mtI)e€itpofl^fttig0rk 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
LIVES 
 
 OF 
 
 BRITISH STATESMEN. 
 
 By JOHN MACDIARMID, Esq. 
 
 AUTIIOn OF AN INQUIRY INTO TIIF. SYSTEM OF NATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 IN GREAT BRITAIN, AND OF AN INQUIRY INTO THE 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF SUBORDINATION. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. IL 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, 
 PATER-NOSTER ROW. 
 
 1820. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 VOLUME SECOND. 
 
 THOMAS WENTWORTH, 
 
 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 Parentage. Education at Cambridge. Travels. Dis- 
 position. At court. Knighted. Marriage and succes- 
 sion. Domestic avocations. Justice and Gustos Rotu- 
 lorum. His difference with Buckingham. Member of 
 parliament. Historical sketch of the English constitu- 
 tion to the reign of James I. Despotic disposition of 
 James. Wentworth's conduct in parliament. Again in 
 parliament, 1624. His conduct. Illness. Rural retire- 
 ment. In parliament, June 13, 1625. Discontent of the 
 nation. Wentworth in opposition. Courted by Buck- 
 ingham. Appointed sheriff against his wish. Moderate 
 resolutions. Conduct as sheriff. Philosophic views. New 
 overtures from Buckingham. Wentworth deprived of his 
 office of Custos Rotulorum. Private advances to the king. 
 The court demands a general loan. Wentworth dissuaded 
 from opposing it. Reasons for his conduct. Imprisoned. 
 Released. In parliament, 1628. Speech for popular 
 rights. Promotes the Petition of Right. Overtures from 
 VOL. II. b 
 
 i i O Q q "J 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 VOLUME SECOND. 
 
 THOMAS WENTWORTH, 
 
 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 Parentage. Education at Cambridge. Travels. Dis- 
 position. At court. Knighted. Marriage and succes- 
 sion. Domestic avocations. Justice and Gustos Rotu- 
 lorum. His difference with Buckingham. Member of 
 parliament. Historical sketch of the English constitu- 
 tion to the reign of James I. Despotic disposition of 
 James. Wentworth's conduct in parliament. Again in 
 parliament, 1624. His conduct. Illness. Rural retire- 
 ment. In parliament, June 13, 1625. Discontent of the 
 nation. Wentworth in opposition. Courted by Buck- 
 ingham. Appointed sheriff agaiust his wish. Moderate 
 resolutions. Conduct as sheriff. Philosophic views. New 
 overtures from Buckingham. Wentworth deprived of his 
 office of Custos Rotulorum. Private advances to the king. 
 The court demands a general loan. Wentworth dissuaded 
 from opposing it. Reasons for his conduct. Imprisoned. 
 Released. In parliament, l628. Speech for popular 
 rights. Promotes the Petition of Right. Overtures from 
 VOL. II. b 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 the court — accepted by him. Made a peer and President 
 of the Council of York. Death of Buckingham. Went- 
 worth's conduct as President of the Council of York. His 
 promotion to the government of Ireland in 1632. 
 Disordered state of Ireland. Wentworth's dexterity in rais- 
 ing supplies. His principal objects. Instructions for his 
 government. His treatment of the privy-council. Efforts 
 to procure a parliament for Ireland. Methods to subdue 
 opposition. Speech to parliament. Management of the 
 Commons in the first session. Of the Lords in the second 
 session. His exultation. Application for an earldom. 
 Thwarted in his wish to continue the parliament. His 
 measures for conformity. Introduction of the English 
 laws. Amelioration of the military establishment. Ex- 
 pedients for improving the revenue — the customs — sale of 
 tobacco — statutes of Wills and Uses — trade with Spain — 
 the linen manufacture — the monopoly of salt — the disco- 
 very of defective titles. Arbitrary measures. Trial of 
 Mountnorris. Death of Clanricarde and others. Went- 
 worth's appearance at court. His zealous support of 
 ship-money. New application for an earldom — refused. 
 His mortification. Return to Ireland. Subsequent mea- 
 sures. Domestic life. Marriages. Recreations. Tem- 
 perance. Attention to his private fortune. Integrity. 
 Splendour. Bodily infirmities. Vexations. Quarrel with 
 Loftus. Consulted on the Spanish war. His reply. 
 Affairs of Scotland. Wentworth's conduct to the Scots. 
 Sent for by the king. Arrival in England, November 
 1639. Advises war with the Scots. And a parliament. 
 Created Earl of Strafford, and Lord Lieutenant. Success 
 with Irish parliament. Dangerous illness. In the Eng- 
 lish parliament, April 164O. Appointed to command the 
 troops. Adverse affairs. His mistaken views.. Difficul- 
 ties. Summoned to parliament, November 1640. Im- 
 
CONTENTS. VU 
 
 peached of high treason. Articles of impeachment. His 
 trial. His defence. Prosecuted by a bill of attainder. 
 Bill passed in the House of Commons. Passed in the 
 House of Lords. Strafford's letter to the king. Attain- 
 der sanctioned by the king. Strafford's preparations for 
 death. Execution, 12th May l641. Pp. 1—280. 
 
 EDWARD HYDE, 
 
 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 Birth. Education at Oxford — in the Temple. Marriage. 
 Success at the bar. Habits. In parliament, 1640. In 
 parliament, November 3, 1640. His patriotic loyalty. 
 Sent to the Tower. Introduction to the king. Confi- 
 dential employment. Made Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 Favour with the king. Commission at Uxbridge. Situa- 
 sion during the war. Of the Prince of Wales's council. 
 Employed on his History. Joins the prince at the Hague. 
 Hated by the queen. Ambassador to Spain. Reception 
 there. Condemns the treaty of the young king with the 
 Scots. Harassed by calumnies. Favoured by Charles. 
 His extreme poverty. Persevering integrity. Death of 
 Cromwell. State of affairs in England. General Monk. 
 Restoration of the king. Hyde created Lord Chancellor. 
 Principal minister. His public measures ; Act of indem- 
 nity and oblivion — Settlement of the revenue — Exertions 
 for the prerogative — Policy towards Scotland — Regula- 
 tion of the national judicature — Settlement of religion. 
 His disinterestedness. Devotion to the king. Shocked 
 by the king's principles. Conduct relative to his daugh- 
 ter's marriage — To the marriage of the king — To the 
 Duchess of Cleveland — The sale of Dunkirk — The act of 
 
VUl CONTENTS. 
 
 indulgence to dissenters — The Dutch war, 1665. His 
 extreme unpopularity. Falls under the king's displea- 
 sure. Obnoxious to the parliament. Deprived of bis of- 
 fice. Impeached of high treason. Leaves the kingdom. 
 Ill treatment in France. Residence at Montpelier. Apos- 
 tacy of his daughter to the Catholic faith. His desire to 
 revisit England. Death, Pp.281 — i'll. 
 
'V////'/V/// , 
 
 r 
 
 / / 
 
LIVES 
 
 BRITISH STATESMEN. 
 
 THOMAS WENTWORTH, 
 
 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 In delineating the character of this statesman, the 
 biographer has to encounter diflBculties superadded 
 to the defects and obscurity of ancient records. 
 The factions which agitated the contemporaries of 
 Strafford, far from ceasing with the existing gene- 
 ration, divided posterity into his immoderate cen- 
 surers, or unquaHfied admirers ; and writers, whe- 
 ther hostile or friendly, have confounded his merits 
 and defects with those of the transactions in which 
 he was engaged. Even in the present day, an un- 
 disguised exposure of his virtues and vices might 
 be misconstrued by many into a prejudiced pane- 
 gyric, or an invidious censure of the man, as well 
 
 VOL. II. A 
 
4 EARL OP STRAFFORD. 
 
 to complete his education, and spent upwards of a 
 year in France. Here he had an opportunity of 
 witnessin<j: the danojerous revolutions of an arbitra- 
 ry government ; Henry IV., the best of princes, 
 assassinated by a fanatic ; Sully, the most virtuous 
 of ministers, disgraced by the intrigues of a court ; 
 another daughter of Medicis at the head of the 
 French councils ; and the wounds which civil dis- 
 cord had inflicted, and political wisdom begun to 
 heal, reopened by the follies and crimes of new 
 rulers. During his residence abroad, Wentworth 
 had the advantage of being attended by a travelling 
 tutor, distinguished equally for his learning and his 
 knowledge of the world. It is to the honour of 
 both, that the friendship which they contracted 
 was warm and permanent. So deeply impressed 
 was A¥entworth with the judgment and fidelity of 
 his tutor, that, while he could retain him in his fa- 
 mily, he uniformly consulted him in all matters of 
 importance ; * and when Mr Greenwood at length 
 retired to the living, with which he had been pro- 
 vided by his pupil, the latter continued the same 
 expressions of confidence and regard. Many years 
 afterwards, we find Wentworth recommending to 
 his nephews, who were also his wards, the counsels 
 of Mr Greenwood, as their most infallible guides ;t 
 and from this faithful friend he himself also found 
 
 Radcliftc's Essay. t Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. ITO. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 5 
 
 the most essential assistance in his private affairs, 
 when his own attention became engrossed with the 
 business of government. At the conclusion of a 
 very long letter relative to some domestic concerns, 
 he apologises to Mr Greenwood : " I crave," says 
 he, " that the necessity my affairs are in may plead 
 my excuse for thus unmannerly troubling of you ; 
 and that, out of your charity, you would not deny 
 your help to him that, upon a good occasion, would 
 not deny his life to you.'* * 
 
 The energy of this expression corresponded to Disposition, 
 the warmth of Wentworth's feelings. The charac- 
 teristic ardour of his affections began to be early 
 remarked ; and he proved no less decided in the 
 prosecution of his enmities. Habituated to the 
 indulgences of a plentiful fortune, and unaccus- 
 tomed to opposition, he was choleric in the extreme, 
 and the sudden violence of his resentment was apt 
 to transport him beyond all bounds of discretion. 
 Yet this fault was in a great measure atoned for by 
 the manliness and candour with which it was ac- 
 knowledged. When his friends, who perceived 
 how detrimental it must prove to his future wel- 
 fare, admonished him of it, their remonstrances 
 were always taken in good part. He endeavoured 
 to watch more diligently his infirmity, and felt his 
 attachment increase towards those who advised him 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p, 4-88. 
 
6 
 
 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 At Court. 
 
 1013. 
 Enkhted, 
 
 Marriage 
 and suc- 
 cession. 
 
 1614. 
 
 Domestic 
 avocations, 
 
 with sincerity and freedom. Sir George RadclifFe, 
 the most intimate of his friends, informs us, that 
 he never gained more on his trust and affection 
 than when he told him of his weaknesses. * 
 
 On his return from abroad, Wentworth appear- 
 ed at court, and was knighted by King James. In 
 the reign of Henry VIII., and still more of Eliza- 
 beth, this distinction would have been a proof of 
 merit, or of some claim to the favour of the sove- 
 reign ; but their less wise, and more needy succes- 
 sor, employed his power of dispensing honours as a 
 means of pecuniary supply. 
 
 About this time Wentworth married Margaret 
 Clifford, the eldest daughter of the Earl of Cum- 
 berland ; and in the following year he succeeded, 
 by the death of his father, to a baronetcy, and an 
 estate of six thousand pounds a-year : a splendid 
 fortune at the commencement of the seventeenth 
 century, even when encumbered with provisions for 
 seven brothers and four sisters, t 
 
 His time was now occupied with the pleasures 
 and cares which attend a country gentleman of dis- 
 tinction ; and was successively devoted to the du- 
 ties of hospitality, the improvement of his estate, 
 the guardianship of the younger branches of his fa- 
 mily, his favourite diversion of hawking, his books, 
 
 Radcliffe's Essaj' 
 
 t Strafford's Letters^ Vol. I. p. 184. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 7 
 
 and his correspondents. * The death of his bro- i6i4. 
 ther-in-]aw, Sir George Savile, who left him guar- 
 dian to his two sons, brought a large increase to 
 his avocations, and drew forth some amiable traits 
 of his character. Actuated by the remembrance 
 of his friendship with their father, he watched over 
 their education and their fortunes, with a degree of 
 solicitude rarely produced by the ties either of 
 kindred or humanity. So zealously did he prose- 
 cute a law-suit in which their estates had become 
 involved, that during the long period of eight years 
 which it continued, he made thirty journies to 
 London on this account, and neglected not to at- 
 tend the courts every term in which it came to be 
 heard, t 
 
 But Wentworth was not destined to pass his life Justice and 
 in the obscure though honourable employments of tuiomm. 
 a country gentleman. He seems to have quickly 
 attracted the notice of his county and of govern- 
 ment ; for he had not above a year enjoyed his in- 
 heritance, when he was sworn into the commission 
 of peace, and nominated by Sir John Savile to suc- 
 ceed him as Gustos Rutolorum, or Keeper of the leis. 
 Archives, for the West Riding of Yorkshire, an 
 office bestowed only on gentlemen of the first con- 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. L p. 2, 3, i. lladcliffe's Essay. 
 t Radcliffc. 
 
» EARL OF STItAFFOllD. 
 
 sideration. * The resignation of Savile, although 
 apparently voluntary, proceeded from quarrels with 
 his neighbours, the result of his restless disposi- 
 tion : t this had caused him to be denounced to go- 
 vernment as a disturber of his county ; t and it 
 was the moderation of the Lord Chancellor, Elies- 
 mere, which permitted him to save appearances by 
 his resignation. 
 Hislfittlr- Savile, however, was not of a temper to re- 
 encewith main tranouil, and the successor, whom he had 
 
 Bucking- , 
 
 ham. reluctantly nominated, soon became the object of 
 
 his decided enmity. Having found means to in- 
 terest in his favour William Duke of Buckingham, 
 who at that period governed the councils of King 
 James, he meditated a restoration to his former of- 
 fice. At his instance the duke wrote to Went- 
 worth, informing him that the king, having again 
 taken Sir John Savile into his favour, had resolved 
 to employ him in his service ; and requesting that 
 he would freely return the office of Keeper of the 
 Archives to the man who had voluntarily consign- 
 ed it to his hands. Wentworth, instead of com- 
 plying, exposed the misrepresentations of his anta- 
 gonist, showed that his resignation had been wrung 
 from him by necessity, and indicated his intention 
 of coming to London to make good his assertion. 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 3, t Ibid. p. 2. 
 
 X See his letter, ibid. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 9 
 
 The duke, though often regardless of giving of- 
 fence in the pursuit of his purposes, did not judge 
 this a sufficient occasion to risk the displeasure of 
 the Yorkshire gentlemen. He replied with much 
 seeming cordiality, assuring Wentworth that his 
 former letter proceeded entirely from misinforma- 
 tion, and that the king had consented to dispense 
 with his service, only from the idea that he himself 
 desired an opportunity to resign. * This incident 
 is remarkable, as having laid the first foundation 
 of that animosity with Buckingham, which led the 
 way to many questionable circumstances in the con- 
 duct of Wentworth. The duke was not of a dis- 
 position to forget even the slightest opposition to 
 his will ; and Wentworth was not a man to be in- 
 jured with impunity. 
 
 An opportunity soon occurred of retaliating the xMember of 
 ill offices of Savile. A parliament having been 
 summoned to meet in 1621, Wentworth had so 
 well improved his connections and popularity, as to 
 give him a confident hope of being returned for his 
 county. The contests which, during the reign of 
 James, had taken place between the king and the 
 commons, and the power which that house was 
 found to possess of controlling the measures of the 
 crow^n, had now rendered a seat for a county a 
 leading object of ambition. Gentlemen of the first 
 
 * See both letters in Stiafforcrs Letters, Vol. I. p. i. 
 
10 EARL OF STRAFFORD, 
 
 rank and fortune sought, in this station, an oppor- 
 tunity of signalizing their talents and influence, or 
 of resisting the dreaded encroachments of the 
 court. In the prosecution of this first object of 
 his ambition, Wentworth gave indications of that 
 vigour and address, by which he was afterwards 
 distinguished. In some of his letters which still 
 remain, we find him dexterously stimulating the 
 exertions of his friends, or diverting the endeavours 
 of his opponents. That his hopes might not be 
 disappointed by vain professions, he procured the 
 petty officers of the several hundreds to draw out 
 lists of such voters as positively engaged to appear 
 at York, on the day of election, in support of his 
 interests. * The other candidates for the county 
 were Sir John Savile, and Calvert, Secretary of 
 State ; and Wentworth now revenged his quarrel 
 on the former, by espousing the interests of the lat- 
 ter. Having secured his own return, he zealously 
 laboured to engage the freeholders in an opposition 
 to the old disturber of their county ; and, still ap- 
 prehensive of Calvert's failure, from the extensive 
 influence of Savile, his ardour for the attainment 
 of his object seems to have rendered him little scru- 
 pulous about the means. In a letter to the secre- 
 tary, " I have heard," says he, " that when Sir 
 Francis Darcy opposed Sir Thomas Lake in a mat- 
 
 " Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. S, 9, IC, il. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 11 
 
 ter of like nature, the lords of the council writ to 
 Sir Francis to desist. I know my lord chancellor 
 is much your friend in this business : a word to 
 him, and such a letter would make an end of all.'* * 
 Wentworth appeared in the House of Commons 
 at a period when an unusual combination of cir- 
 cumstances drew forth a display of intrepidity and 
 eloquence. Our political constitution, having met 
 with unexpected accidents which shocked and dis- 
 composed its component parts, exhibited effects, 
 that seemed altogether surprising, when their 
 causes were not understood. Yet the order in 
 which the successive incidents arose was natural, 
 and the consequences scarcely avoidable. A short 
 exposition of this remarkable progress will not, 
 perhaps, be devoid of interest, and is essentially ne- 
 cessary to a proper comprehension of Wentvvorth's 
 principles and conduct. 
 
 The introduction, or rather the completion of Historical 
 the feudal system, in the reign of William I., gave the English 
 a considerable addition to the royal authority, li^l 
 The proprietors of land were now made to acknow- 
 ledge a dependence on their monarch ; were bound 
 to administer specific aids to his revenue ; and in 
 their tenures, acknowledged an obligation to follow 
 his standard. Yet, unless within the limits of his 
 
 " Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 10. 
 
12 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 ovMi demesnes, he found his power circumscribed 
 by very definite boundaries. The barons, who in 
 these days formed the parliament, relinquished to 
 the king the right of declaring war and concluding 
 peace, but retained many privileges which rendered 
 them an active portion of the government. They 
 formed the last resort in judicial appeals, and pos- 
 sessed an indispensable voice in all laws affecting 
 the nation at large. Without their consent, no 
 tax beyond the aids stipulated by the feudal te- 
 nures could be levied on the subjects ; and by 
 their decision alone could any of their peers be 
 deprived of his property, his liberty, or his life. 
 With a precaution more to be admired than ex- 
 pected in a rude age, they procured the signature 
 of the sovereign to written declarations of these pri- 
 vileges ; and, by such charters, transmitted to their 
 posterity a knowledge and assurance of rights, 
 which oral tradition would soon have involved in 
 doubt and perplexity. Of the Great Charter, so 
 called from its more complete and accurate enume- 
 ration of national privileges, so anxious were the 
 framers to diffuse the authority, that they caused a 
 copy of it to be deposited in every diocese through- 
 out the kingdom, and one to be transmitted to Ire- 
 land, for the benefit of that recent conquest. 
 
 When the representatives of the people, in con- 
 sequence of great improvements in the state of the 
 middle ranks, afterwards became a component part 
 
EARL OF STRAFFOHD. 13 
 
 of the Parliament, tliey shared in the powers and 
 privileges previously attached to that body, obtain- 
 ing some peculiarly to themselves, and enjoying 
 others in common with the great barons. Tlie 
 last resort in judicial proceedings remained exclu- 
 sively with the lords ; the first motion for granting 
 contributions was appropriated by the commons ; 
 while the discussion and sanction of all general 
 laws became equally the privilege of both. 
 
 But these rights were not preserved and trans- 
 mitted to posterity, without incessant precautions 
 and repeated struggles. The subjects were inte- 
 rested in preserving undiminished the power of the 
 Parliament ; the king was prompted to gratify his 
 ambition by the extension of his authority. Ad- 
 vanced, by the institution of feudal tenures, from 
 the leader of independent chiefs, to be the sove- 
 reign of a great kingdom, he still found an uneasy 
 restraint in the ancient privileges of his barons. 
 To increase his revenue, to revenge his quarrels, 
 to remove some obnoxious opponent, he was occa- 
 sionally tempted to transgress the limits which long 
 usage or express charters had prescribed, and to 
 make illegal inroads on the persons and property 
 of his subjects. 
 
 On these occasions, the barons appealed for re- 
 dress to the same violent means by which the inju- 
 ries had been inflicted. With arms in their hands, 
 and an escort of military vassals in their train, 
 
14 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 they came to the national council, compelled the 
 monarch to renounce such acts for the future, and 
 oblia'ed him to cive them a written assurance of 
 his good faith, either by the grant of a new char- 
 •ter, or an explicit confirmation of those already 
 obtained. The monarch, indeed, felt little scruple 
 in violating promises which had been extorted from 
 his apprehensions ; and when the barons were dis- 
 persed, and their vassals disbanded, he too often 
 renewed those oppressive acts which had roused 
 their indignation. On such occasions, the barons 
 had no other resource than to betake themselves 
 1215. again to arms, and to procure a new confirmation 
 of rights, of which they found their courage the 
 only effectual guardian. It was in this manner 
 that the Great Charter was wrested from the fears 
 of King John ; he had, however, no sooner rati- 
 fied it, than he proceeded to violate its provisions, 
 and destroy its promoters ; and its next confirma- 
 tion was purchased by a civil w-ar, and even by the 
 introduction of a foreign power into the kingdom. 
 Such was the apprehension infused into the barons 
 by repeated infringements that, in the course of 
 a few reigns, they procured from their monarchs 
 thirty successive ratifications of the Great Charter. 
 Dm'ing the reigns which immediately succeeded 
 the Norman Conquest, the independent patrimony 
 of the crown, united to the aids imposed by the 
 military tenures, was sufficient to support the 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 15 
 
 peace-establishment of tlie monarch, while the mi- 
 litary services, by which all the lands in the king- 
 dom were held, provided an ample resource for the 
 exigencies of war. In this state of things, the so- 
 vereign had no temptation, beyond the suggestions 
 of unreasonable passions, to encroach on the rights 
 of his subjects, nor they any means beyond their 
 military force, to secure themselves against his in- 
 justice. 
 
 Only a few reigns, however, had elapsed, before 
 the relative condition of the sovereio;n and the 
 subject had undergone a material change. The 
 introduction of manufactures and commerce gra- 
 dually presented new objects of desire, and led to 
 an increased expenditure ; the rapacity of courtiers, 
 and the improvident profusion of monarchs, pro- 
 duced a rapid dilapidation of the royal demesnes. 
 The system of military tenures, then the only re- 
 gular resource for warfare, was found to include, 
 under a formidable appearance, a great deal of 
 weakness and inefficiency. The vassals could not 
 be dragged to the standard of their lords, nor the 
 lords to the campaigns of their sovereign ; and, at 
 length, it became necessary to commute their mili- 
 tary services for a very inadequate contribution in 
 money. But if the sovereign now felt himself 
 straitened even on ordinary occasions, far short did 
 all his supplies fall of the resources required by 
 the splendid ambition of succeeding monarchs. 
 
16 EARL OF STRAFFOUD. 
 
 The subjugation of Scotland and of France, the 
 magnificent enterprises of Edward I. and Edward 
 III. demanded too extensive preparations to be 
 defrayed by any independent revenues appertaining 
 to the crown. 
 
 In these circumstances, the only resource of the 
 monarch was to apply to the liberality of Parlia- 
 ment, without whose authority he could levy no 
 contribution on the subjects ; and that assembly, 
 having now, in their grants, a forcible argument to 
 move the sovereign, employed it to procure those 
 confirmations of their rights, which they hud for- 
 merly obtained by force of arms. The most spi- 
 Edward I. ritcd and ambitious monarchs, the Edwards, intent 
 on the prosecution of their warlike enterprises, 
 made little scruple of purchasing supplies by the 
 concession of statutes for the protection of popular 
 rights. And so well did the Parliaments employ 
 their advantage, that, by the conclusion of the 
 1377- reign of Edward III. they had ascertained, with 
 considerable accuracy, the limits of their own pri- 
 vileges and the king's prerogative ; and had passed 
 those statutes for the protection of persons and 
 property, which are still appealed to against the 
 encroachments of arbitrary power. 
 
 But in these rude ages, it was one thing to ob- 
 tain a law, and another to insure its observance. 
 During the interval of his necessities, the prince 
 was enabled to violate his promises, infringe the 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 17 
 
 statutes, and trespass both on the persons and pro- 
 perty of the subjects. Even the members of Par- 
 liament found themselves divested of their ancient 
 security. The nobles, now dissipating their reve- 
 nues on the luxuries of the age, no longer beset 
 the throne with an array of armed retainers ; and 
 while the monarch was relieved from this source of 
 apprehension, he could, with impunity, trample on 
 the privileges of the commons, who individually 
 possessed little influence, and, as a body, were held 
 in contempt by the hereditary aristocracy. Some- 
 times he interrupted their deliberations ; some- 
 times he endeavoured to extort their grants by 
 threats, instead of winning them by concessions ; 
 and at other times he took more severe methods 
 with the refractory members, and punished their 
 opposition to his will by fines and imprisonment. 
 
 Yet amidst these disorders, it was evident, from 
 the structure of our constitution, that the question 
 between the power of the sovereign and the privi- 
 leges of Parliament would, at a future period, be 
 brought to a final decision, and the opposition of 
 the one, or the encroachments of the other, be ef- 
 fectually terminated. When the people, by the 
 progress of wealth and knowledge, should become 
 too powerful and too high-spirited to permit the il- 
 legal treatment of their representatives, and when 
 the monarch, by the progressive increase of ex- 
 pence, or by farther dilapidations of the royal de- 
 
 VOL. II. B 
 
18 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 mesnes, should find liis revenues inadequate, the 
 important discussion was no longer to be avoided. 
 It would then become indispensable, either that he 
 should submit, with good faith, to the limitations 
 of his power ; or that, betaking himself to vio- 
 lence, he should break through our ancient consti- 
 tution, abolish the privileges of Parliament, and 
 render himself the undisputed master of the lives 
 and property of his subjects. 
 
 Towards this eventful crisis, affairs continued 
 gradually to approach, but in their progress were 
 accelerated or retarded by various accidents. Dur- 
 ing the sanguinary contests between the houses of 
 York and Lancaster, the greatest families among 
 the nobility had been extirpated, all of them had 
 suffered In their influence, and the Commons, be- 
 ing brought more nearly to a level with the Peers, 
 occupied a more conspicuous station in Parhament. 
 But the same causes rendered the monarchs less 
 regardful of the privileges of the Commons, which 
 formerly they had been willing to extend as a 
 counterbalance to the powerful barons ; and, at the 
 accession of the house of Tudor, the Parliament 
 felt a great diminution of that authority which it 
 had enjoyed a century before. Henry VII. held 
 in his hand the sword of a conqueror ; and while 
 frequent insurrections gave him a plausible pretext 
 for vengeance, it was not without imminent hazard 
 that any member of Parliament could oppose his 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 19 
 
 will. By the resumptioa of grants, by forfeitures, 
 by arbitrary fines, and an economy equal to his ra- 
 pacity, Henry had amassed treasures beyond any 
 monarch of his age ; yet the progressive increase 
 of expence was silently producing circumstances 
 against which such precautions could not long 
 avail ; and when his avarice tempted him to make 
 demands on his Commons, their resistance showed 
 him that they possessed a powerful check for his 
 more indigent successors. 
 
 From the treasures amassed by his father, Hen- 
 ry VHI. for some time supplied his profusion j 
 from the pillage of the monasteries he derived some 
 extraordinary resources ; and the dread of his dis- 
 pleasure, or a desire to promote the Reformation, 
 occasionally moved the liberality of the Commons. 
 Yet at times they showed the power as well as the 
 spirit to resist his demands ; and they eventually 
 gained more than they suflPered from his precipitate 
 passions. At the commencement of his reign he 
 received from them a confirmation of his title ; he 
 delivered up to their vengeance the ministers of his 
 father's extortions j he procured their sanction to 
 his innovations in religion, to his marriages, to his 
 repeated alterations in the order of succession, and 
 showed, that he accounted their authority sufficient 
 to ratify a change of any description. At no pe- 
 riod was the omnipotence of Parliament a more 
 established doctrine. It was not enough that More 
 
so EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 confessed its power to make or depose a king ; he 
 incurred a capital sentence, because he would not 
 acknowledge its right to confer a control over the 
 consciences of men. * 
 
 During the short reigns of Edward and Maiy, 
 the ascendancy of the Parliament increased, as well 
 as the difficulties of the prince. While the debts 
 contracted by Henry were not liquidated by Ed- 
 ward, and were greatly augmented by Mary, the 
 royal revenue was still farther impoverished by 
 alienations of the crown lands. The determined 
 resistance which the Parliament made to the de- 
 mands of the bigoted but odious Mary, exalted 
 its popularity, and placed it in a still more favour- 
 able condition to avail itself of the distresses of 
 the crown. 
 Elizabeth. That couflict between the Crown and the Com- 
 mons, which now seemed on the verge of com- 
 mencing, was for a while delayed by the spirit and 
 the prudence of Elizabeth. Her concurrence 
 with the undeviating frugality of Burleigh, enabled 
 her to free the crown from its overwhelming en- 
 cumbrances ; and to provide for more than her 
 ordinary expences, in her independent resources. 
 As she could not endure to have her lofty preten- 
 sions called in question, she never applied to her 
 Commons, unless in a case of evident necessity, 
 
 * Sec the Life of ]\Iore. 
 10 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 21 
 
 and there were various circumstances which ren- 
 dered them well inclined to supply her wants. 
 The complaisance due to her sex, the admiration 
 excited by her talents, her conspicuous economy, 
 and her connection with the dearest interests of 
 the Protestant religion, occasionally drew from 
 them more liberal grants than had been accorded 
 to any of her predecessors. Yet even these ad- 
 vantages could not prevent them from mingling 
 a discussion of their grievances \yith that of her de-^ 
 mndsa, or from uniting in their projects the limita- 
 tion of her power with the relief of her wants. At 
 times they burst forth into those enthusiastic preten- 
 sions of liberty, which the progress of knowledge had 
 now developed and enhanced. * Elizabeth em- 
 ployed all her vigour and address to repress this 
 rising spirit. She answered theu* high claims by 
 assumptions still more lofty : she endeavoured to 
 curb their freedom of speech by high-sounding in- 
 junctions, and even by imprisoning the most re^ 
 fractory members : she strove to conceal her ina- 
 bility to maintain such violent stretches of power, 
 by receding, as of her own free grace, while it was 
 yet time : and, to display the independence of her 
 resources, she more than once remitted the sup- 
 plies which they had granted. Yet she precipitat- 
 ed the distresses of the crown by a large alienation 
 
 * See the speeches of Peter Wentworth in Huinc, Chap. xl. 
 
2^ EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 of the crown lands : and she put a fatal weapon 
 into the hands of the factious, by the unexampled 
 act of bringing a sovereign to the scaffold. 
 James I. In the combination of circumstances which at- 
 tended James on his accession, important discus- 
 sions between the sovereign and the people were 
 not long to be avoided. While his independent 
 resources, from alienations and the increased ex- 
 pence of living, were scarcely sufficient for his or- 
 dinary occasions ; his parliament was not likely to 
 grant him further supplies without exacting reci- 
 procal concessions. There were many abuses to 
 be reformed, many privileges to be asserted, many 
 branches of the prerogative to be defined. The 
 Commons now included a large proportion of the 
 wealth and talents of the country : they were too 
 much connected with the peers, by the ties of kind* 
 red and condition, to have separate interests ; and 
 if parliament had shown a disposition to resist the 
 encroachments of the most respected of their native 
 sovereigns, it was not probable that they would 
 show deference to an untried foreigner. 
 
 In this conjuncture, which took place during the 
 youth of Wentworth, two expedients would have 
 been requisite for the prevention of civil dissensions : 
 the limitation of the royal prerogative by barriers 
 so clearly defined, as effectually to guard the sub- 
 ject from encroachments j and the separation of 
 the king's expenditure from that of the public. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 23 
 
 Without the former of these provisions, it was in 
 vain to expect that the Commons would pay liber- 
 ally towards a government which filled them with 
 apprehension. Without the latter, no concession 
 could purchase security to the prerogative : every 
 grant for national purposes would continue to be 
 regarded as a favour to the monarch, and a ground 
 for demanding a farther limitation of his power. 
 But of these expedients, the separation of the 
 king's expenditure from that of the nation, how- 
 ever simple and obvious it may now appear, does 
 not seem to have once occurred either to the prince 
 or the people. 
 
 The limitation of the prerogative was a doctrine despotic 
 
 ■*■ ^ disposition 
 
 to which James could not endure to listen. Ip-. of James. 
 norant of the constitution of England, and in a 
 great measure of the feelings of mankind, the ex- 
 cess of his natural timidity made him regard any 
 discussion of his power with horror. Anxious to 
 believe what he desired to be true, and misled by 
 a crowd of flatterers, he had reasoned himself into a 
 conviction that his power was derived from some 
 high ordinance of the Divinity ; that his subjects 
 were delivered over to him to use according to his 
 good pleasure ; that their rights were the mere gifts 
 of his free grace ; that, by his permission, they 
 might lay their grievances at the foot of his throne ; 
 but that it was the height of impiety for them to 
 resist, or even to question the acts of one who was 
 
24. 
 
 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 accountable to God alone. These visionary no- 
 tions, the offspring of a weak judgment and a con- 
 summate vanity, James did not attempt to conceal ; 
 he was led, by the same folly which engendered 
 them, to thrust them forward on all occasions. 
 Even while he held out his hand for supplies, he 
 told his parliament, that, " as to dispute what God 
 may do is blasphemy, but what God xiills, that 
 divines may lawfully and do ordinarily dispute and 
 discuss J so it is sedition in subjects to dispute what 
 a king 7nay do in the height of his power. But 
 just kings will ever be willing to declare what 
 they will do, if they will not incur the curse of 
 God. I will not be content," he continues, " that 
 my power be disputed upon ; but I shall ever be 
 willing to make the reason appear of my doings, 
 and rule my actions according to my laws." * 
 
 These maxims of arbitrary power were not mere- 
 ly the transient ebullitions of a distempered vanity : 
 they were occasionally developed in practice, under 
 very offensive circumstances. By a proclamation, 
 James interfered with the rights of election, speci- 
 fied a disqualification whicli should incapacitate any 
 member from holding his seat ; and, placing this 
 edict on a footing with a statute, declared every 
 offender against it to be punishable with fine and 
 
 * Hume from King James's Works, p. o3l. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 25 
 
 imprisonment. * He interfered also with the free- 
 dom of debate among the Commons, dissolved them 
 in wrath when they would not accede to his requi- 
 sitions, and imprisoned such of the members as had 
 ventured to signalize themselves by opposition. 
 Determined rather to encounter extremities, than 
 submit to the limitation of his authority, he is said 
 to have soon formed the resolution of governing, if 
 possible, without parliaments, t 
 
 A rigid economy, by diminishing the amount of 
 the arbitrary exactions now requisite, might for a 
 season have lessened the public discontent. In avoid- 
 ing foreign wars, the great source of expenditure, 
 James, indeed, exhibited the utmost caution : but 
 so nearly was this caution allied to pusillanimity, 
 that he became contemptible abroad, without gain- 
 ing, among his subjects, the reputation of prudence. 
 Their ridicule was, however, converted into indig- 
 nation, when they observed that the respectability 
 of the kingdom was neglected, only to procure re- 
 sources for the miserable dissipation of a court, t 
 His largesses to his servile courtiers and his needy 
 favourites were as profuse as if his wealth had been 
 immeasurable. Warrants under the privy seal to 
 levy contributions from particular persons, § an ar- 
 bitrary increase of the rates of customs fixed by 
 
 * Winwoocl, Vol. II. p. 18, 19. + Wilson, p. 46. 
 
 t llusliworth. Vol. I. 157. § Ibid. 
 
26 EARL OF STKAFFOUD. 
 
 law, the sale of monopolies, excessive fines in the 
 Star Chamber, were the means which he employed 
 to replenish his exhausted exchequer ; and the na- 
 tion beheld the stretches of despotism employed 
 for the gratification of the meanest corruption. * 
 
 The open opposition of the subjects to the sove- 
 reign might, for some time, have been repressed 
 by the veneration attached to the person of kings. 
 Among our countrymen, this sentiment had been 
 greatly exalted by the talents, the vigour, the in- 
 trepidity of the race of Tudor ; and, in Elizabeth, 
 they had admired a stateliness and energy, which 
 seemed to exalt her above her sex, and render her 
 the appropriate possessor of the diadem. But the 
 figure, the manners, the disposition of James were 
 incompatible with sentiments of reverence. A 
 thin person, of middle stature, swelled out with 
 clothes, loosely hung around him, and quilted to 
 resist a dagger ; a homely countenance, a tongue 
 too big for the mouth, and a correspondent ut- 
 terance, were all calculated to excite ridicule, t 
 Childish and often coarse in his ordinary conversa- 
 tion, he never failed to intermingle with his most 
 dignified public exhibitions some strokes of bur- 
 lesque. While he showed a pitiful jealousy of 
 
 * Ru.hworth, Vol. I. p. 157. Kapin, Vol. 11. p. 185. 
 tNeal, Vol. II. p. UO. 
 
 12 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. ^7 
 
 men of great parts, * he chose his favourites for the 
 most superficial qualifications, and submitted to 
 their influence with ahiaost implicit deference. The 
 discreetest of his minions, whom he created Earl 
 of Montgomery, pretended to no qualification but 
 skill in dogs and horses ; t and if men were amaz- 
 ed to see Carre and Villiers, two ignorant though 
 handsome youths, successively invested with the 
 supreme direction of public affairs, they were still 
 more scandalized to behold the monarch take the 
 birch in his hand and act the pedagogue to his 
 young minions. With a boyish familiarity, those 
 who approached him were addressed by nicknames :$ 
 and if his foreign diplomacy brought him little 
 honour, he was at least dexterous in making 
 matches among his courtiers. In his conversation, 
 the same folly was softened by an appearance of 
 innocence. He swore profanely, and often got 
 drunk ; and when his senses returned, he would 
 weep like a child, and hope that God would not 
 impute to him his infirmities. § 
 
 The respect which James lost as a man, he 
 might still have retained as the fountain of honour ; 
 and, by a judicious distribution of the ensigns of 
 
 • Clarendon, Hist.of Reb. Vol. I. p. 59. f Ibid. 
 
 J His son, the prince, he called Baby Charles ; his prune mini- 
 ster, Buckingham, he named Stenny- 
 § Neal, Vol. II. p. 1 10. 
 
28 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 rank, might have surrounded his throne with an 
 able and high-spirited nobihty. But those distinc- 
 tions, so warily bestowed by the sagacious Eliza- 
 beth, were lavished, by her imprudent successor, 
 without measure or discrimination. A needy and 
 obscure minion no sooner caught his attention, 
 than he was immediately raised to the highest 
 honours ; and the general contempt, excited by 
 this profusion of titles, was seen in pasquinades, 
 purporting to be •' aids to short memories in recol- 
 lecting the new nobility." But still more degrad- 
 ed did honorary distinctions become, when James 
 affixed to them a price, and considered them as a 
 means of relieving his necessities. A proportion- 
 ate price was affixed to each rank j and an order 
 of hereditary knighthood, under the denomination 
 of baronets, was instituted to tempt the vanity of 
 less wealthy purchasers. * So low was the simple 
 title of knighthood now held in the estimation of 
 the court, that all who possessed forty pounds a- 
 year were compelled, under a penalty, to receive 
 it, or, by payment of the fees, to compound for 
 declining it. t 
 
 Ileligious opinions at that period engrossed great- 
 
 " Rapin, Vol. II. p. 1S5. The purchase-money of an Earl's 
 patent was twenty thousand pounds, of a Viscount's fifteen thou- 
 sand, of a Baron's ten thousand ; while a Baronetcy could be hud 
 for one thousand and ninety-iivo iwunds. 
 
 t Kapin, Vol. II. p. 185. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 29 
 
 ly the minds of men, and, from a skilful management 
 of them, James might have derived a vast increase of 
 influence. At his accession, the adherents of the 
 established forms, and the abettors of a farther re- 
 formation, were competitors for the favour of their 
 new monarch. From his presbyterian education, 
 the latter expected at least a cessation of the per- 
 secution against them ; and the former would have 
 been sufficiently willing to compound for their ap- 
 prehensions, by this concession. But James, with- 
 out skill to balance these factions, and without any 
 steady principles in regard to either doctrine or 
 forms, hastened to embrace exclusively the party 
 which most willingly received his maxims of abso- 
 lute power. In Scotland, a zealous presbyterian, 
 lie had branded the episcopal service as " an evil 
 mass said in English ;'* and had told his parlia- 
 ment " that he minded not to bring in Papistical 
 or Anglicane bishops." * But he had spent only 
 a few months in England, when No Bishop, No 
 Kingy became his current maxim, and to root out 
 presbyterians and puritans his favourite project, t 
 The leading bishops had the penetration to disco- 
 ver his weak side, and availed themselves of it 
 with dexterity. They readily acknowledged what- 
 ever pretensions he chose to arrogate, and were 
 
 • Calderwood, p. 256, 418. 
 
 t Neal, Vol. II. p. 3. Hume, VI. p. 13, 
 
28 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 rank, might have surrounded his throne with an 
 able and high-spirited nobility. But those distinc- 
 tions, so warily bestowed by the sagacious Eliza- 
 beth, were lavished, by her imprudent successor, 
 without measure or discrimination. A needy and 
 obscure minion no sooner caught his attention, 
 than he was immediately raised to the highest 
 honours ; and the general contempt, excited by 
 this profusion of titles, was seen in pasquinades, 
 puqiorting to be •* aids to short memories in recol- 
 lecting the new nobility." But still more degrad. 
 ed did honorary distinctions become, when James 
 affixed to them a price, and considered them as a 
 means of relieving his necessities. A proportion- 
 ate price was affixed to each rank ; and an order 
 of hereditary knighthood, under the denomination 
 of baronets, was instituted to tempt the vanity of 
 less wealthy purchasers. * So low was the simple 
 title of knighthood now held in the estimation of 
 the court, that all who possessed forty pounds a- 
 year were compelled, under a penalty, to receive 
 it, or, by payment of the fees, to compound for 
 declining it. t 
 
 lleligious opinions at that period engrossed great- 
 
 " Rapin, Vol. II. p. 185. The purchase-money of an Earl's 
 patent was twenty thousand pounds, of a Viscount's fifteen thou- 
 sand, of a Baron's ten thousand ; while a Baronetcy could be had 
 for one thousand and ninety-five ^wunds. 
 
 t llapin. Vol. II. p. 1S5. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 29 
 
 ly the minds of men, and, from a skilful management 
 of them, James might have derived a vast increase of 
 influence. At his accession, the adherents of the 
 established forms, and the abettors of a farther re- 
 formation, were competitors for the favour of their 
 wew monarch. From his presbyterian education, 
 the latter expected at least a cessation of the per- 
 secution against them ; and the former would have 
 been sufficiently willing to compound for their ap- 
 prehensions, by this concession. But James, with- 
 out skill to balance these factions, and without any 
 steady principles in regard to either doctrine or 
 forms, hastened to embrace exclusively the party 
 which most willingly received his maxims of abso- 
 lute power. In Scotland, a zealous presbyterian, 
 he had branded the episcopal service as " an evil 
 mass said in English ;'* and had told his parlia- 
 ment " that he minded not to bring in Papistical 
 or Anglicane bishops." * But he had spent only 
 a few months in England, when No Bishopy No 
 King., became his current maxim, and to root out 
 presbyterians and puritans his favourite project, t 
 The leading bishops had the penetration to disco- 
 ver his weak side, and availed themselves of it 
 with dexterity. They readily acknowledged what- 
 ever pretensions he chose to arrogate, and were 
 
 ■ Calderwood, p. 256, 418. 
 
 t Neal, Vol. II. j). 3. Hume, VI. p. 13, 
 
S2 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 greater terrors, he endeavoured to wrest from the 
 courts of Westminster-hall some of their undoubt- 
 ed rights. * The puritans laboured to procure a 
 mitigation of their sufferings by a petition to the 
 throne ; but James showed them what they had 
 to expect, by sending their deputies unheard to 
 jail, t 
 
 There was nothing on which James more va- 
 lued himself than his skill in theological disputa- 
 tion ; and it was acknowledged that he wielded 
 the controversial pen with far more address than 
 the imperial sceptre. But while the mutability of 
 his religious tenets exposed his sincerity to suspi- 
 cion, the severity, and even the cruelty, with 
 which he maintained his successive opinions, seem- 
 ed very inconsistent with the mild spirit of Christi- 
 anity. At first a zealous adherent to Calvinism, 
 he persecuted the Arminians both at home and 
 abroad : t but finding that the abettors of the lat- 
 
 • Neal, Vol. II. p. 37. f Winwood's IMemorials. 
 
 $ Vorstius^ a disciple of Armiiiius, had been chosen to succeed 
 him as a professor of divinity at Leyden. James remonstrated with 
 the States against this open encouragement of one whom he styled 
 an arch-heretic, a pesU a monster of hlasphemiex ; and insisted on 
 their joining liim in an attempt to " send back to hell these cur- 
 sed Arniinian heresies that had newly broke forth." As to the 
 burning of this man, he generously left them to their own Chris- 
 tian wisdom ; but added, however, " that surely never heretic bet- 
 ter deserved the flames." He termed Vorstius a ivicL-ed atheist ; 
 Arrainius an eneviif to God ; and Bertius, who had asserted that 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. i33 
 
 ter tenets among his clergy were more friendly to 
 his maxims of absolute power, he came over to 
 them with all his zeal, and directed his execrations 
 against the Calvinists. Lei2:ate and Wii^rhtman, 
 two persons who held some opinions inclining to 
 Arianism, he had the inhumanity to deliver over 
 to the flames. * 
 
 But Protestants of every denomination were 
 alarmed and irritated, when they discovered that 
 James entertained a decided sympathy with the Ca- 
 thoh'c worship, t That church, against vvhose abo- 
 minations he had been taught to exclaim, he found 
 to be a more strenuous assertor of despotic power 
 than any Protestant community whatever. The 
 pomp and splendour of her worship were exactly 
 calculated to captivate his mind ; and could he have 
 got rid of the uneasy doctni>e of the pope's supre- 
 macy, he declared himself inclined to show her vo- 
 taries every indulgence. In his first speech to par- March 19, 
 liament, " I acknowledge," said he, " the church 
 of Kome to be our mother church, though defiled 
 with some infirmities and corruptions. And as I 
 
 " the saints mir^ht full from grjce," he declared to be " worthy of 
 the fire." Ti;e States contented themselves with dismissing Vor- 
 stius ; and Brandt, their historian, very justly holds it forth, as 
 " a very glorious tiling for the United Provinces, that the blood of 
 no heretic h-d been slud in that country since the Reformation." 
 
 • Neal, Vol. II. p. 'J'2, 93, from Fuller, b. x. p. (53, G4. 
 
 t Neal, Vol. II. p. 26. Hume, Vol. Vl. p. :JJ). 
 VOL. II. C 
 
^'^ EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 am no enemy to the life of a sick man, because I 
 would have his body purged of ill humours ; no 
 more am I an enemy to that church, because I 
 would have her reform her errors, not wishing the 
 downthrowing of the temple, but that it might be 
 purged and cleansed from corruption." By such im- 
 prudent and explicit declarations, the Protestants 
 were alarmed, and began to suspect their monarch of 
 a design to reintroduce an abhorred superstition. 
 
 With a like infatuation, James proceeded to dis- 
 turb the sobriety of manners, and the religious im- 
 pressions of his subjects. Without reference to 
 the divine origin of the Sabbath, the appropriation 
 of one day in each week for religious and moral in- 
 struction, for reflection on our duties, our errors, 
 and the means of amendment, for reviewino- our 
 condition here, and weighing our hopes hereafter, 
 seems the wisest of institutions for the promotion of 
 virtue and happiness. It is thus alone that the 
 hard-wrought labourer finds leisure to receive in- 
 struction, or to communicate to his children the 
 fruit of his experience ; while the eager man of bu- 
 siness, as well as the abandoned libertine, meeting 
 with these frequent intervals of religious worship, 
 are led to think of their duties, as well as of their 
 gains or their pleasures. From this spring of in- 
 struction and serious reflection, knowledge and 
 good morals naturally flow ; and the blessings of 
 a wise and vigorous government become inviola- 
 
 12 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 35 
 
 ble, because they become thoroughly understood. 
 But James, though he could learnedly discuss the 
 decrees of God, knew nothing of the moral opera- 
 tion of religion. Addicted to the pleasures of the 
 table, and immersed in the dissipation of a court, 
 he regarded the strict morals and serious demean- 
 our of the puritans with suspicion and aversion. 
 He determined that his subjects should be as gay 
 and as voluptuous as himself; and observing that 
 the puritans in particular devoted the Sabbath to 
 sobriety and religious exercises, he took measures 
 to counteract this unwelcome example. He pub- 
 lished " a declaration to encourage recreations and 
 sports on the Lord's day," authorizing all games 
 which were lawful through the week ; and dancing, 
 leaping, vaulting, May-games, Whitsun-ales, and 
 Morrice-dances, were recommendedas proper amuse- 
 ments for Sunday evening. But against the order 
 which commanded this declaration to be read in all 
 the churches, the more serious members of the es- 
 tablishment revolted no less than the puritans. 
 Archbishop Abbot, the successor of Bancroft, re- 
 fused to have it read where he resided, and James 
 did not venture to insist on compliance. * 
 
 The number of those who desired a farther re- 
 form in the discipline of the church of England 
 was now comparatively small, and that of the dis- 
 
 ' Neal, Vol. II. p. ITt, 175. 
 
36 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 senters from her doctrines was still smaller : yet to 
 these two classes the term puritans had been hi- 
 therto confined. But James, having wrought him- 
 self into a thorough contempt and detestation of 
 these sectaries, imagined he could not more effec- 
 tually degrade those who opposed his arbitrary ex- 
 actions, and endeavoured to set limits to his power, 
 than by branding tliem all with the name of puri- 
 tans. By this impolitic language, which became a 
 fashion among the courtiers, the term which he 
 employed for degradation became exalted. The 
 puritans, associated under the same appellation 
 with the most wealthy, enlightened, and respected 
 classes of the community, acquired new consider- 
 ation ; and those who were imprudently assimilated 
 in name, gradually became assimilated in opi- 
 nion.* 
 
 Nor were these the only circumstances that pro- 
 duced unpopularity to James. The partiality dis- 
 played towards Scotish courtiers had made him, on 
 his accession, be regarded with an evil eye by the 
 English. His undisguised aversion to his eld- 
 est son, the darling of the nation, was construed 
 into an unnatural jealousy ; and his apathy, on the 
 premature death of this young prince, bore too 
 striking a contrast to the general lamentation. t 
 
 * Neal, Vol. II. p. 123. Life of Col. Hutchinson, p. 61. 
 + James not only heard of his son Prince Htnry's death, with- 
 out discomposure, but even forbade any court mourning on the oc- 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 37 
 
 His refusal to interfere in the cause of his dau^h- 
 ter, the Queen of Bohemia, though founded on 
 solid reasons, excited much censure, for men 
 could not forgive either his indifference to a 
 son-in-law, or his dereliction of a Protestant 
 prince. * The jealousy of his subjects was roused 
 when James, conceiving that the daughter of a 
 powerful king was alone a proper match for his son, 
 began to enter into an alliance and negociation 
 with Spain and Rome. And this intercourse ex- 
 cited the indignation of the public, when they saw 
 Raleigh, celebrated for his heroism, and pitied for 
 his long sufferings, dragged from his prison ; and, 
 under colour of an almost obsolete sentence, sacri- 
 ficed to the vengeance of the Spaniards.! Such 
 were the grievances of the nation at large : the 
 
 casion. He is said to have been exceedingly jealous of the young 
 prince's talents and popularity. 
 
 • His daughter, Elizabeth, was married to the Elector Palatine, 
 who, upon being raised to the throne of Bohemia by the Protestant 
 subjects of that crown, which was elective, was attacked by the 
 united force of the emperor and the popish electors, and stripped, 
 both of his new kingdom and his hereditary dominions, James, 
 much to the general discontent, beheld in tranquillity a catastrophe 
 which, indeed, he could not probably have averted. It is from 
 this branch of the royal stock that our present monarch is descended. 
 
 t Raleigh was confined during eighteen years for a very dubious 
 charge of conspiracy ; and was at length, on this obsolete accusa- 
 tion, put to death, at the instance of the Spaniards, wliom he had 
 oflfended by some attacks on their South American settlements. 
 
98 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 aristocracy, more dangerous from their station and 
 influence, were farther exasperated by the arro- 
 gance of the favourite, Buckingham. That mi- 
 nion, having acquired a complete ascendancy over 
 his master, had assumed the complete direction of 
 national affairs. According to his sovereign plea- 
 sure, measures were framed, negociations conduct- 
 ed, ministers appointed or displaced ; and, amidst 
 all these abuses, he was led, by violence of temper, 
 to aggravate injustice by rudeness, and exasperate 
 opposition by a vindictive spirit. 
 
 Such were the principal causes, both remote and 
 immediate, from which the national temper had re- 
 ceived its complexion, when Wentworth first ap- 
 peared in parliament. The conduct of James, and 
 its influence on the fate of his successor, bears no 
 faint resemblance to that of Louis XV. of France. 
 Ten years had elapsed since the houses were last 
 assembled, and, in that long interval, James had 
 exhausted every expedient, which he durst hazard, 
 to procure supplies without their intervention. 
 But as his necessities had multiplied beyond his 
 resources, he was at length driven to solicit from 
 parliament what he had in vain attempted to derive 
 from his prerogative. The recovery of the Palati- 
 nate, a favourite enterprise with the nation, he 
 laid hold of as the pretext for his demands j and 
 endeavoured to sooth the angry recollections of 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 3^ 
 
 the members, by ample apologies for his late errors.* 
 These pretences, and these apologies, the Com- 
 mons appeared to take in good part. Consisting 
 of men whose independence, supported by large 
 fortunes, and extensive influence, had acquired 
 strength from living at a distance from court, 
 amidst their tenants and connections ; they felt 
 their own importance, and proceeded in their ob- 
 jects without violence or precipitation. They per- 
 ceived the advantage which they possessed in hold- 
 ing the purse-strings of the nation ; and resolved 
 to avail themselves deliberately of this single, but 
 insurmountable check, in restraining the excesses 
 of arbitrary authority. 
 
 " For the recovery of the Palatinate, which he never attempted, 
 unless by some fruitless negociations, he pledged himself with an 
 unusual vehemence of language. He told the parliament that be 
 should render his persuasions effectual by the strong hand of an 
 army ; and, added he, " I will engage my crown, my blood, and 
 my soul, in the recovery." His excuses for past faults, if not con- 
 veyed with much dignity, possessed at least a blunt frankness not 
 ill calculated to disarm resentment. " I confess," said he, " I 
 have been liberal in my grants ; but, if I be informed, I will amend 
 all hurtful grievances. But who shall hasten after grievances, and 
 desire to make himself popular, he hath the spirit of Satan. If I 
 may know my errors, I will reform them. I was, in my first par- 
 liament, a novice : and, in my last, there was a kind of beasts called 
 Undertakers, a dozen of whom undertook to govern the last parlia- 
 ment, and they led me." See his speech in Rushworth's Collec- 
 tions, Vol. I. p. 22, 23. The speech is somewhat differently given 
 by Franklyn j but more as to the form of expression than the im- 
 port. 
 
40 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 Of the doubtful sincerity of James, in his pro- 
 fessions of a tender regard for their liberties, and 
 of an anxiety to remedy abuses, they could not fail 
 to be aware. Even in the interval betwixt issuinsr 
 the writs for Parliament, and its opening, he had 
 endeavoured to suppress all liberty of writing or 
 speech concerning public affairs, by a proclamation^ 
 in which he " commanded all, from the highest to 
 the lowest, not to intermeddle, by pen or speech, 
 with state-concernments, and secrets of empire, 
 either at home or abroad ; which were no fit themes 
 for vulgar persons, or common meetings.'* * Yet 
 the Commons, overlooking this significant indica- 
 tion, sought to conciliate his good will, by making 
 the supply of his necessities the first of their mea- 
 sures. Contrary to the usual course of procedure, 
 they voted him two subsidies at the very com- 
 mencement of their session ; and when they after- 
 wards proceeded to inquire into grievances, they 
 allowed not a murmur of disrespect towards the 
 king or his ministers, and touched only on such 
 glaring abuses as were disavowed and given up by 
 the court, t So liberal and moderate did this con- 
 duct appear, as to draw forth the public acknow- 
 ledgments of the king : — *' The House of Com- 
 mons at this time,*' says he, in a speech to Parlia- 
 ment, " have showed greater love, and used me 
 
 • Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 21. t Ibid. p. 21. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 41 
 
 with more respect in all their proceedings, than 
 ever any House of Commons have hitherto done 
 to me, or, I think, to any of my predecessors.'** 
 
 This happy understanding seemed to promise 
 the most fortunate effects ; but James having pro- 
 cured the relief of his present necessities, began, 
 with a more scrupulous eye, to look after his prei'o- 
 gative. The abuses which the Commons had un- 
 dertaken to investigate, he did not propose to de- 
 fend ; but he disliked that they should acquire, in 
 the eyes of the people, the merit of the abolition, 
 and appear the reformers of excesses which he had 
 tolerated. He therefore surprised the Commons, 
 in the midst of their labours, by announcing an 
 intended prorogation, reproved their petition for a 
 prolongation of their sitting, as a farther encroach- 
 ment on his prerogative ; and taught them, by this 
 precipitate jealousy, to be less forward in their 
 grants, till they had first secured the desired con- 
 cessions, t 
 
 Before the term to which he had prorogued 
 Parliament, James was overtaken by his necessities, 
 and found it expedient to reassemble the Houses 
 three months earlier than he once intended, t 
 Unfortunately his measures, during the recess, 
 were ill calculated to allay their irritation. He 
 had indeed reformed most of the abuses which had 
 
 * Rush worth, Vol. I. p. 25. | Ibid. p. 35. J Ibid. p. .39. 
 
42 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 excited complaint ; but he had been careful to in- 
 sert in the proclamation, that " he needed not the 
 November assistancc of Parliament to refonii them." * In a 
 
 20, 1621. 
 
 new edict against political writings and conversa- 
 tion, he had carried his encroachments on freedom 
 a step farther, and threatened severity, " as well 
 against the concealers of such discourses, as against 
 the boldness of audacious tongues and pens.*'t In 
 the progress of the Spanish match, new conces- 
 sions, it was apprehended, had been made in fa- 
 vour of the Catholics ; and, amidst the feeble re- 
 monstrances of James, the Elector Palatine had 
 been finally stript of his dominions. While the 
 Popish princes of Spain, France, and Germany, 
 - were proceeding, with a high hand, to extermi- 
 nate Protestantism, the English began to tremble 
 anev/ for their religion, and to look with jealousy 
 and resentment on their monarch, who so closely 
 confederated with its enemies. James had even 
 had the imprudence to infringe the most indispens- 
 able privileges of the Commons, and had resented 
 their displeasure at the prorogation, by committing 
 to prison Sir Edwin Sandys, one of their most po- 
 pular members. 
 
 It was in vain that, after their late experience, 
 James now endeavoured to draw from them speedy 
 supplies, by representing the immediate exigencies 
 
 * Rush worth. Vol. I. p. 30". f Ibid. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 48 
 
 of the Palatinate, and by assuring them that they 
 should afterwards be permitted to continue their 
 sittings " as long as the necessity of the state 
 should require.'** The Commons replied by a 
 petition and remonstrance, in which they stated 
 what they conceived to be the most imminent dan- 
 gers of the nation, and the most expedient reme- 
 dies. To remove the pressing apprehensions of 
 popery, they recommended that the penal laws 
 against the Catholics should be strictly executed, 
 the Spanish match broken off, the prince espoused 
 to one of his own religion, and war immediately 
 declared against all powers concerned in the spoli- 
 ation of the Palatinate. To show their intention 
 to grant supplies, as well as their expectation of 
 concessions in return, they said they had already 
 resolved to give, at the end of this session, one en- 
 tire subsidy, for the sole purpose of relieving the 
 Palatinate ; and humbly besought his majesty, that 
 " he would then also vouchsafe to give life, by his 
 royal assent, to such bills as, before that time, 
 should be prepared for his majesty's honour, and 
 the good of the people." f 
 
 The intention of presenting this petition was no 
 sooner reported to James, than, indignant that they 
 should presume to interfere with matters apper- 
 taining to his craft, as he usually termed it ; he 
 
 • Rushwortli, Vol. I. p. 39. t Ilji"^!- P- 10^ 'H; 12. 
 
44 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 wrote to the speaker, intimating his displeasure 
 that the Commons should venture " to argue and 
 debate publicly of matters far above their reach and 
 capacity, to his high dislionour, and breach of pre- 
 rogative royal.** He commanded them to abstain, 
 for the future, from all such discussions : and that 
 they might not be ignorant of his resolution to en- 
 force obedience, he desired the speaker to inform 
 them in his name, " that he thought himself very 
 free and able to punish any man's misdemeanours in 
 parliament, as well during their sitting as after; 
 which he meant not thenceforth to spare, upon any 
 occasion of any man*s insolent behaviour.** * 
 
 To acquiesce in this formidable assumption, 
 would have been to renounce all their privileges, 
 and annihilate their utility. They drew up a new 
 petition, equally firm and moderate, defending the 
 tenor of their former remonstrance, and asserting 
 that their freedom of debate, a privilege altogether 
 indispensable, was •* their ancient and undoubted 
 right, an inheritance received from their ancestors, 
 and often confirmed by his majesty*s own speeches 
 and messages.** t 
 
 The reply of James was no less explicit and per- 
 emptory than his letter to the speaker. He com- 
 pared their audacious interposition in affairs of 
 state, when called on for supplies, to the presump- 
 
 • Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 43, U. t Ibid. p. 46. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 45 
 
 tion of a merchant who should imagine that his 
 advance of a loan for carrying on a war entitled 
 him to dictate its operations. He reminded them 
 that he was an old and experienced king, who 
 needed none of tlieir lessons j and advised them, 
 in their deliberations, to recollect the old maxim, 
 that no man should pretend beyond his own craft.* 
 As to his son's match, he " desired to know how 
 they could have presumed to determine in that 
 point, without committing high treason ?" Their 
 claims as an ancient and undoubted right and in- 
 heritance, he could not allow ; but accounted it a 
 more proper style, " that their privileges were de- 
 rived from his grace, and the permission of him 
 and his ancestors." He, however, assured them 
 that they had nothing to dread, if they took care 
 not " to trench on his prerogative ;" which, added 
 }ie, " would enforce us, or any just king, to re- 
 trench of their privileges, them that would pare his 
 prerogative and the flowers of his crown." t 
 
 These pretensions and threats produced much ^ 
 
 t^ l December 
 
 agitation among the Commons, and a few days af- ^^• 
 terwards, a commission for their adjournment to 
 the eighth of February was lodged in the hands of 
 the clerk. Apprehensive of a dissolution, they pro- 
 
 * Nc sidor ultra ci-epidam, was the literal expression of the 
 king. 
 t Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 46 to 52. 
 
46 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 ceeded, without delay, to vindicate, in a protesta- 
 tion, their parliamentary rights and privileges. 
 Here their claims to freedom of speech, their in- 
 violability for all proceedings in parliament, and 
 tlieir title to debate and counsel on all affairs of 
 state, were asserted in language remarkable for its 
 vigour, temperance, and decision. * 
 
 Enraged at this new trespass of the Commons, 
 James commanded their journal-book to be brought 
 to him in council ; tore out, with his own hand, 
 the leaf which contained the protestation ; and, by 
 a speedy dissolution of parliament, proved his de- 
 jamnry 6, termination to set their pretensions at defiance. 
 To intimidate them more effectually, he laid his 
 hands on the more active members : some he im- 
 prisoned, and others he exiled, under pretence of 
 public employments, to Ireland. To silence the 
 general murmurs, he enforced his former proclama- 
 tions against speaking of state affairs ; and com- 
 manded the judges, in their several circuits, to do 
 exemplary justice on all such offenders, f 
 Conduct in The part which Wentworth acted, during the 
 Parliament. ^^^ scssious of this parliament, was conspicuous 
 chiefly for its circumspection and moderation. We 
 indeed find him active in promoting the expulsion 
 of a member, who had spoken with much irrever- 
 ence of a bill for repressing those licentious sports 
 
 • Ruslnvorth, Vol. I. p. 32, 33. f Ibiil. 35. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 47 
 
 on the Sabbath, which the royal proclamation had 
 authorized and encouraged ; and when the king 
 hazarded the assertion that the privileges of the 
 Commons were enjoyed by his permission, and 
 their deliberations controllable by his authority, 
 Wentworth urged the house to declare explicitly 
 that their privileges were their right and inheritance, 
 and the direction of their proceedings subject to no 
 cognizance but their own. The abrupt dissolution 
 of parliament, he followed with expressions of re- 
 gret and apprehension. * Yet his language to- 
 wards the court was always respectful, and his elo- 
 quence more frequently employed to moderate than 
 excite the zeal of his colleagues. Connected in- 
 timately with some members of the administration, 
 and holding an office, which, though inconsiderable, 
 might lead to others of more importance, he seems 
 to have been more solicitous to avoid unacceptable 
 conduct, than to obtain distinction from his oppo- 
 sition. The favour, which he found means to ac- 
 quire with James, was afterwards his frequent 
 boast, t 
 
 From the mutual animosity with which the king Again in 
 
 , , ,. IT T . , Parliament, 
 
 and the parliament had separated, it was not to be 1624. 
 expected that James would have a speedy recourse 
 to this national council. Yet within two years af- 
 ter the angry dissolution, writs were issued for a 
 
 • Strafford's Leiurs, Vol. I. p. 15. f Ibid. p. 85, 3tl. 
 
48 EARL OF STIl AFFORD. 
 
 new parliament ; and that body assembled to hear 
 language of unusual concession from the throne. 
 Changes that had occurred in the interval, and the 
 all-powerful ascendancy of Buckingham, produced 
 this altered tone. That favourite had perceived 
 the necessity of ingratiating himself with the prince, 
 who was soon to mount the throne ; and the re- 
 peated delays of the Spanish matcli seemed to af- 
 ford him a favourable opportunity. He artfully 
 represented to Charles the advantage which he 
 would derive from visiting Spain in person : the 
 delays of the match would be forthwith removed ; 
 the generosity of the Spaniards engaged by his con- 
 fidence in their honour ; and the affections of his 
 mistress awakened by his courage and unparalleled 
 gallantry. Having, by these arts, rendered the 
 prince impatient for the enterprise, he succeeded 
 in extorting from the feebleness of James a reluc- 
 tant consent to a project, which so manifestly en- 
 dangered the life or liberty of tl;e heir apparent. 
 Charles and Buckingham, accompanied by only 
 two attendants, now proceeded on their romantic 
 journey ; and, having passed undiscovered through 
 France, arrived in safety at Madrid. The Spaniards, 
 charmed with the gallantry and confidence of the 
 prince, received him with distinguished honours j 
 and, delighted to discover in his manners a stayed, 
 serious, dignified deportment, so congenial to their 
 own, they beheld him with impressions daily moie 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 4© 
 
 favourable. But in Buckingham they saw a very 
 different character: his gay, volatile demeanour, 
 his unreserved familiarity with the prince, and 
 the undisguised impetuosity of his passions, were 
 all occasions of disgust to the Spaniards. These 
 sentiments were fully returned by Buckingham. 
 Insulting their customs without scruple, he had 
 even the temerity to engage in a personal quarrel 
 with the reigning favourite of the Spanish court j 
 and returned to England with a decided determi- 
 nation to break off the match, and involve the na- 
 tions in hostility. ■■'" 
 
 The preservation of peace, and the marriage of 
 his son with a daughter of Spain, had long been 
 the pride of James, the darling object of his cares. 
 But Buckingham too well knew the weakness of 
 the monarch to be deterred by these obstacles ; 
 and, assisted by the endeavours of the prince, over 
 whom he had, during the journey, acquired an un- 
 limited ascendancy, he obliged the reluctant king 
 to terminate the negociations, and attempt the re- 
 covery of the Palatinate from Spain and her allies, 
 by force of arms. But the royal coffers furnished 
 no resources for war : the arbitrary exactions, im- 
 posed by royal authority, supplied only the imme- 
 diate necessities of the court ; and a parliament, 
 however hateful, was the only resort. The cour- 
 
 • Clarendon's Hist, of the Rebellion, edit. 1720, Vol. I. p. 1 1 to 18. 
 VOL. II. D 
 
'50 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 tiers, taking their tone from Buckingham, now 
 seemed to have forgot their tender apprehensions 
 for the prerogative ; and advised their sovereign 
 " to cast some crumbs of his crown among the 
 people, and those crumbs would work miracles, 
 and satisfy many thousands." * The king, yield- 
 ing to the irresistible control of his favourite, be- 
 gan to hold the same language ; and he who had 
 threatened and dissolved a parliament, for presum- 
 ing to discuss affairs of state, now assembled them 
 by his writs, *' to advise with him in matters con- 
 cerning his estate and dignity." t His speeches 
 were conceived in a similar strain. He could not 
 help reminding them that his condescending to ask 
 their advice was entirely gratuitous ; yet he called 
 on them to deliberate freely on the present weighty 
 affairs. Touching shortly, though feelingly, on his 
 own necessities, he strongly urged them to provide 
 adequate resources for the war ; and that no sus- 
 picion might be entertained of his diverting the 
 supplies to other purposes, he offered to commit 
 the receipt as well as the issue to themselves, t 
 
 Parliament had many reasons, Desides this un- 
 usual complaisance, to lend a favourable ear to the 
 demands of their monarch. If the people had 
 viewed the project of the Spanish match with ap- 
 
 • Rushwortb, Vol. I. p. 115. t Ibi(i. 
 
 t Ibid. Vol. I. p. 130, 131. 
 
 12 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 51 
 
 prehension, their fears were increased tenfold when 
 they saw their prince voluntarily consign himself 
 into the hands of that suspected nation. Even 
 should his life and freedom be spared, they trem- 
 bled lest their future sovereign should fall a prey 
 to the arts of the Catholics, and become the enemy 
 and persecutor of their religion. The return of 
 the prince in safety, and still a Protestant, was 
 hailed with universal acclamations ; and the public 
 joy was raised to its height, by the announced rup- 
 ture of the Spanish match, and a war for the reco- 
 very of the Palatinate. Parliament, partaking in 
 the general exultation, proceeded to show their 
 good will by immediately voting three subsidies 
 and three fifteenths to be levied within a year after 
 the declaration of war. Yet, mindful of the for- 
 mer proceedings of the court, they accepted the 
 king's offer to entrust the receipt and disburse- 
 ment of the supplies to a committee of their own 
 members. * And though they expressed, in strong 
 
 • The Commons, as well as the king, seem to have regarded 
 this as an act of extraordinary concession ; yet it merely invested 
 the committee with a power to see that the money was applied only 
 to the purposes of the war for which it was raised. The direction of 
 the warlike operations, as well as of the objects for which the par- 
 ticular disbursements were to be made, the king reserved entirely 
 to himself; and had recourse to the committee only as his trea- 
 surers. Rushworth, Vol, I. p. 140. In this measure, we find an 
 undesigned approximation to that expedient, so essential for the 
 prevention of jealousies and quarrels between the sovereign and the 
 
lift EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 terms, their gratitude for his majesty's conciliating 
 language, they ungraciously overlooked the subject 
 of his private necessities. After the investigation 
 of a few abuses, and the transaction of some unim- 
 portant affairs, the houses were adjourned without 
 any symptoms of interrupted harmony. * 
 
 During this session, in which Buckingham bore 
 unbounded sway, Wentworth seems to have re- 
 frained from any particular activity. Previous to 
 the assembling of parliament, he expresses, in a 
 letter to his brother-in-law, Lord Clifford, his slen- 
 der hopes frovn a display of parliamentary talents, 
 and the necessity of caution and reserve. " My 
 opinion of these meetings your Lordship knows 
 sufficiently well ; how services done there are cold- 
 ly requited on all sides, and, which is worse, many 
 times misconstrued. I judge farther the path we 
 are like to walk in is now more narrow and slip- 
 
 people, the separation of the king's private expences from those of 
 the nation. It seems strange how IVIr Hume should have been led 
 to represent this transaction as " an imprudent concession, of which 
 the consequences might have proved fatal to royal authority." 
 Chapter xlix. From some other expressions in the same passage, 
 he appears to have conceived that the committee were to determine 
 the objects to which the money should be applied, as well as to su- 
 perintend its receipt and disburstment. This power is now much 
 more completely possessed by the House of Commons, who have 
 annually laid before them a detailed account of the national receipt 
 and expenditure. 
 . • Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 136, UT. 
 
EARL OF STHAFFORD. 53 
 
 pery than formerly, yet not so difficult but may be 
 passed with circumspection, patience, and, princi- 
 pally, silence."* From the discourses of James, 
 as well as the delays vvhicli he interposed, Went- 
 worth distinctly perceived the monarch's aversion 
 to the Spanish war ; and augured that he would 
 one day seize an opportunity, to discover his re- 
 sentment against those who had dragged him into 
 hostilities, t 
 
 As yet, Wentworth looked with apparent calm- 
 ness on the agitations of political ambition, and 
 discovei'ed a mind capable of enjoying the tranquil 
 dignity of an independent fortune. By one of 
 those pestilential fevers, which, from the closeness 
 and fiithiness of the streets, formerly ravaged 
 London, he had lost his wife, and suffered much 
 in his own constitution. A tertian ague, which "'"^^ «"* 
 
 " retirement to 
 
 succeeded the fever, and which frequently recurred '''^ country 
 during the interval between the two Parliaments, 
 had obliged him to seek again for health in the 
 free air and vigorous amusements of the country. 
 Here his retirement was of considerable duration ; 
 and, in the life of a man in general so beset with 
 care, and so anxiously devoted to the pursuit of am- 
 bition, it is pleasant to dwell on an interval of phi- 
 losophic tranquillity. His letters to his friends in 
 London discover no symptoms of a yearning ambir 
 
 f Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 19. I Ibid, p. 20. 
 
54 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 tion, endeavouring to hide itself under the veil of 
 an affected philosophy. Unconstrained and spor- 
 tive, they appear the effusions of a mind which 
 entered fully into those temperate enjoyments. 
 To Secretary Calvert, an intimate friend and cor- 
 respondent, he writes thus : — 
 
 " Matters worthy your trouble, these parts 
 afford none, where our objects and thoughts are 
 limited to looking on a tulip, hearing a bird sing, 
 a rivulet murmuring, or some such petty but 
 innocent pastime, which, for my part, I begin 
 to feed myself in, having, I praise God, recovered 
 more in a day by open country air, than in a fort- 
 night's time in that smothering one of London. 
 By my troth I wish you, divested of the importu- 
 nity of business, here for half a dozen hours ; you 
 should taste how free and fresh we breathe, and 
 how procul metu fridmur modestis opibus ; a 
 wanting sometimes denied to persons of great- 
 er eminency in the administration of common- 
 wealths." * 
 
 In another letter to Mr Calvert, he takes occa,. 
 sion to say, that he had written some news of state 
 affairs to his cousin Wandesford, who was interests 
 ed in such things ; but to you, continues he, I 
 
 * Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 16* 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 55 
 
 have very different matters to relate ; " that our 
 harvest is all in, a most fine season to make fish- 
 ponds, our plums all gone and past, peaches, 
 quinces, and grapes, almost fully ripe ; which will, 
 I trow, better suit with a Thistleworth * palate, 
 and approve how we have the skill to serve every 
 man in his cue. These only we countrymen muse 
 of, hoping, in such harmless retirements, for a just 
 defence from the higher powers, and possessing 
 ourselves in contentment, pray, with Driope in the 
 poet, 
 
 " Et siqua est pietas, ab acuta; vulnere falcis, 
 Et pecoris morsu froiidcs defendite nostras "■[ 
 
 • Secretary Calvert's country seat. 
 
 "1" Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 24. In his letters at this period, 
 Wentworth occasionally amuses himself with the follies of the 
 king and the courtiers. He informs Secretary Calvert,- that he at 
 length had news for him from the court at Rufford, whither James, 
 ■who was passionately addicted to hunting, had retired to enjoy this 
 amusement. " The loss of a stag, and the hoimds hunting foxes 
 instead of a deer, put the king your master into a marvellous chafi^ 
 accompanied with those ordinary symptoms better known to you 
 courtiers, I conceive, than to us rural swains ; in the height where- 
 of comes a clown galloping and staring full in his face : — His 
 blood ! (quoth he,) am I come forty miles to see a fellow ? and 
 presently, in a great rage, turns about his horse, and away he goes 
 faster than he came. This address caused his majesty and all the 
 company to burst into a vehement laughter, and so the fume of the 
 time was happily dispersed." Strafford's Letters, p. 23. It does 
 no little credit to James's good humour, that he could so heartily 
 join in the laugh at this whimsical, but very direct satire on his 
 personal appearance. 
 
56 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 At this, as at other periods of his life, Went- 
 worth was strongly aUve to the calls of duty. In 
 various letters, we discover his anxious solicitude 
 to promote the improvement of his numerous bror 
 thers, and to provide them with suitable appoint- 
 ments. * Of the attention and good sense with 
 which he guided their inexperience, we have an 
 example in his advices to his brother Michael, who 
 had chosen the army for his profession, and was 
 now making a campaign in Germany. After seve* 
 ral admonitions to aim at excellence in his profes- 
 sion, by an assiduous employment of his time, by a 
 diliiient observation of the transactions around 
 him, by aiding his memory with a regular journal 
 of all remarkable incidents which contributed either 
 to success or defeat ; he endeavours to repress the 
 ardour and indiscretion of early years. He advis- 
 es him to go on with the sober, stayed courage 
 of an understanding man, rather than with the 
 rash and distempered heat of an unadvised youth ; 
 and warns him, that the man who ventures himself 
 desperately, will, even by the wise, be deemed un- 
 fit for command, since he exercises none over his 
 own unruly and misleading passions, f 
 March 27, Prom pleasurcs so serene, and from duties so 
 commendable, Wentworth was called, by the inci- 
 dents of a new reign, to scenes more active, and 
 
 * Strafford's Lttttrs, ^'ol. I. p. ih \G, 18. t Ibid. p. 18. 
 
 6 
 
 1C25. 
 
EAIIL OF STRAFFORD. 57 
 
 transactions more questionable. The previous con- 
 duct of Charles, who now ascended the throne, had 
 produced a very favourable impression of his cha- 
 racter. The strictness of his morals, the reserve 
 of his conversation, the dignity of his external de- 
 portment, were advantageously contrasted with the 
 dissipation, the loquacity, and awkward demeanour 
 of his father. Of the favourable disposition of the 
 public, he had received the most indubitable indi- 
 cations. On his return from Spain he had been 
 welcomed with loud and cordial demonstrations of 
 joy ; and from his participation in the rupture with 
 that crown, and the war for the recovery of the 
 Palatinate, he had derived new accessions of popu- 
 larity. It was therefore with confidence, as far as 
 regarded himself, that he convoked a parliament 
 on his accession, and requested immediate supplies. 
 But however acceptable might be the alleged oc- m Pariia. 
 casion, (the prosecution of the war for the Palati- .ufne'is, 
 nate,) there were certain circumstances that ren- 
 dered parliament backward in their grants. 
 
 Kino- James had promised that vigorous mea- 
 sures should be taken for asserting the rights of his 
 son-inlaw; yet nothiilg had been effected. A con- 
 siderable army had, indeed, been raised and dis- 
 patched on board of transports; but no proper 
 measures having been taken for their disembark- 
 ation, they were so long delayed at the ports of 
 France and Holland, to which they sailed, that, 
 
58 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 partly from want of provisions, partly from a con- 
 tagious distemper which had crept in among men 
 so long crowded up in narrow vessels, scarcely It 
 third of the original number came to land; and 
 with this slender and dispirited force, no offensive 
 operations could be attempted. * The naval prepa- 
 rations of James had also been very tardy ; and, in- 
 stead of adventurers being enriched by captures 
 from the Spaniards, our merchantmen, now in- 
 creased in number, became too often a prey to our 
 enemies, t '* It represents unto me,*' says Went- 
 worth on this occasion, " the sport of whipping the 
 blind bear, where they lash, and that roundly too 
 on all hands, and yet the smart and blows given so 
 distract the poor creature, as she knows not where 
 to take her revenge." t 
 
 The nation was likewise agitated by an alarm of 
 popery. The rupture of the Spanish negociations, 
 and a promise of James to enforce the penal laws 
 against recusants, had at one time allayed the pub- 
 lic apprehension, and diffused the greatest satisfac- 
 tion. It was in reference to this promise that 
 Wentworth, in a letter to a friend, dropt an ex- 
 pression highly expressive of the national dread of 
 popery. " I hope in God we shall once again put 
 
 • Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 154. 
 
 t Strafford's Letters, Vol. I, p. 22. 
 
 X Wentworth to Wandesford, Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 22. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 59^ 
 
 a ring in the nose of that leviathan, and bend and 
 turn him to the safety of the state, and advance- 
 ment of the cause of our most just and gracious 
 God." * Such were also the hopes of the nation ; 
 but the vanity of James soon disappointed them, 
 and excited anew the fears for the Protestant faith. 
 After the match with Spain was broken offj a 
 daughter of France seemed to him the only consort 
 worthy of his son ; and negociations for this pur- 
 pose were immediately commenced. The French 
 court had viewed with fearful presages the alliance 
 of England with the Spaniards, and received with 
 joy an overture which promised to engage her per- 
 manently in their interests : but as James could not 
 conceal his eagerness for the conclusion, they took 
 advantage of his weakness to obtain their own con- 
 ditions. All the invidious concessions in favour of 
 popery, which had been claimed by the Spaniards, 
 were now yielded to the French ; and experience 
 has shown that the apprehensions of the English 
 nation were not groundless, when, by a fatal act of 
 compliance, the education of the royal offspring, 
 till their thirteenth year, was confided to their po- 
 pish mother, t 
 
 These, indeed, were the transactions of James ; 
 but Charles had subscribed to all the concessions in 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, V^ol. I. p. 22. 
 t Rush worth, Vol. I. p. lo2. 
 
60 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 favour of popery, and betrayed no less eagerness 
 for the match than his father. Its completion was 
 the first important act of his reign ; and the meet- 
 ing of parliament was delayed till the young queen 
 had been received in England. From these cir- 
 cumstances a suspicion arose that the court, aware 
 of the evil eye with which tliis alliance was regard- 
 ed, had anticipated remonstrances from parliament, 
 and, to prevent them, had hastened the conclusion 
 of the treaty : nor was it unforeseen that this con- 
 duct would affect the question of supplies. Went- 
 worth, after alluding to the state of public opinion, 
 speaks ironically of the match to his friend Calvert : 
 " For my part I like it well, and conceive the bar- 
 gain wholesome on our side, that we save three 
 other subsidies and fifteenths. Less could not 
 have been demanded for the dissolving of this 
 treaty, and still the king your master Iiave pretend-* 
 ed to suffer loss, no doubt for our sake only, which 
 certainly we should have believed." * 
 
 The conduct of Charles, in respect to this match, 
 
 having impressed the nation with a suspicion of his 
 
 attachment to popery, he found it expedient, in his 
 
 first speech to parliament, to repel the allegation, t' 
 
 Discontent ^q^ wevc there wantiniij other circumstances to di- 
 
 of the na- _ "^ 
 
 ^on- minish his late popularity. In retaining all the mi- 
 
 • Wentworth to Calvert, Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 2t. 
 t Ruhhwortli, Vol. I. p- 172. 
 
EARI, OF STRAFFORD. 61 
 
 nisters of his father, he seemed to give a pledge 
 that he would follow the same counsels ; and from 
 the resignation with which he submitted to the dic- 
 tates of Buckingham, there remained no hope of a 
 diminution of that insolent minion's authority. 
 The popularity of the Duke, during the last ses- 
 sion of parliament, had already vanished. It was 
 now recollected, that, if he had brought back the 
 prince safe, it was he who had curried him thither ; 
 that, if he had assisted to break off the Spanish 
 match, he had zealously promoted the French ; * 
 and thcit many glaring abuses could be distinctly 
 traced to his influence. Jf the caution with which 
 Charles concealed his political principles, during 
 the lifetime of his father, had bred an opinion of 
 his prudence, it had also engendered some suspi- 
 cion of his candour. And though, while prince, 
 he had displayed no extravagance in his expences, 
 the profusion with which, on his accession, he had 
 scattered among those around him the remains of 
 the treasury, rendered it doubtful how far his fru- 
 gality could resist the solicitation of courtiers, t 
 
 Influenced by these circumstances, the Com- 
 mons, in their first deliberations, discovered a dis- 
 position to treat of grievances as well as supplies. 
 
 " Ruslnvorth, Vol. I. p. 470. 
 
 t ClatcnJon's History of the Rebellion, Vol. I. p. i, 24, 2. 
 3Iay's History of the Parliament, p. 6, 7. edit. 1647. 
 
Go EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 favour of popery, and betrayed no less eagerness 
 for the match than his father. Its completion was 
 the first important act of his reign ; and the meet- 
 ing of parliament was delayed till the young queen 
 had been received in England. From these cir- 
 cumstances a suspicion arose that the court, aware 
 of the evil eye with which tliis alliance was regard- 
 ed, liad anticipated remonstrances from parliament, 
 and, to prevent them, had hastened the conclusion 
 of the treaty : nor was it unforeseen that this con- 
 duct would affect the question of supplies. Went- 
 worth, after alluding to the state of public opinion, 
 speaks ironically of the match to his friend Calvert : 
 " For my part I like it well, and conceive the bar- 
 gain wholesome on our side, that we save three 
 other subsidies and fifteenths. Less could not 
 have been demanded for the dissolving of this 
 treaty, and still the king your master Iiave pretend-, 
 ed to suffer loss, no doubt for our sake only, which 
 certainly we should have believed." * 
 
 The conduct of Charles, in respect to this match, 
 
 having impressed the nation with a suspicion of his 
 
 attachment to popery, he found it expedient, in his 
 
 first speech to parliament, to repel the allegation, t' 
 
 Discontent ^q^ were there wantinjjj other circumstances to di- 
 
 of the na- _'' 
 
 *»on- minish his late popularity. In retaining all the mi- 
 
 • Wentvvorth to Calvert, Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 2i. 
 I Uuhhwortli, Vol. I. p- 172, 
 
EARI, OF STRAFFORD. 6l 
 
 nisters of his father, he seemed to give a pledge 
 that he would follow the same counsels ; and from 
 the resignation with which he submitted to the dic- 
 tates of Buckingham, there remained no hope of a 
 diminution of that insolent minion's authority. 
 The popularity of the Duke, during the last ses- 
 sion of parliament, had already vanished. It was 
 now recollected, that, if he had brought back the 
 prince safe, it was he who had curried him thither ; 
 that, if he had assisted to break off the Spanish 
 match, he had zealously promoted the French ; * 
 and that many glaring abuses could be distinctly 
 traced to his influence. If the caution with which 
 Charles concealed his political principles, during 
 the lifetime of his father, had bred an opinion of 
 his prudence, it had also engendered some suspi- 
 cion of his candour. And though, while prince, 
 he had displayed no extravagance in his expences, 
 the profusion with which, on his accession, he had 
 scattered among those around him the remains of 
 the treasury, rendered it doubtful how far his fru- 
 gality could resist the solicitation of courtiers, t 
 
 Influenced by these circumstances, the Com- 
 mons, in their first deliberations, discovered a dis- 
 position to treat of grievances as well as supplies. 
 
 " Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 470. 
 
 t Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, Vol. I. p. i, 24, ^.5. 
 Clay's History of the Parliament, p. (i, 7. edit. 1647, 
 
©2 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 As the first-fruits of their affection, however, they 
 immediately presented his majesty with two sub- 
 sidies, reserving their further liberality till some 
 prominent abuses were investigated. * But a pes- 
 tilential distemper, which extended its ravages over 
 London, quickly interrupted their labours, and ob- 
 liged the king to adjourn the session to Oxford, f 
 August 1, Here, after a short recess, they assembled with 
 dispositions by no means more favourable to the 
 views of the court. During their previous meet- 
 ing, Charles had excited some disgust by oppos- 
 ing his prerogative to their discussions ; and by 
 prohibiting their prosecution of one Montague, his 
 chaplain, who had written a book, which they con- 
 strued into an encouragement of popery, t But 
 this cause of offence was slight, when compared 
 to the intelligence which now transpired, that the 
 king had enabled the French court, by the assist- 
 ance of some ships, to destroy the Protestant fleet 
 of Rochelle, and lay siege to that town, the last 
 refuge of the Hugonots. In the ruin of these Pro- 
 testants, whom Elizabeth had cherished, whom sound 
 policy, as well as religion, seemed to call on England 
 to support, they saw grounds for the most gloomy 
 apprehensions ; and Buckingham, whose supreme 
 authority pointed him out as the author of these 
 
 * Rush worth, Vol. I. p. 173, 174. t Ibid. p. 174. 
 
 i Ibid. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 63 
 
 measures, became the marked object of their dis- 
 pleasure. * 
 
 The Commons were now far more disposed to 
 investigate grievances than to vote subsidies. It 
 was in vain that the court urged the necessities of 
 the state, and the impossibility of continuing active 
 hostilities without farther supplies. The Commons 
 seemed determined to inquire how their former 
 grants had been applied ; to obtain, in return for 
 their concessions, the reform of various abuses j 
 and to bring to light the authors of the public mis- 
 fortunes. Their censures now pointed very direct- 
 ly at the Duke of Buckingham ; when that fa- 
 vourite, apprehensive for his safety, induced the 
 king to interrupt the proceedings of parliament by 
 an abrupt dissolution, t 
 
 During these transactions, Wentworth took his wentworth 
 station among the most conspicuous patriots. No ["onf^""' 
 change had taken place in the measures of the 
 new reign ; there had appeared no inclination to 
 abate the claims of the prerogative ; the insolent 
 Buckingham still distributed the favours as well as 
 the frowns of the court. The virtuous, the mo- 
 derate, the ambitious, were all equally interested 
 to ameliorate this state of affairs. Wentworth had 
 
 * Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 173, 176. Whitlocke's Memorials, 
 
 p. 1, 2. 
 
 t Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 191. Clarendon, Hist, of Reb. Vol. I. 
 p. 5, 25. Whitlocke, p. 2. 
 
Oil EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 now reached his thirty-third year, and had attract- 
 ed the attention of botli parties. His connections 
 were considerable, his talents were much respect- 
 ed, his vigour and decision gave him forcible claims 
 to attention. Ready in conception, and pointed in 
 expression, his eloquence imparted a lustre to his 
 sentiments, and procured for his knowledge even 
 more than adequate estimation. * His acquire- 
 ments had been obtained with a method and dili- 
 gence, which proved that, even in leisure and re- 
 tirement, he had not lost sight of more active 
 scenes. From his earliest youth, he had studied 
 the graces of composition ; in the most admired 
 authors of England, of France, and of Rome, he 
 had searched for the beauties of style ; and to the 
 popular eloquence of his age he had trained him- 
 self by a diligent attendance on the chief orators 
 of the pulpit, the bar, and the council. When he 
 met with an esteemed oration or tract on any sub- 
 ject, he deferred studying it, till he had framed a 
 speech on the same argument : and then, from a 
 comparison with his own essay, he endeavoured to 
 appreciate the merits of the author, and to draw 
 information for the correction of his own defects, t 
 Courted by Fo tlic man thus formidal)le by his capacity, ac- 
 ham."°' quirements, and energy, Buckingham knew that 
 
 • Chveiulon, Hist, of Hcb. Vol. I. p. "^Ji', '2(JU. 
 + Itudclirte's Kssuy. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 66 
 
 he had given unprovoked offence ; and daily ap- 
 prehending an attack from the Commons, he judg- 
 ed it expedient to conciliate this opponent by ex- 
 pressions of esteem, and promises of future favour. 
 These overtures were not unacceptable to Went- 
 worth. To the request for his good oflfices, he re- 
 plied with address and dignity, " Tliat he honour- 
 ed the duke's person, and w^as ready to serve him 
 in the quality of an honest man and a gentleman." 
 The duke replied by cordial acknowledgments ; 
 and during the short remainder of the session, 
 Wentworth exerted himself to moderate the re- 
 sentment of his party. * 
 
 These friendly appearances were of short dura- 
 tion. The king and his minister, amidst their 
 fears, and their resentment at the proceedings of 
 the last parliament, had overlooked their urgent 
 necessities, or formed vain conceptions of their in- 
 dependent means of supply j for few months had 
 elapsed when another parliament was found to be 
 their only resource. The intervening events, how- 
 ever, gave no reason to hope that this assembly 
 would prove subservient to the views of the king. 
 For the relief of his immediate exigencies, he 
 had compelled men to accept the title of knight- 
 hood ; employed the arbitrary and partial method 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. Si. 
 VOL. ir. E 
 
68 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 ham having made his advances from fear, had re- 
 garded his friendly replies with suspicion, and hav- 
 ing been informed that some leading men, of whom 
 Wentworth was one, had agreed to support a pro- 
 secution against him in the next parliament, thought 
 he should more safely trust to the inability than to 
 the professions of his adversary. * Wentworth left 
 no means untried to escape this unseasonable ap- 
 pointment. He solicited the intercession of his 
 friends at court ; but they could only remind him 
 of the uncontrollable influence of his enemy ; 
 " that those whom he would advance were ad- 
 vanced ; and those whom he but frowned upon 
 were thrown down." t The duke, to conciliate 
 the approaching parliament, by an appearance of 
 solicitude for the recovery of the Palatinate, was 
 now abroad on an embassy to the Low Countries ; 
 but the injunctions, which he had given before his 
 departure, were to Charles sacred and inviolable. 
 •* I think," writes Sir Arthur Ingram to Went- 
 worth, " if all the council that was at court had 
 joined together in request for you, it would not have 
 prevailed ; for it was set and resolved what should 
 be done before the great duke's going over, and 
 from that the king would not change a tittle." t 
 Moderate Another expedient still remained. The dis- 
 ability to serve in parliament, which was supposed 
 
 resolutions. 
 
 * Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 28. + Ibid. X 11^"^- P- ^^' 
 
EARL OF STKAFFORD. 69 
 
 to attend the office of sheriff, depended merely on 
 a custom, which had been sometimes infringed, and 
 often strenuously disputed. Some of his fellow- 
 sufferers had consequently resolved to procure their 
 re-election, and insist on their rights ; * but after 
 mature deliberation, a more moderate course seem- 
 ed eligible to Wentworth. He had reason to 
 think that he was by no means particularly obnox- 
 ious to the court. In reading over the list of 
 sheriffs, the king had passed the rest without no- 
 tice ; but on naming Wentworth, he had added, 
 " he is an honest gentleman." t He could reckon 
 several of the ministers among his intimate friends ; 
 and it seemed most imprudent to bar the door of 
 favour against himself for ever, by engaging in a 
 doubtful and dangerous conflict with the crown. 
 In the moderate course, to which these considera- 
 tions moved him, he was confirmed by the coun- 
 sels of Lord Clare, whose beautiful and accomplish- 
 ed daughter. Lady Arabella Hollis, he had lately 
 married. His lordship, in reply to Wentworth's 
 request for advice, highly commends his prudent 
 resolves ; expresses an apprehension that it was 
 vain to oppose the claims of the king ; and that, 
 even should the election be found valid, the court, 
 in revenge, would proceed to disfranchise the elec- 
 tors. He, indeed, heartily wishes success to those 
 
 * Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 30. I Ibid. p. 29. 
 
70 EAHL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 who had the boldness to stand forward on this oc- 
 casion ; and that their prevailing over the trick of 
 the courtiers might produce new security for the 
 subject and the parliament, *' and make great ones 
 more cautious in wrestlino; with that high court." 
 Yet he would not have these advantages purchas- 
 ed with the danger of his son-in-law ; and he 
 concludes with citing Wentworth's own words, 
 that, in such a case, " it was much better to be a 
 spectator than an actor." * The event justified 
 the caution, if not the magnanimity of this con- 
 duct : the opposition attempted to the mandates 
 of the court proved ineffectual ; t and Sir Edward 
 Coke, in the subordinate station of sheriff, was ob- 
 liged to attend the circuits where he had once 
 presided. 
 
 This invidious artifice, while it exposed the 
 weakness of government, produced not the expect- 
 ed benefits. In the new parliament appeared the 
 same spirit of independence, the same forcible ora- 
 toiy, the same dislike of the favourite, the same de- 
 termined pui-pose to redress the public abuses : 
 and the court now learnt with dismay that a fa- 
 vourable occasion will always call forth talent, and 
 stimulate exertion. 
 Feb. fi, In the opening speech, which was delivered by 
 
 1C2C. 
 
 " Earl of Clare fo Wentworth. Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 31, 
 t Rushwortb, Vol. I. iOi. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 71 
 
 the Lord Keeper, the Parliament were reminded 
 of the supreme height and majesty of the monarch, 
 the unspeakable privilege they enjoyed in being 
 allowed to approach him, his many private virtues, 
 and his uncommon affection to Parliaments. This 
 love was now his only motive for calling them to- 
 gether ; and the same sentiment made him unwill- 
 ing to prolong their sitting, since their safety 
 might again be brought into peril by a dangerous 
 contagion. He therefore requested them to pro- 
 ceed without delay in framing good and wise laws, 
 the express purpose of their convocation. That 
 nothing might diminish the effect of this unusual- 
 ly gracious language, no mention was made of sup- 
 plies. * 
 
 The Commons, taking this friendly exhortation 
 in good part, proceeded to investigate such abuses 
 as required the remedy of new laws. They now 
 discovered that the expences of the crown had 
 been needlessly increased ; that new impositions 
 and monopolies had been multiplied, and the regu- 
 lar customs enhanced by a new book of rates : 
 that the duties of tonnage and poundage, which 
 former princes had uniformly received from the 
 bounty of Parliament, were now levied by the sole 
 authority of the king ; t that the late grants of 
 
 • Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 202, 203. 
 
 f These duties on exports and imports had been granted to each 
 monarch only during his own hfe ; but at the commencement of ^ 
 
72 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 the Commons had been misapplied, and the hoi- 
 nour as well as the safety of the nation compromis- 
 ed by shameful mismanagement. They found, 
 that a direct and solemn promise made by the 
 king to the last Parliament, that he would remove 
 popish recusants from all offices of trust, had been 
 eluded ; and they were enabled to present him 
 with a long list of such persons still occupying im- 
 portant stations. Other instances of dubious faith 
 in the prince were now also brought to light. The 
 Earl of Bristol, who had resided as ambassador in 
 Spain, and had, by his prudence and skill, brought 
 the match with the Infanta almost to a conclusion, 
 when it was broken ofF by the intrigues of Buck" 
 ingham, had witnessed all the misconduct of the 
 favourite, and had, to prevent dangerous disco- 
 veries, been silenced and confined on his arrival in 
 England. Being now released, he delivered an 
 explicit account of the whole transaction, from 
 which it too plainly appeared, that Charles, even 
 while he interchanged the most solemn oaths of 
 friendship with the King of Spain, had already de- 
 tennined to violate them ; and that he had, in the 
 
 new reign, the prince had sometimes ventured to levy them till a 
 parliament could be summoned to grant them ; and as he never 
 pretended to do so of right, the act had passed unquestioned. The 
 misunderstanding between Charles and his first parliament hud de- 
 prived him of this grant, and he now avowedly levied the duties 
 
 yy his own authority. 
 
 12 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 73 
 
 face of Parliament, sanctioned the duke's narrative 
 of their reception in Spain, when he knew it to be 
 false. * 
 
 All these abuses and breaches of good faith 
 were imputed to Buckingham. It was then, as 
 now, the rule that ministers alone were accountable 
 for political mismanagement ; and, from the un- 
 bounded control of the duke over his sovereign, 
 no minister was ever more justly charged with that 
 responsibility. The Commons alleged that he had 
 impoverished the crown by the vast gifts in money 
 and land, which he had received for himself and 
 his kindred j that he had accumulated into his 
 own hands a multiplicity of high and incompatible 
 oflfices ; that, in deference to his father and mo- 
 ther-in-law, who were avowed Catholics, he had 
 connived at the indulgence of recusants ; that, 
 through him, honours, offices, places of judicature, 
 and ecclesiastical promotions, had been scandalously 
 set to sale ; and that, in his united capacity of ad- 
 miral and general, he had left the narrow seas un- 
 guarded, delivered over vessels to assist the French 
 court against the Protestants of Rochelle, and, by 
 his criminal negligence and imprudence, given rise 
 to disasters both by sea and land. These accusa- 
 tions they proceeded to prove in an impeachment 
 before the House of Lords, t 
 
 • Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 207, 208, 238, 256. 
 t Ibid. p. 21 4, 217, 303, et seq. 
 
74 EAUL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 The king and the favourite looked with dread 
 on these proceedings, which they had neither the 
 resolution to await, nor the address to elude. As 
 soon as direct charges began to be advanced in the 
 House of Commons against the duke, Charles, 
 laying aside his former conciliatory language, re- 
 solved to accelerate their grants by peremptory de- 
 mands, and to repress their accusations by menaces. 
 Overlooking the right of impeachment, which the 
 Commons had acted on, unchallenged, both in the 
 last and the preceding reigns, he told them that 
 he would not allow them to call in question even 
 his meanest servant, far less his chosen minister ; 
 he threatened to avenge himself of those members 
 who presumed to speak disrespectfully of the duke ; 
 and commanded them, as they wished to avoid 
 worse consequences, without delay to declare the 
 exact amount of the supplies which they were 
 willing to grant. * 
 
 The Commons, to show that it was not their ob- 
 ject to distress the king, voted him three fifteenths 
 and three subsidies, to which they afterwards added 
 a fourth ; but, convinced both from former expe- 
 rience, and the present disposition of the court, 
 that this was the only hold which they had on its 
 forbearance, they deferred passing the vote into 
 a law, till their grievances should first be preferred 
 
 • Rushwprth, Vol. I. p. 2U, 215, 216, 217. 
 10 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. ^5 
 
 and answered. * At the same time, disregarding 
 the menaces of the court, they proceeded to inves- 
 tigate the misconduct of Buckingham. | 
 
 Charles now resolved to increase the vigour of 
 his language. He told the Commons, that he 
 would suffer no violation of his royal rights, under 
 colour of parliamentary liberty; that he would 
 permit no inquiry into the conduct of his meanest 
 servant ; and that he considered their charges 
 against the duke as attacks on his own honour. 
 He expressed his displeasure at the scantiness of 
 the supplies, and still more at the condition with 
 which they were accompanied, and fixed a precise 
 day, by which he commanded them to state, direct- 
 ly and finally, the amount of unconditional sup- 
 plies which they purposed to grant. To make 
 them aware that he had still more decisive mea- 
 sures in agitation, he added, " remember that par- 
 liaments are altogether in my power for their call- 
 ing, sitting, and dissolution ; therefore, as I find 
 the fruits of them good or evil, they are to conti- 
 nue, or not to be." % 
 
 But the resolution of Charles was unequal to 
 the boldness of his language. Hearing that his 
 speech had excited high indignation among the 
 Commons, he sent Buckingham to explain away 
 
 • Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 221, 409. | Ibid. p. 221. 
 X Ibid. p. 222, 223, 224, 225. 
 
7^ KARL OF STjRAFFORP. 
 
 the offensive expressions, and to retract his peremp- 
 tory demand of supplies by a precise day. * He 
 afterwards, without expressing any resentment, re- 
 ceived a remonstrance, in which they asserted, 
 *^ that it hath been the ancient, constant, and un- 
 doubted right and usage of parliaments, to ques- 
 tion and complain of all persons, of what degree 
 soever, ibund grievous to the commonwealth, in 
 abusing the power and trust committed to them by 
 their sovereign." t So far from impeding their 
 impeachment of the duke, Charles now, by a spe- 
 cial message, permitted them to introduce what 
 new matter they pleased into the charges which 
 they had exhibited against him. t 
 
 Yet the prosecution was hardly commenced, 
 when the alarm of the favourite and the violent 
 resolves of the king returned. Two of the most 
 active managers of the impeachment were sent to 
 the Tower ; § and Sir Dudley Carlton, the vice- 
 chamberlain, renewed, still more explicitly, the 
 king*s former threats. " I beseech you, gentle- 
 men," said he, " move not his majesty by trench- 
 ing on his prerogatives, lest you bring him out of 
 love with parliaments. You have heard his ma- 
 jesty's frequent messages to you, to put you for- 
 ward in a course that will be most convenient. In 
 
 * Rush worth, Vol. 1. p. 226. f Ibid. p. 24.o. 
 
 X Ibid. p. 248. § Ibid. p. 356. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 77 
 
 those messages he told you, that, if there were not 
 correspondency between him and you, he should 
 be enforced to use new counsels. Now, I pray 
 you, consider what these new counsels are, and 
 may be : I fear to declare those that I conceive. 
 In all Christian kingdoms, you know that parlia- 
 ments were in use anciently, by which they were 
 governed in a most flourishing manner, until the 
 monarchs began to know their own strength ; and 
 seeing the turbulent spirit of their parliaments, they 
 at length, by little and little, began to stand upon 
 their own prerogatives, and at last overthrew the 
 parliaments throughout Christendom, except here 
 only with us. And, indeed, you would count it a 
 great misery, if you knew the subject in foreign 
 countries as well as myself; to see them look, not 
 like our nation, with store of flesh on their backs, 
 but like so many ghosts, and not men ; being no- 
 thing but skin and bones, with some thin cover to 
 their nakedness, and wearing only wooden shoes 
 on their feet ; so that they cannot eat meat, of 
 wear good clothes, but they must pay taxes to the 
 king for it. This is a misery beyond expression, 
 and that which yet we are free from. Let us be 
 careful, then, to preserve the king's good opinion 
 of parliaments, which bring this happiness to this 
 nation, and make us envied of all others, while 
 there is this sweetness between his majesty and his 
 
78 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 Commons, lest we lose the repute of a free born 
 nation, by turbulency in parliament." * 
 
 The Commons had just reason to be alarmed at 
 this discourse, which so plainly intimated that the 
 national freedom could be retained only by their 
 unlimited compliance ; that the king, rather than 
 have his will disputed, would, like the other abso- 
 lute princes of Europe, overturn the ancient consti- 
 tution of his country, and reduce his people, from a 
 flourishing condition, to the lowest ebb of wretch- 
 edness. But their indignation was further aggra- 
 vated, when they saw the Duke of Buckingham, in 
 contempt of their impeachment, ostentatiously in- 
 vested with new dignities. The Chancellorship of 
 the University of Cambridge having become va- 
 cant, the king signified his pleasure that Bucking- 
 ham should be elected to this station of honour. 
 The majority of the members yielded obedience j 
 and the king, in a public letter of thanks to the 
 University, assured them that he considered an ho- 
 nour conferred on the duke as an obligation to 
 himself, t 
 
 It was in vain that the king now addressed the 
 indignant Commons, again commanding them to 
 expedite the bill of supplies by a certain day, and 
 threatening that he would otherwise have recourse 
 to other resolutions. They replied by a humble 
 
 • Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 359. f Ibid. p. 371, 374.. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 79 
 
 petition for the removal of Buckingham from ac- 
 cess to the royal presence ; and proceeded^ in tem- 
 perate and respectful language, to draw up a more 
 detailed remonstrance to the same effect, in which 
 they also protested against the illegal levying of 
 tonnage and poundage : when the king, alarmed 
 and angry, suddenly put an end to their labours 
 by a dissolution. * 
 
 During this eventful contest, Wentworth conti- wenu 
 nued, at a distance from the scene, calmly and di- conduce as 
 ligently executing the duties of his office. Al- 
 though he had undertaken them with reluctance, 
 he was determined to discharge them with fidehty; 
 and, in the true spirit of a philosopher, he says^ 
 *' I will withall closely and quietly attend my own 
 private fortune, repairing and settling it with in- 
 nocent hands, moderate and regulated desires, and 
 so repose myself on the goodness of the Almighty, 
 that doth not only divert the scourges of an adver- 
 sary, but doth even convert them into health and 
 soundness. Can there be a fairer or fuller re- 
 venge ? Insanos feri tumultus ridere. Is there 
 any state or condition so safe, more to be recom- 
 mended ? Virtus vitae tacitos heatae, rure secretOf 
 sibi nota tandum^ ea^igit annos. Yet I do lament, 
 sadly lament, the miseries of these times, being re- 
 duced to such a prostration of spirit, as we are nei- 
 
 * Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 397, lOi, 405. 
 
80 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 ther able to overcome the exulcerated disease, nor 
 to endure a sharp prevalent remedy.'* * 
 Philosophic To the last subiect, which now alone seemed to 
 
 resolutions. ^ '' ^ 
 
 interrupt his philosophic tranquillity, he again ad- 
 verts, and heartily offers his prayers for the success 
 of the oppositionists, since he was now precluded 
 from rendering them other assistance. " For my 
 own part, I will commit them to their active heat, 
 
 Decembers, and, according to the season of the year, fold my- 
 self up in a cold silent forbearance, apply myself 
 cheerfully to the duties of my place, and heartily 
 pray to God to bless Sir Francis Seymour, t For 
 my rule, which I will not transgress, is, never 
 to contend with the prerogative out of a parlia- 
 ment ; nor yet to contest with a king but when I 
 am constrained thereunto, or else make shipwreck 
 of my integrity and peace of conscience, which I 
 trust God will ever bless me with, and with cou- 
 rage too to preserve it." t 
 
 New over- While Dursuing these resolutions, so prudent 
 
 tures from . 
 
 Bucking, afflidst the distraction of the times, Wentworth re- 
 ceived new overtures from Buckingham. Alarm- 
 ed at the accusations preparing in parliament, and 
 fearful of the general indignation, the favourite 
 
 " Wentworth to Wandesford, Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 32. 
 
 •j- One of the members nominated sheriffs, who was now, in defi- 
 ance of the displeasure of the crown, attempting to procure his re- 
 election. Strafford's Letters, Vol. L p. 30. 
 
 t StraflTord's Letters, Vol. I. p. 33. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 81 
 
 deemed it high time to conciliate some of those 
 angry spirits whom his former insolence had exas- 
 perated. To Wentworth, whose vigour and influ- 
 ence were objects of dread, he forgot not to apply 
 his arts; and, having called him to a personal inter- 
 view, assured him that his nomination as sheriff 
 had taken place without his knowledge, and durino* 
 his absence ; and begged that all former misunder- 
 standings should be buried in a contract of perma- 
 nent friendship. The protestations of the duke 
 were evidently false, his proffers of amity probably 
 insincere ; yet his necessity for the support of able 
 men, under his present load of public reproach, 
 opened a door to preferment, opportune and appa- 
 rently certain. Wentworth, therefore, met these 
 advances with cordiality ; and having again waited 
 on the duke, and experienced the most obligino" 
 reception, he departed, in full satisfaction, for 
 Yorkshire, to await, amidst his private and official 
 avocations, the result of these favourable appear- 
 ances. * 
 
 But the impetuosity and rashness of Buckingham Deprived of 
 set all calculations at defiance. Whether moved arc^t^s 
 by the representations of some interested intriguer ; *^°''^'"""°- 
 or confirmed in his confident schemes by the re- 
 spite which he enjoyed after the dissolution of par- 
 liament ; he was accessary to a step which gave a 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 34, 3j. 
 VOL. II. F 
 
82 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 new edge to the enmity of Wentvvorth. The of- 
 fice of Gustos Rotulorum, thougli of little emolu- 
 ment, was attended with considerable honour ; and 
 as Wentworth had been permitted to enjoy it 
 when out of favour at court, he had no reason to 
 doubt of its security after his reconciliation with 
 Buckingham. It was with no small surprise that 
 he now received his majesty's order to resign the 
 office to his old antagonist Sir John Savile j and 
 still more was his resentment roused, when the 
 warrant was presented to him before a full meeting 
 of the county, at which, in his quality of high she- 
 riff", he presided. He addressed the lords and gen- 
 tlemen around him : he pointedly remarked that 
 " this was a place ill chosen, a stage ill prepared, 
 for venting such poor, vain, insulting humour." 
 He declared himself ready to prove, at the price of 
 his life, that he had never declined from the plain 
 and open ways of loyalty, that he had never falsi- 
 fied the precious and general trust of his county, 
 that he had never injured or overborne the mean- 
 est individual under the disguised mask of justice 
 and favour. A little flattery and compliance at 
 court would, he added, have rendered him secure. 
 " The world," said he, " may well think I know 
 the way which would have kept my place. I con- 
 fess, indeed, it had been too dear a purchase, so I 
 leave it, not conscious of any fault in myself, nor 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 83 
 
 yet acquainted with any virtue in my successor 
 that should occasion this removal." * 
 
 Yet Weutvvorth, though he vigorously repelled Private ad- 
 this public affront, did not allow his passion to si- IhTSng. 
 lence the voice of discretion. He took precautions 
 that this unexpected mortification should not pre- 
 judice him with the prince, whom he might hope 
 hereafter to serve in a superior capacity. An in- 
 timacy, which he had formed with Sir Richard 
 Weston, Chancellor of the Exchequer, furnished 
 him with the means of executing these intentions. 
 This man had improved the advantages of birth 
 and fortune, which he derived from his ancestors, 
 by a good education, and a sagacious observation of 
 men. Having devoted his exertions to obtain pre- 
 ferment at court, he spent the last part of a fair 
 estate in acquiring the acquaintance and favour of 
 the great men in authority j and had liis attendance 
 at length rewarded by an appointment to several 
 embassies abroad. In these he displayed a dili- 
 gence and address which soon procured him the 
 rank of a privy counsellor, and the place of Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer. The court was by no 
 means popular, his patron Buckingham was pur- 
 sued by a general odium, and himself, from the 
 avowed tenets of his family, suspected of an attach- 
 
 * Stiatibnl's Letters, VoL I. p. 3e. 
 
84 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 ment to popery.* Yet, by carefully avoiding 
 every occasion of offence, he had the rare good for- 
 tune to be acceptable to the court, and yet not dis- 
 pleasing to parliament, t With Wentworth he 
 had formed a peculiar intimacy ; had laboured to 
 accommodate his differences with the duke ; and 
 had been present at their several interviews for re- 
 conciliation. 
 
 To this friend, Wentworth now represented, by 
 letter, the injustice which he had sustained ; re- 
 minded him of the several advances of the duke ; 
 and called on him to witness that every new breach 
 had proceeded from a new provocation on the part 
 of his grace. '* At the dissolved parliament in 
 Oxford," said he, " you are privy how I was 
 moved from and in behalf of the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham, with promise of his good esteem and favour ; 
 you are privy that my answer was, * I did honour 
 the duke's person, that I would be ready to serve 
 him in the quality of an honest man and a gentle- 
 man :' you are privy that the duke took this in 
 good part, and sent me thanks, as for respects done 
 him ; you are privy how, during that sitting, (ses- 
 sion,) I performed what I had professed. The 
 
 • We find it afterwards the gener.d ojiinion that Weston died a 
 Papist. None but persons of that persuasion were present at his 
 death. Strafiord's Letters, Vol. I. p* 389. 
 
 f Clarendon, Hist, of Reb. Vol. I. p. 48, 49. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 85 
 
 consequence of all this was, the making me sheriff 
 the next winter after. It is true the duke, a little 
 before Whitsuntide last, at Whitehall, in your pre- 
 sence, said it was done without his grace's know- 
 ledge ; that he was then in Holland. At White- 
 hall, Easter term last, you brought me to the duke; 
 his grace did before you contract (as he pleased to 
 term it) a friendship with me, all former mistakes 
 laid aside, forgotten. After, I went at my coming 
 out of town, to receive his commands, to kiss his 
 grace's hands, where I had all the good words and 
 good usage which could be expected, which bred 
 in me a great deal of content, a full security. 
 Now the consequence here again is, that even yes- 
 terday I received his majesty's writ, for the dis- 
 charging me of the poor place of Gustos Rotulo- 
 rum, which I held here. His good pleasure shall 
 be cheerfully obeyed; yet I cannot but observe, 
 that the reward of my long, painful, and loyal ser- 
 vice to his majesty in that place, is thus to be cast 
 off, without any fault laid to my charge that I hear 
 of; and that his grace too was now in England. 1 
 have therefore troubled you with this unartificial 
 relation, to show you the singleness of my heart, 
 resting in all assurance justly confident, you shall 
 never find that^I have, for my oun part, in a tittle 
 transgressed from what hath passed betwixt us." * 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 31., 35. 
 
86 EARL OF STRAFFORD, 
 
 This letter Wentworth followed up by another, 
 in which he solicits his friend, at some favourable 
 opportunity, to represent to his majesty the estima- 
 tion in which he was held by the late king, his ar- 
 dent attachment to his present sovereign, his un- 
 feigned grief at the apprehension of his displea- 
 sure, and his eager desire to show his affection and 
 zeal by future services. — " Calling to mind the 
 faithful service I had the honour to do to his majesty 
 now with God, how graciously he vouchsafed to 
 accept and express it openly sundry times, I enjoy 
 with myself much comfort and contentment. On 
 the other side, though in my breast still strongly 
 dwell entire intentions, and by God's goodness 
 shall to my grave, towards his sacred majesty that 
 now is, yet I well may apprehend the weight of 
 his indignation, being put out of all commissions 
 wherein I had formerly served and been trusted. 
 This makes me sensible of my misfortune, though 
 not conscious of any inward guilt that might oc- 
 casion it ; resting infinitely ambitious, not of any 
 new employment, but much rather to live under 
 the smile than the frown of my sovereign. In 
 this streight, therefore, give me leave to recom- 
 mend to you the protection of my innocence, and 
 to beseech you, at some good opportunity, to re- 
 present unto his majesty my tender and unfeigned 
 grief for his disfavour : my fears also that I stand, 
 before his justice and goodness, clad in the malevo- 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 87 
 
 lent interpretations, and prejudiced by the subtle 
 insinuations of my adversaries : and lastly, my on- 
 ly and humble suit, that his majesty would princely 
 deign, that my insufficiency or fault may be shown 
 me ; to this only end, that, if insufficiency, I may 
 know where and how to improve myself, and be 
 better enabled to present hereafter more ripe and 
 pleasing fruits of my labours in his service : if a 
 fault, that I may either confess my error, and beg 
 his pardon ; or else, which I am most confident I 
 shall do, approve myself throughout an honest 
 and well-affected loyal subject, with full, plain, and 
 upright satisfaction to all that can, by the great- 
 est malice, or undisguised truth, be objected against 
 me."* 
 
 The friends who were acquainted with this re- 
 spectful submission of Wentvvorth were not a 
 little surprised when they saw him, not many 
 months after, boldly stand forward as the assertor 
 of popular rights, and the opponent of the crown, 
 in its most favourite exertions of power. But this 
 conduct, though. to them it might bear the aspect 
 of imprudence and temerity, was dictated by a 
 profound appreciation of the intervening circum- 
 stances. 
 
 Charles, having dissolved the Parliament, hast- 
 ened to show that his threats of resortino; to new 
 
 " Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 35. 
 
88 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 counsels were not empty words, and that, accord- 
 ing to the explicit menace of the vice-chamberlain, 
 he was resolved, after the example of other Euro- 
 pean kings, to extinguish the importunate privi- 
 leges of Parliament. The most urgent task was 
 to provide money for the exigencies of the state, 
 and various expedients were without delay put 
 in force. The privy-council issued an order that 
 all those duties of tonnage and poundage on ex- 
 ports and imports, which had hitherto required 
 a grant from Parliament, should now be paid on a 
 demand from the kins;. * The Commons, we have 
 seen, had resolved, if not prevented by a dissolu- 
 tion, to grant four subsidies and three fifteenths ; 
 this money it was resolved to levy partly by privy 
 seals, and partly in the form of a benevolence ; 
 the people being called on to consider the contri- 
 bution as " merely a free gift from the subject to 
 the sovereign.'' t Popish recusants had hitherto 
 been subjected to heavy penalties and legal disabi- 
 lities : these were now compounded for a fine to 
 the exchequer, t The nobility were requested, by 
 particular messages from the king, to set an ex- 
 ample to the rest of his subjects, by the liberality 
 of their contributions. § As the submission of 
 the city of London was also a precedent of much 
 
 • Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 413. t Ibid. p. 41G. 
 t Ibid. p. 413, 4-14. § Ibid. p. 415. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 89 
 
 importance, it was commanded to advance his ma- 
 jesty a loan of a hundred thousand pounds ; and 
 when the magistrates endeavoured to excuse them- 
 selves from this partial imposition, they were desir- 
 ed to comply without delay, or to abide the conse- 
 quences of those counsels which it became a king 
 to frame on extreme and important occasions. * 
 To equip a fleet with the least trouble and delay, 
 each sea-port was commanded to furnish a certain 
 number of ships, specified by the privy-council ; 
 and, with the assistance of the neighbouring coun- 
 ties, to furnish them with men, arms, ammunition, 
 and all manner of sea stores. And when some 
 ports, alarmed at this novel and arbitrary imposi- 
 tion, endeavoured to avert it by petitions, they 
 were informed, •' that state occasions are not to be 
 guided by ordinary precedents ;'* and warned not 
 to obstruct the demand " by petitions and plead- 
 ings, which tend to the danger of the common- 
 wealth, and are not to be received." f 
 
 " Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 415. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 415. Mr Hume (Vol. VI. p. 225, 8vo edit.) re- 
 presents this as " a taxation once imposed by Elizabeth :" but no- 
 thing coukl be more unlike than the two cases. When the mighty- 
 preparations for the Armada were announced, all ranks of men in 
 England, alarmed for whatever they held dear, hastened to offer 
 their persons and property for the defence of their country. ]V(any 
 noblemen and gentlemen, at their own private expence, equipped 
 vessels and served on board of them in person ; and the maritime 
 towns vied with each other in furnishing ships for the public ser- 
 
90 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 While the minds of men were thrown into a 
 ferment by these circumstances, the irregular ex- 
 actions imposed by royal authority were too slowly 
 extorted from an unwilling people, to answer the 
 exigencies of the governments Charles, therefore, 
 boldly ventured to impose, by his own mandates, 
 The court thoso o-eneral and re2:ular contributions, which 
 
 demands a '-' ^ 
 
 general loan, parliament alone had, for ages, been accounted 
 competent to bestow. * By a royal decree, he 
 
 vice. It was at this juncture that Elizabeth, by an order of the 
 privy-council, regulated the number of vessels which it would be 
 requisite for each sea-port to furnish towards the common defence : 
 but so far did the zeal of the people outrun even the apprehended 
 necessities of government, that several sea-ports, and, among the 
 rest, London, sent double the number of vessels which the queen 
 had specified. But when this contribution in kind was required 
 by Charles, no such emergency existed : instead of regulating the 
 overflowing liberality of his subjects, he obtained liis supplies by 
 compulsion : and both the court and people looked on the imposi- 
 tion as a method of supplying the wants of government, without 
 having recourse to the ancient forms of the constitution. 
 
 * It must strike every reader, on perusing the original records of 
 that period, that neither Charles nor his courtiers denied that these 
 arbitrary impositions were infringements of the popular rights. 
 Even while enforcing the measure here alluded to, Charles thought 
 it expedient to soothe the minds of men by a declaration, stating, 
 *' that the urgency of the occasion would not give leave to the call- 
 ing of a parliament ; but assuring the people, that this way should 
 not be made a precedent for the time to come, to charge them or 
 their posterity, to the prejudice of their Just and ancient libcj-ties 
 enjoyed under hismo.ii noble ancestors." Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 418. 
 Charles and his courtiers considered these measures as a part of his 
 new counsels ; to defend them on the ground of precedent, was the 
 attempt of a later age. 
 
EARL OF STIl AFFORD. 91 
 
 commanded a general contribution to be levied 
 over all the kingdom. It bore the less invidious 
 name of a loan ; but that no one might be igno- 
 rant of its real nature and intention, the assessment 
 was ordered to be made according to the forms and 
 proportion of a subsidy. * Could the people be 
 brought to give peaceably one subsidy without the 
 intervention of parliament, habit, it was thought, 
 would soon reconcile them to the new system, and 
 free the crown from its trammels for ever. Stre- 
 nuous precautions were taken to ensure the success 
 of the measure : commissioners sworn to secrecy 
 were instructed in the art of mingling authority 
 with example, and persuasion with menace : nei- 
 ther excuse nor remonstrance were to be admitted, 
 nor was resistance to be allowed to gain strength 
 from delay and reflection, t 
 
 These proceedings spread universal consterna- 
 tion among all ranks of men. They saw the only 
 bond by which they held their ancient liberties 
 about to be rent asunder, and their boasted con- 
 stitution assimilated to the other absolute govern- 
 ments of Europe. J The spirit of resistance dif- 
 
 • Rushwoith, Vol. I. p. 418. t Ibid. p. 418, 41.9. 
 
 ;}; The following extract from Archbishop Abbot's Narrative 
 strongly represents the general sentiments at that period : " For 
 the matter of the loan, I knew not a long time what to make of it. 
 I saw, on the one side, the king's necessity for money, and espe- 
 cially it being resolved that the war should be pursued ; and on 
 
yx EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 fused itself throughout every condition ; and the 
 loan was refused by needy mechanics as well as by 
 men distinguished for their rank and fortune. 
 Dissuaded With these opposers of the court, his friends, 
 fnends. With grief aud surprise, saw Wentworth take a de- 
 cided part. They conjured him to abandon a re- 
 solution by which he would forfeit all pretensions 
 to discretion : they represented the dangers which 
 his health would incur from the rigours of a prison, 
 and the ruin which must overwhelm all his ambi- 
 
 the otlicr side I could not forget, that in the parliament great 
 sums were offered, if the petitions of the Commons might be heark- 
 ened unto. It ran still in my mind, that the old and usual way 
 was best ; that, in hingdoms, the harmony was sweetest vrhere the 
 prince and the people tuned well together. It ran in my mind, 
 that this 7IVU.' device for money could not long hold out ; that then 
 we must return into the highway, whither it were best to retire 
 ourselves betimes, the shortest errors being the best. At the open- 
 ing of the commission for the loan, I was sent fbr fi-om Croydon. 
 It seemed to me a strange tiling ; but I was told, that, howsoever 
 it showed, the king would have it so, there was no speaking against 
 it. I have not heard, that men throughout the kingdom should 
 lend money against their will ; I knew not what to make of it. 
 But when I saw the instructions, that the refusers should be sent 
 away for soldiers to the King of Denmark, I began to remember 
 Uria!», that was set in the fore-front of the battle; and, to speak 
 truth, I durst not be tender in it. And when afterwards I saw 
 that men were to be put to their oath, with whom they had con- 
 ference, and whether any did dissuade them, and yet further be- 
 held that divers were to be imprisoned, I tlwught this was some- 
 what a new world." See the Archbishop's Narrative in llushworth. 
 Vol. I. p. 455. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 93 
 
 tious hopes.* He deceived himself, they said, if he 
 considered this resistance as revenging his quarrel 
 on the duke ; that his majesty had adopted the 
 measure as peculiarly his own ; that Buckingham, 
 alarmed at the general discontent, had even en- 
 deavoured to dissuade him from persevering in it, 
 but had the mortification to receive an absolute 
 denial ; for, said the king, *' my honour is engag- 
 ed, and the eyes of the kingdom are upon me." t 
 They informed him that his majesty had, on this 
 occasion, avowedly taken the punisliment of the 
 refractory into his own hands. " No one," said 
 his brother-in-law. Lord Clifford, " will hence- 
 forth venture to move the king in your ftivour ; 
 for his heart is so inflamed in this business, that he 
 vows a perpetual remembrance, as well as a present 
 punishment." t 
 
 But the resistance of Wentworth was prompted Reasons for 
 
 r r ],is conduct. 
 
 by very substantial reasons. If he had a spark of 
 patriotism or generosity in his bosom, this was the 
 season to stand forth in defence of tlie expiring 
 liberties of his country : and even if ambition 
 were, as ins friends seem to have imagined, the 
 predominant principle of his mind, the course 
 which he pursued was conformable to the most de- 
 liberate dictates of reflection. Buckingham, he 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 37, 38, 39. 
 t Ibul. p. 38. + Ibid. 
 
94 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 knew, had long cherished animosity towards him ; * 
 and, from the character of his Grace, he had no rea- 
 son to expect any disinterested patronage. Yet, 
 by the force of his parliamentary eloquence, he 
 had extorted from the fears of the minister what 
 he could never have obtained from his liberality j 
 he had compelled him to make repeated advances, 
 and at least to counterfeit the appearances of 
 friendship. But if the new system of raising sup- 
 plies should pass into an established practice ; if 
 parliaments, rendered unnecessary, should cease to 
 be assembled, no scope would be afforded for the 
 display of talent, no means left for awing the inso- 
 lent favourite. No lousier trembling; under the 
 terrors of an impeachment, Buckingham would 
 continue with impunity to wound his opponents, 
 and to lavish the offices and honours of the state 
 among his own creatures. 
 Imprisoned Whether animated by patriotism, or prompted 
 
 May 1G27. . . , ' 1 r 
 
 by ambition, Wentworth refused to pay the de- 
 manded contribution ; and having, before the pri- 
 vy-council, persisted in justifying his conduct, he 
 was first thrown into prison, and afterwards, as 
 a mitigated punishment, sent to Dartford in Kent, 
 
 • So unacceptable was Wentworth at this time to Buckingham, 
 that even an intimacy with him was sometimes prejudicial to his 
 friends. Archbishop Abbot mentions, among the causes of liis se- 
 questration, the displeasure of the duke at his intercourse with 
 Wentworth. See his Narrative in Uuslnvortli, Vol. I. p. 4.111. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 95 
 
 where lie was prohibited from going above two 
 miles from the town. '•'■ 
 
 This restraint was not of long continuance. 
 The resistance of the people increased with the 
 necessities of the crown ; and Charles, if he had 
 the resolution, found he wanted the power, to give 
 efficacy to his new counsels. The proposed system 
 of government, difficult under any circumstances, 
 was impracticable under the course which he pur- 
 sued. Injudicious innovations, from the ruling 
 party in the church, excited general discontent, f 
 
 • RadclifFe's Essay. Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 39. 
 
 i" Dr Sibthorp and Dr Manwaring, in their pulpit orations fo 
 the advancement of the loan. The former preached a sermon, en- 
 titled Apostolical Obedience. It was dedicated to the king, and li- 
 censed by Laud, Bishop of London ; for the Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, having refused to give it this sanction, fell under the high 
 displeasure of the court, and was sequestered from his functions. 
 Among other doctrines to the same purport, Sibthorp here main- 
 tained, that, " if princes command any thing which subjects may 
 not perform, because it is against the laws of God, or of nature, or 
 impossible; yet subjects are bound to undergo the piniishraent, 
 without either resisting, or railing, or reviling, and so to yield a 
 passive obedience where they cannot exhibit an active one. I know 
 no other case," continued he, " but one of those three, wherein a 
 subject may excuse himself with passive obedience." Dr Manwar- 
 ing, in sermons preached before the king and court at Whitehall, 
 asserted, " that the king is not bound to observe the laws of the 
 realm concerning the subject's rights and liberties, but that his 
 royal will and command in imposing loans and taxes, witliout com- 
 mon consent in parliament, doth oblige the subject's conscience, 
 upon pain of eternal damnation. That those who refused to pay 
 
96 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 A proclamation by the king, prohibiting the pro- 
 mulgation of any but orthodox doctrines, was con- 
 strued into a discouragement of the creed of Lu- 
 ther, and a recommendation of that of Arminius. * 
 The primate of England, venerable for his years 
 and moderation, was sequestered, by a royal man- 
 
 this loan offended against the law of God, and the king's supreme 
 authority, and became guilty of impiety, disloyalty, and rebellion. 
 That the authority of parliament is not necessary for the raising of 
 aids and subsidies ; and that the slow proceedings of such great 
 assemblies were not fitted for the supply of the state's urgent ne- 
 cessities, but would rather produce sundry impediments to the just 
 tlesigns of princes." llushworth. Vol. I. p. 422, 423. Mr Hume, 
 in alluding to these sermons, observes, that " there is nothing 
 which tends more to excuse, if not justify, the extreme rigour of 
 the Commons towards Cliarles, than his open avowal and encou- 
 ragement of such general principles as were altogether incompatible 
 with a limited government." 
 
 * The prelates most devoted to the court had adopted the tenets, 
 ■with respect to predestination and certain other points of theology, 
 which had been propagated by Arminius; and these, however ra- 
 tional, were a novelty in the church of England, which, along with 
 other Protestant countries, had, at tlie Reformation, embraced the 
 doctrine of L\Uher and Calvin. To that doctrine the great body 
 of the nation, and, among the rest, the puritans, still firmly ad- 
 hered ; and the contentions between the supporters of the old, and 
 the propagators of the new doctrines, divided private societies, and 
 resounded from the pulpit. The puritans (under which title the 
 court comprised almost all assertors of civil or religious liberty) 
 were farther alarmed, when they saw Williams, Bisliop of Lincoln, 
 and Lord Keeper of England, removed from his office, and prose- 
 cuted in the Star Chamber, because he would not concur in an 
 odious persecution against them, llushworth. Vol. L p. 412, 413, 
 
 431. 
 
 6 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 97 
 
 date, from his authority, because he refused his 
 sanction to discourses recommending passive obe- 
 dience. Judges who refused to pervert justice 
 were displaced for the obsequious creatures of the 
 crown ; and decisions contrary to positive law 
 were given against those who resisted arbitrary ex- 
 actions. Men whose rank and fortune command- 
 ed respect were indeed only commited to prison, 
 without benefit of the Habeas Corpus Act, or 
 consigned to counties remote from their proper- 
 ties ; but this lenity was attributed to fear, and 
 not to a sense of justice, when the refractory 
 among the lower orders were, without regard to 
 their destitute families, impressed, some into the 
 navy, others into the land forces. * Various dis- 
 tricts were put under martial law : and bands of 
 soldiers were dispersed over the country, and arbi- 
 trarily quartered on the inhabitants. \ 
 
 Amidst the general ferment thus excited, the 
 public were surprised to see the court plunge itself 
 into another unprovoked war. The Duke of Buck- 
 ingham having, during an embassy to France, 
 been thwarted in an unjustifiable affair of gallantry, 
 determined to revenge his disappointment by open 
 hostilities ; J and Charles had the weakness to con- 
 
 " llushwonh. Vol. I. p. 422. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 4.19, 420. Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, Vol. 
 I. p. 41. 
 
 J Ibid, p 38. 
 VOL. II. G 
 
98 EARL OF STRAFJTCRO. 
 
 cur in the insolent fury of the favourite. The 
 French servants of the young queen were dismiss- 
 ed, * herself treated with disrespect, t and when 
 the court of France still expressed its indignation 
 only by remonstrances, Buckingham took effectual 
 means to give activity to its resentment, by causing 
 some ships of that nation to be seized and carried 
 into English ports. The duke having now resolv- 
 ed to show his prowess by undertaking an expedi- 
 tbn in person, the treasury was drained, and large 
 debts incurred, to furnish him with a suitable ar- 
 mament. His object was the relief of Rochelle, 
 which he had so lately assisted to reduce ; but 
 so ill were his measures concerted, that he found 
 it necessary to disembark on the adjacent Isle of 
 fihe. Here, having suff'ered his army to be baffled 
 
 • Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 424. 
 
 f The resignation with which Charles bore the insults and ca- 
 prices of a man who had once threatened to strike him^ and usual- 
 ly treated him with a very rude familiarity, might be ascribed to a 
 disposition too mild to take offence, or too lenient to resent indigni- 
 ties. But we can scarcely reconcile to generosity or to manhood 
 the rudencKs with which he suffered this ininion to treat his young 
 and beautiful queen. One day, when Buckingham unjustly appre- 
 hended that she had shown some disrespect to his mother, in not 
 going to her house at an appointed hour, a visit which was prevent- 
 ed by mere accident, he came into her chamber in much passion, 
 and, after some rude expostulations, told her, " she should repent 
 it." When her majesty ansv>fcrcd with some spirit, he insolently 
 replied, " that there had been queens in Evgland v.'ho had lost their 
 hfuds." Clarendon, Hist, of Reb. Vol. I. p. 39. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 by an inferior enemy, and to be at length overtak- 
 en in a situation where valour was of no avail, 
 he narrowly escaped in the rout which followed, 
 and hastening on board the ships, left liis men to 
 follow their general as they could. * 
 
 From one end of the kingdom to the other, the 
 news of this overthrow spread grief and consterna- 
 tion. In the confusion of the rout, numbers of all 
 ranks had been crushed to death, or drowned with^ 
 out the agency of an enemy. Scarcely a noble fa- 
 mily but had to lament the death of a son, a bro, 
 ther, or a kinsman ; nor was their grief allay- 
 ed by the consolation, that their relatives had fal^ 
 len by honourable wounds. The fleet and the 
 army broke out into mutinies; and the govern^ 
 ment, overwhelmed with its difficulties, was un^ 
 able to pay their arrears. | 
 
 In this desperate condition, the court saw no ah 
 ternative but to lay aside, for the present, its new 
 
 * The account given by Mr Huinc of Buckingham's conduct op 
 this occasion is ilifferent. He states that the duke " was the last 
 of the army that embarked," and that he brought back with him 
 to England at least " the vulgar praise of courage and personal 
 bravery." Clarendon, who was a great admirer of his grace, also 
 celebrates his courage on this occasion. The account given in the 
 text is taken from a letter of the Hotiourable Denzil Mollis, after- 
 wards Lord Hollis, to his brother-in-law, Wentworth, and inserted 
 in Strafford's Letters, Vol. L p. 42. HoUis says he had his infor- 
 mation from officers of rank who served in the expedition. 
 
 t Clarendon, Hist, of Reb. Vol, L p. 4o, 41. Kuslnvcrth, 
 Vol. I. 42J. 
 
100 
 
 EARL OF STIIAFFORD. 
 
 January 
 1G28. 
 
 counsels, so inauspiclously begun, and to resume 
 the old course till a more favourable opportunity. 
 By the advice of Sir Robert Cotton, a member of 
 the privy-council, writs were issued for a new par- 
 liament ; and the severities, hitherto practised 
 against the popular party, were superseded by gra- 
 cious attempts at conciliation. * To break the 
 tide of indignation, which now flowed against Buck- 
 ingham, this happy change was publicly ascribed 
 to his advice and earnest intercession with the 
 king, t The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bi- 
 shop of Lincoln, the Earl of Bristol, so lately the 
 objects of punishment, were now summoned, with 
 other peers of their rank, to resume their seats in 
 the parliament and the council, t The gentlemen 
 who remained confined to prisons and distant coun- 
 ties, for refusing the general loan, were now freed 
 from restraint ; and were immediately returned by 
 the people to the House of Commons, as the most 
 strenuous assertors of their liberties. § Among 
 the rest, Wentworth, liberated from his confine- 
 ment at Dartford, was triumphantly re-elected for 
 the county of York. ll 
 inPariia- ^^^ thesc Conciliatory measures formed only 
 raent, 1G28. ^.j. ^f g^ plan, of whicli the grand characteristics 
 were menace and terror. Seven days after the 
 
 • Rushwoith, Vol. 1. p. 47^. f Ibid. | Ibid. p. 4.74.. 
 § Ibid, p, 472. II Strafford's Letters, V^ol. I, p. 46. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 101 
 
 writs for this assembly were issued, all the princi- 
 pal officers of the crown were, by a commission 
 under the great seal, authorized and commanded 
 to devise the best and speediest means of raising 
 supplies for the exigencies of the state : and in 
 this instrument they were reminded, that '* form 
 and circumstance must be dispensed with, rather 
 than the substance be lost and hazarded." * The March 17, 
 address of the king to the houses was in perfect 
 correspondence with this language. Without men- 
 tioning their grievances, or holding out any hope 
 of redress, he shortly told them, " That common 
 danger was the cause of this parliament, and sup- 
 ply the chief end of it : wherefore,'* said he, " if 
 you should not do your duties, in conti'ibuting 
 what the state at this time needs, I must, in dis- 
 charge of my conscience, use those other means, 
 which God hath put into my hands, to save that, 
 which the follies of particular men may otherwise 
 hazard to lose. Take not this as a threat," conti- 
 nued his majesty, ** for I scorn to threaten any but 
 my equals ; but as an admonition from him that, 
 both out of nature and duty, hath most care of 
 your preservation and prosperity." f The Lord 
 Keeper, enlarging, by his majesty's direction, on 
 the same topics, was yet more explicit. " This 
 way," said he, ** of parliamentary supplies, his ma- 
 
 • Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 474, 614. f Ibid. p. 476, 477. 
 
^ 105 EAllL OF stuaffohd. 
 
 jesty hath chosen, as he told you, not as the only 
 way, but as the fittest ; not as destitute of others, 
 but as most agreeable to the goodness of his own 
 most gracious disposition, and to the desire and 
 weal of his people. If this be deferred, necessity 
 and the sword of the enemy make way for the 
 others. Remember his majesty's admonition,'* 
 added he emphatically, " I say, remember it." * 
 
 To provide against counsels so undisguisedly 
 displayed, the Commons proceeded with the great- 
 est temper and firmness. Too dignified to be 
 moved by fear, and too independent to be swayed 
 by the hopes of favour, they comprised the persons 
 tnost distinguished in the nation for talents and in- 
 fluence ; and their collective property was com- 
 puted to be equal to three times that of the 
 House of Peers. The grievances of which they 
 had to complain, and which were neither chimerical 
 nor longer supportable, gave rise to many ener- 
 getic and eloquent harangues ; and Wentworth, 
 among others, maintained that these arbitrary mea- 
 sures, the baneful effects of evil counsellors, were 
 alike pernicious to the sovereign and the subject. 
 Speech for ' " Surcly," Said he, " these illegal ways are pu- 
 SgS. nishments and marks of indignation. The raising 
 of loans strengthened by commission, with unheard- 
 of instructions and oaths, the billetting of soldiers 
 
 Riishworth, Vol. I. p. 479. 
 
EAKL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 lOS 
 
 by the lieutenants and their deputies, have been as if 
 they could have persuaded mankind, that the right 
 of empires had been to take away by strong hands ; 
 and they have endeavoured, as far as possible for 
 them, to do it. This hath not been done by the 
 king, Tunder the pleasing shade of whose crown I 
 hope we shall ever gather the fruits of justice,) but 
 by projectors who have extended the prerogative 
 of tlie king beyond the just symmetry, which mak- 
 eth a sweet harmony of the whole. They have 
 brought the crown into greater want than ever by 
 anticipating the revenues ; they have introduced a 
 privy council, ravisliing, at once, the spheres of all 
 ancient government ; destroying all liberty ; impri- 
 soning us without bail or bond. They have taken 
 from us — what shall I say ? Indeed, what have 
 they left us ? By tearing up the roots of all pro- 
 perty, they have taken from us every means of 
 supplying the king, and of ingratiating ourselves 
 by voluntary proofs of our duty and attachment. , 
 ** To the making whole all these breaches, I 
 shall apply myself ; and to all these diseases, shall 
 propound a remedy. By one and the same thing 
 have the people been hurt, and by the same must 
 they be cured. We must vindicate — what ? new 
 things ? No ! — our ancient, legal, and vital liber- 
 ties ; by reinforcing the laws enacted by our an- 
 cestors ; by setting such a seal on them as no licen^ 
 tious spirit shall hereafter dare to infringe. And 
 
104 EARL OF STRAFFORO. 
 
 sball we fear, by this proceeding, to put an end 
 to parliament? No; our desires are modest and 
 just, and equally for the interest of the king and 
 the people. If we enjoy not these rights, it will 
 be impossible for us to relieve him." * 
 
 Amidst these discussions, the king having sent 
 to the Commons some specific propositions for sup- 
 ply, it was debated whether they or the redress of 
 grievances should first be taken into consideration, t 
 "Wentworth strongly pressed that their grants should 
 be preceded by redress. " I cannot," said he, 
 " forget that duty I owe to my country : unless 
 we be secured in our liberties, we cannot give." t 
 Yet after a short delay, the house, at the instance 
 especially of Mr Pym, unanimously voted a supply 
 of five subsidies to his majesty. § 
 
 When informed of this unexpected liberality, 
 Charles was sensibly affected. II He had accustom- 
 ed himself to look on the Commons as the inveter- 
 ate enemies of his power, as a clog on the motions 
 of his government. Yet admidst the loudest com- 
 plaints of arbitrary measures, and their most bitter 
 invectives against his obnoxious ministers, they 
 had uniformly spoken of himself, not only with re- 
 spect and loyalty, but with affection and esteem ; 
 
 " Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 500. Franklyn, p. 343- 
 t Rushworth, Vol. I. p. AIS. t Ibid. p. 521. 
 § Ibid. p. 525. II Ibid. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 105 
 
 and, though exasperated by his menaces, they had 
 now hastened to remove those necessities which all 
 his own authority had failed to relieve. When the 
 gracious reception which he gave to this instance 
 of their duty was reported to them, they showed a 
 jealousy of his honour l^eyond all his servile cour- 
 tiers ; and expressed their disappointment that the 
 thanks of the Duke of Buckingham should be 
 coupled with the approbation of their sovereign. * 
 
 All those arbitrary invasions of persons and pro- Promotes 
 
 , . , .1 1 • the Petition 
 
 perty, which now excited complaint, were express- of Right, 
 ly guarded against by many ancient statutes, never 
 repealed, though often infringed by tyrannical mo- 
 narchs. The Commons resolved, therefore, mere- 
 ly to draw up a declaration reciting the substance 
 of those existing laws, and hence denominated a 
 Petition of Right. By procuring his majesty's ex- 
 plicit sanction to such a declaration, they would 
 both point out to him the determinate constitu- 
 tional limits of his authority ; and secure his ob- 
 servance of them for the future, if any laws were 
 to be binding, or any faith placed in the word of 
 a king. 
 
 At these resolutions, which opposed fresh bar- 
 riers to his new plan of government, Charles was 
 alarmed. The statutes recounted in this Petition 
 of Right had been enacted at distant periods ; and 
 
 " Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 526. 
 
406 EARL Ol STRAFFORD. 
 
 though never deemed obsolete, yet recent practice 
 might be successfully opposed to antiquated re- 
 cords. If" he gave an express sanction to these 
 claims of the subject, all the advantage, which he 
 derived from their distant origin would be annihi- 
 lated : nor could he afterwards impose any arbi- 
 trary exaction, or punish the refractory, without in- 
 curring the charge of a direct violation of faith. 
 As it was inconvenient, however, to interrupt the 
 proceedings of the Commons by a prorogation or 
 dissolution, since the vote for five subsidies had not 
 yet passed into a law ; he endeavoured to divert 
 their attention by urging the necessity of instant 
 supplies, by threatening a speedy termination to 
 the session, and by giving his royal word that he 
 would trench on none of their privileges which 
 did not interfere with his prerogative. 
 
 But the more reluctance his majesty discovered 
 to sanction their petition, the more necessary did it 
 appear to insist on his compliance. If no intention 
 existed to infringe the ancient statutes, why refuse 
 to renew them ? Were ail the unauthorized stretches 
 of royal authority to be considered as branches of 
 the prerogative ? By such arguments, AVentworth, 
 who now stood forward as one of the most active 
 assertors of the public rights, prevailed on the house 
 to resolve '* that grievances and supply should go 
 hand in hand, and the latter, in no case, precede 
 
 12 
 
EAKL OF STRAFFORD. 107 
 
 the former.'* * When some proposed to rest satis- 
 fied with the king's assurances of future adherence 
 to law, without pressing the petition of right, he 
 strenuously opposed this dangerous remission. 
 " There hath been," said he, ♦* a public viola- 
 tion of the laws by his majesty's ministers ; and no- 
 thing shall satisfy me but a public amends. Our 
 desire to vindicate the subjects' rights exceeds not 
 what is laid down in former laws, with some mo- 
 dest provision for instruction and performance." -j- 
 When the Lords proposed to add to the petition a 
 saving clause, importing that all their pretensions 
 for liberty still left entire the claims of the sove- 
 reign power J Wentworth exclaimed against the 
 evasion. " If we do admit of this addition," said 
 he, " we shall leave the subject in a worse state 
 than we found him. Let us leave all power to his 
 majesty to bring malefactors to legal punishment ; 
 but our laws are not acquainted with sovereign 
 poiver. We desire no new thing, nor do we offer 
 to trench on his majesty's prerogative ; but we may 
 not recede from this petition, either in whole or in 
 part." X 
 
 It was the peculiar felicity of Elizabeth, that she 
 had the art to concede an untenable point, with the 
 same apparent ease and good humour, as if she had 
 
 Rushwortli, Vol. I. p. 538. | Ibid. p. 554. 
 
 Ib.d. p. 56J. 
 
108 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 yielded to no necessity. It was the misfortune of 
 Charles, that his compliance, even when unavoid- 
 able, was so ungracious and reluctant, as to occasion 
 almost as much discontent as a refusal. He ex- 
 pressed his assent to the petition of right, but in 
 words so unusual and evasive, that the Commons 
 felt only an increase of their agitation ; nor was it 
 till he was alarmed by their reiterated remon- 
 strances against abuses, and discovered their deter- 
 mination not to proceed with the bill of supplies, 
 that he at length sanctioned the petition in the 
 usual form. * Yet the Commons repaid this long 
 delayed concession by immediately passing the bill 
 of supplies, and by dissolving all the committees 
 which they had appointed to investigate the abuses 
 of government. They now proceeded to represent 
 those existing grievances, which were particularly 
 
 * IMr Hume says, " It may be affirmed^ without any exaggera- 
 tion, that the king's assent to the petition of right produced such a 
 change in the government, as was ahnost equivalent to a revolu- 
 tion ; and by circumscribing, in so many articles, the royal preroga- 
 tive, gave additional security to the liberties of the subject." What 
 a pity he should not have mentioned some of the novelties which 
 he imagined he had discovered in this petition : if there exist any 
 such, they certainly tscaped both the parliament and the king. 
 The I^ords and Commons professed that the petition was merely the 
 substance of certain ancient statutes, nor was this allegation ever 
 called in question by the court. The ancient statutes alluded to 
 are eitlier mentioned in the preamble, or cited in the margin. See 
 the petition in Rushworth's Collections, Vol. I. p. 588. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 109 
 
 guarded against by the petition of right ; and to 
 prosecute their charges against the Duke of Buck- 
 ingham, as the chief author of pernicious counsels. 
 But in passing the bill of supplies, they had for the 
 present given up all hold on the forbearance of the 
 crown. Alarmed at the danger of his favourite, 
 and hearing that the Commons were preparing a 
 remonstrance against tonnage and poundage, which 
 constituted so large a portion of his revenue, but 
 which, till granted by act of Parliament, fell clear- 
 ly under the head of illegal exactions, Charles sud- 
 denly appeared in Parliament, and ended the ses- 
 sion by proroijation. * -^""^ 26, 
 Althouji-h the court thus procured a temporary overtures 
 
 , r if Vi from the 
 
 respite, the lew months oi recess were speeuily to court. 
 elapse, and the necessities of the state rendered the 
 return of the evil inevitable. The preparations re- 
 quisite to maintain the war against the French and 
 Spaniards, would soon exhaust the supplies which 
 had been granted, and the Commons would doubt- 
 less recommence their labours where they had been 
 forcibly interrupted. To break the force of oppo- 
 sition by violently removing the more active mem- 
 bers, had already been found a vain attempt ; it was 
 now more wisely resolved to substitute promises 
 for threats ; and, by the numerous allurements in 
 the power of the sovereign, to convert some for- 
 
 • Rushworth, Vol. I. X'. 631. 
 
110 EARL OF STRAFFORD, 
 
 ward patriots into champions of the prerogative. 
 In these circumstances, no one more attracted their 
 attention than Wentworth. He had already shown 
 a willingness to engage in the service of the court, 
 and had repaid its neglect by a bold, keen, and 
 successful opposition. If he had displayed a decid- 
 ed animosity to Buckingham, it was by no means 
 gratuitous, but had been amply purchased by the 
 affronts with which the favourite had repaid his 
 friendly assurances ; and that animosity which made 
 his assistance less acceptable to the duke, also ren- 
 dered his opposition more formidable. All these 
 considerations in favour of Wentworth were strength- 
 ened by the good offices of his friend Weston, who 
 had lately been raised to the office of Lord High 
 Treasurer ; and who now repaid the confidence of 
 his friend by a zealous patronage. But it was not 
 by empty overtures, or flattering professions of the 
 favourite, that Wentworth, already deceived, was to 
 be won from a party that yielded him honour by 
 its esteem, and authority by its support. To the 
 promise of an immediate place in the peerage, with 
 the title of baron, the court added an assurance of 
 speedy advancement to a higher rank, and to the 
 presidency of the council of York. 
 Accepted by To thcsc allurcmcnts Wentworth was by no 
 means insensible. Early introduced into courts, 
 he had been accustomed to witness the slavish sub- 
 mission ever paid to titles, to power, and to royal 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORO. 1 1 1 
 
 favour, however abused, hov^^ever unmerited. A 
 profuse distribution of honours had, of late years, 
 much diminished the estimation of nobility ; yet, 
 when coupled with authority, and the smiles of 
 the sovereign, they still possessed charms to stimu- 
 late the ambitious. The presidency of the council 
 of York held forth yet more powerful temptations. 
 It conferred on him an authority almost abso- 
 lute over the northern counties, over his former 
 equals, over those adversaries who had hitherto 
 harassed and thwarted him. 
 
 The favourable reception given by Went worth a Peer and 
 to the overtures of the court was followed by far- the couiK-a 
 ther acts of royal condescension. His friend and " 
 confident Wandesford, though lately distinguished 
 by the violence of his opposition, and employed by 
 the Commons in framing the articles of impeach- 
 ment against Buckingham, * was also received into 
 favour. The powers of the northern presidency, 
 already beyond the limits of a legal jurisdiction, 
 were further enlarged, when consigned to their new 
 possessor. If his ambition was thus gratified, his 
 vanity was not less powerfully assailed by the pa- 
 tent of barony, in which a claim he advanced to an 
 alliance with the blood royal, through Margaret 
 grandmother to Henry the Seventh, was ostenta- 
 tiously acknowledged, and displayed as a ground 
 
 * Rushworth, Vol. I. p- 21 i, 3 j2. 
 
112 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 for his new honours. These favours, thus simul- 
 taneously sliowered on him, seem to have produced 
 all the desired impression, and to have called ibrth 
 his warmest expressions of exultation and gratitude. 
 " You tell me,'* writes his friend Wandesford, 
 " that God hath blessed you much in these late 
 proceedings." "••'' 
 
 • Strafford's Letteis, Vol. I. p. 49. Unfortunately for the me- 
 mory of Wcntworth, his admirers, anxious to render him more than 
 man, have abandoned the plea which humanity affords to palliate 
 his defects; and, by attempting to violate the truth of history, have 
 exposed his conduct to additional odiu\n. The author of the dedi- 
 cation to his letters, who has in this instance been followed by all 
 his professed advocates, has undertaken to show that Went worth 
 was, in fact, guilty of no inconsistency. " Sir Edward Coke," says 
 that author, " might have his particular disgust, Sir John Elliot 
 his warmth, I\Ir Selden his prejudices to the bishops and clergy, 
 and others farther designs on the constitution itself, which might 
 cause them to carry on their opposition. But Sir Thomas Weut- 
 worth, who was a true friend to episcopal government of the church, 
 and to a limited monarchy in the state, could have no reason, when 
 the petition of rii^ht was granted, to refuse to bear his share of toils 
 and pains in the service of the public, or to withstand the offers of 
 those honours." This unfortunate plea only serves to fix our at- 
 tention on some of the most questionable parts of Wentworth's con- 
 duct. His new honours had not yet been worn, when the petition 
 of right was already violated ; the very office which he accepted, 
 and still more the new powers with which he was entrusted, could 
 not be exercised without its further violatit-n ; and we shall have 
 too often to recount his active invasion of tl;ose very rights which 
 the petition was formed to secure. Mr Hume, a far more dexter- 
 ous advocate, while he strives to leave on the minds of his readers 
 the most favourable impression of this statesman, obviates tuspi- 
 
EABL OF STRAFFORD. 113 
 
 To these grounds of exultation, there existed a 
 great drawback in the capricious temper of Buck- 
 ingham. Though an apparent reconciliation had 
 taken place between them, yet Wentworth had no 
 reason to hope for the good will, or even the per- 
 manent forbearance, of the favourite. The feelings 
 of his Grace had indeed been soothed by the pre- 
 vious elevation to the peerage of Sir John Savile, 
 the ancient and implacable antagonist of Went- 
 worth ; still, however, there were old misunder- 
 standings, M^hich Buckingham was not of a temper 
 to forget, or to leave unresented. * But from 
 these apprehensions the friends of Wentworth were Death of 
 unexpectedly relieved by the hand of a gloomy fa- ham, 
 natic, who hadbrought himself to look on Bucking- 1628. * 
 ham as the great enemy of his country, and to re- 
 gard this as a sufficient justification for the never 
 justifiable crime of assassination, t 
 
 But there still remained an enemy more formi- 
 dable, and not less irritated, than Buckingham. 
 The sudden defection of Wentworth from his par- 
 
 cion, in this instance, by a frank acknowledgment of the truth. 
 " His fidelity to the king," says this historian, " was unshaken ; 
 hut as he now employed all his counsels to support the prerogative 
 ■which he had forincrly bent all his powers to diminisli, his virtue 
 seems not to have been entirely pure, but to have been susceptible 
 of strong impressions from private interest and ambition." 
 • Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 49. f Ibid. p. 27. 
 
 VOL. II. H 
 
1 14< EARI. W STRAFFORD. 
 
 ty excited astonishment among all men ; * and, 
 when conjoined with some invidious circumstances, 
 changed the general applause which he had hither*. 
 to enjoyed into reproach and menaces. His af* 
 fectation of an alliance to the blood-royal excited 
 ridicule : his desertion of a cause, for which he had 
 ardently contended; his adoption of principles, 
 which he had strenuously opposed ; his reconcilia^ 
 tion with Buckingham, whom he had branded as a 
 traitor to his king and country ; with his accept^- 
 ance of an office, whose existence was a violation 
 both of the common and statute laws of the realm j 
 were regarded with resentment and indignation. 
 January 26, Ou reassembling after the prorogation, the pai** 
 liament found, to their mortification, Ihat thei^ 
 former labours had only provoked an iiibrease of 
 abuses. They discovered that, to the printed co- 
 pies of the petition of right, the evasive, and nc* 
 the satisfactory reply of the king, had, by royal au- 
 thority, been appended : t that all the clergy whom 
 they had prosecuted for promulgating the doctrines 
 of despotism, and innovations in religion, had re- 
 ceived his majesty's pardon : t that one of these, 
 Montague, had been promoted to the see of Chi- 
 chester : § that another, Manwaring, in contempt 
 of a sentence by the House of Peers, had been re- 
 
 • Strafford's Letters^ Vol. I. p. 4,7. Epistolae Hoellianae, xxxiv. 
 t Rushwortlv Vol. I. p. 613. t IWJ- V- 653. § Ibid. p. 635. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 115 
 
 Stored to his ecclesiastical functions, and rewarded 
 with some lucrative benefices : * that, in direct 
 violation of the petition of right, the king had, of 
 his sole authority, levied imposts on exports and 
 imports : t and that the merchants who refused to 
 pay these arbitrary exactions had been punished 
 with the imprisonment of their persons, and the 
 seizure of their goods, t 
 
 Against these invasions of the petition of right, 
 his majesty told the Connnons that their remedy 
 was short ; that, by passing an act confirming to 
 him the duties which he had levied by his own au- 
 thority, all grounds of complaint would be removed ; 
 and that, on this condition, he waved the claim of 
 rig?it, and would receive these taxes as their grant. § 
 The Commons expressed no unwillingness to con- 
 cede these duties ; but they thought it reasonable 
 that the king, after having so directly violated the 
 sanction which he had given to the petition of 
 right, should first return the goods illegally seized, 
 and stop the prosecutions which the attorney-gene- 
 ral had commenced against the owners, || Unless 
 this were done, a future monarch might assert, 
 that they had only given what they had no right to 
 withhold ; that their office was to confirm, not to 
 question the levying of these duties ; and that the 
 
 • Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 635. f Ibid. p. 689. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 6U, 612. § Ibid. p. 644. II Ibid. p. 654. 
 
116 EARL OF STIIAFFOIID. 
 
 petition of right was of no avail in opposition to 
 the claims of the sovereign. But Charles, far from 
 temporising, persisted, in the face of parliament, to 
 levy the disputed imposts, to seize the goods of the 
 refractory, and to institute prosecutions against 
 them. * When some loyal persons, anxious to pre- 
 vent the breach so rapidly approaching, endeavour- 
 ed to represent these violent proceedings as the 
 unauthorized acts of the crown officers, Charles had 
 the spirit or temerity to disclaim the subterfuge, to 
 avow that his officers acted by his express com- 
 mands ; and to declare, that any reprehension of 
 them he should consider as a direct attack on him- 
 self, t The Commons, alarmed at these preten- 
 sions, began to deplore the renewed danger of their 
 liberties ; to lament that, though Buckingham was 
 no more, his counsels still survived ; and that the 
 Lord Treasurer Weston, now chief minister, zeal- 
 ously trod in the steps of his predecessor, t But to 
 these complaints his majesty put an end, by an ad- 
 journment so sudden, that the Commons were en- 
 abled to draw up a remonstrance against tonnage 
 and poundage, only by shutting their door against 
 the king's messenger, and forcibly retaining the 
 speaker in the chair. § A few days after, parlia- 
 ment was dissolved with marks of studied neglect ; || 
 
 • Rushworth, Vol. I. p. 653, 651. t Ibkl. p. 659. King's 
 
 declaration. X Ibid. p. 659. § Ibid. p. 660. || Ibid. 
 
£ARL OF STRAFFORD, 117 
 
 the kinc^, in his parting speech, branded the more 
 active members with the appellation of v/perSj and 
 even committed several of them to prison. * ^^7(y>9.^' 
 
 Freed, by this angry dissolution, from the hos- Conduct as 
 tility of his former associates, Wentworth could theT^'oun*." 
 now repay the bounty of his sovereign, by a zeal- '"' °* ^°''*' 
 ous support of his favourite plan of government. 
 The council of York, or of the North, was pecu- 
 liarly suited to the genius of an absolute monarchy. 
 The forms of administering justice had been the 
 same in the four northern counties, as in the rest 
 of England, till the thirty-lirst year of Henry VIII. 
 (1541 ;) when an insurrection, attended with much 
 bloodshed and disorder, induced that monarch to 
 grant a commission of Oyer and Terminer to the 
 Archbishop of York, with some lawyers and gen- 
 tlemen of that county, for the purpose of investi- 
 gating the grounds of the outrages, and bringing 
 the malefactors to punishment, t The good effects 
 of the commission, in restoring tranquillity, caused 
 it to be prolonged ; and on the reappearance of 
 commotions in those quarters, it was, in succeed- 
 
 • They were tletainecl many years in prison, because they refus- 
 ed to pay large fines and make a submission. Sir Jolm Elliot died 
 in confinement. 
 
 t The jurisdiction of this comntiission extended over the counties 
 of York, Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland, the 
 bishopric of Durham, the cities of York, Hull, and Newcastle-on- 
 Tyne. Rush worth, Vol. 1. p. 162. 
 
H8 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 ing times, frequently renewed. A permanent 
 abuse gradually arose out of a simple expedient. 
 Elizabeth, and after her James, found it conve- 
 nient to alter the";tenor of the commission, to in- 
 crease the sphere of its jurisdiction, and to augment 
 its circumscribed legal authority by certain discre- 
 tionary powers. And to such an ascendancy was 
 this court raised, by the enlarged instructions grant- 
 ed to Wentworth, that the council of York now 
 engrossed the whole jurisdiction of the four north- 
 ern counties, and embraced the powers of the 
 courts of common law, the Chancery, and even the 
 exorbitant authority of the Star Chamber. * Yet 
 Wentworth still felt his authority too circumscribed, 
 and twice applied for an enlargement of its bound- 
 aries, t 
 
 The vast power thus committed to his hands, 
 Wentworth successfully employed in the cause of 
 the crown. Abandoning all his former recreations, 
 and devoting himself wholly to business, he speedi- 
 ly reformed what the remissness of his predecessor 
 had deranged. He caused the militia to be em- 
 bodied and disciplined, and by vigorously enfor- 
 cing the fines on recusants, the compositions for 
 knighthood, and the other exactions imposed by 
 
 " See the speech of Mr Hyde, afterwards Lord Clarendon, in 
 Rushwortli's Collections, Vol. II. p. 162. Also ibid, p. 158. 
 t Clarendon's Hist, of the Rebellion, Vol. I. p. 239, 240. 
 
EAR;^^ of STRAFFORD. 119 
 
 government, he'quickly succeeded in raising the re- 
 venue of the king, within his jurisdiction, to four 
 or five times its former amount. * 
 
 There seems little ground for the charge, after- 
 wards preferred against him, that he had exceeded 
 the bounds of his commission ; since it would be 
 difficult to assign any limits to his authority. We 
 find him represented by the popish recusants as 
 proceeding against them " with extreme rigour, 
 valuing the goods and lands of the poorest at the 
 highest rates, or rather above the value ; and refus- 
 ing, on any other terms, to admit them to a composi- 
 tion, t This complaint, hiowever, was disbelieved 
 by the Treasurer Weston, to whom it was address- 
 ed ; t and the conduct of Wentworth, in regard to 
 recusants, received the unqualified approbation of 
 a court by no means inclined to treat them with 
 rigour. § It was with more justice that he was ac- 
 cused of exceeding the limits of his jurisdiction, 
 when he caused a person to be arrested in London 
 for offences against his court ; and refused to re- 
 gard the prohibitions of the judges. || These and 
 other irregularities were sanctioned by government : 
 Ijnt it was impossible to jj^tify either his procur- 
 
 • Straflford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 00. He states that he had 
 raised the revenue from L. 2000 to L. 9500 a- year, 
 t Strafford's Letters, Vol- I. p. 52- :|: Ibid. § Ibid. p. 31. 
 II Rushworth, Vol. IL p. 159, 160. 
 
120 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 ing or exercising a commission, that, in the words 
 of Clarendon, *' placed the northet-n counties en- 
 tirely beyond the protection of the common law ; 
 that included fifty-eight instructions, of which 
 scarcely one did not exceed or directly violate the 
 common law ; and that, by its natural operation, 
 had almost overwhelmed the country under the 
 sea of arbitrary power, and involved the people in 
 a labyrinth of distemper, oppression, and pover- 
 ty." * 
 
 The unpopularity incurred by Wentworth iu 
 the discharge of this office proceeded chiefly from 
 two causes — from his sudden change of party, and 
 from a natural vehemence of temper which new 
 circumstances rendered more conspicuous. If, in 
 his early youth, he had betrayed some indications 
 of a disposition impetuous, overbearing, and vin- 
 dictive ; these turbulent symptoms, soothed by the 
 tranquillity of a private station, and meeting with 
 but trivial excitements, had yielded lo the influ- 
 ence of a sound and vigorous judgment. But now, 
 exasperated by the censure of opponents, elevated 
 by the applause of friends, and stimulated by the 
 possession of uncontrolled power ; the passions of 
 Wentworth at times burst forth with unexpect- 
 ed violence. He procured respect for his power 
 
 * See l.oril Clarendon's Report in Kusliworth, Vol. II. p. 16?, 
 lti:{, le-i. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 121 
 
 by causing it to be felt, and silenced opposition by 
 the activity of his vengeance. His prosecution of 
 Henry Bellasis, son to Lord Faulconberg, betray- 
 ed a punctilious apprehension of encroachment on 
 his consequence, which can scarcely be reconciled 
 with true dignity of mind. * On another occa- 
 sion, Wentworth, having caused a delinquent to 
 kneel before him, expressed much displeasure at 
 this act of humiliation not being sufficiently protract- 
 ed, t His vindictive prosecution of Sir David Foulis 
 merits a more severe censure. The charges pre- 
 sented against this man, in the Star Chamber, were 
 some disrespectful mention of the council of York, 
 some invidious insinuations against its president, 
 with his instigation of some persons not to pay the 
 composition for knighthood, which he considered 
 as an illegal and oppressive exaction. At the re- 
 peated instance of Wentworth, who urged his sig- 
 
 • This young nobleman was charged before the privy-council 
 •with having come into a room, at a public meeting, without show- 
 ing any particular reverence to the lord president ; and with having 
 aggravated the offence, by keeping his hat immoveably fixed on his 
 head, when his lordship, in state, departed from the assembly. 
 Bellasis pleaded that his negligence arose solely from accident; 
 that he had never been guilty of intentional disrespect ; and that, 
 having his face turned the other way, he was not aware of his 
 lordship's approach till he had passed. It was not, however, till af- 
 ter a month's imprisonment, and a written acknowledgment of his 
 contrition, that this apology was accepted. Rush worth. Vol. II. 
 p. S8. -)• Ibid. p. 160. 
 
122 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 nal punishment as a warning to others, * Foulis was 
 degraded from his offices of Deputy Lieutenant, 
 Justice of the Peace, and Member of the Council 
 of York : he was fined five thousand pounds to the 
 king, three thousand to Lord Wentworth ; and 
 committed to the Fleet prison during his majesty's 
 pleasure. His son, who had partaken in the offence, 
 was also imprisoned, and fined five hundred pounds 
 to the king, f 
 Promotion. From the presidency of the council of York, 
 Wentworth was speedily called to serve the crown 
 in a more extended sphere. Though Charles, on 
 the death of Buckingham, had formed a resolution 
 never again to consign himself so completely into 
 the hands of another favourite, it was soon appa- 
 rent that Bishop Laud retained much of his pa- 
 tron's influence. Till his fiftieth year. Laud had 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 91, 145, 146, 189. In a letter to 
 Secretary Cottington, (p. 145,) he says, " The sentencing this man 
 settles the right of knighting business bravely for the crown : for, 
 in your sentence, you will certainly declare the undoubted prero- 
 gatives the king hath therein by common law, by statute law, and 
 the undeniable practice of all times." " I protest to GJod," he adds, 
 " if it were in the person of another, I should in a case so foul, 
 and with proof so clear, fine the father and the son in two thousand 
 pounds apiece to his majesty, and the same to me for the scandal, 
 besides open acknowledgments." The earnestness with which he 
 expresses his thankfulness to his friends in the privyrcouncil, who 
 had promoted the sentence, shows how acceptable a service they 
 had rendered him. Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 189, 104, 202. 
 
 t See their trials in Rushworth, Vol. II. 215—230. 
 
liARL OF STRAFFORD. 12S 
 
 lived immured in the seclusion of a college, distin- 
 guished only for the singularity of his notions, his 
 frequent controversies, and the pertinacious ardour 
 with which he maintained his theological opinions. 
 Brought at length into the notice of ecclesiastics 
 of influence, he was introduced to Buckingham : 
 and succeeded so completely in gaining the good 
 will of the favourite, that he was received into his 
 inmost confidence, and became his principal ad- 
 viser. The career of his promotion was for some 
 time retarded by King James, who looked with 
 suspicion on his religious principles ; but the as- 
 cendancy of Buckingham over Charles easily re- 
 moved these obstacles ; and Laud, after passing 
 through some inferior sees, was created Bishop of 
 London, and enabled to lift his eyes to the pri- 
 macy. Deriving, from his long researches among 
 the ecclesiastical writers of the dark ages, a pro- 
 found veneration for superstitious ceremonies, and 
 an exalted opinion of ecclesiastical power ; he pro- 
 posed, as the grand object of his ambition, to rein- 
 state the prelacy in its former ascendancy, to adorn 
 the Church of England with the mysterious rites 
 of Catholicism, and to extend his power and his 
 tenets over every part of the kingdom. Impatient 
 to execute his designs, and regardless of circum- 
 stances, it was to him no obstacle that an approxima- 
 tion to the Church of Rome was almost universally 
 regarded with abhorrence ; that the tide of popular 
 
124< EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 opinion ran directly against him ; and that the 
 power of the sovereign, ah-eady shaken, must be 
 endangered to its foundation by enforcing such in- 
 novations. His maxim was " to go through" with 
 his purposes, and to leave consequences to futurity. 
 Irritable by nature, and jealous of his dignity, he 
 had become, by the possession of power, incapable 
 of enduring contradiction, and disdainful of all 
 arts of conciliation ; and while he gratified Charles, 
 by exalting the royal authority to the utmost, he 
 took care that his own order should occupy the 
 highest steps of the throne. * 
 To the Go. With this man, who now possessed such influ- 
 irdTnT' ence with the king, Wentworth had the address to 
 form a firm and intimate connection. Laud had 
 sufficient opportunity to observe the talents and vi- 
 gour of the President of the North, and soon found 
 reason to depend on his zealous co-operation. Next 
 to these in the royal favour stood the Marquis of Ha- 
 milton ; and each soon found an appropriate place 
 in the plan of government, which the new counsels 
 of Charles induced him to adopt. Having removed 
 his most urgent necessities, by the conclusion of 
 peace with France and Spain, he now set himself in 
 o-ood earnest to establish his independent autho- 
 
 • Buniet's History of his own Times, Vol. I. p. 67, 68. Clarendon, 
 Hist, of Reb. Vol. I. p. 65. Archbishop Abbot's Narrative in Rush- 
 worth, Vol. I. J). 4 to. Laud's Diary. 
 
EARL OF STUAFFOllD. 125 
 
 rity. But as England, Scotland, and Ireland, had 
 each their separate interests, their peculiar discon- 
 tents ; he found it convenient to consign a portion 
 of" his dominions to the particular superintendence 
 of each minister. Laud, along with the supreme 
 control of religion throughout the empire, obtain- 
 ed the chief direction of English affairs ; Hamilton 
 managed the business of Scotland ; and Wentworth, 
 with the title of Lord Deputy, obtained the go- 
 vernment of Ireland. * 
 
 If this new station brought Wentworth an ac- Disordered 
 cession of dignity, it called for the exertion of allLnd." 
 his prudence, dexterity, and resolution. The con- 
 quest of Ireland, undertaken by the unjustifiable 
 ambition of Henry the Second, had been feebly 
 prosecuted by his successors. Presenting few temp- 
 tations to ambition, and still fewer to avarice, it 
 was, for the most part, abandoned to such despe- 
 rate adventurers as were willing to purchase uncul- 
 tivated possessions by a perilous struggle with the 
 natives. The English settlements extended only 
 to a few districts around Dublin, and the rest of 
 the country was abandoned to the uncivilized Irish, 
 who, issuing from their morasses and fortresses, oc- 
 casionally retaliated the devastations of their op- 
 
 " Rushworth's Preface to Vol. II. lladclifFe's Essay. Straf- 
 ford's Letters, Vol. I. 
 
J 96 EAllL OF STRATFORD. 
 
 pressors. Instead of communicating their more 
 improved habits, the English settlers, engaged in a 
 continual warfare, contracted the ferocious man- 
 ners of the Irish ; and could at length be distin- 
 guished only by their language, and their inve- 
 terate antipathy to the natives. The salutary cus- 
 toms of the invaders were wholly lost to Ireland ; 
 and the edicts introducing their laws disregarded. 
 Parliaments, composed entirely of delegates from 
 within the English Pale, and summoned at the dis- 
 cretion of the lord deputy, were employed as the 
 best means to sanction every act of oppression, and 
 screen the offender from punishment. 
 
 These disorders had been in some measure alle- 
 viated by the wholesome regulations introduced by 
 Sir Edward Poynings, who governed Ireland in the 
 reign of Henry the Seventh. By his influence, 
 the Irish parliament decreed that all the laws hi- 
 therto enacted in England should be equally in 
 force in Ireland. And, as the discretionary power 
 which the lords-lieutenants possessed, of summon- 
 ing parliaments at pleasure, and passing what mea- 
 sures they desired, had given rise to excessive 
 abuises and loud complaints ; he caused it to be 
 enacted, that a parliament should not be summoned 
 above once a year in Ireland, nor even then till 
 the propositions on which it was to decide had 
 been seen and approved by the privy-council of 
 
 10 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 127 
 
 England. * But by the native Irish these advan- 
 tages were iinfelt and unregarded. Exasperated 
 by the harsh and wanton insults of their invaders, 
 they had contracted an unusual ferocity of man-^ 
 iiers ; and being accounted unworthy of the rights 
 of humanity, they had almost ceased to retain the 
 character of men. Abandoning cultivation, they 
 enjoyed, amidst their fastnesses, the pride of sa- 
 vage independence ; and looked down with disdain 
 on the more civilized habits of the English. Their 
 scattered , tribes, without arms, without discipline, 
 and without concert, were unable to expel even the 
 feeble settlements of their adversaries ; and possessed 
 just sufficient force to cover the frontier with alarm, 
 I'apine, and bloodshed. 
 
 Towards the conclusion of Elizabeth*s reign, 
 the mismanagement of the English governors, and 
 the secret aids of arms and officers from Spain, en^ 
 abled the native chiefs to form such extensive in- 
 surrections, as obliged the queen to think seriously 
 of completing their subjugation. Various attempts 
 were made by Essex and others, without success ; 
 but Lord Montjoy at length penetmted into the 
 heart of the Irish i'etfeats, todk their castles, dis- 
 persed their predatory bands, and established d6* 
 tachments for the suppression of future disorders* 
 He closed his vigorous and honourable admini«tra- 
 
 " Leland's History of Ireland, edit. 1773, Vol. II. p. 107, 511. 
 
128 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 tion with emancipating the whole body of Irish 
 peasantry from subjection to their native chiefs, 
 and receiving them under the immediate protec- 
 tion of government. * 
 
 With a judgment which reflects more honour on 
 the memory of King James than all his other mea- 
 sures, that monarch resolved to give effect to the 
 plan so happily conceived. Large tracts of waste 
 country which remained, by conquest or forfeiture, 
 in the hands of the crown, were parcelled out in 
 moderate divisions, and distributed among new set- 
 tlers from England and Scotland. By their ex- 
 ample, it was hoped, that the ancient inhabitants, 
 now compelled to desist from their predatory war- 
 fare, would gradually be initiated in the arts and 
 manners of civilized life. The ruc^e customs of the 
 Irish were now discountenanced ; the laws of Eng- 
 land every where enforced ; courts of judicature, 
 after the model of the English, established ; and re- 
 presentatives from every quarter of the kingdom 
 summoned to Parliament, t 
 
 Had the prosecution of this plan corresponded 
 to its auspicious commencement, Ireland might 
 have quickly approached the mother country in ci- 
 vilization. But various abuses and accidents inter- 
 vened to impede its progress. Many of those who 
 undertook to settle the new plantations executed 
 
 • Leland, Vol. II. p. 4l6. t Ibid. p. 429 to 460. 
 
KAllL OF STliAFFORD. 129 
 
 their contract slowly and imperfectly j yet the king, 
 charmed with the partial benefits resulting from 
 his measures, became an enthusiast in the scheme 
 of plantation. Not content with distributing all 
 the lands in the actual possession of the crown, he 
 encouraged adventurers to discover flaws in the 
 titles of old proprietors ; and had the injustice 
 to make room for these informers, by dispossessing 
 the owners of estates, for defects in their tenures, 
 as old as the original conquest of Ireland. The 
 success of these interested discoverers now spread 
 alarm and indignation throughout the island, while 
 every one trembled lest some unknown and obso- 
 lete claim of the crown should suddenly drive him 
 from the inheritance of his fathers. * 
 
 The despotic maxims of government, introdu^ 
 ced under Charles I. in England, soon extended 
 their unhappy influence to the sister kingdom. 
 The courts of common law began to find their ju- 
 risdiction invaded by the arbitrary decrees of the 
 privy-council. The rights of juries were infrin- 
 ged ; the extortions, which the English people sufr 
 fered from an ill-paid soldiery, were still more se- 
 verely felt in Ireland ; and the execution of mar, 
 tial law, which here also was introduced, was at- 
 tended with still greater abuses, t 
 
 The discontents arising from these circumstances 
 
 • Leland, Vol. II. p. 466, 468. | Ibid. p. 470. 
 
 VOL. II. 1 
 
180 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 were embittered by tlieological discord. From the 
 introduction of Protestantism by Queen Elizabeth, 
 religions zeal had mingled with the political ani*^ 
 mosity of the Irish ; and, though not the cause, 
 had often been the pretext of their insurrections. * 
 The Popish clergy inflamed the bigotry of an ig- 
 norant people ; the old English settlers of the 
 Pale were not less zealous than the native Irish, 
 for the faith of their forefathers ; and the penal- 
 ties now enforced against recusants were equally 
 odious to all. On the other hand, the new plant- 
 ers, whom James introduced from England and 
 Scotland, carried along with them the tenets of 
 the Presbyterians and Puritans, all their antipa- 
 thy to the Catholics, and all their dislike to a reli- 
 gious ceremonial. The rigour of the church 
 courts, and the exaction of tithes, formed great 
 aggravations of these discontents, t 
 
 Lord Falkland, whom Charles had appointed 
 lord-deputy, found the hands of government too 
 weak to chastise the seditious and disorderly. The 
 armed force of Ireland had been allowed to dwindle 
 to thirteen hundred and fifty foot, and two hun- 
 dred horse : the companies into which this insig- 
 nificant body was divided were commanded by 
 privy-counsellors, who took care to secure the pay 
 out of the receipts of the exchequer, and cora- 
 
 • Leknd, Vol. II. p. 412. t Ibid. p. 481. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 131 
 
 pounded with the privates for a third or fourth part 
 of the government allowance. The privates, who 
 were often the menial servants of the officers, pos- 
 sessed neither the appearance nor the spirit of sol- 
 diers, and excited only contempt among the turbu- 
 lent inhabitants. ^ 
 
 The embarrassments of the English government, 
 and an annual deficiency of the Irish revenue, 
 prevented Charles from listening to the repeated 
 demands of Falkland for an increase of the army. 
 At length, however, he resolved to augment his 
 Irish forces to five thousand foot and five hundred 
 horse ; and, to prevent this new charge from fall- 
 ing on his exhausted treasury, he commanded 
 them to be quartered on the diflPerent towns and 
 counties, each of which was, for three months 
 in turn, to receive a certain portion of the troops, 
 and supply them with pay, clothes, and subsist- 
 ence, t 
 
 The people of Ireland, informed of this pur- 
 pose, resolved, by a liberal voluntary contribution, 
 to avert the vexatious imposition, and to procure 
 the redress of their most prominent grievances. 
 The Catholics, who had most to apprehend from 
 the execution of the existing penal statutes, were 
 the first movers in this plan ; and the Protestants 
 had sufficient grounds to concur heartily in the 
 
 • Leland, Vol. II. p. ill, i72. f Ibid. p. 480. 
 
132 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 proposal. By permission of Lord Falkland, dele- 
 gates from both parties passed over to London, 
 and laid their otfers and their requests at the foot 
 of the throne. For the maintenance of the troops 
 they offered a voluntary contribution of one hun- 
 dred thousand pounds, to be paid by instalments of 
 ten thousand pounds a quarter ; a far larger sum 
 than had hitherto been obtained from the poverty 
 of Ireland. The graces, or concessions, which 
 they demanded in return, were extremely mode- 
 rate. They related to certain abuses arising from 
 barbarous manners and a defective police ; to exac- 
 tions in the courts of justice ; depredations com- 
 mitted by the soldiery ; monopolies in trade ; pe- 
 nal statutes on account of religion ; retrospective 
 inquiries into defective titles, beyond a period of 
 sixty years ; and while relief from these grievances 
 was prayed, they desired the confirmation of the 
 concession by an Irish parliament. * The last two 
 articles were by no means acceptable to Charles. 
 He had formed a design to augment his revenue, 
 and gratify his courtiers, by the discovery of an- 
 cient flaws in the titles of the present proprietors ; 
 and to grant a parliament to Ireland was a conspi- 
 cuous departure from that plan of government 
 which he was attempting to consolidate in Eng- 
 land. His necessities, however, were urgent, the 
 
 " Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 320. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 133 
 
 contribution opportune ; he therefore judged it 
 expedient to give, for the present, his unreserved 
 assent to all the demands. 
 
 The joy diffused over Ireland by these conces- 1628. 
 sions was soon allayed by suspicions of the king's 
 sincerity. Lord Falkland, when informed of the 
 royal sanction, hastened to gratify the people by 
 issuing writs for a parliament ; but by a strange 
 omission, these writs proved altogether invalid. 
 According to the law of Poynings, explained and 
 ratified by subsequent statutes, » no parliament 
 could be summoned in Ireland, till a certificate 
 of the laws to be proposed in it, with the reasons 
 for enacting them, should first be transmitted by 
 the deputy and council to England, and his majes- 
 ty's licence under tlie great seal be obtained for hold- 
 ing it. f As Falkland, without attending to these 
 essential forms, had, by his own authority, issued 
 the writs, they were, by the English council, de- 
 clared null and void, t This irregularity was sus- 
 pected to proceed from some collusion between 
 Falkland and the court of England ; and as no 
 steps were taken to repair an error so easily amend- 
 ed, it became evident that the meeting of a parlia- 
 ment was intentionally delayed. § 
 
 The imprudence of the Catholics threatened 
 
 • Sil and 4th Phil, and Mary. t Rushworth, Vol. II. p. 20. 
 t Ibid. p. 19. § Leland, Vol. II. p. 4S6. 
 
134» EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 also to involve Ireland in domestic broils. Elevated 
 by their favourable reception at court, and confi- 
 dent of the queen's protection, they beheld, in the 
 •''!-i)' late concessions, the earnest of a complete victory, 
 which seemed due to their superior numbers, and 
 still more to the imagined verity of their creed. 
 Churches were seized for their worship ; the 
 streets of Dublin thronged with their processions ; 
 an academy erected for the religious instruction of 
 their youth ; and their clergy reinforced by swarms 
 of young priests from the seminaries of France and 
 Spain.* By these transactions, both the Protest- 
 ants and the English government had reason to be 
 alarmed; since the clergy, who entirely led the 
 people, universally maintained the Pope's supre- 
 macy, and had bound themselves to labour for the 
 propagation of the faith, and the extirpation of 
 heretics, t 
 
 Roused by the loud remonstrances of the Pro- 
 testants, Falkland at l-ength issued a proclamation 
 prohibiting the Romish clergy irom exercising a 
 control over the people, and from celebrating 
 their worship in public, t This edict, strongly 
 expressed but feebly enforced, served only to in- 
 cense the Catholics without satisfying the Protest- 
 ants. The recusants complained that the promised 
 
 ♦Leland, Vol. HI. p. .^ t Ibid. p. 4. 
 
 * Hnshwoith, Vol. !1. p. ?i. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. W0 
 
 graces were withheld ; and now represented, as an 
 insupportable burden, that voluntary contribution 
 which, at first, they had so cheerfully paid. In 
 vain did government endeavour to appease their 
 discontents by consenting to accept the contribU'- 
 tion by instalments of five, instead of ten thousand 
 pounds a quarter : the general clamour, unjustly 
 directed against Lord Falkland, became so loud as 
 at length to procure his recall. * 
 
 The temporary administration, on which the 1630. 
 management of affairs now devolved, was still more 
 obnoxious to the Catholics. The two Lords Jus- 
 tices, Viscount Ely and the Earl of Cork, the for- 
 mer Lord Chancellor, and the latter Lord High 
 Treasurer of L-eland, were zealous anti-Catholics ; 
 and, without waiting for orders from England, 
 proceeded to a rigorous execution of the penal 
 statutes against the recusants. The latter derived 
 a temporary courage from an intimation of the 
 royal displeasure at these proceedings ; but, having 
 come to open blows with the Protestants, they had 
 the mortification to witness the suppression of the 
 academy and religious houses, which they had 
 erected in Dublin, t 
 
 To the difficulties thus caused to the govern- 
 ment, was added the embarrassing consideration 
 that the voluntary contribution was soon to termi- 
 
 • Leland, Vol. II. p. 5, 6. f Ibid. Vol. III. p. 6, 7, 8. 
 
1S6 
 
 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 .Tanuaiy 
 1632. 
 
 Dexterity 
 in raising 
 supplies. 
 
 nate. The Irish, exasperated by the evasion of 
 the promised concessions, were not likely to con- 
 tinue their voluntary supplies ; and it seemed a 
 desperate attempt for a divided government, with 
 a feeble army, to enforce compulsory exactions. 
 Yet it was impossible for the court of England, 
 pressed by its aggravated necessities, to defray the 
 expence of an augmented army in Ireland ; and 
 some prompt and decisive measures seemed requi- 
 site to prevent that distracted island from becom- 
 ing not only useless but dangerous to the mo- 
 narchy. Such was the situation of affairs when 
 Wentworth was appointed to the administration of 
 Ireland. 
 
 Although he received his commission at the 
 commencement of 1632, it was not till July in the 
 following year that he was able to reach the place 
 of his desdnation. The arrangements for his pri- 
 vate affairs, and for the administration of his pre- 
 sidency in his absence, occupied a considerable 
 time. And when all these were completed, he 
 was still delayed some months for the arrival of a 
 man of war from the Thames ; for, strange as it 
 may now appear, so dangerously was the Irish 
 Channel infested with pirates, that Wentworth 
 could not venture to pass over without convoy. * 
 But, during this interval, the lord deputy was 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. S5, 87 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 137 
 
 not inactive. He carefully informed himself of 
 the state of his new government, planned the mea- 
 sures of his future administration, and ascertained 
 the powers necessary to give efficiency to his au- 
 thority. * He also gave his serious attention to the 
 most difficult of all departments, the raising of 
 supplies. The voluntary contribution was novv^ 
 paid up, and it was indispensable, either by its re- 
 newal, or by some other method, to procure re- 
 sources for the maintenance of the army till his ar- 
 rival in Ireland. But the lords justices, on being 
 applied to, declared it as their decided opinion, that 
 there were no other means of supply than that of 
 rigorously levying the penalties imposed by statute 
 on the Catholics, for absence from public worship. 
 Wentworth was averse to an expedient which he 
 knew to be unacceptable to the English court, and 
 calculated to excite bitter discontent among the 
 Catholics. He resolved, if possible, to procure a 
 continuance of the voluntary contribution ; and in 
 the letter of the lords justices he found an expe- 
 dient to alarm the Catholics into compliance. By 
 his direction, the king wrote to the lords justices, 
 bitterly complaining of the evils which they had 
 represented, the impossibility of raising voluntary 
 supplies, and the necessity of levying the penalties. 
 " If this indeed be the case, I must," adds the 
 
 Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p CI— 93. 
 
188 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 king, " as you advise, slreighten the graces which 
 I have granted, and, rather than let the army loose 
 on the inhabitants, take advantage of my legal 
 rights and profits.'* * 
 
 While awaiting the effect of this letter, Went- 
 worth dispatched to Ireland a Catholic agent, to 
 represent to his brethren the lord deputy's regard 
 for their interests, his willingness to act as media- 
 tor between them and the king, and his ho|>es that 
 a moderate voluntary contribution would be ac- 
 cepted as a substitute for their heavy fines, t 
 Having discovered that his temporary representa- 
 tives, the lords justices, were seeking to counter- 
 act his purposes, he reprimanded their presump- 
 tion in such terms as made them anxious to avoid, 
 by any sacrifice, the resentment of so peremptory 
 a governor. X Alarmed and silenced by these dex- 
 terous measures, all parties agreed to enlarge their 
 voluntary contribution, by four additional quarter- 
 ly payments of five thousand pounds each ; and 
 Wentworth was thus enabled to mature, without 
 embarrassment, his plans for a permanent revenue. 
 Principal The grand objects proposed by the lord deputy 
 were to render the king's power completely uncon- 
 trollable in Ireland ; to derive from her a revenue 
 suflBcient both to support her own expenditure and 
 
 * Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 7L 
 
 t Ibid. p. 74. X Ibid. p. It, 77. 
 
 objects. 
 
EAIIL OF STHAFFORD. 139 
 
 to aid the treasury of England ; and thus, by every 
 expedient, to render the province advantageous to 
 the crown. Schemes he had for enriching Ireland, 
 and plans for promoting her civilization ; but, " in 
 all these affairs,'* writes he to the king, " the be- 
 nefit of the crown must and shall be my principal, 
 nay, my sole end." * 
 
 The king had allowed Wentworth full discre- instructions 
 
 .' , 1 1 • 1 r • ,, for his go- 
 
 tion to draw np his plan or govern mg, and the vernmeut. 
 conditions for which he stipulated discover no less 
 sagacity than ambition. Never was a monarch 
 more beset by rapacious courtiers : already had 
 they procured the reversion of the most valuable 
 offices in Ireland ; and it was not to be doubted 
 that the Irish treasury, if anywise enriched, would 
 become the object of their watchful avarice. 
 Wentworth therefore provided, in the first article 
 of his instructions, that his majesty should bestow 
 no grant on the Irish establishment before the or- 
 dinary revenue of the crown in that country should 
 be equal to its charges, and its debts fully cleared. 
 To secure the patronage necessary to the influence 
 of the governor, he made farther and more import- 
 ant stipulations, viz. 
 
 That none of the grants already given for the 
 reversion of offices in Ireland should be confirmed, 
 and none for the future bestowed. 
 
 StrafTorrVs Letters, Vol. I. p. 242. 
 
110 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 That no grant, of what nature soever, relative 
 to Ireland, should be suffered to pass till it were 
 first made known to the deputy, and sanctioned 
 by the seal of that kingdom. 
 
 That no person should be appointed a bishop, 
 a judge, a privy-counsellor, or a law officer of any 
 description in Ireland, till his majesty had first 
 consulted with the deputy. 
 
 That the same rule should be observed before 
 any new office were created in that kingdom. 
 
 That the places usually in the deputy's gift, 
 both civil and military, should be freely left to his 
 own disposal, and not granted by his majesty to 
 the importunity of any candidate in England. 
 
 And that no particular complaint of injustice or 
 oppression, against any person in Ireland, should 
 be admitted at the English court, unless it appear- 
 ed that the party aggrieved had first addressed 
 himself to the deputy. 
 
 A committee of the English privy-council had 
 been set apart for the consideration of Irish affairs : 
 but, to ensure secrecy, and prevent obstructions, it 
 was now provided that all propositions from the 
 deputy, relative to the revenue, might be commu- 
 nicated exclusively to his friend the Lord Trea- 
 surer, and his other dispatches addressed solely to 
 Secretary Coke. * 
 
 See these instructions in StraflFord's Letters, Vol. I. p. 05, 66. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 141 
 
 In these ample instructions, Wentwortli, before 
 his departure from England, procured such altera- 
 tions as he judged expedient, * with this remark- 
 able addition, that he was to consider them as 
 changeable on the spot whenever the advancement 
 of his majesty's affairs required, t He received 
 the fullest assurance that, in all his measures, the 
 king would avow and support him. t 
 
 Of these vast discretionary powers, he after- 
 wards procured such specific confirmations as he 
 judged expedient. While Ireland continued to 
 be governed entirely as a conquered country, the 
 lord deputy and his council had occasionally super- 
 seded the courts of common law, and assumed the 
 decision of private civil causes. This practice, so 
 liable to glaring abuse, had been prohibited by 
 proclamation, during tlie government of Lord 
 Falkland. Wentwortli, however, soon discovering 
 that there were many cases in which the course of 
 the common law would obstruct his projected mea- 
 sures, procured a suspension of the prohibition ; 
 and numerous suitors, who hoped from favour what 
 they could not expect from truth, crowded from 
 the ordinary courts to the Castle Chamber. § That 
 persons of rank and consequence might not carry 
 their complaints against his government to the 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 86. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 91. X Ibid. § Ibid. p. 202, 223. 
 
142 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 throne, Wentvvorth procured his majesty's order, 
 that none of the nobility or principal officers should 
 presume to quit Ireland without a special licence 
 from the lord deputy. * For the sanction of his 
 more delicate measures, he procured a private and 
 direct correspondence with the king himself ; and 
 from the introduction of his confidential friends, 
 Wandesford and RadcIifFe, to official situations, 
 and to the privy-council, he derived a select cabinet, 
 with whom he could in secret discuss his resolu- 
 tions and enterprises, t 
 Treatment Armed with these extraordinary powers, he 
 councur^^' commenced his government with an activity and 
 vigour, which promised a speedy revolution in the 
 state of affairs. From the privy-council, which 
 had been accustomed to bear a great sway in the 
 management of the state, wliich included the lords 
 justices, along with the most considerable person- 
 
 * StrafFord's Letters, Vol. I. p. 34.8, 362. Wentworth was coun- 
 tenanced in this measure by the 37th grace, which enacted the 
 Same provision, but with a different view — to prevent men of large 
 fortunes from deserting their estates, and wasting their revenues 
 abroad. Ibid. p. 324. 
 
 t We learn from Radcliffe's Essay, that Wentworth, since the 
 retirement of Mr Greenwood to his living, had been accustomed to 
 take the advice of those two friends on all his affairs, both public 
 and private, scarcely writing a letter without submitting it to their 
 inspection. In his dispatches, he often speaks of their introduction 
 to the privy-council, and their private assistance, as his greatest aid 
 in the management of his government. 
 
KARL OF STRAFFORD. i43 
 
 ag'es in Ireland, he had reason to expect a trou- 
 blesome opposition to measures, which tended to 
 annihilate every balance to the authority of the so- 
 vereign*^ His conduct, therefore, from the com- 
 mencement, was calculated to shake their confi- 
 dence, and awe them into submission. In calling 
 his first privy-council, he summoned only a select 
 number of the members ; a mode of proceeding 
 which, though usual at the English court, was hi- 
 therto unknown in Ireland, and occasioned inex- 
 pressible mortification to those who were omitted. 
 But the more honoured number found little reason 
 to be proud of the distinction. After assembling 
 at the time appointed, they were left for some 
 hours to wait the leisure of the lord deputy ; and 
 when he at length arrived, the business which he 
 introduced required their attention rather as audi- 
 tors than counsellors. * 
 
 A provision for the immediate necessities of go- 
 vernment, especially the maintenance of the army, 
 was the subject which he submitted to them at the 
 next interview. After he had waited for some 
 time to hear their propositions, a sullen silence was 
 at length broke by Sir Adam Loftus, son of the 
 Lord Chancellor, who proposed that the voluntary 
 contribution should be continued for another year, 
 
 • Leland, Vol. III. p. 12, 13. Carte's Life of Ormond, Vol. I. 
 p. .57. Strafford's Letters, Vol. L p. 97, 98. 
 
144 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 and that a parliament should, in the meantime, be 
 requested, to reform abuses, and establish a perma- 
 nent revenue. The proposal met with an unpro- 
 mising reception, and was openly opposed by Sir 
 William Parsons, Master of the Wards, who doubt- 
 ed whether their act could bind the nation at large, 
 and whether the people could be brought to acqui- 
 esce in such repeated demands on their unrequited 
 generosity. Wentworth now thought it time to 
 interpose. He had, he said, called them together, 
 not from any necessity, but to afford them an op- 
 portunity of showing their loyalty ; that the Pro- 
 testants, who shared most largely in the favours of 
 government, ought to imitate the example of libe- 
 rality, last year set them by the Catholics; and 
 «♦ if my arguments are ineffectual, I will," he add- 
 ed, " undertake, at the peril of my head, to make 
 the king's army subsist, and provide for itself in 
 Ireland, without your assistance." * After this 
 imperious language, he found it expedient to ex- 
 press a hope, that their obedience would be speed- 
 ily rewarded by a parliament in Ireland ; and so 
 extremely was a parliament desired, that the pro- 
 spect of it procured a cheerful acquiescence in the 
 proposal of Sir Adam Loitus, not only from the 
 privy-council, but throughout the island, t 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 99. t Ibid. Lclai.d, 
 
 Vol. III. p. U. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 145 
 
 A parliament was regarded by the people of 
 Ireland as the only means of procuring redress for 
 their grievances, and security for their rights. 
 They had, indeed, carried their complaints to the 
 throne, and experienced a gracious assent to their 
 demands ; but the ftiith of the monarch had been 
 violated with so little scruple, that a solemn act of 
 the legislature could alone merit their confidence. 
 It was the hope of a parliament that first in- 
 duced them to propose a voluntary contribution, 
 and that had since allured them to acquiesce in its 
 continuance. * 
 
 Wentworth had the sagacity to perceive the im- His efForts 
 propriety of refusing this universal wish of the l^pSa"/^ 
 Irish. He had remarked the sudden alacrity of Snd!' 
 the council on the mention of a parliament, t and 
 he clearly saw that the nation at large was actuated 
 by similar feelings. Were the people disappoint- 
 ed in this favourite object, what means would re- 
 main to government to supply its recurring neces- 
 sities ? Would he not at length be compelled to 
 put his threat in execution, and march, at the 
 head of an army, to exact their reluctant contribu- 
 tions? A contingency which would endanger a 
 civil war, and tarnish the lustre of his administra- 
 tion, rendered the lord deputy no less eager than 
 
 * Lelaml, Vol. III. p. 14. 
 t Strafford's Letters, Vol, I. p. 99. 
 VOL. II. K 
 
146 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 the Irish to procure a parliament. But the ex- 
 treme aversion of the king to those assemblies pre- 
 sented a very discouraging obstacle : while at- 
 tempting to consolidate his independent authority 
 in England, it seemed a dangerous example to 
 yield a parliament to Ireland. He had, indeed, 
 given his royal word for this concession ; but the 
 confirmation of the other graces, which had been 
 expressly stated as the principal object of a parlia- 
 ment, was what he desired above all things to 
 evade. From the discovery of defective titles, he 
 still hoped to mcrease his own revenue, and grati- 
 fy his courtiers ; and he was unwilling to give the 
 proprietors a security which would put an end to 
 these pretensions. * 
 January 22, Wcntworth was wcll acquainted with these ob- 
 jections of the king ; yet did he not despair to 
 overcome them by more powerful considerations. 
 In an elaborate dispatch, he represented that the 
 English and Irish parliaments were v/idely differ- 
 ent ; that the former might propose what they 
 pleased for debate, and pursue or drop it at plea- 
 sure ; while, by the provident law of Poynings, 
 the latter could occupy itself only with such topics 
 as had first been canvassed and approved by the 
 privy-council of England, t He dwelt on the exi- 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 252. 
 
 t The import of Poynings' law gate rise to many violent contro- 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 147 
 
 gencies of the state, the urgent necessity of mak- 
 ing some permanent provision for them, and the 
 propriety of trying the authorized methods, before 
 resorting to extraordinary and dangerous courses. 
 As more than the public revenue of Ireland was 
 spent on its internal establishments, and the bur- 
 
 versies, both before and after the time of Wentworth. tt was, we 
 have seen, originally gratifying to the Irish as a defence against 
 those governors, who, by means of parliaments hastily summoned, 
 were enabled to procure the sanction of the legislature to their most 
 tyrannical acts. Hence the expediency of a provision, that no par- 
 liament should be summoned in Ireland, till an exposition of the 
 hills to be debated in it was first transmitted to the English privy- 
 council. But when, in the revolution of circumstances, the people 
 became interested that parliaments should be more frequently held, 
 and the court that thry should be discontinued, it was discovered 
 that this provision admitted of two interpretations. The popular 
 party maintained that, if measures were produced, of sufficient 
 weight to satisfy the king and council, the intention of the law of 
 Poynings was fulfilled ; and that if was never designed to preclude 
 the members of parliament, when once assembled, from introducing 
 such other topics as they might deem expedient for the general wel- 
 fare. But the partizans of the court contended, that the express 
 letter of the law was not to be thus evaded ; that the previous ap- 
 probation of the king and council was distinctly required to each 
 proposition ; and that no other measures could ever be made the 
 subject of discussion. This latter interpretation, which gave the 
 king so decided a control over parliamentary motions, was firmly 
 maintained by Wentworth; and rendered subservient by him, ii» 
 the sequel, to very important purposes. He frequently takes occa- 
 sion, in his letters and dispatches, to applaud the law ; declare 
 that " he is infinitely in love with this prerogative ;" and extols it 
 as " a mighty power gotten by the wisdom of former times," 
 Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 269. 
 
148 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 (lens hitherto laid on that country had been ex- 
 tremely light, his majesty had the strongest claims 
 on the liberality of the nation. And what their 
 gratitude should deny, might be expected from 
 their fears, since they laboured under a serious ap- 
 prehension that the voluntary contribution, already 
 levied for several successive years, might ultimately 
 be demanded as a hereditary charge. If these rea- 
 sons should appear sufficient for calling a parlia- 
 ment, there were grounds equally strong for tak- 
 ing this step without delay. If deferred till the 
 voluntary contribution should again be about to 
 terminate, it would appear to proceed from neces- 
 sity : the parliament would be emboldened to clog 
 their grants with conditions ; " and conditions,'* 
 added Wentworth, " are not to be admitted with 
 any subjects, much less with this people, where 
 your majesty's absolute sovereignty goes much 
 higher than it is taken (perhaps) to be in Eng- ' 
 land." 
 
 He unfolded a plan which he had devised, to 
 avert those uneasy demands for the confinnation of 
 the " graces," which his majesty so much appre- 
 hended. He proposed to divide the parliament 
 into two sessions, the first of which should be ex- 
 clusively devoted to the subject of supplies ; while 
 the second, which might be held six months after- 
 wards, should be occupied with the confirmation of 
 the " graces," and other national measures. Par- 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 149 
 
 liament, from a desire to conciliate the good will 
 of its sovereign, would, in its first session, in all 
 probability, grant a sufficient supply for the expen- 
 diture of three years ; and this concession once se- 
 cured, his majesty might hold what language he 
 pleased with respect to the " graces.'* Wentwortli 
 pledged himself to procure the return of a nearly 
 equal number of Protestants and Catholics to the 
 House of Commons ; that both parties, being near- 
 ly balanced against each other, might be more easily 
 managed. He proposed to obtain qualifications 
 for a sufficient number of military officers, whose 
 situations rendered them dependent on the crown, 
 and ready to give their votes as the deputy should 
 direct. Could the parties be nearly balanced, pe- 
 culiar arguments would not be wanting for each ; 
 the Catholics might be privately warned, that if no 
 other provision should be made for the maintenance 
 of the army, it would become necessary to levy on 
 them the legal fines ; while the Protestants should 
 be given to understand, that, until a regular reve- 
 nue should be established, his majesty could not 
 let go the voluntary contribution, or irritate the re- 
 cusants by the execution of penal statutes. As to 
 the upper house, he concluded that his majesty 
 might reckon on all the bishops ; and there were 
 motives enough of hope and fear, to prevent any 
 serious opposition from the temporal lords. * 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. L p. 183 to 187. This dispatch is aU 
 so inserted in Rushworth's Collections, Vol. IL p. 208 to 212. 
 
150 EARL OF STRAFFORD* 
 
 Charles at length yielded to these representa- 
 tions, and transmitted the necessary orders for hold- 
 ing a parliament ; * yet was he careful, in his con- 
 fidential letters, to caution the lord deputy against 
 this grand object of his suspicion and abhorrence. 
 " As for that hydra," said he, " take good heed ; 
 for you know that here I have found it cunning as 
 well as malicious. It is true that your grounds are 
 well laid, and, I assure you, that I have a great 
 trust in your care and judgment : yet my opinion 
 is, that it will not be the worse for my service, 
 though their obstinacy make you break them, for I 
 fear that they have some ground to demand more 
 than it is fit for me to give." t Charles was, not 
 unreasonably, afraid lest his royal sanction former- 
 ly given to the " graces," should be urged as a te- 
 nable ground for demanding their confirmation ; 
 and he distrusted even the address of Wentworth 
 to elude the requisition, t 
 Methods to The deputy, however, found, in his own dex- 
 posiiion?^' terity and vigour, resources adequate to the occa- 
 sion ; and proceeded, with a high and resolute 
 hand, to subdue every appearance of opposition. 
 When the council, in conformity with the provi- 
 sions of Poynings* law, assembled to deliberate on 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 2.3L 
 
 -f- King to Wentworth, Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 233. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 252. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 151 
 
 the propositions to be transmitted to his majesty, 
 as subjects for the discussion of the ensuing par- 
 liament ; they ventured to suggest several popular 
 laws as necessary to conciliate the houses. And, 
 in regard to subsidies, instead of transmitting the 
 bill with blanks to be filled up at his majesty's dis- 
 cretion, they were of opinion that the amount 
 should both be specified, and confined within the 
 strictest limits of necessity. Wentworth interrupt- 
 ed their proceedings with indignation. He remind- 
 ed them that, as privy-counsellors, it was tlieir 
 business to study, not wliat should please the peo- 
 ple, but what might gratify the king : his majesty, 
 he assured them, would admit of no conditions, no 
 bargaining for his favour ; that he was resolved to 
 procure a permanent and adequate revenue ; and 
 that he was desirous to accomplish this by a par- 
 liament, only as the most beaten tract, yet not more 
 legal than if done by his royal prerogative, if the 
 ordinary way should fail him. Should the king 
 be disappointed, where he hath every reason to ex- 
 pect compliance, ** in a cause so just and necessary, 
 I will not scruple to appear at the head of the 
 army, and there either persuade you that his ma^ 
 jesty hath reason on his side, or perish in the exe- 
 cution of an honourable duty." He gave them to 
 understand, that they would assuredly gain most by 
 a ready and cheerful compliance. He reminded 
 them of the in-eparable breach which had taken 
 
152 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 place between the king and the parliament in Eng- 
 land, and which had led to such extraordinary and 
 unwelcome measures. " I could tell them," says 
 he, " as one that had held his eyes as open to these 
 proceedings as any one, that to whatever other cause 
 this mischief might be attributed, it arose solely 
 from the ill-grounded and narrow suspicions of the 
 parliament, and their obstinate refusal to yield to 
 the king that confidence which he so justly de- 
 manded from his people."* 
 
 This address, delivered with energy and vehe- 
 mence, produced the desired effect. Confounded 
 and abashed, the council felt as if they had stood 
 in the presence of a despotic sovereign ; and si- 
 lently acquiesced in all the proposals of Went- 
 worth. t 
 
 The lords of the Pale had, in former times, pos- 
 sessed a great control in the administration of Irish 
 affairs ; and the privy-council had been accustom- 
 ed to submit to their inspection and deliberation, 
 
 • StrafFord's Letters, Vol. I. p. 23 7, 238, 239. This language 
 from one, who had so actively infused these suspicions, and who 
 had insisted that redress should ever precede supplies, did not 
 escape the unlucky jeers of AVentworth's associates at court. Laud, 
 with his usual love for a jest, writes him, that when that part of his 
 dispatch, which mentioned his reprobation of the turbulent pro- 
 ceedings of the English parliament, was read before the committee 
 of the privy-council. Lord Cottington added, Et (juomm purs ?nag-na 
 fid ! Straftbrd's Letters, Vol. 1. p. 255. 
 
 t Strallbrd's Letters, Vol. L p. 255. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 153 
 
 the projected acts whicli were to be transmitted 
 for the approbation of tlie king. The Earl of Fin- 
 gal was deputed by liis brother peers to represent 
 this ancient privilege, and to request its observance 
 on the present occasion ; but these traditionary 
 rights were treated by Wentvvorth with such con- 
 tempt and acrimony, that tlie Earl was glad to ex- 
 cuse his confidence by an apology. * The deputy's 
 management of the elections at first experienced 
 some opposition ; but, after he had fined one re- 
 fractory sheriff two hundred pounds, and put ano- 
 ther in his place, he soon found resistance convert- 
 ed into submission and obedience, t 
 
 That commanding and peremptory tone, which ^peedi *» 
 had produced so effectual an impression on the J^^y i634. 
 council, proved equally successful in the parliament. 
 Having opened the session with a pomp calculated 
 to astonish and abash the vulgar, he informed the 
 houses of his majesty's pleasure that two sessions 
 should be held : of which the first, accordino- to 
 the natural order, should be devoted to the so- 
 vereign, and the second to the subject. **In de- 
 manding supplies, I only require you to provide 
 for your own safety ; I expect, therefore, your con- 
 tributions will be both liberal and permanent : for 
 it is far below the dignity of my master to come 
 at evei7 year's end, with his hat in his hand, to in- 
 
 " Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 246. t Ibid. p. 270. 
 
151> EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 treat that you would be pleased to preserve your- 
 selves." He assured them that if they expected 
 constant protection without contributing towards 
 it, they looked for more than had ever been the 
 portion of a conquered kingdom. He warned them 
 against disobedience by the fate of the English 
 parliament ; and concluded with an explicit inti- 
 mation that future reward or punishment would 
 certainly be dealt out according to their conduct. * 
 Manage- This spccch, delivered with a loud voice and ve- 
 
 commons hcmeut gcsturcs, was in public applauded for its 
 Session/^ eloqucncc, and in private dreaded for its vigour, t 
 Confiding in the success of his plans, Wentworth 
 had resolved to demand from the Commons the 
 extraordinary grant of six subsidies j and had pro- 
 cured the reluctant assent of the council to this 
 exorbitant requisition, t This proposition he caus- 
 ed to be introduced into the house on the day im- 
 mediately subsequent to their assembling ; and 
 took the parties by surprise, before any plan of op- 
 position could be arranged. Ignorant of each 
 other's sentiments, Catholics and Protestants strove 
 to distinguish themselves by their loyal devotion. 
 The six subsidies, voted unconditionally, were ren- 
 dered payable in four years ; and entrusted to the 
 discretion of the lord deputy, accompanied only 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 287—200. f Ibid. p. 273. 
 
 J Ibid. p. 259 . 
 
EARL OF STllAFFORD. 155 
 
 with a humble request that he would be pleased to 
 employ one portion in discharging the public debts, 
 and another in buying in pensions and rents for 
 the amelioration of the revenue. * All parties 
 united in testifying their distinguished respect for 
 their governor. Sir Robert Talbot, one of the 
 members, having, in the ardour of debate, been be- 
 trayed into some unguarded reflections on Went- 
 worth's conduct, he was instantly expelled, and 
 committed to custody, till he should, on his knees, 
 implore pardon of the lord deputy, f 
 
 While the Commons were thus passing votes full of the 
 of zeal and loyalty, the Lords exhibited very differ- '°"*' 
 ent sentiments. Disregarding Wentworth's dis- 
 tribution of the sessions, they took into considera- 
 tion the redress of grievances, the confirmation of 
 the " graces," the enactment of various salutary 
 regulations j and even proceeded to draw up cer- 
 tain acts to be transmitted to England for his ma- 
 jesty's approbation. Wentworth, secure of the 
 Commons, took no notice of these impotent pro- 
 ceedings, till the money bills were passed, and the 
 term appointed for the session about to expire. 
 He then, by a formal protest, warned the lords of 
 the irregularity of their proceedings ; pointed out 
 their violation of the law of Poynings j and assert- 
 
 * Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 277, 279. 
 
 + Comm. Journals, Vol. I. p. 116. Leland, Vol. III. p. 18. 
 
156 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 ed the exclusive right of the deputy and couucil 
 to frame and transmit laws to England. * 
 
 The triumphant manner in which Wentworth 
 conducted this session, impressed the English court 
 with surprise and admiration. While they found 
 it so difficult to govern a people habituated to sub- 
 ordination, or to move the liberality of a parliament 
 accustomed to considerable grants ; they saw Went- 
 worth exact implicit submission from a nation hi- 
 therto noted for turbulence, and draw large sums 
 from a parliament which now for the first time 
 granted a subsidy, f The Irish clergy, though 
 strongly tinctured with puritanisra, had contended 
 in zeal with the laity ; for the convocation, which 
 sat along with the parliament, had granted eight 
 subsidies. 
 In the The part, however, which still remained to be 
 SeTsbn. acted, appeared replete with difficulty. The peo- 
 ple had been liberal, on the faith that the king 
 would be generous ; and it seemed necessary both 
 for his dignity, and for the preservation of tran- 
 quillity, that this confidence should not be disap- 
 pointed. But AVentworth, trusting to that bold- 
 ness and decision which hitherto proved so success- 
 ful, resolved to gratify his sovereign, whatever 
 might become of the popular humours. With a 
 devotion most acceptable to Charles, he wrote to 
 
 Strafford's Letters, Vol. L p. 279. t Ibid. p. 307. 
 
KARL OF STRAFFORD. 157 
 
 him that he and the council would take on them* 
 selves the whole blame of refusing, while the whole 
 merit of granting should be given to his majesty. * 
 With regard to the " graces " not fit to be passed 
 into laws, he would boldly state that he had not 
 thought proper to transmit them among the propo- 
 sitions for his majesty's approbation ; t and, with- 
 out entering into further explanations, would sim- 
 ply inform them that this was done for great and 
 weighty reasons of state, t The plan was hazard- 
 ous, for the *' graces " to be denied were those of 
 which the Irish were most particularly desirous. 
 One " grace *' was to prevent the inquiries into 
 defective titles from being carried beyond a period 
 of sixty years ; and another was to guarantee the 
 proprietors of Connaught against some dubious 
 claims of the crown ; but as these provisions would 
 
 * Wentworth to the King, Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 328, 339. 
 
 ■f The law of Poynings, by which the parliament was prevented 
 from entering on any discussion without this previous form, was 
 the circumstance to which Wentworth trusted for the prevention 
 of all troublesome opposition to his plans. With this rein in his 
 hand, he felt no alarm at turning the attention of the parHament to 
 the " graces," as he expresses by an apposite figure in a letter to 
 Secretary Coke : " For my own part, I see not any hazard in it, 
 considering that we have this lyme hound in our power, still to 
 take off when we please, which is not so easy with your parliament 
 of England, where sometimes they hunt loose, forth of command, 
 chuse and give over their own game as they list themselves," Straf- 
 ford's Letters, Vol, L p, 30.5. 
 
 X Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 338. 
 
158 KARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 have dried up a source from which the king ex- 
 pected to enrich himself and his courtiers, they 
 were on no account to be granted. * 
 December The samc arts, however, which ruled the first ses- 
 ^^' sion, proved effectual in the second. In his opening 
 speech, Wentworth resolutely avowed that he had 
 refused to transmit certain graces to England, and 
 asserted his right to do so by the law of Poynings. 
 He explained to the parliament, that, by this sta- 
 tute, the consent of the deputy and council was as 
 necessary to a law in Ireland, as the sanction of 
 the parliament was in England, t The members 
 heard in silence what they feared to contradict ; 
 and Wentworth, in his next dispatch, could boast 
 to the king, that the obnoxious graces were lulled 
 asleep for ever, t 
 
 In the course of the session, the Catholics, who 
 had suffered most by the refusal of the " graces,** 
 began to show their discontent, in the House of 
 Commons, by opposing some bills introduced by 
 the deputy. As the Protestants, on whom he now 
 depended, had lost several questions by their ne- 
 gligent attendance, he resolved to make a final trial 
 of strength ; and, if unsuccessful, to conclude the 
 session by an immediate prorogation. But the 
 critical question, which concerned the expulsion of 
 
 * StrafFord's Letters, Vol. I. p. 320, 321. 
 t Ibid. p. Si.5. + Ibid. p. 3^1. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 159 
 
 a refractory Catholic, was carried triumphantly in 
 his favour ; and he was afterwards enabled, with- 
 out opposition, to enact such regulations as he 
 deemed expedient. * 
 
 The lords he not only restrained from such dis- 
 cussions as they had hazarded in the last session, but 
 abridged in their authority by new deductions from 
 the law of Poynings. One Sir Vincent Gookin 
 had arraigned the vices of his countrymen in a 
 libel so acrimonious, as to excite the indignation of 
 all ranks ; and the parliament, entering into the 
 general resentment, resolved to bring him to pun- 
 ishment by impeachment before the lords. Here, 
 however, Wentworth interposed. He censured 
 the offender, applauded their intentions ; but re- 
 minded them that, by the law of Poynings, they 
 were precluded from acts of judicature, as well as 
 of legislation, unless when authorized by the de- 
 puty and council. The importance of the conces- 
 sion, thus wrested from the lords, was well under- 
 stood in England, where impeachments had occa- 
 sioned such frequent uneasiness to the court. In 
 his next dispatch, Wentworth congratulated his 
 majesty on this acquisition : and, in answer, re- 
 ceived the king's warm approbation of his prudent 
 foresight, and an order to try the offender in the 
 Castle Chamber, t 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 350, 331. f Ibid. p. 349. 
 
160 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 Success. With a still greater stretch of authority, but 
 
 with equal facility, he silenced some opposition to 
 his measures which arose in the convocation ; and, 
 at the close of the session, he found himself the 
 uncontrolled disposer of the destinies of Ireland. * 
 
 Exultation. Elated witli the unexampled success of all his 
 measures, he justly boasted, in his dispatches, of 
 the important services which he had rendered to 
 the crown. He spoke of vexatious embarrassments 
 succeeded by an ample revenue ; of importunate 
 demands superseded by an unlimited prerogative. 
 He declared that if his majesty was hereafter dis- 
 appointed of any reasonable desire in Ireland, it 
 might justly be laid to the charge of the deputy : 
 " for now," said he, " the Icing is as absolute here 
 as any prince in the whole world can be" t 
 
 Hisappiica- Xho jTrcat acquisitions, which he had so rapidly 
 
 tion for an " * i. n 
 
 Earldom, made for the crown, emboldened Wentworth to 
 aspire to some of the sovereign's rewards. An 
 earldom had, in his eyes, peculiar charms j and he 
 ventured to express his desire to the king. This 
 distinction, he said, while it added dignity to his 
 person, would greatly assist his future usefulness, 
 by affording an equivocal proof of his majesty's ap- 
 probation and favour.! But Charles was by no 
 means so inclined to grant this request as the suitor 
 
 StrafFord's Letters, Vol. I. p. 343. f Ibid. p. 344. 
 Wentworth to the King, Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 301. 
 
 I 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 1^1 
 
 expected. He had indeed been very lavish in his: 
 commendations of the deputy, and must have felt 
 all the importance of his services ; but he had no^ 
 longer the task of gaining over an opponent: Went- 
 worth, wholly disjoined from the opposition, was. 
 now irrevocably devoted to the court. He had, it 
 was true, conferred on the crown benefits which 
 even exceeded expectation : but his administra^ 
 tion was only begun ; still greater services were to 
 be expected from him ; and it might not be impo- 
 litic fur the sovereign to retain in liis hands an in- 
 centive which appeared so alluring to the ambition 
 of his minister. 
 
 There were yet other reasons for receiving the 
 application of Wentworth with coldness. Charles, 
 like other princes of the Stuart race, was ill fitted 
 to refuse the demands of his courtiers, many of 
 whom looked to the Irish establishment as a mine 
 of patronage. Wentworth, before entering on the 
 government, had stipulated that no such grant 
 should be made without his concurrence. Charles, 
 unable to refuse such grants altogether, had made 
 them conditionally, and, in his letters to Went- 
 worth, desired him to concede or refuse them, as 
 the good of the service required ; "yet so too,'* 
 added he, " as I may have thanks howsoever ; 
 that if there be any thing to be denied, you may 
 do it, not I.'* * This ungracious office, repeatedly 
 
 * King to Wentworth, Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. IW. 
 VOL. II. L 
 
l62 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 urged with more earnestness than delicacy, * Went- 
 worth undertook with the most loyal devotion ; f 
 and having, moreover, interfered to restrain both 
 parties in regard to the questionable titles, he had 
 accumulated on himself a load of displeasure, both 
 from the English courtiers and the Irish people. 
 By conferring on this minister any marked dis- 
 tinction, Charles would seem to approve every part 
 of his conduct, his imperious speeches, his harsh 
 refusals ; and thus draw on himself a portion of 
 that odium which he was so solicitous to avoid. 
 His reply to Wentwortli's application obscurely 
 intimated these sentiments. He thanked him for 
 taking on himself the refusal of the graces ; he 
 assured him he was not displeased at his request, 
 since noble minds are always accompanied with 
 lawful ambition ; but he hoped that he would pa- 
 tiently wait the time of favour, and allow him to 
 do all things in his own manner, t 
 Refusal. This refusal ill corresponded with the estimate 
 which Wentworth had formed of his deserts. 
 While he submissively thanked the king for his 
 gracious reply, § he could not refrain from express- 
 ing his chagrin in a letter to Lord Cottington, his 
 colleague in administration. His application for 
 the earldom was indeed a secret lodged in his own 
 
 • King to Wentworth, Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 159, 160. 
 t Ibid. p. 1G5. i Ibid. p. 332. § Ibid. p. 311. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. l63 
 
 breast ; but he dwelt on his expences, his difficul- 
 ties, his need of the royal protection and counte- 
 nance. *' Yet I am resolved," said he, " to com- 
 plain of nothing : I have been something unpros- 
 perous, slowly heard, and as coldly answered." * 
 
 The apprehensions of Charles also disappointed Thwarted in 
 
 '^ '^ _ _ ^ ^ ^ his wish to 
 
 him in a favourite part of his policy. By ijreat continue the 
 
 M 111, Parliament. 
 
 exertion and consummate address, he had been 
 enabled to procure a parliament, balanced as he de- 
 sired, and completely subservient to his wishes. 
 He understood the value of such an instrument in 
 procuring a ready submission to his measures ; and 
 a change of circumstances might prevent his ob- 
 taining a new representation equally desirable. 
 These considerations he strongly represented to 
 the king, earnestly requesting that he might be al- 
 lowed to defer the dissolution of the Parliament, and 
 continue it by prorogation, t But with this re- 
 quest Charles could not prevail on himself to com- 
 ply. He had found his English Parliaments al- 
 ways mild and temperate at the outset, but wrought 
 up to obstinacy and rage before their close. Dread- 
 ing for Ireland a catastrophe which he had been 
 unable to avert in England, he urged Wentworth 
 to get rid of this formidable assembly, while the 
 members retained their good humour. *' My rea- 
 
 • Kiiifr to Wentworth, Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 354. 
 t StrafFord's Letters, Vol. L p. 3.5 J. 
 
l64> EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 sons," said he, " are grounded on my experience 
 of parliaments here : they are of the nature of 
 cats, they ever grow curst with age ; so that if ye 
 ■will have good of them, put them off handsomely 
 when they come to any age, for young ones are 
 ever most tractable." * 
 Hismea- Notwithstanding tliese disappointments, Went- 
 SomUy. worth persisted in giving new proofs of his zeal 
 and devotion. Among other schemes for consoli- 
 dating the power of the sovereign, he conceived 
 the difficult one of reducing all the people of Ire- 
 land to a conformity in religion. Theological dif- 
 ferences were, he saw, the chief cause of their in- 
 ternal dissentions ; priests and Jesuits the active 
 promoters of sedition ; f their followers were the 
 principal opposers of subordination and improve- 
 ment ; from all which he concluded, that " the 
 introduction of conformity was by far the greatest 
 service which, in that kingdom, could be rendered 
 to the crown." t In these sentiments he was con- 
 firmed by Archbishop Laud, who did not cease 
 urging him to go thorough and thorough with the 
 pious work. § 
 
 * King to Wentworth, Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 365. 
 
 f Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 431. t Ibid. p. 367. 
 
 § Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. Ill, 156, 329. Laud was no 
 less eager for the application of his favourite maxim in the state 
 than in the church. " For the state," writes he to Wentworth, 
 " I am absolutely for thorough ; but 1 see both thick and thin 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. l65 
 
 The end which Went worth pursued was unfor- 
 tunately unattainable, but his means were far more 
 rational than those usually adopted by projectors of 
 conformity. Amidst the public disorders, many of 
 the churches had flillen to ruin ; the incomes of 
 the clergy were impaired by long leases and frau- 
 dulent appropriations of their lands ; and, as no in- 
 ducement was held out to men of education and 
 character to follow the church, the ignorance and 
 profligacy of numbers of the clergy corresponded 
 with their poverty. To remedy these evils was, in 
 Wentworth's opinion, the first and most indispen- 
 sable step towards conformity.* " To attempt it,'* 
 said he, " before the decays of the material churches 
 be repaired, and an able clergy provided, that so 
 there may be wherewith to receive, instruct, and 
 keep the people, were as a man going to warfare 
 without ammunition or arms." t With views 
 equally rational, be proposed to introduce civiliza- 
 tion and sound religion by watching over the edu- 
 cation of youth. He took measures to prevent the 
 children of Catholics from being sent to foreign 
 convents for their education ; he endeavoured to 
 procure throughout the island the erection of Pro- 
 testant schools, with proper endowments, and able 
 
 stays somebody, where I conceive it should not ; and it is impos- 
 sible for me to go thorough alone." 
 
 " Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 172. f Ibid. p. 187. 
 
166 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 teachers J and while he thus provided for the in- 
 struction of the young, he attempted to remedy 
 the neglect of the old, by vigorous penalties against 
 non-residence. * Penal statutes, as a means of con- 
 version, he estimated at their just value ; for he de- 
 clared fines on nonconformity to be " an engine 
 rather to draw money out of men's pockets, than 
 to raise a right belief in their hearts." t All pre- 
 cipitate attempts to enforce conformity he repro- 
 bated ; and resolutely opposed the violent measures 
 which the bishops meditated against Catholic recu- 
 sants. X 
 
 In the execution of his schemes for the church, 
 Wentworth repeatedly found it necessary to em- 
 ploy that brief and peremptory procedure which 
 had already proved so effectual in Ireland. Those 
 who had engrossed the lands and tithes of the 
 church were unwilling to restore them ; the com- 
 mon law protected the possessors of long leases ; 
 and the incumbent clergy were eager to enrich 
 their relatives by such leases at the expence of 
 their successors. But Wentworth proceeded bold- 
 ly, in the name and with the authority of the king. 
 He removed the decision of ecclesiastical rights 
 from the courts of common law to the Castle Cham- 
 ber ; he compelled the Earl of Cork, so conspicu- 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, p. 393. Vol. IL p. 7. t Ibid. ji. 89. 
 ;;: Ibid, Vol. I. p. IS, 172. Vol. 11. p. 39. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 107 
 
 ous for his rank and influence, to restore an annual 
 revenue of two thousand pounds, which had been 
 obtained from the church ; and when he under- 
 stood that the Bishop of Killala was making under- 
 hand bargains to defraud his see, he sent for hira 
 into his presence, and told him sternly, that he de- 
 served to have his surplice pulled over his ears, 
 and to be turned out on a stipend of four nobles 
 a-year. By this resolute behaviour, he procured a 
 speedy restoration of lands and tithes, and a ready 
 obedience to the commission now issued for the re- 
 pair of churches. * 
 
 His next endeavourwas, in conformity with the de- 
 sire of Laud, to introduce a strict uniformity among 
 all Protestants. The same ecclesiastical disputes, 
 which divided the people of England into church- 
 men and puritans, had agitated the Protestants of 
 Ireland. Some were willing to retain the rites and 
 ceremonies of the English church, while others 
 pressed for a farther reform. Archbishop Usher, 
 a man of uncommon moderation and virtue, zealous- 
 ly applied himself to devise a remedy for these 
 evils J and succeeded in drawing up a list of arti- 
 cles which were received almost unanimously. But 
 the canons of the Irish church, as it was now call- 
 ed, were far from acceptable to Laud. They re- 
 
 Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. lol^ 156, 171^ 380, 
 
168 OEAUL OF STRAFFOllD. 
 
 Ceded from popery as much as he had approached 
 to it ; and they tended to withdraw a whole king- 
 dom from its im-mediate dependence on the metro- 
 politan of England. Determined to supersede 
 these articles by the canons of the English church, 
 Wentworth applied to Usher ; and that meek pre- 
 late, averse to all contention, agreed, not only to 
 renounce his own work, but to use his influence 
 for the same purpose with the convocation. When 
 the question was proposed before that assembly, 
 the bishops seemed willing to gratify the lord de- 
 puty by compliance ; but the lower house, strong- 
 ly attached to their own canons, appointed a com- 
 mittee to discuss the articles submitted to their ac- 
 ceptance, and appeared resolved to admit only such 
 of them as corresponded with their own opinions. 
 Wentworth lost no time in disconcerting this op- 
 position : he commanded the chairman of the com- 
 mittee to deliver up to him the book with their 
 proceedings ; and gave orders that no report should 
 be made. He next notified to the convocation 
 that they must cease to mention the Irish canons : 
 and while he permitted the question to be put only 
 on the English articles, he insisted that the mem- 
 bers should express their assent or dissent by a 
 simple vote, without presuming to enter on any 
 discussion. The clergy, confounded by this imperi- 
 ous proceeding, received the mandates of their go- 
 
 12 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. l69 
 
 vernor in silent submission ; and only one dissent- 
 ing voice was heard to assert their independence. * 
 
 To gratify Laud, Wentworth engaged in some 
 still more gratuitous contests. Among his pious 
 researches, Laud had discovered that the commu- 
 nion table, which was usually placed in the most 
 convenient part of the church, ought, according to 
 the Romish form, to be invariably situated at the 
 east end of the chancel, and known by the name 
 o^f the altar. Unluckily, in the cathedral of Dub- 
 lin, the family monument of the Earl of Cork hap- 
 pened to occupy this devoted spot. Laud, inform- 
 ed of this, remonstrated against the profanation ; 
 the JEarl defended the repository of his ancestors ; 
 and the task of asserting the cause of the church 
 ultimately fell to the vigour of Wentworth. t 
 
 But his most noted departure from his usual 
 prudence in matters of religion, was the introduc- 
 tion of the court of high commission, whose op- 
 pressive and impolitic severities in England had 
 called forth his own remonstrances, t The objects 
 
 " Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p, 343, 344. Wentworth, in re- 
 lating these circumstances to Laud, humorously adverts to the 
 clamour which these proceedings would excite in England. "I am 
 not ignorant," says he, " that my stirring herein will be strangely 
 reported, and censured on that side ; and how I shall be able to 
 sustain myself against your Trynnes, and Pims, and Bens, with the 
 rest of that generation of odd names and natures, the Lord knows." 
 
 t Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 811, &c. 
 
 + Ibid. Vol. II. p. 159. 
 
lyO EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 which he proposed by this innovation were political 
 as well as religious ; to watch over the respectabi- 
 lity and usefulness of the clergy ; to reform and 
 support the ecclesiastical courts ; to bring the 
 people to a conformity of religion, and " in the 
 way to all these, raise, perhaps, a good revenue to 
 the crown." * Nor did this dangerous engine 
 produce pernicious effects while under his vigilant 
 control ; and Wentworth was enabled to make the 
 proud and singular boast that, during his govern- 
 ment in Ireland, " not the hair of a man's head 
 was touched for the free exercise of his consci- 
 ence." t 
 introduc- A^hatcver might be the effect of introducing the 
 EngHsb' ^ religion of England, the introduction of English 
 law was a benefit not to be disputed. By the act 
 of Poynings, all the English statutes, to the time 
 of Henry the Seventh, had been established in 
 Ireland ; Wentworth now procured the adoption 
 of all subsequent acts, with the exception of a few 
 penal statutes, which were deemed inexpedient, t 
 Yet, even in the administration of justice, he kept 
 in view his grand objects, the power and profit of 
 the crown. At first he found frequent occasion 
 to complain of the stubborn independence of the 
 courts of common law, and to remove causes from 
 
 * Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 187. 
 
 t Ibid. Vol. II. p. 112. + Ibid. p. IS. RadcIifFe's Essay. 
 
 laws, 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. I7I 
 
 their jurisdiction to his Castle Chamber : * but at 
 length he was able to establish a complete control 
 over the legal officers ; t and could boast to the 
 king, "that the ministers of justice were now con- 
 tained in proper subordination to the crown ; that 
 they ministered wholly to uphold the sovereignty ; 
 that they carried a direct aspect upon the preroga- 
 tive of his majesty ; and squinted not aside upon 
 the vulgar and vain opinions of the populace.*' t 
 
 The military establishment of Ireland engao-ed !^"^^^T.l' 
 
 •1 ci t3 tion or the 
 
 the particular attention of Wentvvorth. He found '"p'.'ary «- 
 
 ■"• ^ tablishment, 
 
 the troops without clothes, without arms, without 
 ammunition ; a terror to the inhabitants, only from 
 their licentiousness ; and equally deficient in num- 
 bers and discipline. By indefatigable exertion, all 
 these defects w^ere speedily remedied. The regi- 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 202. When he demanded for 
 himself and his privy-council the power of deciding causes between 
 private parties, he said, " I know very well the common lawyers 
 will be passionately against it, who are wont to put such a prejudice 
 on all other professions, as if none were to be trusted, or capable to 
 administer justice but themselves. But how well this suits with 
 monarchy, when they monopolize all to be governed by their year 
 books, you in England have a costly experience : and I am sure his 
 majesty's absolute power is not weaker in this kingdom, where 
 hitherto the deputy and council have had a stroke with them." 
 
 -f- Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 173. " I know no reason," 
 writes he to Laud, " why you may not as well rule the common 
 lawyers in England as I do here: and yet that I do, and will do 
 in all that concerns my master's service, at the peril of my head." 
 
 i Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 18. 
 
172 KARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 ments of foot were completed ; the cavalry, the 
 most efficient troops against internal commotions, 
 were greatly augmented : and Ireland, for the 
 first time since the days of Elizabeth, beheld an 
 army well appointed and marshalled, equal either 
 to its protection or its subjugation. On their 
 marches through the country, the soldiery, who 
 had hitherto resembled troops ravaging an enemy's 
 territory, now paid for every thing ; demeaned 
 themselves with sobriety ; and, instead of being 
 feared and detested, were welcomed by the inha- 
 bitants as friends. With a diligence rarely found 
 in a chief exclusively occupied with military affairs, 
 Wentworth could boast that he had visited the 
 whole army, and inspected every individual in it. 
 He could report that he was always attended by a 
 troop, raised and accoutred at his own charge ; 
 that he was ready, at a moment's warning, to 
 mount, and by a sudden chastisement, to repress 
 every symptom of commotion. * 
 
 "Wentworth seems to have understood far better 
 than the king, how essential a disciplined force was 
 to the support of an unlimited monarchy. He re- 
 peatedly urged the necessity of continuing to aug- 
 ment the Irish army ; he represented it as an ex- 
 • cellent minister and assistant in the execution of 
 the king's commands, as the great peace-maker be- 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 96, 202, Vol. II. p. 18, 198. 
 
venue. 
 
 EARL OF STRAFFORD. lyg 
 
 tween the British. and the natives, between the 
 Catholics and the Protestants, and the chief secu- 
 rity of those new settlers from whom his majesty- 
 anticipated such advantages. A nursery of soldiers 
 ought evidently to be provided in some part of his 
 majesty's dominions ; and Ireland was, in his opi- 
 nion, the most proper quarter for it. * 
 
 But the instrument by which all advantages for Expedients 
 the crown were to be consolidated, was a permanent ing\her.' 
 revenue ; and for the attainment of this object, the 
 lord deputy exhausted all his talents and industry. 
 In these days, when taxation is so enormous, and 
 money so reduced in value, one cannot forbear a 
 smile on investigating the financial statements of 
 our ancestors. When Wentworth undertook the 
 government of Ireland, the revenue, always anti- 
 cipated, was under eiglity-five thousand pounds j 
 and, notwithstanding the voluntary contribution, 
 still fell short of the annual expenditure, t To- 
 wards the relief of these embarrassments, the par- 
 liament, as we have seen, was induced to grant six 
 subsidies, each of which Wentworth computed at 
 thirty thousand pounds. But, as no land-tax had 
 hitherto been levied in Ireland, it was necessary to 
 make an assessment ; and the deputy accordingly 
 appointed commissioners to make a fair valuation 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I, p. 96, 202, Vol. II. p. 18, 198. 
 t Ibid.. Vol. I. p. 190. 
 
toms 
 
 174r EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 of the landed property of the island. The com- 
 mons, however, dreadinj^ discoveries which would 
 greatly advance the rate of their contributions, 
 hastened to request of the deputy, that they might 
 be allowed to assess themselves, and that he would 
 accept forty thousand pounds in lieu of each sub- 
 sidy. To this proposal, which so far surpassed his 
 expectations, Wentworth procured some additions ; 
 and, on including the assessments of the nobility 
 and clergy, he found that each subsidy amounted 
 to fifty thousand pounds. * 
 The cm- Other plans for the permanent increase of the 
 
 revenue were pursued by Wentworth. Under his 
 diligent superintendence, the produce of the cus- 
 toms rose, in four years, from twelve thousand 
 pounds a year to forty thousand, and were still in 
 a state of rapid advancement, t This amelioration 
 proceeded in part from an improved method of 
 collection, t but more from the encouragement 
 which he afforded to trade. By arming proper 
 vessels for the protection of the coasts, he put an 
 end to the piracies which had extended to the very 
 harbours of the island : § and the national com- 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. L p. 307, 400. 
 
 t Ibid. Vol. II. p. 137. + Ibid. Vol. I. p. 521. 
 
 § It was, at that period, a new and enlightened advice cfWent- 
 •worth to the kine;, " that he should suffer no act of hostility to be 
 committed on any merchant or his goods in the Irish Channel, but 
 that he should, in all his treaties with foreign powers cause it to 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. ' 175 
 
 merce and shipping, freed from these dangers, 
 soon experienced an extraordinary increase. * The 
 traffic of Ireland laboured under many disadvan- 
 tages, from the absurd regulations of the English 
 government. To favour a monopoly of soap-makers, 
 the exportation of Irish tallow was prohibited ; 
 that of wool, to gratify the English growers. A 
 heavy duty on the importation of coals from Eng- 
 land operated as an obstacle to the increase of the 
 towns and manufactures of Ireland ; there existed 
 a tax on live cattle exported from Ireland, and 
 another on horses and mares imported from Eng- 
 land. Against these vexatious impositions, Went- 
 worth strenuously remonstrated ; and while he 
 procured the abolition of some, and the mitigation 
 of others, he founded lasting advantages to the 
 crown in the improvement of Ireland, t 
 
 Some of his financial measures were, it must be Saieofto. 
 
 bacco. 
 
 admitted, less beneficial to the country. He ren- 
 dered a licence necessary for retailing tobacco, and 
 was enabled to farm the privilege for an annual 
 
 be respected as the greatest of his majesty's ports." Strafford's 
 Letters, Vol. II. p. 19. 
 
 " Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 67, 90, 106. Vol. II. p. 18. All 
 the Irish trade, even in the Channel, and hetween the ports of the 
 island, with the exception of the coal trade, had hitherto been car- 
 ried on in Dutch bottoms. 
 
 t Strafford's Letters, Vol. L p. 202, 308, 393, Vol. II. p. 19, 
 90, 89. 
 
IjQ EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 rent of seven, and finally of twelve thousand 
 pounds. * A tax which he proposed on brewing 
 is entitled to notice, only as intended to pave the 
 way for the gradual introduction of the excise, an 
 impost which, at that period, excited peculiar dis- 
 like and apprehension, t 
 statutes of gut the iutroduction of the statutes of Wills and 
 Uses." ^ Uses might be considered an equal benefit to the 
 crown and the subject. Means had been found 
 to disappoint the king, by fraudulent conveyances 
 of those feudal aids which were still held legal ; 
 and by the same arts infinite confusion had been 
 introduced into the tenure of property. Widows 
 were deprived of their jointures, and heirs of their 
 inheritances, without knowing whom to sue for the 
 recovery of their rights. By means of certain 
 statutes, which Wentworth with difficulty induced 
 the parliament to enact, these disorders were re- 
 medied, and the king's fines, in the Court of 
 Wards, received an increase of ten thousand pounds 
 a year, t 
 
 By such expedients the embarrassments of the 
 treasury were quickly removed, all anticipations 
 terminated, all the charges of government paid to 
 a day ; and, in the fifth year of his administration, 
 Wentworth could boast that the annual revenue 
 
 StrafFord's Letters, Vol. II. p. 135. t Ibid. Vol. I. p. 192. 
 
 ; Ibid. p. 3.51, Vol.11, p. 19. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 177' 
 
 bid fair to exceed the expenditure by sixty thou- 
 sand pounds. * 
 
 There were other projects of Wentworth for the 
 improvement of the revenue and the country, some 
 of which proved abortive, and others productive 
 only of remote advantage. To remedy the exces- 
 sive scarcity of coin, which caused endless embar- 
 rassments to commerce, he united with the Irish 
 parliament in a petition for the erection of a mint 
 in Ireland ; but, though the king readily granted 
 the request, such were the delays interposed by the 
 officers of the English mint, who dreaded a dimi- 
 nution of their emoluments, that the repeated re- 
 presentations of the lord deputy were hardly able 
 to give effect to the measure during his administra- 
 tion, t He procured workmen from England to 
 make trial in different parts of the island, whether 
 saltpetre might not be procured in sufficient quan- 
 tities to form an article of commerce ; :j: and some 
 attempts led him to believe that he might work 
 the silver mines and marble quarries to advantage. § 
 
 Far more extensive, however, was the project J^ade with 
 
 Spain. 
 
 which he formed of opening a victualling trade be- 
 tween Ireland and Spain. Rising superior to 
 those apprehensions of the Spanish power, which 
 
 " Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 19. 
 
 t Ibid. Vol. I. p. 366,386,405, Vol. II. p. 42, 133, 151. 
 
 t Ibid. Vol. II. p. 12, 44, 79. § Ibid. Vol. I. p. 174, 340, 
 
 VOL. II. M 
 
178 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 were not generally dispelled even at a later period, 
 he perceived that tlie commodities of the one king- 
 dom corresponded admirably with the wants of the 
 other, and called for a speedy extension of their 
 commercial intercourse. He declared it as his 
 opinion, that the reciprocal interests of Spain and 
 the British empire corresponded better than those 
 of any two nations in Europe ; he urged the king 
 to cultivate a good understanding with that power ; 
 he endeavoured to promote the same object by his 
 private connections ; and he had even the industry 
 to draw up, from information communicated by his 
 commercial acrents, a statement of the nature and 
 quantity of the commodities which each port in 
 Spain could either receive from Ireland, or give in 
 return. The great annual fleets to the colonies, 
 which were often detained in the Spanish harbours 
 from want of provisions, could, he observed, be 
 supplied far more conveniently and cheaply from 
 Ireland than from any other country of Europe ; 
 and in this trade he foresaw an inexhaustible source 
 of national riches. * 
 The linen gy^ the schcmo from which the most permanent 
 
 manufac* 
 
 »"'«• benefits have accrued to Ireland was the establish- 
 
 ment of the linen manufacture. When he first 
 undertook the government of that country, Went- 
 worth learnt, from his inquiries into the state of 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 93, 103, 299, &c. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 179 
 
 the island, that no article for export was manufac- 
 tured there, unless a small quantity of coarse wool- 
 len yarn. Unwilling, by encouraging this branch, 
 to interfere with the staple of England, he formed 
 the project of introducing the general cultivation 
 of flax, and directing the industry of the natives to 
 the manufacture of linen. At his own expence he 
 imported and sowed a quantity of superior flax- 
 seed ; and, the crop succeeding to his expectation, 
 he, next year, expended a thousand pounds for the 
 same purpose, erected several looms, procured 
 workmen from France and Flanders, and at length 
 was enabled to ship for Spain, at his own risk, the 
 first investment of linen ever exported from Ire- 
 land. * Exulting in the success of this favourite 
 scheme, he foretold that it would prove the great- 
 est means of enrichment which Ireland had ever 
 enjoyed ; t and his sagacity is amply attested by 
 the industry and wealth which the linen manufac- 
 ture continues to diffuse over that portion of the 
 empire. 
 
 If it was fortunate for Ireland that this enter- The mono. 
 
 poly 01 salt 
 
 prise succeeded, it was equally fortunate that 
 another of his plans proved abortive. He had laid 
 it down as a maxim, *' that a governor of that 
 island, to serve the king completely, ought not 
 
 * Strafford's liCtters, Vol. I. p. 93, Vol. II. 19, 109. 
 t Ibid. Vol. I. p. 4.73. 
 
ISO EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 only to promote the prosperity of its inhabitants, 
 but to render them so dependent on the crown, as 
 not even to be able to subsist without its good plea- 
 sure.'* * By the substitution of the linen for the 
 woollen manufacture, he considered this object as 
 in some degree effected ; as the Irish, on a quarrel 
 with England, might be deprived of woollen cloth, 
 an article of the first necessity, t But as their 
 salt, without which they could neither carry on 
 their victualling trade, nor cure their ordinary pro- 
 visions, was either manufactured by patentees, or 
 imported from abroad, it occurred to him that the 
 king, by monopolizing the sale of this article, 
 would both obtain a large increase of revenue, and 
 reduce the Irish to complete dependence, t Were 
 the internal manufacture of the article, as he pro- 
 posed, abolished, it would be difficult to defraud 
 the king's revenue by smuggling a commodity so 
 bulky, and so perishable at sea. This expedient, 
 combined with the prohibition of the woollen ma- 
 nufacture, would reduce the Irish to entire depen- 
 dence, as it would at all times be in his majesty's 
 power to deprive tham of food and clothing. The 
 revenue would be greatly benefited, since salt was 
 an article which the people must of necessity pur- 
 chase at any expence, and the king might, at plea- 
 
 StrafFord's Letters, Vol. I. p. 93. f Ibid. 
 
 Ibid. p. 93. 182. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 181 
 
 sure, enhance the price. He instanced the profit 
 and ascendancy which the King of France derived 
 from the gabelle : and to show his firm confidence 
 in the success of the project, he offered immediate- 
 ly to farm the monopoly at six thousand pounds a 
 year. * These arguments, however, could not in- 
 duce the court to risk the odium of such a mea- 
 sure ; and Wentworth has derived from his propo- 
 sal only the reputation of having conceived a plan 
 which has uniformly given at least a temporary 
 strength to despotic governments, t 
 
 The tranquillity of Ireland was unfortunately The disco- 
 interrupted by the bold measures of Wentworth to feaLe tltiw. 
 increase the royal demesnes by the discovery of de- 
 fective titles. By researches among old records, 
 it was found that the whole province of Connaught, 
 on the forfeiture of its Irish chieftain, had come, 
 at a distant period, into the possession of the 
 crown. It had, indeed, been all granted away, at 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 192. 
 
 ■f The only encouragement which Wentworth seems to have ob- 
 tained from the court in this scheme, is a letter from the Lord 
 Treasurer, advising him, " if he hears no more of the salt business, 
 to take his own way, and not delay the king's service." Strafford's 
 Letters, Vol. I. p- 333. But, as the Lord Treasurer, from being 
 his most zealous patron, was now become his enemy, on account of 
 Wentworth's greater intimacy with Laud, it is not improbable that 
 this unofficial advice might be given with no good intentions. At 
 least the Lord Deputy appears to have prosecuted the scheme no 
 farther. Strafford's Letters, Voh L p. 3i0. 
 
182 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 different times, by formal patents from the sove* 
 reign ; but the ingenuity of the court lawyers soon 
 discovered that some flaw or other might be found 
 in all these titles. During the former reign, when 
 James was inflamed with an immoderate desire for 
 extended settlements, some measures of this nature 
 had been suggested ; but it had appeared too ha- 
 zardous an attempt to dispossess a fourth part of 
 the proprietors of" Ireland on formal quibbles, and 
 obsolete pretensions. By the graces^ which had 
 received the sanction of Charles, it was expressly 
 stipulated that the titles of the Connaught land- 
 holders should be recognised as valid ; and they 
 had thus every assurance of their estates, which 
 deeds of law, and the word of a monarch, could 
 bestow. But Wentworth, while he prevented the 
 grace respecting Connaught from passing into a 
 law, engaged to Charles that he would devise some 
 means or other to reduce that province into the 
 possession of the crown ; * and being now furnished 
 by the lawyers with the pretext which he desired, 
 he was not to be deterred by popular clamour from 
 rendering an acceptable service to the monarch. 
 
 He first proceeded to the county of Roscommon, 
 and summoned a jury of such proprietors as were 
 able to pay a large fine to the crown, if they should 
 
 Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 342. 
 6 • • • 
 
EARL 01' STRAFFORD. 183 
 
 happen to prove refractory. * He informed them 
 that his appeal to their decision on the present oc- 
 casion was an act of mere courtesy ; that, in a case 
 so clear, his majesty could have recovered by an or- 
 dinary process in the Court of Exchequer ; that, if 
 they looked to their own interests, they ought to 
 find the king's title, and throw themselves on his 
 bounty ; but that, if they rather considered the 
 profit of the crown, they ought stoutly to refuse 
 the demands of justice, and leave his majesty to 
 pursue his course, unembarrassed by the claims of 
 ready obedience. The jury, aware that the threats 
 of AVentworth were not empty words, judged it 
 most prudent to purchase his favour by a ready 
 submission ; and the juries afterwards summoned 
 in Mayo and Sligo delivered up their counties with 
 equal alacrity to the crown. Their obedience was 
 rewarded by a proclamation, assuring them that 
 they should be permitted to purchase indefeasible 
 titles by an easy composition, t 
 
 Went worth, however, was informed that he 
 might look to a very different reception in Galway, 
 The inhabitants of that county, composed chiefly 
 
 • Wentworth, in his official dispatches, states that he had pur- 
 posely composed the jury of the principal inhabitants, that "they 
 might answer the king a round fine in the Castle Chamber, in case 
 they should prevaricate." Ibid. p. 442. 
 
 t Ibid. 
 
184 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 of aboriginal Irish, and adhering, almost without 
 exception, to the Romish religion, were stimulated 
 to the maintenance of their tenures, by their priests, 
 their lawyers, and, above all, by their hereditary 
 governor the Earl of St Alban's and Clanricarde. 
 Undismayed at their reported opposition, Went- 
 worth declared he should rejoice if they afforded 
 his majesty so fair an occasion of augmenting his 
 revenue, and strengthening his authority. * He 
 summoned a jury here on the same principle as in 
 the other counties : but, finding them immoveable 
 by his arguments, or his threats, he resolved to 
 make a striking example of the first resolute op- 
 position which he had encountered. By his own 
 authority he fined the sheriff a thousand pounds, 
 for selecting such an ill-affected jury : he cited the 
 jurors into the Castle Chamber, and fined them 
 four thousand pounds each : and, by his represen- 
 tations at court against the Earl of Clanricarde, 
 made him severely suffer for his obnoxious interfe- 
 rence, t 
 
 By these imperious proceedings, the lord depu- 
 ty gave rise to great discontents ; t and, in the 
 Earl of Clanricarde, he had incensed a nobleman, 
 known and respected at court, and provided with 
 the means of diffusing the most invidious repre- 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 144, UO. 
 t Ibid. p. 451, iM: t Ibid. p. 50U 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 185 
 
 sentation of these transactions. Yet, confirmed 
 by fresh assurances of the royal approbation and 
 support, * Wentworth remained undismayed ; and 
 the unfortunate violence of his temper quickly ag- 
 gravated the prejudice which he strove not to al- 
 lay. 
 
 Several harsh and unprecedented stretches of Arbitrary 
 
 , , measures. 
 
 authority by Wentworth and his council had exci- 
 ted severe animadversion. He had been repeated- 
 ly threatened with a Felton or Ravaillac j t and 
 even his friend Laud, though so great an admirer 
 of " thorough" exertions of power, began to inti- 
 mate a wish that an appearance of moderation 
 might be mingled with his vigour. | But his 
 friends received a new alarm from the severity of 
 his proceedings against Francis Annesley, Lord 
 Mountnorris. That nobleman held the office of 
 vice-treasurer in Ireland, and had enjoyed the con- 
 fidence of Wentworth, on his accession to the go- 
 vernment. A coolness, however, had arisen be- 
 tween them, and was speedily aggravated into a 
 serious quarrel. The deputy represented to the 
 king some fees and offices of which his antagonist 
 might be deprived, without disadvantage to the 
 service : § and while the vice-treasurer found his 
 emoluments diminished, his resentment was yet 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 465. f Ibid. p. 371, 412. 
 
 .•;: Ibid. p. 479. § Ibid. p. 392. 
 
186 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 more inflamed by an unsuccessful attempt to fix on 
 him the charge of corruption in the exercise of his 
 oflSce. 
 
 While this mutual animosity was in a course of 
 daily aggravation, a serious result arose from a tri- 
 vial incident. As Wentworth sat one day in the 
 presence chamber, during a severe fit of the gout, 
 one of his retinue occasioned him much pain, by 
 accidentally moving a stool against his foot. The 
 incident having been mentioned at the Lord Chan- 
 cellor's table, one of the guests observed to Lord 
 Mountnorris, who happened to be present, that the 
 
 April 18, offender was his namesake and kinsman. *' Per- 
 haps,'* replied his lordship, " it was done in re- 
 venge of the public affront which I have received 
 from the lord deputy j but I have a brother, who 
 would not have taken such a revenge."* 
 
 These unguarded words, when reported by some 
 
 Mount- ofiBcious courticrs to Wentworth, appeared in his 
 
 norris. * . 
 
 July 21st. «yes pregnant with sedition. He privately pro- 
 cured the king's commission to bring his antagon- 
 ist to trial ; but deferred it till a full security added 
 to the severity of his vengeance. At length, with- 
 
 Dec 12th. out any intimation of his designs, he one evening 
 sent a summons to the principal military officers in 
 DubHu, and among the rest Lord Mountnorris, to 
 
 1635. 
 
 Trial of 
 
 IVioont 
 
 norris. 
 
 * Rushworth, Vol. III. p. 1^7. Nalson'.>s Collections, Vol. I. 
 J). 59. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 187 
 
 attend liim next morning at a council of war. 
 After they had taken their places, the lord deputy, 
 as commander in chief and president, informed the 
 astonished assembly, that he had called them to- 
 gether to receive, at their hands, reparation and 
 justice against Lord Mountnorris. He produced 
 a written statement of the words si)oken at the 
 chancellor's tahle : he proved the allegation by 
 witnesses : he recounted two articles of war, by 
 one of which, disgraceful words spoken of^ any per- 
 son in the army were punishable with imprison- 
 ment, and with ignominious dismissal from the ser- 
 vice ; while by the other, death was awarded to 
 any individual, who, by speech or actions, should 
 stir up mutiny, or " impeach obedience to the prin- 
 cipal officer." He maintained that the expressions 
 of Mountnorris were amenable to both these laws ; 
 and that, as a captain in the service, he was proper- 
 ly brought to the summary justice of a court mar- 
 tial. 
 
 In vain was this course of procedure objected to 
 by Lord Mountnorris, who had now risen from the 
 council table, and presented himself in the usual 
 station of the accused. In vain did he urge that 
 he was taken wholly unawares ; that he ought to 
 be allowed time to prepare his defence, with the 
 advice of counsel ; that words, spoken in the course 
 of conversation, at the distance of several months, 
 
188 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 could with difficulty be ascertained ; and that he 
 could produce upwards of twenty witnesses to prove 
 that there was nothing malicious or offensive, either 
 in the expressions he had used, or in the mode of 
 uttering them. Wentworth replied, that none of 
 his requisitions could be granted according to the 
 forms of a court martial : that he must simply con- 
 fess or deny the facts ; and that the council must 
 then directly proceed to vote him innocent or guilty 
 of the charge. 
 
 The members of the court, though awed by the 
 tone and presence of their governor, revolted from 
 the idea of condemning to death a peer and a mem- 
 ber of the government, for so trival an offence. To 
 avoid the capital part of the sentence, they request- 
 ed that the lord deputy would permit the two 
 charges to be separated : but he sternly replied that 
 they must vote the offender guilty of " both or of 
 none." Even Lord Moore, who had originally 
 given the information, and now appeared as a wit- 
 ness for the prosecution, after having delivered his 
 testimony, was commanded by Wentworth to re- 
 sume his seat in the court, and judge the man 
 whom he had accused. The council proceeded 
 to deliberate and vote, under the eye of the lord 
 deputy ; and their sentence adjudged Mountnorris 
 to be imprisoned, deprived of all his offices, igno- 
 miniously dismissed from the army, incapacitated 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 189 
 
 from ever again serving ; and finally, to be shot, or 
 beheaded, at the pleasure of the general. * 
 
 The report of a sentence, so cruel and so unjust- 
 ly obtained, filled the empire with indignation and 
 clamour. Wentworth's friends in London entreat- 
 ed him to furnish them with some satisfactory ex- 
 planation of reports, to which they could not listen 
 with patience, and which were avouched in a man- 
 ner they durst not contradict. t The concealment 
 of the charge for so many months ; the excessive 
 disproportion of the punishment to the offence ; 
 the admission of a witness to sit as judge ; the 
 presence and control of the accuser during the 
 whole trial ; these were all recounted as incapable 
 of palliation. Even the conduct of Buckingham, 
 the great object of national hatred, was advanta- 
 geously contrasted with that of Wentworth : it was 
 remembered that at the Isle of Rhe, the duke had 
 merely dismissed from the army some officers who 
 had conspired against him ; while Wentworth had 
 caused a colleague in office and a former friend to 
 be sentenced to death for an imprudent expres- 
 sion, t 
 
 The apologies of the lord deputy only showed a 
 consciousness of guilt. As his principal defence 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 500, 501. Rushworth, Vol. VIII. 
 p. 187. et seq. Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 220, et seq. 
 t Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 508. t Ibid. p. 510. 
 
190 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 he urged that he had been merely passive in the 
 transaction ; that he had not voted, nor even suf- 
 fered his brother to vote ; that he had sat unco- 
 vered and silent while the council deliberated on 
 their sentence ; that he had never intended to put 
 Mountnorris to death, but only to punish his inso- 
 lence ; and that he had united with the members 
 of the court in obtaining a pardon for the capital 
 part of the offence. * His behaviour subsequent 
 to the trial seemed an aggravation of his miscon- 
 duct. After the sentence was passed, he told 
 Mountnorris, that now, if he chose, he had only to 
 order execution ; that he would, however, petition 
 for his life, adding, *' that he would sooner lose 
 his hand than Mountnorris should lose his head.'*t 
 His exultation, indeed, was scarcely limited either 
 by prudence or decency ; for he exclaimed before 
 the whole court, that " the sentence was just and 
 noble, and for his part he would not lose his share 
 of the honour of it." t 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. Lp. 498, 499, 506, &c. 
 I Strafford's Trial, p. 190. 
 
 :f Ibid. p. 195. Lady Mountnorris was a near relative of Went- 
 wortli's beloved wife, Arabella Hollis, whose premature death had 
 lately caused him the most bitter affliction. Trusting to the in- 
 fluence of this strong tie, she became an intercessor for her con- 
 demned husband, and addressed the following pathetic letter to 
 Wentworth. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 " I beseech your lordship, for the tender mercy of God, 
 6 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. IQl 
 
 But the most singular part of the transaction 
 remains yet to be mentioned. Wentworth felt the 
 necessity of exerting himself to conciliate the Eng- 
 lish court, and to procure the offices of Mount- 
 norris for his favourites. To effect the latter, he 
 proposed to distribute six thousand pounds among 
 the principal ministers ; * but Lord Cottington, an 
 
 take off your heavy hand from my dear lord ; and, for her sake, 
 who is with God, be pleased not to make me and my poor infants 
 miserable, as we must of necessity be by the hurt you do to him. 
 God knows, my lord, I am a distressed poor woman, and know not 
 what to say more, than to beg upon my knees, with my homely 
 prayers and tears, that it will please the Almighty to incline your 
 lordship's heart to mildness towards him : for if your lordship con- 
 tinue my lord in restraint, and lay disgraces upon him, I have too 
 much cause to fear your lordship will bring a speedy end to his 
 life and troubles, and make me and all mine for ever miserable. 
 Good my lord, pardon these woeful lines of a disconsolate creature; 
 and be pleased, for Christ Jesus' sake, to take this my humble suit 
 into your favourable consideration, and to have mercy upon me and 
 mine ; and God will, I hope, reward it into the bosom of you, and 
 your sweet children by my kinswoman : and for the memory of 
 her, I beseech your lordship to compassionate the distressed condi- 
 tion of me, 
 
 " Your lordship's most humble 
 
 " and disconsolate servant, 
 
 " Jane Mountnorris." 
 
 This letter, which is inserted in Clarendon's State Papers, Vol. I. 
 p. 449, is there endorsed with these words : " A copy of Lady 
 Mountnorris's letter to the Earl of Strafford, when her husband 
 was in prison, under sentence of death, by martial law ; and he was 
 so hard-hearted as to give her no relief." 
 
 • According to general report, the distribution was to take place 
 in the following manner :— to Lord Cottington, L.2000 ; to the 
 
192 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 old and dexterous courtier, to whom the business 
 was intrusted, " fell upon the right way," as he 
 informs us ; and *' gave the money to him who 
 could really do the business, which was the king 
 himself." * The present happened to prove op- 
 portune to his majesty, who was then in the act of 
 purchasing an estate ; and Wentworth, without 
 delay, received an official letter, authorizing him 
 to dispose of the offices according to his desire, t 
 Death of The approbation of the king might silence mur- 
 
 Clanrioarde . , . , . n ^ i i • 
 
 and others, murs withm the precmcts or the palace, but it was 
 far from suppressing the general expressions of re- 
 proach ; and these unfortunately met with new ex- 
 citements. The death of the Earl of Clanricarde, 
 which took place about this time, was attributed to 
 his despondency, arising from the ruin of his in- 
 fluence, and the danger of his fortune by the pro- 
 ceedings in Galway ; % and the fite of the sheriff 
 of Galway, who died in the prison, to which he 
 had been committed till the payment of his fine, was 
 ascribed to the unjust author of his hardships. 
 The first of these charges, indeed, Wentworth 
 could treat with ridicule ; " they might as well," 
 
 Lord Privy Seal, L-IOOO; to the Marquis of Hamilton, L.IOOO; 
 and the other L.2000 to the two secretaries. Letter from the Rev. 
 Mr Garrard to Wentworth, in Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 508. 
 
 * Letter from Lord Cottington to Wentworth, in Strafford's 
 LeUers, Vol. L p. 5J1. 
 
 t Ibid. p. S12. t Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 492. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. IQS 
 
 says he, " have imputed to me for a crime, his be- 
 ing three score and ten years old." * But the 
 death of the sheriff was not to be thus dismissed, 
 coupled as it was with a false but specious report 
 that Wentworth had refused bail, to the amount of 
 forty thousand pounds, for the brother of Clanri- 
 carde. t One exaggeration now succeeded another ; 
 and he had the mortification to find it currently 
 believed, that, on occasion of some displeasure, he 
 had actually caned one Esmond, a ship-owner, to 
 death, t Wentworth was exceedingly alive to pub- 
 lic opinion : the reports concerning his conduct, 
 which both friends and enemies now brought to 
 his ears, filled him with resentment and anguish ; 
 nor could the repeated advices of the king and of 
 Laud, who intreated him to despise accusations 
 which no one durst avow, subdue the anxiety ex- 
 cited by the general murmurs. 
 
 He was not, however, of a temper to sink tarae- 
 
 * Letter from Wentworth to the King, Strafford's Letters, Vol. 
 I. p. 492. 
 
 I The fate of the sheriff he seems to have viewed with perfect 
 coolness ; his only source of regret was the clamour it excited. " I 
 am full of belief," says he in a letter to i\is friend Wandesford, 
 " that they will lay the charge of Dancy the sheriff's death to me. 
 My arrows are cruel that wound so mortally ; but I should be sor- 
 ry the king should lose his fine." Strafford's Letters, Vol. II, p. 
 IS. 
 
 t Strafford's Xetters, Vol. II. p. 6. Rushwortli, Vol. III. p. 
 888. 
 
 VOL. II. N 
 
^9-^ EARL OF STRAFFORD, 
 
 ly under popular clamour. Resolving to brave 
 those rumours which he could not suppress, and to 
 confound his enemies by the assumed intrepidity of 
 conscious innocence, he requested leave of the 
 king to come over to England. The subordina- 
 tion which he had established, and the dread of his 
 speedy return, would, he trusted, prevent the dis- 
 contents in Ireland from breaking out into any ac- 
 tive opposition ; and he hoped to bring back, in 
 open and distinguished marks of royal approba- 
 tion, an invincible bulwark to his authority. 
 Appearance His rcception at the Eno;lish court was highly 
 
 at court. n • • . 
 
 May 1636. flattcrmg ; and when questioned by the king on 
 the state of Ireland, the explanation of his mea- 
 surcs was marked by all the address and vigour 
 that he had shown in their execution. In a speech 
 delivered before the king and the committee for 
 Irish affairs, he gave a perspicuous and forcible de- 
 scription of all his principal improvements. He' 
 treated separately of the services which he had 
 rendered to the church, to the army, to the reve- 
 nue, to manufactures and commerce, to the laws 
 and the administration of justice. The former 
 neglect of these departments he contrasted with 
 their present flourishing condition; and augured 
 still greater improvements from a continuance of 
 his auspicious system. He showed his concern for 
 Ireland by certain requisitions for its relief: and 
 in proof of his devotion to his sovereign, he ex- 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 195 
 
 plained how all his measures tended to increase the 
 revenue and authority of the crown. To divest 
 this exposition of the appearance of presumption, 
 he declared that if he had any merit, it was only 
 that of a willing obedience. " I have been," he 
 added, ** a dead instrument in the hands of his 
 majesty, without motion or effect, further than I 
 have been guided by the gracious direction of my 
 sovereign.'* He then adverted to the many ca- 
 lumnies circulated against him ; and lamented 
 " the decayed and backsliding condition of Ireland 
 when committed to his charge," which had render- 
 ed an appearance of severity indispensably neces- 
 sary for his majesty's service. He " acknowledg- 
 ed his manifold infirmities, and his sovereign's 
 great goodness, that had been pleased to pass by 
 them, and to accept of his weak endeavours in the 
 pursuit of his duty." In particular, he owned 
 himself liable to a warmth and choler which he 
 could not at all times temper and govern ; yet, by 
 the time some more cold winters had blown upon 
 it, he should, he trusted, be able to master this un- 
 ruly passion. Meantime, he would watch over it 
 as well as he could ; and he humbly intreated his 
 majesty and their lordships to pardon any excesses 
 into which it might unadvisedly and suddenly have 
 led him j a grace which he requested with the 
 more confidence, as the defects of his temper had 
 
196 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 hitherto, he thanked God, mjured no one hut him- 
 self. * 
 
 The effect of this dexterous discourse correspond- 
 ed fully to his hopes. The king declared that his 
 conduct required no apology, that no unnecessary 
 severity had been practised, that every thing had 
 been done in the best manner for his service. The 
 lords of the committee loaded him with applause ; 
 and all united in exhorting him to perfect the 
 work which he had so successfully begun. Nor 
 was the fame of his meritorious actions, and of his 
 favour with the sovereign, confined to the court : it 
 was quickly diffused over the capital and tlie king- 
 dom, and his reputation among the partizans of 
 the government became unbounded. 
 
 An opportunity immediately occurred of binding 
 • the king by new testimonies of his zeal. Among 
 other expedients for raising supplies, without the 
 intervention of parliament, recourse had beeii had 
 to a new levy under the name of ship-money. The 
 estimated expence of equipping a navy was appor- 
 tioned among all the counties of England ; and, 
 under this pretext, less invidious, it was hoped, 
 
 • This account of his reception and discourse at court is given 
 by Wcntworth himself in a letter to his confidential friend, Wandcs- 
 fdfd, to whom he had committed the government of Ireland in 
 his absence. It is inserted in Strafford's Letters, Vol. 11. p. 13 to 
 22. The Irish transactions to which it advtits have all been relat- 
 ed in the text. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 197 
 
 than either a subsidy or a loan, a general contri- 
 bution was demanded. * Still, both the necessity 
 of the imposition, and its amount, being left en- 
 tirely at the discretion of the monarch, the pay- 
 ments were made with great repugnance ; and the 
 aversion with which men shrink from rebellion, 
 seemed alone to restrain the nation from resistance. 
 In this state of things, Wentworth, as president of 
 the council of York, was enabled to render an es- 
 sential service to the court, by procuring the assent 
 of all within his jurisdiction to the contribution. 
 His activity and dexterity were attended with their 
 wonted success ; and, while the officers of the re- 
 venue, in other parts of the kingdom, levied the 
 imposition amidst murmurs and threats, he could 
 send to the king as favourable accounts from York, 
 as he had formerly transmitted from Ireland. 
 " In pursuit of your commands,*' said he, " I 
 have effectually, both in public and private, recom- 
 mended the justice and necessity of the shipping 
 business, and so clearly shown it to be, not only 
 for the honour of the kingdom in general, but for 
 every man's particular safety, that I am most con- 
 fident the assessment this next year will be univer- 
 sally and cheerfully answered within this jurisdic- 
 tion." t 
 
 • Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 6S. t Letter from Wentworth to 
 
 the King, in StrafRjrcVs Letters, Vol. II. p. 26. 
 
198 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 New peti- Amidst this accumulation of services, Wentworth 
 
 tion lor an 
 
 Earldom, felt increasing uneasiness that there appeared no 
 indication of an intention to acknowledge his zeal 
 by some public mark of royal favour. His exposi- 
 tion of his prosperous labours in Ireland had, in- 
 deed, been received with unbounded commenda- 
 tion ; but this commendation had been confined to 
 the walls of the council-chamber, and was known 
 to the nation only by unaccredited report. Would 
 it not be said, that if the king really held the ser- 
 vices of Wentworth in such high estimation, he 
 would evince it by the usual distinction of a supe- 
 rior title? If this cheap and ordinary reward 
 were withheld, would it not be concluded that the 
 king, though compelled by reasons of state to em- 
 ploy obliging expressions towards the lord deputy, 
 was far from viewing his conduct with unqualified 
 approbation ? A superior title, therefore, now ap- 
 peared to Wentworth, not only an object of grati- 
 fication, but a necessary safeguard to his authority. 
 Actuated by these considerations, he ventured, for 
 the second time, to approach the king with a hum- 
 ble petition for some public mark of his favour, to 
 refute the malicious insinuations of his enemies, 
 and prove that his majesty disbelieved their calum- 
 nies. * Distrusting his own influence, after his 
 former experience, he disclosed this desire of his 
 heart to Laud j and intreated him to concur in 
 
 • Letter from Wentworth to the King, in Struffbrd's Letters, 
 Vol. IL p. 27, 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 1 99 
 
 earnestly urging his majesty to confer on him an 
 earldom, or some other public mark of distinction. 
 He represented to the archbishop the impolicy, as 
 well as the hardship, of withholding this testimony 
 of approbation ; and assured him, that if he were 
 sent back to Ireland, thus unrequited, it would 
 shake his authority, and injure the public service.* 
 
 But the reasons which formerly led Charles to Refused. 
 refuse this request were now exceedingly strength- 
 ened. Partly in the prosecution of the public ser- 
 vice, partly for the gratification of his own violent 
 passions, Wentworth had incurred a great addition- 
 al load of public reproach, and Charles could per- 
 ceive, that, whatever odium he removed from his 
 minister, he must necessarily accumulate on him- 
 self. The more earnest the solicitation, the more 
 insupportable the load, the less advisable was it 
 for him to interfere. The lord deputy, though 
 extremely sensible to public reproach, was not of a 
 disposition to give way to despondency ; and when 
 the immediate preservation of a servant was not in 
 question, it seemed imprudent for the king, in his 
 present circumstances, to incur any odium which 
 it was practicable to avoid. The reply of Cliarles 
 was, therefore, so pointed and decisive as to bar all 
 hopes of compliance. He assured Wentworth that 
 the cause of his request, if known, would rather 
 encourage than silence his enemies ; that their ca- 
 
 • Wentworth to Laud, Strafford's Letters, Vol. IL p. 28. 
 
SOO EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 lumnies would increase with the discovery of his 
 apprehensions, and their attacks become more bold 
 and dangerous when they perceived that they were 
 feared. " The marks of my favour," continued 
 he, " which stop malicious tongues, are neither 
 places nor titles, but the little welcome I give to 
 accusers, and the willing ear I give to my servants. 
 This," added he, " is not to disparage these fa- 
 vours, but to show their proper use, which is not to 
 quell envy, but to reward services. They have 
 truly the effect of rewards, only when conferred by 
 the master v ithout the servant's importunity ; and 
 that otherwise men judged them to proceed rather 
 from the servant's wit than the master's favour.'* 
 With an attempt at pleasantry, ill -calculated to 
 soften his refusal, he concluded thus : " 1 will end 
 with a rule that may serve for a statesman, a cour- 
 tier, or a lover, — never make an apology till you be 
 accused." * 
 Mortifica- ^ rcpulsc, conveycd in terms so unqualified, 
 seems to have inflicted a deep wound on the mind 
 of Wentworth. In his reply to the king, he dwelt 
 on the intimations concerning his Jears and appre- 
 hensions ; and reminded his majesty, that, in the 
 service of the crown at least, he had never betray- 
 ed timidity. To make the king sensible how ill 
 his rewards corresponded with his merits, he in- 
 
 * King to Wentworth, Strafford's Letters, Vol. IL p. 32. 
 
 10 
 
 tion 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 201 
 
 formed his majesty that his jurisdiction in the 
 northern counties was now so completely recon- 
 ciled to ship-money, as to be fitted for setting an 
 example to the rest of the kingdom ; and he advis- 
 ed, if the south were likely to prove refractory, to 
 send down the first writs for the year to York, 
 where there would be no opposition, * 
 
 Tlie chagrin caused to Wentworth by this dis- 
 appointment often broke out in his subsequent let- 
 ters. On one occasion, where he urges his majes- 
 ty to allow the public officers in Ireland a liberal 
 per centage out of certain branches of the public 
 revenue, with a view to quicken their activity, he 
 continues : " Admit me to say, reward well ap- 
 plied is of extreme advantage to the service of 
 kings. It is most certain that not one man of very 
 many serves his master for love, but for his own 
 ends and preferment ; and that he is in the rank 
 of the best servants, who can be content to serve 
 his master together with himself. In fine, I am 
 most confident, were your majesty purposed for a 
 while to use the excellent wisdom God hath given 
 you, in the constant, right, and quick application of 
 rewards and punishments, it were a thing most easy 
 for your servants, in a very few years, under your 
 conduct and protection, so to settle all your affairs 
 and dominions, as should render you, not only at 
 
 * Wentworth to the Kiiig, Vol. II. p. 36. 
 
202 EARL or STRAFFORD. 
 
 home, but abroad also, the most powerful king in 
 Christendom.'* * To his private friends, and to 
 Laud in particular, his expressions of mortification 
 were more undisguised, t In a letter to Mr George 
 Butler he says, that, as to rewards and preferments, 
 he must now look for them in the next world ; " for, 
 in good faith, George, all here below are grown 
 wondrous indifferent." t 
 f land ^ With these impressions, Wentworth returned to 
 November jjjg government in Ireland. If he had failed to 
 
 1636. *3 
 
 obtain those public marks of distinction, by which 
 he hoped to confound and silence the voice of de- 
 traction, he at least found himself armed with 
 ample authority to chastise every opposition to his 
 power, or insult, to his feelings. Mountnorris, and 
 all who had appealed from his sentences to the 
 English court, were remitted to his disposal ; § and 
 if he could resolve to endure the odium of arbitrary 
 rule, without openly implicating the king, there 
 seemed to be no restraint on the exercise of his 
 power. 
 m^aSer* His subscqucnt measures in the government of 
 Ireland were merely a continuation of those al- 
 ready described. The awe inspired by his vigour 
 
 * Wentworth to the King, StrafFord's Letters, Vol. II. p. 41. 
 + Wentworth to Laud, Ibid. p. 109. 
 t Wentworth to Butler, Ibid. p. 40. 
 § Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 15. 
 
EARL OF STHAFFORD. 203 
 
 confirmed the tranquillity it had procured ; and 
 under his vigilant eye the infant cultivation, manu- 
 factures, and commerce of the country, began to 
 increase and prosper. While the subject enjoyed 
 security, from the entire suppression of internal 
 insurrections and depredations, the royal reve- 
 nues, arising from produce and consumption, expe- 
 rienced a rapid increase. Nor did Wentworth 
 cease to replenish the exchequer by rigorous in- 
 quiries into defective titles. He found means to 
 make out the right of the king to the whole dis- 
 trict of Ormond ; and the 0*Byrnes in Wicklow 
 were obliged to redeem their large possessions from 
 a similar award, by the payment of fifteen thousand 
 pounds to the crown. By such means, of which 
 some were as laudable as others were irreconcileable 
 to justice, he procured an ample supply for the ex- 
 penditure of his government, without any of those 
 new demands or impositions which might have fur- 
 nished an occasion to contest his authority. * 
 
 Ambition had not so wholly engrossed the mind Domestic 
 of Wentworth, as to render him insensible to the 
 softer passions of domestic life. His attachments, 
 however, were more ardent than fortunate. About 
 three years after the death of his first wife, he mar- juiy I625. 
 ried Arabella HoUis, daughter to the Earl of Clare, 
 and sister to the Honourable Denzil Hollis, who 
 
 * Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 89, 97j 135, 175. 
 
20i^ EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 afterwards distinguished himself on the popular 
 side in the reign of Charles the First, yet received 
 a title from Charles the Second. This lady, of 
 whose beauty and accomplishments contemporary 
 writers speak with admiration, was beloved by her 
 husband with all the characteristic ardour of his 
 disposition. In the course of six years, she brought 
 him two sons and three daughters ; but the loss of 
 the younger son, which happened soon after his 
 birth, was followed by the more lamented death of 
 
 October f^j^e mothcr. So violent was the anguish which 
 1631. . . *= ^ 
 
 Wentworth experienced from this unexpected ca- 
 lamity, that his confidential friends remained with 
 him continually for several days and nights, and 
 were even then hardly able to overcome his de- 
 spair. * Several years afterwards, when the Lady 
 Clare requested that the education of her grand- 
 daughters might be committed to her charge, he 
 delivered over those pledges of his tender affection, 
 and recalled the incomparable virtues of their mo- 
 ther, with much sensibility and enthusiasm.! 
 
 The tender remembrance of Arabella HoUis 
 
 did not, however, prevent the growth of another 
 
 •' passion in the breast of Wentworth, who was still 
 
 in the prime of life. Captivated with the charms 
 
 of Elizabeth Rhodes, the daughter of Sir Godfrey 
 
 * RatlclifFe's Essay. I bill. p. 59, 60. 
 
 t Wentworth to Lady Clare, Strafford's Letters, Vol II. p. 379. 
 
ijArl of strattord. ^205 
 
 Rhodes, an English gentleman of considerable 
 rank and fortune, he resolved to make her his 
 wife : and though reluctant to own in public his 
 attachment to a female of inferior family, yet he 
 allowed only a year to elapse, from the death of 
 his former wife, before the private solemnization of 
 his third nuptials. It was not till his arrival in ^^^^^^ 
 Ireland, whither the lady was conveyed by his 
 friend RadclifFe, at an interval of several months 
 from his own journey, that he openly acknowledg- 
 ed her as his wife. * On this occasion, he thought 
 it necessary to apologise to Laud for a step which 
 might appear imprudent ; and, having explained 
 his reasons for the match, he hinted that the pre- 
 late would do well to imitate his example. Laud, 
 in reply, wished him and his consort much felicity, 
 and expressed his confidence that the step had 
 been taken after due deliberation : but as to his 
 following the same course, ** I must needs,'' said 
 he, " confess to your lordship, that having been 
 married to a very troublesome and unquiet wife 
 before, I should be ill-advised now, being above 
 sixty, to go marry another of a more wayward and 
 troublesome generation.**t Elizabeth Rhodes, how- 
 ever, bore her new dignities with incomparable 
 meekness and humility. Far from acquiring arro- 
 gance from her unexpected elevation, she remain- 
 
 • Radcliffe's Essay. t Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 125. 
 
g06 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 ed impressed with an overpowering sense of her 
 husband's superiority, and accounted it a degree of 
 presumption even to approach him with her letters. 
 This lowliness was by no means displeasing to 
 Wentworth, and was repaid by a conduct uniform- 
 ly condescending and kind. In a letter, where he 
 endeavours to remove the excess of her timidity, he 
 tells her, *' it is no presumption for you to write 
 me ; the fellowship of marriage ought to produce 
 sentiments of love and equality, rather than any 
 apprehension.'* * 
 Recreations. I^ the earlier part of life, Wentworth had en- 
 tered freely into the social amusements usual among 
 persons of his rank ; but short and uncertain inter- 
 vals of relaxation were now with difficulty snatched 
 from the pressure of public affairs. Hawking was 
 his favourite field sport, and finding the northern 
 part of Wicklow well adapted to this amusement, 
 he erected there a mansion for his summer resi- 
 dence. It was built of wood, and the expence 
 did not exceed twelve hundred pounds ; yet so 
 magnificent did it appear to the rude natives of 
 Wicklow, that, to silence the envy excited by vul- 
 gar rumour, he gave out that it was intended for 
 the reception of his majesty, when he should find 
 leisure to enjoy the exercise of hunting in this 
 
 • These letters from Wentworth to his wife are copied in the 
 Biographia Britannica from the originals in the Museum Thores- 
 bianum. 
 
 12 
 
EARL OF STKAFFORD. 207 
 
 part of his dominions. * The games of primero 
 and mayo, at which he played with uncommon skill, 
 he indulged in only during the Christmas festivi- 
 ties, or occasionally after supper, the hour of which 
 corresponded to the fashionable dinner hour of the 
 present age. It was in the interval between this 
 meal and the hours devoted to sleep, that he found 
 his chief period of recreation. He would retire at 
 times with his company to an inner room, and 
 continue there for hours, relating anecdotes with a 
 freedom and pleasantry which surprised those guests 
 who till then had seen him distant, ceremonious, 
 and haughty, amidst his official avocations* 
 
 Yet during his most unguarded moments of hi- Temperance, 
 larity, Wentworth never indulged to excess in the 
 pleasures of the table. He never, we are assured, 
 in the course of his life, degraded himself by one 
 instance of intoxication. In Ireland, where exces-* 
 sive drinking was an epidemical vice, he thought it 
 expedient to set a strict example, and, on those public 
 occasions which had often proved a scene of intem- 
 perate riot, his rule was to drink only the healths of 
 the king, the queen, and the prince. There was 
 no fault which he accounted more dangerous, of 
 which he reprehended more severely in his ser- 
 vants, than a proneness to intoxication, t 
 
 Amidst his various plans for the increase of the Attention to 
 
 his private 
 fortune. 
 
 • StrafFord's Letters, Vol. I. p. 106. f RadcIifFe's Essay. 
 
208 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 public revenue, Wentworth did not altogether 
 overlook the improvement of his private fortune. 
 In conjunction with his friend Sir George Rad- 
 clifFe, he farmed the Irish customs ; and, in con- 
 sequence of their amelioration from the flourish- 
 ing state of the country, there was derived from 
 them, in a few years, an annual profit of eight 
 thousand pounds, of which two thirds fell to his 
 share. * The monopoly of tobacco, which he also 
 farmed, proved, from the increasing consumption 
 of the article, productive beyond expectation ; and 
 the lands in Ireland, which he purchased at an in- 
 considerable price, became, under proper cultiva- 
 tion, a promising source of wealth, t 
 Integrity. It dcservcs to be remarked to his honour, that, 
 with the exception of the tobacco monopoly, none 
 of the means by which he increased his fortune 
 were liable to censure, or even to suspicion. Far 
 from sharing the plunder of the demesnes which he 
 had recovered for the crown, he strenuously exert- 
 ed himself to prevent their falling a prey to the 
 rapacity of other courtiers. In the exercise of his 
 office, he refused even the customary presents ; 
 and the English court w^as amused with an anec- 
 dote of the servant of a person of distinction, who 
 had been sent to him with a present, and who was 
 
 * Wentworth to Laud, Strafford's Letters, Vol. II, p. 137. 
 t Ibid. p. 106. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. QQg 
 
 SO Indignant at an unexpected refusal, that he, in 
 his turn, refused the gratuity of Wentworth. * It 
 was his frequent boast, that he did not come into 
 the service to repair a broken fortune ; and that 
 the public had never suffered from his desire to 
 bequeath inordinate wealth to his posterity. 
 
 His judgment in the management of his private Splendour. 
 affairs appears the more conspicuous, when we con- 
 sider the magnificence of his mode of living. At 
 his own charge he maintained a retinue of fifty at- 
 tendants, besides his troop of sixty horsemen, which 
 he originally raised and equipped at an expence of 
 six thousand pounds, and which continued to cost 
 him twelve hundred pounds a-year. t His taste 
 for building added considerably to his expenditure. 
 Besides repairing and beautifying his several resi- 
 dences as governor, he erected a palace at Naas in 
 Kildare, for the reception of the king, as he de- 
 clared, since it appeared to him derogatory to 
 Ireland, that this part of the empire should alone 
 present no accommodations to its sovereio-u. t 
 
 In dwelling on the private scenes of Wentworth *s 
 life, we are apt to regret that he should ever have 
 quitted a condition where he might have enjoyed 
 
 • Secretary Winclebank to Wentworth, Strafford's Letters, VoL 
 I. p. 160. 
 
 t Wentworth to Cottington^ Ibid. p. 12S. 
 
 * Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 106. 
 VOL. II. O 
 
210 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 respectability without envy. Such a reflection 
 seems often to have recurred to his own mind, 
 amidst the uneasy aspirations of ambition. Even 
 while he exults in the prosperous situation of his 
 government, he adds, " yet I could possess myself 
 with much more satisfaction and repose under my 
 own roof, than with all the preferment and power 
 which the favour of a crown can communicate." * 
 Amidst his most ambitious plans, we find him 
 looking forward to some happier period, when, 
 escaping from the fatigues of office, he should be 
 enabled to deliver himself up wholly to retirement 
 and reflection. *' Neither preferments, nor what- 
 soever else men most esteem in this world, will, I 
 trust, tie me to the importunities of public affairs 
 during my whole life, or so far infatuate my senses 
 as to make me neglect the cares of a future and 
 permanent state." t 
 Bodily infir- Thcse, however, were only the transient sugges- 
 tions of bodily sickness or mental depression : 
 Even while he uttered them, he was soliciting new 
 honours, and prosecuting some of his least justifi- 
 able enterprises. The agitations of ambition had 
 not only unfitted his mind for tranquillity, but had 
 induced several premature infirmities. During 
 
 piities 
 
 • Wentworth lo Sir Edward Stanhope, Strafford's Letters, Vol, 
 J. p, 303. 
 
 t Wentworth to Mr George Butler. Ibid. p. 420. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD, 211 
 
 the first years of his administration in Ireland, his 
 extreme solicitude for the accomplishment of his 
 plans had led him to forego all his usual recrea- 
 tions ; and his anxiety to gain the approbation of 
 the English court had even tempted him to write 
 all his voluminous dispatches with his own hand. * 
 To such incessant labour of body and mind, his 
 constitution, naturally far from robust, began to 
 prove unequal. By the paroxysms of a gout, be- 
 come inveterate from neglect of exercise, he was at 
 times confined for months to his apartments ; still 
 had he the imprudence to aggravate its pains. 
 Although the posture of writing was peculiarly un- 
 easy to him, he continued to employ his own hand 
 in some parts of his correspondence ; and was even 
 carried from bed to write his more secret dis- 
 patches, t On his second arrival in Ireland, his 
 gout was aggravated by the re-appearance of the 
 aguish complaints which, at an earlier period of his 
 life, had reduced him to a dangerous debility. 
 While he laboured under severe pain, accompanied 
 with an intermittent pulse, faint sweats, and de- 
 pression of spirits, he began to prognosticate " that 
 rjo long life awaited him here below." t 
 
 The effects of his bodily infirmities were aggra- Vexations, 
 vated by many vexations in the discharge of his 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 203. 
 
 t Ibid, p. 371, 429, Vol. H. p. 256. t Ibid. p. 143, lU. 
 
^12 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 office. Occasionally he found that neither the ex- 
 plicit regulations which he had stipulated, nor his 
 pei-petual labours for the benefit of the crown, 
 could prevent the king from gratifying importu- 
 nate courtiers at the price of his mortification. 
 Appointments in the army had always been at the 
 disposal of the lord deputy, who also acted as com- 
 mander-in-chief; but Wentworth saw the command 
 of one of his companies snatched from a friend to 
 whom he had granted it, and given to the depen- 
 dent of a rival courtier ; though he had earnestly 
 solicited both the king and the ministers, that he 
 might be spared an affront so derogatory to his 
 dignity, and so dangerous to his utility. * He had 
 expressly stipulated that no grant should be made 
 on the Irish establishment without his knowledge 
 and concurrence ; yet he fovmd himself unexpect- 
 edly assailed by authorized demands on the public 
 treasury ; f and what galled him more deeply than 
 all, the young Earl of Clanricarde, by his influence 
 at court, and unknown to Wentworth, succeeded 
 in procuring an indemnity for his losses in Gal- 
 way, t The king, it was whispered, beheld his 
 receipts from the customs with an eye of jealousy ; 
 and Lord Holland, who had ready access to the 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. I. p. 128, 138, 142, U*. 
 f Wentworth to Windebank, Ibid. Vol. II. p. 201. 
 + Wentworth to the King, Ibid. p. 83. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. ^13 
 
 ear of the queen, even presumed to circulate that 
 he was liable to accesses of lunacy. * Endeavours 
 were used to produce a breach between him and 
 Laud ; t and so deeply did his intimacy with that 
 prelate offend his early patron the Lord Treasurer, 
 that Wentworth looked on the death of the latter 
 as a deliverance from the most dangerous of his 
 adversaries, t 
 
 To such contradictions and calumnies, Went- 
 worth betrayed an aching sensibility, and his mind 
 was kept in perpetual distraction. He was indeed 
 armed with every power to punish the malignant 
 within his own jurisdiction ; and his vigorous 
 chastisements received his majesty's fullest appro- 
 bation. § But he was informed that more virulent 
 libels were circulated against him in England, be- 
 yond his reach ; and his feelings were tormented 
 by hints, that these attacks gained ground from 
 his majesty's refusal to countenance him by some 
 public mark of approbation. 1| Unable to endure 
 
 * Wentworth to the King, Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. Ill, 
 127, 284. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 133, 265. t Ibid. Vol. I. p. 411. 
 
 § Laud to Wentworth, Ibid. Vol. II. p. 103. " The punish- 
 ment of impertinent, unjust, clamorous persons, his majesty liketh 
 well, that thereby you may ease both hira and yourself." 
 
 II Laud to Wentworth, Ibid. Vol. II. p. 42. Laud, in giving 
 this hint, ironically adds, " but the thoughts of princes be deeper 
 than other men's." 
 
214 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 this any longer, Wentworth drew up a list of the 
 calumnies circulated against him, which he trans- 
 mitted to Laud, for the decision of the king. * 
 The archbishop, though extremely irritable and 
 impatient of censure, was yet shocked at a weakness 
 which tended to destroy both the peace and re- 
 spectability of his friend ; and, therefore, in report- 
 ing the king's utter disbelief of these calumnies, 
 advised him " never to appear openly in his de- 
 fence till he was openly charged." t 
 Quarrel with That violcncc of temper which had impelled him 
 to persecute Lord Mountnorris, again engaged 
 him in a contest extremely prejudicial to his repu- 
 tation. The Lord Chancellor Loftus and his fa- 
 mily had exerted themselves to promote the lord 
 deputy's views, and had enjoyed more of his favour 
 than almost any other noble house in Ireland. 
 Amidst this interchange of benefits and acknow- 
 ledgments. Sir John GiflPord, who had married the 
 Chancellor's daughter, having demanded, in be- 
 half of his wife, some provision which his father-in- 
 law denied, brought an action before the lord de- 
 puty in the Castle Chamber, where he obtained an 
 award entirely in his favour. To this judgment 
 the Chancellor refused to submit, on the ground 
 that the action ought to have been brought in the 
 
 • Wentworth to Lauil, Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 105. 
 t Laud to Wentworth, Ibid. p. 126, 127. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 21.5 
 
 ordinary courts of law, and that the tribunal be- 
 fore which it was tried was both illegal and partial. 
 Enraged at this resistance, Wentworth procured 
 and rigidly enforced an order to sequester him from 
 the council, to deprive him of the seals, and to 
 commit him to prison till his obstinacy should be 
 subdued. * The clamour excited by this extreme 
 severity to a minister of such dignity and reputa- 
 tion, was aggravated by the discovery of some let- 
 ters which were said to indicate an intercourse 
 more jrallant than decorous between the lord de- 
 puty and Lady GiflPord. t The influence of Went- 
 worth at the English court was not, however, to 
 be shaken : the appeal of the Lord Chancellor was 
 disregarded ; and himself compelled to purchase 
 the forgiveness of Wentworth by submission to the 
 award, and an acknowledgment of his error, t 
 
 But transactions of superior importance now be- consumed on 
 
 - J the Spanish 
 
 gan to demand his exertions on a more extended war. Febru- 
 ary IGiiJ. 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. G9, IGl, 16-1., 172, 179, 196, 
 227, 228. 
 
 t Leland, Vol. III. p. 40. 
 
 X Ibid. p. 261, 389. Allhnugli Wentworth finally triumphed in 
 this afFair, yet, in a letter to the kinp;, (p. 161,) he discovers no 
 small apprehension of the clamour which it excited. He excuses 
 the whole of his conduct by alleging that he merely acted in obedi- 
 ence to the royal authority ; and the obstinacy of the chancellor he 
 attributes " to the evil spirit of insubordination which began to 
 trouble the age." 
 
^I6 EARL OF STR AFFORD. 
 
 theatre. Hitherto the king had restricted even 
 his most confidential communications with Went- 
 worth to Irish affairs, and had never demanded his 
 counsels with regard to the general interests of the 
 empire. After the death of Buckingham, Charles 
 appears to have entertained the resolution of con- 
 fining his ministers to separate departments of 
 government, while himself, the great presidmg 
 - spirit, should inform and guide the whole. His 
 jealousy of a man so lately an oppositionist, and 
 the enemy of Buckingham, seems also to have 
 yielded only gradually to devoted obedience and a 
 series of important services. * The project of a 
 war which would have affected Ireland more im- 
 mediately than the rest of his dominions, appears 
 to have been the first occasion on which Charles 
 broke through his reserve, and demanded the 
 opinion of Wentworth on a question relative to the 
 empire at large. 
 1637. The expedient of ship-money had proved pro- 
 
 ductive even beyond the sanguine expectations of 
 the court. It had indeed been resisted by Hamb- 
 den and others, and its legality solemnly argued 
 before the judges of England ; but the great majo- 
 rity having declared in its favour, it now seemed 
 
 • Clarendon observes, (Hist, of Reb. Vol. I. p. 31,) that " the 
 king admitted very few ifito any degree of trust, who had ever dis- 
 covered themselves to be enemies to the duke, or against whom 
 that favourite had manifested a notable prejudice." 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 217 
 
 to rest on tlie surest foundation. The courtiers 
 looked on this Impost as " a spring and magazine 
 that had no bottom, as an everlasting supply for 
 all occasions." * The king, forgetting his former 
 difficulties, began to meditate the entei-prlse of re- 
 covering the Palatinate by the aid of Protestant al- 
 lies ; and as France, then at war with Spain, long- 
 ed to engage England in the quarrel, the rising as- 
 cendancy of the queen was employed to accelerate 
 the warlike resolutions of her husband. Against 
 these projects, Laud, in consternation, remonstrat- 
 ed ; declaring that they would involve the king In 
 all his former difficulties, and ultimately lead to 
 the sacrifice of his servants, t As the plans of 
 Wentworth for promoting the trade and cultiva- 
 tion of Ireland, depended essentially on the main- 
 tenance of an amicable intercourse with Spain, 
 Charles, distracted by different counsels, judged it 
 expedient to demand the lord deputy's opinion, t 
 
 The reply of Wentworth is interesting both for h»s reply. 
 its sagacity, and for the schemes which it developes 
 for the consolidation of an absolute monarchy. 
 *' He desired his majesty to contrast the numerous 
 losses which a war would bring to Great Britain, 
 and the ruin of the rising prosperity of Ireland, 
 
 • Cbreiulon, Hist, of Reb. Vol. I. p. 68. 
 
 •f Laud to Wentworth, Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 66". 
 
 t King to Wentworth, Strafford's Letters^ Vol. II. p. 53. 
 
gl8 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 with the incalculable advantages to the whole em- 
 pire from carrying on the neutral trade during 
 a war between France and Spain. He advised 
 him to weigh the difficulty of making the members 
 of a coalition act with cordiality, and not turn 
 aside from views of private interest. * Would 
 a fleet, without an army, be sufficient to overawe 
 continental enemies, and to confirm backward al- 
 lies ? Even were the conquest of the Palatinate ac- 
 complished, would France generously maintain a 
 large permanent army to guard a country unequal 
 to its own defence ? Above all, it was to be consi- 
 dered what resources would be requisite for so 
 great an enterprise, and how they were to be pro- 
 cured. Ship-money might be more peevishly grant- 
 ed during a war, from the want of means to bridle 
 the refractory ; and should this impost prove suf- 
 ficient for the equipment of a powerful fleet, what 
 would be the consequence should this fleet, by any 
 sinister accident, be lost ? Would it be possible to 
 provide another without having recourse to Parlia- 
 ment ? And how unwise to summon that assembly 
 at this season ! 1 he opinion of the judges in fa- 
 vour of the levy of ship-money, he considered the 
 greatest service which the bench had rendered, in 
 
 * The powers who now projected a coalition for the recovery of 
 the Palatinate were the French, the wSwedes, the Danes, and the 
 
 Dutch. 
 
 6 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 219 
 
 his time, to the crown : * still the crown stood up- 
 on one leg, unless similar levies were also authoriz- 
 ed for the land forces. This last measure, if once 
 well fortified, would render his majesty the most 
 considerable monarch in Christendom, and for 
 ever mndicate royaltij at home from the conditions 
 and restraints of subjects. Yet to this great en- 
 terprise the peop'e could be won and habituated 
 only during the season of peace, when the crown 
 could frame and execute its measures, unembar- 
 rassed by necessity, and uncontrolled by the vicis- 
 situdes of war. Should it be necessary to do some- 
 thing in consequence of the faith pledged to the 
 Elector Palatine, far better than a hostile contest 
 would it be to employ two or three hundred thou- 
 sand pounds in buying off the pretenders to his 
 crown. Where, it might be asked, could this mo- 
 ney be procured ? From the subjects of England, 
 who would find their advantcige in purchasing, at 
 so easy a rate, an exemption from the far heavier 
 expences of warfare. And by a general acquies- 
 cence in an imposition of this nature, a precedent 
 would be gained, and the crown become possessed 
 
 " Clavcmlon, the strenuous friend of the crown, was of a very 
 different opinion : " The damage and misciiief," says he, " can- 
 not be expressed, that the crown and the state sustained by the de- 
 served reproach and infamy that attended the judges, by being 
 made use of iu this and like acts of power." Hist, of Kcb. Vol. 
 I. p. 70. 
 
220 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 of an autliority and right which would draw after 
 it many and great advantages, more proper to be 
 thought on at some other season than the pre- 
 sent." * 
 
 To these representations the king listened, and 
 the nation was saved from external hostilities, t 
 
 AfTairs of But Struggles f\ir different from a distant war 
 Scotland. ^g^,g ^^^^ approaching ; and an example of rebel- 
 lion was about to be set by the country which, 
 in the preceding generation, had given a king to 
 the empire. On the departure of James to as- 
 sume the crown of England, his native kingdom 
 exhibited every indication of permanent tranquil- 
 lity. The flictions of the nobles, which, in former 
 times, had so often bereft the monarch of his 
 crown or his life, were weakened by the progress 
 of civilization, and almost ceased to exist on the 
 removal of the court. The religious contests which 
 had agitated the nation for a century, were now 
 tranquillized by a submission, almost universal, to 
 the Calvinist creed and worship, as established by 
 law ; and the king might exult in a total emanci- 
 pation from ecclesiastical control, while he saw 
 the clergy humble from their poverty, and inoffen- 
 sive by their estrangement from political affairs. 
 
 * Wcntwortli to the King, Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 60, 
 61, 62, 6.3, 64. 
 t King to Wentworth, StrafForiVs Letters, Vol. II. p. 78. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 221 
 
 But James, cliarmed with the adulation of the 
 English prelates, viewed the subject in a very dif- 
 ferent light ; and having zealously adopted the 
 maxim of no bishop^ no Icing, he conceived the 
 project of strengthening the hands of monarchy 
 in Scotland, by the introduction of Episcopacy. 
 His attempts, however, met with the most serious 
 obstacles : the nobility and principal gentry were 
 alarmed at the prospect of losing those ample posses- 
 sions, which they had wrested from the Romish 
 church at the Reformation ; and the people looked 
 with abhorrence on rites which approached to the 
 symbols of Catholic superstition. The result of a 
 contest between the general sense of a nation and 
 a feeble monarch was such as might have been 
 foreseen. James, at his death, left his authority 
 in Scotland weakened by distentions which he had 
 wantonly excited, and the people rendered, by suc- 
 cessful opposition, more determined in their resist- 
 ance to religious innovation. 
 
 During the first years of the new reign, while 
 Charles was wholly occupied with his refractory 
 parliaments, these abortive attempts were disconti- 
 nued, and Scotland remained in a profound repose, 
 which showed how little monarchy had to dread 
 from either her civil or ecclesiastical establishment. 
 It was not until Laud had acquired the chief direc- 
 tion of affairs, that Charles was induced to renew 
 those attempts which had proved so unprosperous 
 
222 EARL OF STKAFFORD. 
 
 in the hands of his father. An imposing hierarchy, 
 a splendid ritual, a universal conformity, were ob- 
 jects for which that prelate was ready to hazard the 
 peace of a kingdom, while to Charles, the extirpa- 
 tion of Presbyterianisra seemed an indispensable 
 step to the establishment of an uncontrolled mo- 
 narchy. The first measure taken to effect these 
 objects, the revocation of the impropriated tithes 
 from the nobility and gentry, diffused discontent 
 among those most capable of resistance. A visit 
 to Scotland, which the king undertook for the same 
 purpose, seemed at first to promise an auspicious 
 issue. The appearance of their young king was 
 hailed with universal demonstrations of joy ; and 
 while the people were filled with the warmest sen- 
 sations of loyalty, Laud was permitted to mount 
 the principal pulpit of their capital, and, in hii^ 
 odious garments, to declaim in behalf of his still 
 more odious rites. But when the king, in prose- 
 cution of his favourite scheme, ventured to in- 
 fringe the most sacred privileges of Parliament, to 
 interrupt tlie deliberations, to threaten the meni- 
 bers even in the house, and to e:^ercise vengeance 
 on the refractory, the affection of the people was 
 suddenly converted into dislike, and Charles had 
 to lament, that his departure from Scotland seemed 
 to diffuse no less satisfaction than his arrival. 
 
 But this demonstration of the national senti-r 
 ments was insulHcient to check the ardour of 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD, 223 
 
 Laud : he even resolyed to introduce into Scot- 
 land innovations which had been resisted in Engr 
 land ; and to array its worship in a ceremonial still 
 more conformable to the church of Rome. * The 
 Scots beheld, with indignation, those institutions 
 for which their fathers had bled, supplanted by 
 rites connected in their minds with an abhorred 
 superstition ; they were farther disgusted to see 
 these innovations enforced by the sole authority of 
 the king ; and the solemn statutes of the legislature 
 superseded by royal proclamations, t The con- 
 demnation to death of Lord Balmerino, for having 1635. 
 in his possession the draught of a very temperate 
 petition to the king for a redress of grievances, 
 seemed to indicate that personal security, as well as 
 political freedom, was at an end. t The cause of 
 religion now became united with that of civil liber- 
 
 * The innovations of Laud were, in themselves, indifferent, and 
 even puerile: capes, surplices, tippets, the name and position of the 
 altar, the ring in marriage, the cross in baptism, were things to at- 
 tract only the ignorant and superstitious: but when so gravely un- 
 dertaken by the head of the English church, and so zealously en- 
 forced by the sovereign, they assumed a more serious character in 
 the eyes of the populace. They were no longer the playthings of 
 children, but the engines of great ministers and princes : and how- 
 ever indifferent they might appear, men could not believe them to 
 be so in reality, when maintained by a monarch at the risk of in- 
 volving his kingdom in rebellion and bloodshed. 
 
 t Burnet's JMemoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton, p. 29, 30, 31, 
 Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 106. 
 
 4: Rushworth, Vol, II. p. 281. 
 
2^4 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 ty ; and .mder the avowed direction of the princi- 
 pal nobility and gentry, the opposition to the in- 
 novations of the court acquired order and solidity. 
 1638. A covenant to maintain their rights was eagerly 
 embraced througliout the nation. * The threats, 
 the promises, the intrigues which the court em- 
 ployed to dissolve or disunite this confederacy, 
 were alike unsuccessful ; and when Charles ap- 
 peared at the head of an army, to enforce his man- 
 dates with the sword, he was met, on the borders, 
 by a force inferior to his own in splendour, but su- 
 perior in the ardour of the soldiers, and the expe- 
 1639. rience of the officers, t Laud, whose instigations 
 had precipitated this crisis, now advised his sove- 
 reign to treat with the rebels ; and Charles, who 
 had too good reason to distrust both the talents of 
 his generals, and the adherence of his troops, t 
 purchased a respite from his dangers by a hasty pa- 
 cification ; § after which, irritated and dejected, he 
 dismissed his army. II 
 Went- Alarmed at the dangers which environed his 
 
 duct to the power, and distracted by the contradictory counsels 
 of his ministers, Charles began to look for support 
 from the judgment and vigour of Wentworth. The 
 lord deputy had not beheld, in tranquillity, the 
 
 * Rushworth, Vol. II. p. 741. f Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 116- 
 
 t Ibid. p. 121. ISIay, p. 46. § Rushworth, Vol. III. p. 
 
 1022. Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 123. || Ibid. p. 124. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 2S5 
 
 progi'ess of tjie Scottish commotions ; and though 
 not du:ectly consulted by the king, he had often 
 t^ken occasion, in his dispatches, to state his senti- 
 ments concerning these disorders. * He had early 
 declared the necessity of providing a sufficient 
 force to .a\v€ or .chastise the refractory Scots ; and* 
 until this could be accomplished, he had strongly 
 urged his majesty to keep the insurgents in check, 
 by placing strong gai-risons in Berwick and Car- 
 lisle, in Dumbarton and Leith. t Dreading, above 
 all things, the commencement of hostilities, while 
 the king was yet unprovided with money or troops, 
 he entreated him to defer active operations for an- 
 other year : he expressed a hope that the Scots, if 
 not driven to .extremities, might yet return to a 
 sense of duty ; and reminded him, that " it was a 
 tender point to draw blood (irst from subjects, even 
 when rebellious." t Nor had he confined his zeal 
 to mere advice : by a resolute activity, he had re- 
 pressed some rising disorders among the Scottish 
 settlers in Ulster, who now amounted to sixty 
 thousand men : § and had not only prevented 
 them from assisting their countrymen, but compel- 
 led them to abjure the covenant. I! On the first 
 
 • StrafFord's Letters, Vol. II. p. 233. 
 t Ibid. p. 191, 192, 235, 280, 324., 
 t Went worth to the King, Ibid. p. 314, 356. 
 § Ibid. p. 270. II Ibid. p. 338, 3U. 
 
 VOL. II. P 
 
226 
 
 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 requisition of the king, he had sent a detachment 
 of troops to garrison Carlisle, and to act against 
 the Scots : he had laboured to recruit and disci- 
 pline the army of Ireland for further services : he 
 had oflPered contributions from himself and his 
 friends to defray the expences of the war : he had 
 stimulated his connections in Yorkshire, to exert 
 themselves in the royal cause ; and had lamented 
 that, in this season of danger, he should not be 
 found at his majesty's side. * 
 tSkin^"^^ Charles perceived the evils which he had incur- 
 ^639^^' ^^^ from neglecting the advice of Went worth ; 
 and he looked around hira in vain for a minister of 
 equal zeal. He now condescended to request the 
 lord deputy's personal attendance, which he had 
 formerly declined, t He wished, he said, to consult 
 him on some military projects : " but," added he, 
 in a tone of dejection, '* I have much more, and 
 indeed too much, to desire your counsel and at- 
 tendance for some time, which I think not fit to 
 express by letter, more than this — the Scottish co- 
 venant spreads too far." He begged, however, 
 that Wentworth would not make known the motive 
 of his request, but find some other pretext for vi- 
 siting England. X 
 
 ' Wentwortli to the King, Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 233, 
 278, '^79, 289, 308. 
 
 + Strafford's Letters, Vol. IL p. 28L 
 t King to Wentworth, Ibid. p. 372. 
 
 4 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 2^7 
 
 The lord deputy lost no time in obeying this Arrival in 
 
 r^ • ' 1 n l^ngland. 
 
 summons. Committmg the government of Ireland November 
 in his absence to his friend Wandesford, he has- 
 tened to the English court, under pretence of op- 
 posing the appeal of the Lord Chancellor Loftus. 
 The high opinion entertained of his abilities made 
 his arrival in London the general theme of conver- 
 sation and conjecture. Some, remembering his 
 early ardour in the cause of the people, fondly 
 imagined that he had hitherto been subservient to 
 the court, only to ingratiate himself thoroughly 
 with the king ; and that he would now employ his 
 ascendancy to wean his majesty from arbitrary 
 counsels. But others, considering his ambition, 
 and the maxims of his government in Ireland, 
 gave a very different explanation of the motives of 
 his arrival. * 
 
 The immediate object of discussion submitted to Advises war 
 Wentworth, and his principal colleagues, Laud Scots. 
 and Hamilton, f was the nature of the measures to 
 be pursued towards the Scots. % So vague and in- 
 
 " May, p. 53, 54. 
 
 t These three ministers, and occasionally sonie others, were, by 
 the opponents of the court, reproachfully termed the junto and the 
 cabinet-council. Such was the origin of a term now attended with 
 peculiar distinction. Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 149. 
 
 X It was only a few months before this period that Charles had, 
 for the first time, consulted his English ministers concerning the 
 affairs of Scotland. Both he and his father had adhered to their 
 rule of advising with Scotsmen alone concerning the affairs of Scot- 
 
228 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 distinct had been the provisions of the late pacifi- 
 cation, that the contracting parties could not agree 
 either with respect to its terms or its spirit ; and 
 the representation given by the one was flatly de- 
 nied by the other. * The Scots seemed resolved 
 to maintain their interpretation of the treaty at the 
 head of an armed force ; and as it was now disco- 
 vered that they had meditated an application to the 
 French court for succours, t Wentworth declared 
 that there was no other alternative for the king, 
 than to forego his sovereignty, or reduce his rebel- 
 lious subjects by force of arms. 
 Hamenr'" The proposition for war was readily acceded to ; 
 but how to procure supplies was a more difficult 
 question. So much had the dissipation of the 
 court exhausted both the ordinary and extraordi- 
 nary revenues, t that the king had been enabled to 
 march against the Scots, only by the uncertain aid 
 of voluntary contributions, and by commanding all 
 the crown vassals to join his standard under pain 
 of forfeiting their tenures. § The arbitrary expe- 
 dients of selling monopolies, and levying partial 
 
 land : and to this policy, whatever might he its motive, Wentworth 
 ascribes the commotions which now agitated that part of the island. 
 Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 190. 
 
 *• Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 123. 
 
 f King's Declaration. Clarendon, p. 129. 
 
 + Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 267. 
 
 § Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 116. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 9^9 
 
 exactions, had already been carried to the utmost ; 
 and ship-money began to be paid with more reluc- 
 tance as the necessities of the crown increased. * 
 In the present state of affairs, it seemed dangerous 
 to provoke the nation by more unauthorized im- 
 posts ; and, as every other resource seemed hope- 
 less, Wentworth, Laud, and Hamilton, united in 
 proposing that a parliament should be summoned, t 
 An expedient, long evaded by every art, and 
 adopted only from extreme necessity, could not be 
 regarded with much confidence ; and the council, 
 therefore, thought proper to point to an alternative 
 by a vote " to assist the king in extraordinary 
 ways, if the parliament should prove peevish, and 
 refuse supplies." | AVent worth displayed his su- 
 perior zeal by subscribing twenty thousand pounds 
 as his share of a voluntary contribution ; § and to 
 set an example of loyalty to the English, he re- 
 quested that a parliament, for the same objects, 
 should previously be held in Ireland. 
 
 It was no longer a season for Charles to be pe- created 
 nurious of his honours, or afraid to share in the strafFord, 
 unpopularity of Wentworth. It was not the re- ueuumant, 
 ward of a meritorious servant that was now in ques- "^^[^4^^ 
 tion, but the interest of the sovereign himself. 
 
 * Rushworth, Vol. III. p. 978, StrafFord's Letters, Vol. 11. 
 p. 308. t Laud's Diary. t Ibid. 
 
 § Rushworth, Vol. III. p. 1051. Nalson, Vol. I. p. 280. 
 
230 EARL OF STRAFBORD. 
 
 Wentworth was created Earl of Strafford, adorned 
 with the Garter, and invested with the title of Lord 
 Lieutenant, which, since the time of Essex, had 
 been withheld from the governors of Ireland. * 
 These honours, so often requested, and so tardily 
 bestowed, had yet their charms in the eyes of the 
 receiver; and both in a studied address to the 
 king,t and in some private letters to his wife, t he 
 betrayed his exultation on this accession to his 
 splendour. 
 
 As the appointed day for the meeting of the 
 Irish parliament approached, the Lord Lieutenant 
 quitted London to regulate its proceedings ; and 
 when overtaken at Beaumaris, by a severe fit of the 
 gout, he hastened on board, though the winds con- 
 March 16, tinned contrary, lest the increasing distemper should 
 
 become too painful to permit his removal. § 
 Success Xhe zeal of the Irish Parliament exceeded his 
 
 ■with Irish . ^ . 
 
 Parliament, niost sauguinc cxpcctations. I heir governor now ap- 
 peared to enjoy not only the royal approbation, but 
 the direction of his majesty's councils ; and through 
 his hands all favours were to be expected. The 
 war against the Scots offered also a particular oc- 
 casion for making interest at the English court ; 
 
 * Rushwoith, Vol. III. p. 1050. Nalson, Vol. I. p. 280. 
 
 f Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 300. 
 
 t Biographia Britannica from the MSS. in Mussco Thoresbiaiio. 
 
 f Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 391. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 231 
 
 and every one strove to distinguish himself by a 
 zealous attachment to the Lord Lieutenant, and 
 an unbounded devotion to the king. Having 
 unanimously voted four subsidies, the sum requir- 
 ed by the court, the parliament declared that this 
 was a very insignificant expression of their zeal 5 
 that his majesty should have the " fee-simple of 
 their estates for his great occasions." * They pro- 
 ceeded to draw up a formal declaration, in which 
 they " humbly offered their persons and estates, 
 even to their utmost ability," for his majesty^s fur 
 ture supply, till the reduction of the present disor- 
 ders, t In the preamble to the bill of subsidies, 
 they declared that their present warm loyalty arose 
 from a deep sense of the inestimable benefits con- 
 ferred on their country by the Lord Lieutenant ; 
 they recounted his meritorious services to the king, 
 and assured his majesty that all these had been ef- 
 fected " without the least hurt or grievance to any 
 well disposed subject." t 
 
 To Strafford, so often reviled, so eager to bind 
 the king by obligations, these proceedings were 
 necessarily gratifying ; § and, with a pardonabie 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 39G, 397. Nalson, Vol. I. p. 
 281, 282. I Ibid. p. 283. 
 
 + Ibid. Vol. II. p. 396, 397. Rushworth, Vol. III. p. 1051. 
 Nalson, Vol. I. p. 280—284. 
 
 § Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 403. 
 
232 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 triumph, he requested the English court to make 
 public the loyal declaration of the Irish parliament 
 as an example to the rest of the empire. * Hav- 
 ing, with incredible diligence, levied a body of 
 eight thousand men, as a reinforcement to the 
 royal army, he quitted Ireland, after a stay of a 
 fortnight, to attend the opening of the English 
 parliament, f 
 dangerous But that activity, which had so much contribut- 
 
 Uness. r \ ' ^ 
 
 ed to the success of his schemes, was now suspend- 
 ed by unseasonable infirmities. From excessive 
 fatigue, a violent flux was added to his gout, which 
 had now^ seized him in both feet ; and to such a de- 
 gree were these distempers aggravated by a storm 
 which he encouritered on his passage, that, on his 
 April 1. arrival at Chester, he could with difficulty endure 
 to be carried ashore, t Here he lay for some days 
 extended on a bed, unable to bear the slightest 
 motion, and equally tormented by pain and anxietyi 
 In this paroxysm of his distempers, there occurred 
 a circumstance strongly characteristic of his uncon- 
 querable energy. The king having demanded, 
 from the county of Yorkj two hundred men for 
 the garrison of Berwick, the lieutenants, who in- 
 clined to the popular party, ventured to refuse the 
 
 " Strafford's Letters, Vol. IL p. 399. 
 
 + Ibid. p. 399, 403. Nalsoii, Vol. L p. 2S0, 
 
 t Strafford's Letters, Vol. IL p. 103. 
 
EARL of STRAFFORD. 23S 
 
 requisition. Strafford, hearing of this refusal, and 
 learning that the privy- council had in contempla- 
 tion to demand satisfaction for this contumacy, 
 wrote to Secretary Windebanke, expressing his 
 astonishment '* that the council should think of 
 any other satisfaction, than sending for them up, 
 and laying them by the heels." * 
 
 As soon as he could endure the motion, he cans- in the 
 ed himself to be placed in a litter, and conveyed ParUament. 
 by slow journies to London. Here he found the ^^icio.^' 
 parliament already met, and conducting their dis- 
 cussions with unexpected temper and moderation, t 
 They were aware that extreme necessity alone had 
 induced the king to assemble them ; they had ma- 
 ny grievances to redress ; and could complain that 
 the Petition of Right had been violated in almost 
 every instance. But elected from among the most 
 wealthy and enlightened men in the nation, and 
 unwilling to see their country ravaged by a civil 
 
 * Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 409. 
 
 ■f Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 131, informs us that the (ioutt persisted 
 in the same unpopular cbursie eveti after issuing the writs for the 
 meeting of parliament. " That it might not appear that the court 
 ivas at all apprehensive of what the parliament would or could do ; 
 and that it was convened by his majesty's grace and inclination, not 
 by any motive of necessity ; it proceeded in all respects in the same 
 unpopular way it had done. Ship-money was levied with the same 
 severity ; and the same rigour used in ecclesiastical courts, without 
 the least compliance with the humour of any man." 
 
23t EARL OF STRAFFOKD. 
 
 war, the Commons were disposed to relieve the 
 necessities of the crown, and seemed inclined to 
 wean the king from his arbitrary counsels, by show- 
 ing how much more amply and easily he could ob- 
 tain supplies by the legal course of parliaments. 
 They spoke, indeed, of grievances, but in terms so 
 moderate and respectful as to avoid all offence ; 
 and when a member, less guarded than the rest, 
 ventured to call ship-money an abomination^ he 
 narrowly escaped a severe reprehension. * 
 
 But these favourable presages were quickly blast- 
 ed by the impatience of the court. The king, in 
 his opening speech, delivered by the mouth of the 
 lord keeper, had told them that he desired, not 
 their advice, but their supplies ; and that he ex- 
 pected these to be dispatched, before their griev- 
 ances were brought in question, t While the 
 Commons, a few days afterwards, were engaged in 
 debating whether they should comply with this re- 
 quisition of the king, or, according to the esta- 
 blished form, first represent their grievances, and 
 afterwards consider of supplies, Charles, unex- 
 pectedly, hastened to the House of Lords, desired 
 them to enter on the question of supply, and, both 
 by their example and admonition, to bring the 
 Commons to tke same course. 1: This precipitate 
 
 • Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 134. t Ibid. p. 132. 
 
 t Nalson, Vol. I. p. 330, 331. Rushworth, Vol. III. p. 1144. 
 Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 131. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 235 
 
 interference, and the ready obedience of the Lords, 
 threw the Commons into violent agitation. Since 
 their first admission into parliament, it had been 
 their acknowledged right to commence all discus- 
 sions relative to pecuniary supplies j and the pre- 
 sent infraction of this fundamental privilege seem- 
 ed an attempt to awe them by the authority of the 
 peers. Several days elapsed in the debates and 
 conferences to which this incident gave rise ; and 
 the king, by his unadvised precipitation, only de- 
 layed the discussions which he desired to accele- 
 rate, and irritated the Commons, when it was most 
 his interest to conciliate them. * 
 
 Charles now attempted another expedient to 
 procure immediate supplies. He informed the 
 Commons, that, although the legality of ship-mo- 
 ney had been ascertained by the decision of the 
 judges of England; yet, as it was not willingly 
 submitted to by the people, he would, for a grant of 
 twelve subsidies, consent to renounce his preten- 
 sions to it for ever, t To some members, it seem- 
 ed unwise to acknowledge the justice of this arbi- 
 trary exaction, by purchasing an exemption from 
 it ; but the majority were willing to wave the ques- 
 tion of right, and only desired a mitigation of the 
 
 • Claremlon, Vol. I. p. 134., 135. Rushworth, Vol. III. p. 1U6 
 —1153. Nalson, Vol. I. p. 335—340. 
 
 I Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 135. Rushworth, Vol. III. p. 1154 
 Nalson, Vol. I. p. 341. 
 
^36 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 price demanded by the king, which, even to the 
 most moderate, appeared exorbitant. They were, 
 however, informed by Sir Henry Vane, now Trea- 
 surer of the Household, and Secretary of State, 
 that, unless they voted the supply in the very pro- 
 portion and manner specified in the royal message, 
 it would not be accepted by his majesty. * This 
 declaration, which was enforced by Herbert, the 
 Solicitor General, appeared peremptory even to the 
 king's best friends ; and after a long discussion, 
 the question was adjourned till the following day. 
 But Vane, having been commissioned to report 
 the proceedings to his majesty, represented the 
 warmth and resistance of the house in such glow- 
 ing colours, as filled the king with the most fearful 
 presages, t Dreading some violent measure against 
 his arbitrary exactions, he next morning repaired 
 to the House of Lords, and summoning the Com- 
 mons into his presence, confounded the parliament 
 by an immediate dissolution. X 
 
 Consternation anddiscontentwerespread through- 
 out the kingdom, by this unexpected violence to a 
 parliament, whose assembling the people had fond- 
 ly regarded as the renovation of their constitutional 
 rights. Charles himself immediately repented of 
 his rashness, accused Vane of having deceived him, 
 
 • Clareiulon, Vol. I. p. 138, t Ibid. p. 139. 
 
 X Ibid. Rushwoilh, Vol. III. p. 115a. Nalson^ Vol. I. p. 3i2. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 237 
 
 denied that ever he had authorized the peremptory 
 demands delivered to the house, and expressed a 
 wish to recall the dissolution. * But finding it 
 too late to repair his error, he published a high- 
 toned declaration defending his conduct ; and, ac- 
 cording to his usual practice, imprisoned some of 
 the most conspicuous members, t He now em- 
 ployed every expedient to raise supplies by the 
 royal authority. He issued orders to impress re- 
 cruits for the army ; commanded the counties to 
 pay specified sums for clothing and marching the 
 troops ; imposed a loan of three hundred thousand 
 pounds on the city of London, and imprisoned the 
 refractory citizens ; ordered the pepper under the 
 Exchange to be bought up on his account, and 
 sold at an undervalue ; seized the bullion in the 
 mint ; and was at one time advised to coin three 
 hundred thousand pounds of base money for the 
 payment of the troops, t 
 
 By means of these expedients, and a considerable Appointed 
 loan from his principal courtiers, § Charles was en- iL^twopr 
 abled to march against the Scots, who, on their 
 
 * Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 139, 140. 
 
 + Rushworth, Vol. III. p. 1160—1167. Nalson, Vol. I. p. 344. 
 —351. 
 
 t Rushworth, Vol. III. p. 1170—1217. May, p. 62, 63. Nal- 
 son, Vol. I. p. 486—491. This last project was abandoned ; and, 
 on the earnest representations of the merchants, only a third of 
 the bullion in the mint was retained as a loan. 
 
 § Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 140. 
 
$38 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 part, were preparing to carry the war into Eng- 
 land. The Earl of Northumberland had been ap- 
 pointed commander-in-chief: but, on account of 
 his illness, the command devolved on Strafford, 
 the lieutenant-general, whose distempers hardly 
 permitted him to sit on horseback. * Looking on 
 the Scots as a horde of undisciplined rebels, he had 
 beheld the late treaty with indignation ; and de- 
 clared his opinion, that a moderate English army 
 could drive them, with disgrace, to their homes. 
 But before he could reach his troops, he was met 
 by the mortifying intelligence that a part of them 
 had been attacked by the Scots at Newburn on 
 Tyne ; and, although aided by the advantages of 
 ground, had, almost without coming to blows, be- 
 taken themselves to an ignominious flight. On 
 this the main body abandoning Newcastle, where 
 their ammunition and provisions were deposited, 
 halted not till they reached the neighbourhood of 
 Durham, where they were met by their incensed 
 Lieutenant-General. t Irritable from the painful 
 distempers which hung on his constitution, and ex- 
 asperated beyond all bounds by the misconduct of 
 his army, Strafford undertook the command with 
 looks of indignation, and the language of reproach. 
 Stung by his indiscriminate censures, and inflamed 
 by the arts of his secret adversaries, the troops 
 
 Clarendon, Vol. I. p. Ul, lU. t Nalson, Vol. I. p. 426. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 2S9 
 
 soon displayed more hatred against their general 
 than against the enemy : and the first military ex- 
 ploit of Straftbrd was to abandon the northern 
 counties to the mercy of the foe, and retreat to 
 York with a disgraced and mutinous army. * 
 
 The tide of Strafford's fortune was now rapidly Adverse af. 
 ebbing. His avowed sentiments of the Scots had 
 rendered them his implacable enemies : his support 
 of ship-money, and other arbitrary measures, had 
 procured him almost equal hatred among the 
 people of England : and his influence and conduct 
 rendered a powerful party of the courtiers eager to 
 promote his ruin. The Marquis of Hamilton, who 
 now enjoyed the principal confidence of the king, 
 had long beheld him with aversion : t and he was 
 equally hated by Lord Holland and Sir Harry 
 Vane, the confidential advisers of the queen. 
 He had offended Holland by some contemptu- 
 ous expressions : t he had provoked Vane by ob- 
 structing his promotion ; and, when created Earl 
 of Strafford, he wantonly exasperated this adver- 
 sary, by procuring himself to be also created Baron ' 
 of Raby, a manor belonging to Vane, and regard- 
 ed by him as his own future title. § The Earls of 
 Essex and Arundel had been displaced by his in- 
 
 • Clarendon, Vol. I. p. \U, 145. 
 t Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 265. 
 
 i Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 150. § Ibid. Xalson, Vol. I. p. 
 
 411, introduction, p. 73, Vol. II. p. 2. 
 
240 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 fluence, from the commands which they hekl m 
 the former expedition against Scotland, and were, 
 on other accounts, his declared foes : Arundel, 
 from some private quarrels ; and Essex, from 
 friendship to the Eai'l of Clanricarde. * But his 
 most dangerous enemy at court was the queen, 
 whose influence over her husband was daily in- 
 creasing. Her inveterate antipathy to the Duke 
 of Buckingham had been transferred to his crea- 
 ture, Laud ; and, by a natural association, to the 
 principal friend and supporter of Laud. Strafford 
 had made some attempts to conciliate her favour ; t 
 hut he had offended her by dissuading an active 
 co-operation with France, and still more by his op- 
 position to the promotion of Vane, whom she sup- 
 ported with all her influence, t 
 
 The superior ascendancy of this hostile interest 
 was soon felt by Strafford, who now saw the mogt 
 important and hazardous measures undertaken 
 without his concurrence, or even his knowledge. 
 As the lords had proved, in the last parliament, 
 more submissive than the commons, the king was 
 advised to revive an old feudal institution, and 
 summon a grand council of peers, for the relief of 
 
 • Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 150, 151. 
 
 -j- Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 256. 
 
 i Nalson, ubi supra. Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 125, 126. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. ^41 
 
 his necessities. * Apprehensive, however, that the 
 peers would urge him to call a parliament, he re- 
 solved at least to have the merit of a voluntary sa- 
 crifice ; and, in his opening speech to the grand 
 council, announced that he had already deter- 
 mined to adopt this measure, t If Strafford 
 was confounded at these precipitate transactions, 
 he experienced a deeper mortification from the 
 discovery that his inveterate enemy. Lord Savile, 
 was employed in carrying on private overtures 
 between the court and the Scots, t While eager- 
 ly engaged in strengthening and animating his ar- 
 my for a new encounter, he found a treaty actually 
 commenced with the rebellious subjects ; and the 
 negotiations entrusted to sixteen peers, amono- 
 whom he could discover his most active enemies, 
 but not one friend. § And while the Scots were 
 lavish in their professions of attachment to the 
 king and the English nation, they refused to hold 
 their conferences at York, because it was within 
 the jurisdiction of their mortal enemy, the Lord 
 Lieutenant of Ireland. |[ 
 
 • Clarendon, Vol. I. p. HT. f Rush worth. Vol. III. p. 1275. 
 
 t Clarendon, Vol. J. p. 1^5. 
 
 § Rushworth, Vol. III. p. 1276. Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 155, 
 
 II The words of the Scots on this occasion are expressive of great 
 antipathy : " We cannot conceal what danger may be apprehended 
 in our going to York, and surrendering ourselves into the hands of 
 an army commanded by the lieutenant of Ireland, a'^^ainst whom, 
 
 VOL. II. Q 
 
94^2 EARL or STRAFFORD. 
 
 Strafford now found himself placed, by the effects 
 of undue zeal, amidst a host of enemies ; and re- 
 ceived no doubtful intimations that he had mistak- 
 en the state of the national spirit. He had, in- 
 deed, long known that the popular feelings were 
 exasperated by arbitrary exactions, * by the in- 
 famy of the judges in perverting the laws to gra- 
 tify the court, t by the cruel punishments employ- 
 ed to repress freedom of speech and writing, % by 
 
 as a chief incendiary , (according to our demands, wliich are the 
 subject of the treaty itself,) we intend to insist, as is expressed in 
 our remonstrance and declaration ; who hath, in the parliament of 
 Ireland, proceeded against iis as traitors and rebels, (the best titles 
 his lordship, in his common talk, honours us with,) whose commis- 
 sion is to subdue and destroy us, and who, by all means, and on all 
 occasions, desireth the breaking up of the treaty of peace." Rush- 
 worth, Vol. III. p. 1293. Nalson, Vol. I. p. 453. 
 
 * Clarendon, VoL I. p. 67, 68. t Ibid. p. 70, 
 
 % Ntver did the press groan under such grievous oppression. 
 Neither the rank of an offender, nor the dubious nature of an offence, 
 could guard men from the most harsh and disgraceful punishments. 
 Mr Prynn, a barrister, who had written a book against masquerades 
 and plays, was, in the court of the Star Chamber, found guilty of a 
 libel against the government, because the king and queen happened 
 to be passionately fond of these diversions. For this alleged crime 
 h€ was sentenced to a fine of five thousand pounds, to be imprison- 
 ed for life, to stand in the pillory in Westminster and Cheapside, 
 and to lose both his ears, one in each of these places. Having, in 
 his prison, written some exposition of the injustice of the proceed- 
 ings against him, he was, for this new offence, sentenced by the 
 same court to pay another fine of five thousand pounds, to stand 
 again in the pillory, and to lose the remainder of his ears ! The 
 hangman^ from the closeness of the stumps to the head, was obliged 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 243 
 
 the usurped power of the Star Chamber, and other 
 arbitrary courts, * and by the consequent annihila- 
 
 rather to saw than cut them off. Bastwick a physician, and Bur- 
 ton a divine, were sentenced to the same punishments for similar 
 offences. See tlieir trials and sentences in Rushvvorth, Vol. II. 
 p. 220 — 241, 382. Dr Leighton, a divine of learning and virtue, 
 for writing a book against prelacy with too much warmth, was sen- 
 tenced to pay ten thousand pounds to the king, to be imprisoned 
 during his majesty's pleasure, and to suffer a variety of infamous 
 and cruel punishments, which, as Archbishop Laud himselfhas re- 
 corded in his Diary, were inflicted in the following manner : " He 
 was .severely whipt before he was set in the pillory : being set in 
 the pillory, he had one of his ears cut ofi ; one side of his nose slit ; 
 branded on one cheek with a red-hot iron, with the letters A. ^S'. 
 signifying a stirrei- up of .sedition, and afterwards carried back again 
 to the P'leet prison, to be kept in close custody ; and on that day 
 sevennight, his sores upon his back, ear, nose, and face being not 
 cured, he was whipt again at the pillory in Cheapside, and there had 
 the remainder of his sentence executed upon him, by cutting off 
 the other ear, slitting the other side of the nose, and branding the 
 other cheek." After enduring these cruelties, he was tlirown into 
 a damp unwholesome dungeon, from which he was, eleven years af- 
 ter, rescued by the Long Parliament, having lost his eye-sight, his 
 hearing, and nearly the whole use of his limbs. 
 
 * Nothing can more expose the excess of this abuse than the 
 confession of tbe loyalist historian Clarendon : " For the better 
 support of these extraordinary ways, and to protect ihe agents and 
 instruments, who must be employed in them, and to discountenance 
 and suppress all bold inquirers and opposers, the Council-Table 
 and Star Chamber enlarge their jurisdiction to a vast extent. 
 * Holding,' as Thucydides said of the Athenians, ' for honourable 
 that which pleased, and for just that which profited ;' and being 
 the same persons in several rooms, grew boih courts of law to de- 
 termine right, and courts of revenue to bring money into the 
 treasury ; the Council-Table, by proclamations, enjoining to the 
 
244» EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 tion of security for persons and property : he knew 
 farther, that the consciences of many were shock- 
 ed by the innovations of Laud, and that the ambi- 
 tion of the nobihty was deeply wounded by the at- 
 tempt to transfer public offices into the hands of 
 the clergy. * Still he had attributed the ebulli- 
 
 people what was not enjoined by the law, and prohibiting that 
 which was not prohibited ; and the Star Chamber censuring the 
 breach, and disobedience to those proclamations, by very great fines 
 and imprisonment. So that any disrespect to any acts of state, or to 
 the persons of statesmen, was in no time more penal ; and those 
 foundations of right, by which men valued their s?curity, to the 
 apprehension of wise men, never more in danger to be destroyed." 
 Hist, of Reb. Vol. I. p. 68, 69. 
 
 • Laud, by his efforts to exalt the clergy, had greatly disgusted 
 the nobility. He had induced the king to bestow the office of Lord 
 High Treasurer on Juxon, a very worthy man, but entirely un- 
 known, who had been. Avithin two years, raised from obscurity ; 
 and, by the interest of Laud, first appointed clerk of the king's 
 closet, and afterwards Bishop of London. There were few things 
 which excited more violent enmity to the church, than conferring 
 the office of Treasurer on Juxon; but to Laud, it was a source of 
 unspeakable satisfaction, as he records in his Diary : "^ March 6th, 
 Sunday, William Juxon, Lord Bishop of London, made Lord High 
 Treasurer of England: no churchman had it since Henry the 
 Seventh 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 
 contentment by it. And now, if the church will not hold up them- 
 selves, under God I can do no m.orc." In Scotland, at the intro- 
 duction of Episcopacy, this invidious- eagerness for the promotion 
 of churchmen was carried still further : they held nearly all the 
 more important offices of state, along with seats in the privy-coun- 
 eil. * 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 245 
 
 tions of popular discontent * to the want of that 
 vigour, before which he had, in Ireland, found all 
 obstacles yield. He had returned the exhortations 
 of Laud, to persist in thorough measures : t he had 
 treated the popular leaders with contempt ; X and 
 
 * These discontents broke out, in the most alarming manner, 
 while the court was attempting to levy an army against the Scots. 
 The impressed men employed the most shocking means to avoid 
 the service ; one cut off' his toe, and another even hanged himself. 
 Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 331. In several counties, the sol- 
 diers mutinied and murdered their officers. Rushworth, Vol. III. 
 p. 1191—1195. Clarendon's State Papers, Vol. II. p. 101. 
 
 I He tells Laud, (Letters, Vol. II. p. 250,) that, in his opinion, 
 the Scottish aflliiis were lost by too great a desire to do things 
 quietly; that opposition is, at first, easily quashed by vigour; but, 
 adds he, " so long as I do serve, I will thorough, by the grace of 
 God, follow after what shall please him to send." He seems also to 
 have formed a wrong idea of the king's firnmess, unless, perhaps, he 
 thought it necessary to express his sentiments cautiously to a fel- 
 low-courtier : " Our master is an excellent horseman, and knows 
 perfectly how to bring to obedience a hard mouth with a sharp hit, 
 where a sweeter will not do it." Wentworth to Newcastle, Letters* 
 Vol. II. p. 256. In another letter to Laud, he speaks of the spirit 
 of the age as " a grievous and overspreading leprosy. Less," he 
 adds, " than Ihorovgh will not overcome it. There is a cancerous 
 malignity in it, which must be cut forth, which long since hath re- 
 jected all other means." Letters, Vol. II. p. 136. 
 
 t "I am confident," he writes to Laud, "that the king, being 
 pleased to set liimself in the business, is able, by his wisdom and 
 ministers, to carry any just and honourable action through all ima- 
 ginary opposition, for real there can be none; that, to start aside 
 for such panic fears, fantastic apparitions as a Frynn or an Elliot 
 shall set up, were the meanest folly in the world ; that the debts of 
 
Ql6 EAHL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 had forgot that if some of them were, like himself, 
 ready to accept the favours of the court, the impo- 
 verished court possessed not the means to buy off 
 so numerous an opposition. 
 
 But circumstances were now such as to render 
 his personal vigour of no avail. He no longer 
 acted as the independent director of a separate go- 
 vernment ; and he found it in vain to advise reso- 
 lute measures where his master was unstable, and 
 where adverse counsels predominated. In the 
 presence of such colleagues as Holland and Vane, 
 he was obliged to repress his sentiments within his 
 bosom, and give an apparent consent where oppo- 
 sition was fruitless. * He determined, however, 
 
 the crown taken off, you may govern as you please ; and most reso- 
 lute I am that work may be done, without borrowing any lielp 
 forth of the king's lodgings ; and it is as downright a peccatum ex te 
 Israel as ever was, if all this be not cftected with speed and ease." 
 Letters, Vol. I. p. 173, Hambden, he thinks, might have been easi- 
 ly reformed by some wholesome chastisement : ^' !]\Ir Hambden is 
 a great brother ; and the very genius of that nation of people leads 
 them always to oppose, both civilly and ecclesiastically, all that ever 
 authority ordains for them. But, in good faith, were they rightly 
 served, they should be whipthome into their right wits ; and much 
 beholden they should be to any that would thoroughly take pains 
 with them in that kind." Wentworth to Laud, Letters, Vol. IL 
 p. 138. Again ; " In truth I still wish ]\Ir Hambden, and others 
 to his likeness, were well whipt into their right senses : and if that 
 the rod be so used that it smarts not, I am the more sorry.'' Went" 
 worth to Laud, Letters, p. 158, 
 • Clarendon, Vol. \. p. 159. 
 
EARL OF STRArFORD. Q4/f 
 
 to give one practical proof of the possibility of re- 
 instating the royal authority by vigorous exertion. 
 As no cessation of arms had been agreed on with 
 the Scots, during the negotiation he sent a party 
 of horse, under a skilful officer, to attack them in 
 their quarters. The enterprise was successful, the 
 detachment defeated a large body of the enemy, 
 and took all the officers prisoners. But this suc- 
 cess, while it raised the spirits of the army, still 
 more inflamed the Scots against Straffi^rd : and, 
 when it became known that the officer who con- 
 ducted the party was a Roman Catholic, the Eng- 
 lish joined in the clamour against the foe of reli- 
 gion. The feeble king, overcome by their united 
 remonstrances, commanded his general to forbear, 
 for the future, from all offiinsive operations. * 
 
 To this galling mandate Straffijrd bowed in 
 silence. Though haughty to inferiors, and daring 
 towards an enemy, he gave himself up to the royal 
 will with the most humble resignation. Impressed 
 with the magnificence of titles and power, he 
 looked with a reverential awe to those who possess- 
 ed them in a superior degree ; and could scarcely 
 bring himself to question their orders, or approach 
 them with familiarity, t Towards the king he had 
 
 • Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 159. Father Orleans, p. 34.. 
 f This trait of his character is remarkably exemplified in his 
 conduct to Laud. When that prelate, with whom he had, foj* 
 
S48 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 never ventured to assume that commanding and 
 violent attitude vvhicli was employed, with un- 
 bounded success, by the Duke of Buckingham, and 
 afterwards by the queen ; and unfortunately, in 
 the deliberations of Charles, zeal and compliance 
 were unable to outweigh persevering importunity, 
 or peremptory demand. Strafford had now to look 
 on, in silent despair, while the humbled king 
 formed a preliminary truce with the Scots, and 
 even agreed to pay their army till the conclusion 
 of a final treaty. * 
 
 But more severe trials soon awaited his fortitude. 
 On the Sd of November 1640 was assembled that 
 parliament which was to witness, during its con- 
 tinuance, the most violent convulsions to which the 
 constitution and people of this island were ever 
 exposed. It was composed, in a great measure, of 
 the same persons as the former parliament ; but 
 their dispositions liad become greatly changed. 
 Their resentment had been roused by the abrupt 
 dissolution, by the imprisonment of members, by 
 
 some years, lived on the most intimate footing, was raised from the 
 see of London to the Archbishopric of Canterbury, Wentworth de- 
 sisted from his usual familiarity, and at length resumed it only in 
 consequence of the good-natured raillery of Laud, who assured him 
 that the palace of Lambeth was occupied by his old friend, the 
 Bishop of London. Laud to Wentworth, Strafford's Letters, Vol, 
 J. p. 111. 
 
 " Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 160. 
 
EARL OF STKAIFORD. 249 
 
 the arbitrary methods employed to raise money ; 
 and the enterprises against the Scots, so unsuc- 
 cessfully prosecuted, so feebly relinquished, had 
 extinguished their respect for the king. Con- 
 cluding, from repeated experience, that necessity 
 alone could wrest concessions from their sovereign, 
 they resolved, while the exchequer was empty, and 
 a hostile army stationed in the kingdom, to proceed 
 with a bold and determined hand in reforming 
 abuses, and placing effectual barriers to future en- 
 croachments. 
 
 In these designs, the only obstacles which they 
 feared were the vigour and talents of Strafford. 
 While the popular leaders detested him as a traitor 
 to their cause, and the Scots as the implacable 
 enemy of their nation, all equally dreaded those 
 abilities which had laid Ireland prostrate at his 
 feet, and which might yet inspire vigour into the 
 counsels of Charles. So long as he continued at 
 the head of an army, there was no security that he 
 might not, by some sudden movement, confound 
 and crush their projects ; and nothing was, there- 
 fore, to be achieved till after accomplishing his de- 
 struction. 
 
 The apprehensions of the king soon brought Summoned 
 their dreaded adversary into their power. AVhen ment! "* 
 he compared the management of an Irish parlia- ^g40.'"''^'^ 
 ment by Strafford with his own abortive attempts 
 in England, Charles, without duly weighing the 
 
5.50 EARL OF STUAFFORD. 
 
 difference of circumstances, was led to expect from 
 this minister's assistance an issue no longer pos- 
 sible. Strafford hesitated to incur certain dangers 
 in so hopeless a struggle. To the royal summons 
 for his attendance in parliament, he replied by an 
 earnest request that he might be permitted to re- 
 tire to his government in Ireland, or to some other 
 place where he might promote the service ©f his 
 majesty, and not deliver himself into the hands of 
 his enraged enemies. But to these representations 
 Charles refused to listen j and, with too much 
 confidenco in a firmness which had so often failed 
 him, he encouraged his minister by a solemn pro- 
 mise, that " not a hair of his head should be touch- 
 ed by the parliament.'* * 
 
 Stmfibrd at length prepared to obey these re- 
 peated mandates ; and having discovered a traitor- 
 ous correspondence, in which his enemy Savile, 
 and some other lords, had invited the Scots to in- 
 vade England, he resolved to anticipate and con- 
 found his adversaries by an accusation of these po- 
 pular leaders, f But no sooner were the Commons 
 informed that he had taken his seat among the 
 peers, than they ordered their doors to be shut ; 
 and, after they had continued several hours in de- 
 liberation, Pym, attended by a number of members, 
 
 • Whitlock'j's 3iIcuiorialsjp. 37. t Strafford's Trial, p. 2. 
 6 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 251 
 
 appeared at the bar of the House of Lords, and, in November 
 the name of the Commons of England, impeached 
 the Earl of Strafford of high treason. This charge 
 was accompanied by a desire that he should be 
 sequestered from parliament, and forthwith com- 
 mitted to prison ; a request which, after a short 
 deliberation, was granted. * 
 
 A few days after his impeachment, a charge of .^'"'^''^*°^ 
 
 J r ' o nil peach- 
 
 nine articles was presented by the Commons : but "'^"'• 
 
 a committee of both houses being appointed to 
 prepare the impeachment, went into investigations 
 of great length, and, after three months' labour, 
 extended the charges to twenty-eight articles. The 
 grand point to be established against Strafford was 
 an attempt to subvert the Jundameiital laws of the 
 country : and the course in law was to show that 
 such an attempt, as it would prove destructive to 
 the state, was a traitorous design against its sove- 
 reign. The proofs of the accusation were deduced 
 from a series of his actions infringing the laws, 
 from words intimating arbitrary designs, and from 
 certain counsels which directly tended to the ruin 
 of the constitution, t 
 
 As president of the council of York, Strafford 
 was charged with having procured powers subver- 
 sive of all law, with having committed insufferable 
 
 * Strafford's Trial, p. 4. May, p. 88. 
 
 t Straffortl's Trial. Nalsoii, Vol. II. Whitlockc. 
 
^.52 EARL OF .STRAFFORD. 
 
 acts of oppression under colour of his instructions ; 
 and with having distinctly announced tyrannical 
 intentions, by declaring that the people should find 
 *• the king's little finger heavier than the loins of 
 the law." 
 
 As governor of Ireland, he was accused of hav- 
 ing publicly asserted, " That the Irish were a con- 
 quered nation, and that the king might do with 
 them as he pleased." He was charged with acts 
 of oppression towards the Earl of Cork, Lord 
 Mountnorris, the Lord Chancellor Loftus, Lord 
 Dillon, the Earl of Kildare, and other persons. 
 He had, it was alleged, issued a general warrant 
 for the seizure of all persons who refused to sub- 
 mit to any legal decree against them, and for 
 their detention till they either submitted, or gave 
 bail to appear before the council table : he had 
 sent soldiers to free quarters on those who would 
 not obey his arbitrary decrees : he had prevented 
 the redress of his injustice, by procuring instruc- 
 tions to prohibit all persons of distinction from 
 quitting Ireland without his express licence : he 
 had appropriated to himself a large share of the 
 customs, the monopoly of tobacco, and the sale of 
 licences for the exportation of certain commodities : 
 he had committed grievous acts of oppression in 
 guarding his monopoly of tobacco : he had, for his 
 own interest, caused the rates on merchandise to 
 be raised, and the merchants to be harassed with 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. '^53 
 
 new and unlawful oaths : he had obstructed the in- 
 dustry of the country, by introducing new and un- 
 known processes into the manufacture of flax : he 
 had encouraged his army, the instrument of his 
 oppression, by assuring them that his majesty 
 would regard them as a pattern for all his three 
 kingdoms : he had enforced an illeo-al oath on the 
 Scottish subjects in Ireland : he had given undue 
 encouragement to papists, and had actually com- 
 posed the whole of his new-levied troops of adhe- 
 rents to that religion. 
 
 As chief minister of England, it was laid to his 
 charge that he had instigated the king to make 
 war on the Scots, and had himself, as governor of 
 Ireland, commenced hostilities : that, on the ques- 
 tion of supplies, he had declared, " That his ma- 
 jesty should first try the parliament here, and if 
 that did not supply him according to his occasions, 
 he might then use his prerogative to levy what he 
 needed ; and that he should be acquitted both of 
 God and man, if he took some other courses to 
 supply himself, though it were against the will of 
 his subjects :'* that, after the dissolution of that 
 parliament, he had said to his majesty, " That, 
 having tried the affections of his people, he was 
 loose and absolved from all rules of government, 
 and was to do every thing that power would admit; 
 that his majesty had tried all ways, and was re- 
 fused, and should be acquitted both to God and 
 
254 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 man ; that he had an amny in Ireland, whicli he 
 might employ to reduce this kingdom to obe- 
 dience.'* He was farther charged with having 
 counselled the royal declaration which reflected so 
 bitterly on the last parliament ; with the seizure 
 of the bullion in the Tower; the proposal of 
 coining base money ; a new levy of ship-money ; 
 and the loan of a hundred thousand pounds from 
 the city of London. He was accused of having 
 told the refractory citizens that no good would be 
 done till they were laid up by the heels, and some 
 of their aldermen hanged for an example. It was 
 laid to his charge that he had levied arbitrary ex- 
 actions on the people of Yorkshire to maintain his 
 troops : and, finally, that his counsels had given 
 rise to the rout at Nevvburn. * 
 His trial. Such w^erc the charges on which Strafford was 
 
 brousrht to trial : few transactions in the annals of 
 our country have more strongly interested the na- 
 tion. The writers of that age have spoken with 
 wonder of the magnificent preparations for the so- 
 lemn spectacle, the first which, on such an occa- 
 sion, were made in Westminster Hall. The mem- 
 bers of one house of parliament sat as judges ; 
 those of the other appeared as accusers ; the most 
 distinguished personages of the three kingdoms 
 were assembled as spectators ; and the novelty of 
 
 • Strafford's Trial, p. 61 to 75. Nalson, Vol. II. p. 11 to 20. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 555 
 
 the scene was farther increased by tlie attendance 
 of the king and queen, who were provided with 
 closets, from which they could, unseen, observe the 
 whole course of the proceedings. * 
 
 Of all the vast assemblage, no one was indif- 
 ferent : all discovered, in their looks and gestures, 
 the solicitude of friends, or the bitterness of ene- 
 mies. The king, aware that the charges against 
 Strafford rested on his zealous endeavours to en- 
 force the plan of government so dear to his ma- 
 jesty's heart, looked on the fate of this minister as 
 intimately interwoven with his own authority. The 
 courtiers, however ill affected to Strafford, were 
 deeply interested in the issue, by an alarming com- 
 munity of interests. The ladies of the court were 
 seen ranged around the hall, with note-books in 
 their hands, and eagerly recording every succes- 
 sive occurrence : entering into the passions of their 
 fathers and husbands, they discovered, with the 
 frankness of their sex, an unbounded zeal in the 
 cause of the prisoner, t 
 
 On the other hand, the three kingdoms appear- 
 ed, by their representatives, to call down destruc- 
 tion on the object of their dread. The English 
 branded him as a traitor to the cause of liberty, as 
 the adviser and instrument of tyranny : the Scots, 
 
 •May, p. 91. StrafFord's Trial. Whitlocke,p. 4i. Xulson,Vol. IJ. 
 t May, p. 82. 
 
Q56 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 as an incendiary who bad instigated the king to 
 take arms against them, and who had attempted to 
 ravage their country with a civil war. The Irish, 
 even those very men who had so lately united in 
 following him with their acclamations, now came 
 forward to denounce him as an oppressor, and to 
 demand vengeance for their sufferings. For the 
 rest Strafford was prepared ; but this sudden 
 change in the language of the Irish filled him with 
 astonishment and affliction. He had mistaken the 
 silent awe diff'used by his vigour for an affectionate 
 acquiescence in his government ; nor did he per- 
 ceive that the late applauses of the Irish parliament 
 proceeded partly from apprehension of his power, 
 partly from a belief that he had become the 
 distributor of the royal favours. They now saw 
 him divested of authority, arraigned as a criminal, 
 pursued by general hatred ; and they hoped that, 
 by the superadded force of their accusations, they 
 might for ever prevent his return among them. 
 
 The trial lasted fifteen days, in the course of 
 which a number of witnesses were produced to 
 substantiate the charges, and members of the im- 
 peaching committee daily commented on the evi- 
 dence. Yet the passion with which they were 
 transported, and their apprehension that Strafford 
 might escape them, did not permit the Commons 
 to trust wholly to the justice of their cause, or give 
 the accused a fair opportunity of conducting his 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD, 257 
 
 defence. To prevent him from availing himself of 
 his principal friend Sir George RadclifFe's advice 
 and evidence, they committed that officer also to 
 the Tower on a charge of high treason, and strict- 
 ly prohibited any communication between them. 
 Adhering rigidly to the old forms of process in 
 cases of treason, they would not permit him to 
 examine his witnesses upon oath. They even 
 seemed inclined to allow him no exculpatory wit- 
 nesses at all ; for he received permission to sum- 
 mon them only three days before the commence- 
 ment of his trial, although some of them had to be 
 brought from Ireland. He was not allowed the 
 assistance of counsel, either in examining the wit- 
 nesses, or commenting on the evidence ; and he 
 was himself obliged to reply on the spot, after a 
 very short interval for recollection. Though he 
 supported his defence with consummate coolness 
 and vigour, he could not help complaining, that, 
 when his fortune, his reputation, his life, were at 
 stake, he should, by an adherence to cruel usages, 
 be denied those aids without which innocence 
 could not assert her cause : but he was reminded 
 that, in similar circumstances, a still harder mea- 
 sure had been dealt to the Earl of Mountnorris. 
 
 The charges appeared to him by no means for- His iie. 
 midable. From the first perusal, he expressed his ^""" 
 satisfaction that there was nothing capital in them, 
 and that their connection with high treason could 
 
 VOL. ir. u 
 
^58 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 be SO easily disproved. * In his replies he main- 
 tained, that the enlarged instructions for the coun- 
 cil of York had not been procured by his solicita- 
 tions ; that the specified instances of oppression in 
 tlie northern counties were committed after his de- 
 parture for Ireland ; and that the words imputed 
 to him were directly the reverse of those which he 
 had spoken. With regard to Ireland, he vindi- 
 cated his opinion that it was a conquered country, 
 and that the king's prerogative was much greater 
 there than in England. He contended that all 
 the judgments, charged on iiim as arbitrary, were 
 delivered by competent courts, in none of whicii 
 he had above a single voice : that the prevention 
 of persons from quitting the kingdom without li- 
 cence, as well as placing soldiers at free quarters 
 on the disobedient, were transactions consistent 
 with ancient usages : that the flax manufacture 
 owed all its prosperity to his exertions, and that 
 his prohibition tended to remedy some barbarous 
 and unjust methods of sorting the yarn : that his 
 bargains for the customs and tobacco were profit- 
 able both to the crown and the country : and that 
 the oath which he had enforced on the Scots was 
 required by the critical circumstances of the times, 
 and fully approved by his government. In regard 
 to his transactions in England, it appeared ia evi- 
 
 • Strafford's Letters, Vol. II. p. 4.13. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 259 
 
 dence, tliat hostility against Scotland having been 
 resolved on, he had merely counselled an offensive 
 in preference to a defensive war : that his expres- 
 sions relative to supplies were in strict conformity 
 to the established maxim of the constitution ; * 
 that, in such emergencies as a foreign invasion j 
 the sovereign was entitled to levy contributions, or 
 adopt any other measure for the public defence. 
 The words relative to the employment of the Irish 
 army were denied by some, and aflSrmed by none, 
 of the privy-counsellors then present, except his 
 enemy Sir Henry Vane, who wavered and hesi- 
 tated in his testimony ; nor did even he venture to 
 apply to the kingdom of England words uttered in 
 a committee expressly assembled to consider of the 
 reduction of Scotland. He observed that his harsh 
 expressions towards the citizens of London were 
 heard by only one interested individual, and not 
 heard by others who stood as near him : he proved 
 that the contributions in Yorkshire were voluntary; 
 and that the proposals for seizing the bullion and 
 coining base money did not proceed from him^ 
 The other charges were abandoned by the Com- 
 mons, as either incapable of proof, or irrelative to 
 the main question, t 
 
 The replies of Strafford to the several articles of 
 
 * Salus populi siiprema lex. 
 
 t Strafford's Trial, p. &1 to 75. Nalson, Vol. 11. p. 1 1 to 20. 
 
260 
 
 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 the impeachment seemed greatly to invalidate the 
 allegations of his accusers ; and when he proceed- 
 ed to repel the inference of high treason, his ar- 
 guments and eloquence appeared irresistible. He 
 exposed the absurdity of alleging that a number of 
 smaller offences, when added together, should 
 compose a great crime, to which none of them, 
 separately, bore any affinity. He recounted the 
 statutes which distinctly specified all treasonable 
 offences; and which expressly provided that no 
 other crime should be construed into treason. It 
 was in the power of parliament to add other offen- 
 ces to this list ; but w^as it just that he should be 
 condemned on a law subsequently enacted ? Or if, 
 as some pretend, constructive or accumulative 
 treason be recognised by our laws, let them pro- 
 duce the evidence of this new, this wonderful dis- 
 covery. 
 
 *' Where," said he, " has this fire lain conceal- 
 ed, during so many centuries, that no smoke should 
 discover it, till it thus bursts forth to consume me 
 and my children ? Hard it is that a punishment 
 should precede the promulgation of a law, that 
 men should suffer by a law subequent to the deed. 
 If this be admitted, who shall account himself se- 
 cure in his innocence ? And in what is law pre- 
 ferable to the will of an arbitrary master ? If I sail 
 on the Thames, and split my vessel on an anchor, 
 should there be no buoy to give me warning, the 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 26 1 
 
 owner shall pay me damages : but if it be marked 
 out, then I pass it at my own peril. Where is the 
 mark set on this crime ? Where is the token by 
 which I should discover it ? If it be hid, if it lie 
 concealed under water, no human foresight or pru- 
 dence could have prevented my sudden destruction. 
 If we are thus to be beset, let us lay aside all hu- 
 man wisdom, let us rely solely on divine revela- 
 tion : for certainly nothing less than revelation can 
 save us from these hidden snares. 
 
 *' It is now full two hundred and forty years 
 since treason was defined ; and so long has it been 
 since any man was accused as I am for an alleged 
 crime of this nature. We have lived, my lords, 
 happily to ourselves at home : we have lived glori- 
 ously abroad to the world : let us be content with 
 what our fathers have left us : let not our ambition 
 carry us to be more knowing than they were in the 
 art of destroying. Great wisdom will it be in 
 your lordships, for yourselves, for your posterity, 
 for the whole kingdom, to cast from you into the 
 fire these bloody and mysterious volumes of arbi- 
 trary and constructive treasons, as the primitive 
 Christians did their books of curious arts ; and to 
 betake yourselves to the plain letter of the statute, 
 which distinctly points out where the crime is, and 
 how it is to be avoided. Let us not, to our own 
 destruction, awakp those sleeping lions, by shaking 
 
262 
 
 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 up those musty records, whicli have lain for so 
 many ages, by the walJ, forgotten and neglected. 
 
 " To all my afflictions add not this, my lords, 
 the most severe of any ; that I, for my other sins, 
 not for my treasons, should be the means of intro- 
 ducing a precedent so fatal in its consequences to 
 the whole kingdom. Do not, through me, wound 
 the commonwealth. 
 
 ** These gentlemen at the bar, indeed, say, and 
 I believe sincerely, that they speak for the com- 
 monwealth : but, under favour, in this particular 
 it is I who speak for the commonwealth. From 
 charges like these of which I am accused, such 
 miseries will in a few years overtake the nation, as 
 are spoken of in the preamble of the statute enact- 
 ed to prevent them j no man will know what to 
 say, or to do, from the dread of committing trear 
 $on. 
 
 " Impose not, my lords, such difficulties on mi- 
 nisters of state, as to deter them from cheerfully 
 serving their king and country. If you examine 
 them, under such severe penalties, by every grain, 
 by every little weight, the scrutiny will be intoler- 
 able. The public affairs of the kingdom must be 
 left waste, and be for ever abandoned by every 
 man who has honour, or fortune, or reputation to 
 lose. 
 
 *' My lords, I have trouble<l you much longer 
 than I should have done. Were it not for the in- 
 
 12 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD, 26S 
 
 terest of those dear pledges which a saint in heaven 
 has left me, I should be loth" — here his weeping 
 stopped him — " what I forfeit for myself is no- 
 thing ; but I confess, that ^what I forfeit for them 
 wounds me to the very soul. Pardon my infirmity : 
 something I should have added ; but I see I shall 
 not be able, and therefore let it pass. 
 
 " And now, my lords, I thank God, by his 
 blessing I have been taught, that the afflictions of 
 this present life are not to be compared with the 
 eternal happiness which awaits us hereafter. And 
 so, my lords, even so, with all humility, and with 
 all tranquillity of mind, I submit myself freely to 
 your judgments ; and whether that righteous doom 
 be life or death, I shall, with gratitude and confi- 
 dence, repose myself on the goodness of my Al- 
 mighty Preserver." * 
 
 ** Certainly," says the chairman of the impeach- 
 ing committee, " never any man acted such a part, 
 on such a theatre, with more wisdom, constancy, 
 and eloquence, with greater reason, judgment, and 
 temper, and with a better grace in all his words and 
 actions, than did this great and excellent person 5" 
 and he moved the hearts of all his auditors, some 
 few excepted, to remorse and pity, t But if the 
 
 • Straffoul's Trial, |p. 639, 660. Wbitlocke, p. U. Nalsonj 
 Vol. II. p. 1'22. 
 ■j: Whitlocke, p. 4t. 
 
2C4 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 hearts of his judges were touched by his eloquence, 
 their judgments were farther convinced by the ar- 
 guments of his counsel, Mr Lane, with regard to 
 the point of law. From his statements, it clearly 
 appeared, that, even after the enactment of the law 
 of treason, in the reign of Edward the Third, men 
 had still been harassed by charges of treason, for 
 offences not specified in that act, but brought with- 
 in it by construction : that express statutes had been 
 passed in the reigns of Henry the Fourth and 
 Henry the Eighth, to prevent these abuses, and to 
 restrict treason entirely to the specified offences : 
 and that more instances than one had occurred of 
 persons accused of high treason, for offences simi- 
 lar to those of Strafford, and yet, in consequence 
 of these acts, found guilty only of felony. * 
 Prosecuted The more violent leaders of the Commons were 
 Attoinder!*'^ cxasperatcd by this successful resistance. They 
 affected to consider it degrading to their dignity to 
 reply to Strafford's counsel, and they soon showed 
 a determination to effect their object, at the ex» 
 pence of justice, by adopting a proceeding, which 
 overstepped the established forms and maxims of 
 law, and against which innocence could form no 
 protection. Dreading the decision of the Lords, if 
 the charges and evidence were to be weighed by 
 the received rules, they resolved to proceed by a 
 
 * Ruslnvortli, Vol. II J. p. 671 to 671. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 265 
 
 bill of attainder ; and to enact, first in their own 
 house, and afterwards in the Lords, that Strafford 
 was guilty of high treason, and merited its punish- 
 ment. Great was the indignation of the more mo- 
 derate at a proceeding which, breaking down the 
 fences of the constitution, erected the House of 
 Commons into a tribunal of justice ; which took 
 away the most powerful bulwarks of innocence ; 
 and which converted into judges the men who had 
 just acted as accusers. In vajn was it urged by 
 the accusers, that the safety of the country requir- 
 ed such an arbitrary power to be lodged some- 
 where : the permanent power of condemning men 
 without law was evidently more dangerous to a 
 nation than any individual crime whatever. An 
 offence so heinous as to approach to high treason, 
 might doubtless admit of being punished under 
 some other class of crimes : the charges against 
 Strafford might legally amount to felony or high 
 misdemeanours, and might justify imprisonment, 
 exile, and perpetual removal from the councils of 
 his sovereign. 
 
 The Commons, having once outstepped the dic- 
 tates of equity in their prosecution, were led into 
 proceedings equally absurd and iniquitous. The 
 alleged advice of Strafford to employ the Irish ar- 
 my against England, had hitherto rested on the 
 solitary evidence of Sir Harry Vane ; but the laws 
 of treason required two witnesses. The younger 
 
^66 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 Vane, on inspecting some of his father's papers, 
 discovered a minute, as it appeared, of the consul- 
 tation, at which the words imputed to Stratford 
 were alleged to have been spoken ; and this mi- 
 nute was recognised by the elder Vane as taken 
 down by him at the time, in his quality of secre* 
 tary. In reporting this discovery to the house, 
 Mr Pym maintained, in a solemn argument, that 
 the written evidence of Sir Harry Vane at the pe- 
 riod of the transaction, and his oral evidence at 
 present, ought to be considered as equivalent to 
 the testimony of two witnesses : and this extrava- 
 gant position was actually sanctioned by the house, 
 and adopted as a ground of their proceedings. * 
 Bill passed Several members, even among the personal ene- 
 
 in the House 
 
 of Com- mies of Strafford, remonstrated against this com- 
 plicated injustice ; and Lord Digby, a distinguish- 
 ed leader, who had signalized himself by his active 
 prosecution of the impeachment, exposed in glow- 
 ing colours the iniquity of measures revolting to 
 his honour and conscience, t But a large majori- 
 ty would listen to nothing but the destruction of 
 their dreaded adversary : and with only fifty-nine 
 dissenting voices, the bill of attainder was passed. 
 It was accompanied by the remarkable clause, that 
 nothing done in the present case should hereafter 
 
 • StrafFord*B Trial. Whitlocke, p. 43. Clarendon, Vol. I. 
 t SUafford's Trial, p. 30. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 267 
 
 be drawn into a precedent. * After being precipi- 
 tately hurried tlirough the house, it was presented 
 to the Lords with an address which expressed all 
 the virulence of the prosecutors. St John, who 
 spoke on this occasion, asserted, that, in this pro- 
 cess of attainder, it was sufficient if their lordships 
 were convinced in their own minds, though no 
 evidence at all had been adduced : and as to the 
 appeal of the culprit to the laws, " it is true,** 
 said he, *' we give law to hares and deers, for they 
 are beasts of chace ; but as to beasts of prey, as to 
 foxes and wolves, it never was accounted either 
 cruelty or foid play to knock them on the head, 
 wherever they can be found." f 
 
 The Lords, more attached to the court, and 
 dreading the effects of so violent a precedent, were 
 neither moved by these arguments, nor inspired 
 with these passions, and seemed not unwilling to 
 let the bill of attainder rest undiscussed on their 
 table. But the popular leaders were not without 
 means to accelerate its progress. As a warning to 
 the Lords, the names of the fifty- nine commoners, 
 who had voted against the bill of attainder, were 
 posted up in conspicuous places, with this super- 
 scription, The Strqffordians, the men who, to sate 
 a traitor, would betray their country. X The 
 
 • Strafford's Trial, p. 757. 
 
 t Rushworth, Vol. VIll. p. 703. Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 232. 
 
 X May, p. 86. 
 
268 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 Commons recommenced their inquiries into abuses ; 
 and by an exposition of the illegal instructions 
 and proceedings of the council of York, highly 
 aggravated the popular clamour against Strafford. 
 The meaner actors in the revolutionary drama 
 now began to appear ; alarms were diffused that 
 dangerous conspiracies were entered into by the 
 Catholics ; that great multitudes of them were as- 
 sembling in Lancashire ; that they held secret 
 meetings in caves, and under-ground in Surry ; 
 that they had framed a plot to blow up the Thames 
 with gunpowder, and destroy the city by the inun- 
 dation ; that great provisions of arms were mak- 
 ing beyond sea for their enterprises ; * and that 
 all these designs originated with the arch-traitor, 
 whose forfeited life was still spared for new trea- 
 sons. Such rumours, indeed, were credited only 
 by the vulgar, but the more intelligent were 
 thrown into consternation by the discovery of 
 some crude and abortive attempts to facilitate the 
 escape of Strafford, and bring up the army to 
 London for the support of the king against the 
 Parliament. The Commons, as if agitated with 
 the most fearful presages, hastened to draw up an 
 oath for the defence of the constitution, which 
 they solemnly took themselves, and enjoined on 
 the rest of the nation, t 
 
 * Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 2*9. 
 
 t ClaiLiulon, Vol. I. Strafibrd's Trial, p. 735. Whitlocke, p. 45, 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. ^69 
 
 Charles eagerly embraced every expedient to 
 save the life of his minister. To abate the vio- 
 lence of the popular leaders, he promoted some of 
 them to the most conspicuous stations in the go- 
 vernment ; but as they ascribed their honours to 
 the support of the Parliament, they continued 
 more subservient to that body than to him. By 
 the advice of Lord Say, one of those new coun- 
 sellors, he now repaired to the House of Lords, 
 and attempted to defeat the bill of attainder, by 
 assuring them it was vain to expect his assent to a 
 measure which his conscience could not approve ; 
 that no fear, no consideration whatever should 
 make him adjudge Strafford guilty of treason. 
 He acknowledged, however, that the earl had been 
 convicted of such high misdemeanours as disquali- 
 fied him from ever holding any public trust, even 
 that of a high constable ; and declared his readi- 
 ness to concur in an act to render him utterly in- 
 capable of bearing any office. * 
 
 On hearing of this intended interference, Strafford 
 had earnestly dissuaded it ; f and on learning that 
 the step had been actually taken, he no longer en- 
 couraged a hope of preservation. :}: His presages 
 were fatally true. No sooner had the king quit- 
 ted the House of Lords, than the Commons, in a 
 
 • Rushworth, Veh THL p. 734. Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 255. 
 t Clarendon, ibid. J RadclifFe. 
 
^0 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 transport of impatience, declared this last act of 
 his majesty an unparalleled breach of privilege : 
 that if the king might thus notice the bills passing 
 in Parliament, and forejudge their counsels by de- 
 claring his own opinion, it would be impossible to 
 enact salutary laws, or reform the abuses of the 
 government. They called on those who had taken 
 the oath in support of the constitution to rally 
 round the Parliament, and not suffer its privileges 
 to be thus wantonly violated. * 
 Passed in The oassious of the Commons were communi- 
 
 the House of *■ 
 
 Lords, cated to the multitude without ; and next day, 
 vast crowds surrounded the House of Peers, cry- 
 ing aloud for justice. As the Lords passed along, 
 the names of the traitorous StrafFordians were 
 sounded in their ears j and those suspected of be- 
 ing hostile to the bill were even pressed and jostled 
 so rudely as to endanger their persons, t There 
 was no longer room for resistance or delay. Out 
 of fourscore lords who had been present during 
 the whole trial, only forty -six now ventured to at- 
 tend ; and when the bill at length came to a vote, 
 it was carried with eleven dissenting voices, t 
 
 • Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 256. | Ibid. 
 
 X Clarendon, Vol. L p. 256, The Lords proceeded in passing the 
 bill of attainder after the same manner as if the impeachment had 
 been persisted in. They voted Strafford guilty on two articles: 
 the fifteenth, " for levying money in Ireland by force in a warlike 
 manner ;" and the nineteenth, " for imposing an illegal oath on 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 271 
 
 The cries, which had proved so powerful in 
 Westminster Hall, now resounded, with redoubled 
 fury, around the palace ; and the king began to 
 dread that himself and his family might fall vic- 
 tims to the populace. He summoned his privy- 
 counsellors to devise means for his safety ; and 
 they declared no other could be found but his as- 
 sent to the death of Strafford : he represented the 
 violence which he should thus impose on his con- 
 science ; and they referred him to the bishops, the 
 interpreters of conscientious scruples. The pre- 
 lates, trembling under their own apprehensions, 
 earnestly concurred in the advice of the privy- 
 counsellors. The Archbishop of York was at no 
 loss for casuistry to justify this measure : he con- 
 tended, " that a king had a public conscience, 
 and a private conscience, and that the latter ought 
 always to yield to the former : that the conscience 
 of a king to preserve his kingdom, the conscience 
 of a husband to preserve his wife, the conscience 
 of a father to preserve his children, all of which 
 were now in danger, ought abundantly to outweigh 
 the conscience of a master or a friend, to preserve 
 his friend or his servant : that therefore the kinjr 
 was bound, even for conscience sake, to ratify the 
 
 the subjects of Ireland." Whitlocke, p. 45. These, therefore, 
 were the grounds on which the Lords condemned Strafford to die. 
 
272 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 bill of attainder." * Juxon alone vindicated the 
 dignity of his order, by telling the king he ought 
 not to sanction a measure which his conscience 
 could not approve, t 
 
 Strafford, informed of the struggle which the 
 king's honour and conscience maintained with the 
 apprehensions and entreaties which encompassed 
 him, resolved to give a new proof of his magnani- 
 mity and devotion. He wrote to the king, re- 
 minding him of his loyalty and his innocence ; 
 and stating the severe contests which he had un- 
 dero'one between the ruin of himself and his fami- 
 ly, and the imminent dangers of his sovereign ; 
 between the things most desired, most dreaded by 
 men, between life and death. He had, however, 
 at length formed the resolution which best became 
 him : and, therefore, besought his majesty to give 
 his sanction to the bill of attainder. " In this," 
 added he, " my consent shall more acquit you to 
 God than all the world can do besides. To a 
 willing man there is no injury." X 
 Bill sane The magnanimity of this letter made little ini- 
 tliTking!^ pression on the courtiers who surrounded the king: 
 they urged that the free consent of Strafford to his 
 own death absolved his majesty from every scruple 
 
 " Clarendon, Vol. I. p. 257. 
 
 ■J- Nalson, Vol. II. p. 193. Father Orleans, p. 39. 
 
 J Rushworth, Vol. VIII. p. 774, Wliitlocke, p. 45. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. 273 
 
 of conscience. * The resolution of Charles was at 
 length overpowered ; and he gave, by commission, 
 his assent to the death of his faithful minister, t 
 
 Strafford was aware that his life was in the hands 
 of his enemies ; that no chance of escape remain- 
 ed : but he was not prepared to expect a derelic- 
 tion by his sovereign. When Secretary Carleton 
 waited on him with the intelligence, and stated 
 his own consent as the circumstance which had 
 chiefly moved the king ; the astonished prisoner 
 inquired, if his majesty had indeed sanctioned the 
 bill ? And when assured of the fatal truth, he 
 raised his eyes to heaven, and, laying his hand on 
 his heart, exclaimed, " Put not your trust in 
 princes, nor in the sons of men : for in them there 
 is no salvation.*' t 
 
 But he soon resumed his wonted fortitude, and Preparations 
 began to prepare for his fate : the short interval of 
 three days was allowed him, and he employed it in 
 the concerns of his friends and his family. He 
 humbly petitioned the House of Lords to have 
 compassion on his innocent children. He wrote 
 his last instructions to his eldest son, exhorting 
 him to be obedient and grateful to those entrusted 
 with his education ; to be sincere and faithful to- 
 wards his sovereign, if he should ever be called 
 
 • Clarendon, Vol. I, p. 258, f Strafford's Trial, p. 755, 
 
 i Whitlocke, p. 46. 
 VOL. II. S 
 
274 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 into public service : and as he foresaw that the re- 
 venues of the church would be despoiled, he char- 
 ged him to take no part in a sacrilege which would 
 assuredly be followed by the curse of heaven. * 
 He shed tears over the untimely fate of Wandes- 
 ,ford, whom he had entrusted with the care of his 
 government and of his family ; and who, on learning 
 the dangers of his friend and patron, had fallen a 
 victim to grief and despair. In a parting letter to 
 his wife, he endeavoured to support her courage ; 
 and expressed a hope that his successor, Lord 
 Dillon, would behave with tenderness to her and 
 her orphans. On being refused an interview with 
 Sir George Ratcliffe and Archbishop Laud, his 
 fellow prisoners in the Tower, he conveyed a ten- 
 der adieu to the one, and to the other an earnest 
 request for his prayers and his parting blessing, f 
 If his feelings were deeply touched by these re- 
 membrances, they were still more painfully wound- 
 ed by a letter from the man whom, of all others, 
 he had most severely injured. The Earl of Mount- 
 norris recounted the hardships which he had un- 
 dergone, the ruin of his fortune, the distresses of 
 his family : he forgave Strafford lor being the au- 
 thor of all these calamities, but entreated that he 
 would not leave the world without in some degree 
 
 • Striifforil's Letters, Vol. II. Kushworth, Vol. VIII. p. 782. 
 f Kushworth, ibid. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. T^S 
 
 repairing the injustice, by making it known that 
 these sufferings had been undeserved. * 
 
 During this interval, the king, dissatisfied with 
 himself, looked around for some expedient to save 
 the life of Strafford. He sent for Hollis, the Earl's 
 brother-in-law, who acted with the popular leaders, 
 but had taken no share in the present prosecution j 
 and demanded w^hat could be done for the preser- 
 vation of his kinsman. Hollis advised that Straf- 
 ford should petition his majesty for a short respite 
 to settle his affairs ; and that the king should next 
 day go to the House of Peers, with this petition in 
 his hands, and request that their Lordships would 
 consent to a change of the minister's punishment 
 from death to perpetual imprisonment ; and that 
 they would endeavour to procure the consent of 
 the Commons to this mitigation, t At the king's 
 desire, Hollis made out a draught of a speech ; 
 and hastened to exert all his influence in procuring 
 the acquiescence of the popular leaders. He suc- 
 ceeded with several, and had sanguine hopes of 
 being able, with the assistance of the court party, 
 to accomplish his purpose. But Strafford had un- 
 relenting enemies at court, who found means to re- 
 present to the queen, that he had bargained ht 
 
 * Clarendon's State Papers, Vol. II. p. 135. 
 t Rushworth, Vol. VIII. p. 757. 
 
276 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 his own life, by a promise to accuse her, and be- 
 tray her counsels. Under this persuasion, which 
 her ancient enmity made her easily receive, she 
 prevailed on the king to lay aside his intention of 
 repairing to the House of Lords ; to convey his 
 requests to them in a letter sent by the hands of 
 the Prince of Wales ; and even to abandon his 
 whole proposal, by adding this cold and indifferent 
 postscript, If he must die, it were charity to re- 
 'prieve hint till Saturday/. And hence, when the 
 requests of the letter came to be considered by the 
 peers, the court party united with their most vio- 
 lent enemies in procuring its rejection. * 
 Execution. The day of Strafford's execution threw a bright- 
 
 Wednesday, *' , , ^ 
 
 May 12, ' er lustro over his name than his most memorable 
 
 1641. 
 
 actions. As he quitted the Tower, he looked up 
 to the windows of Laud's apartments, and seeing 
 the aged prelate, who had come to take a last leave 
 of his friend, entreated his prayers and his blessing. 
 The archbishop, lifting up his hands, gave a fer- 
 vent benediction ; and, overcome with the scene, 
 fell motionless on the ground. "Farewell, my 
 lord," cried Strafford, *' God protect your inno- 
 cence." t As he passed along to Tower-hill, on 
 which the scaffold was erected, the populace eager- 
 
 * Bnrnet, Hist. Vol. I. p. 41, 4.2.. 
 
 t Rushworth, Vol. VIII. p. 762. Nalspn, Vol. II. 
 
EARL OF STRAFFORD. §77 
 
 ly thronged to the spectacle, and belield his noble 
 deportment with admiration. His figure was tall 
 and stately, his features grave and dignified : the 
 mildness which had taken place of the usual seve- 
 rity of his forehead expressed repentance enlivened 
 by hope, and fortitude tempered by resignation. 
 In the multitude around him he saw nothing to 
 damp his courage, or disturb his composure ; the 
 same men who had so loudly demanded his death, 
 now gazed in profound silence on the intrepid vic- 
 tim. He looked on them with complacence ; and, 
 frequently taking off his hat, bowed to the specta- 
 tors on either hand. * In his address to the people 
 from the scaffold, he assured them that he submit- 
 ted to his sentence with perfect resignation ; that, 
 freely and from his heart, he forgave all the world. 
 " I speak," said he, *' in the presence of Almighty 
 God, before whom I stand, there is not a displeas- 
 ing thought that ariseth in me to any man.'* He 
 declared that, however his actions might have been 
 misinterpreted, his intentions had always been up- 
 right : that he was attached to parliaments ; that 
 he was devoted to the constitution and to the 
 church of England : that he ever considered the 
 interests of the king and people as inseparably 
 united : and that, living or dying, the prosperity 
 
 • Rushwortli, Vol. VIII. p. 772, 773. 
 
S78 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 of his country was his fondest wish. But he ex- 
 pressed his fears that it augured ill for the people's 
 happiness, to write the commencement of a refor- 
 mation in letters of blood. Turning to the friends 
 who attended him on the scaffold, he took a so- 
 lemn leave, and charged his brother with his bless- 
 ing and final adieu to his wife and children. " And 
 now," said he, " I have nigh done. One stroke 
 will make my wife a widow, my dear children fa- 
 therless, deprive my poor servants of their beloved 
 master, and separate me from my affectionate bro- 
 ther and all my friends. But let God be to you, 
 and to them, all in all." While he disrobed him- 
 self, he declared " that he looked on the approach 
 of death without any apprehension ; and that he 
 now laid his head on the block with the same tran- 
 quillity as he had ever laid it on his pillow." He 
 stretched out his hand as a signal to the execu- 
 tioner ; and, at one blow, his head was severed 
 from his body. * 
 
 Thus perished the Earl of Strafltbrd, in the 
 forty-ninth year of his age, accompanied by the ad- 
 miration of all who witnessed his end, and by the 
 mingled reproaches and lamentations of the rest 
 of his countrymen. The circumstances of his 
 death, however unhappy, at least proved fortunate 
 
 • Rushworth, Vol. VIII. p. 7.5», 760, 761. 
 
EARL OP STRAFFORD. 279 
 
 to his memory. Had his offences not been mag- 
 nified beyond truth ; had he, under the pressure of 
 a just sentence, wasted the remainder of his days in 
 exile, or in the languid obscurity of a prison, he 
 would have had little claim on the sympathy of the 
 world : or had he escaped from the hands of his 
 enemies, and by some daring enterprise, given the 
 first signal for civil convulsions, he would have 
 caused the good and the wise to join in a common 
 prayer for his overthrow. But his accusers, by the 
 unjust means employed to effect his destruction, 
 turned the eyes of mankind from his trespasses to 
 their own ; and at length produced applause where 
 they meant to excite detestation. They doomed 
 their victim to a fate which could not fail to excite 
 commiseration ; and they placed him on a theatre 
 where his fortitude and lofty demeanour assumed 
 the character of transcendent virtues. To the 
 tragical termination of his own life, Charles re- 
 proached himself with the weakness which had sa- 
 crificed his most able and faithful minister. * Even 
 the parliament, a few weeks after his death, miti- 
 gated the most severe consequences of their sen- 
 
 • In a letter to the Earl of Clarendon from Newcastle, Charles 
 expresses his deep contrition for " that base, unworthy concession 
 concerning Strafford ; for which," he adds, " I have been most 
 justly punished." Clarendon's State Papers, Vol. II. p. 296. 
 
§80 EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 tence to his children ; and, in a succeeding reign, 
 the attainder was reversed, the proceedings obhte- 
 rated from the public records, and his son restored 
 to all his fortune and honours. 
 
t^/// ■///>/ 
 
 / 
 
 ///// 
 
 /.v 
 
 / 
 
EDWARD HYDE, 
 
 EARL OV CLARENDON. 
 
 Of the illustrious men, whose talents were called 
 into action by the civil wars, few have transmitted 
 to posterity a more respected name than Edward 
 Hyde. He was descended from a family which 
 inherited the estate of Norbury in Cheshire, from 
 the times of the Saxon monarchy. His own birth- 
 place was Dinton in Wiltshire, where his father, 
 thouiih a youn^^er brother, enjoyed a competent 
 fortune. His early education was conducted ati8,iGo», 
 home, under the tuition of an able teacher : but 
 his principal improvement arose from the care and 
 conversation of his father, who had travelled in his 
 youth, and now delighted to communicate to his 
 son his observations on the appearance and man- 
 ners of different countries. * 
 
 Edward, being a younger son, was destined for ^^ S'J^l 
 the church ; and, with this view, was sent to the 
 university of Oxford in his fourteenth year. But, ^^^■*- 
 on the death of his elder brother, which soon after 
 
 Clarendon's Life, by himself. Edit. 175% p. fi. 
 
^8f2 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 took place, his destination was altered ; and he was 
 now designed for the more flattering, though less 
 certain, profession of the law. He quitted the uni- 
 versity with the reputation rather of talents than of 
 industry ; and from some dangerous habits, parti- 
 cularly that of drinking, in which he had been 
 initiated, he afterwards looked on his early removal 
 as not the least fortunate incident of his life. * 
 In the j^g commenced his professional studies in the 
 
 Temple. ■■• 
 
 Middle Temple, under the direction of his uncle, 
 Sir Nicholas Hyde, then treasurer of that society, 
 and soon afterwards Chief Justice of the King's 
 Bench. The advantages of this connection were 
 for some time rendered fruitless by illness : an 
 attack of small-pox endangered his life, and an 
 aguish complaint obliged him, for upwards of a 
 year, to relinquish his studies. Nor was his appli- 
 cation considerable even after his negligence had 
 no longer an apology from the want of health. 
 1627. As London was at that time full of young officers, 
 who were to be employed in the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham's enterprises against France and Spain, Hyde 
 found among them a society more agreeable to his 
 taste and habits than among his fellow-students: 
 and another year was lost amidst the pleasures of 
 dissipation. When these dangerous companions 
 were removed by peace, lie still felt little inclina- 
 
 ,. ^ * Life, p. 7. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. S83 
 
 tion to immure himself amidst the records of the 
 law. He was fond of polite literature, and parti^ 
 cularly attached to the Latin classics ; he therefore 
 bestowed only so much attention on his less agi'ee- 
 able professional studies as was sufficient to save 
 his credit with his uncle. * 
 
 The death of this relative seemed to deprive him '^^^'^.^g^^' 
 of many advantages : but he had now resolved to 
 attend more seriously to his principal objects ; and, 
 without abandoning either that literature or that 
 conversation in which he delighted, to devote him- 
 self chiefly to the business of his profession. To 
 recall, as he informs us, those wandering desires 
 which render the mind inconstant and irresolute, 
 he resolved to enter into the married state : but his 
 first pursuit, which had merely a convenient estate 
 for its object, was unsuccessful, yet produced no 
 lasting uneasiness. In his next advances, his heart 
 was more deeply interested. He married the 
 daughter of Sir George AylifFe, a young lady very 
 beautiful and nobly connected ; but, after the en- 
 joyment of only six months of happiness, he had 
 the affliction to see her suddenly ravished from him 
 by the small-pox. The despondency produced by 
 this misfortune for some time unfitted him for any 
 active exertion ; and only the authority of his fa- 
 ther, to whom he ever paid implicit obedience, 
 
 •Life, p. 8, 9. 
 
281" EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 could restrain him from going abroad to indulge 
 more freely in his melancholy. Three years elap- 
 sed before the utmost importunity of his friends 
 could induce him to turn his thoughts to another 
 union ; when this young widower, who had not yet 
 passed his twenty- fourth year, at length married 
 the daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, Master of 
 1C32. Requests to the king ; and by her he had after- 
 wards a numerous progeny. * 
 Success at The succcss of Hyde, on his appearance at the 
 bar, greatly surpassed the expectations of his con- 
 temporaries. He had, indeed, been very punctual 
 in the performance of all those public exercises 
 to which he was bound by the rules of the profes- 
 sion : but his habits, his society, his studies, seem- 
 ed to indicate that he had in view some other 
 course of life. He seldom dined in the hall of his 
 inn, and there were few of his own profession with 
 whom he maintained more than a formal acquaint- 
 ance. But he had been careful to form connec- 
 tions which procured him a higher estimation, and 
 which contributed much more directly to his suc- 
 cess. He had laid it down as a rule, to be always 
 found in the best company ; and to attain, by 
 every honourable means, an intimate friendship 
 with the most considerable persons of the kingdom. 
 While only a student of law, he enjoyed the socie- 
 
 • Life, p. 11, 12, 15. 
 
KARL OF CLARENDON. 285 
 
 ty of Ben Jonson, the most celebrated wit of 
 that age ; of Selden, the most skilled of all Eno-. 
 lish lawyers in the ancient constitution and history 
 of his country ; of May, a distinguished scholar, 
 and afterwards the historian of the parliament ; of 
 Sir Kenelm Digby, who was equally noted and ac- 
 ceptable in the camp and the court. Among those 
 whom he had bound to himself by the most inti- 
 mate ties of friendship, he could recount some of 
 the most learned and celebrated divines, at a pe- 
 riod when the clergy enjoyed peculiar distinction, 
 and the church was an object of ambition ; Shel- 
 don, Morley, Earles, Hales, and, above all, Chil- 
 lingworth, whose amiable qualities rendered him as 
 beloved by his friends, as his controversial talents 
 caused him to be feared by his antagonists ; Ed- 
 mund Waller, who was not less admired by his con- 
 temporaries as an orator, than by posterity as a 
 poet, was also among his intimate associates : but 
 the friend whom he regarded with the most tender 
 attachment, and the most unqualified admiration, 
 was Sir Lucius Carey, afterwards Lord Falkland, 
 whom he delights to describe as the most accom- 
 plished gentleman, scholar, and statesman of his 
 age. *' 
 
 Nor did he neglect to form an intimacy with 
 those who occupied a more prominent station in 
 
 * Life, p. 30, 37, .59. 
 
286 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 the eyes of the world. His zealous endeavours to 
 procure reparation for a near relative of his first 
 wife, a lady of high quality, whose reputation had 
 been sullied in an amour, introduced him to a fa* 
 miliar intercourse with all her connections, persons 
 of the first distinction at court : and, among others, 
 with the Marquis of Hamilton, at that time the 
 principal favourite of the king. From his reception 
 by Lord Coventry, by the Earls of Pembroke, 
 Manchester, Holland, and the other principal offi- 
 cers of the court, he found a great increase of con- 
 sequence accrue to him in Westminster Hall : but 
 what most contributed to his political influence 
 was a friendship which he found means to cultivate 
 with Archbishop Laud. After the death of Wes- 
 ton, Earl of Portland, the treasury was put into 
 the hands of commissioners ; and Laud, being a- 
 mong the number, proceeded with his usual indus- 
 try to examine into the state of the customs, and 
 discovered some instances in which the late lord 
 treasurer had greatly harassed the merchants for 
 the benefit of some favoured officers of the revenue. 
 While his grace anxiously investigated this subject, 
 Hyde was accidentally mentioned to him as a law- 
 yer with whom the merchants had consulted on the 
 means of relief, and who could give him the fullest 
 information. An interview was the consequence 
 of this intimation ; and so high an opinion did 
 Laud conceive of the young counsellor's talents. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 287 
 
 that he expressed a desire to see him freijuently, 
 employed him on several occasions of consequence, 
 and took every opportunity to make knOwn the 
 esteem in which he held him. * 
 
 Such countenance from the prime minister pro- Habits. 
 cured him the most flattering reception in his pro- 
 fession. He was treated by the judges, and the 
 more eminent counsellors, with a consideration to 
 which no other lawyer of his years could pretend ; 
 and clients became anxious to place their causes in 
 the hands of a man who enjoyed such general re- 
 putation. He soon obtained considerable business, 
 and might have procured much more ; but he had 
 determined that the thirst of money should not de- 
 prive him of those friendships and relaxations, 
 without which life would have lost its sweetest at- 
 tractions. He contrived, by a proper distribution 
 of his time, to enjoy these pleasures, with as little 
 hindrance as possible to his professional avocations. 
 The hours of dinner, (which, at that period, were 
 seldom later than twelve or one o'clock,) he always 
 gave to the society of his friends ; and by that 
 means continued to retain all his more valued inti- 
 macies. The morning was occupied in the courts 
 of law ; and the afternoon he dedicated to the busi- 
 ness of his profession, to taking instructions, and 
 
 •Life, p. 13,27, 60. 
 
288 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 forming his opinions. Yet he never suffered him- 
 self to be deprived of some hours, which he devot- 
 ed to his favourite literature, and which he usually 
 borrowed from sleep, or from leisure procured by 
 habitually abstaining from supper. The vacations 
 he gave wholly to literature and conversation ; nor 
 did he ever spend any of those intervals on the 
 more lucrative occupations of the circuits. When 
 he quitted London during two months of the sum- 
 mer, it was only to retire to his country seat in 
 Wiltshire, where his neighbours eagerly resorted to 
 partake of his hospitality. * 
 
 He thus continued for some years to enjoy a life 
 every way to his satisfaction. His domestic com- 
 fort was secured by a wife, who entirely dedicated 
 herself to his views ; and by a promising family of 
 three sons and a daughter, whom she brought him 
 during this happy interval. Hyde was of a dispo- 
 sition to enter thoroughly into the enjoyments of 
 social life. A competent fortune which he derived 
 from inheritance, and an unusually rapid success 
 in his profession, enabled him to live in a far more 
 splendid style than was customary with lawyers, t 
 In the company of Lord Conway, and some other 
 noted epicures of that age, he had acquired a full 
 relish for the pleasures of the table ; and as he dis- 
 coursed learnedly on these topics, he might have 
 
 * Life, p. 28. t Life, p. 66, 68. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON". 289 
 
 been suspected of excesses in which he did not in- 
 dulge. 
 
 It must, however, be recorded to his honour, 
 that he won the countenance of the great by no 
 improper compliances, or degrading flattery. He 
 made no scruple in expressing his opinions, even 
 when he knew they would prove unacceptable. Of 
 this an instance is recorded in his intercourse with 
 Archbishop Laud. The primate's habitual manner 
 was that of a man who means well, but deems it 
 superfluous to pay any regard to the ordinary civi- 
 lities of life. His want of. breeding perpetually 
 disgusted those who approached him ; and raised 
 him up innumerable enmities. Hyde, who was 
 aware of the archbishop's rectitude, and who con- 
 cluded that his indiscreet conduct proceeded from 
 the want of an advising friend, took a fit oppor- 
 tunity to mention to his grace the general preju- 
 dice which his harsh carriage excited ; and to state 
 some late instances in which his seeming haughti- 
 ness had given offence. Laud took this admoni- 
 tion in good part ; defended himself on the ground 
 of his good intentions, yet allowed the infirmity of 
 his temper ; and from that time forward received 
 Hyde with increased kindness and familiarity. * 
 
 • Life, p. 6J. See the character of Laud by Hyde in the Ap- 
 pendix, p. vii. 
 
 VOL. II. T 
 
QQO EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 The estimation which our young counsellor might 
 have lost among the grave and prudent, by the dis- 
 sipation of his youth, he soon recovered by the evi- 
 dence which he gave of a staid and sober judgment. 
 He was observed to have become thoroughly ena- 
 moured of the business of his profession : and while 
 he attracted around him persons of distinction by 
 the liberality of his expenditure, he still increased 
 his estate by some convenient purchases of land. 
 Although naturally proud and passionate, and 
 much given to disputation, yet so well had he sub- 
 dued these vices of his temper by the influence of 
 reflection and good company, that he now appear- 
 ed affable, courteous, and obliging. The zeal which 
 he manifested both for the doctrine and the wor- 
 ship of the established church, and the attachment 
 which he expressed to the king, secured to him the 
 favour of the most powerful body in the state ; peo- 
 ple spoke with applause of his liberality, of the 
 firmness of his friendships, and of his unblemished 
 integrity. * 
 inpariia- Such was the happy and respectable condition in 
 ment, 1G40. ^•^^^]^ Hyde was overtaken by the first commotions 
 of the civil wars. Being chosen a member of the 
 parliament which met hi April 1640, he did not suffer 
 his known attachment to the court to prevent him 
 from contributino; his endeavours for the reforma- 
 
 Lifo, p. 69. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 291 
 
 tion of the abuses, with which the subjects were 
 grievousiy oppressed. In his first speech, he de- 
 nounced the Marshal's Court, a court which had 
 of late years begun to take cognizance of disre- 
 spectful words to the higher orders of the state, 
 and had been guilty of various acts of oppression 
 not less wanton than intolerable.* His severe ex- 
 posure of this absurd and odious tribunal acquired 
 him much repute among the friends of reforma- 
 tion, t 
 
 , It was with deep regret that he perceived the 
 intention of the court to break with this parliament. 
 He had almost procured a resolution favourable to 
 the question of supplies, when the peremptory de- 
 mand for twelve subsidies, which Sir Harry Vane 
 
 " Some curious instances of the vexatious proceedings of this 
 court are mentioned in the speech of Hyde. A waterman, who de- 
 manded an exorbitant fare from a citizen, having met with a refusal, 
 pointed to a ba.lge on his coat ; and, being desired by the citizen to 
 be gone with his goose, complained of the insult to the Marshal's 
 Court. Here the unfortunate citizen found that the badge which 
 he had mistaken for a goose was in feet a simn, and the crest of an 
 earl, whose retainer the waterman was ; and tor this grievous insult 
 to nobihty, he was subjected to such excessive damages as caused 
 his ruin. On another occasion, a gentleman, having been waited 
 on by his tailor, to demand a considerable sum of money, which 
 had been long due, replied only by bad words, and attempted to 
 thrust the importunate creditor out of doors. The tailor, irritated 
 by this usage, ventured to tell him that he was as good a man as 
 himself: upon which he was summoned before the Marshal's 
 Court, and glad to give up all his demands in lieu of damages. 
 
 t Life, p. 72. 
 
292 £arl of clarendon. 
 
 made in the king's name, threw every thing into 
 confusion. * He afterwards endeavoured to pre- 
 vail on Laud to interpose his influence with the 
 king against the fatal design of a dissolution : but 
 he found the archbishop possessed with too bad an 
 opinion of the Commons to become a mediator, f 
 In pariia- In the long parliament, which met towards the 
 3, 1640. close of the same year, he found his known opi- 
 nions and connections far from acceptable. His 
 attachment to Archbishop Laud, and his devotion 
 to the established ecclesiastical government, were 
 unpromising circumstances to those who meditated 
 the overthrow of the prelate, and considerable 
 changes in the church. Some fruitless attempts 
 were made to find a flaw in his election, and to ex- 
 cite jealousies between him and his friends : but 
 the leaders of the popular party were at length 
 contented to dissemble their animosity, and soften 
 his opposition by civilities, t 
 Patriotic From the manner in which the court and the 
 loyalty, nation stood affected to each other, Hyde perceiv- 
 ed that important political discussions were now at 
 hand ; he, therefore, from the commencement of 
 this parliament, laid aside his gown, and devoted 
 himself wholly to public business. By standing 
 forth the resolute advocate of what he considered 
 the established law, and by equally opposing the 
 
 • Hist, of Reb. Vol. I. p. 109. Folio edit. 170^2. 
 t Life, p. 75. X ^1t)id- p. 76- 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 293 
 
 encroachments of the court and of the people, he 
 soon obtained consideration with all moderate men ; 
 and was, without suspicion of partiality, employed 
 as chairman of the most important committees. 
 He now procured the annihilation of the Marshal's 
 Court : * and having been appointed chairman of 
 the committee for investigating the abuses of the 
 council of York, he did not permit his regard for 
 Strafford to prevent him from exposing, in glowing 
 colours, the enormous oppressions to which the 
 northern counties had been subjected by th^it juris- 
 diction, t Every one admired the conscientious 
 part which Hyde acted on this occasion, as it evi- 
 dently contributed to increase that indignation 
 against the Earl, which, from personal feelings, he 
 would have been glad to diminish. With equal 
 rectitude and zeal, he conducted the impeachment 
 of three Barons of the Exchequer, for iniquitous 
 decisions in support of exactions imposed by royal 
 authority in defiance of law. t 
 
 A most important change had now taken place 
 in the relative situation of the king and the par- 
 liament. Charles had not only failed in his at- 
 tempt to render himself independent of that assem- 
 bly, but had brought himself into a situation of 
 
 • WHiitlocke, p. .51. 
 
 f Rut^hwortli, Vol. IV. p. 230. Lives of the Lords Chancellor, 
 Vol. L p. 6, t Ibid. 
 
294? EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 such extreme difficulty, that he had now only to 
 choose between a recourse to force or unlimited 
 compliance. For the former he was not prepar- 
 ed ; and by the latter, he soon became divested of 
 his original rank in the constitution. The parlia- 
 ment knew that necessity alone extorted from him 
 his present concessions, and they dreaded that 
 he would seize the first opportunity of resuming 
 what he had so reluctantly granted. They seem- 
 ed resolved, therefore, to reduce his power within 
 very narrow limits, and with this view judged it 
 necessary that they themselves should be invested 
 with exorbitant authority. By the act which ren- 
 dered the parliament indissoluble unless by their 
 own consent, they became entirely independent of 
 the king ; and the government was, in fact, con- 
 verted into an irresistible oligarchy. 
 
 Hyde, with Lord Falkland and other moderate 
 men, had concurred in the salutary acts which were 
 passed at the commencement of this parliament, 
 for the redress of many enormous grievances. But 
 when they perceived that the fears of some men, 
 and the ambition of others, induced them to draw 
 more power into their hands than was consistent 
 with the ancient constitution of the country, these 
 loyal patriots took the alarm, and began to resist 
 every change which could affect the prerogative. 
 Hyde distinguished himself conspicuously in op- 
 posing encroachments on the privileges of the 
 
EARL OF CLARENDONi, QQS 
 
 church. At the commencement of this parlia- 
 ment, there appeared no intention of introducing 
 an alteration into the form of the established church 
 government ; Lord Say seemed the only leader in 
 either house who regarded that form with animo- 
 sity.* But the bishops, from the arbitrary maxims 
 of government which they had abetted, and from 
 their late oppressive proceedings in the court of 
 high commissson, had made themselves a number 
 of enemies, and came gradually to be ranked a- 
 mong the decided opponents of the parliament. 
 At first it was proposed to deprive them of their 
 seats in the House of Peers ; but, at a subsequent 
 period, motions were entertained for the utter ex- 
 tirpation of episcopacy. All such propositions were 
 strenuously resisted by Hyde. It was contended 
 by those who desired to deprive the bishops of their 
 seats in paliament, that the clergy were represented 
 in the house of convocation, the proper assembly 
 
 * Hist, of Reb. Vol. I. p. 115. Clarendon, from his personal 
 knowledge of the parliamentary leaders and their views, assures ue 
 that, at the commencement of the long parliament, few of thfc 
 members were disaffected to the church, and none seemed to enter- 
 tain a prospect of its subversion. Even after the war had com- 
 menced, he tells us that " designs against the church were not yet 
 grown popular in the two houses." Hist, of Reb. Vol. II. p. 51. 
 At the treaty of Uxbridgc, he represents the English commissioners 
 as zealous in the business of religion, merely to gratify their Scot- 
 tish allies, Ibid. p. 448. In short, it seems unitbrmly his opinion, 
 that the religious quarrel sprung out of the civil. 
 
296 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 for debating ecclesiastical subjects ; that there was 
 no adequate reason for allowing this profession, 
 this class of public officers alone, their peculiar re- 
 presentatives in parliament ; and that the whole of 
 this privilege had its foundation in an age of super- 
 stition, when the claims of ecclesiastics admitted of 
 no resistance. But Hyde maintained that the 
 antiquity of the privilege was an irrefragable argu- 
 ment in its favour ; that the temporal rights of the 
 bishops were interwoven with the elements of our 
 constitution ; and that they could not be taken 
 away without removing indispensable land-marks. 
 Being appointed chairman of the committee to 
 consider of the abolition of episcopacy, he contrived 
 to interpose so many delays and difficulties in the 
 proceedings, that the reformers at length grew 
 weary, and for the present abandoned the project.* 
 Sent to the His excrtious in favour of the royal cause were 
 not always unattended with personal hazard. The 
 Commons having drawn up a remonstrance, in 
 which they detailed all the grievances under which 
 the nation had laboured, even those which had 
 been redressed ; Hyde formally protested against 
 a measure that could have no other object than to 
 inflame the animosity of the people against the 
 king. Protests, though usual in the House of Peers, 
 
 ♦ Hist. ofReb. Vol. L p. 216. 
 
 Tower. 
 
EARL OP CLARENDON, 297 
 
 had never been admitted by the Commons ; and 
 for this offence he was, for some days, committed 
 to the Tower. * 
 
 The same occasion, however, brought him into intrr^uction 
 
 . . . .11 , to die king. 
 
 a more nitmiate connection with the monarch. 
 Charles, who coukl not overlook his zealous exer- 
 tions in belialf of the prerogative, had already sent 
 for him privately, and returned his acknowledjr- 
 ments for a support which he had in vain expected 
 from his own immediate servants. His majesty 
 was now presented by Lord Digby with a full an- 
 swer to the remonstrance of the Parliament, which 
 Hyde, finding his protest in vain, had drawn up, 
 and shown in confidence to his friend, without any 
 intention of its being made further known, f Dig- 
 by, however, took the first opportunity of expatiat- 
 ing on its merits to the king, who accordingly re- 
 quested the paper from Hyde, and published it as 
 the reply of the king and the council, concealing 
 the name of the real author, at his own earnest 
 desire, f 
 
 * Hist. ofReb. Vol. L p. 210. 
 
 t Lord Digby had distinguished himself as a leader of the po- 
 pular party, but, on the question of Strafford's attainder, had dis- 
 sented from them, and gone afterwards decidedly over to the court. 
 His subsequent conduct showed him better qualified for an opposi- 
 tion orator than for a minister ; .since his rash counsels frequently 
 proved very prejudicial to the interests of his master. 
 
 + Life, p. 87. 
 
298 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 Confidential But it soon beciime necessary that he should take 
 
 employ- . i t • i i • . c 
 
 mcnt a more active and decided part in support ot go- 
 vernment. The king was now without a single 
 minister in the House of Commons, who had 
 either the courage or the inclination to stand forth 
 as the advocate of his claims. He therefore re- 
 solved to confer the offices of state on those men, 
 who, without any connection with the government, 
 were daily incurring reproach and danger in its de- 
 fence. Lord Falkland, who had hitherto held no 
 direct intercourse with the court, was, to his sur- 
 prise, nominated principal secretary of state j an 
 office which he would have declined, had not 
 Hyde, his most intimate friend, represented to him 
 the irreparable injury which he would bring on the 
 king's affairs, if he gave countenance to the opi- 
 nion that the court was too vicious, or its condi- 
 tion too desperate, to receive the support of wise 
 and virtuous men. The chancellorship of the 
 exchequer was given to Sir John Colepepper, ano- 
 ther independent royalist : and it was intended to 
 deprive St John, one of the king's most bitter ene- 
 mies, of the office of solicitor-general, and to con- 
 fer it on Hyde. To this proposition, however, 
 Hyde absolutely refused his assent. He represent- 
 ed, that the displacing of St John would only serve 
 to exasperate the Parliament j and that he himself 
 could render much more effectual service to his 
 majesty, by continuing his independent exertions, 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 299 
 
 than by appearing in any official character. To 
 these reasons the king assented ; but at the same 
 time committed to Hyde, in conjunction with Falk- 
 land and Colepepper, the whole management of 
 his affairs in the House of Commons, with a so- 
 lemn assurance that he would take no step relating 
 to Parliament without their advice and approba- 
 tion. * 
 
 But Charles on this, as on other occasions, was 
 incapable of adhering to prudent and consistent 
 resolutions. The new counsellors had the mortifi- 
 cation to see a step immediately taken, without 
 any communication with them, which rendered all 
 their future exertions fruitless, and a civil war in- 
 evitable. The queen, a woman of a rash and 
 violent temper, who, from her education in the 
 court of France, had imbibed the most arbitrary 
 notions of monarchical power, was perpetually urg- 
 ing her husband to confound his rebellious subjects 
 by bold and decisive measures. The invention of 
 Lord Digby, who was now become her favourite 
 minister, soon suggested an attempt suitable to 
 these counsels. By his advice, the king, who too 
 readily entered into all precipitate designs, sudden- 
 ly caused a peer and five commoners to be impeach- 
 
 * Hist, of Reb. Vol, I. p. 267, 269. Life, p. 88, 89. See in 
 Appendix, the characters of Lord Digby and St John, as given by 
 Hyde; also those of HainLden and Pym. 
 
300 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 ed of high treason ; and accompanied this charge 
 with a demand that they should immediately be 
 delivered up to him for trial. The Commons, 
 more indignant than appalled, merely replied by a 
 message to his majesty, that the persons impeach- 
 ed should be forthcoming as soon as a legal charge 
 was produced against them : but it was resolved at 
 court, that the king, to follow up the measure with 
 proper boldness, should next day go in person to 
 the House, and seize on the accused members. 
 Charles might have hesitated at so dangerous a 
 proposal, but his resolution was speedily confirmed 
 by the irresistible reproaches of his queen and the 
 ladies of the court. When he presented himself 
 in the House, he had the mortification to find, ac- 
 cording to his own expression, that " the birds 
 were flown ;" and retired from his abortive at- 
 tempt amidst loud and indignant cries of Privi- 
 lege ! Privilege ! * 
 
 The consequences of this rash action were never 
 retrieved. The Parliament had long apprehended 
 that the king would, according to his custom on 
 former dissolutions, take vengeance, by imprison- 
 ment, on those who had maintained an active op- 
 position. But they now saw him, even while they 
 continued to sit, attempting to inflict capital pun- 
 
 • Whitlockc, p. o2. Ilist. of Rcb. Vol. L p. 282. Rushwortl;^ 
 Vol. IV. p. 4 7S. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 301 
 
 ishment on the popular advocates. The accused 
 members were charged with an attempt to subvert 
 the fundamental laws of the kingdom : but in the 
 particular acts, on which this charge rested, many 
 more had been equally implicated. Every one, 
 therefore, took the accusation of the five members 
 as a warning to himself; and the more active op- 
 posers of the court from thenceforward saw no 
 safety for themselves, but in depriving the monarch 
 of the power to injure. 
 
 Grieved and dispirited by such irretrievable er- 
 rors, Hyde, with his colleagues, continued the me- 
 lancholy task of supporting a cause which every 
 day became more hopeless. He assures us, that 
 both he and Falkland were of opinion that the 
 king would be overwhelmed by his enemies ; and 
 that they engaged in the royal cause solely from a 
 sense of duty, and with a full persuasion that this 
 course would terminate in their own ruin. As 
 Hyde was employed in no official capacity, and de- 
 sired to appear an independent supporter of the 
 court, he could repair to the king only by stealth : 
 and the monarch was at times reduced to the pain- 
 ful necessity of meeting his faithful advocate at 
 midnight on the back-stairs of the palace. * His 
 task was both laborious and dangerous : he was 
 engaged to write answers, in the king's name, to 
 
 * Life, p. 105, 106. 
 
S02 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 all the declarations of the Parliament, which soon 
 became extremely numerous. These delicate trans- 
 actions afforded an instance of the secrecy and in- 
 dustry of which Charles was capable on particular 
 occasions. As it would have proved very danger- 
 ous to Hyde, had he been known as the author of 
 these replies, it was resolved that the secret, which 
 was known only to his friends Falkland and Cole- 
 pepper, should not be communicated to any other 
 person whatever. * Charles, therefore, when he 
 removed to a distance from these counsellors, was 
 under the necessity of transcribing all the volumi- 
 nous replies with his own hand, before he present- 
 ed them to his council ; a task which he perform- 
 ed for many months, though it often cost him the 
 labour of two or three days together, and frequent- 
 ly interfered with the hours of sleep, f 
 
 Though the assistance which Hyde rendered to 
 the court was concealed with the utmost caution, 
 yet he had now become violently suspected by the 
 popular leaders. Some of his private interviews 
 with the king had been accidentally detected ; and 
 it was discovered that two of the ministers, Falk- 
 land and Colepepper, repaired nightly to his house 
 
 • Falkland and Colepepper remained with Hyde in London for 
 a considerable time after the king had (juittcd tlie Parliament and 
 retired to York. 
 
 t Life, p. 108. 10 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. S03 
 
 to hold privcate consultations. The unusual por- 
 tion of time which he now devoted to his closet, 
 combined with these circumstances, infused a sus- 
 picion that he was the author of the king's decla- 
 rations ; and a resolution was privately taken to 
 deprive the royal cause of his obnoxious services, 
 by committing him and his two associates to the 
 Tower. This danger he for some time found 
 means to elude ; but at length he perceived it ne- 
 cessary to quit London, and repair to York, where 
 the king had now assembled his court, and era- 
 ployed himself in appealing to the nation against 
 the Parliament. * 
 
 Hyde now openly entered into the service of the April \rA2. 
 king, but did not for some time occupy any official of' uirEx- 
 situation. He resisted an intention of his majesty '^'^'^'i""* 
 
 * Life, p. 113 — 120. A singular incident happened to Hyde, 
 on his arrival at York. A lodging had been prepared for his recep- 
 tion as a person belonging to the court, in the house of a respect- 
 able man, who expressed much satisfaction at having the adherents 
 of the king for his inmates. But on being informed of the name 
 of his new lodger, the landlord suddenly burst forth into violent 
 rage, and swore he would sooner set his house on fire than suffer 
 such a person to lodge under his roof. The servants of Hyde stood 
 amazed at the implacable wrath which now seemed to transport 
 the whole family; and Hyde himself was equally astonished, as he 
 had never before visited York, nor, to his recollection, injured any 
 of its inhabitants. The mystery, however, was quickly removed, 
 when he discovered that his landlord had been an attorney of the 
 Council of York, where he had earned a handsome income, till the 
 Parliament, and Hyde, more conspicuously than any other mem- 
 ber, had procured the abolition of that court. 
 
SOi EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 to make room for his appointment as secretary of 
 state, by the removal of another minister to a less 
 profitable office ; and he waited with patience till 
 the promotion of Sir John Colepepper to the mas- 
 tership of the rolls, left vacant for him the office 
 igI-T'' of Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was at the 
 same time knighted, and sworn of the privy coun- 
 cil ; and he reflected with satisfaction, that this 
 preferment had been obtained without any connec- 
 tion with the cabals of the court, and even without 
 the privity of the queen. * 
 
 While any prospect remained of terminating 
 the contest between the king and the parliament 
 otherwise than by the sword, Hyde, with Falkland 
 and Colepepper, continued their united exertions 
 in the royal service. Though their tempers were 
 dissimilar, yet their loyalty was equally ardent ; 
 and their opinions generally coincided. Colepep- 
 per, a man of a rough and violent temper, was ac- 
 customed to triumph over the opposition of the 
 king, from whom he often dissented, by that deci- 
 sive and resolute tone which Charles could never 
 resist, t Falkland, though the most kind-hearted, 
 as well as the most loyal and honourable of men, 
 could not bring himself, with a compliance which 
 might seem connected with flattery, to assent to 
 some of the king's most favourite notions, especial- 
 
 " Life, p. 140—114. t Life, p. 93. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 305 
 
 ly in regard to the church and his contradiction 
 in these points alienated from hira the affections of 
 a sovereign for whom he had devoted his life to 
 foreseen destruction. * Hyde was more acceptable 
 to the king than either of his colleagues ; for, on 
 many important points, his sentiments much more 
 nearly coincided witli those of the monarch. No 
 extremity ought, in his opinion, to induce his ma- 
 jesty to sanction any change in the church esta- 
 blishment : this tenet was sacredly maintained 
 by Charles j while both Falkland and Colepepper 
 considered the form of ecclesiastical government as 
 a matter of comparatively little importance, and at 
 any time to be sacrificed to the interests of the so- 
 vereign and the nation. Hyde was, like Falkland, 
 the advocate of peace ; but even peace, he thought, 
 ought not to be purchased by foregoing any part of 
 the prerogative ; while Falkland was of opinion 
 that the king ought to gratify his people by many 
 acts of compliance, and give up a portion of his 
 power rather than hazard the whole, f 
 
 The king, finding that the Chancellor of the Favour with 
 Exchequer's sentiments so much corresponded with "^ '"^' 
 his own, began to regard them with particular con- 
 fidence ; and, when strongly urged to any measure, 
 usually inquired, " whether Ned Hyde was of that 
 opinion ?'* t In a letter to the queen, who was at 
 
 • Life, p. 93. •}• Ibid. p. 92—97. + Ibid. p. 99. 
 
 VOL. II. U 
 
306 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 that time in Holland, his majesty used a still 
 stronger expression : " I must make Ned Hyde 
 Secretary of State," said he, " for the truth is, I 
 can trust nobody else.'* This conspicuous testi- 
 mony to his fidelity cost him vei*y dear ; for the 
 letter was intercepted and published by the parlia- 
 ment, and he now became peculiarly obnoxious, 
 not more to the enemies of the royal cause than to 
 his fellow-courtiers. * These instances of favour 
 did not, however, diminish his confidential inter- 
 course with Falkland and Colepepper ; and if he at 
 any time differed from them, it was chiefly in re- 
 gard to the affairs of the church. On one occasion, 
 Hyde, without giving his reasons, opposed the pub- 
 lication of a state paper drawn up by Colepepper, 
 and approved both by the king and Falkland ; but 
 withdrew his opposition somewhat indignantly, in 
 consequence of a warm and sharp reproof from the 
 latter. The king, however, became still farther 
 attached to Hyde, when he discovered that his op- 
 position had proceeded from his objection to a 
 statement of Colepepper's, affirming that the King, 
 the Lords, and the Commons, formed the three 
 estates of the kingdom : whereas the king, in his 
 opinion, should have been mentioned as the sove- 
 reign of the whole, and the bishops as the third 
 estate. t 
 
 •Life, p. 139. tibid. p. 131. 
 
Earl of clarendon-. 307 
 
 In the fruitless attempts which were made to commission 
 bring about a pacification between the king and " ^''^"'^^'' 
 the parliament, Hyde bore an active part. He 
 was one of the commissioners who attended the ne- 
 gotiations at Uxbridge, and distinguished himself 
 by his opposition to every concession which might 
 have circumscribed the prerogative, or led to inno- 
 vations in the government of the church. * Much, 
 he thought, at this time, might be done by win- 
 ning over from the parliament several of the most 
 considerable men, who had indeed deeply offend- 
 ed, but repented of the length to which they had 
 gone, and were desirous to avoid further excesses. 
 But his influence was insufficient to counteract the 
 clamour of the courtiers, and the resentment of 
 the queen ; and he had daily the mortification to 
 see men of rank and power converted into harden- 
 ed enemies of their sovereign, by having their re- 
 pentant submissions treated with coldness and con- 
 tempt, t 
 
 During the subsequent struggles, he discovered, situation 
 with unspeakable pain, that the preceding abuses tr!"'''' 
 of the royal authority had very generally alienated 
 the people from their allegiance : that they obey- 
 ed the ordinances of the parliament, while they 
 disregarded the proclamations of the king : that 
 contributions, large beyond precedent, were readi- 
 
 Ilist. of Reb. \'ol. IL p. U3. f Il»d. p. 2:>i, :U0. 
 
308 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 ly paid to that assembly, while the court was dis- 
 tracted by extreme poverty ; and tliat the troops 
 of the king were actually reduced to famine, in the 
 same counties where the army of his hostile sub- 
 jects immediately after found abundant supplies. * 
 He saw a cloud of melancholy presage overhang 
 the countenances of the most virtuous royalists ; 
 and heard, from some, distressing doubts of the 
 justice of the cause in which they were engaged. 
 Sir Edward Varney, a gentleman of unshaken loy- 
 alty and distinguished courage, one day compli- 
 mented him on the cheerfulness and vivacity which 
 he retained amidst the general depression. Hyde 
 began to point out the propriety of every one's 
 maintaining the appearance of hope, where despon- 
 dency was likely to prove so fatal ; and hinted that 
 to raise the drooping spirits of others was a duty 
 peculiarly incumbent on men of known magnani- 
 mity like Varney. The latter replied, with a 
 smile, that he should do his best to fulfil this task : 
 " but my condition," said he, " is much worse 
 than yours, and may well justify the melancholy 
 which, I confess to you, possesses me. You are 
 satisfied in your conscience that you are in the 
 right ; that the king ought not to grant what is re- 
 quired of him ; and so you do your duty and your 
 business together. But, for my part, I like not 
 
 • Hist, of Kcb. Vol. II. i>. 265. 
 lO 
 
EAIIL OF CLARENDON. 309 
 
 the quarrel ; and do heartily wish that the king 
 would yield and consent to all that is desired. It 
 is only in honour and in gratitude that I am con- 
 cerned to follow my master. I have eaten his 
 bread, and served him near thirty years, and will 
 not do so base a thing as to forsake him, but rather 
 choose to lose my life, which I am sure I shall do, 
 to defend and preserve those things which it is 
 against my conscience to defend and preserve. For 
 I will deal freely with you : I have no reverence 
 for the bishops, for whom this quarrel subsists." 
 Hyde, though unembarrassed by such doubts, was 
 deeply affected with this conscientious avowal ; and 
 still more when he learnt, about two months after- 
 wards, that this faithful and gallant soldier had 
 fallen in the cause of his sovereign. * 
 
 As the Chancellor of the Exchequer took no 
 active part in the military operations to which the 
 fate of all parties was now committed, his counsels 
 attracted little notice amidst the noise of war, and 
 the violence of contendino; factions. He was re- 
 duced to the painful task of witnessing disorders 
 which he could not remedy, and calamities which 
 he could not avert. He saw the king, in his deep- 
 est distress, cruelly harassed by the importunities 
 of his rapacious and unfeeling courtiers, who did 
 not blush to seize on the day of his calamity to ex- 
 
 * Lifcj p. 13 i. 
 
310 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 tort from him honours which they had not earned, 
 and offices which they could only occupy to his 
 ruin. * He saw a faction of women acquiring an 
 ascendancy in the management of affairs, confound- 
 ing the wisest counsels by their visionary schemes, 
 
 " There is scarcely any circumstance, in perusing the records of 
 that period, which more powerfully excites our indignation, than 
 the unprincipled selfishness which pervaded the immediate ser- 
 vants and dependents of the king. Hyde and Falkland were al- 
 most the only attendants on the court, who, in no instance, betrayed 
 a tincture of this abject spirit. Even Sir John Colepepper, after his 
 promotion to the Mastership of the Rolls, endeavoured also to retain 
 the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, and took it very heavily 
 that he was not allowed to engross the emoluments of both offices. 
 (Life, p. 143.) The rapacity of the courtiers of those times, a vice 
 at present comparatively so rare and infamous, may be traced to 
 the peculiar customs of that period. As the revenue of the nation 
 came directly into the hands of the king, and was entirely at his 
 disposal, he might, at his pleasure, either employ it on public pur- 
 poses, or lavish it on his favourite courtiers ; and the latter was 
 frequently its destination. Hence it was a usual practice with 
 men of considerable private fortunes to waste them in adding to 
 the magnificence of the court, and in attracting the notice of the 
 kino- ; in the expectation that the zeal manifested by their profur 
 sion would earn far greater riches from his bounty. A great pro-, 
 portion of the courtiers of Charles were persons of this description ; 
 and as their habits of dissipation rendered their wants extremely 
 pressing, at a period when the court was in the utmost poverty, 
 their clamorous demands were frequently among the most intoler- 
 able embarrassments of the monarch. It was owing to this mode 
 of obtaining favoiurs at court, that menial offices about the person 
 of the monarch were at that period so eagerly sought after ; they 
 affi)rded opportunities of urging requests at a propitious moment. 
 See Hyde's account of Colepepper in the Appendix to this volume, 
 p. viii. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 311 
 
 and paralysing the most vigorous plans by their 
 fears. He saw the military officers, on whose good 
 conduct the king now depended for his throne and 
 his life, wasting the season of action in dissipation ; 
 incurring irretrievable disasters from a pitiful spirit 
 of faction ; insisting on the rejection of all terms 
 of accommodation, from the hope of plundering 
 the rebels ; rendering the royal name odious by 
 countenancing the soldiery in depredations on the 
 inhabitants ; and finally, on the ruin of their 
 cause, forsaking their standards, and seeking for 
 safety in foreign countries, or, in some cases, in 
 desertion to the enemies of their king. * 
 
 But before the affairs of the sovereign were over- 
 taken by this final ruin, Hyde was deprived of his 
 most beloved friend, and the country of its most 
 virtuous royalist, in the premature fall of Lord 
 Falkland. From the commencement of the civil 
 war, and the mutual slaughter of his countrymen, 
 the enlivening gaiety, the unbounded affabihty, 
 the winning mildness of Falkland, t were converted 
 into a fixed melancholy, an ungracious reserve, a re- 
 pulsive asperity. He became pale and dejected : his 
 looks and words expressed unconquerable chagrin ; 
 and his dress, to which he had formerly been par- 
 ticularly attentive, was now remarkable only for its 
 negligence. One topic alone could rouse him from 
 
 • Hist, of Reb. Vol. H. jKissiin. t Life, p. 15. 
 
312 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 his despondency : when any proposition towards 
 peace was brought forward, his countenance bright- 
 ened, and he zealously pursued the cheering pro- 
 spect, while any hope could be cherished. As he 
 sat among his friends, he would often, after a deep 
 silence and frequent sighs, reiterate in a piercing 
 accent the word peace ! peace ! He would then 
 declare, that " the very agony of the war, and the 
 view of the calamities and desolation which the 
 kingdom endured, deprived him of his sleep, and 
 would shortly break his heart.'* These expres- 
 sions were interpreted into cowardice and disloyal- 
 ty by the unprincipled soldiers of fortune, who 
 looked forward with eager eyes to the plunder of 
 their opponents ; and Falkland accounted himself 
 bound in honour to refute their calumnies, by be- 
 ing prodigal of a life which the good of his coun- 
 try required him to hold dear. In every action, 
 he stationed himself, as a volunteer, in the fore- 
 most ranks, and acted his part with invincible cou- 
 rage : but no sooner did the enemy give way, than 
 he employed his whole efforts to stop the carnage, 
 and seemed to have come into the field merely to 
 save the effusion of blood. In the battle of Edge- 
 hill, he incurred imminent dangler by these noble 
 acts of humanity. But he was relieved from wit- 
 nessing the protracted miseries of his country. At 
 the first battle of Newbury, which took place early 
 in the war, he seemed to feel a presage that the 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 313 
 
 termination of his sorrows was at hand. He ad- 
 justed his dress with more care than he had for 
 some time observed, declaring that he did not wish 
 the enemy to find his body in a slovenly condition. 
 " I am weary of the times," added he, *' and fore- 
 see much misery to my country ; but believe that 
 I shall be out of it ere night.'* As he bore his 
 part in the first onset, he was mortally wounded ; 
 and expired, in the thirty-third year of his age, 
 leaving behind him one of the fairest reputations 
 which history can boast. * 
 
 After the battle of Naseby, when the affairs of pj.*'j^ ^^ 
 the kinf]j besjan to appear irretrievable even to the Waies^s 
 
 " . '- '- Council. 
 
 most sanguine, Charles resolved to place his eldest ic44. 
 son beyond the reach of the parliament, by sending 
 him out of the kingdom^ He selected the Lords 
 Capel and Hopton, as the servants in whom he 
 could most confide, and joining with them Hyde 
 and Colepepper, he appointed them to attend the 
 prince as a permanent council, to watch over his 
 safety, and direct all his proceedings, t The charge 
 was delicate, and was soon found to be attended 
 with a number of difficulties. The queen had by 
 this time withdrawn to France, and was particu- 
 larly desirous that the prince also should repair 
 thither, and be placed under her direction. Such 
 
 • Whitlockc, p. T^, 74. Hist, of Reb. V^ol. IL p. 270, 277. 
 See his character by Hyde in the Appendix, p. ix. 
 t Life, p. 90. 
 
314 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 was her influence over her husband, that, in his 
 first orders to the prince's council, he had com- 
 .manded them to carry him to France, and place 
 him under his mother's care, without leaving them 
 any discretionary power. * But the council knew 
 that no step could be more prejudicial to the in- 
 terests either of the king or the prince : that the 
 queen was odious in England, even to the most 
 loyal subjects, from a suspicion that she had in- 
 stilled into her children the principles of popery : 
 and that indignation would be excited among the 
 best friends of the king, were the prince to be de- 
 livered into her hands. There was also reason to 
 distrust the friendly intentions of the French court. 
 Cardinal Mazarine, who now directed its councils, 
 had prevented any effectual assistance from being 
 rendered to Charles, and was supposed to main- 
 tain a confidential intercourse with the leaders of 
 the parliament. It was therefore not impossible 
 that he might not, from' the views of a crooked poli- 
 cy, become subservient to their designs, and dis- 
 pose of the prince according to their instructions. 
 But the queen was too intent on the plan of ac- 
 quiring an uncontrollable ascendancy over the mind 
 of the prince, to be moved by these considerations. 
 And although the council at length procured a dis- 
 cretionary power to convey their charge to Den- 
 
 * Ilisl. ol' Rcb. Vol. II. p. 627. 
 
EARL OF CLAREiNDON. 315 
 
 mark, or to any other foreign country, * they 
 found this permission unavailing against her zeal- 
 ous intrigues. 
 
 From Scilly, whither they had at first fled from April 1645. 
 the arms of the parh'ament, they carried the prince 
 to Jersey, an island distinguished for its loyalty, and 
 well provided with the means of defence. Here 
 he might, in security, and without particular of- 
 fence to any party, have awaited the course of events 
 in England : but he was immediately assailed by 
 the commands of his mother, to repair without de- 
 lay to her at Paris. At first the authority of the 
 council, who decidedly opposed his departure, in- 
 duced him to resist these applications : but at length 
 the love of new scenes triumphed in the breast of a 
 youth, who had only passed his fifteenth year ; and ji,iy J646. 
 he quitted Jersey, attended by only one of his 
 council. Lord Colepepper, who had been won over 
 to the views of the queen, t 
 
 Hyde remained in Jersey, and now began, in a Employed 
 tranquil retreat, to solace himself for the dangers tory^ 
 and troubles through which he had passed. In the 
 cheerful society of the governor. Sir George Car- 
 teret, and his lady, who received him, with cordial 
 hospitality, into their family, he again enjoyed the 
 pleasures of home : and so happily could his mind 
 dispel uneasy recollections, that, though placed at a 
 
 Hist, of lltb. Vol. II. 1). ii6, J 17. t Ibid. Vol. III. p. 21. 
 
316 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 distance from his wife, his children, and his dearest 
 friends, he assures us he ever afterwards recalled, 
 with delight, that interval of peaceful tranquillity. 
 In the castle, he built a suite of apartments for his 
 own use ; and placed over the door an inscription 
 which indicated, that he accounted his part suffi- 
 ciently discharged in those turbulent times, if he 
 could escape into guiltless obscurity. * Here he 
 pursued the design which he had conceived, of re- 
 cording to posterity the events of the civil wars : 
 and he speaks, with a pardonable complacence, of 
 the unremitting diligence with which, in the space 
 of two years and some months spent in this retreat, 
 he compiled his voluminous records, f 
 
 While his pen was employed in labouring for po- 
 sterity, he found an opportunity of writing a season- 
 able reply to a declaration of the parliament. The 
 king, after having in vain tried the loyalty of the 
 Scots and the army, had attempted to escape from 
 his dominions ; but, by the misconduct of those 
 who attended him, was taken prisoner, and confin- 
 ed in the Isle of Wight. Having rejected the pro- 
 positions which the parliament now sent him, as al- 
 tofyether extravagant, they retaliated by a vote that 
 no more addresses should be made to him. This 
 
 • The inscription was. Bene vixlt, qui heiic lutuit. He hath lived 
 well, who hath lain well concealed. 
 I L.ifc, p. '<!02. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 317 
 
 vote they accompanied by a declaration, in which 
 they charged him with having caused all the cala- 
 mities under which the kingdom suffered, and with 
 having rejected every overture for accommodation. 
 For these reasons, they held themselves justified 
 in discontinuing any further addresses to him, and 
 in proceeding, by their own authority, to provide 
 for the welfare of the kingdom. * To this decla- 
 ration the Chancellor of the Exchequer published 
 a reply, vigorously retorting the charges of the 
 parliament, and demonstrating the illegality of 
 their present proceedings. The king was much 
 pleased with this vindication ; and in particular ex- 
 pressed surprise at the author's profound skill in 
 theological questions, t 
 
 From his peaceful retreat in Jersey, Hyde was Joins the 
 at length summoned to attend the Prince of Wales, the HajL. 
 who had now found an opportunity for action. ^^^"^ ^^^^' 
 The fleet which had greatly injured the royal 
 cause by an early submission to the parliament, 
 now resolved to atone for their error, by again 
 transferring their services to the king. With this 
 intention, a large squadron sailed for the ports of 
 the United Provinces ; and, after taking on board 
 the prince, who had repaired thither to join them, 
 had returned to blockade the Thames. Here, 
 
 Hist, of Reb. Vol. III. p. 71. | Life, p. 20i. 
 
318 EARL OF CLARENDON, 
 
 amidst the distraction of uncertain counsels, seve- 
 ral valuable merchant vessels were successively 
 captured, and released, or ransomed far below 
 their value. * Though the king was then confin- 
 ed in the Isle of Wight, and might, by a vigorous 
 attempt of the fleet, have been rescued, the pre- 
 cious interval was wasted in a blockade of the ri- 
 ver, and the parliament was allowed to prepare a 
 naval force. The fruitless enterprise was at length 
 terminated by the hasty retreat of the prince, be- 
 fore a superior force, to the ports of Holland, t 
 
 It was on the return from this abortive expedi- 
 tion that the Chancellor of the Exchequer met 
 the Prince of Wales at the Hague ; and found 
 himself engaged in a scene of confusion and ani- 
 mosity, which made bim look back with fond re- 
 gret to the tranquil retirement he had been com- 
 pelled to abandon. The misfortunes of the royal- 
 ists, instead of softening, had exasperated their 
 minds ; and a community in misery seemed to 
 give a new edge to their mutual resentments. Re- 
 duced from a licentious prodigality to galling po- 
 verty, they grasped, without honour or decency, 
 
 * These vessels belonged to the merchants of London, and were 
 restored on easy terms, with a view to conciliate the citizens ; a po- 
 licy which proved ineffectual, and is much condemned by Claren- 
 don, who thinks that none but severe remedies ought to have been 
 applied to their distempered minds. 
 
 t Hist, of Reb. Vol- III. p. 121, 124. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. SIQ 
 
 at the scanty resources which tlie cold generosity 
 of foreign princes bestowed on their master : and 
 we are tempted by turns to ridicule and to lament 
 the furious contests for power and pre-eminence, 
 which agitated this handful of exiled courtiers'. 
 To such a degree had private passions absorbed 
 every other consideration in the breasts of these 
 unfortunate men, that some of them had even la- 
 boured to excite a mutiny in the fleet with a view 
 to oppress their rivals ; and overlooked the danger 
 of shaking the allegiance of the sailors in their ar- 
 dour to prevent their being led by their antago- 
 nists. * 
 
 As the Chancellor had borne no part in these J«"- 3o, 
 intrigues, his arrival was welcomed by all parties ; ^^^^' 
 and he was soon beset by the contending courtiers', 
 who endeavoured to draw him to their faction, by 
 bitter invectives against their opponents, t He 
 beheld, with extreme concern, these dissentions, 
 so nidecent amidst public calamities, and so ruin- 
 ous to the royal cause : he exerted all his powers 
 of conciliation to allay them : yet could he scarcely 
 prevent Prince Rupert and Lord Colepepper from 
 termniating, by a personal fray, the insults which 
 they offered to each other in the presence of the 
 Pnnce of Wales and the Council, t The news of 
 
 Hist, of Reb. Vol. in. p. 107. t lb. p. 128. J lb. p. 149. 
 
320 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 the kins^s death for a time diffused universal me- 
 lancholy and consternation ; yet, in a few weeks, 
 the animosities of the courtiers reassumed their 
 former virulence, and distracted the councils of 
 their new sovereign. *' I find," exclaims Hyde 
 on this occasion, " that no desolation upon the 
 public, no lowness of the court, will lessen our par- 
 ticular ambitions, or private designs." * 
 Hated by Amidst a society so misled by private passions, 
 the queen. ^ ^^^^^ ^^ moderation and disinterested zeal, like 
 Hyde, could not long prove acceptable ; and he 
 soon found himself aspersed by the calumnies of 
 those who were unable to render him subservient 
 to their factious purposes. Above all, he was pur- 
 sued with animosity by the adherents of the queen, 
 who was his avowed foe. That ambitious princess 
 had learned to regard as her private enemy every mi- 
 nister who pretended to any independent favour with 
 her husband ; and Hyde, who had acquired the con- 
 fidence of his sovereign, by means more honourable 
 than enlisting himself among her creatures, had 
 become, in her eyes, not less odious than Laud or 
 Strafford. From his attachment to the church of 
 England and to moderate measures, his counsels 
 had often differed from those of her majesty ; and 
 she had hence been led to charge to his account 
 
 * Letter to Lord Jermyn, in Clarendon's State Papers, Vol. IL 
 p. 473. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 32 I 
 
 every resolution wliich corresponded not with her 
 desires. When he was appointed of the prince's 
 council, she hegan to dread that he would under- 
 mine her ascendancy over her son, as she imagined 
 he had her influence with her husband ; and his 
 strenuous opposition to the departure of the prince 
 from Jersey to France confirmed all these impres- 
 sions. Her ambition, however, was not guided by 
 discretion ; and the means which she employed to 
 secure her sway over her son effectually counter- 
 acted her intentions. Instead of settling on 
 him separate appointments, the court of France 
 had merely increased the allowance of his mother ; 
 and, having him thus wholly in her power, she 
 took care to make him feel his absolute depend- 
 ence, by dealing her bounty with so sparing a hand, 
 that he had never, at one time, ten pistoles at his 
 disposal.* Yet was she surprised to find that his 
 affections daily became more estranged from her j 
 and when Hyde afterwards joined him at the 
 Hague, she failed not to ascribe to his intrigues an 
 alienation which naturally flowed from her own il- 
 liberality. So eager was she to govern the mind 
 of the prince, that, in her first letters to him after 
 her husband's death, she could not, though over- 
 come with the melancholy intelligence, forbear in- 
 
 • Hist, of Reb. Vol. III. p. 88. 
 VOL. II, X 
 
SS2 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 troducing an injunction that he should swear in no 
 members of his council till he had first consulted 
 her. * And when she found this injunction dis- 
 regarded, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
 among the first of the new sovereign's counsellors, 
 she here discovered fresh proofs of his hostility to 
 her influence. 
 Ambassador From the inheritance of a throne, Charles had 
 not even derived a roof to shelter his head : and 
 the first councils of the new monarch were occu- 
 pied in deliberating what quarter of Europe might 
 best afford him subsistence and refuge. His re- 
 moval from Holland became indispensable, in con- 
 sequence of the increasing connections of that coun- 
 try with the revolutionary government of England. 
 Some prospect was opened for active enterprise in 
 Ireland ; but the assistance of France was neces- 
 sary for its successful prosecution, and the prince 
 was to repair to Paris before proceeding on the at- 
 tempt. In this state of things, Hyde looked for- 
 ward to his future attendance with uneasiness. 
 His constitution, enfeebled by former hardships, 
 and by premature paroxysms of the gout, was ill 
 prepared to sustain the vicissitudes of hasty jour- 
 neys and uncertain voyages : his habits were alto- 
 gether unsuited to the active enterprises of war : 
 
 • Hist, of Reb. Vol. III. p. «1«. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 3^3 
 
 and to remain in France, exposed to the hatred of 
 the queen, and the insults of her dependents, was 
 the most gloomy of alternatives. He, therefore, 
 willingly hearkened to the suggestions of his friend 
 and colleague, Lord Cottington, that they should 
 procure for themselves a mission into Spain, for 
 the pui'pose of soliciting the assistance of that mo- 
 narchy. Their request was readily complied with 
 by Charles ; but their motives were severely Scru- 
 tinized by the other courtiers. The Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer was reproached with being more 
 concerned for his ease than the discharge of his 
 duty ; with deserting his prince, at the season of 
 greatest danger ; and with abandoning his youth 
 and indiscretion to the guidance of the selfish and 
 the vicious.* But Hyde was weary of the society 
 into which he had fallen ; and equally dispirited 
 by the state of the royal cause, and the perpetual 
 contentions of the needy men by whom he was 
 surrounded, t *' He did believe,'* as he informs 
 us, " that he should in some degree improve his 
 understanding, and very much refresh his spirits, 
 by what he should learn, and by his absence from 
 being continually conversant with those wants, 
 which could never be severed from that court, and 
 
 * Life, p. 218. 
 
 t Hist, of Reb. Vol. IIL p. 235. 
 
324" EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 that company which would be always corrupted by 
 those wants." * 
 Reception The reccptiou which the ambassadors found in 
 1649. Spain was such as the servants of exiled princes 
 usually experience. Their business, solicitation for 
 supplies, was unwelcome to an embarrassed govern- 
 ment : and, if they could present no cogent motives 
 of hope or fear, they had little reason to expect 
 that interest would be sacrificed to a romantic ge- 
 nerosity. On arriving, as the fortunes of their 
 master were accounted desperate, and the favour 
 of the parliament eagerly courted by the rival 
 governments of France and Spain, they were allow- 
 ed to enter Madrid, unacknowledged and unno- 
 ticed. No house was prepared for their reception 
 as ambassadors, nor any outward tokens of respect 
 vouchsafed them. When at length their impor- 
 tunities and a regard to decency procured them an 
 audience, they were amused with general profes- 
 sions of friendship, the sincerity of which they were 
 left to estimate from the coldness and neglect 
 which they daily experienced. The appearance of 
 Prince Rupert on the coasts of Spain, with the 
 royal fleet, produced a sudden and wonderful 
 chano'e : the ambassadors were received at court 
 with open arms, all their requests answered with 
 
 • Life, p. 219. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. S^5 
 
 magnificent promises, and their doors honoured by 
 the most illustrious visitors. * So long as Prince 
 Rupert was an object of terror, the Spaniards seem- 
 ed entirely at their devotion ; but the arrival of a 
 superior fleet, in the service of the parliament, 
 quickly altered the face of affairs, and the ambassa- 
 dors again found themselves consigned to neglect, t 
 The accounts that the Scots had declared for 
 Charles, and placed him at the head of a power- 
 ful army, renewed the smiles of the Spanish cour- 
 tiers : but when reports arrived that the prince 
 had been irretrievably defeated, the ambassadors 
 received very distinct intimations that their ab- 
 sence would be agreeable, t 
 
 Unwilling to abandon the hope of succour, and 
 uncertain whither to go, the ambassadors resolved 
 not to understand these ungracious hints : but no 
 room was left for a dubious interpretation, when 
 the Secretary of State, one morning, repairing un- 
 expectedly to their residence, delivered them an 
 express command from the king, that they 
 should quit the Spanish dominions without delay. 
 If they were moved at tliis extraordinary rudeness, 
 and the hardship imposed on them at so inclement 
 a season of the year, (it was then towards the end ic5L 
 
 • Hist, of Hcb. Vcl. III. p. 2G2- f IbicL p. 20% 
 
 t Ibid. p. 293. 
 
3^6 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 of Januaiy ;) their indignation was not lessened on 
 discovering the immediate cause of this royal mes- 
 sage. A large assortment of valuable pictures and 
 rich furniture, which the Spanish envoy at London 
 had purchased at the sale of the king's property, 
 had just arrived in port ; and it appeared indecorous 
 to convey them to the palace, before the eyes of 
 the English ambassadors. * Lord Cottington, 
 who had now attained his seventy-sixth year, was 
 weary of wanderings to which he saw no end ; 
 and having formerly lived much in Spain, and em- 
 braced the Catholic religion, he returned to the 
 bosom of that church, and obtained permission to 
 pass the remainder of liis days in private at Valla- 
 doiid. t Hyde was dismissed with tolerable civili- 
 ty ; but could carry with him no impressions 
 favourable to the generosity of the Spaniards, who 
 had not only neglected him in his public capacity, 
 but had seen him reduced to an indigence almost 
 incredible, t 
 Condemns On quitting Spain, it was some time before 
 
 the treaty 
 
 with the 
 Scots. 
 
 • Hist, of Reb. Vol. IIL p. 295. 
 
 -}• Ibid. p. 297. See Appendix, p. xi. for Hyde's account of Lord 
 Cottington. 
 
 J At one period of Lis embassy, he writes to a friend : " I never 
 felt the like want I have done these three weeks, since I was born ; 
 and if I had a pistole to dispose of in that time I am no honest man." 
 State Papers, Vol. HL p. 21. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 327 
 
 Hyde could discover the retreat of his fugitive 
 prince, who, after witnessing the ruin of all his 
 hopes at the battle of Worcester, had disappeared 
 from his affrighted adherents. * After wandering, 
 unattended and disguised, through various parts of 
 England, he at length escaped to the Continent, 
 and reaped no other fruit from his dangers and 
 hardships, but an aggravation of his misfortunes. 
 This rash enterprise served only to confirm the 
 power and reputation of Cromwell, and was severe- 
 ly censured by Hyde. He placed little reliance 
 on either the fidelity or the strength of the Scots ; 
 but the taking of the covenant by Charles, the 
 price of the Scottish assistance, he looked on as an 
 act so profligate and impious, that no consequences 
 could be expected from it but defeat and disgrace. 
 He knew that the young king neither intended to 
 perform what he promised, nor believed that to 
 
 • The Scots, perceiving that Cromwell and the independents 
 were no less enemies to their covenant than the court had been, re- 
 solved to espouse the royal cause, and invited Charles to put him- 
 Felf at the head of their forces. They, however, took the precau- 
 tion of entering into certain stipulations with him, both for reli- 
 gious and civil privileges; and, in particular, they required him to 
 take the covenant, a step to which he was also urged by the queen, 
 who thought such arts very allowable for the recovery of a throne. 
 But the Scots were unequal antagonists to Cromwell. After expe- 
 riencing one defeat, they indeed levied another army, with which 
 Charles, leaving the enemy behind him, suddenly marched into 
 England ; but was overtaken at Worcester by Cromwell, and total- 
 ly routed. 
 
3QS EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 which he solemnly swore ; and he was of opinion 
 that no worldly consideration could justify such a 
 flagrant violation of conscience. " It is now to 
 no purpose,'* writes he on this occasion, *' to talk 
 more of that sad argument, which can be justified 
 by no human reason, let the success be what it 
 will : we must only rely on God Almighty, who 
 will in the end bring light out of this darkness ; 
 and, I am confident, they who shall, in spite of all 
 evil examples, continue honest and steady to their 
 good principles, what distresses soever they may 
 for a time suffer, will in the end find happiness 
 even in this world ; and that all your dexterous 
 compliers will be exposed to the infamy they de- 
 serve." * 
 Harassed by Jn expectation, therefore, of brighter days, he 
 
 calumnies. ^ . . 
 
 resolved to follow the fortune of his sovereign, 
 however discouraging, and to retain his integrity 
 as the unfailing anchor of his hopes. At Paris, 
 where he now joined the king, he undertook, in 
 tiie absence of his friend Sir Edward Nicholas, t 
 
 * Hyde to Secretary Nicholas, State Papers, Vol. IIL p. 22. 
 
 t Sir Edward Nicholas had been secretary of state during thewhole 
 of the civil commotions, and had discharged his duty with disinterest- 
 ed fidelity. He was the bosom friend of Hyde, and rendered him 
 some essential services, by afibrding pecuniary relief to his family 
 during their exile. Nicholas was now in Holland, watching the 
 course of events, and availing himself of any occasion to promote 
 the interests of his master. The correspondence which, at this 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. SSQ 
 
 to act as principul secretary of state ; and soon 
 found himself involved in the cabals and dissen- 
 tions from which he had gladly escaped. The 
 followers of the king were divided between the fa- 
 vourers of the Presbyterian and of the Popish fac- 
 tions ; and Hyde, who resolutely maintained his 
 attachment to the Church of England, was equal- 
 ly disliked by both. * The queen, who had now 
 lost all influence over the mind of her son, was 
 exasperated to see that confidence, to which she in 
 vain aspired, cordially reposed in the chancellor of 
 the exchequer : and to such an extremity did she 
 and her partisans carry their animosity, that they 
 were willing to do any mischief to the cause, pro- 
 vided they could render the services of his minis- 
 ter unsuccessful, t The most bitter calumnies 
 were circulated against the chancellor : he was even 
 stigmatised as a traitor ; and a report was confident- 
 ly divulged, that he had been in England, and en- 
 tered into an intrigue with Cromwell, t These 
 incessant efforts of malice preyed on his quiet ; 
 and, in his letters to his confidential friend, Secre- 
 tary Nicholas, we often find him lamenting this 
 cruel aggravation of his misfortunes. " The vex- 
 
 period, passed between him and Hyde, has fortunately been pre- 
 served ; and it is from hence we derive the most interesting parti- 
 culars concerning the exiles. 
 
 • State Papers, Vol. IIL p. 138. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 164.. + Ibid. p. 206. 
 
S30 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 ations I undergo, by what I see and hear daily, 
 and the insupportable weight of envy and malice I 
 groan under, when I behave myself, (God knows,) 
 with as much care as if I were to die the next mi- 
 nute, does make my life so unpleasant to me, and 
 breaks my mind, that bread and water in any cor- 
 ner of the world would give me all the joy imagin- 
 able." * " Oh !" he exclaims, ♦' to be quiet and 
 starve is no unpleasant condition to what I en- 
 dure." t He often looked back, with an eye of 
 regret, to his tranquil retreat in Jersey, and envied 
 the lot of those who might quietly enjoy their 
 studies and poverty. " I wish,'* says he, *' that 
 I were at my books in any part of the world ; for 
 I am not made for these conflicts." t He was 
 often tormented with the gout, and worn out by 
 the pressure of business. Occasionally he express- 
 es to his friend an apprehension that he should 
 sink under his difficulties : " yet," he adds, *' I 
 am persuaded if I might be quiet and left to my 
 books, 1 should outlive this storm ; whereas this 
 condition I am in breaks my mind and wastes my 
 spirits so much, that I cannot hold out long." § 
 Favoured The auimosity of the queen towards him be- 
 by Charles. ^^^^ ^^ avowcd, that he found it necessary at 
 length to avoid her presence ; and though they 
 
 • State Papers, Vol. III. p. 169. t Ibid. p. 03. 
 
 J Ibid. p. 211. § Ibid. p. 216. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. ^81 
 
 both lodged in the same palace at Paris, he did 
 not once see her in the course of many months. 
 Two formal petitions were prepared, the one in 
 the name of all the presbyterian loyalists, the other 
 as the desire of all his majesty's popish subjects, 
 praying that the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
 should be removed from his councils and his pre- 
 sence, as a person whom all his friends regarded as 
 their enemy. * Such intrigues, however, made no 
 impression on Charles, who saw through their ma- 
 lice ; and continued to place unlimited confidence 
 in Hyde. That prince had considerable pene- 
 tration, and easily distinguished the disinterested 
 zeal of the Chancellor, from the selfish motives of 
 others. Besides, even in this his day of penury, 
 Charles was immoderately addicted to pleasure : 
 and neither the pressure of difficulties, nor the 
 hopes of recovering a crown, could induce him to 
 bestow a reasonable attention on his affairs. While 
 his minister was so continually engaged in carry- 
 inoc on the correspondence with the loyalists in 
 every part of Europe, that he had scarcely leisure 
 for the necessary refreshment of his body, Charles 
 could prevail on himself to write letters only ou 
 Friday ; and, when that day happened to be occu- 
 pied by some other engagement, which was often 
 the case, the most essential dispatches were defer- 
 
 • Hist, of Reb. Vol. HI. p. 398. 
 
33^2 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 red for another week.* From these dissolute habits, 
 his ministers began to apprehend the worst con- 
 sequences ; t and the faithful Marquis of Ormond, 
 who had succeeded Falkland in the friendship and 
 esteem of Hyde, lamented that his dissipation 
 contributed more to the ruin of his cause, than all 
 the strength of his enemies. " 1 fear," writes the 
 Marquis, *' his immoderate delight in empty and 
 vulgar conversations is become an irresistible part of 
 his nature, and will never suffer him to animate 
 his own designs, or the actions of others, with that 
 spirit which is requisite to his quality, and much 
 more to his fortune." t To a prince so engrossed 
 by the love of pleasure, no treasure could be more 
 valuable than a minister on whose fidelity he could 
 implicitly rely, and whose industry would repair 
 the evils of his own neglect. iS^o arts, therefore, 
 could induce Charles to withdraw his countenance 
 from Hyde. He even heard his remonstrances 
 without displeasure ; and was willing to be admo- 
 nished, provided he was relieved from labour. 
 Extreme As thc pcriod of cxilc was protracted, the neces- 
 
 ^*"'^' sities of Charles and his followers increased : they 
 received little alleviation from his brother monarchs, 
 who seem never to have been led, by so striking 
 
 • State Papers, Vol. III. p. 159. 
 
 t Hyde to Nicholas, ibid. p. 173. 
 
 J Ormond to Hyde, State Papers. Vol. HI. p. 387. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 333 
 
 an example, to reflect on the strange vicissitudes 
 of human affairs. By dint of importunity, his 
 agents had drawn from the princes of Ger- 
 many some promises of pecuniary contributions ; 
 but of these, the few which were paid could 
 seldom be recovered from the grasp of the agents 
 employed to receive them. The royal family of 
 France, though so nearly connected with the exiled 
 prince by the ties of kindred, contributed very 
 little to his relief. At one time, Charles flattered 
 himself with deriving a more independent relief 
 from the exertions of his fleet, which had made 
 several rich prizes from the West India trade of 
 England : but when he came to inquire after his 
 share of the booty, he had the mortification to re- 
 ceive from his cousin Prince Rupert, the admiral, 
 a statement of expence, which made Charles ap- 
 pear much in debt by the operations from which he 
 expected supplies. * 
 
 Hyde sustained his full share of the general in- 
 digence ; for he could neither intercept the scanty 
 
 • State Papers, Vol. III. p. 221.. Hyde apprehended that there 
 was something worse than want of generosity in the conduct of 
 Prince Rupert on this occasion. " The Prince Kuptrt," says 
 he, " hath, in a little short paper, not containing twenty lines, 
 given the king an account, by which he makes the king in debt to 
 him, so senselessly and ridiculously as cannot be imagined ; and 
 tliis is a secret, for he desires it may not be seen, nor does he imagine 
 . that I have seen it." 
 
334 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 supplies of his necessitous master, nor submit to 
 any device inconsistent with his character. In his 
 dispatches to his friend Sir Edward Nicholas, we 
 find him frequently complaining of his urgent 
 wants. " I am so cold," says he, " that I am 
 scarce able to hold my pen, and have not three 
 sous in the world to buy a faggot.'* * Again, 
 " It is now mid-winter, and I have neither clothes 
 nor fire to preserve me from the severity of the 
 season." t He had been obliged to incur such 
 debts for the mere necessaries of life, that he be- 
 gan to look with apprehension to the gloom of a 
 prison ; t antl he could no longer procure a dress 
 sufficient either for comfort or appearance. *' I 
 want shoes and shirts," says he, *' and the Mar- 
 quis of Ormond is in no better condition." § 
 Those men, who had so lately lived in affluence 
 and splendour, were now taught to devise the most 
 frugal expedients for subsistence. They procured 
 a maintenance at the most moderate rate, by mess- 
 ing together at an obscure eating house ; and, af- 
 ter their pockets were fairly emptied even by this 
 economical arrangement, they had sufficient credit 
 with their landlady to live for some time on trust. 
 At this period, Hyde assures us he scarcely knew 
 one of the king's servants who had a single pistole 
 
 • Hyde to Nicholas, State Papers, Vol. IIL p. 126. 
 
 f Ibid. p. l\2. t Ibid. p. 164. § Ibid. p. 229. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 3S5 
 
 in his pocket. " I have not,** he says, *' been 
 master of a crown these many months ; I am cold 
 for want of clothes and fire, and owe for all the 
 meat which I have eaten these three months, 
 and to a poor woman who is no longer able to 
 trust ; and my poor ftimily at Antwerp (which 
 breaks my heart) is in as sad a state as I am ; and 
 the king as either of us.** * 
 
 Notwithstanding this severe pressure, Hyde still Persevering 
 
 11 , -11 inteiirity. 
 
 mamtamed the same erect aspect ; and turned 
 with disdain from eveiy proposal which might have 
 compromised his integrity. Some of the king's 
 followers embraced the Catholic reliction, and en- 
 tered into the service of France and Spain : a still 
 greater proportion returned to England, and, by 
 certain compliances with the existing government, 
 were allowed to regain their estates on paying a com- 
 position. Both these courses were strenuously repro- 
 bated by Hyde ; and when urged to allow at least 
 some friend to compound for his estates in his be- 
 half, he declared that no necessity should induce 
 him to acknowledge a government which, in his 
 
 • Hyde to Nicholas, State Papers, Vol. IIL p. 124/, The wretch- 
 edness to which some of the king's faithful followers were reduced 
 almost exceeds belief. Hyde thus writes to Nicholas : " Poor 
 Dick Harding is again fallen into a new pit. Upon my credit, he 
 hath pawned every little thing he hath ; the cup which the prince 
 gave him, and every spoon, and hath not a shirt to his back." lb. 
 p. 352. 
 
,336 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 heart, he considered a usurpation. Through all 
 these difficulties, liis courage was supported by the 
 fortitude of his wife, who sustained the sad reverse 
 of her fortune with singular magnanimity. She 
 remained in England until it was no longer safe : 
 she then retired with her family to Antwerp, and 
 there endeavoured, by the arts of frugality, to 
 avoid the sordid aspect of penury. Hyde acknow- 
 ledges that, on this side alone, he trembled for his 
 constancy ; and that, if his wife had been unequal 
 to her distresses, the conflict would have been se- 
 vere between his honour and his softer feelings. 
 He dwells on the " unspeakable comfort which he 
 derived from her miraculous courage ;" and de- 
 clares that it was his chief consolation amidst all 
 his difficulties. * 
 
 While his own misfortunes were at the height, 
 he continually strove to animate the resolution of 
 others : the exhortations whicli he employed gave 
 an exalted idea of his virtue and piety. " Keep 
 up your spirits," writes he to Secretary Nicholas, 
 " and take heed of sinking under a burden, which 
 you never kneeled to take up. Our innocence be- 
 gets our cheerfulness, and that again will be a 
 means to secure the other. Whoever grows too 
 weary and impatient of the condition he is in, will 
 too impatiently project to get out of it ; and that, 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. IL p. 310. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 33j 
 
 by degrees, will shake, or baffle, or delude his in- 
 nocence. We have no reason to blush for the po- 
 verty which is not brought on us by our own faults. 
 As long as it pleases God to give me health, 
 (which, I thank him, I have in a good measure,) 
 I shall think he intends that I shall outlive all 
 these sufferings ; and when he sends sickness, I 
 shall (I hope with the same submission) believe 
 that he intends to remove me from greater calami- 
 ties." * 
 
 After residing for some time at Paris in extreme 
 indigence, Charles at length found that he could 
 not expect even an asylum from the French court. 
 It was then governed by a calculating Italian, and 
 seemed actuated by very selfish motives. Even 
 before Charles quitted Jersey, his council was ap- 
 prized that this ungenerous court had planned, in 
 concurrence with the partisans of the queen, to 
 render him tributary to France, as the price of its 
 aid in his restoration ; and, in particular, to sever 
 from England the islands of Jersey and Guernsey.! 
 The increasing power of the revolutionary govern- 
 ment rendered these designs abortive ; yet, during 
 the whole course of his exile, Charles received no 
 better indications of friendship or honour. *< The 
 cheats," says Hyde, " and the villany of that na- 
 
 * state Papers, \ol. II. p. 310. f ibid. p. 27c, 279. 
 
 VOL. II. Y 
 
SS8 EARL OF CLARENDON^ 
 
 tion, are so gross, that I cannot think of it with 
 patience ; nor will the king ever prosper till he 
 abhors them perfectly, and trusts none who trusts 
 them." * The full establishment of CromweU's 
 power put an end to all disguises : and Mazarine, 
 partly in prosecution of his design to humble the 
 Spaniards, partly from a dread of the Protector's 
 power, gladly embraced a strict alliance with 
 England. From complaisance to his new ally, he 
 hastened to withdraw his protection from the ex- 
 iles ; and Charles, with his few adherents, was 
 >C54. again compelled to wander in quest of an abode, t 
 The wars in which the Dutch, and afterwards 
 the Spaniards, engaged with Cromwell, seemed to 
 offer some prospect of relief to the royal cause. 
 But the vigour of the Protector was not to be sha- 
 ken : and neither of these powers showed an in- 
 clination to embarrass their negotiations by con- 
 ditions for the exiled prince. The enterprises of 
 
 " State Tapers, Vol. II. p. 212. 
 
 t The equipage in wliicli Charles set out from Paris, on this oc- 
 casion, gives a striking idea of the penury to which he was redu- 
 ced. His coach-horses, which still remained to him, he put to a 
 waggon containing his bed and clothes. He himself performed the 
 journey on horsx4)ack ; nor was he owner of a coach for some 
 years afterwards. From this time he resided chiefly at Cologne, 
 Brussels, and other towns in the Low Countries. At all of them 
 he was obliged to contract debts, and to endure the continual im- 
 portunities of his creditors. He was often forced to put off the 
 most necessary journeys, from the want of money to bear his trii- 
 velling expences. See Hist, of lleh. Vol. III. p. 411, ike. 
 
 10 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. S39 
 
 foreign armies, or domestic conspirators, seemed 
 equally liopeless during the sway of this energetic 
 usurper j and the termination of his life began to 
 be regarded by the royalists as so essential to their 
 cause, that no means appeared neflirious which 
 could effect that object. It is not to be concealed 
 that even Hyde encouraged the attempts of Captain 
 Titus and others to remove Cromwell by assassina- 
 tion. * To such a degree do men reconcile them- 
 selves to the worst means, when they are eagerly 
 bent on the end, that even this conscientious mi- 
 nister, in his devotion to the rights of the king, 
 forgot what was due to the rights of human na- 
 ture. 
 
 The rapid decay of a constitution exhausted by 
 incessant fatigue and agitation, unexpectedly ac- 
 complished what the hand of the assassin had at- 
 
 . . . icss. 
 
 tempted in vain ; and the death of Cromwell again Death of 
 
 C rom well* 
 
 awakened all the hopes of the royalists. The event, 
 however, was not immediately followed by fjivour- 
 able occurrences. The power and title of the Pro- 
 tector passed into the hands of his son with the 
 same facility as if the inheritance had been a legi- 
 timate transmission. The court of France testi- 
 fied its sorrow for the loss of its ally, by appearing 
 in mourning ; t and no state which courted the fa- 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. IIL p. 321, 331, 357,581. See in Appen- 
 ilix, p. xii. the character of Cronnvell by Hyde, 
 t Ibul. p. 4.18. 
 
340 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 vour, or dreaded the resentment of England, de- 
 layed to congratulate the new Protector on his ac- 
 cession. But the aspect of affairs soon underwent 
 a change. The sceptre was easily wrested from 
 the feeble hands of Richard Cromwell by ambi- 
 tious chiefs ; and the government was again in- 
 volved in revolutions of which no one could dis- 
 cover the termination. 
 
 Even in his most desperate fortunes, Hyde look- 
 ed with aversion on the project of reducing his re- 
 bellious countrymen by foreign arms : * and he 
 never failed to cherish a hope that Providence, by 
 some unforeseen and extraordinary means, wovdd 
 finally give a triumph to the righteous cause, f 
 That happy event appeared at length to be ap- 
 proaching when men began to look on the restor- 
 ation of the ancient government as the only means 
 of avoiding bloodshed and anarchy. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the confusion of political 
 ideas which then prevailed in England. The lead- 
 ers of the people had comprehended the tendency 
 of the measures of Charles the First, and perceiv- 
 ed that unless the privileges of parliament were 
 strictly guarded, the liberties of the nation were at 
 end. But when they proceeded to renounce mo- 
 narchy entirely, and to frame a new constitution, 
 they showed themselves utterly unacquainted with 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. ILp. 307, 329. I Ibid. p. 529. 
 
EAKL OF CLARENDON. 341 
 
 the essential principles of government ; and disco- 
 vered no better security for the freedom of the peo- 
 ple, than to substitute the tyranny of many for the 
 tyranny of one. The parliament, which had now 
 usurped all power, quickly found itself at the mercy 
 of the army, and the misguided struggles for liber- 
 ty terminated in the most lawless of all dominions, 
 a military despotism. When the death of Crom- 
 well, and the deposition of his son, enabled the 
 active spirits to resume the business of framing con- 
 stitutions, they showed that their political sagacity 
 had received little improvement. They had very 
 little idea of that distribution of power, by which 
 the authority of rulers is rendered at once effectual 
 and innoxious ; their crude discussions turned on 
 the eligibility of vesting the supreme power in one 
 man, in a few, or in the people at large ; and men 
 seemed ready to lose their lives for the theoretical 
 governments, which were either pernicious or im- 
 practicable. 
 
 The distraction of political opinions was increas- 
 ed by their association with religious chimeras. 
 At the commencement of the civil commotions, 
 the controversies between the churchmen and the 
 puritan dissenters were of little importance : they 
 were confined chiefly to the ceremonial of worship ; 
 for the Arminian doctrines, though countenanced 
 by the bishops, had by no means been adopted into 
 the creed of the church. When the civil disputes 
 
342 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 grew high, the decided part which the prelates 
 took in support of the court rendered them odious 
 to the advocates of freedom ; and gave popularity 
 to a presbyterian form of church-government, where 
 all the ministers of religion sliould he placed on a 
 footing of equality. But the presbyterian leaders 
 showed tliemselves no less attached to particular 
 institutions than the followers of episcopacy. All 
 the change which they desired was the legal esta- 
 blishment of their own modes of worship and 
 church-government ; and Whitgift or Laud had 
 not been more decided enemies than them to gene- 
 ral toleration. In civil affairs, they would have 
 been content to restore the king to his throne, but 
 under limitations which his episcopal followers 
 deemed incompatible witli monarchy. Tenets of 
 this nature were unacceptable to two very efficient 
 classes in the nation j to those who desired full 
 liberty of conscience, and to those who aimed at a 
 total alteration of the constitution. A new sect of 
 religionists, therefore, arose, who proclaimed their 
 superior liberality, by assuming the name of inde- 
 pendents. Renouncing all church establishments, 
 all forms and human creeds, they affected to have 
 no other teacher than the Spirit of God. They 
 denied to no one that perfect freedom of conscience 
 which they claimed for themselves ; and the most 
 ignorant mechanics and common soldiers, by the 
 force of inspiration, became popular teachers of 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. S43 
 
 theology. Sucli were the tenets embraced by the 
 anny, who first put their king to death as a tyrant, 
 and afterwards invested their leader with the power 
 of a despot. The political opinions of the inde- 
 pendents were no less various and incoherent. One 
 party, the levellers, aimed at nothing less than to 
 equalize all men in authority. A peculiar sect, 
 the fifth-monarchy-men, believed that the millen- 
 nium was at hand ; and that Chirst, with his saints, 
 (among whom they failed not to include them- 
 selves,) was about to assume the government of 
 empires. All these extravagancies disgusted the 
 reflecting part of the nation, and made them 
 long for the restoration of the ancient constitution, 
 however rudely adjusted by time and accident. 
 
 A considerable interval, however, was passed 
 in uncertainty. The Rump Parliament, finding 
 the seat of government unoccupied, resumed its 
 former station ; but, on growing imperious, was 
 again displaced by the army. A grand council of 
 officers now held the supreme direction of affairs, 
 but seemed uncertain how to employ their autho- 
 rity : the city of London acknowledged only its 
 own magistrates ; and the three armies stationed 
 respectively in England, Scotland, and Ireland, ap- 
 peared resolved to dispute the sovereignty. Yet 
 amidst all this confusion, the affairs of private life 
 proceeded in their usual channel. Men heard of 
 the successive changes as if they were nowise con- 
 
344 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 cemed ; and the royalists began to apprehend that 
 the minds of the people, reconciled by habit to this 
 state of things, would cease to desire a more stable 
 government. * 
 General The loyalty or the selfishness of an individual 
 
 first opened the way to the restoration. General 
 Monk had distinguished himself as an officer in 
 the king's army ; and having been taken prisoner 
 by the forces of the parliament, was confined in the 
 Tower till the subjugation of the royalists. At 
 length the temptation of his liberty and a superior 
 command induced him to enter into the service of 
 Cromwell : and so well did he prove his fidelity to 
 the Protector, that he was received into his entire 
 confidence, and appointed commander-in-chief of 
 the forces in Scotland. When the remains of the 
 Long Parliament had regained their authority, he 
 submitted to it, with every expression of duty ; 
 and when the army in London, under the com- 
 mand of his rival, Lambert, dissolved that assembly, 
 he declared loudly against this violence, and march- 
 ed into England to avenge the quarrel. Lambert 
 hastened northwards to meet him : but his army 
 mouldered away without a blow, and he was himself 
 compelled to surrender as a prisoner. Monk con- 
 tinued his march towards London ; and drew on 
 himself the eyes of all men, as the irresistible arbi- 
 
 * state Tapers,, Vol, III. \). jS5. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 345 
 
 ter of the future government. His behaviour was 
 calculated to cherish hopes in every party. He 
 privately Hstened to the overtures of the king's 
 agents : he received, with obliging expressions, the 
 numerous addresses for a free parliament, * which 
 were presented to him on his march : and, in his 
 open declarations, he gave the most solemn assur- 
 ances of fidelity to the existing parliament, and of 
 his devoted attachment to republicanism, t He 
 wished that his right hand might drop off, if it was 
 not employed to resist every attempt of the king's 
 partisans ; t and, in a letter to Sir Arthur Hasle- 
 rig, a principal leader of the parliament, he renew- 
 ed his vows in terms, which could not be distrust- 
 ed, if any confidence was to be placed in protesta- 
 tions : " As for a commonwealth," said he, ** be- 
 lieve me. Sir, for I speak it in the presence of God, 
 it is the desire of my soul, and shall, the Lord 
 assisting, be witnessed by the actions of my life, 
 that these nations be so settled in a free state, with- 
 out a king, single person, or house of peers, that 
 
 * The Rump Parliament, for whom Monk now declared, com- 
 prehended only the members of the independent party, who had, 
 for some time, been allowed to retain their authority, after Crom- 
 well had excluded the presbyterians and the rest of the opposition. 
 By the demand for a free parliament, some intended the restoration 
 of these excluded members to their seats, and others the election of 
 new representatives. 
 
 + State Papers, Vol. IIL p. t>29, 632, 661. % Ibid. p. 703. 
 
346 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 they may be governed by their representatives in 
 parliament successively." '^^ 
 
 When he appeared before the parliament, his 
 language continued to breathe a devoted attach- 
 ment to them, and bitter invectives against mo- 
 narchy : t and when they commanded him to march 
 from Westminster into the city, and chastise the 
 insolence of the refractory citizens, who harassed 
 them with importunities for a free parliament, he 
 promptly executed the orders, demolished their 
 gates and other defences, committed many to the 
 Tower, and aggravated his severity by every ex- 
 pression of contempt, t But on the very day that 
 he had reduced the royalists to despair, by thus 
 enforcing the authority of the parliament, he found 
 that this assembly was engaged in private consulta- 
 tions to deprive him of his power, and to associate 
 Others with him in the command of the army. On 
 ^he following day, therefore, he wrote a severe let- 
 ter to the House, reproaching them with their mis- 
 conduct, and requiring them immediately to sum- 
 mon a free parliament. He then marched again 
 into the city ; summoned the mayor, aldermen, 
 and common-council, to Guildhall ; apologised for 
 the transactions of the preceding day ; assured 
 them that he would unite his endeavours to theirs, 
 
 * Letter IVoin Monk to Haslerig, ibid. p. 6,7 H. 
 
 •f Stale raptrs, p. GS8. ^: Hist, of Ikb. Vol. IH. p. 557. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 347 
 
 to procure a free parliament, and compose the dis- 
 tractions of the kingdom. * These declarations 
 were received by the astonished citizens with trans- 
 port ; and as the former evening had closed in 
 consternation and dismal forebodings, the present 
 was prolonged by bonfires and every demonstra- 
 tion of joy. By the direction of Monk, the mem- 
 bers formerly expelled from the House of Com- 
 mons by Cromwell were re-admitted to their seats 5 
 and now forming a majority in that assembly, pro- 
 ceeded to issue writs for a new parliament, and 
 then voted their own dissolution. The elections imio. 
 were carried decidedly in favour of the royalists ; Res^toration 
 
 •' . . •' of the king, 
 
 and Monk, who had now entered into direct ne- 
 gotiations with the king, was no less successful in 
 preparing the army for his reception. The first 
 overtures of Charles to the new representatives 
 were received with transport, and his return de- 
 manded with enthusiasm, t Monk and the other 
 leaders were too intent on atoning for their past 
 offences, and in conciliating the favour of their 
 new monarch, to embarrass him with any stipula- 
 tions for the liberties of the people : and Charles 
 ascended the throne of his father, without any re- 
 striction on those pretensions which had caused so 
 many years of confusion and bloodshed, t 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. III. p. 692. t Ibid. p. 73G. 
 
 ^ There are few points in the English history which have been 
 jnore keenly controverted than the views and character of Monk, 
 
348 EAIIL OF CLAIU-INDON. 
 
 "Jtfiord During these transactions, Hyde, who, in the 
 Chancellor, meantime, had been created Lord Chancellor, was 
 
 The friemls of royalty have been unwilling to allow that the man, 
 who acte«l so meritorious a part in the restoration of the king, 
 could be stained with any vices. It is, however, difficult to recon- 
 cile his conduct to any rules of morality. The successive trans- 
 ference of his allegiance from the king to Cromwell, from the son 
 of Cromwell to the Rump Parliament, and again from the Rump 
 Parliament to the king, can be excused by those only who look on 
 interest as the standard of truth and honour. If, as some al- 
 lege, he was, in his heart, always loyal to the king, and only wait- 
 ed an opportunity to serve him with eflfect, we free him from the 
 charge of unprincipled versatility, by subjecting him to the impu- 
 tation of gross hypocrisy. No prospect of private or public good 
 can excuse wilful and deliberate perjury. Clarendon considered 
 him as acting on no settled plan ; but thinks that he changed his 
 views as his interest seemed to be affected by successive occur- 
 rences. During his march to London, the Chancellor had great 
 distrust of his intentions ; and feared that the honours and emo- 
 luments showered on him by the parliament would " work very 
 far on his ambitious and avaricious nature." (State Papers, Vol. 
 III. p. 679.) Even in his History of the Rebellion, after he had 
 more minutely weighed the transactions of the general, Clarendon 
 seems to have entertained an opinion, that, if the parliament had 
 acted with proper discretion towards Monk, " they might have 
 found a full condescension from him, at least no opposition to all 
 their other counsels :" and that " the disposition, which finally 
 grew in him towards the royal cause, did arise from divers acci- 
 dents, which fell out in the course of affairs, and seemed even to 
 oblige him to undertake that which in the end conduced so much 
 to his greatness and glory." (Hist, of Reb. Vol. III. p. 548, 558.) 
 It is certain that Monk could not, without extreme hazard, have 
 then attempted to act the part of Cromwell ; and that he could not 
 gratify selfish passions so fully by establishing a free republic, or a 
 strictly limited monarchy, as by restoring the king without any 
 conditions. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 349 
 
 busily employed in managing the secret corre- 
 spondence with the royalists, and in directing their 
 private negotiations with Monk and the other 
 leaders. When the restoration of the monarchy 
 became no longer doubtful, his great apprehension 
 was, that conditions would be imposed on the 
 king : and, in that event, he had reason to dread 
 stipulations in favour of the Presbyterian disci- 
 pline, to which he felt an unconquerable aversion. 
 He, therefore, pressed '* that all should be settled 
 on the old foundation ;" and the king uncondi- 
 tionally restored to his inheritance. * He was, in- 
 deed, personally interested in preserving the free- 
 dom of his master : for he had received infor- 
 mation, that, if the Parliament made conditions 
 with the king, an express stipulation would be in- 
 serted for his exclusion from the royal councils, t 
 The arts of his opponents were, however, ineffec- 
 tual : he had his full share in the triumph of his 
 cause ; and his tried fidelity, and protracted suf^ 
 ferings, were rewarded by the station of Lord 
 Chancellor and principal minister of England. 
 
 If, in the days of poverty and danger, Charles Principal 
 had eagerly fled from business and reflection to any 
 pleasure which occasion offered ; we are not to 
 wonder that he willingly delivered himself up to 
 those unbounded festivities which now occupied 
 
 " State Papers, Vol. IIL p. 710. t Ibid. p. 728. 
 
350 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 the court and the nation. In these festivities, the 
 royalists seemed desirous to forget their sufferings, 
 the republicans to bury their demerits. The Chan- 
 cellor alone had habits of business and temperance 
 too confirmed to be shaken by the surrounding 
 contagion ; and it was with general approbation 
 that Charles gave him a complete control over 
 public affairs. * The task of reducing to order 
 the confusion engendered during so many years, 
 of undergoing endless importunities for pardon, 
 for reward, and for favour, was, indeed, scarcely 
 an object of envy. The principal offices of state 
 were distributed among persons whom he wholly 
 approved : the Marquis of Ormond was created 
 Lord Steward of the Household ; Sir Edward Ni- 
 cholas continued principal Secretary of State ; and 
 the Earl of Southampton, a man whom kindred 
 virtues endeared to the Chancellor, was placed at 
 tlie head of the Treasury. With these colleagues, 
 Hyde, who was soon afterwards known as Earl of 
 Clarendon, maintained the most unreserved and 
 confidential intercourse ; profiting, on every im- 
 portant occasion, by their advice, and supporting 
 his measures by their authority. 
 
 The first and most urcjent care of trovernment 
 
 Public niea' 
 
 sures ; act 
 
 of inilem- -i • ■> • i i 
 
 nity. which, amidst the appearance of universal joy, se 
 
 sures; act was to modcratc those agitati-ons of hope and fears 
 
 of inilem- •■ 
 
 Continuation of Clarendon's Life, p. 13. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON-. 8/>t 
 
 cretly prevailed in tlie bosoms of the people. Those 
 who had been injured in their persons, and de- 
 spoiled of their property, for their attachment to 
 the royal cause, now looked for reparation and re- 
 venge ; while those who had borne an active part 
 in the revolution, and shared in its spoils, beheld, 
 with terror, the rod of power transferi-ed to their 
 enemies. As the first tumults of joy subsided, the 
 animosities of party became daily more apparent : 
 and until some effectual remedy should be applied, 
 it was impossible either to subdue the disorder or 
 to rest in security from new commotions. Charles, 
 before returning, had given solemn assurances that, 
 with the exception of those who had actually sat in 
 judgment on his father, no one should suffer for 
 acts of disloyalty. In conformity to this promise, 
 which it was equally wise to make, and politic to 
 preserve inviolate. Clarendon prepared an act of 
 indemnity and oblivion, which, by effacing, with a 
 few exceptions, the transgressions of former times, 
 should consign to final rest the jealousies of the 
 public. In the convention parliament, which in- 
 vited the return of the king, and included a larne 
 proportion of repentant revolutionists, this act was 
 readily passed ; but, in the succeeding parliament, 
 the sanction of which was accounted requisite for 
 the validity of all acts passed by the convention, 
 the bill of indemnity met with strenuous opposition 
 from the numerous royalists who were now return- 
 
352 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 ed as representatives. The influence of Clarendon 
 and the other ministers seemed scarcely sufficient 
 to overpower the refractory humour of the two 
 houses ; and it was not until after the repeated 
 and personal instances of the king, who saw that 
 he could expect neither ease nor security if the 
 royalists were let loose on their former enemies, 
 that the act was at length reluctantly passed. * 
 
 The salutary effects of this measure were evin- 
 ced by the evils resulting from even the few ex- 
 ceptions that were made. The judges of the king 
 ascended the scaffold with the same intrepidity as 
 their royal victim ; and their last words were em- 
 ployed in exhorting the people not to despair of a 
 cause for which they gloried to perish. Such 
 scenes never fail to make a deep impression on the 
 multitude, who are not aware how usual it is for 
 men to encounter death with resolution, amidst a 
 crowd of admiring spectators. The death both of 
 the king and of the regicides, by attracting general 
 sympathy and admiration, alternately procured 
 many proselytes to their respective causes. A still 
 worse effect was produced on the minds of the 
 people by the execution of Sir Harry Vane, who, 
 far from being one of the king's judges, had open- 
 ly disapproved his condemnation ; and whose death 
 
 • Continuation, p. 133. Burnet's History of his own Times, 
 Vol. L p. 210. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 353 
 
 was the consequence partly of imprudent language, 
 partly of the hatred of the royalists, for his share 
 in the attainder of Strafford. On the approach of 
 his fate, Vane seemed to triumph over all fears, 
 from a confidence in the justice of his cause. To 
 prevent the effects of his dying eloquence, which 
 his opponents exceedingly apprehended, drummers 
 were stationed around the scaffold ; who, with 
 their instruments, drowned his voice, as soon as he 
 began to address the people. Vane, nowise dis- 
 concerted, desired they might be stopped while he 
 performed his devotions ; and when they renewed 
 their noise, he laid his head on the scaffold with a 
 silent composure, which spoke more forcibly to the 
 hearts of the people than the most eloquent ora- 
 tion. * 
 
 The protecting part of the act of indemnity gave 
 rise to the most importunate clamours among the 
 royalists. They had formed expectations as un- 
 bounded as if the king had been restored to his 
 throne by the force of their arms ; and anticipated, 
 in a plenteous harvest of forfeitures, an ample com- 
 pensation for all their losses and sufferings. When 
 these hopes were finally disappointed by the act of 
 indemnity, tliey broke forth into bitter invectives 
 against its principal promoter. Clarendon did not 
 
 * Bttmct, Vol. I. p. 238. See in Appendix, p. xiv. some obser- 
 vations by Clarendon on the character of Sir Harry Vane. 
 
 VOL. II. Z 
 
354f EARL OT'' CLARENDON. 
 
 shrink from their reproaches ; but fairly acknow- 
 ledged that the measure, with all its demerits, was 
 his. He reminded them that acts or promises of 
 indemnity ought to be held sacred ; that fidelity in 
 the observation of them was the only foundation on 
 which any government could hope to tranquillize 
 civil commotions ; and that, if the people once 
 thought these promises were made to deceive, all 
 confidence between them and their sovereign would 
 be at an end. *' It was," he added, " the making 
 these promises which had brought the king home : 
 and it was the keeping them which must keep him 
 there.** The angry royalists were not to be ap- 
 peased by such arguments : The king, they said, 
 had in truth passed an act of oblivion and of in' 
 demnity ; of oblivion to his friends, and of indem- 
 nity to his enemies. * 
 
 It was from no deficient compassion to the un- 
 fortunate royalists that Clarendon resisted their re- 
 monstrances. Willingly would he have given them 
 relief by any expedient which did not endanger the 
 renewal of civil convulsions ; and such an expedi- 
 ent he was hopeful of having discovered, previous 
 to the restoration. It was concerted between him 
 and the king, that the principal offices of the state 
 should be bestowed on the most able and meritori- 
 ous servants ; but with the express provision, that 
 
 * Burnet, Vol. L p. 240. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 355 
 
 his majesty should retain the right of nominating 
 their suhordinate officers. By this means, Claren- 
 don calctdated that the king would be enabled to 
 make a competent provision for the most deserving 
 royalists, without either infringing his promises of 
 indemnity, or unprofitably wasting the public trea- 
 sure. But this well devised scheme became whol- 
 ly abortive. Monk, now created Duke of Albe- 
 marle, was allowed, in consideration of his great 
 services, to engross several posts of extensive pa- 
 tronage ; and it was not advisable to disgust him 
 by interfering with the disposal of his subordinate 
 offices. These, to the great scandal of the public, 
 he sold to the highest bidder ; * and the unfortu- 
 nate royalists, who had nothing left to bribe his 
 avarice, were obliged to give place to men who had 
 
 " Continuation, p. 46. Clarendon informs us, that Monk him- 
 self, out of a deference to the king, would have admit; ed to his 
 subordinate offices so.ne of those persons who had actually re- 
 ceived the royal promise ; but that his wife, who even exceeded 
 him in avarice, would hear of no consideration but money. Monk, 
 indeed, appears to have yielded this point to his wife with little re- 
 luctance, for Clarendon assures us that whatever other arguments 
 might have been used, " profit was always the highest reason with 
 him." (Ibid. p. 12G.) Had Monk bestowed his patronage from 
 more honourable motives, we have reason to suspect his discern- 
 ment would not have led him to any very proper choice. It was, 
 on one occasion, represented to him that a person whom he had re- 
 commended for a .Secretary of State was not fit for that function. 
 " Not fit !" replied Monk, " why he can speak French, and write 
 short-hand ! " 4 
 
356 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 grown rich by the spoils of their country. The 
 privilege which had been granted to Albemarle 
 could not, with decency, be refused to other mini- 
 sters ; and patronage was thus left to flow unob- 
 structed in its ancient channel. The impatience 
 of the royalists had also given to Charles some dis- 
 gusts which rendered him much less solicitous 
 about their interests. A few hours after he landed 
 in Kent, he found himself beset by a crowd of these 
 men, who, to seize the first opportunity, compelled 
 him to give them audience, recounted their suffer- 
 ings and losses, and entreated, as a compensation, 
 the immediate grant of some offices on which they 
 had fixed their eyes. * The prejudice excited by 
 these unseasonable importunities was strengthened, 
 when he found his patronage so circumscribed that 
 he could gratify them only from the money des- 
 tined for his darling pleasures. Too many of the 
 unfortunate royalists had contracted habits of in- 
 toxication, which rendered them unfit for any ac- 
 tive employment : nor had either the remembrance 
 of their suflPerings, or the joy of the restoration, 
 mitigated the mutual animosities which had embit- 
 tered their adversity. Every one was more deep- 
 ly wounded to see another gratified, than himself 
 disappointed. Charles, equally disgusted with their 
 importunities and their quarrels, sought a refuge 
 
 • Continuation, \\ 8. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 357 
 
 from these, as well as from all other cares, amidst 
 the festive riots of his court. * 
 Next to the act of indemnity, the most import- setdement 
 
 •' *■ of the re- 
 
 ant object was the establishment of a revenue for venue. 
 the crown. On this occasion, the parliament dis- 
 played a liberality consonant to the joyful feelings 
 of the nation, yet adopted some salutary provisions 
 in regulating the public expenditure. They pro- 
 vided for the discharge of the national debts ; and, 
 to prevent the sums voted from being diverted to 
 other purposes, they appointed persons accountable 
 to themselves to watch over the receipt and dis- 
 bursement, t They voted to the king a permanent 
 annual revenue of twelve hundred thousand pounds, 
 a sum greatly exceeding the allowance to any of his 
 ancestors : but, by allowing his private appoint- 
 ments to remain confounded with the funds of the 
 public, they left an opening to abuses and jealou- 
 sies, which were afterwards attended with very per- 
 nicious effects. The clergy, who had hitherto al- 
 ways taxed themselves in convocation, and had 
 been induced, by their closer connection with the 
 crown, to give higher contributions than the laity, 
 now voluntarily relinquished this unprofitable pri- 
 vilege, and submitted to the general taxation im- 
 posed by parliament. From that period, the con- 
 vocation, being no longer subservient to the views 
 
 • Continuation, p. 3o, 37^ 39. I Ibid. p. 138. 
 
358 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 of government, ceased to be regularly assembled, 
 and has at last fallen into total neglect. 
 Exertions j^, t^jg dccision of qucstions where the interests 
 
 fjr I he pre- ... 
 
 rogaiive. of the king and the people interfered, it seems to 
 have been the uniform aim of Clarendon to bring 
 things back, as nearly as possible, to their situation 
 before the commencement of the civil commotions.* 
 He was unwilling to see the people deprived of 
 any privileges which they had then enjoyed ; but, 
 from a review of late events, he considered the pre- 
 rogative as more in danger than the liberties of the 
 subject. He procured the restoration of the mih- 
 tia to the crown ; and the repeal of that act which 
 entitled the representatives of the people to as- 
 semble of themselves, at the expiration of three 
 years, if the king did not in that period summon 
 them to parliament. This act Clarendon brands as 
 infamous, and inconsistent with all government ; t 
 yet those who lived to the end of the reign of 
 
 * He tells us, " he did never dissemble from the time of his re- 
 turn with the king, whom he had likewise prepared and disposed 
 to the same sentiments whilst his majesty was abroad^, that the late 
 rebellion could never be extirpated and pulled up by the roots, till 
 the king's regal and inherent power and prerogative should be fully 
 avowed and vindicated ; and till the usurpations in both houses of 
 parliament, since the year 1640, were disclaimed and made odious; 
 and many other excesses, which liad been affected by both, before 
 that time, under the name of privileges, should be restrained or 
 explained." Continuation, p. 727. 
 f Continuation, p. 120. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 359 
 
 Charles II. had often to lament the want of effec- 
 tual means to secure the frequent assembling of the 
 legislature. 
 
 In some points of administration the Chancellor 
 seems to have been disposed to wield the rod of 
 power with too high a hand. The excessive dis- 
 sipation, into which the court speedily fell, became 
 the general theme of public conversation ; and, in 
 the taverns and coffee-houses, to which, in that age, 
 persons of both sexes daily crowded, the example 
 of the king and courtiers was usually urged as an 
 apology for gross irregularities. Charles could ill 
 bear that royal trespasses should be the usual topic 
 in the mouths of the multitude ; and applied to 
 the Chancellor to devise some remedy for this grow- 
 ing evil. Clarendon admitted that it ought to be 
 repressed ; but, instead of assuring him that the 
 reformation of his conduct was the only effectual 
 means of stopping the evil tongues of men, he com- 
 plaisantly proposed two expedients ; " either a pro- 
 clamation to forbid all persons to resort to those 
 houses, and so totally to suppress them ; or the em- 
 ployment of spies, who, being present in the con- 
 versation, might be ready to charge and accuse the 
 persons who had talked with most licence on a sub- 
 ject that would bear complaint." The king was 
 pleased with both expedients ; but, on being de- 
 bated in the privy-council, the project of espion- 
 
360 
 
 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 Policy to- 
 wards Scot 
 land. 
 
 nage was abandoned, on the ground that it would 
 diminish the revenue arisins: from coffee ! * 
 
 Tiie most unwise part of Clarendon's counsels 
 was that which regarded the government of Scot- 
 land. Cromwell, after reducing the Scots under 
 the strictest military despotism, had established nu- 
 merous forts and garrisons, which rendered the 
 recovery of their freedom wholly hopeless. Cla- 
 rendon, who thought that the Scots and their co- 
 venant could not be too closely watched, was of 
 opinion that this system of military coercion should 
 be continued, and Scotland treated as a conquered 
 nation. This ruinous policy, which would have 
 quickly reduced Scotland to a situation not less 
 calamitous than that of Ireland, was successfully 
 resisted, t 
 Ktr." ^^^^ system pursued by Clarendon, in regulat- 
 tionaijudi. ing the national judicature, deserves the hicrhest 
 
 cature. "^ <j ■> o 
 
 praise. He showed his love of liberty, by making 
 no attempt to revive the courts of the Star Cham- 
 ber and High Connnission, which had been, how- 
 ever unjustly, regarded as main props of the sove- 
 reign power ; and which the complaisant Parlia- 
 ment would probably not have scrupled to re-es- 
 tablish. He filled every department of the judi- 
 cial functions with men of known attachment to 
 
 * Continuation, p. 678, 679, 
 
 t Ibid. p. 40!). Burnet, Vol. L p. lil. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 361 
 
 the government, yet of acknowledged morality and 
 talents. Some grave and learned judges, -vvho had 
 sat on the bench in the time of Cromwell, were 
 again raised to the same situation ; and among 
 these the name of Sir Matthew Hale has obtain- 
 ed particular celebrity. * We readily enter into 
 the triumph which Clarendon expresses at having 
 restored to the nation the blessings of a regular 
 judicature. " Denied it cannot be," says he, 
 " that there appeared, sooner than was thought 
 possible, a general settlement in the civil justice of 
 the kingdom : no man complained without reme- 
 dy ; and every man dwelt again under the shadow 
 of his own vine, without any complaint of injus- 
 tice and oppression." f He set an eminent ex- 
 ample of diligence and integrity in his own judi- 
 cial conduct : and it is allowed by all, that the of- 
 fice of Lord Chancellor was never more uprightly 
 administered. 
 
 Fortunate had it been for the memory of Cla- ^^ettiement 
 
 '' ot religion, 
 
 rendon, if the same good sense and benevolence, 
 which guided his civil policy, had governed his re- 
 ligious opinions. But, in these, prejudice triumph- 
 ed over his better judgment ; and we find him 
 breathing sentiments, which, in a darker age, 
 would have led him to promote the most cruel 
 persecution. From his early youth, he had ira- 
 
 • Burnet, Vol. I. p. 26i. f Continuation, p. 48. 
 
362 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 bibed the maxim of wo bishop^ no hing\ as an in- 
 fallible truth ; and had conscientiously instilled 
 into the mind of his sovereign the doctrine, that 
 Episcopacy is the only form of church-government 
 compatible with monarchy. In defence of this 
 favourite tenet, he had entered into acrimonious 
 contests with the dissenters : and as he knew that 
 he had incurred their lasting hatred, by prepos- 
 sessing both Charles and his father against them, 
 he repaid their animosity by an equally keen aver- 
 sion. Their desire to prevent him from sharing 
 in the triumph of the Restoration, gave a new 
 edge to his angry feelings ; and, in his memoirs 
 of these times, whenever he has occasion to men- 
 tion them, he is unable to conceal the antipathy 
 that rankled in his breast. * 
 
 The most wise and moderate of the ministers, 
 and among others the Earl of Southampton, were 
 of opinion that nothing could conduce so much to 
 public tranquillity as to follow up the act of in- 
 demnity with an act of toleration. As the Pres- 
 
 * His prejudices always discover themselves in bitter invectives ; 
 and, when he finds an example of uni)riiicipled conduct in indivi- 
 duals of the hated sect, he hastens to draw a general conclusion from 
 it with regard to the spiritof the vvholehody. In onepassage headduces 
 two instances of chicane in Presbyterian ministers; " by which," 
 lie adds, " if the humour and spirit of the Presbyterians were not 
 enough discovered and known, their want of ingenuity and integ- 
 rity would be manifest, and how impossible it is for men who 
 would not be deceived to depend on either." Continuation, p. 341. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. S63 
 
 byterians differed nothing in doctrine from the 
 Church of England, and were equally the friends 
 of a regular ecclesiastical establishment, they might, 
 it was supposed, be reconciled to Episcopacy by 
 some partial concessions in respect to forms ; and 
 the two predominant bodies of religionists be thus 
 united in support of the government. But to all 
 these lenient propositions Clarendon declared his 
 decided opposition. * He asserted that nothing 
 
 • Burnet imagines that Clarendon was originally friendly to the 
 conciliatory system ; but that, in consequence of some private ob- 
 ligations received from the bishops, he went over to their violent 
 measures ; and, by this versatility, disgusted his friend Southamp- 
 ton. But the statements, as well as the strain of sentiments, in 
 Clarendon's later writings, are so irreconcileable to this account, 
 that there seems very little doubt that the bishop was misinformed. 
 In the Continuation of his Life, Clarendon thus enlarges on this 
 subject : — " It is an unhappy policy, and always unhappily applied, 
 to imagine that that class of men (the dissenters) can be recovered 
 and reconciled by partial concessions, or granting less than they 
 demand. And if all were granted, they would have more to ask, 
 somewhat as a security for the enjoyment of what is granted, that 
 shall preserve their power, and shake the whole frame of the go- 
 vernment. Their faction is their religion : nor are those combina- 
 tions ever entered into upon zeal and substantial motives of con- 
 science, how erroneous soever ; but consist of many glutinous ma- 
 terials of will, and humour, and folly, and knavery, and ambition, 
 and malice, which make men cling inseparably together, till they 
 have satisfaction in all their pretences, or till they are absolutely 
 broken and subdued, which may always be more easily done than 
 the other. And if some few, how signal soever, (which often de- 
 ceives us,) are separated and divided from the herd upon reasonable 
 overtures, and secret rewards which make the overtures look the 
 more reasonable ; they are but so many single men, and have no 
 
36^ EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 was to be expected from acts of conciliation : that 
 concession would only render the sectaries more 
 presumptuous and insolent in their demands : and 
 that no means could improve either their faith or 
 their loyalty, but a system of rigorous and active 
 coercion. * 
 
 These opinions of the chancellor, seconded by a 
 parliament devoted to the king and to episcopacy, 
 became the standard for adjusting the religious dis- 
 putes of the nation. The Church of England was 
 restored to the model of the days of Queen Eliza- 
 beth : the ring, the cross, the surplice, the altar, 
 again became stumbling-blocks to weak conscien- 
 ces : an act of uniformity was passed, which com- 
 pelled all the clergy to express, by an oath, their 
 attachment to the revived ceremonies : and the 
 ensuing day of St Bartholomew was appointed as 
 the term at which they must either conform to this 
 condition, or abandon their livings. This oath, 
 that it might be a test of loyalty as well as of reli- 
 
 move credit and autlioiity (whatever they have had) with their 
 companions, than if they had never known them, rather Jess. Be- 
 ing less mad than they were, makes them thought to be less fit to 
 be believed. And they, whom you think you have recovered, car- 
 ry always a chagrin about them, which makes them good for no- 
 thing, but ibr instances to divert you from any more of that kind 
 ©f traffic." 
 
 • " Nothing," says he, " but a severe execution of the law can 
 ever prevail iJi)on that class of men tp conform to government." 
 Continuation, p. 143. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 365 
 
 gion, contained a clause by which the clergy were 
 to subscribe to the doctrine of passive obedience in 
 its fullest extent ; and to declare their conviction, 
 that no oppression and cruelty on the part of the 
 sovereign could justify his subjects in taking? arms 
 against his authority. A doctrine so revolting to 
 common sense disgusted many even of the royal- 
 ists. The virtuous Earl of Southampton, though 
 the strenuous friend of Clarendon, openly dissent- 
 ed from him on this occasion ; and declared, that 
 if such an oath v/ere to be imposed on the laity, 
 he would himself refuse it. * Nor had the clergy 
 lost the spirit of civil and religious freedom. On 
 the decisive day of St Bartholomew, two thousand 
 of them quitted their benefices ; and preferred po- 
 verty to affluence when purchased by an oath 
 which they accounted infamous. The clergymen, 
 who had been deprived of their livings by the re- 
 volutionary government, had still been allowed a 
 portion of their former revenues for their mainten- 
 ance : but those now ejected were denied the most 
 slender provision. Nor was this all ; by a subse- 
 quent ordinance, conventicles were suppressed, and 
 the dismissed clergy were prohibited from earning 
 a scanty livelihood by the exercise of their profes- 
 sion, t The provisions of the five-mile- act w^ere 
 
 • Burnet, Vol. I. p. 329. 
 
 t The act against conventicles is applaudal by Clai-ondon as a 
 
366 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 still more cruel. By its regulations, no dissenting 
 teacher, who had not taken the oatli of passive 
 obedience, was allowed, except in travelling the 
 road, to approach nearer than five miles to any 
 place where he had preached since the act of in- 
 demnity : and thus these indigent men were com- 
 pelled to wander among strangers, deprived of 
 that relief which their former friends and acquaint- 
 ance might have administered to their distresses. * 
 
 measure of peculiar efficacy. " If it liaci been vigorously execut- 
 ed/' says he, " it would no doubt have produced a thorough re- 
 formation." (Continuation, p. 421.) So apt are even wise men, 
 ■where their prejudices are concerned, to form conclusions in oppo- 
 sition to the most universal experience ! Thv rigours of this act 
 were extreme. Justices of the peace were allowed to convict of- 
 fenders without a jury. Any meeting for religious worship, at 
 which five were present more than the family, was declared a con- 
 venticle. Every person above sixteen, that attended it, was to be 
 imprisoned three months, or to pay L.5 for the first offence : for 
 the second offence, to be imprisoned six months, or pay L.20 : and 
 for the third offence, on conviction by a jury, to be banished to 
 the plantations, or pay L.IOO. 
 
 * Burnet, Vol. I. p. 328. This act was strongly opposed by 
 the Earl of Southampton, and by Dr Earl, Bishop of Salisbury, 
 the most esteemed of the prelates. The favour which the ejected 
 clergy obtained among the people, by their conscientious firmness 
 and their sufferings, was much increased by the avarice of some 
 of the bishops, who, as Clarendon himself informs us, prosecuted 
 their claims for arrears with an eagerness and severity, which re- 
 spected neither the loyalty, the sufferings, nor the poverty of their 
 debtors. (Coniinuation, p. 185.) Yet Clarendon had endeavoured 
 to select prelates distinguished for learning and zeal ; though, in- 
 deed, he was sometimes obliged to yield to other considerations. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 367 
 
 While the unfortunate prejudices of Clarendon 
 contributed to renew the distractions of England, 
 they proved still more prejudicial to the tranquilli- 
 ty of Scotland. As the support of Episcopacy was 
 found to be a sure road to favour at court, there 
 
 Among the most importunate claimants, who demanded patronage 
 as their due, was Dr Gauden, the author of the Eikon Ba.s'like, 
 which loyal credulity so long attributed to the pen of Charles the 
 First. Gauden did not posses loyalty enough to bury his share of 
 the transaction in oblivion, or to forego so fair a claim to royal pa- 
 tronage. He whispered his great arcanum, as he calls it, into the 
 imwilling ears of the king and his principal courtiers ; and, having 
 produced witnesses of the fact, made no scruple of importunately de- 
 manding a reward equal to his merits. In one of his letters to Cla- 
 rendon, he refreshes his memory by the following narrative of this 
 transaction. After stating that his services had been too much 
 overlooked in regard to that work which " goes under the late 
 blessed king's name, the s/xwv or portraiture of his majesty in his 
 solitude and sufferings," he proceeds : " This book and figure 
 was wholly and only my invention, making, and design, in order 
 to vindicate the king's wisdom, honour, and piety. My wife, in- 
 deed, was conscious to it, and had a hand in disguising the letters 
 of that copy which I sent to the king in the Isle of Wight, by the 
 favour of the late IMarquis of Hertford, which was delivered to the 
 king by the now Bishop of Winchester. His majesty graciously 
 accepted, owned, and adopted it as his sense and genius ; not only 
 with great approbation, but admiration. He kept it with him ; 
 and though his cruel murderers went on to perfect his martyrdom, 
 yet God preserved and prospered this book to revive his honour, 
 and redeem his majesty's name from that grave of contempt and 
 abhorrence, or infamy, in which they aimed to bury him. When 
 it came out, just upon the king's death — good God ! what shame, 
 rage, and despite filled his murderers ! What comfort his friends ! 
 Plow many enemies did it convert ! How many hearts did it mol- 
 
368 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 was not wanting a numerous body of Scottish lords 
 and gentlemen, who asserted that their country- 
 men had become disgusted with Presbytery ; and 
 that the re-establishment of Episcopacy there would 
 not only be easy, but infinitely gratifying to the 
 majority of the nation. In this welcome opinion 
 
 lify and melt ! Wh«t devotions it raised to his posterity, as child- 
 ren of such a father ! What preparations it made in all men's 
 minds for this happy restoration, and which, I hope, shall not 
 prove ray affliction ! In a word, it was an army, and did vanquish 
 more than any sword could. My lord, every good subject conceiv- 
 ed hopes of restoration — ^meditated revenge and reparation. Your 
 lordship and all good subjects, with his majesty, enjoy the real 
 and now ripe fruits of that plant : O let not me wither ! who was 
 the author, and ventured wife, children, estate, liberty, life, and 
 all but my soul, in so great an achievement, which hath filled 
 England, and all the world, with the glory of it. I did lately pre- 
 sent my faith in it to the Duke of York, and by him to the king; 
 both of them were pleased to give me credit, and own it a rare ser- 
 vice in the horrors of those times. True, I played this best card 
 in my hand something too late; else I might have sped as well as 
 Dr Reynolds and some others ; but I did not lay it as a ground of 
 ambition, nor use it as a ladder." A ladder, however, it proved, 
 both secure and lofty : for although Gauden was abundantly ob- 
 noxious both to the Chancellor and the bishops, from having taken 
 the covenant, yet neither were his claims to be denied, nor his im- 
 portunities resisted. He was successively created Bishop of Exe- 
 ter and of Worcester. His letters of solicitation to Clarendon and 
 others, in which he descants at large on the transcendent merits 
 o{ his arcanum, are preserved in the Supplement to Clarendon's 
 State Papers. They were published for the first time in the year 
 1786 ; anil it is owing to the want of this decisive evidence, that 
 Hume and many other authors are inclined to give Charles the me- 
 rit of writing the Eikon. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 369 
 
 Clarendon had been confirmed by the arts of Dr 
 Sharpe, who, by solemn protestations of his inviol- 
 able devotion to Presbytery, had gained the confi- 
 dence of his brethren, and was deputed to advocate 
 their cause at court ; after which he availed him- 
 self of this commission to accelerate the introduc- 
 tion of Episcopacy, and to procure for himself the 
 primacy of Scotland. The policy adopted in con- 
 sequence of these misrepresentations soon involved 
 Scotland in all its torraer distractions. Episcopa- 
 cy was established j religious opinions enforced by 
 the sword of the civil magistrate ; and disorders 
 engendered which could be subdued only by the 
 dangerous remedy of a new revolution. 
 
 But while we lament the prejudiced views o^ 2n2^"^*''* 
 Clarendon in religious matters, we must not for- 
 get the merits of his civil policy. If we consider 
 the difficulties of that period of confusion and ani- 
 mosity, we must applaud the dexterity with which 
 he overcame them. If we compare the course of go- 
 vernment, while he directed our councils, with that 
 of the latter years of the same reign, we must ad- 
 mire both his patriotism and virtue. His political 
 sagacity, particularly in regard to commerce and 
 foreign connections, may claim little commenda- 
 tion : but it has not been denied that he uniform- 
 ly aimed at ends which his conscience approved. 
 We discover no instance in which his authority was 
 
 VOL. II. A a 
 
370 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 employed for selfish purposes. Though his origi- 
 nal fortune was small, and had been wasted during 
 the civil commotions, he adopted no means to re- 
 pair it, beyond the regular emoluments of his office 
 as Chancellor. Both the king, and his colleagues 
 in the ministry, sensible of the inadequacy of his 
 fortune, endeavoured to force on his acceptance 
 various grants of money and land : but, in that 
 period of solicitation and expectancy, he thought he 
 should best escape envy, by setting an example of 
 that disinterestedness which he inculcated on others. 
 It was only in some peculiar circumstances that he 
 was induced to depart from this resolution. The 
 Duke of Ormond, and some other of his most va- 
 lued friends in the ministry, perceiving the inces- 
 sant fatigue which he underwent, would have per- 
 suaded him to relinquish his judicial office of Chan- 
 cellor, and devote himself entirely to affiiirs of 
 state, under the appellation of Prime Minister. 
 But Clarendon decided on declining a distinction 
 so invidious, and recognised only in the unlimited 
 government of France. He also knew that Charles, 
 although extremely willing to purchase leisure for 
 his pleasures, by consigning his whole government 
 into the hands of his servants, was of all men 
 most averse to be thought subject to the guid- 
 ance of a favourite : and would speedily be dis- 
 gusted with those remonstrances from a Prime 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. S7I 
 
 Minister, which he easily endured from his Chan- 
 cellor, * 
 
 From the commencement of his ministry, Cla- Devotion to 
 rendon perceived that, however cautious his con- ° " 
 duct, his exaltation would attract around him a 
 cloud of envy. But his personal attachment to his 
 sovereign was too great to make him shrink from 
 the most obnoxious interference, when conducive 
 to the interests of Charles. With the exception 
 of a few favourites, whom he determined to era- 
 tify, the king uniformly referred the crowds of im- 
 portunate suitors to the chancellor, who made no 
 scruple to undertake the invidious part of rejecting 
 all unreasonable requests. Even when Charles 
 disposed of offices, contrary to his advice. Claren- 
 don still justified the conduct of his prince ; and 
 thus often innocently incurred the odium of an im- 
 proper distribution of patronage, t This uncommon 
 devotion the king for some time repaid with the 
 most obliging attentions. He listened to the 
 chancellor's advice on every occasion, and seemed 
 happy when he could prevail on him to accept any 
 testimony of his esteem. When Clarendon was 
 afflicted with the gout, which frequently happened, 
 Charles always repaired to his house to consult on 
 public affairs ; and occasionally summoned the 
 
 * Continuation, p. 85. t I3urnct,_Vol. I. p. 133. 
 
872 EAKt 05 CLARENDON. 
 
 privy-council to attend in tlie minister's bed-cham- 
 
 ber. * 
 
 Yet, amidst all these marks of favour, there were 
 SbooVea by gij-cumstances in the conduct of the king, which 
 
 the Kins 1111 
 
 principles. ^^^^^ j^^vc givcu uucEsy prcsagcs to the chancellor. 
 Charles was a decided sceptic in regard to human 
 virtue. He believed, that, if either man or woman 
 practised sincerity or chastity, it was merely to 
 save appearances, and gratify their vanity. No one, 
 he thought, served him from attachment ; and he 
 viewed all around him with indifference as the sel- 
 fish instruments of his ease and pleasures, t On 
 a mind so prepossessed against the better senti- 
 ments of the heart, the disinterested zeal of Cla- 
 rendon could make but a faint impression. When 
 the chancellor refused the gifts of the king, as be- 
 yond his deserts, and tending to excite general 
 envy against him ; Charles was accustomed to re- 
 mind him with a smile, tliat // is better to be en- 
 tied than pitied, t The French government, de- 
 sirous to gain the good will of the English minis- 
 ter, instructed its agent to present him secretly 
 with a large sum of money, which was to be con- 
 
 • The meetings of the Secret Committee, consisting of Claren- 
 don, and some of his colleagues in whom he most conifided, wert 
 usually held at Worcester House, then the residence of the chan- 
 cellor ; and were generally attended by the king and the Duke of 
 York. 
 
 t Burnet, Vol. I. p. ISl. t Continuation, p. 83. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 373 
 
 tinwed a? a yearly pension. Clarendon heard 
 this proposition with indignation : bnt when he in- 
 formed Charles of the insult which had been offer- 
 en to him, the king laughed in his face, and tpld 
 hira he was a fool. * Even the kindest acts of 
 Charles must have lost much of their grace, when 
 the minister felt that they proceeded not from at- 
 tachment, but from a mere aversion to labour, t 
 And he had but too ample proof of the precarious 
 tenure of a prince's favour, when a train of events, 
 which shall now be explained, rendered his dis- 
 grace more convenient to the sovereign than his 
 exaltation. 
 
 While Clarendon attended his exiled master, his ladve to hi* 
 daughter had been received as a maid of honour m^^rmge! 
 into the family of the Princess of Orange, formerly ^^^' 
 Princess Royal of England ; and had there embel- 
 lished the natural charms of her person and wit, 
 by the most admired accomplishments of a court. 
 She had followed her father to England, and taken 
 a conspicuous part in the festivities of the restora-c 
 tion ; but the general attention which her attrac- 
 tions excited was converted into astonishment, 
 when she was discovered to be pregnant, and de- 
 clared the Duke of York to be her husband, and 
 the father of her child. On this unexpected event, 
 the court was immediately rent into violent fac- 
 
 • Continuation, p. 1 r*. t Ibid. p. 88, 
 
574 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 tions. The queen dowager hastened from France, 
 to prevent her son from acknowledging a marriage, 
 which, in her eyes, would fix an indelible stain on 
 her lineage : and tlie duke himself was for some 
 time moved by the calumnies, which were assi- 
 duously propagated against the object of his affec- 
 tions. But the king, who still entertained a just 
 value for the services of his chancellor, declared, 
 that, as the marriage was found on examination to 
 be valid, he would on no account consent to its 
 disavowal. At length, all opposition ceased : the 
 duke, discovering the falsehood of his suspicions, 
 acknowledged his wife ; and the dowager queen 
 received the duchess as her daughter. * 
 
 " Continuation, p. 50 — 75. The change in the gueen's beha- 
 viour, which was sudden and unexpected, was afterwards disco- 
 vered, to the astonishment of Clarendon, to have proceeded from 
 the interference of liis old enemy Cardinal Mazarine. Her majes- 
 ty, finding that she could not prevent the marriage from being 
 openly acknowledged, was preparing, in the height of her displea- 
 sure, to quit the English court, and return to France. But the 
 Cardinal, whose policy led him to cultivate the friendship of every 
 successive government of England, was by no means inclined to 
 quarrel with the young king, or his fovourite minister ; and there- 
 fore wrote to the dowager queen, very plainly intimating, th»t, if 
 she left her sons in displeasure, she would meet with no good 
 welcome in France. The hint produced the intended effect. Her 
 majesty quickly received the duchess as her daughter ; and was re- 
 conciled to the chancellor with many gracious expressions of friend- 
 ship. In closing the relation of this incident. Clarendon strongly 
 characterizes the insincere and vindictive temper of this princess. 
 ** From that period,'' says he, " there did never appear any want 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 3^5 
 
 The behaviour of Clarendon, during this embar- 
 rassing transaction, was conspicuous for propriety. 
 He solemnly declared that the whole transaction 
 was as new to him as to the rest of the nation. He 
 refused to take any steps towards vindicating the 
 honour of a daughter, who, unknown to him, had 
 wilfully subjected her family to danger and dis- 
 grace : and amidst the ferment of the court, he ap- 
 peared the only man who was not concerned in the 
 event. He would address no solicitations either to 
 the Queen or the Duke of York ; and when both 
 of them began to give indications of a favourable 
 disposition, he refused to make the first advances. 
 He even went so far as, in his official capacity, to 
 advise the king that the marriage should be disa- 
 vowed, or the presumption of his daughter subject- 
 ed to the penalties of treason. * Though we may 
 distrust the sincerity of self-denial carried so far, it 
 is apparent that he derived more apprehension than 
 satisfaction from the unusual exaltation of his fa- 
 mily. Observing his son elevated with the royal 
 affinity, he sadly assured him that it would sooner 
 or later prove the ruin of them all ; and such, even 
 then, were the hopes formed by his enemies. For 
 the present, however, neither envy nor censure 
 
 of kindness in the queen towards mc, whilst I stood in no need of 
 it, nor until it might have done me good." Continuation, p. 75. 
 * Continuation, p. 55. 
 
376 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 seemed to be excited. The people were pleased 
 to find that a wise and loyal minister was not to 
 be dishonoured in his family, from an adherence to 
 rviles which had formerly been thought unneces- 
 sary in England. Charles behaved to him with all 
 that gracious demeanour in which he knew to ex- 
 cel. Without the chancellor's privity, he caused 
 a patent for a peerage to be made out for him, ac* 
 companied by a grant of twenty thousand pounds, 
 to support the title : and the minister accepted 
 these proofs of royal favour with a satisfaction that 
 could be imparted only by his escape from a situa-» 
 tion of great embarrassment. * 
 Themarri- The cliancellor had, about this time, a consider- 
 
 age of the iii • •• i • r ^ 1 • 
 
 king. able share ni negotiatmg the marriage of the kmg. 
 
 The people, who looked on the popish religion with 
 dread and abhorrence, would have rejoiced to see 
 their monarch united to a Protestant princess : but 
 Charles was very indifferent about religion, and 
 looked merely to the splendour of the alliance. 
 He therefore willingly listened to the overtures of 
 the Portuguese ambassador, who proffered the 
 
 * He was, on this occasion, created a baron, a title which he had 
 often dechned, as inconsistent with his limited fortune. He after- 
 wards irritated the Duke of York by refusing the Order of the 
 Garter: and it was only from an unwillingness to disoblige his 
 Royal Highness, who reproached him as too proud to receive any 
 favour through his means, tliat he was at length prevailed on to 
 accept an earldom. Continuation, p. 82. 
 
 12 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 377 
 
 daughter of his sovereign, with a tempting dowry : 
 five hundred thousand pounds in money, several 
 commercial advantages, the town of Tangiers, on 
 the coast of Africa, and the settlement of Bombay, 
 in the East Indies. As the princess was reported 
 to be of a mild and discreet temper, and Portugal 
 was much less disliked than France or Spain, the 
 choice was applauded by the ministers, the parlia- 
 ment, and the nation : and the same sentiments 
 were expressed by Clarendon, who saw no reason 
 to oppose the union, and who, of all men in the 
 kingdom, could with least grace have opposed it, 
 after the marriage of his own daughter to the heir 
 apparent of the crown. While this negotiation was 
 pending, the ambassador of Spain, whose court had 
 not yet acknowledged the independence of Portu- 
 gal, employed every art to frustrate the alliance ; 
 and procured some partisans in the English court 
 to second his designs. Reports were spread that 
 the princess was deformed ; that she had various 
 inherent distempers ; that, from some natural de- 
 fect, she was incapable of bearing children. Offers 
 were made to the king, on the part of Spain, of a 
 large dowry with any bride whom he should select 
 from among the princesses of Italy ; and the Earl 
 of Bristol, who possessed a peculiar talent in that 
 way, was employed to inflame his fancy with the 
 description of their luxurious conversations. By 
 these arts Charles was almost diverted from the 
 
378 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 Portuguese alliance : but, on detecting the malice 
 of the Spaniards, and on perceiving, from the re- 
 presentations of Clarendon and the other ministers, 
 that it would be both foolish and dishonourable, on 
 such vain grounds, to break off a negotiation so 
 nearly concluded, he proceeded in the transaction 
 with his original cordiality. On the arrival of his 
 bride, he found no reason for dissatisfaction either 
 in her manners or her person. * 
 S ofckv ^"^ Charles had already drunk deep of vices in- 
 land, compatible with conjugal felicity. Amidst his nu- 
 merous favourites, he had been particularly capti- 
 
 * Some historians, ]\Ir Hume in particular, as if to excuse the 
 subsequent conduct of Charles, allege that the queen was homely, 
 if not disgusting, in her person, and that the king thought so from 
 the first. But there is the strongest evidence that this was not the 
 case. Clarendon, who had an opportunity of knowing better than 
 any writer, exi:>ressly says, " the queen had beauty and wit enough 
 to make herself very agreeable to his majesty ; and it is very cerr 
 tain, that, at their first meeting, and for some time after, the king 
 had very good satisfaction in her." Continuation, p. 318. Lord 
 Sandwich, the ambassador who brought her over, expatiates, in his 
 letters, on the " most lovely and agreeable person of the queen." 
 Supplement to State Papers, p. 20. The Earl of Portland, who at- 
 tended the king at his marriage, writes to Clarendon, that his ma- 
 jesty, as soon as he saw the princess, was so well pleased with her, 
 as readily to give way to some perplexing prejudices which she had 
 in regard to the marriage ceremony. Ibid. p. 21. Bishop Burnet 
 assures us, " he saw the letter which the king writ to the Earl of 
 Clarendon the day after the marriage, by which it appeared very 
 plainly, that the king was well pleased with her." Burnet, Vol. I. 
 
 p. 253. 
 
 10 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. S79 
 
 vated by the charms of Mrs Palmer, a lady of the 
 race of Villiers, who was not more distinguished 
 for her beauty than for the want of every virtue. 
 Her undisguised amours with Charles had pro- 
 cured her the appellation of the royal mistress j 
 and a son, whom she bore during the negotiations 
 with Portugal, was openly acknowledged by the 
 king as his own. When his young queen came 
 over, Charles had formed some transient resolu« 
 tions to estrange himself from his mistress ; but, 
 by the arts of the lady, and of the courtiers who 
 depended on her favour, these impressions were 
 speedily eflPaced from his mind. He had formed 
 his notions of royal gallantry in the voluptuous 
 court of France. He thought that a father or a 
 husband ought to account his daughter or his wife 
 not degraded but honoured by the embraces of his 
 sovereign ; and that the mistress of a prince ought 
 to be regarded in a very different light from other 
 concubines. In the same school he had learnt that 
 the wife of a king ought to divest herself of the na- 
 tural feelings of a woman, to permit the libertin- 
 ism of her husband, and even receive his mistress 
 on the footing of a companion. In conformity 
 with these notions, he had the inhumanity, in the 
 presence of the whole court, to introduce Mrs Pal- 
 mer to the queen, a short time after his marriage. 
 The wretched princess, though pierced to the heart 
 by discovering the alienation of her husband's af- 
 
380 EARL OF CLARENDON, 
 
 fections, endeavoured to suppress her poTgnarvt 
 feelings, and to receive the mistress with smiles. 
 But the effort was beyond her strength. As she 
 retired to her chair, the tears gushed from her 
 eyes, the blood from her nose, and she fainted 
 away. 
 
 Charles, instead of being melted, was enraged 
 by an incident which so forcibly accused him of 
 cruelty, and presaged an unwelcome disobedience 
 to his commands. He now devoted his nio;hts to 
 dissolute revels : he took no pains to conceal the 
 ascendancy of his mistress : he attempted to en- 
 noble her by conferring the Earldom of Castle- 
 main on her husband, who indignantly rejected 
 this badge of his dishonour : and was so infatuated 
 as. to insist with his queen to receive his paramour 
 as a lady of her bed-chamber. This new affront 
 awakened all the spirit of the princess. She firm- 
 ly refused to subscribe to her own degradation, 
 and to admit into her train a woman who was lost 
 to honour, and who had so deeply wounded her 
 happiness. The people sympathized with her vir- 
 tuous indignation ; and even Charles could not 
 withhold his esteem from the victim of his injustice. 
 Yet, more alive to pride than to any generous feel- 
 ing, he determined to subdue her spirit by severity. 
 He dismissed her Portuguese attendants : he al- 
 lowed his companions to jest with her name in 
 their nocturnal debauches : and he gave very plain 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 5SS1 
 
 intimatian that all who looked for his favour must 
 pay their court to his mistress. The queen rvow 
 found herself consigned to cruel neglect ; she saw 
 the favourite of her husband lodged in her palaee ; 
 and, even in her presence, receiving the homage of 
 the nobility. The mistress was met, wherever she 
 turned, by the sounds of gaiety ; the queen alone 
 seemed doomed to perpetual unhappiness. Her 
 fortitude was unequal to such a trial : she gradual- 
 ly fell from that elevated tone in which she found 
 no one to support her : and at length condescended 
 to the humiliating art of caressing the object of her 
 aversion. Charles triumphed in a degradatioa 
 which lessened the public interest for the queen: 
 and endeavoured, at a subsequent period, to add 
 new dignity to his mistress, (who was now divorced 
 from her husband,) by creating her Duchess of 
 Cleveland. • 
 
 The adoption of such profligate principles in a 
 court could not fail to afflict a virtuous minister. 
 Clarendon had endeavoured, by every argument, 
 to dissuade his sovereign from a conduct, which 
 would blast his reputation, and shake his authority. 
 He represented to him that such infamous connec- 
 tions were universally odious in England ; *♦ that 
 a woman, who prostituted herself to the king, was 
 equally infamous to all women of honour, and 
 
 • Continuation, p. SSO — 343. 
 
8S2 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 must expect the same contempt from them, as if 
 she were common to mankind ; and that no enemy 
 he had could advise him a more sure way to lose 
 the hearts and affections of the people, than the 
 indulgino; himself in such licentiousness," We 
 learn with regret that the Chancellor, after this 
 bold avowal, should have been prevailed on to un- 
 dertake the task of persuading the queen to yield 
 to her husband's commands, and to receive his 
 misti-ess among the ladies of her bed-chamber. 
 This compliance on the part of Clarendon seems 
 to have proceeded from an anxious desire to conci* 
 Hate the king and queen, and, in all other respects, 
 his behaviour was entirely worthy of himself, and 
 of his station. While the courtiers strove to dis- 
 tinguish themselves by their obeisance to the mis* 
 tress, he disdained to countenance her by the 
 slightest attention ; and even refused to affix the 
 great seal to any grant in which she was named. * 
 The Earl of Southampton alone acted the same 
 honourable part ; and would never suffer her name 
 to be inserted in the treasury books. From that 
 time forward, Charles began to look with secret 
 dissatisfaction on ministers whose morality was a 
 permanent reproach on his own conduct ; and to 
 
 " In consequence of this refusal, she was obliged to transmit to 
 Ireland the patents for her new title, to pass under the seal of that 
 kingdom. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON, i:l88 
 
 give up liis better judgment to the vindictive spirit 
 of the mistress. * 
 
 While a foundation of dishketo the Chancellor The sale < 
 was thus laid in the royal breast, some occurrences ^^fcct; 
 of a very different nature sei-ved to render him un- 
 popular with the public. Cromwell, as a consi- 
 deration for uniting his arms with France, had ob- 
 tained the town of Dunkirk, which he had aided 
 in wresting from the Spaniards. This acquisition 
 gave general satisfaction as an equivalent for Calais, 
 and the Protector had endeavoured to give it im- 
 portance by strengthening the fortifications, and 
 improving the harbour. But it was found to be a 
 possession more popular than beneficial ; and the 
 yearly expence of the garrison (L. 120,000 Ster- 
 ling) became an insupportable burden to the pro- 
 digal and necessitous Charles. This consideration 
 having made the court very desirous to be rid of 
 the charge, the military men readily discovered 
 that the place was untenable by land, and useless 
 as a naval station. A resolution was, therefore, 
 speedily formed to dispose of it by sale to some 
 continental power. As Spain was too poor to pay 
 for it, and Holland too weak to retain it, France 
 was selected as the proper purchaser; and, after 
 some negotiation, the place was transferred to her, 
 for about four hundred thousand pounds. 
 
 • Burnet, Vol. I. p. 239. 
 
384 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 The odium, arising from a transaction which 
 was accounted dishonourable, no less in itself, than 
 from the uses to which the price was applied, fell 
 very generally on the Chancellor, who was repre- 
 sented as its principal adviser and promoter. He 
 assures his readers, however, that he was, at first, 
 extremely averse to the measure ; and tliat the sale 
 was resolved on between the king and the other 
 ministers, before his advice was asked. * He does 
 not, however, denj that he was gained over by the 
 arguments of his colleagues ; and it is certain that 
 he was very earnest in pressing the court of France 
 to give favouiable terms.! How far the transac- 
 
 • Continuation, p. 384. 
 
 •j" See the correspondence which passed between him and the 
 French ambassador, the Count d'Estrade, on this occasion. If 
 Clarendon does not utter the following sentiments, merely as a 
 piece of diplomatic finesse, to enhance the value of the place, he 
 certainly incuired, with open eyes, the reproach of this transaction. 
 He thus writes to d'Estrade, August 9, 16GI : " They who know 
 any thing of the present temper of this kingdom must believe, that, 
 as the delivery of that pLce would never be consented to by the 
 parliament, or, in truth, by the privy-council, if it should be refer- 
 red to their judgment, so the delivering it up by the king's imme- 
 diate authority, will be as ungracious and unpopular an act to the 
 •whole nation as can be put in practice." These considerations 
 Clarendon states as an argument for the king's demanding such a 
 price, as would for some tune enable him to do without the sup- 
 plies which the parliament would, on this account, be disposed to 
 refuse him. " I shall hold myself the most unfortunate man, if 
 this affair be not crowned with success ;" says he in another letter 
 to d'Estrade. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 385 
 
 tion itself deserves the reproach it has incurred, 
 appears very doubtful. Neither the fortifications 
 nor the harbour bore any comparison to their im- 
 portance since Louis XIV. bestowed such vast 
 sums on their improvement. The place, if tena- 
 ble, might have proved a convenient inlet to our 
 armies, and a desirable retreat in the event of dis- 
 aster : it might have proved a station to our own, 
 instead of the enemy's privateers. But it may 
 reasonably be doubted whether these advantages 
 could have counterbalanced the waste it must have 
 occasioned of the national revenues. 
 
 The first open instance of displeasure, which the 
 Chancellor experienced from the king, took its j|^'^^^,f^g^°^ 
 rise from areh"o;ious question. Charles had formed '•'•^'^^enu 
 
 " T ers. 
 
 a strong attachment to the Romish religion, from its 
 inculcating a blind submission to princes as well as 
 to priests : and, before the Restoration, he had re- 
 solved, if he ever regained his throne, to mitigate 
 the legal penalties which depressed a faith so con- 
 genial to bis notions of government. He soon, 
 however, perceived that there existed a strong pre- 
 judice against the Catholics, and that no favour 
 could be extended to them without includino- the 
 dissenters at large. Clarendon's inflexibility on 
 these subjects being well known, the advisers of 
 Charles acted without his knowledge : and it was 
 with no small surprise that the Chancellor saw in- 
 troduced into parliament, under the royal sanction, 
 VOL. ir. B b 
 
386 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 a bill to invest the king with a discretionary power 
 of dispensing, for a reasonable fine, with the penal 
 laws against all religious sects. Charles, indeed, 
 declared that the increase of his revenue by gra- 
 cious acts of dispensation was his sole object in this 
 measure : but the Chancellor concluded that the 
 effect of such a dispensing power would be to give 
 indulgence to the Catholics only, the Protestant 
 dissenters being as odious to the king as to him- 
 self. * He therefore determined, in opposition to 
 the king's earnest remonstrance, to resist the bill 
 openly in the House of Lords ; and, in spite of 
 all the exertions of the courtiers, he succeeded in 
 procuring its rejection, t 
 
 The king expressed the greatest indignation at 
 this conduct of the Chancellor ; and though he 
 did not as yet find it convenient to withdraw his 
 apparent kindness, he listened more readily to the 
 arts employed to diminish the influence of the mi- 
 nister. The nightly club of licentious wits, with 
 whom Charles now associated, became more direct 
 in their ridicule, and Villiers, Duke of Bucking- 
 
 * The greater indulgence of the king to the Papists than the 
 Protestant dissenters was well known to Clarendon. In the mi- 
 nutes of a conversation between the Chancellor and his majesty, 
 which have been preserved, the king remarks, " For my part, 
 rebel for rebel, I had rather trust a Papist rebel than a Presby- 
 terian one." Supplement to State Papers, p. 47. 
 
 t Continuation, p. 469—4-73. 
 
EARL or CLARENDON. 387 
 
 ham, who excelled as a mimic, often contributed 
 to the mirth of the company by personating the 
 formal motions, and grave enunciation of the 
 Chancellor. If the king happened to say that he 
 would ride or hunt next day, one would immedi- 
 ately lay a bet that he should not ; " for,'* said he, 
 " the Chancellor will never permit it." " Nay,'* 
 another would rejoin, " I protest I cannot believe 
 there is any ground for that imputation : though, 
 indeed, such things are talked of abroad." On 
 this, Charles, who could not endure to be thought 
 under such restraint, would eagerly assure them 
 that, unless in matters of public business, the 
 Chancellor had not the slightest sway over him : 
 and the wits would then, with a sneer, congratu- 
 late him on this discovery of his freedom. * 
 
 While such arts gradually alienated the mind of 
 the prince from his minister. Clarendon felt him- 
 self extremely embarrassed in his public duties by 
 the associates who were forced upon him. Heniy 
 Bennet, afterwards known as the Earl of Arling- 
 ton, had so well paid his court to the mistress and 
 the club of wits, that he was raised to the office of 
 Secretary of State, which Sir Edward Nicholas 
 had been induced to resign : and the Chancellor 
 was thus at once deprived of a tried friend, and 
 
 * Continuation, p. 467. 
 
388 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 associated with a personal enemy. * Sir William 
 Coventry, who had acquired much credit with the 
 king, by lessening the merits of other men ^ and 
 Lord Ashley, who was true to any principle only 
 as long as it served his views ; were successively 
 introduced into the most secret transactions ofv 
 state : and Clarendon had now the mortification 
 to see his counsels debated and thwarted by men, 
 who had no other end but to exalt themselves on 
 the ruin of his power, t 
 
 Their schemes were unfortunately promoted by 
 a measure, in which he had to contest with folly 
 and injustice on the part both of the king and the 
 people. The Dutch had, at that period, carried 
 commerce to an extent hitherto unknown ; and the 
 treasures, which they annually imported from the 
 East and West Indies had become the admiration 
 and envy of all Europe. The English, their most 
 immediate rivals, beheld their success with peculiar 
 jealousy ; and a company of our countrymen, who 
 had obtained a charter for the African trade, found 
 their enterprises in that quarter wholly eclipsed by 
 the superior industry and experience of the Dutch. 
 Great discontent was expressed by these disappoint- 
 ed adventurers : the traffic of the Dutch was re- 
 presented as an unjust encroachment on some sup- 
 
 * Continuation, p. 347, 372. t Ibid. p. 348, 466. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. S89 
 
 posed right of England to the exclusive commerce 
 of that coast : and a war was suggested as the only 
 effectual means of expelling our successful rivals. 
 While the merchants, who, of all classes, seem most 
 blind to the real interests of their country, were 
 thus deluding themselves into the expectation of 
 vast benefits from hostilities, the Duke of York, 
 who panted for an opportunity to distinguish him- 
 self, eagerly seconded the clamour for war. * The 
 king, unwilling to involve himself in any expence 
 but for his pleasures, for some time resisted these 
 counsels : till at length dazzled by the hope of rich 
 prizes, and, perhaps, by the prospect of converting 
 a portion of the supplies to his own private pur- 
 poses, he determined to concur with the general 
 wish. The Dutch, not less proud than their ri- 
 vals, were easily forced by some insults into hosr 
 tilities. t 
 
 " Continuation, p. 378. 
 
 t The English had already begun to maintain very high tenets 
 with regard to the empire of the seas. They talked, says Clarendon, 
 '^ of giving law to the whole trade of Christendom ; of making all 
 ships which passed by or througli the narrow seas pay an imposi- 
 tion to the king of England. The rules prescribed to judge by in 
 the prize-courts were such as were warranted by no former prece- 
 dents, nor acknowledged to be just by the ] ractice of any neigh- 
 bouring nation ; and such as would make all ships which traded for 
 Hollandj from what kingdom soever, lawful i)rize." Continuation, 
 p. 461. These tenets Clarendon loudly condemns as a violation of 
 5II justice, and calculated to render all nations the enemies of 
 England. 
 
SyO EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 Clarendon, supported by no counsellor but the 
 Earl of Southampton, opposed, by every argument, 
 this ruinous national distemper. But all his pa- 
 triotic efforts only drew on him the imputation of 
 pusillanimity, of a want of public spirit, or of some 
 treacherous understanding with the enemies of his 
 country. At last, on seeing that the evil was ine- 
 vitable, he consulted the interests of his master by 
 advising him to procure adequate supplies, before 
 the national zeal should cool, and the people, dis- 
 appointed in their chimerical hopes, should begin 
 to charge the consequences of their own folly on 
 the misconduct of government. By his advice a 
 supply of two millions and a half, a far greater sum 
 than had ever been granted, was required from the 
 parliament ; and so popular was the cause, that 
 this extraordinary dem and was acquiesced in with- 
 out hesitation. * 
 
 The war was attended with brilliant success to 
 our countrymen. The Dutch saw their naval 
 commanders baffled ; their fleets driven from the 
 sea ; their merchantmen destroyed in their very har- 
 bours. Yet even a succession of triumphs was in- 
 sufficient to maintain the delusive enthusiasm of the 
 people : the loss on our side was heavy : the young 
 courtiers, who had hastened on board, to partake 
 in a series of triumphs, gradually felt their ardour 
 
 " Continuation, p. 4 iO. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 391 
 
 abated by the rude alarms of the enemy and the 
 ocean. The Dutch, though often defeated, still 
 seemed possessed of inexhaustible resources ; and at 
 length became more formidable than ever, when 
 joined by the French, who could not qnietly view 
 the triumph of the English. The prizes, from 
 which such sanguine hopes had been formed, en- 
 riched only a few adventurers ; and the supplies 
 voted by parliament were speedily consumed in ex- 
 tensive armaments. The people, who felt their 
 dreams of sudden riches converted into demands 
 for extraordinary contributions, were further de- 
 pressed by a dreadful pestilence which ravaged the 
 kingdom, and a fire which laid the metropolis in 
 ashes : nor was it to be expected, amidst these 
 complicated disasters, that considerable supplies 
 could be procured from the dispirited nation. In 
 these circumstances, Charles, who found the em- 
 barrassments of war become daily a more unseason- 
 able interruption to his pleasures, readily hearkened 
 to the overtures of peace, made by the French in 
 behalf of themselves and their allies. Meantime, 
 he resolved to diminish his expenditure by confin- 
 ing himself entirely to defensive measures, and fit- 
 ting out no armament for the next season. This 
 economical arrangement would enable him to con- 
 vert to more grateful purposes a new supply of one 
 million eight hundred thousand pounds, which had 
 been granted by parliament. 
 The Dutch, who smarted under their late dis- icey. 
 
392 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 graces, perceived, in this remissness of their ene- 
 mies, an opportunity of retaliation. Having equip- 
 ped a powerful fleet, they suddenly entered the 
 Thames ; and, easily demolishing some feeble 
 forts erected for the defence of the river, over- 
 whelmed the capital with consternation. They took 
 and plundered Sheerness, sailed up the Medway, 
 and burnt several of the largest ships of the navy. 
 They next steered their course to Portsmouth, to 
 Plymouth, to Harwich ; and after having insulted 
 these places, and again sailed up the Thames as far as 
 Tilbury, they returned in triumph to their own 
 shores. The whole kingdom was filled with dis- 
 may and indignation : but it was no longer time 
 to meditate revenge ; and as the Dutch were now 
 willing to accelerate a peace, a treaty was conclud- 
 ed, by which the English renounced every point 
 for which they had ostensibly undertaken the war. 
 Extreme The Stream of popular reproach now ran vio- 
 
 unpopuluri- . , ^„ i, i • • i 
 
 ty. lently agamst the Chancellor, who was stigmatised 
 
 as the author of all disastrous counsels. The re- 
 laxation of the military preparations, the defence- 
 less state of the Thames, * the unfavourable con- 
 
 * We cannot but smile at the manner in which Clarendon frees 
 himsL'lf from this charge, which was entirely the concern of the 
 military officers. He assures us " he was so totally unskilful in 
 the knowledge of the coast and the river, that he knew not where 
 Sheerness was, nor had ever heard of the name of such a place till 
 the late events, nor had ever been on any part of the river with 
 any other thought about him, than to get on shore as soon as could 
 be possible." Continuation, p. 762. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 393 
 
 ditions of the peace, were without scruple laid to 
 his charge. No party was inclined to undertake 
 his defence. The Catholics and the Dissenters 
 looked on him as their implacable enemy ; nor had 
 tlie royalists forgot his share in the act of indem- 
 nity and oblivion. The courtiers saw in him an 
 absorber of power, and a stern reprover of their 
 licentiousness ; and the death of his virtuous friend, 
 the Earl of Southampton, * which took place in 
 this unfortunate conjuncture, left him as unsup- 
 ported in the council as in the nation. The po- 
 pulace, too apt to believe all reports which coin- 
 cide with their passions, opened their ears to the 
 grossest charges. He had resolved to erect a good 
 family mansion on a piece of ground which he had 
 received from the king, in the neighbourhood of 
 St James's : but, by the unskilfulness or fraud of 
 the architect, the edifice swelled to a palace, and 
 the expence to fifty thousand pounds, three times 
 
 " The Earl of Southampton was not less obnoxious to the mis- 
 tress and the courtiers than Clarendon. The king had been 
 wrought up to a resolution of depriving him of the office of trea- 
 surer, but was diverted from this purpose by the earnest interces- 
 sion of the chancellor. As his dissolution approached, the cour- 
 tiers renewed their instances; and, when within five or six days of 
 his death, they again persuaded the king to deprive him of the 
 treasurer's staff. Clarendon, however, succeeded in preventing 
 this act of royal ingratitude from giving a pang to the last moments 
 of his friend. Continuation, p. 7S1. See in Appendix, p. xiv. Cla- 
 rendon's opinion of this respected nobleman. 
 
SO'i EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 the original estimate. As such an expenditure 
 was evidently inconsistent with his slender fortune, 
 the populace readily believed that it was supported 
 by the sale of the national interests. Some call- 
 ed the building DunMrIc HousCy and others Hol- 
 land House ; intimating that he had received 
 bribes from the French and the Dutch to promote 
 their views. * 
 th*Jkin"'i" ^^^ ^^^ Charles displeased to see the popular 
 displeasure, clamour dircctcd against the chancellor. The 
 excessses of the court, which outraged every feel- 
 ing of morality and decency, had excited violent 
 discontents among the people, and a formidable 
 opposition even in a parliament of royalists. The 
 king had at length found his Commons, so lately 
 the advocates of passive obedience, more ready to 
 inquire into abuses than to grant supplies ; and 
 he was very willing to regain their favour by 
 the sacrifice of a suspected minister. While he 
 involved himself, by his weakness and prodigality, 
 in the most irksome difficulties, f he was led, by 
 
 " Burnet, Vol. L p. 365, 
 
 t Charles could scarcely refuse the most unreasonable demand, 
 when urged with importunity: but Clarendon assures us that 
 this proceeded, both in this prince and in all his family, not from 
 any generous liberality, but merely from imbecility. " They did 
 not love," says the chancellor, " to deny, and less to strangers 
 than to their friends ; not out of bounty or generosity, which was 
 a flower that did never grow naturally in the heart of either of the 
 1 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 395 
 
 the artful representations of his courtiers, to be- 
 lieve that the chancellor would use no influence to 
 procure him supplies. He gave ear to a report 
 that, at the period of the Restoration, this minis- 
 ter might easily have obtained for him a fixed re- 
 venue of two millions a-year ; but had declined it 
 lest it should render the king too independent of 
 Parliament. * 
 
 Another instance of supposed opposition, which 
 Charles could less pardon, was also charged on 
 Clarendon. A young lady of the name of Stewart 
 had lately appeared at court, with every attraction, 
 which could inflame the breast of a lover. The 
 king soon declared himself her passionate admirer ; 
 and as he found her virtue proof against all dis- 
 honourable advances, he resolved, if possible, to 
 legitimate his addresses. His queen had brought 
 him no children ; and, though he knew that she 
 had once at least been pregnant, he now counte- 
 nanced a calumny, formerly circulated by the Spa- 
 nish ambassador, that she was incapable, from some 
 natural defect, of bearing children. On this 
 ground, or on another allegation, that she had taken 
 the vows of a religious order previous to her mar- 
 riage, the king had formed a scheme of procuring 
 a divorce by act of parliament. The opposition 
 
 families^ that of Stuart or the other of Bourbon, but out of an un- 
 skilfulness and defect in the countenance." Continuationj p. ett. 
 * Continuation, p. 23Q. Welhvood's Memoirs. 
 
^96 
 
 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 Obnoxious 
 to ths fa: - 
 
 lisinent. 
 
 which Clarendon made to a design, which, besides 
 its injustice, might have involved the state in a dis- 
 puted succession, received the harshest construc- 
 tion ; and it was currently given out by the cour- 
 tiers, that he had artfully seduced the king into a 
 barren marriage, to secure the throne to his own 
 descendants. Wliile the divorce was in agitation, 
 the object of the king's new attachment, unwilling 
 to become involved either in dishonour or injustice, 
 privately gave her hand to the Duke of Richmond ; 
 and the king, during the paroxysm of his anger at 
 the discovery of this union, having conceived a 
 suspicion that it was promoted by Clarendon, be- 
 gan to breathe implacable revenge against his in-, 
 iiocent minister. * 
 
 During the consternation excited by the appear- 
 ance of the Dutch fleet in the Thames, the Parlia- 
 ment had been hastily summoned, though under a 
 prorogation for several months. Clarendon en- 
 deavoured to dissuade the kinc: from assemblinir 
 the members, while incensed by the recent disas- 
 ters : and the di.sposition, which they immediately 
 manifested, having justified this advice, it was found 
 expedient to dismiss them till the period assigned 
 by the prorogation. The members were displeased 
 
 * Clarendon solemnly assures us that he linJ no interference 
 ■what' ver in the marriage of the Duke of Richmond. He wrote to 
 the king with protestations to the same purpose, but Charles wiiis 
 too angry to hearken to them. Continuation, p. 8G0. 
 6 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON* 397 
 
 with the authors of a counsel which deprived them 
 of an opportunity to vent their discontents ; and still 
 more irritated by a report that the Chancellor had 
 advised the king to dissolve them and summon a 
 new parliament. Clarendon had, indeed, already 
 made himself enemies in both houses by his at- 
 tempts to recal them to moderation. He had of- 
 fended the Commons by resisting their encroach- 
 ments on the privileges of the peers ; and the 
 Lords, by advising them to renounce some obnoxi- 
 ous immunities, which they claimed for themselves 
 and their servants. * 
 
 The Earl of Bristol, once known as the partrio- 
 tic Lord Digby, had, during the exile of the king, 
 embraced the Romish religion, with a view to the 
 improvement of his fortunes ; and having, in con- 
 sequence, been deprived of the secretaryship of 
 state, he conceived a bitter animosity against his 
 former friend the Chancellor, to whom he unjust- 
 ly attributed his loss of office. He had even had 
 tlie folly to prefer an impeachment against the mi- 
 nister ; and although this attempt, supported nei- 
 ther by proofs nor by reasonable allegations, had 
 only exposed himself to ridicule, he continued ac- 
 tively to promote every cabal among the lords against 
 Clarendon. The Duke of Buckingham, though 
 a man of no principle, had the dexterity to at- 
 
 " Continuation, p. 1?,0. 
 
398 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 tach to himself a number of adherents ; and after 
 having intrigued with Cromwell, and subsequently 
 ingratiated himself with the king, was now at the 
 head of a formidable opposition in parliament. On 
 - one occasion, the Chancellor having detected him 
 in a conspiracy to excite insurrection, advised the 
 king to commit him to the Tower : on another oc- 
 casion, he, from selfish views, opposed a bill intro- 
 duced by Buckingham, to prevent the importation 
 of Irish cattle into England. For both these rea- 
 sons, Buckingham avowedly sought the overthrow 
 of Clarendon ; and actively concurred with the 
 king's friends in preparing the parliament to attack 
 him. 
 Deprived of In the meantime the king, growing impatient 
 to be rid of his minister, intimated to him, through 
 the Duke of York, a desire to accept his resigna- 
 tion ; assuring him, at the same time, that this 
 step proceeded from certain Information that the 
 parliament would impeach him, and that this was 
 the only way to save him from the fate of Straf- 
 ford. Clarendon, who had, a few days before, 
 sustained a cruel affliction by the death of his wife, 
 the faithful partner of all his fortunes, could not 
 conceal his surprise at this unseasonable Intimation. 
 He demanded an audience, and there informed 
 his majesty, that, though he should not regret to 
 quit an office where his services were no longer ac- 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 399 
 
 ceptable, yet lie would never, by a voluntary re^ 
 signation, either show a willingness to desert the 
 government in a season of difficulty, or a desire to 
 avoid the scrutiny of parliament. He reminded 
 the king, that Strafford, though not guilty of high 
 treason, had committed many unjustifiable misde- 
 meanours : but that, for his own part, he stood se- 
 cure in conscious innocence ; and that he should 
 consider his removal from office, in such a conjunc- 
 ture, as a measure intended, not to screen him 
 from his enemies, but to expose him to their ut- 
 most resentment. The king was ill prepared for 
 the language of independence : he considered the 
 chancellor as setting his power at defiance ; and 
 refused to listen to the intercession of the Duke of 
 York, who warmly interested himself in the cause 
 of his father-in-law. In a few days, his majesty August is, 
 sent one of the Secretaries of State, with a warrant 
 under the sign manual, to receive the great seal, 
 which the chancellor immediately delivered into 
 his hands. 
 
 But the enemies of Clarendon deemed their ad- impeached 
 
 of high trea- 
 
 vantage insecure, so long as he should not be ruin- son. 
 ed in character, and expelled the kingdom. The 
 Duke of Buckingham, who was now restored to 
 full favour at court, did not fail to excite his par- 
 tisans in parliament to a prosecution : and, by the 
 orders of the king, the dependents of government 
 
400 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 promoted the same intrigues. * At length, an 
 impeachment was drawn up by the Commons., con- 
 sisting of fifteen articles, and exhibiting a lasting 
 monument of the infamy of his accusers. In these 
 it was alleged, that Clarendon had advised the 
 king to discontinue parliaments, and govern by a 
 standing army : that he affirmed the king to be a 
 papist in his heart : that he had, from interested 
 motives, deluded the king, and betrayed the na- 
 tion in all foreij^n ne<i;otiations : t that he had re- 
 ceived large sums of money for procuring illegal 
 patents, and for various other nefarious transac- 
 tions : that, by these practices, and by obtaining 
 improper grants from the crown, he had suddenly 
 accumulated an enormous estate : that he had ef- 
 fected the sale of Dunkirk far below its value : 
 that he had introduced an arbitrary government 
 into the plantations : and that he had advised some 
 
 • Among others who were very actively engaged in exciting 
 the parliament against Clarendon was the Duke of Albemarle, 
 (Monk,) who had formerly loaded him with professions of friend- 
 ship. This man, who, with his wife, was resolved not to lose 
 court favour on any account, now strenuously urged the members 
 ** no longer to adhere to the chancellor, since the king resolved to 
 ruin him, and would look on all who were his friends as enemies 
 to his majesty." Continuation, p. 857. 
 
 t The only gift, he assures us, which he ever received from a 
 foreign prince, was a present of the books of the Louvre press 
 from the French king. These must have been acceptable to him 
 as a scholar. We have seen the indignation with which he reject- 
 ed pecuniary offers from the same monarch. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 401 
 
 naval operations which prevented a decisive vic- 
 tory over the enemy. These accusations, all of 
 which Clarendon offered to acknowledge if one of 
 them could be proved, * were found, on delibera- 
 tion, to be far short of high treason : and though 
 some resolute members declared, that, if any arti- 
 cles were introduced, which should indisputably 
 amount to treason, they would pledge themselves 
 to make it good, yet it was thought preferable to 
 impeach him only in general terms, and to demand 
 his imprisonment. AVith the last request the Lords 
 refused to comply until specific charges should be 
 produced against him ; and they were indignant 
 that the Commons should endeavour to alter the 
 ancient forms of justice, by a precedent derived 
 from the odious proceedings against Strafford. 
 
 A violent breach now ensued between the houses Leaves the 
 of Parliament ; the Lords refused to commit a mem- November 
 ber of their house on a general charge ; and the " ' 
 Commons represented this refusal as an obstruction 
 to justice. From the obstinacy of the Commons 
 in this point, Clarendon perceived that their ob- 
 ject was to have him thrown into prison, where 
 they might hope to detain him under various pre- 
 tences, without proceeding to his trial : and there 
 was no punishment of which he entertained a 
 greater apprehension, t Yet for some time he re- 
 
 * Burnet, Vol. I. p. 37 k t Continuation, p. 8.58. 
 
 VOL. II. C C 
 
40'5* EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 .sisted the importunities of his friends, who pressed 
 him to withdraw from the storm ; and it was not 
 till he had received intimation that such a step 
 would be acceptable to the king, that he at length 
 acquiesced. He embarked at midnight on the 
 Thames in a small vessel ; and after being tossed 
 about for three days, at length reached the first 
 stage of his exile at Calais. * 
 
 He left behind him an address to the House of 
 Lords, in which he satisfactorily vindicated himself 
 from the misrepresentations of his enemies. He 
 assured them that the greatness of his fortune, 
 which had formed a pretence for so many ground- 
 Jess charges, existed only in the fancy of his accu- 
 sers : that his whole property, after paying his 
 debts, would not exceed two thousand pounds a- 
 year : that such an estate might well be derived 
 from the regular emoluments of his office : that he 
 had, on one occasion, Twhich has been mentioned,) 
 received twenty thousand pounds from the king, 
 and on another six thousand, with some grants of 
 land ; but that he had never perverted justice for 
 a bribe, nor set his interest to sale. Adverting to 
 the other class of imputations thrown on him, as 
 the uncontrolled director of public affairs, he de- 
 clared that during the first two years of his majes- 
 ty's reign, the period of his greatest influence, he 
 
 * Continuation, p. 867. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 403 
 
 liatl communicated all his counsels to the other 
 principal ministers of state : that, in succeeding 
 years, his credit had gradually fallen so low, that 
 his propositions were often rejected, and many 
 measures undertaken against his advice, or even 
 without his knowledge. He reminded them of 
 his opposition to the war, which had involved the 
 nation in so many calamities : and he observed, 
 that if he had not resisted so many improper grants, 
 and laboured to restrain so many excesses, he 
 would not now have been surrounded by such an 
 array of enemies. * 
 
 This address was communicated by the Lords to 
 the Commons, and, from a wish, doubtless, to 
 please the court, was declared by both houses to 
 be an infamous libel, and condemned to be 
 burnt by the hands of the hangman. His enemies 
 would gladly have followed up this impotent re- 
 venge with an act of attainder, subjecting him to 
 the penalties of treason for evading their jurisdic- 
 tion : but they found it expedient to rest satisfied 
 with an act, which for ever banished him from the 
 British dominions, unless, before a limited day, he 
 should appear to take his trial, t 
 
 Clarendon soon found that, by withdrawing from in treat 
 his enemies, he had not escaped the pursuit of mis- n 
 
 ment m 
 ance. 
 
 • CoHtiuuation, p. 871. Lives of the Lords Chancellor, Vol. L 
 p. 287. 
 t Continuation, p. 886. 
 
404 E/\RL OF CLARENDON* 
 
 fortune. The French government, being at that 
 time desirous to enter into a close alliance with 
 England, and understanding how obnoxious the 
 Chancellor was both to the court and the people, 
 resolved not to prejudice their interests by gene- 
 rosity to an exile ; and therefore dispatched a mes- 
 senger after him to Rouen, with oi'ders for his im- 
 mediate departure from the dominions of France. 
 Though exhausted by a journey in the depth of 
 winter, and labouring under a severe attack of the 
 gout, which had deprived him of the use of his 
 limbs, he hastened to quit this inhospitable land, 
 and directed his course towards Calais, in doubt 
 whether a surrender into the hands of his enraged 
 countrymen would not be preferable to a depen- 
 dence on the precarious compassion of foreigners. 
 But on his arrival at that town, his distempers had 
 increased to such violence, that the physicians de- 
 clared his removal could scarcely fail to be attend- 
 ed with immediate death. 
 
 While he lay extended in agony, the French 
 messenger, wlio had accompanied him to Calais, 
 appeared by his bedside, and informed him that hu 
 had received new orders from the king to insist on 
 his instant departure from France. Clarendon, 
 shocked at the inhumanity of such a message, ex- 
 claimed, ** You must bring orders from God Al- 
 mighty, as well as from your king, before I can 
 obey. Your king,'* continued he, " is a very great 
 
 4. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 405 
 
 and powerful prince, yet not so omnipotent as to 
 give a dying man strength to undertake a journey." 
 He then sent for the magistrates and the lieutenant- 
 governor of the town ; who, moved by the strange 
 vicissitudes of his fortune, and blushing for the in- 
 hospitable policy of their government, united in a 
 warm remonstrance to the court against the cruelty 
 of his treatment. * 
 
 But the French court was already disposed, by 
 other circumstances, to alter its conduct. The 
 hopes of an alliance with England were now en- 
 tirely dissipated, by the Triple League between 
 England, Holland, and Sweden, concluded at the 
 Hague by Sir William Temple : the English go- 
 vernment was therefore to be mortified by caresses 
 to the obnoxious exile. Clarendon now received 
 letters full of kindness from the ministers of France; 
 and a special permission from the court to take up 
 his abode in any quarter of its dominions. He 
 accepted this tardy civility ; but his sufferings had 
 not as yet reached their termination. As he tra- 
 velled through Normandy, he accidentally met at 
 Evreux with a company of English soldiers, who 
 had entered the service of the French kins:. These 
 men no sooner recognized the exiled minister, than, 
 inflamed with the prejudices of their countrymen, 
 they resolved to revenge their national grievances. 
 
 " Continuation^ p, 892. 
 
406 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 They forced their way into the inn where he 
 lodged ; wounded his attendants ; and, after cover- 
 ing himself with bruises, were proceeding to put 
 an end to his life, when he was rescued from their 
 barbarous hands. * 
 Residence at After spcndiuff some time in different towns of 
 
 Montpelier. ^ " 
 
 France, he at length fixed his abode at Montpelier, 
 where he experienced that distinguished reception 
 which was due to his reputation and misfortunes. 
 The society of some esteemed English friends, 
 who had repaired thither for the benefit of the cli- 
 mate, gave an additional charm to the civilities of 
 the inhabitants ; and, after so many agitations, his 
 mind began to partake of that cheerful tranquillity 
 which had been diffused over it in the retirement 
 of Jersey. He now resumed those literary labours 
 which business, splendid but vexatious, had so 
 long interrupted. He completed his History of 
 the Rebellion ; and drew up, for the benefit of his 
 descendants, those memoirs of his private views and 
 transactions which throw such important light on 
 his character and his contemporaries, t 
 
 • Continuation, p. 900. 
 
 + Besides these well-known works, he left in manuscript a His- 
 torical Account of the Troubles of Ireland during the English Civil 
 Wars. It Avas first published in 1721. He also wrote an Answer to 
 Hobbes's Leviathan, with various religious tracts, which are print- 
 ed in a folio volume. His printed works, including the State Pa- 
 pers, amount to more than eight volumes Iblio. The simplicity and 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 407 
 
 One poignant affliction yet awaited him. His Apostacy of 
 favourite daughter, the Duchess of York, had been, "* ''"s^'*"- 
 like her husband, shaken in her attachment to the 
 Protestant faith, and had privately embraced the 
 Romish religion. * Clarendon, deeply wounded 
 by this intelligence, wrote her a letter full of dig- 
 nity and tenderness, entreating her to reconsider 
 more maturely the fallacies by which she had been 
 misled,; and representing the reproach and ruin 
 which her apostacy would bring on all her connec- 
 tions. At the same time he wrote to the Duke of 
 York, who had not yet openly acknowledged him- 
 self a Catholic, warning him of the dangerous con- 
 sequences to his interests, unless he could, by au- 
 thority and persuasion, reclaim his wife from a su- 
 perstition so odious in England, t These efforts 
 were ineffectual ; but the mortification which he 
 experienced would have been alleviated could he 
 have foreseen that, when this prince and his fami- 
 
 candour of his narrative is more to be admired than either his 
 manner or his reflections. He excels most in the delineation of 
 characters, of which he is very fond ; and his observations on the 
 conduct of life are far more valuable than his political speculations. 
 The tediousness of his perplexed and ill-assorted style is at times 
 apt to overcome even the interest of the narrative. The most fa- 
 vourable specimen of his composition may be seen in the charac- 
 ters which he draws of Lord Digby, Sir John Berkley, and Sir 
 Henry Benuet. These are inserted in the Supplement to the State 
 Papers. 
 
 • Burnet, Vol. L p. 333, t Supplement, p. 37. 
 
408 EARL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 ly should be deprived of their throne for their ad- 
 herence to the Romish religion, the posterity of his 
 daughter should give two Protestant queens to the 
 British empire. 
 
 Neither the society nor the beauties of Montpelier 
 could efface from the mind of Clarendon a tender 
 recollection of his native country. At length he 
 quitted the south of France, and took up his resi- 
 dence at Rouen, as a nearer approach to the belov- 
 ed shores of England. At the commencement of 
 his exile, even his children had not been permitted 
 to visit him ; and when this severe prohibition was 
 withdrawn, he wrote to the king with the gratitude 
 and humility of a mind softened and subdued by 
 affliction. He added a petition to his expressions 
 of thankfulness : " If your majesty's compassion 
 towards an old man, who hath served the crown 
 above thirty years, in some trust, and with some 
 acceptation, will permit me to end my days, which 
 cannot be many, in my own country, and in the 
 company of my own children, I shall acknowledge 
 it as a great mercy ; and do so entirely resign 
 myself to your majesty's pleasure, that I do assure 
 your majesty, if the bill of banishment were by 
 your grace repealed, I would sooner go into the 
 Indies than into England, without your particular 
 direction or licence.'* * 
 
 * Supplement to State Papers^ p. 40. 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 409 
 
 When seven years had passed over his head in Death, 
 exile, he again ventured to renew his fruitless sup- 
 plications. He wrote to the king, to the queen, 
 and to the Duke of York, humbly entreating a 
 gracious permission to die in his own country. 
 " Seven years was a time prescribed by God him- 
 self for the expiration of some of his greatest judg- 
 ments ; and it is full that time since I have, with 
 all possible humility, sustained the insupportable 
 weight of the king's displeasure : so that I cannot 
 be blamed if I employ the short breath that is re- 
 maining in me, in all manner of supplications, 
 which may contribute to the lessening this bur- 
 then that is so heavy upon me." The utmost of 
 his wishes seemed no unsuitable boon to a man 
 who had wasted his life in the service of his sove- 
 reign. " Since it will be in nobody's power,** 
 says he, " long to keep me from dying, methinks 
 the desiring a place to die in should not be thought 
 a great presumption ; nor unreasonable for me to 
 beg leave to die in my own country, and amongst 
 my own children.'* * But to a prince without 
 feelings of humanity or virtue such supplications 
 were unavailing. A few months after writing 
 these letters Clarendon paid the debt to nature, 
 more exhausted by his misfortunes and premature 
 infirmities than by length of years. He died at 
 
 " Supplement to State Papers, p. 45. 
 
410 EAHL OF CLARENDON. 
 
 llouen, on the seventh of December 1674, in the 
 sixty-fifth year of his age. 
 
 The close of Clarendon's life awakens a more 
 tender regret, than if we had been led to contem- 
 plate his magnanimous deportment on the scaffold. 
 Whether, indeed, we view the progress or the ter- 
 mination of his career, we discover more frequent 
 occasion for compassion than for envy. Even in 
 his highest exaltation he foresaw his fall ; for his 
 mind was fully impressed with the jealousy of cour- 
 tiers, and the inconstancy of the public. His un- 
 deviating virtue, in a corrupt age, and amidst the 
 temptations both of prosperity and misfortune, at- 
 tracts our admiration more forcibly than either the 
 reach of his talents, or the elevation of his views. 
 His religion, as well as his policy, was clouded 
 with prejudices j but while we lament a weakness 
 inseparable from humanity, we honour the uncon- 
 taminated rectitude of his intentions. His chief 
 failing seems to have been too entire devotion to 
 a prince who did not deserve his generous attach- 
 ment. Yet could he never subdue his mind to 
 the pliant principles or supple manners of a court j 
 and as he expressed his sentiments without regard 
 to rank, he incurred the imputation of that haugh- 
 ty and uncomplying demeanour, which is so often 
 united with the possession of power. The pride 
 of office, however, seems little consistent with the 
 soundness of his judgment j and, in that eventful 
 
EARL OF CLARENDON. 411 
 
 age, he could not look around him without seeing 
 examples of the instability of greatness, which 
 would chastise the most flattering suggestions of 
 human presumption. In the meridian of his 
 power, when he repaired to his country residence 
 at Cornbury, the neighbouring nobility and gentry 
 hastened to pay their obeisance to the favourite 
 minister of their sovereign. Among others, it is 
 said, Lenthal, the Speaker of the Long Parliament, 
 and once, from his station, the most conspicuous 
 man in the kingdom, came to visit the Chancellor. 
 As he passed along the hall to the place where the 
 minister stood, the company on either hand amus- 
 ed themselves with petulant jests on his altered 
 condition, and humbled demeanour. Lenthal ob- 
 served their countenances, and addressing himself 
 with a smile to Clarendon, " These very gentle- 
 men,'* said he, *' who now come to pay their re- 
 spects to your Lordship, have formerly done the 
 same to me.*' * 
 
 " See Appendix, p. xv. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 [^Characters, from Clarendon, of several of the Ministers, Parlia- 
 mentary Speakers, and other public men mentioned in the text. 
 
 The references subjoined to each character are to be understood of 
 the eai-ly edition (l712) of Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, 
 in three large octavos : where " Life" is prefixed, the reference 
 is to the octavo edition of the " Life and Continuation of Cla- 
 rendon," also in three large octavos.] 
 
 JOHN HAMPDEN. 
 
 XI E was a gentleman of a good extraction, and a fair for- 
 tune, who, from a life of great pleasure and licence, had, on 
 a sudden, retired to extraordinary sobriety and strictness, 
 and yet retained his usual cheerfulness and affability, which, 
 together with the opinion of his wisdom and justice, and the 
 courage he had showed in opposing the ship-money, raised 
 his reputation to a very great height, not only in Bucking- 
 hamshire, where he lived, but generally throughout the king- 
 dom. He was not a man of many words, and rarely begun 
 the discourse, or made the first entrance upon any business 
 that was assumed ; but a very weighty speaker ; and after he 
 had heard a full debate, and observed how the House was 
 like to be inclined, took up the argument, and shortly, and 
 clearly, and craftily so stated it, that he commonly conduct- 
 ed it to the conclusion he desired ; and if he found he could 
 
iv APPENDIX. 
 
 not do that, he was never without the dexterity to divert the 
 debate to another time, and to prevent the determining any- 
 thing in the negative, which might prove inconvenient in 
 the future. He made so great a show of civility, and mo- 
 desty, and humility, and always of mistrusting his own judg- 
 ment, and esteeming his with whom he conferred for the 
 present, that he seemed to have no opinions or resolutions, 
 but such as he contracted from the information and instruc- 
 tion he received upon the discourses of others, whom he 
 had a wonderful art of governing, and leading into his prin- 
 ciples and inclinations, whilst they believed that he wholly 
 depended upon their counsel and advice. No man had ever 
 a greater power over himself, or was less the man that he 
 seemed to be, which shortly after appeared to every body, 
 when he cared less to keep on the mask. He was of an in- 
 dustry and vigilance not to be tired out, or wearied by the 
 most laborious ; and of parts not to be imposed upon, by the 
 most subtle or sharp ; and of a personal courage equal to his 
 best parts ; so that he was an enemy not to be wished, wher- 
 ever he might have been made a friend, and as much to be 
 apprehended where he was so, as any man could deserve to 
 be. In a word, what was said of Cinna might well be ap- 
 plied to him : •' He had a head to contrive, a tongue to 
 persuade, and a hand to execute any mischief." He was 
 killed in a skirmish in 1643. Vol. I. 185 ; H. ^65. 
 
 JOHN PYM. 
 
 No man had more to answer for the miseries of the king- 
 dom, or had his hand or head deeper in their contrivance ; 
 and yet, I believe, they grew much higher even in his life 
 than he designed. He was a man of a private quality and 
 condition of life ; his education in the office of the exche- 
 
APPENDIX. V 
 
 quer, where he had been a clerk, and his parts rather ac- 
 quired by industry than supplied by nature, or adorned by 
 art. He had been well known in former parliaments, and 
 was one of those few who had sat in many ; the long inter- 
 mission of parliaments having worn out most of tliose who 
 had been acquainted with the rules and orders observed in 
 those conventions. This gave him some reputation and re- 
 verence amongst those who were but now introduced. In 
 the short parliament (April 164-0) he spoke much, and ap- 
 peared to be the most leading man ; for, besides the exact 
 knowledge of the former, and orders of that council, which 
 few men had, he had a very comely and grave way of ex- 
 pressing himself, with great volubility of words, natural and 
 proper ; and understood the temper and affections of the 
 kingdom as well as any man ; and had observed the errors 
 and mistakes in government, and knew well how to make 
 them appear greater than they were. He died towards the 
 end of December (643. Vol. II. 462. 
 
 OLIVER St JOHN, Solicitor-General. 
 
 He was a lawyer of Lincoln's-Inn, known to be of parts 
 and industry, but not taken notice of for practice in West- 
 minster-Hall, till he argued at the Exchequer Chamber the 
 case of ship-money, on the behalf of Mr Hampden, which 
 gave him much reputation, and called him into all courts, 
 and to all causes, where the King's prerogative was most 
 contested. He was a man reserved, and of a dark and 
 clouded countenance ; very proud, and conversing with very 
 few, and those men of his own humour and inclinations. He 
 made good the confidence of his party, by not in the least 
 degree abating his malignant spirit, or dissembling it ; but 
 with the same obstinacy opposed every thing which might 
 
 VOL. II. D d 
 
VI APPENDIX. 
 
 advance the King's service, when he was his solicitor, as 
 ever he had done before. Vol. I. 186, 211. 
 
 He was made Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 
 the time of the Commonwealth. He died in 1673. 
 
 GEORGE LORD DIGBY, afterwards Earl of Bristol, 
 
 He was a man of very extraordinary parts by nature and 
 art, and had surely as good and excellent an education as 
 any man of that age in any country ; a graceful and beauti- 
 ful person, of great eloquence and becomingness in his dis- 
 course, (save that sometimes beseemed a little affected,) and 
 of so universal a knowledge, that he never wanted subject 
 for a discourse. He was equal to a very good part in the 
 greatest affairs, but the unfittest man alive to conduct them, 
 having an ambition and vanity superior to all his other parts, 
 and a confidence in himself, which sometimes intoxicated, 
 transported, and exposed him. He had, from his youth, by 
 the disobligations his family had undergone from the Duke 
 of Buckingham, and the great men who succeeded him, and 
 some sharp reprehension himself had met with, which ob- 
 liged him to a country life, contracted a prejudice and ill- 
 will to the court ; and so had, in the beginning of the par- 
 liament, engaged himself with that party which discovered 
 most aversion to it, with a passion and animosity equal to 
 theirs, and, therefore, very acceptable to them. But when 
 he was weary of their violent counsels, and withdrew him- 
 self from them, with some circumstances which enough pro- 
 voked them, and made a reconciliation and mutual confi- 
 dence in each other for the future manifestly impossible 
 among them, he made private and secret offers of his ser- 
 vice to the King, to whom, in so general a defection of his 
 servants, it could not but be very agreeable; and so his 
 Majesty being satisfied, both in the discoveries he made of 
 
APPENDIX. Vll 
 
 what had passed, and in his professions for the future, re- 
 moved him from the House of Commons, where he had ren- 
 dered himself marvellously ungracious, and called him by 
 writ to the House of Peers, where he did visibly advance 
 the King's service. Vol. I. S^S. He succeeded his father as 
 Earl of Bristol, in 1653, and died in I676. See the -text, 
 Life of Clarendon, Vol. U. p. 397. 
 
 WILLIAM LAUD^ Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 He was a man of great parts, and very exemplary virtues, 
 alloyed and discredited by some unpopular natural infirmi- 
 ties ; the greatest of which was, (besides a hasty sharp way 
 of expressing himself,) that he believed innocence of heart, 
 and integrity of manners, was a guard strong enough to se- 
 cure any man in his voyage through this world, in what com- 
 pany soever he travelled, and through what ways soever he 
 was to pass ; and sure never any man was better supplied 
 with that provision. He had great courage and resolution ; 
 and being most assured within himself, that he proposed no 
 end in all his actions and designs, but what was pious and 
 just, (as sure no man had ever a heart more entire to the 
 King, the church, or his country,) he never studied the ea- 
 siest ways to those ends ; he thought, it may be, that any art 
 or industry that way would discredit, at least make the in- 
 tegrity of the end suspected, let the cause be what it will. 
 He did court persons too little ; nor cared to make his de- 
 signs and purposes appear as candid as they were, by show- 
 ing them in any other dress than their own natural beauty, 
 though perhaps in too rough a manner ; and did not consi- 
 der enough what men said, or were like to say of him. If 
 faults and vices were fit to be looked into and discovered, 
 let the persons be who they would that were guilty of them, 
 they were sure to find no connivance or favour from him. 
 
Till APPENDIX. 
 
 On the death of the Earl of Portland, (1634,) he was made 
 one of the Commissioners of the Treasury and Revenue, 
 \vhich he had reason to be sorry for, because it engaged him 
 in civil business and matters of state, wherein he had little 
 experience, and which he had hitherto avoided. 
 
 He defended himself (on his trial) with great and un- 
 daunted courage, and less passion than was expected from 
 his constitution, answered all their objections with clearness 
 and irresistible reason, and convinced all impartial men of 
 his integrity, and his detestation of all treasonable intentions. 
 So that, though few excellent men have ever had fewer friends 
 to their persons, yet all reasonable men absolved him from 
 any foul crime that the law could take notice of and punish. 
 
 He underwent his execution (10th January 16^5) with all 
 Christian courage and magnanimity, to the admiration of the 
 beholders and confusion of his enemies. Vol. I. 90 ; H. 
 572. 
 
 Sir JOHN COLEPEPPER, Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer. 
 
 He had spent some years of his youth in foreign parts, 
 and especially in armies, where he had seen good service, 
 and very well observed it. He was proud and ambitious, 
 and very much disposed to improve his fortune, which he 
 knew well how to do by industry and thrift, without stoop- 
 ing to any corrupt ways, to which he was not inclined. He 
 did not love the persons of many of those who were the vio- 
 lent managers, (oppositionists,) and less their designs; and, 
 therefore, he no sooner knew that he was well spoken of at 
 court, but he exposed himself to the invitation, and heartily 
 embraced that interest. He had a wonderful insinuation and 
 address into the acceptation and confidence of the King and 
 
APPENDIX. IX 
 
 Queen, and was not suspected of flattery, when no man more 
 complied with those infirmities they both had ; and by that 
 compliance, prevailed often over them. 
 
 He was generally esteemed as a good speaker, being a 
 man of an universal understanding, a quick comprehension, 
 a wonderful memory, who commonly spoke at the end of the 
 debate ; when he would recollect all that had been said of 
 weight on all sides with great exactness, and express his own 
 sense with much clearness, and such an application to the 
 House, that no man more gathered a general concurrence 
 to his opinion than he, which was the more notable, because 
 his person and manner of speaking were ungracious enough, 
 so that he prevailed only by the strength of his reason, which 
 was enforced with sufficient confidence. He died in 1660. 
 Vol. I. 340 ; Life, I. 93. 
 
 LUCIUS CAREY, second Viscount Falkland; Secre- 
 tary of State, killed at the Battle of Newbury, in 1643. 
 
 If the celebrating the memory of eminent and extraordi- 
 nary persons, and transmitting their great virtues for the 
 imitation of posterity, be one of the principal ends and duties 
 of history, it will not be thought impertinent, in this place, 
 to remember a loss which no time will suifer to be forgotten, 
 and no success of good fortune could repair. In this un- 
 happy battle was slain the Lord Viscount Falkland ; a per- 
 son of such prodigious parts of learning and knowledge, of 
 that inimitable sweetness and delight in conversation, of so 
 flowing and obliging a humanity and goodness to mankind, 
 and of that primitive simplicity and integrity of life, that if 
 there were no other brand upon this odious and accursed 
 civil war than that single loss, it must be most infattious and 
 execrable to all posterity. 
 
X APPENDIX. 
 
 Turpe mori, post te, solo non posse dolore. 
 He was wonderfully beloved by all who knew him, as a 
 man of excellent parts, of a wit so sharp, and a nature so 
 sincere, that nothing could be more lovely. 
 
 His house (at Tew) being within little more than ten 
 miles of Oxford, he contracted familiarity and friendship 
 with the most polite and accurate men of that university ; 
 who found such an immenseness of wit, and such a solidity 
 of judgment in him, so infinite a fancy, bound in by a most 
 logical ratiocination; such a vast knowledge, that he was 
 not ignorant in any thing ; yet such an excessive humility, 
 as if he had known nothing, that they frequently resorted 
 and dwelt with him, as in a college situated in a purer air ; 
 so that his house was a university in a less volume, whither 
 they came not so much for repose as study, and to examine 
 and refine those grosser propositions, which laziness and 
 consent made current in vulgar conversation. 
 
 He was superior to all those passions and affections which 
 attend vulgar minds, and was guilty of no other ambition than 
 of knowledge, and to be reputed a lover of all good men ; 
 and that made him too much a contemner of those arts, 
 which must be indulged in the transactions of human af- 
 fairs. 
 
 Thus fell that incomparable young man, in the four and 
 thirtieth year of his age, having so much dispatched the 
 true business of life, that the oldest rarely attain to that 
 immense knowledge, and the youngest enter not into the 
 world with more innocency : whosoever leads such a life, 
 needs be the less anxious upon how short warning it is ta- 
 ken from him. 
 
 His stature was low, and smaller than most men's; his 
 motion not graceful ; and his aspect so far from inviting, 
 that it had somewhat in it of simplicity ; and his voice the 
 worst of the three, and so untuned, that, instead of recoa- 
 
APPENDIX. XI 
 
 cJling, it offended the ear ; but that little person, and small 
 stature, was quickly found to contain a great heart, a cou- 
 rage so keen, and a nature so fearless, that no composition 
 of the strongest limbs ever disposed any man to greater en- 
 terprise ; and that untuned tongue and voice easily dis- 
 covered itself to be supplied and governed by a mind and 
 understanding so excellent, that the wit and weight of all 
 he said carried greater lustre with it than any ornament of 
 delivery could ensure. Vol. I. 340. II. 350. Life, I. 39. 
 
 Sir FRANCIS COTTINGTON, created Lord Cotting- 
 TON ; Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 
 He was a very wise man, by the great and long experi- 
 ence he had in business of all kinds; and by his natural 
 temper, which was not liable to any transport of anger, or 
 any other passion, but could bear contradiction, and even 
 reproach, without being moved, or put out of his way : for 
 he was very steady in pursuing what he proposed to himself, 
 and had a courage not to be frighted with any opposition. 
 It is true he was illiterate as to the grammar of any lan- 
 guage, or the principles of any science, but by his perfectly 
 understanding the Spanish, (which he spoke as a Spaniard,) 
 the French, and Italian languages, and having read very 
 much in all, he could not be said to be ignorant in any part 
 of learning, divinity only excepted. 
 
 He was of an excellent humour, and very easy to live 
 with ; and under a grave countenance, covered the most of 
 mirth, and caused more than any man of the most pleasant 
 disposition. He never used any body ill, but used many 
 very well for whom he had no regard : his greatest fault was, 
 that he could dissemble, and make men believe that he loved 
 them very well, when he cared not for them. He had no 
 
XII APPENDIX. 
 
 very tender affections, nor bowels apt to yearn at all objects 
 which deserved compassion. He was heartily weary of the 
 world, and no man was more willing to die ; which is an 
 argument that he had peace of conscience. He left behind 
 him a greater esteem of his parts than love to his person. 
 He died in 1651. Vol. I. 151. III. 382. 
 
 OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 He was one of those men, quos vituperare ne inimici qui- 
 dem possunt, nisi ut simul laudent ; whom his very enemies 
 could not condemn without commending him at the same 
 time ; for he could never have done half that mischief with- 
 out great parts of courage, industry, and judgment. He 
 must have had a wonderful understanding in the natures 
 and humours of men, and as great a dexterity in applying 
 them ; who, from a piivate and obscure birth, (though of a 
 good family,) without interest or estate, alliance or friend- 
 ship, could raise himself to such a height, and compound 
 and knead such opposite and contradictory tempers, hu- 
 mours, and interests into a consistence, that contributed to 
 his designs, and to their own destruction ; whilst himself 
 grew insensibly powerful enough to cut off those by whom 
 he had climbed, in the instant that they projected to de- 
 molish their own building. What was said of Cinna may 
 very justly be said of him, Ausiim eum qua; nemo auderet bo' 
 nus ; perfecisse, qua; a nullo, nisi fortissimo, pet^ci possent. 
 He attempted those things which no good man durst have 
 ventured on ; and achieved those in which none but a va- 
 liant and great man could have succeeded. Without doubt, 
 no man with more wickedness ever attempted any thing, or 
 brought to pass what he desired more wickedly, more in the 
 face and contempt of religion and moral honesty ; yet wick- 
 
 10 
 
APPENDIX. XIU 
 
 edness as great as his could never have accomplished those 
 designs, without the assistance of a great spirit, an admirable 
 circumspection and sagacity, and a most magnanimous re- 
 solution. 
 
 When he appeared first in the parliament, he seemed to 
 have a person in no degree gracious, no ornament of dis- 
 course, none of those talents which use to conciliate the af- 
 fections of the stander by : yet, as he grew into place and 
 authority, his parts seemed to be raised, as if he had had 
 concealed faculties, till he had occasion to use them : and 
 when he was to act the part of a great man, he did it with- 
 out any indecency, notwithstanding the want of custom. 
 
 After he was confirmed and invested Protector, he con- 
 sulted with very few upon any action of importance, nor 
 communicated any enterprise he resolved upon, with more 
 than those who were to have principal parts in the execu- 
 tion of it ; nor with them sooner than was absolutely ne- 
 cessary. What he once resolved, in which he was not rash, 
 he would not be dissuaded from, nor endure any contradic- 
 tion of his power and authority. 
 
 Cromwell was not so far a man of blood as to follow Ma- 
 chiavel's method ; which prescribes, upon a total alteration 
 of government, as a thing absolutely necessary, to cut oif all 
 the heads of those, and extirpate their families, who are 
 friends to the old one. It was confidently reported, that, in 
 the council of officers, it was more than once proposed, 
 " That there might be a general massacre of all the royal 
 party, as the only expedient to secure the government," but 
 that Cromwell would never consent to, it may be, out of 
 too great a contempt of his enemies. In a word, as he was 
 guilty of many crimes against which damnation is denoun- 
 ced, and for which hell fire is prepared, so he had some good 
 qualities which have caused the memory of some men in all 
 ages to be celebrated ; and he will be looked upon by pos= 
 
XIV APPENDIX. 
 
 terity as a brave wicked man. He died 3d September 
 1658. Vol. III. 64.8. 
 
 Sir henry VANE, the Younger. 
 
 He had an unusual aspect, which, though it might natu- 
 rally proceed both from his father and mother, neither af 
 which were beautiful persons, yet made men think there 
 was something in him extraordinary; and his whole life 
 made good that imagination. 
 
 He was indeed a man of extraordinary parts, a pleasant 
 wit, a great understanding, which pierced into and discerned 
 the purposes of other men with wonderful sagacity, whilst 
 he had himself vultum clausum, that no man could make a 
 guess of what he intended. He was of a temper not to be 
 moved, of a rare dissimulation, and could comply when it 
 was not seasonable to contradict, without losing ground by 
 the condescension; and jf he were not superior to IMr 
 Hampden, he was inferior to no other man in all mysterious 
 artifices. He was executed for high treason in 1662. Vol. 
 I. 186. H. 379- 
 
 THOMAS WRIOTHESLEY, fourth Earl of South- 
 ampton ; Lord Treasurer after the Restoration. 
 
 He was indeed a great man in all respects, and brought 
 very much reputation to the King's cause. He had great 
 dislike of the high courses which had been taken in the go- 
 vernment, and a particular prejudice to the Earl of Strafford, 
 for some exorbitant proceedings. But as soon as he saw the 
 ways of reverence and duty towards the Kiflg declined, and 
 the prosecution of the Earl of Strafford to exceed the limits 
 
 4 
 
APPENDIX. XV 
 
 of justice, he opposed them vigorously in all their proceed- 
 ings. He was a man of great sharpness of judgment, a 
 very quick apprehension, and that readiness of expression 
 upon any sudden debate, that no man delivered himself 
 more advantageously and weightily, and more efficaciously 
 with the hearers ; so that no man gave them more trouble 
 in his opposition, or drew so many to a concurrence with 
 him in opinion. He had no relation to, or dependence up- 
 on, the court, or purpose to have any, but wholly pursued 
 the public interest. 
 
 He was not only an exact observer of justice, but so clear- 
 sighted a discerner of all the circumstances which might 
 disguise it, that no false or fraudulent colour could impose 
 upon him ; and of so sincere and impartial a judgment, that 
 no prejudice to the person of any man made him less awake 
 to his cause ; but believed that there is allquid et in hosiem 
 nefas, and that a very ill man might be very unjustly dealt 
 with. On the happy return of his Majesty, he seemed to 
 recover great vigour of mind, and undertook the charge of 
 High Treasurer with much alacrity and industry, as long as 
 lie had any hope to get a revenue settled proportionable to 
 the expence of the crown, (towards which his interest, and 
 authority, and counsel, contributed very much,) or to re- 
 duce the expence of the court within the limits of the reve- 
 nue. His person was of a small stature ; his courage, as all 
 his other faculties, very great; having no sign of fear, or 
 sense of danger, when he was in a place where he ought to 
 be found. He died in 1667. Vol. H. 200, Life, HI. 781. 
 
 LENTHAL 
 
 Is represented by Clarendon as a very unfit man for 
 the place of Speaker ; but he was deficient neither in good 
 
XVI ArrENDIX. 
 
 sense or presence of mind, if we may judge from the fol- 
 lowing anecdote : When the King went into the House of 
 Commons (1642) to demand the five members, he asked the 
 Speaker, who stood below, whether any of them were in the 
 house ? The Speaker, falling on his knee, prudently replied, 
 *' I have. Sir, neither eyes to see, nor tongue to speak, in 
 this place, but as the house is pleased to direct me, whose 
 servant I am ; and I humbly ask pardon, that 1 cannot give 
 any other answer to what your Majesty is pleased to demand 
 of me." — Hume. 
 
 END OF VOLUME SECOND. 
 
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