motives give, but, exulting in that strength, proceeded to use it like a conqueror.

The first measures that Charles adopted shewed confidence in his Parliament, and a generous trust in its generosity. His opening speech was gracious and judicious; he would not allow his ministers, in asking for a supply, to state any sum as the amount desired, relying on the readiness of the people, who called for a war with Spain, to give him the means of carrying it on. They gave but 140,000l., and that accompanied with almost as many grievances. Once entered on this theme, there seemed no end to it; and each matter of discussion was father of another. All the wrongs and iniquities of the past reign were marshalled in eloquent array as against the present; nothing was beyond the reach of this searching spirit, nothing too old or too recent, or too high or too low, for its inquisition. They deplored the state of the navy, and deprecated the sermons of Dr. Montagu; they denounced the contraction of their privileges, and the expansion of popery; they arraigned the foreign negotiations, alliances, and disgraces, and grumbled over Charles's letter to the Pope. They inquired into the disposal of subsidies

1 Afterwards, as if qualified by his unpopularity for that function, he was made a Bishop of Lichfield. His most unpopular works were, "A Gag for an old Goose," and " Appello Cæsarem."

2 In reference to recent debates in our own Parliament with respect to communication with the Pope, I quote Lilly, a Parliamentarian's opinion on the subject of Charles's letter when wooing the Infanta :-"Why he might not as well in a civil way

past and revenues to come, and put forth innumerable grievances. In fine, the King was to have the redressing of all their complaints, and in return they promised earnestly to interfere in every department of the government, by inquisition, by petition, and by advice.1

The King, though little grateful for all these labours, as yet preserved his temper; while the Parliament held him still fettered in the bonds of debt, and clipped the wings of his young ambition by keeping the fleet "money-bound" at Portsmouth." When, on account of the plague raging in London, the Houses were removed to Oxford, the King made another appeal to the liberality of the Commons: he frankly laid before them the state of the finances, withholding no document, offering every explanation. In vain; the Commons not only mocked the King's necessities by one of its smallest subsidies, but limited the grant of tonnage and poundage to a single year.3

It is necessary to bear in mind all this, because

write unto the Pope, as write and send his ambassador to the Great Turk, I know not; and for his mercy to the priests, truly, charity bids me to make rather a good than a bad construction of it."-Observations, &c. Maseres, 146.

1 Guizot's Revol. d'Anglet. i. 32.

2 Buckingham and the Treasurer of the Navy had advanced 100,000l. towards the equipment of this expedition against Spain.-Parl. Hist. vol. vi. p. 390.

3 Instead of for the King's life, as had been the custom for two centuries.-Constitutional Hist. i. 370. The Upper House resented this insult to the young King by rejecting the bill.Parl. Hist. vol. ii. p. 6.

1

the King and his party endeavoured to justify their future measures on the plea of necessity; they maintained, and with some justice, that the Commons had causelessly displayed a suspicious and distrustful temper towards their young Sovereign; and, so far from meeting his overtures with cordiality and frankness, had spoken and acted in a manner calculated to estrange and to disgust him. As there was nothing more to be had from it, the Parliament was dissolved (12th August, 1625): that first momentous Parliament, the only one in which a right understanding between Charles and the Commons was ever practicable.

The Duke of Buckingham, at this time, played the role of the King's evil genius, an office never vacant to those who are easily led. He was described, in the language of the time, as "an unwholesome cloud, drawn up from the earth by the rays of majesty, which darkened the setting, and obscured the rising, sun." For the sole gratifica

1 It has been asserted as a cause that Lord Bristol had "exposed" such conduct on the part of Charles, or at least of Buckingham, in the Spanish marriage treaty, as justified this suspiciousness! Moreover, that the toleration granted to Roman Catholics in honour of Henrietta Maria, was a very formidable crime.

2 Milton thus describes this fatal peculiarity of the King's :"Whether with his enemies or friends, in the court or camp, he was always in the hands of another now of his wife, then of the bishops; now of the peers, then of the soldiery; and lastly, of his enemies for the most part, too, he followed the worse counsel, and almost always, of the worser men."-Iconoclastes.

3 James I. took a fancy to Buckingham's handsome person as he

VOL. I.

L

7

tion of this favourite the war with Spain was declared and carried on. The people, disgusted with the issue of Mansfeldt's expedition,' had lost all interest in foreign invasion, and Charles and Buckingham had to conduct it as best they might. No soldier served under the incapable and arrogant favourite from choice; no chivalry followed his dishonoured banner; the Cavaliers (as yet unnamed as such) were seeking honour in the Palatinate, or in the camp of Prince Maurice; many of them were still mere coxcombs of the street, or honest country-gentlemen; and many a man who followed the royal standard afterwards, now wished the Parliament God speed, and a little more generosity.

was acting in the play of "Ignoramus." The intriguing nobles of the Court brought him forward to supplant Somerset, as those of France used to speculate on a new mistress for Louis XV. In 1614 we see him at Cambridge races, "in ragged clothes," subsisting on 50l. a-year.-(Sir S. D'Ewes). A few years afterwards at Court with 300,000l. worth of diamonds. The King compared his appearance to that of St. Stephen, "Acts," vi. 15, "whose face was as the face of an angel." Hence the name of "Steenie," so familiar in the letters and history of the time.Court of the Stuarts, ii. 282. The most outrageous applications of Scripture were common at this time. Lord Bacon, asking for Prince Charles's intercession with King James, says, "As I have been created by the father, let me be redeemed by the son."-Life of Abp. Williams.

1 Mansfeldt had sailed with twelve thousand troops for the rescue of the Palatinate, just before James's death. The French had sent no orders for his admission at Calais, so he sailed on to Zealand. Here, also, he was disappointed in permission to land. Half his forces perished by pestilence, and their dead bodies, washed on shore, were eaten by hogs.

2 Orders from the Council were sent to the Lord-lieutenants of counties, requiring them to levy, by way of loan, the sums required by the King.

In the absence of chivalric volunteers, however, the Court had abundance of a meaner sort: soldiers of fortune were plentifully engendered by the great war upon the continent; some creatures of Buckingham's were contented to follow his chief favourite, Lord Wimbledon;' and officered by these, were about ten thousand unhappy conscripts, raised by "press." This unpromising expedition sailed for Cadiz, but soon returned, disgraced, and thinned by sickness. It appears to have had rather a sort of buccaneering purpose than any organized plan of war; its principal object was the capture of some rich ships, whose spoil was calculated on to defray the expenses of the expedition, and to make up the balance by which the late Parliamentary grant fell short of the King's necessities. The Chancellor of Exchequer in those days had an unenviable budget; the Cadiz expedition had only increased its deficiencies, and the State was in fact insolvent.

The only and last resource was a SECOND PARLIAMENT; it assembled,3 firm in the same purpose of redressing wrongs and bringing to justice those who were considered as the enemies of the people. They voted, indeed, a grant for the King's neces

1 Edward Cecil.

2 "Privy Seals do fail, contributions are but mockeries, so that there is no way left but Parliament, although his Majesty hath wished the Lords to think of all other waies saving that one, and the Duke will keep off that as long as he can."-Court and Times of Charles I. Lond. 1848.

3 Feb. 6, 1626.