personal enemy Strafford; 
 but it is at least possible that he had lost his head 
 In the debate and had fancied himself peculiarly 
 well informed, through his son, of the intentions 
 of the members. Pym had gained the day ; the 
 Puritan leaders listened with smiles of joy to the 
 royal speech dissolving Parliament ; Oliver St. 
 John expressed the thoughts of all his friends 
 when he said that day to Hyde: " All is well ; and 
 it must be worse before it is better ; this Parlia- 
 ment would never have done what was necessary 
 to be done". 3 For if they could now prevent the 
 
 1 Trials and Troubles, 78, 79; cf. Clarendon's Life, i. 84. 
 3 Cf. Salmonet and Bai 1 lie. 
 3 Clarendon's Rebellion, i. 218. 
 
240 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xiu 
 
 king from assembling the forces of England, and 
 could bring a Scottish army into the northern 
 counties before the next elections, the disgrace 
 and the danger would ensure an irresistible 
 majority to overthrow Church and State, and 
 give the Government of England once more to 
 the aristocracy. 
 
 The Moderate party were overwhelmed with 
 sadness. Edward Hyde, like many others, had 
 left the House on the night of the 4th of May, 
 without a doubt that he could carry a compromise. 
 Now the Government appeared to have cast away 
 all moderation, and to have embarked on the most 
 arbitrary course. 
 
 It has seemed important to describe so fully 
 the history of the Short Parliament, 1 because 
 we see in it the serious effort made by Laud 
 and Strafford to rule England with a Parliament, 
 and the reasons which frustrated their attempt. 
 The Scottish rising had compelled Charles to 
 listen to counsels to call the Houses together 
 which he had previously refused to entertain ;. 
 and had afforded the most natural opportunity 
 for the reconciliation of all classes of English- 
 men. Now the archbishop's policy had been 
 defeated, he hardly knew r how ; and he felt as a 
 man groping in the dark. 2 The whole blame of 
 
 1 Its history is very difficult to trace, for Rushworth is almost 
 a blank. 
 
 2 Works (folio), p. 579. 
 
1640- 
 
 EXPECTATION OF RUIN. 
 
 241 
 
 the dissolution was cast upon him though he had 
 no hand in it ;* and he was bitterly grieved that 
 all these moderate men in whom he had felt such 
 real confidence, and about whose character he 
 had learnt so much from Hyde, were now going 
 home to tell the country that the king must be 
 brought to his knees, or he would take away their 
 liberties. 2 There were serious riots in London, 
 culminating in an attack on Lambeth which had to 
 be repelled with armed force : and the archbishop 
 felt painfully the libels which were constantly 
 brought to him. Evidently, to use Laud's own 
 words, Charles " was a mild and gracious prince 
 who knew not how to be, or to be made, great ". 
 Skilful Puritan opposition, and secret Jesuit in- 
 trigue, had driven him into his present course, in 
 which he was rushing to destruction. 
 
 Laud had always known that his enemies 
 would be satisfied only with his blood. It now 
 remained for him to define and strengthen the 
 Church position which he believed essential for 
 the future of English Christianity ; and to continue 
 his life-long strife against ceremonial Puritanism ; 
 for he was "still of opinion that unity cannot long 
 continue in the Church when uniformity is shut 
 out at the Church door. And of all diseases I 
 have ever hated a palsie in religion, well knowing 
 that too often a dead palsie ends that disease in 
 
 1 See libels mentioned in his Diary. 
 - See Heylin, 396, and Barnard's Life of Hcylin, p. 118. 
 16 
 
242 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xh. 
 
 the fearful forgetfulness of God and His judg- 
 ments." 1 
 
 With the second attempt to subdue Scotland, 
 and the circumstances which compelled the calling 
 of the Long Parliament, the biographer of Laud 
 has no special business. The tale of Charles' 
 vacillation and of Strafford's broken health has 
 been often told and needs not to be repeated. 
 The archbishop's share in the Government was 
 no more than a general support of the policy of 
 Strafford, and an attempt to satisfy men's minds 
 that the English Church had no desire to 
 Romanise ; for which end he directed the publica- 
 tion of a defence of Episcopacy written by Bishop 
 Hall, one of the moderate Puritan bishops, and 
 also of a treatise in explanation of the Scottish 
 liturgy. He was too great a man to feel the 
 slightest jealousy of a colleague who had super- 
 seded him in work for which he considered him 
 better fitted than himself ; and to Strafford he 
 willingly left the conduct of the campaign, and 
 the direction of State policy. 2 
 
 1 Trials and Troubles, p. 224. 
 
 - Lady Carlisle to Lord Leicester. Lodge, vii. 
 
Further Authorities. 
 
 e Trials and Troubles of Archbishop Laud, by himself (Whar- 
 ton's folio edition); Laud's Answer to Lord Saye and Sele ; 
 The Book of Devotions; Prynne's Canterbury's Doome ; County 
 Histories. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE CONVOCATION OF 1640. THE FALL OF THE 
 ARCHBISHOP. 
 
 Character of Convocation — Divine Right of Kings — En- 
 forcement of Conformity — Etcetera Oath- — Church 
 Policy Defined — -Electioneering in 1640 — Scottish 
 Army in England — Attack on Strafford and Land — 
 Impending Reaction. 
 
 The Convocation of Canterbury had been sum- 
 moned as usual to meet simultaneously with the 
 session of Parliament; and the archbishop, anxious 
 at this crisis that the ecclesiastical policy of 
 England should be more thoroughly defined, 
 had obtained the royal permission to frame new 
 canons. But the Lower House of Convocation 
 was an elective assembly, chosen freely by the 
 clergy of England. Fifteen years of Laud's 
 government could hardly have allowed time to 
 shape even the chapter members and the official 
 members to a blind conformity with his will ; 
 while a large proportion of the House was 
 selected by the votes of the beneficed clergy in 
 each diocese, who, being presented by lay patrons 
 
 (245) 
 
246 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xiik 
 
 for the most part, were certainly in no danger if 
 they opposed the bishops. 
 
 Laud's own account of the matter is that "no 
 canon in that convocation was surreptitiously 
 passed by any practice of mine or without due 
 consideration or debate. Neither was there any- 
 thing in that convocation but what was voted 
 first or subscribed after, without fear or com- 
 pulsion of any kind. And I am verily persuaded 
 there never sat any synod in Christendom 
 wherein the votes passed with more freedom or 
 less practice than they did in this." 1 
 
 Nor, when we read the story of the resistance 
 which these same clergy offered to the stern 
 tyranny of the Presbyterian and Independent 
 divines, can we imagine that such an assembly of 
 well-born English gentlemen and learned scholars 
 would have bowed to the will of an archbishop, 
 however resolute and imperious. Therefore it 
 may be assumed that the seventeen canons, which 
 were passed by them unanimously after careful 
 debate, represent the reasoned opinions of the 
 English clergy in 1640. This is confirmed when 
 we remember that the lead in the Lower House 
 was taken by such cool-headed men as Sheldon, 
 now rising into prominence, and that violent 
 counsels for repression of Puritan opinions were 
 strongly reprobated by the vast majority. 
 
 It was natural that the first place should be 
 
 1 Trials and Troubles, p. 155. 
 
1640. 
 
 TIIK DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS. 
 
 247 
 
 given in such troubled times to the teaching of 
 the Christian Church about the civil power ; it 
 was equally certain that any weighty opposition 
 to the ideas now prevalent among the bishops 
 would find sufficient support from the House of 
 Commons then in session. 1 But the canon on the 
 supreme power of the king, which was passed 
 before Parliament was dissolved, caused ap- 
 parently no displeasure to thoughtful men ; and 
 indeed its language was studiously moderate. 
 Kings were declared to be responsible to God 
 for the right government of the Church, and to 
 possess the sole right to summon councils. 
 Subjects were warned by quotations from the 
 New Testament not to bear arms against their 
 lawful sovereign ; on this matter the example 
 and the opinion of the martyrs of old and 
 of the fathers under the early empire were 
 brought forward and endorsed. It was pro- 
 nounced to be the duty of subjects to supply the 
 king's necessities, and of kings to protect their 
 subjects' goods. In short, the Divine character of 
 the office of the king, consecrated by the Church, 
 accepted as sovereign by the popular shout 
 according to the old English custom, was here 
 insisted upon. But the king was declared to 
 
 Heylin says that Laud attempted to get a conference ar- 
 ranged between a committee of Convocation and a committee of 
 Parliament, so that the laity might be thoroughly satisfied about 
 the doctrine taught by the clergy (Barnard's Life, p. 117). 
 
248 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xm. 
 
 govern under restrictions imposed upon him by 
 his coronation oath and the statutes of the realm, 
 and defined by the decisions of the law courts. If 
 it was a fair objection that those courts had 
 recently strained the rights of the prerogative as 
 they were soon to strain the powers of Parliament, 
 and Laud himself points out that there was 
 serious danger in leaving the common law un- 
 written, 1 the clergy might justly answer that it was 
 no business of an ecclesiastical synod to dictate to 
 the judges how they should administer the law. 
 
 Thus was solemnly set forth the English 
 Church principle of the relations between Church 
 and State. The bishops and clergy acknowledged 
 that the Government was a Divine institution, 
 sanctioned by God to administer justice between 
 man and man ; just as really as the Church could 
 claim the exclusive right to declare doctrine, to 
 preach the Gospel, and to administer the sacra- 
 ments. To emphasise this close relationship, 
 special services of prayer and praise in every 
 church were to solemnise the day of his Majesty's 
 most happy inauguration. 
 
 Church and State, being thus bound together, 
 were to enforce upon all men a certain uniformity. 
 Here it is evident that the theory of the seventeenth 
 century and the theory of the nineteenth part com- 
 pany. Yet few men at this period, certainly not Hen- 
 derson the Presbyterian champion of Scotland, nor 
 
 1 Trials and Troubles, 151. 
 
1640. ENFORCEMENT OF CONFORMITY. 249 
 
 Burgess and Marshall so soon to be the spiritual 
 dictators of England, nor the leaders of the Long 
 Parliament, questioned the right and duty of 
 Church and State to combine in order to secure 
 conformity. 3 
 
 Three excesses in religion, as men felt them, 
 were to be repressed, but by argument rather 
 than by force ; Papists were to be summoned 
 to conferences, conducted by the bishops them- 
 selves, in which the errors of Romanism should 
 be exposed ; and all measures short of actual 
 persecution were to be used to bring back 
 into the English fold the 150,000 recusants. A 
 similar method was to be adopted against the 
 growing Socinianism which had tainted so many 
 of the Puritans ; 2 and against the Anabaptists, 
 Brownists, Familists and other similar sects who 
 were calling in question the doctrines held uni- 
 versally by the Church since the days of the 
 apostles. 3 
 
 An oath was to be taken by every clergyman 
 and member of the universities to give a general 
 adhesion to the government of the Church by 
 "bishops, deans, archdeacons, etc.," and to its 
 doctrines as set forth in the articles ; this oath 
 was soon to be represented to the archbishop's 
 astonishment as an intended instrument of tyranny ; 
 
 1 See Bacon's essay, De imitate Ecclesiae. 
 - State Papers, passim. 
 
 3 Cf. Laud's Speech in answer to Lord Saye and Sele. 
 
250 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xm. 
 
 and the somewhat careless words et cetera were 
 supposed to be the veil under which men would 
 swear away their liberty. 1 
 
 The next canon concerned some of the rites 
 and ceremonies about which there had been such 
 heart-burnings of late, particularly the position of 
 the communion table at the east end of the church. 
 " We declare " said the canon, " that this situation 
 of the holy table doth not imply that it is or ought 
 to be esteemed a true and proper altar whereon 
 Christ is again really sacrificed ; but it is and may 
 be called an altar by us in that sense in which the 
 Primitive Church called it an altar and no other." 
 Unless the bishop should specially direct otherwise, 
 all communicants were to come up to the chancel 
 and kneel at the altar rails for the reception of 
 communion. Bowing on entering the church was 
 declared to be profitable and edifying, but it was 
 not to be compulsory. 
 
 The remaining articles dealt with the manners 
 of the clergy, and reformed and restricted the 
 powers of the ecclesiastical courts which the lawyers 
 had constantly used as a means for exaction. 
 Further, the Convocation passed a resolution to 
 make an improved translation of the Bible into 
 Welsh, in order to stimulate in that part of the 
 country a more vigorous spiritual life. 
 
 The legality of these canons was at once called 
 
 1 Vide Baxter's Autobiography for proof that the oath was 
 genuinely dreaded, and Nehemiah Wallington. 
 
1640. PREPARATIONS FOR A STORM. 25 I 
 
 in question. Laud had felt grave doubts whether 
 the Convocation could legally continue to sit after 
 the dissolution of Parliament; 1 but he had been 
 overruled by the Crown lawyers, and was doubtless 
 glad of his opportunity. 
 
 Thus did the Church of England under the 
 archbishop's guidance fortify its position and mar- 
 shal its powers when the rising storm seemed 
 certain to sweep it out of existence. "When 
 the foundations of faith are shaken, be it by 
 superstition or profaneness, he that puts not to 
 his hand as firmly as he can to support them 
 is too wary and hath more care of himself than 
 of the cause of Christ." 2 Laud, like Strafford, 
 was convinced that his enemies would not be 
 satisfied till they had taken his life ; both perceived 
 that there were secret influences about the king 
 which would attempt to overthrow the best com- 
 binations they could arrange by a repetition of 
 the intrigues which had been so often successful. 
 Strafford's system was destined to perish with 
 him. But Laud knew how deeply his principles had 
 taken root in the country, and he believed they 
 would survive ; by the promulgation of these 
 canons he was able to give substance to his ideal 
 of the Church ; barriers were erected against 
 Popery, Socinianism and Sectarianism ; the duty of 
 supporting the established government was set 
 
 1 Trials and Troubles, 282. 
 
 1 Laud's Epistle Dedicator}- to Book against Fisher. 
 
252 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xiii. 
 
 strongly before Churchmen, while they were taught 
 to take the lead in reforms of the administration, 
 to insist upon equal justice for all, and to defend 
 liberty of opinion so long as it did not overthrow 
 outward unity. 
 
 In the evil days which now came upon the 
 Church such an authoritative declaration of policy 
 could not fail to be eminently useful ; it would 
 bind together faithful minds, and would keep 
 before them the ecclesiastical system which they 
 ought to strive to restore. By Sheldon, Morley, 
 Cosin, and Ward, all of them Laud's disciples, 
 these principles would not be forgotten in the 
 great Convocation of the Restoration; and while 
 these bishops of the future did not slight the 
 warnings given by their master's failure, neither 
 did they forget the magnificent conceptions which 
 he had set before them. 
 
 The Convocation was closed on the 29th of 
 May ; on the 3rd of November, five months later, 
 the Long Parliament had assembled. The Scottish 
 army had invaded England; the king had rejected 
 Strafford's advice, and, persuaded by some of the 
 great nobles, had entered into treaty with them. 
 "The ancient enemy" remained in the country, 
 encamped at Newcastle, ready to draw sword at 
 any time in the service of the English Puritans, 
 who skilfully combined the disasters of the king 
 with the success of their Scottish allies to secure a 
 majority in the new House of Commons. Great 
 
1640. ELECTIONS TO THE LONG PARLIAMENT. 253 
 
 was the change in the faces and great the change 
 in the sentiments of the men who now replaced 
 the moderate members of the Short Parliament. 
 
 There is no matter on which our curiosity is 
 more aroused than the conduct of this important 
 election; on no matter has our curiosity been more 
 completely baffled. 1 The State Papers give us 
 no help.' 2 We know that the freeholders alone 
 enjoyed the franchise in the counties, 3 and that 
 the country gentry could always have their way in 
 these constituencies ; the great Puritan peers did 
 not hesitate even to use threats to secure seats for 
 their friends/ We know that in the boroughs 
 the franchise was sometimes very limited ; at 
 Buckingham twelve burgesses could elect whom 
 they pleased, and at Aylesbury and Wycombe 5 
 the voting strength was little greater, while many 
 small boroughs were in the hands of great lords 
 like the Earl of Pembroke and the Earl of Bed- 
 ford, both gained to the Puritans. Leicester 
 decided that it was more important to please 
 
 1 For Thetford where two Puritans were returned the candi- 
 date gives no hint of his intentions in his address (Mason's Norfolk, 
 279). 
 
 2 Hardly a single document bearing on this election appears 
 to exist in the Record Office. So absolute is the dearth of informa- 
 tion that Dr. Gardiner says nothing about the elections. 
 
 3 In the populous county of Norfolk 1500 votes headed the 
 poll (Mason's Norfolk, 251). 
 
 4 See Lord Warwick's proceedings in Essex at the former 
 election (State Papers, 31st March, 1640). 
 
 5 Sir R. Verney's Diary, p. 3. 
 
254 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xm. 
 
 Lord Stamford 1 than to conciliate the Chancellor 
 of the Duchy ; 2 and petty local questions often, as 
 they do to this day, decided the choice of men 
 who were to sway the destinies of England for 
 years. The town of Lynn afterwards suffered 
 severely for its Royalist opinions, but two Puri- 
 tans represented it in Parliament. 3 Oxford city 
 was decidedly Loyalist ; but it had private quarrels 
 with the university, and, rejecting Secretary Winde- 
 bank, sent two members who long supported the 
 Opposition. Even the university, though it was 
 devoted to Laud, elected Selden, the great Op- 
 position lawyer, to Parliament, evidently quite un- 
 conscious of the sad consequences to itself. Pym 
 found a seat for one of Lord Bedford's boroughs ; 
 he and his friends took the greatest pains to 
 exclude men who, like Gardiner, the Recorder of 
 London, were suspected of moderate opinions. 
 Yet even thus, when both sides appealed to arms, 
 more than half the county members (and the 
 county elections best represented the opinions of 
 the nation) ranged themselves on the side of 
 Church and king ; while the measures taken by 
 the majority to invalidate many elections, 4 and 
 
 1 For Lord Stamford's Puritan politics cf. State Papers, vol. 
 424, No. 28. 
 
 2 History of Leicester. 
 
 3 Mason's Norfolk, 282, where we see its own members attack- 
 ing it. 
 
 4 At least fourteen Royalist members were unseated, and 
 replaced by extreme men of the other side (see lists in Parlia- 
 mentary History, vol. ix.). Wallington, i. 221, talks of fifty. 
 
1640. THE HOUSE NOT REPRESENTATIVE. 
 
 255 
 
 their arbitrary suspension of outspoken supporters 
 of the Crown, 1 combine with the petitions signed 
 by thousands of electors against interference in 
 the Church government to prove how little the 
 House agreed with the people on Church questions. 
 Perhaps the consciousness that they did not 
 really represent the nation was the reason why 
 the great body of members usually followed with 
 sheep-like docility the decisions of a few strong 
 men. Only gradually did two parties develop 
 themselves in the Long Parliament, and then 
 almost for the first time we find divisions taken. 2 
 The first object of the Puritan majority was to 
 ensure the disbandment of the royal forces at 
 York, and to retain the Scottish army in the 
 country by a fixed monthly payment. Thus 
 England lay by the choice of the Commons at the 
 mercy of a foreign army, ;) ready to march south- 
 wards if the organised mob 4 of London should 
 fail on any important vote to coerce the Peers, lay 
 and spiritual, or the constantly increasing Royalist 
 minority in the Commons. The king, having no 
 force to oppose to the city apprentices, submitted 
 helplessly to the dictates of the Puritans ; and to 
 the Puritans it seemed that the troubles of Eng- 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, ix. 237, 328. 
 
 3 There were two divisions on the impeachment of Buckingham 
 in 1626, but these stand by themselves; and also one or two in 
 the Short Parliament of 1640. 
 
 3 Baillie, i. 283, and Salmonet, i. 126. 
 
 4 Pennington, the Lord Mayor, had a system for marching 
 down the city apprentices to Palace Yard (see Pari, Hist., ix. 24s . 
 
256 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xm. 
 
 land were due to Laud and Strafford. Hamilton, 
 who had at one time been the most unpopular of 
 the three, had deserted his master and made terms 
 with his enemies; 1 but, as he said himself, "the 
 earl (Strafford) was too great-hearted to fear, and 
 he doubted the other (Laud) was too bold to fly".' 2 
 These were the two men pointed out by the 
 popular finger as the counsellors of that final 
 breach with the last Parliament which, cunningly 
 or stupidly, Sir Henry Vane, father of one of the 
 most eloquent Puritan leaders, had brought about. 
 On the 1 ith of November, Strafford was impeached 
 and sent to the Tower. 3 The attack upon Laud 
 had to be deferred until the 18th of December ; he 
 was then accused of high treason by the Scottish 
 Commissioners, and impeached in the name of 
 the Commons of England by Denzil Hollis, a 
 prominent Puritan member, who hoped to save 
 his brother-in-law Strafford's life at the price of 
 the abolition of the bishops and the sacrifice of 
 the primate. Black Rod was ordered to remove 
 the archbishop in custody until detailed articles of 
 accusation should be presented. 
 
 Thus this great experiment of ruling England 
 for religion and by religion had been tried and 
 had failed. Never again would a bishop be 
 Prime Minister or chief counsellor of the Crown. 
 
 1 Baker, p. 470, says he helped Vane to get the Short Parlia- 
 ment dissolved. Was this the first part of the price of his safety ? 
 
 2 Clarendon, i. 239. ' J Baillie, i. 275. 
 
1640. FAILURE OF RELIGIOUS RULE. 257 
 
 The Church, having been consolidated, would 
 soon enter on a safer and truer course, exercising 
 a dominant influence upon the development of the 
 nation ; exhibiting a power which it was dangerous 
 to provoke ; stimulating charity, education, devo- 
 tion, literature ; until the cold hand of the Whig 
 party nearly choked out its life in the eighteenth 
 century. But for the moment the public feeling 
 had been shocked by seeing the coercive power 
 employed under the direction of ministers of the 
 Gospel. As Christians the bishops seemed to 
 have no right to avenge the most atrocious libels ; 
 as magistrates and rulers they had no choice but 
 to punish insults or allow the Government to fall 
 into contempt. Therefore, bishops must cease to 
 rule the State ; and the animosity against them 
 carried men away so far that their retention in the 
 Church became matter of debate. Presbyterian 
 ministers, sectarian laymen, fanatical soldiers, 
 were now to try their hands in succession at other 
 forms of theocracy ; but their attempts would end 
 in the derisive laughter of the nation over the 
 ridiculous failure of Barebones' Parliament. The 
 bishops had at least taken some measure of human 
 nature : under Laud religious government had 
 been learned and liberal, bright and artistic ; the 
 equality of all men had been vindicated by the 
 law, and freedom of opinion had been jealously 
 safeguarded ; while the Bishop Treasurer Juxon 
 had administered the finances with such scrupulous 
 
 '7 
 
258 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xixr, 
 
 rectitude and good sense that no charge whatever 
 could be found against him. But in Puritan Eng- 
 land, learning would be banished from the univer- 
 sities ; mirth would be suppressed ; the most pious 
 and the wisest teachers, Barnabas Oley and Cosin, 
 as well as Hales and Chillingworth, would be 
 reduced almost to starvation ; and if the Govern- 
 ment made itself respected abroad it would be 
 much more dreaded at home, where Presbyterian 
 Scots and Romanist Irish and Episcopalian Eng- 
 lish shuddered at the memory of the massacred 
 and murdered, or longed for news of friends sold 
 into slavery in the plantations of the West Indies. 1 
 These two great failures would make it clear 
 that England must not be ruled by a religious 
 party ; the second failure would, in addition, make 
 Puritanism detestable to every class of the people, 
 and produce the dissolute society of the Restora- 
 tion. 
 
 In politics Laud's failure was now decisive. 
 He had been led dangerously near an attempt to 
 make the king autocratic, and therefore it was 
 fortunate that he had failed. To what extent his 
 Church ideals would survive depended upon the 
 immediate future. No doubt the time had come 
 when Episcopacy might have its wings clipped. 
 It had always been a principle with the Anglican 
 divines that each national Church had a right to 
 
 1 Ludlow, Memoirs, ii. 553, 559; he speaks of Cromwell trans- 
 porting "whole droves at a time". 
 
1640. CONDITIONS OF A REACTION. 259 
 
 shape its own policy ; but they had so far added 
 the conditions that each Church must remain 
 within the traditional lines of episcopal rule and 
 apostolic succession, of liturgical worship and of 
 sacramentally imparted grace ; and Laud as a 
 practical statesman had given this conception its 
 most distinct form. But would not the theory of 
 national independence in Church matters now be 
 pushed further? By the loss of Strafford Ireland 
 was to become definitely Romanist ; the failure of 
 Hamilton's Government left Scotland determined 
 for Presbyterianism. Could the ancient form of 
 the Church be maintained any longer in England? 
 Would it not be right and wise to set up presby- 
 teries throughout the whole island ? 
 
 The peculiar character of the English people 
 imposed certain plain conditions. A fair oppor- 
 tunity would be given to the new rulers if they 
 were moderate ; but persecution would provoke an 
 irresistible opposition. Then opinion would swing 
 back again to the side of the ancient Church, pro- 
 vided that the chief men of the Church party showed 
 sufficient endurance, and such faith in their own 
 principles as to suffer and, if need be, to die for the 
 cause. If the leaders of the Long Parliament pushed 
 their victory to extremes, and insisted on destroying 
 their rivals ; if the great statesman now in the 
 Tower would face the block deliberately, rather 
 than betray Episcopacy ; if the infirm and aged 
 primate should be ruthlessly martyred ; if the king 
 
26o LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xm. 
 
 should be publicly executed for insisting on the 
 maintenance of bishops, then a safe future would 
 be ensured for the National Church. 
 
 Laud's behaviour in prison became therefore 
 a matter of the greatest moment to his followers, 
 dismayed but not in despair. They were prepared 
 to face the terrible and searching trial through 
 which their doctrine of peaceful submission to the 
 powers that be must now lead them. And just as 
 Laud had always opposed at the council board 
 any armed interference for Episcopacy in Scot- 
 land, so they refused to raise the standard of 
 revolt so long as the king remained with the 
 Parliament ; for it would be disgraceful that the 
 ministers of Christ should hesitate to suffer shame 
 for their Master's sake. And the Puritans found 
 it difficult to persecute their opponents at first, 
 because there was no resistance to the most 
 violent oppression of opinions and of principles. 
 The clergy stirred up no war to maintain the 
 bishops' right to sit in the House of Peers, or to 
 liberate them from illegal imprisonment in the 
 Tower, or to alleviate their own constantly in- 
 creasing wrongs. Only when the Parliament 
 broke into two parts, and the votes proved less 
 than a majority to be present at St. Stephen's, 
 and the king set up his standard at Nottingham 
 in defence of his divine right, did churchmen de- 
 liberately take their side in arms. So potent was 
 the influence of the teaching of Andrewes and 
 
1640. PASSIVE OBEDIENCE. 26 1 
 
 Laud against civil war upon the clergy and laity 
 of the Church of England. It was this teaching 
 which gave patience to the great mass of the 
 nation through the oppression of the military 
 government of Cromwell, when Henry Vaughan 
 wrote, giving voice to the feeling of his fellow- 
 churchmen : — 
 
 But seeing soldiers long ago 
 
 Did spit on Thee and smote Thee too; 
 
 Crowned Thee with thorns and bowed the knee, 
 
 But in contempt as still we see : 
 
 I'll marvel not at aught they do 
 
 Because they used my Saviour so ; 
 
 Since of my Lord they had their will 
 
 Thy servant must not take it ill. 
 
Further Authorities. 
 
 The authorities for the last chapters are Laud's own History of his 
 Trials and Troubles; Heylin's Life of Laud ; Fuller's Church 
 History; and Rushworth's Collections, while details have been 
 added from the memoirs and histories of the time. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 IMPRISONMENT AND TRIAL, 1640- 1645. 
 
 Leaving Lambeth — In Prison — Execution of Strafford — 
 Insults from Pry Tine — Meekness of Laud in Prison — 
 Devotions— Effect of his Patience — Trial and Sentence 
 — Religious Bigotry. 
 
 Though committed to custody in the morning of 
 the 1 8th of December the archbishop obtained 
 leave to spend the rest of the day at Lambeth, 
 arranging his papers and settling his affairs, and 
 thence, when the short December day was done, 
 to cross to his prison at Black Rod's residence. 
 
 That evening the aged primate knelt at his 
 devotions for the last time in the dimly-lighted 
 chapel of Lambeth. The daily services of the 
 Church had been his constant stay ; and now he 
 noticed with thankfulness how appropriate was the 
 consolation of the psalms for the evening. 1 The 
 chapel itself was alive with memories. It had 
 been built by a foreign primate, Boniface of 
 Savoy, the uncle of King Henry III., at the 
 command of a great Roman Pope. Was the 
 ruin of the one free Church in Europe now 
 
 1 The Diary. 
 (265) 
 
266 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xiv. 
 
 presaged by his own departure ? and would the 
 colossal figure of Rome, the great enemy of his 
 life, and now rejoicing in his overthrow, step in as 
 master ? There, in that same chapel, Parker had 
 knelt for consecration, and had often thought out 
 upon his knees the principles which were to steer 
 the Church through the early storms. There 
 Whitgift and his friends had asked for God's 
 guidance before they framed the Lambeth articles, 
 whose incubus it had been Laud's duty to re- 
 move from the spiritual life of the nation. Out of 
 it opened two rooms, simple and dark, which 
 Cranmer had constructed for himself : Cranmer, 
 whose martyrdom had destroyed the Roman yoke. 
 Could his own sufferings and death mark an epoch 
 like the death of Cranmer, and become a dvke 
 on the other side walling in the pure stream of 
 English Christianity from the desolate morass of 
 Puritanism ? To Laud this chapel had always 
 been an object of the deepest interest ; he had 
 restored the beautiful painted glass of the windows 
 with diligent affection; 1 they were soon to be again 
 shattered by the now dominant faction. The ex- 
 quisite architecture had contributed not a little to 
 the effect of his own devoutly organised services. 
 Gorgeous copes and altar ornaments, beautiful 
 music and elaborate reverence of demeanour, had 
 heightened the dignity of worship on many a 
 solemn occasion. In the garden outside he had 
 
 1 Rushworth, ii. 274. 
 
1640. 
 
 LEAVING LAMHKTII. 
 
 267 
 
 often walked in counsel with Hyde the lawyer, 
 and Hales the deep thinker, and Heylin, bright 
 historian and witty pamphleteer, and the narrow 
 but capable Neile, and the conscientious Juxon. 
 Now all this was over ; he had nothing more to 
 achieve, only to suffer and to die. 
 
 As he stepped down the stairs, under the 
 so-called Lollards' Tower, to enter his barge, he 
 was startled by the crowd upon the river shore. 
 Had the Anabaptists come to hoot and to insult 
 him ? He was deeply moved and comforted when 
 he recognised the voices of the poor of Lambeth, 
 to whom for seven years he had been a father, in- 
 voking God's protection upon his head, and calling 
 out that they hoped soon to see him at home again 
 amongst them. 1 Poor folk ! they would miss the 
 munificent charity of the affectionate and self- 
 denying archbishop. 
 
 Prison itself seemed more cheerful after such 
 a farewell : and in the early weeks of confinement 
 he was busy and interested with his reply to the 
 Scottish Commissioners. By these he was accused 
 as the great incendiary, the schemer for Popery. 
 His carefully prepared answers penetrate and de- 
 stroy with trenchant argument their accusations : 
 they prove the archbishop's vast learning, and the 
 clearness of his intellectual power, even in old age. 
 
 But it was not in the open arena of a struggle 
 against Presbyterian preachers and grasping nobles 
 
 1 Diary. 
 
268 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xiv. 
 
 that the archbishop had to fight his last battles. 
 Week passed after week, and he was not brought 
 to trial. The victim was safe enough in his 
 prison until the chosen hour of the sacrifice should 
 come. There was no law in England which 
 could override the will of some 160 banded 
 members of the House of Commons ; no court 
 would dare to give Laud the benefit of Went- 
 worth's Petition of Right. The archbishop might 
 chafe at the illegality of his imprisonment ; he 
 would have to suffer in patience. 
 
 After several weeks he was moved amid the 
 angry shouts of the London apprentices to the 
 Tower. He saw his friend Strafford led out to 
 die : Strafford, whom, as he said, no law could be 
 found to convict, until a new lawless law 1 was 
 framed specially to destroy him. Strafford, being 
 denied an interview with the imprisoned archbishop, 
 had sent a message to beg for his blessing as he was 
 taken to execution. The long imprisonment had 
 shattered Laud's health, and he fell fainting when 
 Strafford turned to take his affectionate farewell, 
 and could hardly extend his hand in benediction 
 between the prison bars. To him, Strafford was 
 a martyr for the Church. Archbishop Usher of 
 Dublin, who had prepared him to die, came to 
 Laud's cell to relate how Denzil Hollis had pro- 
 mised to save his brother-in-law's life if he would 
 help in the destruction of Episcopacy. The great 
 
 1 Cf. Mozley's essay on Strafford, and Evelyn in Diary, and 
 Capcl on the Scaffold. 
 
1641-4- 
 
 THE IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 269 
 
 minister had haughtily refused, and had died 
 resolute: "No enemy," said he, "am I to Parlia- 
 ments " ; and the Petition of Right and the pacifi- 
 cation of Ireland seemed to prove his truthfulness. 
 
 Then came the long waiting. Month by 
 month and year by year the archbishop ex- 
 pected his trial. There was a great comfort to 
 him in the public service at the Tower ; preachers 
 might and did apostrophise and insult him ; 1 but 
 he was in God's house with God's people, and he 
 could pray. Again and again he enters in his 
 Diary his gratitude to God for the patience which 
 was granted to him. And, indeed, the fierce 
 outbreaks of temper which were chronicled of him 
 had never been stirred, so far as can be ascertained, 
 by personal ill-usage ; it was oppression, or dis- 
 honesty, or selfishness which made him use hot 
 words or flame with anger. He was meek enough 
 in his prison, though resolute not to give way a 
 jot to the enemies of the Church. 
 
 Prynne was allowed to rifle his papers and to 
 carry off his Dia7y, of which he afterwards pub- 
 lished a mutilated and interpolated edition ; and 
 had even deprived him of his book of private 
 devotions. The archbishop sat by unmoved, and 
 helped the search. To Prynne he presented a pair 
 of gloves which, as he said, "the poor man 
 evidently coveted ". He believed God had put 
 him there to learn resignation through indignities, 
 
 1 E.g., 15th May, 1642. 
 
270 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xiv. 
 
 so that he should be fit for heaven ; otherwise, in 
 his busy life he might have been unprepared to 
 die. Naturally men who loved and followed him, 
 but who had been ashamed of his occasional out- 
 breaks of anger, 1 and annoyed at the sometimes 
 hasty and discourteous manner of his later years, 
 and troubled by the severe sentences which he 
 advocated now and again in the Star Chamber, 
 grew to look upon the prisoner in the Tower as a 
 hero and a saint. A great downfall, after men 
 have enjoyed their scornful triumph over it for a 
 period," 2 first moves pity, and then admiration, so 
 long as the fallen magnate is dignified and patient. 
 The man who had ranked next in England to the 
 king had scanty food to eat ; was meanly clad ; and 
 confined in one bare room. At times his books 
 were denied him ; no friend might visit him ; 
 his very collection of prayers had been carried 
 off. Such a spectacle gave food for thought 
 even in those stirring times, and was enough to 
 move any but the hardest heart. Men told one 
 another tales of his gentleness and patience, and 
 of how he had won the affection of his gaolers. 
 Next to the story of the sufferings of the king as 
 described in the Eikon Basilike, the sufferings of 
 the once powerful archbishop stimulated the rising 
 reaction. 
 
 It was in these months that he brought to 
 perfection that course of private devotions which 
 
 1 Fuller's History, iii. 474. 
 
 - Baillie, i. 309, and Wallington, i. 150. 
 
1641-4. 
 
 PRACTICE OF DEVOTION. 
 
 27 I 
 
 he had used at intervals through the day in the 
 busiest period of his life, always setting apart due 
 time for the recollection of God. Old, and worn, 
 and weary, he had now no difficulty in treading 
 the way of the Cross, and from the Cross to the 
 Resurrection, and from the empty grave of his 
 Saviour to the open gates of heaven. The way 
 had been familiar when he was strong" and well, 
 therefore it was easy now ; every step of it was 
 already marked with the impress of his feet. The 
 book was published when he was gone ; and like 
 the devotions of Bishop Andrewes became a great 
 favourite for the use of pious souls. The arch- 
 bishop's sermons had converted many ; this post- 
 humous work, redolent of his own example, would 
 prepare many more souls for heaven. He would 
 teach men and women how to die patiently and 
 cheerfully. 
 
 Several efforts had been made to bring him to 
 trial, but the accumulated evidence was so insuf- 
 ficient that it seemed impossible to condemn him. 
 An archbishop could hardly be executed for 
 restoring St. Paul's, or for reforming the univer- 
 sity statutes ; yet these were put forward as 
 serious charges. Consequently at one time 
 opportunities were given him to escape, but 
 with the temper of a Socrates he refused. 
 
 " I thank my good friend Hugo Grotius," 
 said he to Fococke, "for the care he has thus 
 expressed of my safety, but I can by no means 
 
272 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xiv. 
 
 be persuaded to comply with his advice. An 
 escape is, indeed, feasible enough ; yea, I verily 
 believe it is this that my enemies desire. Every 
 day an opportunity is presented to me, a passage 
 being- left free, in all likelihood, for this purpose, 
 that I should take advantage of it ; but they shall 
 not be gratified by me in that which they appear 
 to long for. I am almost seventy years old, and 
 shall I now go about to prolong a miserable life 
 by the trouble and shame of flying ? And were I 
 willing to be gone, whither should I fly ? Should 
 I go to France or any other Popish country, it 
 would be to give some seeming ground to that 
 charge of Popery they have endeavoured with so 
 much industry, and so little reason, to fasten upon 
 me. If I should get into Holland I should expose 
 myself to the insults of those sectaries there to 
 whom I am odious, and have every Anabaptist 
 come and pull me by the beard. No ; I am 
 resolved not to think of flight, but continuing 
 where I am, patiently expect and bear what a 
 good and wise Providence has appointed for me, 
 of what kind so ever it may be." 1 
 
 Another friend who obtained access to his 
 prison found him reading Galen in the Tower, 
 and rejoicing that "so learned a man, who was so 
 addicted to assign all unto nature, should by the 
 admirable structure of a man be so much convinced 
 of the God of nature ". Then they fell to talking 
 
 1 Twells' Life of Pococke, p. 84. 
 
TH E TRIAL. 
 
 273 
 
 of his troubles ; but " God,'' says he, " will season 
 me for these and all other trials ". 1 
 
 At last the Scots grew impatient ; somehow or 
 other he must be put to death. His execution 
 should be the price of their armed support of the 
 Parliament. 2 How were they to justify their rebel- 
 lion against the kin"- if his great minister had not 
 been adjudged criminal ? 
 
 In April, 1644, he was summoned again before 
 the House of Lords. Each day he was brought 
 through the city to be insulted by the mob ; it 
 was hoped that the danger of violence would 
 confuse the archbishop's intellect, or provoke him 
 to some passionate outbreak. Several of the 
 Puritan leaders publicly urged the crowd to tear 
 him in pieces. 3 At the waiting-room of the House 
 of Lords he was kept for hours exposed to the rude 
 attacks of the preachers, and of his accusers ; and 
 this terrible ordeal was continued for three months. 
 But he had learnt patience in too good a school ; 
 all were astonished at the calm courtesy of his 
 demeanour. Few of the peers paid him the com- 
 pliment of listening to his defence. 4 But, in the 
 presence of the two or three who sat on the 
 benches, point by point he met his enemies. 
 They accused him of introducing Popery ; he 
 recounted the long list of persons whom he had 
 
 1 Warwick's Memoirs, 166. 
 
 2 Ludlow's Memoirs, i. 86. Cf. Hobbes' Behemoth. 
 
 3 Wood's Athenae, ii. 63. 4 Cf. Baillie, ii. 139. 
 
 18 
 
274 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xiv. 
 
 persuaded to abandon Romanism : the charge of 
 personal corruption he challenged with his poverty. 
 The country was searched through for tyrannical 
 sentences passed by courts of which he was a 
 member ; they were few enough for so long an 
 administration, and even these could not be estab- 
 lished. 
 
 Then the wretched Secretary of State, Sir 
 Henry Vane the elder, was dragged forward to 
 give evidence that he had advised arbitrary 
 government ; the charge was too ill-grounded to 
 be seriously debated. On every occasion men were 
 forced to admit that his replies were irresistible. 
 
 But when it proved impossible to convict him 
 of treason, an ordinance for his death was passed 
 by such a remnant of the two Houses as still sat 
 at Westminster ; only six are said to have voted 
 in the House of Peers, though apparently some 
 twenty were present ; but undeterred by their in- 
 significant number they finally ratified the ordinance 
 on the 4th of January, 1645 ; and the 10th of 
 January was fixed for the execution. 
 
 The archbishop was doomed ; for Sir Henry 
 Vane the younger had pledged his word to the 
 Scots that he should die ; and his value as a host- 
 age was gone, now that the king's fortunes in the 
 war were waning. His condemnation was a proof 
 that the nobles and gentlemen who had commenced 
 the revolution had lost the control of affairs to that 
 little group of determined sectaries who had just 
 
1645. 
 
 REIGN OK FANATICISM. 
 
 375 
 
 formed the new model army. 1 These men, with 
 their masterful conviction that they were the 
 chosen of God, and that their opponents were 
 God's enemies, looked upon the old man's execu- 
 tion as a simple act of justice. Fanaticism was 
 everywhere casting a cloud of gloom over Eng- 
 land. Irish prisoners were being murdered in cold 
 blood ; 2 and Scottish Royalists executed with the 
 open approval of the Scottish clergymen. Already 
 the poor victims of ignorance who were accused 
 of witchcraft, and whom Laud with his bright, 
 rational ideas of religion had for years defended 
 from persecution, were being butchered by the 
 score ; all over the country the revolutionary 
 tribunals passed sentence upon them ; in Yarmouth 
 alone sixteen had been put to death in 1644 ; in 
 1645 twenty in Norfolk and no less than sixty in 
 Suffolk would meet the same sentence ; 3 while as 
 usual superstition went hand in hand with fanati- 
 cism, and the leaders of the Long Parliament were 
 rejoicing that Lilly, the chief professor of the black 
 art, had foretold a victory in the next campaign 
 for the army of Fairfax and Cromwell. 4 Evidently 
 it was time for the old archbishop to be gone. 
 
 1 Memoirs of Lord Holies. 
 
 " Many Roman Catholic priests were also executed in Eng- 
 land (Berington's Panzani ; Baillie, i. 295). 
 
 3 Mason's History of Norfolk, p. 303. 
 
 4 Lilly's Memoirs. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE EXECUTION OF THE ARCHBISHOP. 
 
 Tower Hill — Insults — The Last Sermon — Effect of Land's 
 Death — Burial. 
 
 In the few remaining days Laud was assailed by 
 the arguments of two noted and violent Presby- 
 terian preachers. These he quietly repelled, 
 and set himself to due preparation for his end, 
 fully realising the importance of a final public 
 profession of his patriotism and his faith. 
 
 Tower Hill was packed with an immense 
 throng as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the 
 first and last archbishop publicly executed in 
 London, was led out from his devotions to die. 
 In the last days the gibbet, which had originally 
 been decreed, had been exchanged for the axe ; 1 
 this respect after all being shown to his high rank. 
 He had slept calmly that night, and had risen 
 early for prayer ; and his face was bright and 
 cheerful. The vast concourse was hushed at the 
 sight of the well-known figure, short and square, 
 with the hair closely cropped ; 2 the strong, resolute 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, xiii. 373. - Fuller, iii. 477. 
 
 (276) 
 
1645. THE SCAFFOLD. 277 
 
 countenance, now marked with sorrow, and 
 furrowed with sickness, but calm and happy. 
 His enemies had been anxious he should not 
 be heard. It might be dangerous. They pushed 
 even upon the very scaffold. 
 
 "I thought," said Laud, "there would have 
 been an empty scaffold, that I might have had 
 room to die. I beseech you, let me have an end 
 of this misery, for I have endured it long." He 
 noticed, when he at last reached the block, that he 
 could see faces through the chinks of the scaffold 
 immediately below it, and with something of his 
 old playfulness he said : " Remove them, lest my 
 innocent blood should fall on the heads of the 
 people ". 
 
 "What," asked a bitter enemy, 1 "is the com- 
 fortablest saying which a dying man would have 
 in his mouth ? " 
 
 The archbishop, with much meekness, an- 
 swered : " Cupio dissolvi, et esse cum Christo ". 
 
 "That is a good desire," said the persecutor, 
 " but there must be a foundation for that Divine 
 assurance." 
 
 " No man can express it," replied Laud ; " it 
 is to be found within." 
 
 "It is founded upon a word, nevertheless," 
 insisted the other, "and that word should be 
 known." 
 
 1 Rushworth, vi. 835-840, and Wood's Athcnac, ii. 6y, 70. 
 
278 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. XV. 
 
 "That word," said the archbishop, "is the 
 knowledge of Jesus Christ, and that alone." 
 
 But there was something- in the man which at 
 last compelled silence ; the preacher who had so 
 often held thousands hanging upon his lips ; the 
 clothmaker's son who by strength of will, and 
 clearness of aim, and power of gaining- affection 
 had won his way upward, till his aged life seemed 
 to his enemies a threat of danger to the revolution 
 they had made, knew how to gain and how to hold 
 the attention of that huge crowd who had come to 
 see him die. 
 
 Then, from the boards of the scaffold, he 
 preached calmly his last and most impressive 
 sermon : — 
 
 ''Good people, this is an uncomfortable time 
 to preach, yet I shall begin with a text of Scrip- 
 ture, Heb., xii. 2. ' Let us run with patience the 
 race which is set before us : looking unto Jesus, 
 the Author and Finisher of our faith, who, for the 
 joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, 
 despising the shame, and is set down at the 
 right hand of the throne of God.' I have been 
 long in my race, and how I have looked unto 
 Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith, He 
 alone knows. I am now come to the end of my 
 race, and here I find the cross, a death of shame. 
 But the shame must be despised, or no coming to 
 the right hand of God. Jesus despised the shame 
 for me, and God forbid that I should not despise 
 
i6 4 5- THE LAST SERMON. 279 
 
 the shame for Him. 1 am going apace, as you 
 see, towards the Red Sea, and my feet are upon 
 the very brink of it : an argument, I hope, that 
 God is bringing me into the land of promise ; for 
 that was the way through which He led His 
 people. But before they came to it, He instituted 
 a passover for them. A lamb it was, but it must 
 be eaten with sour herbs. I shall obey, and labour 
 to digest the sour herbs, as well as the lamb. 
 And 1 shall remember it is the Lord's passover. 
 I shall not think of the herbs, nor be angry with 
 the hands that gathered them : but look up only 
 to Him who instituted that, and governed these : 
 for men can have no more power over me than 
 what is given them from above. I am not in love 
 with this passage through the Red Sea, for I have 
 the weakness and infirmity of flesh and blood 
 plentifully in me." He exhorted his hearers to 
 get themselves also ready for inevitable death. 
 He denied that he had been hostile to liberty, 
 or to the Protestant religion established by law. 
 " But I have done. I forgive all the world, all 
 and every of those bitter enemies who have 
 persecuted me ; and humbly desire to be forgiven 
 of God first, and then of every man, and so I 
 heartily desire you to join in prayer with me." 
 
 After prayer, he addressed a few words to 
 those who stood on the scaffold, chiefly to his 
 chaplain, and arranged a signal with the execu- 
 tioner. 
 
28o 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xv. 
 
 Then kneeling by the block he continued 
 praying : " Lord, I am coming as fast as I can. 
 I know I must pass through the shadow of death, 
 before I can come to see Thee. But it is but 
 umbra mortis, a mere shadow of death, a little 
 darkness upon nature : but Thou, by Thy merits 
 and passion, hast broken through the jaws of 
 death. So, Lord, receive my soul, and have 
 mercy upon me ; and bless this kingdom with 
 peace and plenty, and with brotherly love and 
 charity, that there may not be this effusion of 
 Christian blood amongst them, for Jesus Christ 
 His sake, if it be Thy will." 
 
 There were a few moments of silent prayer as 
 his head lay ready upon the block. Then he said 
 aloud : " Lord, receive my soul ". It was the 
 sign, and at one blow his head was severed from 
 his body. 
 
 The huge crowd gazed awestruck on the face, 
 a moment ago so bright, so ruddy, so instinct with 
 life and love ; now pale, and blanched, and blood- 
 less, as the executioner held it aloft. 1 Most were 
 dissolved in tears ; even his bitterest enemies 2 
 felt as men have felt since, that if Laud had 
 taught them no other lesson, he had shown them 
 how to die. Great multitudes followed his body 
 to its grave in All Hallows, Barking, to hear the 
 solemn service of the Prayer Book, so long dis- 
 continued, read over the primate's coffin ; for the 
 
 1 Fuller's Church History, iii. 472. 
 
 2 Baker, 539, and Salmonet, i. 262-9. 
 
1645. 
 
 THE BURIAL. 
 
 28l 
 
 astonished Government did not know how to 
 hinder this. Men comforted themselves as they 
 returned home sorrowing, that his end had been 
 so quick and so comfortable, and spoke together 
 of the resurrection to eternal life. 
 
 His memory, treasured in the hearts of the 
 down-trodden majority, lived green and strong 
 till freer times allowed the restoration in England 
 of those devout and beautiful services, and that 
 old apostolic government for which he had so 
 willingly given his life. 
 
 Thus died William Laud, executed against 
 the law of England, 1 for his religious principles. 
 It is impossible to condemn a man as wanting in 
 patriotism because he preferred the king to the 
 aristocracy, or as devoid of sincere faith because 
 he did not love the Puritan creed. He worked 
 for grand ideals, and his partial failure in politics 
 was more than compensated by the final triumph 
 of his principles in Church administration. 
 
 An extract from the historian of his beloved 
 university will fittingly close the story of his 
 death. After telling how his remains were 
 finally deposited with reverent affection in July, 
 1663, near to the high altar of St. John's College 
 Chapel in Oxford, Anthony Wood concludes his 
 notice of his hero with these words : — 
 
 1 In the ordinance by which he was executed it was specially 
 provided that it should not become a precedent (Parliamentary 
 History, xiii.). 
 
282 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xv. 
 
 " Thus died and was buried the king and 
 Church's martyr, a man of such integrity, learn- 
 ing, devotion and courage, as, had he lived in the 
 primitive times, would have given him another 
 name ; whom tho' the cheated multitude were 
 taught to misconceive (for those honoured him 
 most who best knew him) yet impartial posterity 
 will know how to value him when they hear the 
 rebels sentenced him on the same day they voted 
 down the liturgy of the Church of England". 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE DEVOTIONAL LIFE. 
 
 The Duty of Forgiveness — Dreams — Ceremonialism — Pri- 
 vate Prayers — Special Days — Reasons for Publishing 
 the Devotions — Last Will. 
 
 It will probably have occurred to the reader to ask 
 how it was that Laud was able to set himself such 
 severe limits in his use of power, refused even to 
 think of organising a permanent military force, and 
 did not, while he was able, strike terror into his 
 enemies by such tremendous punishments as those 
 which overwhelmed the opponents of Richelieu in 
 France, or even of Strafford in Ireland. This 
 self-restraint remains inexplicable until we turn 
 to the pages of that book of devotions of which 
 it will be remembered Prynne barbarously de- 
 prived him in the Tower. Here we find the secret 
 of his life, and are enabled to look into the deepest 
 recesses of the man's heart. 
 
 Writers who have glanced cursorily over 
 Laud's remains in compiling the history of the 
 times have been content to set him down as a 
 
 (283) 
 
284 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xvi. 
 
 ceremonialist, full of vulgar superstitions. They 
 have contrasted his merely external religion with 
 the heart-felt religion of the greater Puritans. 
 Hut superstitious ceremonialists do not leave the 
 impression Laud has left on the religious life of a 
 great people. Undoubtedly this student of the 
 Bible attached some importance to the visions of 
 the night ; now and again he sets down in his 
 Diary an account of dreams — some which he notes 
 came true ; others which startled him as confirm- 
 ing the accusations of his enemies ; others again 
 which strangely harmonised with his predominant 
 anxieties at the moment. 1 Nor could this man 
 as a lover of antiquity help being sometimes im- 
 pressed in periods of difficulty and danger by 
 omens ; the fall of his picture at Lambeth on the 
 eve of the Long Parliament seemed to him to 
 coincide appallingly with his own anticipations of 
 evil. 2 These were the superstitions (if we must 
 call them so) of the thoughtful men of his own 
 day ; they differ from the superstitions of the 
 nineteenth century, which will in their turn move 
 
 1 Diary, 14th December, 1623; 30th January, 3rd July, 21st 
 August, 4th and 26th September, 1625; 21st December, 1626; 5th, 
 14th and 1 6th January, 9th February, 8th and 27th March, 7th 
 July, 1627; 31st January, 1628; 6th June, 12th July, 1633; 26th 
 October, 1635 ; 3rd August, 14th October, 20th November, 24th 
 December, 1636; 12th February, 1639; 24th January, 1640; 
 2nd November, 1642 ; 10th March, 1643, seem to be the only 
 passages; most of them, it will be noted, occur in periods, and 
 generally at times of ill-health. 
 
 -Diary, 27th October, 1640. 
 
CER EMONIALISM. 
 
 28 5 
 
 the laughter of equally superstitious ages to come ; 
 they are distinctly marked off from that astrological 
 superstition which tainted many of the leaders of 
 the Long Parliament, such as Hollis and Staple- 
 ton and Whitelock, and even had some influence 
 upon Bishop Williams; 1 and it must be remem- 
 bered that Laud entirely refused to believe in 
 witchcraft. 2 Nor can a man who notes these 
 for possible warnings sent from on high be fairly 
 accused of superstition, when, as in the case of 
 the archbishop, he never allows them to sway 
 him from what he believes to be the path of duty. 
 
 As to ceremonialism, he was convinced, we 
 have seen, that grand and dignified worship 
 helped human souls to realise the grandeur and 
 dignity of God. Outward show he abhorred, 
 except at the service and in the house of God ; 
 he rebuked all splendour in clerical apparel and 
 himself set the example of peculiarly simple and 
 inexpensive dress. 3 But he saw how careless men 
 were of religion, and he knew by the experience 
 of his own busy life how hard it was not to forget 
 God in the hurry and bustle of affairs. 4 
 
 To keep his own soul conscious of his depend- 
 ence upon God, he made a habit of private prayer 
 
 1 See Lilly's A utobiography. 
 
 -At his instigation the king delivered witches in Lancashire 
 in 1633. 
 
 3 In this he was a striking contrast to his rival Bishop 
 Williams (Stanley, Westminster Abbey). 
 
 4 See Salmonet, ii. 216, on the value of the English love of 
 Christmas. 
 
286 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xvi. 
 
 seven times every day. For this purpose he 
 compiled a short service, differing with each day 
 of the week. These rapid devotions were almost 
 entirely personal ; he humbled himself in them 
 before his Maker, and entreated to be Guarded 
 
 o 
 
 against his unknown sins and against the failings 
 which he had already detected. Having these 
 written with his own hand in a small book which 
 he carried in his pocket, he was able, wherever he 
 might be, to recollect himself seven times a day 
 in the presence of God. By putting them into 
 writing he ensured immediate concentration. 
 Gathering them from many saints of the past 
 and adding to them devotions composed by him- 
 self, he ensured sufficient variety to lay his whole 
 heart bare to God. 
 
 It was by this practice of continual prayer that 
 he was able to check mere selfish ambition, to 
 humble his pride, to keep his mind fixed on high 
 aims, and finally to endure with patience the trials 
 of his later life. To be seven times a day quite 
 alone with God was the safeguard of his soul ; "a 
 man who so often made up his accounts with his 
 Maker could not go very far astray ". 1 
 
 But besides these short private prayers at 
 fixed times which, with those of his own model 
 Bishop Andrewes, became the model of devotion 
 to many of the great saints of the Restoration, 
 he regularly attended the public prayers of the 
 
 1 Lloyd's Memoirs of those who Suffered, 231. 
 
SPECIAL PRAYERS. 
 
 287 
 
 Church ; and further spent a considerable time 
 every day in intercession for others. His regular 
 devotions, varied no doubt as to their time by the 
 press of business, included special prayers for (1) 
 the Catholic Church and unity, (2) the particular 
 part of it to which he belonged, (3) the king, the 
 royal family and the officers of State, (4) his 
 relations and friends, (5) his servants, to whom he 
 was always devotedly attached, and who repaid 
 him with the most unstinted affection, (6) the sick 
 throughout the Church of Christ, (7) all mankind 
 and especially his own personal enemies ; for he was 
 constantly on the watch to subdue personal ran- 
 cour against the libellers of his character. These 
 chief private devotions of the day were commenced 
 with a general confession of sin, a thanksgiving 
 and a prayer for usefulness, and concluded with a 
 self-surrender of his life into the hands of God. 
 
 He added to them from time to time special 
 prayers which he felt to be necessary. Now all 
 his affairs were going so prosperously that he 
 dreaded pride ; now sickness or adversity was 
 injuring or seemed to be injuring his usefulness. 
 Again his hasty temper and quick, passionate utter- 
 ance were getting the better of him at a time of ill- 
 health or special difficulty. Then he saw his 
 flock perishing from some all too frequent out- 
 break of the plague ; or there was war in England, 
 or a time of dearth. 
 
 It was his custom also to offer special inter- 
 
28.3 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xvi. 
 
 cession to God for the poor, so little thought of 
 in those days by haughty nobles and despotic 
 gentry, by wealthy merchants and manufacturers : 
 " O Lord, when thou makest inquisition for blood, 
 remember and forget not the complaint of the 
 poor ". 
 
 Certain days were observed as fast days for 
 his own sins and the sins of the people ; some of 
 them general fast days of the Church ; two days 
 on which he himself had grievously sinned and 
 brought discredit upon the Church of God, St. 
 Stephen's Day and the 28th of July. 
 
 Other days in like manner were observed each 
 year as days of thanksgiving, such as the day of 
 recovery from a serious accident, and the day on 
 which he scarcely escaped from the fire at St. 
 John's College. On the 1 ith of April and the 24th 
 of November, on which his father and mother had 
 died, he added special prayers for a happy re- 
 union with them in heaven. The reception of 
 the Holy Communion was commemorated also 
 with carefully composed thanksgivings ; for how 
 could he thank God enough for the benefits He 
 had done to his soul ? 
 
 As the shadows of life close round him the 
 prayers become naturally more and more pathetic. 
 Old age is advancing and he has had so little 
 time for the great work allotted to him. The 
 king's ministers are flying abroad from the wrath 
 of the Long Parliament, and he fears that he too 
 
CAUSli OF PUBLICATION. 
 
 289 
 
 may be driven from the England which he has 
 loved so intensely. Then he is carried to prison 
 and he must ask with insistence for that Divine 
 patience which has always been so difficult to his 
 fiery temper and clear intellect. He feels his 
 complete innocence of the charges brought 
 against him ; but he has foreseen years ago that 
 his opponents would be satisfied with nothing but 
 his death ; he would wish, and God alone can 
 help him to do it, that he may answer the scur- 
 rilous accusations of his enemies with none of those 
 bitter scathing retorts which from his keen under- 
 standing rose so naturally and so easily to his lips. 
 The message of condemnation finds him prepared 
 to spend the last hours of his life in prayer for his 
 own safe transition through death into life, and 
 for the many who are in like case. 
 
 Probably we owe this beautiful collection of 
 devotions to the hostility of Prynne. That un- 
 forgiving enemy had picked out sentences here 
 and there and published them abroad with com- 
 ments to stir indignation against his victim. Laud, 
 who, with all his humility, knew how important 
 a part his personal character must play in the 
 future of the Church, was most anxious that it 
 should be well understood that he had died fear- 
 lessly, and in the orthodox faith of the Catholic 
 Church as established in England, and therefore 
 allowed his chaplains to give the book to the 
 public. 
 
 19 
 
290 LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM LAUD. ch. xvi. 
 
 The larger part of the devotions was published 
 as early as 1650, and was warmly welcomed by a 
 people who lay under the tyranny of the small 
 remnant of a Parliament elected ten years before, 
 and of the Westminster Assembly of Divines. 
 Many who were widows and desolate ; many who 
 were imprisoned or doomed to grinding poverty ; 
 many who were longing for devotional guidance, 
 away from the controversial preaching and still 
 more controversial praying of the times, into the 
 very presence of God Himself, welcomed this 
 collection of prayers, and found therein a comfort 
 until better days. After the Restoration, the book 
 of devotions passed through a great number of 
 editions. 
 
 No one who has studied with care the devo- 
 tions 1 and the Diary of William Laud can doubt 
 that his religion was personal, deep and strong ; 
 that his sympathies were wide and his ideals high ; 
 that the ceremonial which he advocated was dear 
 to him only so far as it stimulated a more intimate 
 knowledge and love of God ; and that his personal 
 sanctity must have played a notable part in the 
 events of his disturbed and difficult life. 
 
 The last words of a book which has tried not 
 to conceal his faults, nor the mistakes by which 
 
 1 E.g., 25th January, 1624 ; 30th January, 1625. " Sunday night, 
 my dream of my blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. One of 
 the most comfortable passages that ever I had in my life" (19th 
 August, 1636). 
 
LAST WILL. 
 
 291 
 
 he imperilled English liberty, while it showed his 
 real greatness and sincerity, shall be taken from 
 the closing phrases of his will, made on the 13th 
 of January, 1644. 
 
 " Thus I forgive all the world and heartily 
 desire forgiveness of God and the world ; and so 
 again commend and commit my soul into the 
 hands of God the Father who gave it, in the 
 merits and mercies of my blessed Saviour Jesus 
 Christ who redeemed it, and in the peace and 
 comfort of the Holy Ghost who blessed it ; and 
 in the truth and unity of this Holy Catholic 
 Church, and in the Communion of the Church of 
 England, as it yet stands established by law. 
 
 " I most willingly leave the world, being weary 
 at the very heart of the enmities of it, and of my 
 own sins, many and great, and of the grievous 
 distractions of the Church of Christ almost in all 
 parts of Christendom." 
 
Note A. 
 
 THE PROJECTS OF THE ARISTOCRACY. 
 
 The great nobles in England had chafed under the strongly 
 centralised rule of the Tudors and the Stuarts ; this is clear 
 enough from their frequent rebellions and their own constant 
 complaints of royal control. Therefore, when, with the as- 
 sistance of London and other great cities, they had secured 
 the control of a majority in the Long Parliament, they set to 
 work to re-establish their power. They began by destroying, 
 imprisoning and driving into exile the principal royal ministers ; 
 they coerced their opponents in the two Houses, and secured 
 by statute the permanence of the Parliament. Then they 
 demanded that the military control of the country should be 
 placed in their hands. 
 
 On the i ith of February, 1642, they drew up a list of men 
 to whom the government of the militia was to be delivered, with 
 commissions giving powers so immensely increased upon any 
 precedent that they left the central Government practically help- 
 less, and which were only to be revoked by Parliament itself 
 (see the ordinance). It was this demand of Parliament which 
 caused the final breach with the king ; he saw in it the ruin 
 of the monarchy. In this important list we find that some 
 heads of noble houses were excluded, Newcastle, Southampton, 
 etc., for their known loyalty to the king; some were left out, 
 like Arundel, because of their growing disgust with politics ; 
 some, like Hertford, were entrusted with inferior commands; 
 but all the more important lord-lieutenancies were allotted to 
 men who were at once great nobles, and open opponents of 
 the king. These men were to take the place held by the 
 
 (293) 
 
294 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 semi-independent governors of provinces in France, who had 
 of late years been the chief danger to French unity, and to 
 the coercion of whom Richelieu had devoted so much of 
 his energy. 
 
 Northumberland, the head of the Percy house, so famous 
 for its frequent rebellions, was to have command of the two 
 great frontier garrisons of Newcastle and Berwick, with the 
 county of Northumberland and also that of Sussex; and he 
 was to control the communications between England and 
 Ireland by exercising a similar authority in Anglesea and Pem- 
 broke. Four counties fell to this great nobleman's share ; 
 while Lord Grey de Wark obtained Carlisle, the other Scottish 
 border fortress, and the county of Cumberland. 
 
 Pembroke, head of the Herberts, the richest noble in 
 England and possessor of more borough votes than any other 
 landowner, received Merioneth and Carnarvon, and farther 
 Wiltshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, which, with the 
 great fortress of Portsmouth, made him supreme in the south 
 of England. Philip Herbert was to be master in Glamorgan, 
 Brecknock and Monmouth, a compact government. Essex, 
 chief of the Devereux, was to administer Yorkshire with the 
 all-important arsenal of Kingston-on-Hull, and also Mont- 
 gomery and Staffordshire. 
 
 To the powerful family of Rich was given the rule of the 
 home counties. Warwick, its head, was to be lord-lieutenant 
 of Essex, and of the wealthy county of Norfolk ; while his 
 younger brother, Holland, had Middlesex and Berkshire, with 
 the royal fortress of Windsor. London, and to some extent 
 Bristol, were to be made independent and to have the charge 
 of their own train bands. 
 
 Salisbury was to rule over Hertfordshire and Dorset ; 
 while Bolingbroke, Paget, Roberts, Bedford, Suffolk, Leicester, 
 Sir H. Vane, Chandos, Wharton, Stamford, Lincoln, Saye and 
 Sele, Brooke and a number of others became masters each in 
 his own county. 
 
 On 14th May, 1643, a bill was passed by the House of 
 
NOTES. 
 
 295 
 
 Lords to prevent the creation of peers in the future. This 
 would have ensured aristocratic mastery. 
 
 This well laid scheme was thwarted by the successes of 
 Charles I. in the Civil War; and finally overthrown by the 
 genius of Cromwell, whose aristocratic leanings were speedily 
 modified as power fell naturally into his hands in the new model 
 army ; but its audacious conception is a sufficient vindication 
 of Laud's jealousy of aristocratic authority. 
 
 See the list of lord-lieutenants in Sir R. Verney's Diary, 
 p. 153, Camden Society's edition, and Parliamentary History, 
 vol. x., passim. 
 
 Note B. 
 
 THE NAVY UNDER CHARLES I. AND LAUD. 
 
 The fleet with which Blake and Montague won their 
 successes was bequeathed to them by the Government of 
 Charles I. and Laud. James I. had materially strengthened 
 the navy of Elizabeth; Charles I. added eighteen vessels to 
 the royal navy. These were larger and better built than their 
 predecessors. The Sovereign of the Seas, launched at Wool- 
 wich in 1637, remained for sixty years the glory and the 
 strength of the British navy. It was nearly double the size of 
 any of its predecessors. The great naval architects, Phineas and 
 Peter Pett, trained under Charles, introduced a new style of 
 shipbuilding which rendered the ships quicker and easier to 
 handle. 
 
 The first ship-money fleet, consisting of nineteen royal 
 vessels and six merchant ships, left Tilbury on the 26th of May, 
 1635. The French and Dutch fleets " plucked in their horns 
 and quitted our coasts," as Monson, who was vice-admiral, 
 relates on p. 263 of his Naval Tracts ; leaving to England 
 " the ancient sovereignty of the narrow seas ". Monson goes 
 on to explain the great prestige which England gained and 
 kept till 1640. The fleet in the following years continued to 
 hold the mastery of the Channel, while a squadron under 
 
296 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Rainsborough threatened Sallee in Morocco, and put an end 
 for the time to the pirate descents upon our coasts; and it 
 made England once mure respected abroad, until the dis- 
 creditable conduct of the new admiral, the Earl of Northum- 
 berland, which was attributed to treachery (Warwick, p. 120), 
 allowed the Dutch to capture a Spanish fleet in English waters, 
 on nth October, 1639. 
 
 The stimulus given by this naval supremacy to English 
 commerce caused an enormous increase in the mercantile 
 marine ; " in short, Britain, which had long aspired to the 
 dominion of the seas, now appeared in earnest as to the 
 establishment of her claim ; and had not those destructive 
 events intervened which are too well known, there appears 
 little doubt that the pursuit in question would, long ere it 
 actually did effect that purpose, have raised her into the first 
 rank and power " (Charnock). Under the Commonwealth, 
 Sir R. Slingsby tells us, there was scarcely one good merchant 
 ship built ; and the mercantile marine was diminished by above 
 1000 ships, though the navy was much increased (Pepys, Evelyn 
 and Clarendon). 
 
 It must be remembered that Laud was a prominent 
 member of the Board of Admiralty during the time of the 
 great shipbuilding. 
 
 Cf. State Papers ; Charnock's Maritie Architecture ; Mon- 
 son's Naval Tracts ; Southey and Bell's Naval History. 
 
 Note C. 
 
 THE ARMY AT BERWICK IN 1639. 
 
 Some historians have assumed that the Pacification of Ber- 
 wick was forced upon Charles by the comparative weakness 
 of his army. They quote the incidents from the State Papers 
 and memoirs of the time, which prove the disorderly march 
 of several bodies of soldiers supplied by the train bands ; 
 they bring forward the calculations of Baillie as to the large 
 
NOTES. 
 
 297 
 
 numbers of enthusiastic Scots in Lesley's army ; and further 
 they assume a general discontent in the royal ranks, because 
 they hold that the country was on the eve of a revolt against 
 the ecclesiastical government of Laud and the exactions of the 
 Treasury. 
 
 Laud's reputation as a capable administrator must to some 
 extent stand and fall with his power to muster an English army 
 at Berwick, and in the text I have maintained opinions very 
 contrary to those often set forward, because the general litera- 
 ture of that time has convinced me of the superiority of the 
 king's forces. 
 
 I. Several witnesses speak with admiration of the cavalry 
 which the great nobles gathered on the frontier. New- 
 castle's troop gained their special praise (Clarendon, Mrs. 
 Hutchinson, etc.) ; but there is no reason to suppose that 
 it was exceptional. Many of the nobles were delighted at an 
 opportunity for action ; they were personally attached to the 
 king; and they knew that the war must greatly add to their 
 political importance. Essex, who was certainly not prepos- 
 sessed in favour of the Government, acted with a vigour, 
 admitted on all hands, which proved his eagerness to vindicate 
 English power ; and refused to listen to any approaches which 
 the Scottish nobles made towards him. 
 
 The infantry was probably not so good as the cavalry ; it 
 was mainly composed of soldiers selected from the train bands 
 of the counties. These, as has been shown on p. 151, note, had 
 been improved of late, and the companies in Yorkshire, where 
 Wentworth had control, were in a specially high state of 
 efficiency; over 12,000 men were enrolled, armed and diilled 
 in that one county {State Papers, vol. 310, Nos. 44 and 45). 
 But the flower of the infantry was the force which Wentworth 
 sent over from Ireland (Carte's Ormond, i. 58, 98, 103, and 
 Strafford Papers), so splendidly drilled and equipped that 
 people said they ought all to be captains {Strafford Papers). 
 They were well commanded ; they had been prepared by the 
 lord-lieutenant with a view to just such a crisis as had now to 
 
298 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 be faced. Handled by Essex and other trained generals in 
 the royal camp, they would have found no Scottish troops fit to 
 be their match. The soldiers, who had been ill provided and 
 fed at first, were now satisfied, for ^400,000 was sent down to 
 the army on the 1st of April (see Rossingham, News Letter in 
 State Papers). 
 
 II. The numbers of the Scottish army have been very much 
 taken on trust from Baillie, a country minister who had never 
 seen an army before in his life ; and from the reports given by 
 Puritan peers like Stamford, who visited the Scottish camp 
 (State Papers, vol. 424, No. 28 ; their reports were believed 
 by the king, Vane's Letter in Burnet's Hamilton, p. 139) and 
 returned with inflated rumours intended to influence English 
 counsels. Other information speaks of small numbers (State 
 Papers, vol. 421, No. 60; vol. 422, No. 62 ; vol. 423, No. 12, 
 and vol. 425, No. 21) and of a conspicuous want of arms 
 (State Papers, vol. 420, No. 109; vol. 424, No. 50); we find 
 in Burnet's History of his own times (and Burnet's father was 
 a very well-informed and important person at Edinburgh in 
 1639) a very interesting description of the way in which the 
 Scots extemporised cannon (cf. State Papers, vol. 424, No. 
 50) which would be capable of discharging three or four shots 
 at most. We know that expected supplies of arms were de- 
 tained in Holland by dread of the English fleet, and that at 
 least one vessel coming over was captured (Burnet's Hamilton, 
 
 III. There is no proof of any dangerous discontent in 
 England in 1639. Rather society seemed to be better con- 
 tented than it had been in 1637. Laud reports his province as 
 thoroughly quiet with very little trouble from nonconformity. 
 Neile writes a similar experience from York. It would have 
 been an act of incredible rashness if the minister had ventured 
 to call up the feudal cavalry and the train bands while the 
 country was full of disloyalty ; in that case, the English army 
 at Berwick would have been the sure cause of his ruin. In 
 actual fact, even the nobles showed themselves as a body 
 
NOTES. 
 
 299 
 
 resolutely loyal when there was real danger to the crown and the 
 country (State Papers, vol. 423, No. 67). Certainly consider- 
 able dissatisfaction existed among the nobility and gentry and 
 was prevalent in the City of London at the discontinuance 
 of Parliaments ; and both had felt the arbitrary power of the 
 Star Chamber and High Commission ; but the people in 
 general were not more discontented than people constantly 
 are under all governments, and a compromise between the 
 Ministry and the Commons, such as was suggested in the 
 Short Parliament, would have been thoroughly popular. We 
 find in the State Papers (e.g., vol. 161, No. 1 ; vol. 165, 
 No. 38 ; vol. 303, No. 56) more annoyance at the action 
 of the saltpetremen than from almost every other cause; the 
 domiciliary visits of these officials in search of materials to 
 make gunpowder, for which they often insisted on digging under 
 outbuildings and even under private houses, caused constant 
 friction and complaints to the central authority of their insolence 
 and roughness. Religion, politics, legality of tonnage and 
 poundage, the exaction of ship-money stirred the opposition of 
 only a few here and there, who could not enlist the active 
 sympathies of large bodies of men while the Government 
 maintained its prestige. Taxation was light ; local government 
 was very much in the hands of local persons, only restrained from 
 oppressing the poor by the Star Chamber ; justice was evenly 
 administered by the royal courts. There was no serious fear 
 of an influential rising in England, in spite of the promises of 
 some of the Puritan leaders. But when a local disturbance in 
 Edinburgh (see Burnet's Own Times) overthrew the Govern- 
 ment of Scotland, and the king, who shuddered at bloodshed 
 according to his own speech on the scaffold, proved too 
 irresolute to use the great army at Berwick, opinion naturally 
 swayed round against the dominant policy, and the revolution 
 began. Then the old aristocratic claims which had been 
 almost choked by Laud's government sprang up with new 
 vigour, and threatened to alter the constitution (Note A). 
 Evidently the administration was making the English people 
 
3°o 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 a laughing stock by its want of decision. It had no confidence 
 in its own strength. To be despised is the surest source of 
 ruin to rulers. After all, as Carte says in his Life of Onnond, 
 " Governments often subsist more by an opinion than by the 
 reality of their power". 
 
 If the king could have been induced to carry through 
 the vigorous action, on which he seemed to have determined 
 when he insisted on having an army assembled at Berwick, 
 he would probably have found it an easy task to pacify Scotland ; 
 for his government had not at that time lost its hold upon 
 England and Ireland, and in Scotland itself he had a large 
 party. The Hamiltons and Holland were the real cause of 
 his ruin, when they succeeded in persuading him to prefer 
 their advice to that of the Prime Minister; and once more 
 nursed into life the power of the nobles in England and in 
 Scotland. 
 
INDEX. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Brooke, Lord, 124, 152, 175, 
 
 221, 223, 294. 
 Brownists, 249. 
 Buckden, 183, 185. 
 Buckeridge, Bishop, 13, 36, 68. 
 Buckingham, Marquis and Duke 
 
 of, 3 8 > 45, 50, 57> 6 3> 66 , 70, 
 72, 78, 79, 85, 96, 184, 192 ff. 
 Buckingham, Town of, 253. 
 Burgess, 55, 249. 
 Burleigh, 6. 
 Burton, Rev. H., 176!. 
 
 Abbot, Archbishop, 12, 18, 43, 
 
 73, . 8 3. ™g f-, 112, 131. 
 Abergwilly, 47, 70. 
 Alington, Sir G., 117. 
 Allen, Cardinal, 10. 
 All Hallows, Barking, 280. 
 Ambrose, Saint, 42. 
 Anabaptists, 249. 
 Andrewes, Bishop, 15, 41, 42, 
 
 44, 55, 66. 68, 70, 127, 166, 
 
 181, 260, 271. 
 Anselm, Saint, 17, 132. 
 Argyle, Marquis of, 182, 212. 
 Aristocratic claims, 6, 37 f., 153, 
 
 224, 232, 293, 299. 
 Aristotle, 14. 
 Armada, The, 9. 
 Arminius, 83, 89. 
 Arundel, Earl of, 82, 224, 227, 
 
 293- 
 
 Augustine, Saint, 42. 
 Aylesbury, 253. 
 
 B. 
 
 Bacon, 54. 
 Baily, Dr., 168. 
 Bancroft, Archbishop, 12, 53. 
 
 ,, Bishop, 169. 
 Barneveldt, 14. 
 Bastwick, Dr., 176 f. 
 Baxter, Richard, 30, 55, 75, 112. 
 Bedell, Bishop, 141, 210. 
 Bedford, Earl of, 128, 175, 253. 
 Bible, The authority of the, 50. 
 
 Berwick, Pacification of, 227, 296. Cottington, 82, 105, 144. 145, 188, 
 
 Calvinism, 13, 14, 18. 
 Capel, Lord, 46, 179, 268. 
 Cartwright, 10, 18. 
 Chalcedon, Bishop of, 84, 122. 
 Charles I., 37, 61, 173, 189, 227, 
 241. 
 
 Charterhouse, 85. 
 Childrey, 74 ff., 131. 
 Chillingworth, 161, 168, 169, 258. 
 Coke, Sir E., 43, 96. 
 
 „ Secretary, 150. 
 Coligny, 8. 
 
 Commerce, 76, 123 145, 152. 
 Commons, House of, 37 ff., 64 ff., 
 
 85 ff., 93 ff., 230 ff., 253 ff. 
 Conference with Fisher, 50, 187. 
 Convocation, 65, 69, 245 ff. 
 Copinger, 23. 
 Corbett, Bishop, 138. 
 Coronation of Charles I., 70. 
 Cosin, Dr., go, 121, 252, 258. 
 
 Brent, Sir N., 135, 141, 144. 
 
 (3°3) 
 
 232. 
 
304 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Court of Exchequer, 116. 
 
 ,, High Commission, 117 
 ff., 140. 
 
 Court of Star Chamber, 85, 106, 
 
 119 131. 153. !7 6 f-i I 79i 
 
 270, 299. 
 Covenant, The Solemn, 218. 
 Crashaw, 62. 
 Cranfield, g2. 
 Cranmer, ig, 266. 
 Cromwell, Oliver, go, 138, 154, 
 
 179, 181, 275, 295. 
 Cuddesden, 169. 
 
 D. 
 
 Danby, Lord, 167. 
 Davenant, William, 62. 
 
 „ Bishop, 118. 
 Davys, Sir T., 94. 
 Declaration of Sports, 31, 105, 
 
 • 2 35- . 
 Devonshire Marriage, 20. 
 Devotions of Laud, 285 ff. 
 Digges, 96. 
 
 Divine right of kings, 10, 93 f. 
 
 ,, ,, bishops, 35 ff., 
 
 258 f. 
 Donne, 31, 41, 75. 
 Dorchester, Lord, 82. 
 Dudley, Lord, 117. 
 Duppa, Dr., 168. 
 
 E. 
 
 Eastern Church, The, 16, 133. 
 
 Eikon Basilike, 270. 
 
 Elections to Parliament, 228, 
 
 230, 253 ff. 
 Elizabeth, 6, 10, 37, 40, 64. 
 Eliot, Sir J., 39, 86 ff., 91, 96, 
 
 101. 
 
 Essex, 2nd Earl of, 16. 
 
 „ 3rd Earl of, 223, 227, 294, 
 297 f. 
 
 Essex, County of, 223, 253. 
 F. 
 
 Fairfax, 275. 
 Familists, The, 249. 
 
 Felton, 7g, 184. 
 Ferrar, John, 203. 
 
 „ Nicholas, 67, 75, 122, 202. 
 
 „ „ jun., 202 ff. 
 
 Fisher, 50, 187. 
 Foreign Congregations, 137. 
 Fox, George, 24. 
 Frewen, Dr., 168. 
 Fuller, 42, 175. 
 
 G. 
 
 Galen, 272. 
 Gallican Church, 216. 
 Gardiner, Sir T., 254. 
 Glanvill, Speaker, 234, 236 f. 
 Gloucester Cathedral, 28 ff. 
 Gondomar, Count of, 48. 
 Goodman, Bishop, 186. 
 Gouge, Dr., 53, 114. 
 Graves, Dr., 133. 
 Grey de Wark, Lord, 2g4- 
 Grotius, Hugo, 271. 
 Guiton, 76. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hales, 201, 258, 267. 
 
 Hall, Bishop, 242. 
 
 Hamilton, Marquis and Duke 
 
 of, 147, i8g, 213, 219, 222, 
 
 226, 231, 256, 300. 
 Harrington, 38. 
 
 Harsnet, Archbishop, 53, 110, 
 138. 
 
 Henderson, 248. 
 
 Henry VIII., 24, 69. 
 
 Henry IV. of France, 9, 4g. 
 
 Herbert, George, 13, 23, 55, 62. 
 
 Hertford, Marquis of, 293. 
 
 Heylin, 1, 247, 267. 
 
 Holland, Lord, 147, 189, 219, 
 
 224, 227, 232, 294, 300. 
 Hollis, Denzil, 175, 256, 268, 
 
 285. 
 
 Hooper, Bishop, 30. 
 Howard, Sir R., 117 f. 
 Howson, Dr., 21, 68. 
 Huguenots, 72. 
 Hume, 19. 
 
[NDEX. 
 
 305 
 
 Humphry, Dr. Laurence, 12. 
 Huntingdon, 28. 
 
 Hyde, Edward, 46, 174, 201, 
 236 ff., 267. 
 
 I. 
 
 Ireland, State of, 207 ft'. 
 
 J. 
 
 James I., 21, 28, 31, 37, 40 ff., 57. 
 Jermyn, 189. 
 
 Jesuits, 48, 122, 186, 190, 233. 
 Jones, Inigo, 62, 124, 128. 
 Josephus, Barbatus, 16. 
 Juxon, Bishop. 147 f., 192, 219, 
 257- 
 
 K. 
 
 Knight, Mr., of Pembroke, 52. 
 Knox, John, 18. 
 
 L. 
 
 Lambeth Articles, The, 89, 266. 
 „ Chapel, 265 f. 
 „ Laud's life at, 197 ff, 
 241. 
 
 Lambeth, Laud's departure from, 
 267. 
 
 Lanerick, Earl of, 222, 226. 
 Latimer, 19. 
 
 Lecturers, The, 113 ff., 221. 
 
 Leicester, Dudley. Earl of, 11. 
 „ Town of, 253. 
 
 Leighton, Dr., 131. 
 
 Lesley, General, 224 ff. 
 
 L'Hopital, Michel de, 9. 
 
 Licensing of books, 152, 221. 
 
 Lilburne, 178, 180. 
 
 Lilly, 275. 
 
 Littleton, 96. 
 
 Little Gidding, 67, 202. 
 
 Liturgy introduced into Scot- 
 land, 217 f. 
 
 London, Feeling of, 37 ff., 241, 
 255, 293 f., 299. 
 
 Loudoun, Earl of, 212. 
 
 Lucaris, Cyril, 133. 
 
 Lynn, 137, 254. 
 
 M. 
 
 Manwaring, Dr., 78 f., 83. 
 Marshall, Dr., 55, 249. 
 Marten, Henry, 178. 
 Middle classes, The, 9, 24, 62, 
 153- 
 
 Milton, 55, 62, 128, 161. 
 Missions to the heathen, 75, 134. 
 Monson, Admiral, 295. 
 Montague, Bishop, 68, 83, 87, 
 
 138, 186, 193. 
 Montrose, 212, 226, 239. 
 Morley, Bishop, 252. 
 Mountjoy, Lord, 20. 
 Music, Church, 26 ff., 41, 49, 62, 
 
 73, 162. 
 
 N. 
 
 Navy, The, 150 ff., 215, and Note 
 
 B, 295. " 
 Neile, Bishop, 22, 36, 42, 66, 68, 
 
 78, 90, 127, 192, 298. 
 Newcastle, Earl of, 227, 293,297. 
 New College, Oxford, 160. 
 Northumberland, Earl of, 232, 
 
 294, 296. 
 Norwich, Diocese of, 136 ff., 223. 
 Nottingham, 260. 
 Noy, 96, 150, 194, 233. 
 
 O. 
 
 Oath, The Etcetera, 249 f. 
 O' Dingle, Dermot, 210. 
 Oley, Barnabas, 23, 258. 
 Olivarez, 97. 
 
 Oxford University, 11 ff., 25 ff., 
 
 chap. viii. passim, 254. 
 Oxford, City of, 70, 254. 
 „ Earl of, 190. 
 
 P. 
 
 Panzani, 99, 122. 
 
 Parker, Archbishop, 6, 266. 
 
 Parliament, The Long, 103, 252 ff. 
 
 „ The Short, 230 ff. 
 
 „ The Barebones',257. 
 Parma. The Prince of, 9. 
 Parsons, 10, 
 20 
 
306 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Peasantry, State of the, 23 ft., 
 106 ft". 
 
 Pembroke, Earl of, 171, 253, 294. 
 Penry, 174. 
 
 Peterborough, Diocese of, 47. 
 Petition of Right, 77, 82, 85 f., 
 
 103, 268, 269. 
 Phelips, 86. 
 Pickering, 180. 
 Pindar, Sir P., 126. 
 Pococke, Dr., 74, 133, 164, 271. 
 Poor, Care of the, 22 ff., 106 ff., 
 
 267. 
 
 Potter, Dr., 83. 
 
 Preaching, Restraints upon, 53, 
 113. 
 
 Prideaux, 161, 168. 
 
 Prynne, 53, 55, 131, 170, 176 ff., 
 
 269, 289. 
 Purbeck, Lady, 39, 117. 
 Puritanism, 7, 24 f., 87 ff., 1 13, 128, 
 
 160 ff., 223, 233, 255 ff., 274. 
 Pym, 87, 103, 170, 175, 181, 235 ft"., 
 
 239, 254. 
 
 Reading, 4 ff. 
 Recusants, 187, 249. 
 Reynolds, Dr., 12. 
 Rich, Lady, 21. 
 
 Richardson, Chief Justice, 105. 
 Richelieu, 72, 81, 96, 135. 173, 
 
 181, 215 f. 
 Rochelle, 72, 76, 81. 
 Roe, Sir T., 95, 132 ft'., 195. 
 
 ,, Lady, 201. 
 Romanism, 7, 48 ff., 186 ft'., 223, 
 
 233. 275- 
 Rothes, 212. 
 Rubens, 62. 
 
 Rudyard, Sir B., 74, 85, 89. 
 
 St. Antholin's Church, 115. 
 St. Giles', Cripplegate, 139. 
 St. John's College, Oxford, 12 ff.. 
 
 25 ff.. 168, 281. 
 St Paul's Cathedral, 121, 123 ff. 
 
 St. John, Oliver, 239. 
 Sallee, 76, 150 f., 296. 
 Saltpetremen, 47, 299. 
 Sanderson, Dr., 23. 
 Savage, 85. 
 
 Saye and Sele, Lord, 20, 44, 175, 
 
 221, 223, 294. 
 Scotland, State of, 211ft. 
 Scottish army, 227, 240, 252, 
 
 255' 273, 298. 
 Scottish accusations, 218, 256, 
 
 267. 
 
 Scudamore. Lord, 201. 
 Selden, 85, 96, 103, 254. 
 Sheldon, 246, 252. 
 Sherfield, 1 17 f. 
 
 Ship-money, 148, 150. 219, 234, 
 237- 
 
 Sibbes, 19, 53, 1 1(1 
 Smith, Bishop Miles. 29. 
 Soap companies, 146. 
 Socinianism, 249. 
 Soubise, Duke of, 76. 
 Sovereign of the seas. The, 
 150. 
 
 Spelman, Sir H.. 10, 32, 45, 69. 
 
 Spottiswoode, Archbishop, 214. 
 
 Stamford, Earl of, 254, 294, 298. 
 
 Stapleton. 285. 
 
 Stationers' Co., 166. 
 
 Star Chamber, v. Court of. 
 
 Strafford, 229 ff., 256, 268. v. 
 
 Wentworth. 
 Superstitions, 284. 
 Sutton's Hospital, 85. 
 Synod of Dort. 14, 67 f., 74, 84, 
 
 89, 160. 
 
 T. 
 
 Taylor, Jeremy, 54, 127. 
 Thornborough, Bishop, 67. 
 Tillieres, Count of, igo, 216. 
 Tonnage and poundage, 91, 103, 
 234- 
 
 Tower, Laud in the, 269 ff. 
 
 „ Hill, 276. 
 Train bands, The, 151, 173, 175, 
 
 225, 294, 297. 
 Trinity Church, Cambridge, 116. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 307 
 
 U. 
 
 Udal, 174. 
 Urban VIII., 122. 
 Usher, 268. 
 
 V. 
 
 Vandyke, 62. 
 
 Vane, Sir H. (the elder), 189, 232, 
 237 ff., 256, 274, 294. 
 
 Vane, Sir H. (the younger), 154, 
 239, 256, 274. 
 
 Vaughan, Henry, 98, 261. 
 
 Verne) , Sir E., 224. 
 
 Virginia, 75. 
 
 Visitation, The archiepiscopal, 
 
 135 ff- 
 Vossius, 93, 159, 195. 
 
 W. 
 
 Waller, 62. 
 Walsingham, 11. 
 Walton, Isaac, 55. 
 Ward, Mr., of Ipswich, 140. 
 ,, Bishop Seth, 252. 
 
 Warwick, Lord, 175, 215, 223, 
 294. 
 
 Wentworth, 77, 79, 81, 96, 105, 
 132, 134, 143, 147, 173, 180, 
 196 ff., 207 ff., 225, 227, 297, 
 v. Strafford. 
 
 Westminster Abbey, 41, 67, 70. 
 „ Assembly, The, 290. 
 
 Weston, 79, 82, 85, 91, 105, 135, 
 143, 146, 186, 233. 
 
 Whitelock, 285. 
 
 Whitgift, 89, 266. 
 
 Williams, Bishop, 41. 43, 45, 53, 
 136, 183 ff., 220, 285. 
 
 Windebank, 145. 186, 189, 195, 
 254- 
 
 Witchcraft, 121, 275, 285. 
 Worship and ceremonies, 25 ff., 
 
 29, 41, 49 f., 70, 126 ff., 142, 
 
 266, 285. 
 Wotton, Sir H., 13, 49, 195. 
 Wren, Bishop, 138. 
 Wycombe, 253. 
 
 Z. 
 
 Zouch, Lord, 43, 73. 
 
 ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY I'HESS. 
 
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