Mr. Pym was made choice of for the messenger to perform that office. And this being determined, the doors were opened, and most of the house accompanied him on the errand.

declared, "that they should find the little finger of "the king's prerogative heavier upon them than "the loins of the law;" which expression, though upon after-examination it was found to have a quite contrary sense, marvellously increased the passion and prejudice towards him.

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It was about three of the clock in the afternoon, when the earl of Strafford, (being infirm, and not In conclusion, after many hours of bitter inveigh- well disposed in his health, and so not having stirred ing, and ripping up the course of his life before his out of his house that morning,) hearing that both coming to court, and his actions after, it was moved, houses still sat, thought fit to go thither. It was according to the secret resolution taken before, believed by some (upon what ground was never "that he might be forthwith impeached of high clear enough) that he made that haste then to "treason;" which was no sooner mentioned, than accuse the lord Say, and some others, of having it found an universal approbation and consent from induced the Scots to invade the kingdom: but he the whole [house]: nor was there, in the whole was scarce entered into the house of peers, when debate, one person who offered to stop the torrent the message from the house of commons was called by any favourable testimony concerning the earl's in, and when Mr. Pym at the bar, and in the name carriage, save only that the lord Falkland, (who of all the commons of England, impeached Thomas was very well known to be far from having any earl of Strafford (with the addition of all his other kindness for him,) when the proposition was made titles) of high treason, and several other heinous for the present accusing him of high treason, mo- crimes and misdemeanours, of which he said the destly desired the house to consider, "Whether it commons would in due time make proof in form; "would not suit better with the gravity of their and in the mean time desired in their name, that proceedings, first to digest many of those par- he might be sequestered from all councils, and be "ticulars, which had been mentioned, by a com- put into safe custody; and so withdrawing, the earl "mittee? declaring himself to be abundantly satis- was, with more clamour than was suitable to the "fied that there was enough to charge him before gravity of that supreme court, called upon to withthey sent up to accuse him :" which was very draw, hardly obtaining leave to be first heard in his ingenuously and frankly answered by Mr. Pym, place, which could not be denied him. "That such a delay might probably blast all their And he then lamented "his great misfortune to hopes, and put it out of their power to proceed "lie under so heavy a charge; professed his inno"farther than they had done already; that the cence and integrity, which he made no doubt he "earl's power and credit with the king, and with "should make appear to them; desired that he "all those who had most credit with king or queen, might have his liberty, until some guilt should was so great, that when he should come to know "be made appear; and desired them to consider, "that so much of his wickedness was discovered, "what mischief they should bring upon them"his own conscience would tell him what he was "selves, if upon such a general charge, without 66 to expect; and therefore he would undoubtedly "the mention of any one crime, a peer of the procure the parliament to be dissolved, rather "realm should be committed to prison, and so "than undergo the justice of it, or take some other deprived of his place in that house, where he desperate course to preserve himself, though with was summoned by the king's writ to assist in "the hazard of the kingdom's ruin: whereas, if "their counsel; and of what consequence such they presently sent up to impeach him of high" a precedent might be to their own privilege "treason before the house of peers, in the name "and birthright:" and then withdrew. " and on the behalf of all the commons of England, with very little debate the peers_resolved "that "who were represented by them, the lords would he should be committed to the custody of "be obliged in justice to commit him into safe "the gentleman usher of the black-rod, there custody, and so sequester him from resorting to "to remain until the house of commons should "council, or having access to his majesty and bring in a particular charge against him:" which "then they should proceed against him in the usual determination of the house was pronounced "form with all necessary expedition." to him at the bar upon his knees, by the lord keeper of the great seal, upon the woolsack and so being taken away by Maxwell, gentleman usher, Mr. Pym was called in, and informed what the house had done; after which (it being then about four of the clock) both houses adjourned till the next day.

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To those who were known to have no kindness for him, and seemed to doubt whether all the particulars alleged, being proved, would amount to high treason, it was alleged, "That the house of "commons were not judges, but only accusers, and "that the lords were the proper judges whether "such a complication of enormous crimes in one person did not amount to the highest offence the "law took notice of, and therefore that it was fit "to present it to them." These reasons of the haste they made, so clearly delivered, gave that universal satisfaction, that, without farther considering the injustice and unreasonableness of it, they voted unanimously, (for aught appeared to the contrary by any avowed contradiction,) "That they "would forthwith send up to the lords, and accuse the earl of Strafford of high treason, and several ' other crimes and misdemeanours, and desire that he might be presently sequestered from [the] council, and committed to safe custody ;" and

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:

And

When this work was so prosperously over, they began to consider, that notwithstanding all the industry that had been used to procure such members to be chosen, or returned though not chosen, who had been most refractory to the government of the church and state; yet that the house was so constituted, that when the first heat (which almost all men brought with them) should be a little allayed, violent counsels would not be long hearkened to: and therefore, as they took great care by their committee of elections to remove as many of those members as they suspected not to be inclinable to their passions upon pretence "that they "were not regularly chosen,' "that so they might

bring in others more compliable in their places; in which no rules of justice was so much as pretended to be observed by them; insomuch as it was often said by leading men amongst them, That they ought in those cases of elections to be guided by the fitness and worthiness of the per'son, whatever the desire of those was, in whom "the right of election remained ;" and therefore one man hath been admitted upon the same rule by which another hath been rejected: so they declared, "That no person, how lawfully and regularly soever chosen and returned, should be "and sit as a member with them, who had been a party or a favourer of any project, or who "had been employed in any illegal commission." And by this means (contrary to the custom and rights of parliament) many gentlemen of good quality were removed, in whose places commonly others were chosen of more agreeable dispositions: but in this likewise there was no rule observed; for no person was hereby removed, of whom there was any hope that he might be applied to the violent courses which were intended. Upon which occasion the king charged them in one of his declarations, "that when, under that notion of "projectors, they expelled many, they yet never questioned sir Henry Mildmay, or Mr. Laurence Whitaker ;" who had been most scandalously engaged in those pressures, though since more scandalously in all enterprises against his majesty; to which never any answer or reply was made.

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faulty in it; and it was observable, when, notwithstanding all their diversions, that business was brought into debate, and upon that (which could not be avoided) the lord Finch named as an avowed factor and procurer of that odious judgment; who, if their rule were true," that an en"deavour to alter the government by law, and to "introduce an arbitrary power, were treason," was the most notoriously and inexcusably guilty of that crime of any man that could be named; before they would endure the mention of an accusation of high treason, they appointed a committee, with great deliberation and solemnity, to bring in a charge formally prepared, (which had not been done in the case of the lord archbishop, or the earl of Strafford,) and then gave him a day to be heard for himself at the house of commons' bar, and so, against all order, to take notice of what was handled in the house concerning him; and then finding that, by their own rules, he would be likewise accused of high treason, they continued the debate so long, that the lords' house was risen, so that the accusation was not carried up till the next morning; and before that time, the lord keeper (being well informed of all that had passed) had withdrawn himself; and shortly after went into Holland: the lord Littleton, then chief justice of the court of common pleas, being made keeper of the great seal of England in his place.

About the same time, sir Francis Windebank, one of the principal secretaries of state, and then The next art was to make the severity and a member of the house of commons, was accused rigour of the house as formidable as was possible, of many transactions on the behalf of the papists, and to make as many men apprehend themselves of several natures, (whose extraordinary patron obnoxious to the house, as had been in any trust indeed he was,) and he being then present in the or employment in the kingdom. Thus they passed house, several warrants under his own hand were many general votes concerning ship-money, in produced for the discharge of prosecutions against which all who had been high-sheriffs, and so col- priests, and for the release of priests out of prison: lected it, were highly concerned. The like sharp whereupon, whilst the matter should be debated, conclusions [were made] upon all lords lieutenants according to custom he was ordered to withdraw, and their deputies, which were the prime gentle- and so went into the usual place, the committeemen of quality in all the counties of England. chamber; immediately whereupon, the house of Then upon some disquisition of the proceedings in commons went to a conference with the lords the star-chamber, and at the council-table, all upon some other occasion, and returning from who concurred in such a sentence, and consented that conference, no more resumed the debate of to such an order, were declared criminous, and to the secretary; but having considered some other be proceeded against. So that, in a moment, all business, rose at their usual hour; and so the the lords of the council, all who had been deputy secretary had liberty to go to his own house; lieutenants, or high sheriffs, during the late years, from whence, observing the disposition of the found themselves within the mercy of these grand house, and well knowing what they were able to inquisitors: and hearing new terms of art, that a say against him, he had no more mind to trust complication of several misdemeanours might himself in that company, but the same night grow up to treason, and the like, it was no wonder withdrew himself from any place where inif men desired by all means to get their favour quiry might be made for him, and was no more and protection. heard of till the news came of his being landed in France.

When they had sufficiently startled men by these proceedings, and upon half an hour's debate sent up an accusation against the lord archbishop of Canterbury of high treason, and so removed him likewise from the king's council, they rested satisfied with their general rules, votes, and orders, without making haste to proceed either against things or persons; being willing rather to keep men in suspense, and to have the advantage of their fears, than, by letting them see the worst that could befall them, lose the benefit of their application. For this reason they used their utmost skill to keep off any debate of ship-money, that that whole business might hang like a meteor over the heads of those that were in any degree

So that within less than six weeks, for no more time was yet elapsed, these terrible reformers had caused the two greatest counsellors of the kingdom, and whom they most feared, and so hated, to be removed from the king, and imprisoned, under an accusation of high treason; and frighted away the lord keeper of the great seal of England, and one of the principal secretaries of state, into foreign kingdoms, for fear of the like; besides the preparing all the lords of the council, and very many of the principal gentlemen throughout England, who (as was said before) had been high sheriffs, and deputy lieutenants, to expect such measure of punishment from their general

votes and resolutions, as their future demeanour should draw upon them, for their past offences; by which means, they were like to find no very vigorous resistance or opposition in their farther designs.

tody, and immediately carried him to the secretary; and within few days after, the priest was discharged, and at liberty. The jailor, in whose custody he had been put for debt, was arrested by the parties grieved, and he again sued the messenger, who appealed for justice to the house of commons against the secretary.

And this case had been presented to the com

I could never yet learn the reason, why they suffered secretary Windebank to escape their justice, (for the lord Finch, it was visible he was in their favour, and they would gladly have pre-mittee, and was ready to be reported, with all served him in the place,) against whom they had more pregnant testimony of offences within the verge of the law, than against any person they have accused since this parliament, and of some that, it may be, might have proved capital, and so their appetite of blood might have been satisfied: for, besides his frequent letters of intercession in his own name, and signification of his majesty's pleasure, on the behalf of papists and priests, to the judges, and to other ministers of justice; and protections granted by himself to priests, that nobody should molest them; he harboured some priests in his own house, knowing them to be such; which, by the statute made in the twentyninth year of queen Elizabeth, is made felony: and there were some warrants under his own hand for the release of priests out of Newgate, who were actually attainted of treason, and condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered; which, by the strict letter of the statute, the lawyers said, would have been very penal to him.

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I remember one story brought into the house concerning him, that administered some mirth: A messenger, (I think his name was Newton,) who principally intended the service of apprehending priests, came one day to him in his garden, and told him, "that he had brought "with him a priest, a stirring and active person, whom he had apprehended that morning; and desired to know to what prison he "should carry him." The secretary sharply asked him," Whether he would never give over "this blood-thirsty humour?" and in great anger calling him knave, and taking the warrant from him by which he had apprehended him, departed without giving any other direction. The messenger, appalled, thought the priest was some person in favour, and therefore took no more care of him, but suffered him to depart. The priest, freed from this fright, went securely to his lodgings, and within two or three days was arrested for debt, and carried in execution to prison. Shortly after, secretary Windebank sent for the messenger, and asked him, "What was become "of the priest he had at such a time brought "before him ?" He told him, "that he con

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"ceived his honour had been offended with the apprehension of him, and therefore he had looked "no farther after him." The secretary in much passion told him, "the discharging a priest was no light matter; and that if he speedily found "him not, he should answer the default with his "life; that the priest was a dangerous fellow, "and must not escape in that fashion." The messenger, besides his natural inclination to that exercise, terrified with those threats, left no means untried for the discovery, and at last heard where the man was in execution in prison thither he went, and demanded the priest (who was not there known to be such) as his prisoner formerly, and escaped from him; and by virtue of his first warrant took him again into his cus

those warrants under his own hand before mentioned, at the time when secretary Windebank was in the house. Besides that, he was charged by the lords, by message or at a conference, for the breach of privilege at the dissolution of the last parliament, and signing warrants for the searching the studies and papers of some members; for which, according to the doctrine then received, he might have been put into the custody of the sergeant of the house. But as the last occasion was not laid hold of, because it would have inevitably involved his brother secretary, sir Harry Vane, who was under the same charge, and against whom indeed that charge was aimed: so, it seems, they were contented he should make an escape from any trial for the rest; either, because they thought his place would be sooner void by his flight than by his trial, which would have taken up some time, and required some formality, they [having] designed that place to Mr. Hollis; or, that they thought he would, upon any examination, draw in somewhat to the prejudice of sir Henry Vane, whom they were to protect and so they were well content with his escape; so the house deferred the farther debate till the next morning, before which time he chose to retire, and transported himself into France.

Having made their first entrance upon business with this vigour, they proceeded every day with the same fervour; and he who expressed most warmth against the court and the government, was heard with the more favour; every day producing many formed elaborate orations against all the acts of state which had been done for many years preceding. That they might hasten the prosecution of the earl of Strafford, which was their first great design, they made a close committee of such members as they knew to be most for their purpose, who should, under an obligation of secrecy, prepare the heads of a charge against him; which had been never heard of before in parliament: and that they might be sure to do their business effectually, they sent a message to the house of peers, to desire them "to nominate a select committee "likewise of a few, to examine upon oath such "witnesses, as the committee of the house of "commons for preparing the charge against the "earl of Strafford should produce before them, "and in their presence, and upon such interroga"tories as they should offer;" which, though it was without precedent or example, the lords presently consented to, and named such men as knew well what they had to do. Then they caused petitions to be every day presented, by some who had been grieved by any severe sentences, in the starchamber, or committed by the lords of the council, against lords lieutenants of counties, and their deputy lieutenants, for having levied money upon the country, for conducting and clothing of soldiers, and other actions of a martial nature, (which had been always done by those officers so qualified,

from the time of queen Elizabeth, and was prac- | ambition would not be satisfied with offices and tised throughout her reign,) and against sheriffs, preferment, without some condescensions and alfor having levied ship-money. Upon all which terations in ecclesiastical matters. He had for petitions (the matter being pressed and aggravated many years been the oracle of those who were still upon every particular by some member of note called puritans in the worst sense, and steered all and authority, upon which) all the acts how formal their counsels and designs. He was a notorious and judicial soever, and without so much as hear- enemy to the church, and to most of the eminent ing the sentences or judgments read, were voted churchmen, with some of whom he had particular "to be illegal, and against the liberty and property contests. He had always opposed and contradicted "of the subject; and that all who were guilty of all acts of state, and all taxes and impositions, "such proceedings should be proceeded against which were not exactly legal, and so had as emi"for their presumption, and should likewise pay nently and as obstinately refused the payment of "damages to the persons injured." ship-money as Mr. Hambden had done; though By which general votes (all passed within three the latter, by the choice of the king's council, had or four days after the sitting of the parliament) brought his cause to be first heard and argued, they had made themselves so terrible, that all with which judgment that was intended to conclude privy-counsellors, as well for what they had done the whole right in that matter, and to overrule all at the board, as in the star-chamber; (where in- other cases. The lord Say would not acquiesce, deed many notable sentences had passed, with some but pressed to have his own case argued, and was excess in the punishment;) all lords lieutenants, so solicitous in person with all the judges, both who for the most part were likewise counsellors, privately at their chambers, and publicly in the whereof all were of the house of peers; and then court at Westminster, that he was very grievous to all who were deputy lieutenants, or had been them. His commitment at York the year before, sheriffs since the first issuing out of writs for the because he refused to take an oath, or rather subcollection of ship-money, whereof very many were scribe a protestation, against holding intelligence then of the house of commons; found themselves with the Scots, when the king first marched against involved under some of those votes, and liable to them, had given him much credit. In a word, he be proceeded against upon the first provocation; had very great authority with all the discontented whereby they were kept in such awe, both in the party throughout the kingdom, and a good reputaone house and the other, as if they were upon tion with many who were not [discontented,] who their good behaviour, that they durst not appear believed him to be a wise man and of a very useful to dislike, much less to oppose, whatsoever they temper, in an age of license, and one who would proposed. still adhere to the law.

All persons imprisoned for sedition by the starchamber upon the most solemn examination and the most grave deliberation, were set at liberty, that they might prosecute their appeals in parliament. In the mean time, though there were two armies in the bowels of the kingdom, at the monthly expense of no less than one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, care was taken only to provide money to pay them, without the least mention that the one should return into Scotland, and the other be disbanded, that so that vast expense might be determined: but, on the contrary, frequent insinuations were given, "that many great things "were first to be done before the armies dis"band;" only they desired the king, "that all "papists might be forthwith cashiered out of his "army," which his majesty could not deny; and so some officers of good account were immediately dismissed.

It will not be impertinent nor unnatural to this present discourse, to set down in this place the present temper and constitution of both houses of parliament, and of the court itself, that it may be the less wondered at, that so prodigious an alteration should be made in so short a time, and the crown fallen so low, that it could neither support itself and its own majesty, nor them who would appear faithful to it.

Of the house of peers, the great contrivers and designers were-The earl of Bedford, a wise man, and of too great and plentiful a fortune to wish a subversion of the government; and it quickly appeared, that he only intended to make himself and his friends great at court, not at all to lessen the court itself.

The lord viscount Say, a man of a close and reserved nature, of a mean and a narrow fortune, of great parts, and of the highest ambition, but whose

The lord Mandevile, eldest son to the lord privyseal, was a person of great civility, and very well bred, and had been early in the court under the favour of the duke of Buckingham, a lady of whose family he had married: he had attended upon the prince when he was in Spain, and had been called to the house of peers in the lifetime of his father, [by the name of the lord Kimbolton,] which was a very extraordinary favour. Upon the death of the duke of Buckingham, his wife being likewise dead, he married the daughter of the earl of Warwick; a man in no grace at court, and looked upon as the greatest patron of the puritans, because of much the greatest estate of all who favoured them, and so was esteemed by them with great application and veneration: though he was of a life very licentious, and unconformable to their professed rigour, which they rather dispensed with, than to withdraw from a house where they received so eminent a protection, and such notable bounty. From this latter marriage the lord Mandevile totally estranged himself from the court, and upon all occasions appeared enough to dislike what was done there, and engaged himself wholly in the conversation of those who were most notoriously of that party, whereof there was a kind of fraternity of many persons of good condition, who chose to live together in one family, at a gentleman's house of a fair fortune, near the place where the lord Mandevile lived; whither others of that classis likewise resorted, and maintained a joint and mutual correspondence and conversation together with much familiarity and friendship: that lord, to support and the better to improve that popularity, living at a much higher rate than the narrow exhibition allowed to him by his wary father could justify, making up the rest by contracting a great debt, which long lay heavy upon him; by which generous way of living, and

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by his natural civility, good manners, and good "testant religion;" and then, by infusing terrible nature, which flowed towards all men, he was uni-apprehensions into some, and so working upon versally acceptable and beloved; and no man more their fears" of being called in question for somein the confidence of the discontented and factious "what they had done," by which they would stand party than he, and [none] to whom the whole mass in need of their protection; and raising the hopes of their designs, as well what remained in chaos as of others, "that, by concurring with them, they what was formed, was more entirely communicated, "should be sure to obtain offices, and honours, and and more consulted with. And therefore these any kind of preferment." Though there were three lords are nominated as the principal agents too many corrupted and misled by these several in the house of peers, (though there were many temptations, and others who needed no other tempthere of quality and interest much superior to either tations than from the fierceness and barbarity of of them,) because they were principally and abso- their own natures, and the malice they had conlutely trusted by those who were to manage all in tracted against the church and against the court; the house of commons, and to raise that spirit which yet the number was not great of those in whom was upon all occasions to inflame the lords. Yet the government of the rest was vested, nor were [it] being enough known and understood, that, there many who had the absolute authority to lead, how indisposed and angry soever many of them at though there were a multitude that was disposed present appeared to be, there would be still a major to follow. part there, who would, if they were not overreached, adhere to the king and the established government, and therefore these three persons were trusted without reserve, and relied upon so to steer, as might increase their party by all the arts imaginable; and they had dexterity enough to appear to depend upon those lords, who were looked upon as greater, and as popular men; and to be subservient to their purposes, whom in truth they governed and disposed of.

And by these artifices, and applications to his vanity, and magnifying the general reputation and credit he had with the people, and sharpening the sense he had of his late ill treatment at court, they fully prevailed [upon], and possessed themselves of, the earl of Essex; who, though he was no good speaker in public, yet, having sat long in parliament, and so well acquainted with the order of it in very active times, he was a better speaker there than any where else, and being always heard with attention and respect, had much authority in the debates. Nor did he need any incitement (which made all approaches to him the more easy) to do any thing against the persons of the lord archbishop of Canterbury and the lord lieutenant of Ireland, towards whom he professed a full dislike; who were the only persons against whom there was any declared design, and the Scots having in their manifesto demanded justice against those two great men, as the cause of the war between the nations. And in this prosecution there was too great a concurrence: Warwick, Brook, Wharton, Paget, Howard, and some others, implicitly followed and observed the dictates of the lords mentioned before, and started or seconded what they were directed.

In the house of commons were many persons of wisdom and gravity, who being possessed of great and plentiful fortunes, though they were undevoted enough to the court, had all imaginable duty for the king, and affection to the government established by law or ancient custom; and without doubt, the major part of that body consisted of men who had no mind to break the peace of the kingdom, or to make any considerable alteration in the government of church or state: and therefore all inventions were set on foot from the beginning to work on them, and corrupt them, by suggestions" of the dangers which threatened all that was precious "to the subject in their liberty and their property, by overthrowing or overmastering the law, and subjecting it to an arbitrary power, and by countenancing popery to the subversion of the pro

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Mr. Pym was looked upon as the man of greatest experience in parliament, where he had served very long, and was always a man of business, being an officer in the exchequer, and of a good reputation generally, though known to be inclined to the puritan party; yet not of those furious resolutions against the church as the other leading men were, and wholly devoted to the earl of Bedford, who had nothing of that spirit.

Mr. Hambden was a man of much greater cunning, and it may be of the most discerning spirit, and of the greatest address and insinuation to bring any thing to pass which he desired, of any man of that time, and who laid the design deepest. He was a gentleman of a good extraction, and a fair. fortune, who, from a life of great pleasure and license, 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 shewed in opposing the ship-money, raised his reputation to a very great height, not only in Buckinghamshire, where he lived, but generally throughout the kingdom. 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 conducted it to the conclusion he desired; and if he found he could not do that, he never was 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 modesty, and humility, and always of mistrusting his own judgment, and of 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 instruction he received upon the discourses of others, whom he had a wonderful art of governing, and leading into his principles 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.

Mr. Saint-John, who was in a firm and entire conjunction with the other two, was a lawyer of Lincoln's Inn, known to be of parts and industry, but not taken notice of for practice in Westminster