vene the same company to him; which could do him very little good, if they had desired it; and could not but do him more harm than even the worst of them at that time intended to do: for it might very easily have been foreseen, that the calling so many discontented, or disobliged, or disaffected men together, with a liberty to consult and advise, very few whereof had that affection and reverence for the person of the king as they ought to have had, though scarce any of them had at that time that mischief in their hearts which they afterwards discovered against him, or indeed had the least purpose to rebel: I say, the calling such men together could not but make every man much worse than they came, and put worse thoughts into their heads than they brought with them, when the miscarriage as well as the misfortune of the court would be the common argument and discourse; and when they would quickly discern, that it was like to be in every one of their powers to contribute to the destruction, at least to the disgrace, of men they had no kindness for, and most of them great animosity against.

But the king was without the presence and attendance of any man in whose judgment and wisdom he had a full confidence; for the earl of Strafford was at the army; and they who first proposed the calling the peers knew well enough that the king knew parliaments too well to be inclined to call one, if they should propose and therefore they proposed another expedient, which he knew not; and so was surprised with the advice, (which he thought could do no harm,) and so gave direction for the issuing out of the writs, before he

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enough considered whether it might not in truth produce some mischief he had not well thought of; as he quickly found it. Nor did the Scots themselves resolve to give him more disquiet in the ensuing parliament, than the major part of his great council, that he brought together, resolved to concur with them therein and with that disposition, which they could never have contracted if they had remained by themselves, they all hastened to the place where they might do the mischief they intended.

The next error to this was, that at the meeting of the great council at York, and before any consent to the treaty at Rippon, there was not a state made, and information given of the whole proceedings in Scotland, and thereupon some debate and judgment by the whole council before the sixteen departed, for their information and instruction : and this had been strangely omitted before at the pacification, insomuch as many who had been employed in that first at the Berkes, and in the last at Rippon, confessed that neither of them (and they were of the prime quality) then did, or ever after, know any thing of the laws and customs of that kingdom (by which they might have judged whether the king had exceeded his just power, or any thing of the matter of fact in the several transactions) but what they had received at those meetings from the persons who were naturally to make their own defence, and so by accusing others to make their own case the more plausible; in which it could not be expected they would mention any thing for their own disadvantage.

By them they were told " of a liturgy imposed

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upon them by their bishops, contrary [to] or with"out act of parliament, with strange circumstances "of severity and rigour of some clauses in that liturgy, different from that of the church of Eng“land;” with pretty smart comments of advice, and animadversion upon those alterations: of a "book of canons, in which an extraordinary and extravagant power was asserted to the bishops : of a high commission court, which exceeded all limits, and censured all degrees of men of the " insolent speeches of this bishop to that nobleman, "and of the ill life of another of their great hu

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mility and duty to their sacred sovereign, with"out whose favour and protection they would not "live" and, lastly, "of their several most sub"miss addresses, by petition and all other ways, "to his majesty; being desirous, when their grievances were but heard, to lay themselves and "their complaints at his royal feet, and to be "most entirely disposed by him in such manner, as to his wisdom alone should be thought fit:

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but that, by the power and interposition of their "adversaries, all their supplications had been rejected, and they never yet admitted to be "heard."

With these and the like artifices our good lords were so wrought upon and transported, that they easily consented to whatsoever was proposed; nor was there any proposition made and insisted on by them at the first or second treaty, which was not for the matter fully consented to: whereas, if their lordships had been fully advertised of the whole truth, (though there had been some inadvertencies> and incogitancy in the circumstances of the transac

tion,) his majesty had full power, by the laws of Scotland then in force, to make that reformation he intended; and all their petitions and addresses had found most gracious acceptance, and received most gracious answers; and that on the contrary, they had invaded all the rights of the crown, altered the government, affronted the magistrates and ministers of justice, and his majesty's own regal authority, with unheard of insolences and contempts; rejected all his offers of grace and pardon, and, without cause or provocation, denounced war against him; besieged and taken the castle of Edinburgh, and other places which held for his majesty; I say, if this had been made as evident to them as surely it might have been made, it is not possible but those noble persons would have preserved themselves from being deluded by them; at least many of the inconveniences which after ensued would have been prevented, if the form and method of their proceedings had been prescribed, or better looked into.

But it must be confessed, that in that conjuncture such necessary evidence and information could very hardly be given: for though it must not be doubted that there were many particular persons of honour of that nation who abhorred the outrages which were committed, and retained within their own breasts very loyal wishes for his majesty's prosperity; yet it cannot be denied that those persons, who by the places they held (of king's advocate, and other offices) ought to have made that information of matter of law, and matter of fact, were themselves the most active promoters of the rebellion; and the defection, as to any declaration

on his majesty's behalf, was so general, that they who were not corrupted in their inward fidelity were so terrified, that they durst not appear in any office that might provoke those who solely had the power and the will to destroy them.

The last and most confounding error was the removing the treaty to London, and upon any terms consenting that the Scottish commissioners should reside there before a peace concluded. By which means, they had not only opportunity to publish all their counsels and directions in their sermons to the people, (who resorted thither in incredible numbers,) and to give their advice, from time to time, to those of the English who knew not so well yet to compass their own ends, but were ready (when any business was too big and unwieldy to be managed by the few who were yet throughly engaged) to interpose in the name of their nation, and, with reference to things or persons, to make such demands from and on the behalf of the kingdom of Scotland, as under no other style would have received any countenance : and this brought that universal terror with it (as will appear to the life in the process of this relation) upon those of nearest relation to the king's service, as well as those at a greater distance, who clearly discerned and detested the villainy and wickedness of those transactions, that their wariness and wisdom could not be great enough to preserve them, if they did not stupidly look on without seeming to understand what they could in no degree control or prevent.

In all conspiracies there must be great secresy, consent, and union; yet it can hardly be conceived,