assembling of the clergy) customarily beginning | and ending with parliaments, was, after the determination of the last, by a new writ continued, and sat for the space of above a month under the proper title of a synod; made canons, which was thought that it might do; and gave subsidies, and enjoined oaths, that it might not do: in a word, did many things, which in the best times might have been questioned, and therefore were sure to be condemned in the worst; (what fuel it was to the fire that ensued, shall be mentioned in its place;) and drew the same prejudice upon the whole body of the clergy, to which before only some few clergymen were exposed. The papists had for many years enjoyed a great calm, being upon the matter absolved from the severest parts of the law, and dispensed with for the gentlest; and were grown only a part of the revenue, without any probable danger of being made a sacrifice to the law. They were looked upon as good subjects at court, and as good neighbours in the country; all the restraints and reproaches of former times being forgotten. But they were not prudent managers of this prosperity, being too elate and transported with the protection and connivance they received: though I am persuaded their numbers increased not, their pomp and boldness did to that degree, that, as if they had affected to be thought dangerous to the state, they appeared more publicly, entertained and urged conferences more avowedly, than had been before known: they resorted at common hours to mass to Somerset house, and returned thence in great multitudes, with the same barefacedness as others came from the Savoy or the neighbour churches: they attempted and sometimes obtained proselytes of weak uninformed ladies, with such circumstances as provoked the rage and destroyed the charity of great and powerful families, which longed for their suppression: they grew not only secret contrivers, but public professed promoters of, and ministers in, the most odious and the most grievous projects as in that of soap, formed, framed, and executed, by almost a corporation of that religion; which, under that license and notion, might be, and were suspected to be, qualified for other agitations. The priests, and such as were in orders, (orders that in themselves were punishable by death,) were departed from their former modesty and fear, and were as willing to be known as to be hearkened to; insomuch as a Jesuit at Paris, who was coming for England, had the boldness to visit the ambassador there, who knew him to be such, and, offering his service, acquainted him with his journey, as if there had been no laws here for his reception. And for the most envious protection and countenance of that whole party, a public agent from Rome (first Mr. Con, a Scottishman; and after him the count of Rozetti, an Italian) resided at London in a great port; publicly visited the court; and was avowedly resorted to by the catholics of all conditions, over whom they assumed a particular jurisdiction; and was caressed and presented magnificently by the ladies of honour, who inclined to that profession. They had likewise, with more noise and vanity than prudence would have admitted, made public collections of money to a considerable sum, upon some recommendations from the queen, and to be by her majesty presented as a free-will offering from his catholic subjects to the king, for the : carrying on the war against the Scots; which drew upon them the rage of that nation, with little devotion and reverence to the queen herself; as if she desired to suppress the protestant religion in one kingdom as well as the other, by the arms of the Roman catholics. To conclude, they carried themselves so, as if they had been suborned by the Scots to root out their own religion. The bulk and burden of the state affairs, whereby the envy attended them likewise, lay principally upon the shoulders of the lord archbishop of Canterbury, the earl of Strafford, and the lord Cottington; some others being joined to them, as the earl of Northumberland for ornament, the lord bishop of London for his place, being lord high treasurer of England, the two secretaries, sir Henry Vane and sir Francis Windebank, for service, and communication of intelligence; only the marquis of Hamilton indeed, by his skill and interest, bore as great a part as he had a mind to do, and had the skill to meddle no further than he had a mind. These persons made up the committee of state, (which was reproachfully after called the juncto, and enviously then in the court the cabinet council,) who were upon all occasions, when the secretaries received any extraordinary intelligence, or were to make any extraordinary despatch, or as often otherwise as was thought fit, to meet: whereas the body of the council observed set days and hours for their meeting, and came not else together except specially summoned. But, as I said before, the weight and the envy of all great matters rested upon the three first. The archbishop, besides the sole disposal of whatsoever concerned the church, which was an envious province, having been from the death of the earl of Portland (at which time he was made commissioner of the treasury) more engaged in the civil business, than I am persuaded he desired to be; and throughout the whole business passionately concerned for the church of Scotland, and so, conversant in those transactions: by all which means, besides that he had usually about him an uncourtly quickness, if not sharpness, and did not sufficiently value what men said or thought of him; a more than ordinary prejudice and uncharitableness was contracted against him; to which the new canons, and the circumstances in making them, made no small addition. The earl of Strafford had for the space of almost six years entirely governed Ireland, where he had been compelled, upon reason of state, to exercise many acts of power; and had indulged some to his own appetite and passion, as in the cases of the lord chancellor, and the lord Mount-Norris; the first of which was satis pro imperio; but the latter, if it had not concerned a person notoriously unloved, and so the more unpitied, would have been thought the most extravagant piece of sovereignty, that in a time of peace had been ever executed by any subject. When and why he was called out of Ireland to assist in council here, I have touched before. He was a man of too high and severe a deportment, and too great a contemner of ceremony, to have many friends at court, and therefore could not but have enemies enough he had two that professed it, the earl of Holland, and sir Henry Vane: the first could never forget or forgive a sharp sudden saying of his, (for I cannot call it counsel or ad vice,) when there had been some difference a few years before between his lordship and the lord Weston, in the managing whereof the earl of The lord Cottington, though he was a very wise man, yet having spent the greatest part of his life in Spain, and so having been always subject to the unpopular imputation of being of the Spanish faction, indeed was better skilled to make his master great abroad, than gracious at home; and being chancellor of the exchequer from the time of the dissolution of the parliament in the fourth year, had his hand in many hard shifts for money; and had the disadvantage of being suspected at least a favourer of the papists, (though that religion thought itself nothing beholding to him,) by which he was in great umbrage with the people and then though he were much less hated than either of the other two, and the less, because there was nothing of kindness between the archbishop and him; and indeed very few particulars of moment could be proved against him: yet there were two objections against him, which rendered him as odious as any to the great reformers; the one, that he was not to be reconciled to, or made use of in, any of their designs; the other, that he had two good offices, without the having of which their reformation could not be perfect: for besides being chancellor of the exchequer, he was likewise master of the wards, and had raised the revenue of that court to the king to be much greater than it had ever been before his administration; and by which husbandry, all the rich families of England, of noblemen and gentlemen, were exceedingly incensed, and even indevoted to the crown, looking upon what the law had intended for their protection and preservation, to be now applied to their destruction; and therefore resolved to take the first opportunity to ravish that jewel out of the royal diadem, though it were fastened there by the known law, upon as unquestionable a right, as the subject enjoyed any thing that was most his own. The marquis of Hamilton, if he had been then weighed in the scales of the people's hatred, was at that time thought to be in greater danger than any one of the other; for he had more enemies, and fewer friends, in court or country, than either of the other. His interest in the king's affections was equal, and thought to be superior to any man's; and he had received as envious instances, and marks of those affections. He had more outfaced the law in bold projects and pressures upon the people, than any other man durst have presumed to do, as especially in the projects of wine and iron; about the last of which, and the most gross, he had a sharp contest with the lord Coventry, (who was a good wrestler too,) and at last compelled him to let it pass the seal: the entire profit of which always reverted to himself, and to such as were his pensioners. He had been the sole manager of the business of Scotland till the pacification; the readiest man, though then absent, to advise that pacification, and the most visible author of the breach of it. Lastly, the discoveries between the lord Mackey and David Ramsey, wherein the marquis was accused of designing to make himself king of Scotland, were fresh in many men's memories, and the late passages in that kingdom had revived it in others; so that he might reasonably have expected as ill a presage for himself from those fortunetellers, as the most melancholic of the other but as he had been always most careful and solicitous for himself, so he was most likely to be apprehensive on his own behalf, and to provide accordingly. And here I cannot omit a story, which I received from a very good hand, by which his great subtilty and industry for himself may appear, and was indeed as great a piece of art (if it were art) as I believe will be found amongst the modern politicians. After the calling the council of the peers at York was resolved upon, and a little before the time of their appearance, the marquis came to the king, and with some cloudiness (which was not unnatural) and trouble in his countenance, he desired his majesty to give him leave to travel: the king, surprised, was equally troubled at it, and demanded his reason: he told him, "he well "foresaw a storm, in which his shipwreck was "most probable amongst others; and that he, 66 never having any thing before his eyes but his majesty's service, or in his vows, but an entire "simple obedience to his commands, might haply, "by his own unskilfulness in what was fit by any "other rule, be more obnoxious than other men ; "and therefore, that, with his majesty's leave, he "would withdraw himself from the hazard at least 66 66 66 "of that tempest.” The king, most graciously inclined to him, bad him "be most confident, that though he might (which he was resolved to do) gratify his people with any reasonable indulgence, "he would never fail his good servants in that protection which they had equal reason to expect "from him." The marquis with some quickness replied, "that the knowledge of that gracious disposition in his majesty was the principal cause "that he besought leave to be absent; and that "otherwise he would not so far desert his own "innocence, which he was sure could be only "sullied and discredited with infirmities and in"discretions, not tainted or defaced with design "and malice. But (said he) I know your majesty's goodness will interpose for me to your own prejudice and I will rather run any fortune, from "whence I may again return to serve you, than "be (as I foresee I should be) so immediate a cause of damage and mischief to so royal a mas"ter." He told him, "that he knew there were no less fatal arrows aimed at the archbishop of Canterbury and the earl of Strafford than at "himself; and that he had advertised the first, " and advised the last, to take the same course he "meant to secure himself by withdrawing: but "(he said) the earl was too great-hearted to fear, "and he doubted the other was too bold to fly." The king was much disturbed with the probability and reason of what was said; which the other as soon observing, "There is (said he) one way by "which I might secure myself without leaving the kingdom, and by which your majesty, as these "times are like to go, might receive some advantage: but it is so contrary to my nature, and will "be so scandalous to my honour in the opinion of men, that, for my own part, I had rather run 'my fortune." His majesty, glad that such an expedient might be found, (as being unwilling to hazard his safety against so much reason as had been spoken, by compelling him to stay; and as unwilling, by suffering him to go, to confess an apprehension that he might be imposed upon,) impatiently asked, "What that way was?" The marquis replied, "That he might endear himself to "the other party by promising his service to them, "and seeming to concur with them in opinions "and designs; the which he had reason to believe "the principal persons would not be averse to, in hope that his supposed interest in his majesty's opinion might be looked upon as of moment to "them for their particular recommendations. But (he said) this he knew would be immediately "looked upon with so much jealousy by other "men, and shortly with that reproach, that he might by degrees be lessened even in his majesty's own trust; and therefore it was a province he "had no mind to undertake:" and so renewed his suit again very earnestly for leave to travel. 66 66 66 66 The king, for the reasons aforesaid, much delighted with this expedient, and believing likewise, that in truth he might by this means frequently receive animadversions of great use, and having a singular esteem of the fidelity and affection of the marquis, told him positively, "That he should not "leave him; that he was not only contented, but "commanded him to ingratiate himself by any means with the other people;" and assured him, "that it should not be in any body's power to 66 "infuse the least jealousy of him into his royal "breast." The which resolution his majesty observed so constantly, that the other enjoyed the liberty of doing whatsoever he found necessary for his own behoof; and with wonderful craft and low condescensions to the ends and the appetites of very inferior people, and by seasonable insinuations to several leading persons (of how different inclinations soever) of such particulars as were grateful to them, and seemed to advance their distinct and even contrary interests and pretences, he grew to have no less credit in the parliament, than in the Scottish commissioners; and was with great vigilance, industry, and dexterity, preserved from any public reproach in those charges which served to ruin other men, and which with more reason and justice might have been applied to him than against any other; and yet for a long time he did not incur the jealousy of the king; to whom he likewise gave many advertisements, which, if there had been persons enough who would have concurred in prevention, might have proved of great use. In this state and condition were things and persons when the lords came to York to the great council in September; and the first day of their meeting (that the counsel might not seem to arise from them who were resolved to give it, and that the queen might receive the honour of it; who, the king said, had by a letter advised him to it; as his majesty exceedingly desired to endear her to the people) the king declared to them, "that he was "resolved to call a parliament to assemble at " Westminster the third day of November follow"ing;" which was as soon as was possible. So the first work was done to their hands, and they had now nothing to do but to dispose matters in order against that time, which could not well be done without a more overt conversation with the Scots. For though there was an intercourse made, yet it passed for the most part through hands whom the chief had no mind to trust as the lord Savile; whom his bitter hatred to the earl of Strafford, and as passionate hope of the presidentship of the north, which the earl had, made applicable to any end; but otherwise a person of so ill a fame, that many desired not to mingle with him. For, besides his no reputation, they begun now to know that he had long held correspondence with the Scots before their coming in, and invited them to enter the kingdom with an army; in order to which, and to raise his own credit, he had counterfeited the hands of some other lords, and put their names to some undertakings of joining with the Scots; and therefore they were resolved to take that negociation out of his hands, (without drawing any prejudice upon him for his presumption,) which they had quickly an opportunity to do. For the first day of the lords' meeting, a petition is presented to his majesty full of dutiful and humble expressions from the Scots, who well knew their time, and had always (how rough and undutiful soever their actions were) given the king as good and as 'submissive words as can be imagined. This petition, full of as much submission as a victory itself could produce, (as was urged by some lords,) could not but beget a treaty, and a treaty was resolved on speedily to be at Rippon, a place in the king's quarters: but then, special care was taken, by cautions given to his majesty, that no such ungracious person might be intrusted by him in this treaty as might beget jealousies in the Scots, and so render it fruitless: and therefore the 66 66 66 66 every honest man thought at present to be in "great danger, by the exorbitant power of the archbishop of Canterbury, and some other bishops "who were governed by him." It was no hard matter to insinuate into the persons with whom they held this discourse, that they were the persons to whom they wished all trust should be communicated, and that they were the very men who they wished should be in most credit about the king; and they concluded that their affections were so great to this kingdom, and that all grievances might be reduced here, that if they might receive present satisfaction in all that concerned themselves, they would not yet return, till provision might likewise be made for the just interest of England, and the reformation of what was amiss there with reference to church and state. particularly, of the three persons towards whom their greatest prejudice was, the archbishop, the earl of Strafford, and the marquis of Hamilton, (for in their whole discourses they seemed equally at least incensed against him, as against either of the other two,) whom they resolved should be removed from the king. They spake in confidence "of the "excess of the queen's power, which in respect of "her religion, and of the persons who had most interest in her, ought not to prevail so much upon the king as it did in all affairs. That the king could never be happy, nor his kingdoms When these commissioners from the king arrived flourish, till he had such persons about him in all at Rippon, there came others from the Scots' army places of trust, as were of honour and experience of a quality much inferior, there being not above "in affairs, and of good fortunes and interests in two noblemen, whereof the lord Lowden was the "the affections of the people; who would always chief, two or three gentlemen and citizens, and "inform his majesty that his own greatness and Alexander Henderson their metropolitan, and two "happiness consisted in the execution of justice, or three other clergymen. The Scots applied " and the happiness of his subjects; and who are themselves most particularly to the earls of Bed- "known to be zealous for the preservation and ford, Essex, Holland, and the lord Mandevile," advancement of the protestant religion, which though in public they seemed equally to caress them all; and besides the duty they professed to the king in the most submiss expressions of reverence that could be used, they made great and voluminous expressions "of their affection to the kingdom and people of England; and remembered "the infinite obligations they had from time to "time received from this nation; especially the "assistance they had from it in their reformation "of religion, and their attaining the light of the gospel; and therefore as it could never fall into "their hearts to be ungrateful to it, so they hoped "that the good people of England would not enter"tain any ill opinion of the manner of their coming "into this kingdom at this time in a hostile man"ner, as if they had the least purpose of doing wrong to any particular persons, much less to "alter any thing in the government of the kingdom; protesting, that they had the same tender"ness of their laws and liberties, and privileges, " as of their own; and that they did hope, as the oppressions upon their native country, both in "their civil and spiritual rights, had obliged them "to this manner of address to the king, to whom all access had been denied them by the power of "their enemies; so, that this very manner of their coming in might be for the good of this kingdom, and the benefit of the subjects 'thereof, in the giving them opportunity to vindicate their "own liberties and laws; which, though not yet "so much invaded as those of Scotland had been, "were enough infringed by those very men who "had brought so great misery and confusion upon that kingdom; and who intended, when they had finished their work there, and in Ireland, to "establish the same slavery in England as they "had brought upon the other two kingdoms. All which would be prevented. by the remove of three or four persons from about the king; whose own gracious disposition and inclinations would bountifully provide for the happiness of all his dominions, if those ill men had no influence upon his counsels." 64 66 66 6 There was not a man of all the English commissioners to whom this kind of discourse was not grateful enough, and who did not promise to himself some convenience that the alterations which were like to happen might produce. And with those lords with whom they desired to enter into greater confidence, they conferred more openly and This appeared so hopeful a model to most of the king's commissioners, that having no method prescribed to them to treat in, (and were indeed sent only to hear what the Scots would propose, the king himself then intending to determine what should be granted to them,) they never considered the truth of any of their allegations, nor desired to be informed of the ground of their proceedings; but patiently hearkened to all they said in public, of which they intended to give an account to the king; and willingly heard all they said in private, and made such use of it as they thought most conduced to their own ends. The Scottish commissioners proposed, "that, for the avoiding the "effusion of Christian blood, there might be some way found to prevent all acts of hostility on either side; which could not possibly be done, except some order was given for the payment of "their army, which was yet restrained to close "and narrow quarters." And the truth is, they were in daily fear that those quarters would have been beaten up, and so the ill courage of their men too easily discovered, who were more taught to sing psalms, and to pray, than to use their arms; their hopes of prevailing being, from the beginning, founded upon an assurance that they should not be put to fight. There had been in that infamous rout at Newburn two or three officers of quality taken prisoners, who endeavouring to charge the enemy with the courage they ought to do, being deserted by their troops could not avoid falling into the Scots' hands; two of which were Wilmot, who was commissary general of the horse, and O'Neile, who was major of a regiment; both who were officers of name and reputation, and of good esteem in the court with all those who were incensed against the earl of Strafford, towards whom they were both very indevoted. Those gentlemen were well known to several of the principal commanders in the Scots' army, (who had served together with them in Holland under the prince of Orange,) and were treated with great civility in their camp; and when the commissioners came to Rippon, they brought them with them, and presented them to the king by his commissioners, to whom they were very acceptable; and did those who delivered them more service by the reports they made of them in the army when they returned to their charges, and in the court, than they could have done by remaining prisoners with them; and contributed very much to the irreconciling the army to the earl of Strafford, who was to command it. After few days the commissioners returned to the king at York, and gave him an account of what had passed, and of the extraordinary affection of the Scots to his majesty's service; and Wilmot and O'Neile magnified the good discipline and order observed in the army, and made their numbers to be believed much superior to what in truth they were. 66 any such attempt out of respect to the treaty;" and the English commissioners thought themselves neglected and affronted by it. And when it was found that the officer who conducted that enterprise was a Roman catholic, it made more noise; and they prevailed with the king to restrain his general from giving out any more such orders. And the king began so far to dislike the temper of his commissioners, that he thought the parliament itself would be more jealous of his honour, and more sensible of the indignities he suffered by the Scots, than the commissioners appeared to be; and therefore he sent them back to Rippon again to renew the treaty, and to conclude a cessation of arms upon as good terms as they could; so that the Scots' army might not advance into Yorkshire, nor enlarge their quarters any way beyond what they were already possessed of: and this concession being agreed to, they should not enter upon any other particulars, but adjourn the treaty to London; which was the only thing the Scots desired, and without this they could never have brought their designs to pass. When the other lords returned to Rippon, the earl of Pembroke (as a man of a great fortune, and at that time very popular) was sent with two or three other lords to London, with a letter from the king, and a subscription from the lords commissioners of the Three of the commissioners, and no more, were treaty (which was then more powerful) to borrow of the king's council, the earls of Pembroke, Salis- two hundred thousand pounds from the city, for bury, and Holland, who were all inspired by the the payment of both armies whilst the cessation Scots, and liked well all that they pretended to and treaty should continue; "which they hoped desire. Besides those, the king had nobody to "would quickly be at an end, and the Scots return consult with but the lord keeper Finch, the duke" into their own country." The city was easily of Richmond, the marquis of Hamilton, the earl of Strafford, and sir Harry Vane, principal secretary of state. The first of which, the lord keeper, was obnoxious to so many reproaches, that, though his affection and fidelity was very entire to the king, all his care was to provoke no more enemies, and to ingratiate himself to as many of those who he perceived were like to be able to protect him, which he knew the king would not be able to do; and towards this he laboured with all industry and dexterity. The duke of Richmond was young, and used to discourse with his majesty in his bedchamber rather than at the council-board, and a man of honour and fidelity in all places; and in no degree of confidence with his countrymen, because he would not admit himself into any of their intrigues. The marquis had leave to be wary, and would give his enemies no new advantages.' Nor indeed was there any man's advice of much credit with the king, but that of the earl of Strafford; who had no reason to declare his opinion upon so nice a subject in the presence of the earl of Holland and sir Harry Vane; and thought there was only one way to be pursued, (which was not to be communicated at the council,) and that was to drive the Scots out of the kingdom by the army: and without considering what was done at the treaty, (which had not yet agreed upon any cessation,) he sent a good party of horse, commanded by major Smith, to fall upon a Scottish quarter in the bishopric of Durham, who defeated two or three of their troops, and took all the officers prisoners, and made it manifest enough that the kingdom might be rid of the rest, if it were vigorously pursued; which the earl of Strafford heartily intended. But Lesley, the Scottish general, complained "that he himself had forborne to make persuaded to furnish the money, to be repaid out of the first that should be raised by the parliament; which was very shortly to meet. And the commissioners at Rippon quickly agreed upon the cessation; and undertook to pay fifty thousand pound the month for the support of the Scots' army, when they did assign but thirty thousand pound the month for the king's; taking the Scots' commissioners' word for their musters, which made their numbers so much superior to the other; which two sums amounting to fourscore thousand pound, a sum too great for the kingdom to pay long, as was then generally believed. It was pretended that two months would put an end to the treaty; so that the two hundred thousand pounds, which the city had supplied, would discharge all to the disbanding: and in this hope the king confirmed the cessation, and sent a safe conduct for such commissioners as the Scots should think fit to send to London for the carrying on the treaty. All which being done, the king and the lords left York, that they might be at London before the beginning of the parliament; the earl of Strafford staying still in the north to put the army into as good a posture as he could, and to suppress the mutinous spirit it was inclined to; and, if it were possible, to dispose that great county (of which he had the entire command) to a better temper towards the king's service, and to a greater indignation towards the Scots; of whom they did not use to have too charitable an opinion. But in both these applications he underwent great mortification; the officers of the army every day asking his leave to repair to London, being chosen to serve in parliament; and when he denied to give them passes, they went away without them and the : |