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THE LIFE OF 
 EDWARD, EARL OF CLARENDON 
 
U-O-rcL G'hcuiceMor 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 EDWARD 
 EARL OF CLARENDON 
 
 LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND 
 
 SIR HENRY QRAIK, K.C.B., LL.D. 
 
 MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR GLASGOW AND ABERDEEN UNIVERSITIES 
 
 WITH PORTRAITS 
 
 VOLUME I 
 
 LONDON 
 
 SMITH, ELDER & CO., 15, WATERLOO PLACE 
 1911 
 
 All rights restrotd 
 
PRINTED BY 
 
 WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED 
 
 LONDON AND BECCLHS 
 
PREFACE 
 
 To enter the domain of History by the pathway of Biography 
 is a task beset with peculiar doubts and difficulties. How 
 far is it permissible to stray from the narrow pathway we 
 have chosen, and expatiate upon aspects of the time, which 
 do not fall within the personal experience of him whose life 
 we attempt to pourtray ? If we restrict ourselves too much, 
 we move blindfold along an obscure track ; if we range too 
 freely, we lose the identity of the single stream we seek to 
 follow amidst a multitude of devious channels. In writing 
 Biography — above all, in writing the Biography of one who 
 has played a large part in the leading transactions of his 
 time — we must build up for ourselves a structure of general 
 history ; and, having done so, we must then knock ruthlessly 
 away, like temporary scaffolding, all that is not essential to 
 the personal figure which we attempt to present. 
 
 I do not propose to re-write the history of the Civil War 
 and its sequel. I wish only to depict the chai-acter, to 
 appreciate the motives, and to investigate the action of one 
 who was a foremost actor in the great struggle, and who 
 left the abiding impress of his hand in shaping its con- 
 sequences; and to claim for him the honour which he 
 deserves as one of England's great statesmen. I am quite 
 aware that, in so doing, I must dispute the adverse and 
 grudging estimates of those who have condemned and 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 belittled his work, and of those hardly less unfriendly critics 
 who have given him but faint and lukewarm praise. 
 
 The mass of documents that have to be studied, the con- 
 flicting accounts, the accumulating evidence that has to be 
 sifted, and the difficulty of making a selection from the ever- 
 increasing volume of testimony, present no inconsiderable 
 task. I do not claim to have unearthed new documents, 
 nor have I sought, from the obscure memorials that remain, 
 to adduce new facts that might rebut existing records. Even 
 to reproduce, in copious annotations, the foundations upon 
 which my narrative is based, would have encumbered my 
 main object, which is, by examining the evidence available, 
 to show to the ordinary reader, how the events of his time 
 presented themselves to Clarendon, how his part in them 
 was justified, and how sound are the reasons for believing 
 that part to be a great one. 
 
 I claim for Clarendon that he should be judged, not 
 according to the political ideas of a later day, but according 
 to the notions, the traditions, and, if you will, the prejudices, 
 of his own time. No statesman of any age but will, in time, 
 come to need such allowance. 
 
 I am aware that, by some, the biographical aspects of 
 history may be esteemed as but a subsidiary matter, falling 
 beneath the dignity of its more severe domain, and of its 
 larger theories, and foreign to what, in modern jargon, is 
 styled the Science of history. But in the general, and not 
 unsound, judgment of mankind, those aspects can never lose 
 their permanent interest. Above all is that paramount in 
 the case of Clarendon, whose predilection lay, and whose 
 genius was most conspicuously shown, in that sphere. 
 
 Amidst the tangled mass, through which we must make 
 our way in order to construct the story, I do not hesitate 
 to declare that I look chiefly to the great record — if we may 
 speak of it as one record — which he has himself left to us. 
 Of the origin and the later completion of that work, and 
 
PREFACE vii 
 
 the somewhat clumsy method by which the Life and the 
 History were amalgamated into one whole, of the divers 
 objects with which the different parts were written, and of 
 the conditions which affect the accuracy and authority of 
 each part, so much has been set forth, with ample knowledge 
 and insight, and with admirable lucidity, by Professor Firth,* 
 that it would be superfluous to discuss them further here. 
 Clarendon wrote part of his great work, in the midst of the 
 struggle, with abundant opportunity for consulting authori- 
 ties, and with earnest effort to detaU with accuracy the 
 events of which he treats. He wrote it primarily as a State 
 paper for the guidance of Statesmen. Another part he 
 wrote, at a far later date, at a distance from authorities, 
 and with the avowed object of leaving a vindication of his 
 action. They were welded together with somewhat doubt- 
 ful success in the latest years of his life, and when he was 
 a banished man. But of all parts alike we can at least say 
 that no conscious misrepresentation mars the essential truth 
 of his picture ; that where he touches lightly upon a special 
 topic, or omits any important episode, it is because it entered 
 but little into his own experience ; and that, therefore, for 
 the purposes of the biography, the dramatic record which 
 he has left us is of supreme and all-embracing value. No 
 individual's experience ever covered the whole arena over 
 which the history of his country was developing itself during 
 his lifetime. A man's action is to be judged, and his 
 character is to be estimated, from that portion of the stage 
 which he occupied. That colours the whole for him. From 
 that he judges, and on the basis of that he must frame his 
 own rules of conduct. Minute discrepancies and imperfect 
 knowledge are necessary accompaniments of human judg- 
 ment. But they do not affect the general honesty of a 
 man's conclusions, nor imply that his verdict on his age 
 was essentially at fault. 
 
 * In three articles in the English Historical Review for 1904. 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 Clarendon's narrative at least affords us an unerring 
 guide as to the motives, the aims, and the moral ground- 
 work of his life. 
 
 It is no part of my purpose to examine minutely the 
 literary side of Clarendon's work. Dr. Johnson's classic 
 verdict is well known ^ : 
 
 " His diction is neither exact in itself, nor suited to the 
 purpose of history. It is the effusion of a mind crowded 
 with ideas, and desirous of imparting them ; and therefore 
 always accumulating words, and involving one clause and 
 sentence in another. But there is in his negligence a rude 
 inartificial majesty, which, without nicety of laboured 
 elegance, swells the mind by its plenitude and effusion. 
 His narrative is perhaps not sufficiently rapid, being stopped 
 too frequently by particularities, which, though they might 
 strike the author who was present at the transactions, will 
 not equally detain the attention of posterity. But his 
 ignorance or carelessness of the art of writing is amply 
 compensated by his knowledge of nature and of policy, 
 the wisdom of his maxims, the justness of his reasonings, 
 and the variety, distinctness, and strength of his characters." 
 
 What to Johnson seemed lack of regularity may seem 
 to others not a very heinous fault. Many may hold that the 
 apparent redundancy and the impetuous and rugged jar in 
 the rhythm even enhance the artistic effect. 
 
 Clarendon's influence is chiefly interesting because he 
 created the abiding tradition of a great party in the State, 
 which lasted for at least a century and a half. It is none 
 the less interesting at this moment, when we seem to have 
 cut ourselves adrift from the Constitutional landmarks of 
 the past. 
 
 My thanks have been elsewhere expressed to Professor 
 Firth for his kind and helpful assistance and suggestions. 
 I am grateful to the Reverend J. H. Audland, Vicar of 
 
 ' Rambler, No. 122, 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 Dinton, and to the Reverend John Veysey, Vicar of Purton, 
 for their most useful guidance in regard to local traditions. 
 I am also much indebted to the Earl Spencer for permitting 
 the reproduction of the most interesting miniature of 
 Hampden, which appears as the frontispiece to Volume II. 
 
 HENRY CRAIK. 
 
 August, 1911. 
 
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I 
 
 CHAPTEB PAGE 
 
 I. Hyde's Eably Yeabs 1 
 
 II. Widening Experiences 33 
 
 III. The Scottish Tboubles and the Short Parliament . 63 
 
 IV. Hyde in the Early Days of the Long Parliament . 85 
 V. Hyde's Position becomes Defined .... 119 
 
 VI. Increasing Exasperation, and the War of Words . 138 
 
 VII. The Piest Campaign of the Civil War . . 161 
 
 VIII. Hyde in the ConET at Oxford 187 
 
 IX. Fighting and Parleying. ... . . 219 
 
 X. Disaster to the Royal Cause 252 
 
 XI. Defeat of the Royalist Cause ... . 279 
 
 XII. Exile and Broken Hopes 319 
 
 XIII. Cromwell's Protbctobatb 354 
 
LIST OF PORTRAITS 
 
 VOLUME I 
 
 Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, Lord Chancellor 
 
 From the original by Gerard Soest, in the National Portrait Gallery 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 TO FACE PAGE 
 
 Archbishop Laud 42 
 
 From the original by Sir Anthony Vandyke, ai Lambeth {reproduced hy 
 kind permission of the Archbishop of Canterbury) 
 
 Sir Thomas Wentworth, First Earl of Strafford . . 88 
 
 From the original hy Sir Anthony Vandyke, in the National Portrait 
 Gallery 
 
 Prince Rupert 174 
 
 From the original by Sir Anthony Vandyke 
 
 Lucius Caby, Lord Falkland . . .... 216 
 
 From the original in the Bodleian Library, Oxford 
 
 John Pym . . 228 
 
 From the original by Cornelius Janssen, in the Victoria and Albert 
 Museum 
 
 Jambs, First Duke of Hamilton 270 
 
 From the original by Sir Antlwny Vandyke, in the Collection of the 
 Duhe of Hamilton 
 
 Jambs, First Marquis of Montrose S28 
 
 From the original by Sir Anthony Vandyke 
 
 Francis, Baron Cottington 334 
 
 From the original in the National Portrait Gallery (painter unknown) 
 
LIFE OF EDWARD 
 
 EAKL OF CLAEENDON 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Hyde's early years 
 
 Edward Hyde, afterwards Earl of Clarendon and Lord 
 High Chancellor, was born at Dinton, in Wilts, nine miles 
 from Sahsbury,^ on February 18th, 160|. His father, 
 Henry Hyde, although a younger son, was the scion of a 
 family of long descent, and no small importance, in the county 
 of Cheshire. Henry Hyde's grandfather, Robert Hyde, who 
 died in 1531, possessed the estates of Hyde and Norbury in 
 that county. Of these, the Hyde estate seems to have 
 descended from father to son since the Norman conquest, 
 while that of Norbury was acquired by marriage in the 
 reign of Henry IH.^ The Cheshire estates remained in the 
 family during the Lord Chancellor's life. 
 
 Robert Hyde's younger son was Laurence Hyde, who was 
 bred to business in the office of the Auditor of the Exchequer; 
 and was employed in the affairs of Sir John Thynne, an 
 
 ' By a curious slip of memory with regard to a scene so familiar to his 
 childhood, Hyde, in his Life, speaks of Dinton as six miles from Salisbury. 
 
 ^ This is in accordance with the pedigree given in Ormerod's History 
 of Cheshire, but Clarendon's memory again misled him, and in his Life 
 he gives Norbury as the older family estate, to which that of Hyde was added 
 by marriage. The name itself would be enough to show that this was an 
 error. 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
2 HYDE'S EARLY YEARS [ohap. i 
 
 adherent of the Duke of Somerset.^ But his fortunes were 
 made by a marriage with the wealthy widow of Matthew 
 Calthurst, of Claverton, in Somerset, and her ample jointure 
 largely affected the career of the subject of this biography 
 and of his father. After his marriage, Laurence Hyde found 
 himself able to purchase the considerable estate of West 
 Hatch, in Wilts, some seven miles from Dinton, and there 
 he brought up a large family, all of whom attained to notable 
 positions. Each of his four daughters married landed pro- 
 prietors of esteem in Wilts. The eldest son, Robert, suc- 
 ceeded to the estate of West Hatch, and had a numerous 
 progeny. Laurence, the second, acquired large practice as 
 a lawyer, and became Attorney- General to Queen Anne of 
 Denmark, the consort of James L The youngest, Nicholas, 
 became Lord Chief Justice. Pedigrees are proverbially 
 treacherous guides, and we are apt to distrust them when 
 they represent unbroken descents from father to son for five 
 hundred years. But it is proved beyond the possibility of 
 cavil, that the Hyde family was one of respectable and 
 even honourable descent, and that, in point of antiquity of 
 known lineage, it was inferior to few even of the noble 
 families of the seventeenth century.^ They were a 
 numerous clan, and had struck their roots deep in the soil of 
 their country. They had the further guarantee of strength, 
 that they were hnked by a bond of " kindliness " as well as 
 of kinship. Hyde himself records of his grandfather's 
 family that " the great affection between the four brothers 
 and towards their sisters, of whom all enjoyed plenty and 
 
 ' In 1550, Laurence Hyde obtained a grant of land in the neighbourhood 
 of Hindon, near Dinton, from Edward VI. (Hoare's History of Wilts). 
 
 ■ " The Hydes derived their wealth from being able, through their 
 position as lawyers, to deal advantageously with the lands, parsonages, and 
 tithes of the then recently dissolved religious houses" {Notes on the Hydes 
 of Wiltshire and Cheshire, by Mr. J. J. Hammond, of Salisbury, in Wiltshire 
 Notes and Queries). Not few of the noble families acquired their wealth from 
 the same source. 
 
1609] HIS PARENTAGE 3 
 
 contentedness, was very notorious throughout the country, 
 and a credit to them all." No unpleasant picture, it will be 
 admitted, of an English country family in the days of Queen 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 We have seen the careers pursued by three of the four 
 sons of Laurence Hyde ; but it is with Henry, the third son, 
 that we are most concerned. He was the favourite son of 
 his mother, the wealthy dowager, to whom her husband had be- 
 queathed the greater part of his own estate, while she was also 
 amply endowed, in her own right, by her previous husband. 
 By his father's will, Henry Hyde inherited only an annuity 
 of forty pounds, charged upon the impropriate rectory of 
 Dinton, which belonged to the family,^ and which Laurence 
 Hyde had left to his widow for her life. Like his brothers 
 Laurence and Nicholas, Henry Hyde was bred for the law, 
 but " he had no mind to its practice." All the four brothers 
 were sent to the University of Oxford ; but it was Henry 
 upon whom the studies of the University produced most 
 effect. He was, his son tells us, " a very good scholar " ; nor 
 was he ready to restrain that wider range of study for the 
 drudgery of a profession, even though the rewards might be as 
 lucrative as those of the law proved to his brothers. Unlike 
 these brothers, Henry was not content to be confined to 
 those routine careers which suited the conventional tastes and, 
 in a plodding way, had advanced the fortunes of the eminently 
 respectable, but not enterprising, family to which he belonged. 
 He had long " had an inclination to travel beyond the seas." 
 But travelhng beyond the seas was no safe matter in the 
 days of Queen Elizabeth, whose subjects often found that 
 the aggressive policy of their Queen did not ensure them 
 a friendly reception in foreign countries. Merchants and 
 
 ' The rectory and advowsou of Dinton had before the Reformation 
 belonged to the Benedictine Convent of Shaftesbury. It afterwards belonged 
 to the Hydes, and in 1722 it was assigned by Robert Hyde, D.C.L., of West 
 Hatch, to Magdalen CoUege, Oxford, to which it still belongs. 
 
4 HYDE'S EAELY YEARS [chap, i 
 
 soldiers were almost the only classes who ventured abroad ; 
 and the Hyde tradition pointed neither to commerce nor the 
 sword. Weak health was the excuse by which Henry Hyde 
 obtained his mother's consent to his going to Spa, and from 
 there he was able to extend his travels further. He journeyed 
 through Germany, into Italy ; stayed at Florence and Vienna, 
 and even abode for a time at Rome. Eome was a forbidden 
 dwelling-place for EHzabeth's subjects. They went there 
 against the orders of their Queen, and were not unhkely to 
 feel the weight of her suspicion when they returned. And 
 even if they dared to neglect her orders, they had to expect 
 no friendly reception from those they met in Eome. But 
 Hyde had all the family shrewdness and caution, and he had 
 a good friend and protector in Cardinal Allen — " the last 
 English cardinal." He returned safe and sound to England, 
 even from the hostile Rome of Sixtus V. 
 
 His mother now found that the wanderings of her favourite 
 son had lasted long enough, and that it was time for him to 
 marry and settle. He had satisfied the desire of a livelier 
 fancy than inspired his brothers, by a modicum of travel, and 
 now the homing instinct of his family reasserted its force. 
 His mother added material inducements. Not only did she 
 resign to him her own life-interest in the rectory of Dinton, 
 but she purchased from his brother Laurence the life-interest 
 in that rectory for the life of Henry and his wife ; and upon 
 this provision, and the hopes of his mother's further bounty, 
 Henry secured the hand of an heiress belonging to an impor- 
 tant county family in Wilts— Mary, the daughter of Edward 
 Langford, of Trowbridge. His experience of foreign parts 
 did not disquahfy Henry Hyde for playing his part as a 
 country gentleman at home. He settled down at Dinton, 
 and his character and capacity, cultivated by scholarship 
 and enlarged by other scenes, enabled him to exercise an 
 unusual influence in his neighbourhood. With due allowance 
 
1609] HIS FATHEE'S CHARACTEE 5 
 
 for filial affection, we may accept the description of his 
 son — 
 
 " He lived . . . with great cheerfulness and content . . . 
 being a person of great knowledge and reputation, and of 
 so great esteem for integrity, that most persons near him 
 referred all matters of contention and difference which did 
 arise amongst them to his determination : by which that 
 part of the country lived in more peace and quietness than 
 many of their neighbours." 
 
 In the reign of Elizabeth, he served in Parliament on 
 several occasions, so that his life was not entirely a private 
 one. But after the Queen's death, he never again returned 
 to London : — 
 
 " And his wife, who was married to him above forty 
 years, never was in London in her life : the wisdom and 
 frugality of that time being such, that few gentlemen made 
 journeys to London, or any other expensive journeys, but 
 upon important business, and their wives never : by which 
 providence they enjoyed and improved their estates in the 
 country, and kept good hospitahty in their houses, brought 
 up their children well, and were beloved by their neighbours. "^ 
 
 In these words Hyde not only gives us a vivid picture of 
 the quaint life that these squires and their dames led in the 
 days of the great Queen : the sunlit memory of a happy 
 home also fell brightly on the page as he wrote. 
 
 That home, where Henry Hyde lived " with great cheer- 
 fulness and content," was at the little village of Dinton, 
 nestling in the valley, on the left hand of the old high-road, 
 which then ran on the top of the ridge, from Salisbury to 
 Exeter. From that high-road steep pack-roads plunge down 
 into the valley, between high overhanging rocks, topped 
 by trees ; and at their foot lies the village, with its thirteenth - 
 century church, in outward aspect much as it must have 
 
 ' Clarendon, Li^e, i. 5. 
 
6 HYDE'S EARLY YEARS [chap, i 
 
 been when Edward Hyde spent his childhood there. The 
 dominant note of the whole landscape is peacefulness : the 
 quiet of lush meadows Ijang just below the village, with 
 undulating arable land beyond, and farther the belts and 
 clumps of thick foliage, with the wide-stretching dowiis above. 
 England has no softer and gentler aspect, and none, perhaps, 
 which has altered less in the three hundred years that have 
 passed since Hyde was born. With no outstanding feature, 
 the church is a goodly specimen of a fine period of Gothic 
 architecture, and is one of which the village may well be 
 proud. The interior has suffered, hke so many of its brethren, 
 from banal restoration ; but there still remain some fragments 
 of very beautiful old glass, which must have been more 
 abundant when Hyde was there as a boy : the old thirteenth- 
 century font, where he was christened on the 23rd of 
 February, 1609; and some replicas of brasses which told of 
 members of the Hyde family buried there, the originals of 
 which have disappeared under some vandal hand. 
 
 No record or tradition fixes with certainty the situation 
 of Henry Hyde's house, and the birthplace of his famous son. 
 A yew tree some hundred yards south-west of the present 
 rectory was said by tradition to mark the site, but it was cut 
 down by an iconoclastic vicar early in last century. We 
 may, perhaps, not unreasonably maintain that Henry Hyde 
 resided in the rectory itself, and that it was on the site of the 
 present rectory that the future Chancellor was born. There 
 are solid grounds for the belief. The present rectory was 
 rebuilt about 1760 by a vicar who had been a Fellow of 
 ]\Iagdalen, and who introduced into the facade reminiscences 
 of the back quadrangle of that college. But it embraces 
 some old buildings, of an extent and solidity which hardly 
 seem suitable for an ordinary village rectory. There is 
 particularly a massive culverhouse, or pigeon-house, which 
 was more in keeping with the abode of the landed squire than 
 
1609] HOME AT DINTON 7 
 
 of the landless parson. We have to remember, also, the 
 notable fact that from the earliest time until now the 
 curious arrangement has always prevailed at Dinton, that 
 the Eectory House did not go with the benefice, but is the ex- 
 clusive property of the lay rector, to whom the vicar still pays 
 a nominal rent. What more hkely than that Henry Hyde, 
 as lay rector, occupied his own house, and allowed the vicar, 
 his own nominee and the tutor of his sons, to live in the 
 so-called Church House, a substantial building in the church- 
 yard, which only a generation ago was stUl tenanted, and 
 which is now crumbling into ruina ? We like to give local 
 habitations to cherished memories, and shall continue to 
 believe that Edward Hyde played about the culverhouse, 
 and wandered about these ample granaries, until proof is 
 shown to the contrary. Within a few yards, at least, we can 
 fix his birthplace. 
 
 It is but trifling to waste time in searching out the local 
 surroundings throughout the life of a busy man, and in 
 attempting the vain and fanciful task of tracing the impres- 
 sions he may have drawn from them. With no one would 
 such an attempt be more ridiculous than with Clarendon.^ 
 But it is not fanciful to conclude that a scene and surround- 
 ings such as those amidst which Clarendon's childhood was 
 passed were not without effect in shaping his temperament 
 and character. Dinton reflected, at its best, the peace and 
 restfulness of Enghsh country life, which he always loved. 
 Close above it passed the great thoroughfare to the west, 
 where the boy could see the passing of a world larger than 
 his own, of whose wonders he would hear from the father 
 who had been travelhng while his more conventional brethren 
 
 ' Being fairly familiar with the great mass of Hyde's writings, I have 
 attempted, in vain, to recall a single sentence in which he describes a scene 
 in nature, any incident in which such a scene plays any part^ or even any 
 epithet, or any metaphor, which proves him to have had any vivid sense of 
 natural scenery or of its dramatic elements. 
 
8 HYDE'S EARLY YEARS [chap, i 
 
 had been plodding at the law. That father was a leader and 
 a guide to the neighbourhood, and all around him were 
 scattered happy homes of his relations where young Hyde 
 would always be a welcome guest. The venerable and 
 stately church lay at his door, and its lessons were enforced 
 by the personal belief and ardent devotion of his father, who 
 found in the creed and ritual of the Church of England a 
 type to which his experiences at Rome had made him doubly 
 attached. Within a few miles was Salisbury, his constant 
 and familiar resort — fittest type of the chaste beauty and 
 ordered symmetry of the Church of which he was to be so 
 notable a champion. Surely no other spot in England, and 
 no other surroundings, could have inspired the boy Edward 
 Hyde with deeper love for the ordered ways and seemly life 
 of the best type of the English country gentleman, or linked 
 that hfe more closely with the stately ritual of the Church, 
 and the dignified and hallowed beauty of her surroundings. 
 Hyde's boyhood breathed the very atmosphere of the 
 squire's Hall and the parson's vicarage — both at their 
 best.i 
 
 But the best and strongest influence on his life as a boy 
 was that of his father, to whom he owed most of his early 
 education. Hyde was no product of the public school. 
 He was brought up at home ; and although he was under 
 the charge of the vicar, to whom his father had given the 
 presentation, and who, although he had always been a school- 
 master, was " of very indifferent parts," ^ he was chiefly 
 trained " by the care and conversation of his father." That 
 father was, as his son tells us, " omnifariam doctus," and, 
 
 1 It is worth noting that Henry Lawes, the musician, friend of Milton and 
 of Waller, was bom at Dinton some dozen years before Edward Hyde. It 
 is at least likely that the seemlineas of the services in Dinton Church, which 
 now contains an organ in memory of Lawes, owed much to the genius of 
 this young musician. An elder brother, William, also a musician, joined 
 the Royalist forces, and was killed in 1645 by a chance shot. 
 
 ■ Life, i. 6. 
 
1622] HYDE AT OXFORD 9 
 
 ■with his help, Hyde was found to be fit for the University 
 at thirteen years of age. 
 
 Cheerful and contented as Henry Hyde was, his life had 
 not been free from sorrow. His eldest and his youngest sons, 
 Laurence and Nicholas, had both died in infancy. Henry, 
 the second son, had proceeded to Oxford, but his career 
 there was not entirely satisfactory, and he died at the age 
 of twenty-six.^ But between the father and his third son, 
 Edward, there was the warmest affection and intimacy, and 
 Henry Hyde lived long enough to know that the care he had 
 spent upon that son's training was not thrown away. 
 
 Hyde was taught from the first that " he had to make 
 his fortune by his own industry," however much prosperous 
 relations might smooth the way. He was at first destined 
 for Holy Orders, and with that view he went to Oxford in 
 1622. 
 
 Helpful as the family influence might be, the engine of 
 patronage did not at first work very smoothly for young 
 Hyde. It was not uncommon for a royal letter to be sent 
 to the College authorities,^ directing the election to the 
 foundation of any favoured youth. Such a letter 
 was written on behalf of Hyde to the President of 
 Magdalen ; but " upon pretence that the letter came too 
 late, though the election had not yet begun," ^ he was not 
 chosen. He remained at Magdalen Hall, under the sound 
 tuition of Mr. John OUver, " a scholar of eminency." It is 
 
 ' Clarendon tells us that when he himself went to Oxford, the discipline 
 was bad, " the custom of drinking being too much introduced and prac- 
 tised;" and he adds that "his elder brother having been too much corrupted 
 in that kind, and so having, at his first coming, given him some liberty, at 
 least some example, towards that Ueense." This may have been the first 
 cause of the extreme disgust with which Clarendon, like his master, 
 Charles I., always regarded that vice. 
 
 ' Curiously enough, it was by Royal Dispensation, conveyed through 
 Clarendon, that Locke was enabled to hold his studentship at Christ Church 
 without taking Holy Orders. 
 
 ^ Clarendon, Ltfe, i. 7. The injury evidently rankled long in the 
 Chancellor's breast, because these words were written in 1670. 
 
10 HYDE'S EARLY YEARS [chap, i 
 
 interesting to note that forty years later, after Oliver had 
 endured the troubles in store for a " malignant " under 
 Cromwell, he was restored to the Presidency of Magdalen 
 College, in 1660, and next year became Dean of Worcester 
 by the appointment of his former pupil, then Lord Chancellor. 
 But the authorities of Magdalen College were not allowed 
 long to lurk under excuses for not obeying the royal mandate. 
 The President duly received " reprehension " from Lord 
 Conway, as Secretary of State, for the previous neglect, and 
 the omission was repaired— more, it would seem, in appear- 
 ance than reality— by Hyde's being chosen for the first 
 vacant demyship ; but as no vacancy occurred within a 
 year, Hyde was none the better for the empty comphment. 
 Before he was settled at Magdalen College, a change came 
 over his prospects. His elder brother was to be trained for 
 the law. He had been destined for the Church ; but the 
 death of that elder brother— whether hastened by his 
 libations or not — now altered his father's plans. Edward 
 was now to be trained for the law, and he was accordingly 
 entered as a student of the Middle Temple by his uncle, 
 Nicholas Hyde, afterwards Lord Chief Justice, and now 
 Treasurer of the Inn. Owing to the plague in London he 
 did not at once join the Inn of Court, but spent the year 
 partly at his father's house, and partly at the University, 
 where he took his degree. He then quitted Oxford (as he 
 tells us with that refreshing candour that puts lights and 
 shadows equally into his own portraiture, and that does not 
 even omit a touch of well-developed self-complacency) " rather 
 with the opinion of a young man of parts and pregnancy of 
 wit, than that he had improved it much by industry." It 
 is a source of never-failing comfort when we can persuade 
 ourselves that mother-wit has had more influence in our 
 career than plodding industry. In retrospect Hyde laid 
 some blame for his own laziness upon the laxity of University 
 
1625] ENTEES MIDDLE TEMPLE 11 
 
 rule : " The discipline of that time," he writes, " was not 
 so strict as it hath been since, and as it ought to be." We 
 do not often find a man, in after-reminiscences, /regretting 
 that he had not been driven in youth with a tighter rein. 
 But we must not forget Clarendon's profound contempt for 
 the brutish vice of drunkenness, and his disgust at slovenly- 
 manners, and the habits of the taproom — too often visible 
 in the Oxford coteries of the day. It is permissible to fancy 
 that, in these words, he was reflecting upon the University 
 as a school of manners quite as much as a school of morals. 
 It was perhaps with sarcastic reference to the grossness not 
 uncommon in the Oxford of his time, rather than in regret 
 for its lack of moral edification, that he deemed it to be a 
 fortunate circumstance for himself that his father removed 
 him early from its influence. But he is good enough to add, 
 that for his alma mater he always reserved a " high esteem." 
 It was not till near the end of 1625 that he went, with his 
 uncle the Treasurer, to London to begin his studies, being 
 then in his seventeenth year. But his plans were again 
 upset. On the very evening of his arrival, when he was 
 attending prayers in the Temple Church, he was seized with 
 illness, which proved to be the beginning of a severe attack 
 of ague, that long held him in its grip. He was obliged to 
 quit London, and to recover his health he went to his 
 father's new home at Pirton,i in Wilts, some four miles from 
 Swindon. His father had now quitted Dinton, where he 
 held only a life interest in his house, and had settled on the 
 land which he had purchased some time before at Pirton. 
 
 > Pirton, Pyreton, or Purton, as it is now spelt (the name is said to be 
 derived from pirus, and to signify a pear-orchard), is a village a few miles 
 from Swindon. The College Farm, which is said to have been Henry 
 Hyde's house, and to have been the birth-place of Anne Hyde, afterwards 
 Duchess of York, is a well-preserved structure of fine architecture, now 
 occupied as a farm-house. It contains two beautifully carved oak fire-places, 
 one of them with the arms of Henry Hyde's mother's family. A little apart 
 from the village there is a group of cottages, still called " The Hyde " — a 
 name which also marks a coppice near the village of Dinton. 
 
12 HYDE'S EAELY YEARS [chap, i 
 
 While young Hyde was laid aside by illness, from which he 
 did not recover for nearly a year, his uncle Nicholas was 
 made Lord Chief Justice in succession to Sir Randolph Crew, 
 who was intractable on the subject of the legality of levying 
 taxes without the authority of Parliament, and in regard to 
 the right of the Crown to imprison recusants. Sir Nicholas 
 owed his advancement to the Duke of Buckingham (the 
 brilliant favourite whose career was now so near its close), 
 and its price was, no doubt, a dutiful compliance with the 
 behests of the Crown. The new Chief Justice was a pains- 
 taking, but not a distinguished; lawyer. Whether from 
 conviction of the justice of the Crown's contention, or from 
 pliability, he did not rival the stubbornness of Crew ; but 
 he was cautious enough to give no opinion until he had an 
 opportunity of consulting his colleagues, and compelling 
 them to share the responsibility of his judicial decisions. 
 He was a useful tool, but not a courageous ally; of arbitrary 
 power. In manner he was reserved and surly, and had 
 none of that dignity of mien or that social tact which his 
 famous nephew cultivated so carefully, and for which he 
 was, perhaps, in some degree indebted to the fashionable 
 companions of his more wayward hours. 
 
 The enforced leisure of a year had not improved Hyde's 
 habits of application, and his time, when he once more 
 resumed his legal studies in London, was occupied rather 
 with the gay society round him than with the mysteries of 
 the law. The Inns of Court still retained much of the 
 character they had during the reigns of Elizabeth and her 
 predecessors. They were then the resort of many of the 
 younger sons of the great nobles, who went there with no 
 purpose of practice, but only to learn something of the law, 
 and who brought with them habits of luxury and lavish 
 expense. In the days of Charles I. this was still to some 
 extent the custom, as Hyde's experience proved. With 
 
1626] LIFE IN LONDON 13 
 
 edifying misgivings, he recalled in later years the dangers 
 he ran from the frivolous and profligate society into which 
 he was thrown, composed largely of wealthy idle men, and 
 of those soldiers of fortune who alternated service in France 
 and the Spanish Netherlands with long bouts of idleness 
 at home ; but his misgivings were always mingled with 
 a shrewd estimate of the value of that knowledge of 
 the world that he had thereby gained. " When he did 
 indulge himself in the liberty, it was without any signal 
 debauchery, and not without some hours every day, at 
 least every night, spent amongst his books." So Hyde 
 writes long years afterwards, with no vein of morbid self- 
 condemnation — to which, indeed, he was not addicted — 
 and the reminiscence proves that even as a youth he had that 
 strongest element of will that knows how to set a limit to 
 self-indulgence short of ascetic abstinence. The experience 
 might be a risky one, but it was no bad training for one 
 whose destiny was to lead him into many quicksands, and 
 bring him into contact with many unscrupulous knaves, 
 that he should thus early see something of Alsatia and make 
 the acquaintance of her denizens. Neither these, nor any 
 early lessons, made Hyde an astute time-server, or taught 
 him dexterity in manipulating the characters of his fellow- 
 men to his own purposes. Only later and hardly-bought 
 experience was to teach him to fathom the depths of human 
 knavery. But he did learn now that bold and wholesome 
 self-confidence, and that readiness to view hfe with well- 
 balanced perspicacity, that proved helpful to the boy in his 
 teens, and were to sustain the man throughout the perplexing 
 episodes of a singularly chequered career. A wholesome 
 dread of his uncle, the Chief Justice, kept his idleness within 
 bounds. Almost every night the old judge propounded to 
 him a case in law, and young Hyde had to abstract sufficient 
 time from his pleasures to prepare a thesis upon it. Perhaps 
 
14 HYDE'S EARLY YEARS [chap, i 
 
 we may trace the promise of that power of quick concentration 
 that was to serve Hyde in after-years, when, amidst the clash 
 of civil war, he had to ply his practised pen under compulsion 
 of another sort, and when the business was of a more serious 
 kind than the concocting of replies to legal problems that 
 would pass muster before his legal Mentor. But these 
 exercises, however dutifully performed, claimed com- 
 paratively little of young Hyde's attention. What leisure 
 his boon companions allowed him was given mostly to 
 literature and to history, and but little to the musty 
 conundrums of the law. 
 
 In 1628, it was arranged between his father and Sir 
 Nicholas that the youth should ride the Norfolk circuit 
 with his uncle. Such journeys were rightly esteemed as an 
 admirable school for acquiring knowledge of the different 
 counties — separated from one another by distinctions of 
 usages and manners which it is hard for us to realize ; and 
 in long subsequent days Hyde regretted that he had had so 
 few opportunities for carrying them out.^ In this case 
 there was the additional inducement of escaping from London, 
 then invaded by an epidemic of small-pox. But the " riding " 
 lasted but a short time, and young Hyde was struck down at 
 Cambridge by a virulent attack of the very disease which he 
 left London to escape. The seizure was so severe that for 
 some time his life was despaired of, and his friends and the 
 physician " consulted of nothing but the place and manner 
 of his burial." He lay ill for a month, and then had once 
 more to return to his father's house at Pirton for a long 
 period of convalescence. Such was one of the most dread 
 scourges of pre-Harveyan days ! 
 
 Once more he renewed that reading with his father from 
 which he had gained so much in earlier days. It was on an 
 August day in 1628 that he and his father were reading 
 
 ' Life, i. 32. 
 
1628] HIS FIRST MARRIAGE 15 
 
 a passage in Camden's Annals,^ where the historian of 
 London tells how a certain " John Felton " had been detected 
 in the act of affixing the papal Bull to the doors of the Bishop 
 of London's palace, when they were interrupted by a knock 
 at the door. Their visitor told them that a post had just 
 passed through the village, carrying to the Earl of Berkshire 
 at Charleton the news that the Duke of Buckingham had 
 been assassinated the day before^ at Portsmouth by one 
 " John Felton." 
 
 The death of the all-powerful favourite produced a 
 sudden change in the public atmosphere. The excitement 
 of foreign wars soon ended. Things settled down into 
 a more humdrum course. Those mutations, which held 
 the " spirits of young men at gaze," died down, and Hyde 
 returned soon to London, apparently with the edifying 
 resolution to keep his attention more concentrated on the 
 steady pursuit of his profession. 
 
 But something else soon happened, still more fitted to 
 " call home all straggling and wandering appetites." Hyde 
 tells us, in a curious vein of sarcasm against himself, that his 
 first inclination to marriage " had no other passion in it than 
 an appetite to a convenient estate." Perhaps his retrospect 
 was scarcely just to his own early romance. But, however 
 
 ' The passage quoted by Clarendon {Life, i. p. 11) is taken from the 
 Second Part of the Latin version of Camden's Annals of the Reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth, published in 1615, the English translation of that part 
 not being published till 1629. It refers to the bold action talien, in 1570, 
 by John Felton, an ardent Roman Catholic, of ancient lineage and great 
 wealth, in resistance to the Queen's defiance of the Pope. His high 
 position did not save him from the torture of the rack, and from being 
 hanged. The coincidence of names is cm-ious, no less than the fortuitous 
 incident mentioned by Clarendon. The first John Felton's family belonged 
 to Norfolk, and that of his later namesake to Suffolk. The first Felton 
 was held to have suffered justly, although his action harmed no one, and 
 his courage and sincerity were indubitable. The second was an obscure 
 and crazy fanatic, who nursed some petty grievance of his own, and was 
 guilty of a dastardly murder. He was exempt from torture ; and when he 
 was justly hanged, the populace acclaimed him as a martyr. 
 
 ' August 24th, Bartholomew Day. 
 
16 HYDE'S EARLY YEARS [chap, i 
 
 prompted, he now formed an attachment, approved by both 
 families, for the daughter of Sir George Ayhffe, a Wiltshire 
 gentleman of high rank and good f ortune.^ In 1 629 they were 
 married, and the prospect before the young couple seemed 
 a bright one. But before six months were gone, as they were 
 journeying from London to Pirton, the young bride fell sick 
 of small-pox at Reading, and died in two days. For one of 
 Hyde's temperament, the blow was a crushing one, and the 
 words with which he recalls his loss in long after-years may 
 perhaps justify us in concluding that the memory of this 
 his first love was never eifaced by new attachments, and 
 that it rested upon a stronger foundation than selfishness and 
 expediency. " It shook all the frame of his resolutions," he 
 tells us, and only his duty to his father kept him from 
 abandoning his profession and going abroad " to enjoy his 
 own melancholy." But Hyde's innate courage never allowed 
 him to indulge the morbid fancies of hypochondria too long ; 
 and he checked that wandering instinct which he had perhaps 
 inherited from his father. Once more a stalwart will was 
 called into play to force him to pursue his path. For a time 
 he seems to have remained at Pirton, but before long he was 
 again in London, disciplining himself for the work of his 
 profession, and finding in it perhaps distraction, if not some 
 solace, in his grief. 
 
 His position in that profession was now seriously altered. 
 He was no longer to trust to the powerful patronage of a 
 Lord Chief Justice. Old Sir Nicholas's career lasted only 
 
 ' Through hia first wife, Hyde became connected with the Villiers family 
 and the Dukes of Buckingham. The earliest -vvriting of his which we possess 
 is a tract on The Difference and Disparity between the Estate and Con- 
 dition of George, Duke of Buckingham, and Robert, Earl of Essex, printed 
 amongst Reliquiae Wottonianse (1675), and said to be " wTitten by the 
 Earl of Clarendon in his younger days." The comparison is between the 
 favourites of Elizabeth and of James I. It gives to Buckingham the high 
 praise due from his young kinsman by marriage, and although the style 
 is involved, unpolished, and in some ways youthful, it contains quaint and 
 striking turns of expression, and has features like the author's later prose. 
 
1631] SECOND MAEEIAGE 17 
 
 a short time after his nephew's widowhood. In the summer 
 of 1631/ he was carried off by gaol fever — that dread scourge 
 that spared neither judge nor malefactor. Hyde had now 
 to make his way alone. Not only had he lost the uncle whose 
 protection seemed to promise him a safe professional career, 
 but his uncle's great patron, Buckingham, was dead ; and 
 the young lawyer had now only the help of a moderate 
 competence, of a family highly respected, and of a 
 character which joined, to keen ambition and fundamental 
 strength of will, a lively interest in the society round 
 him, and a wondrous skill of steering his bark amidst 
 its quicksands. His legal studies never commanded his 
 real interest ; but perhaps they were now pursued with 
 greater zeal and with an object more serious than 
 that of providing answers to his uncle's hypothetical legal 
 problems. 
 
 In 1632, after three years of widowhood, he had so far 
 recovered from his bereavement as to form a new attachment. 
 His choice was now fixed upon Frances, daughter of Sir 
 Thomas Aylesbury, who had formerly been Secretary to the 
 Duke of Buckingham, and was now Master of the Mint, as 
 well as judge in the court in which Hyde was practising. 
 The marriage, in aU respects a prudent one, received, Uke 
 his first, the cordial approval of both families, and Hyde was 
 warmly welcomed by his new father-in-law as one to whom 
 he was glad to entrust his daughter. Both families were of 
 competent means, and once more the prospect of a happy 
 married life was promised to Hyde. His new wife was his 
 faithful life-companion : she shared all the vicissitudes of 
 fortune with him, and death broke the tie only a few 
 weeks before the Chancellor's fall in 1667. Of his family 
 life Hyde speaks with a warmth and a gratitude that 
 
 ' Hyde in his Life mentions his uncle's death as if it had occurred in 
 1629 ; but it was really two years later. 
 
 VOL. I. C 
 
18 HYDE'S EARLY YEARS [chap, i 
 
 are evidently sincere. But the memory of hia first love 
 did not die. 
 
 The happiness of Hyde's new married life was soon dis- 
 turbed by another loss. We have seen how close was the 
 tie between himself and his father. A few months after his 
 marriage, he brought his wife to his father's house ; but 
 already Henry Hyde's health was broken. He had for some 
 time suffered from a serious cardiac trouble.^ He was 
 subject to seizures of violent pain, but in the intervals 
 recovered all that happy equanimity which had endeared 
 him to a wide circle of friends. Just before Michaelmas 
 Day, 1632, he came to Salisbury, where he proposed to reside, 
 in order to be close to the Cathedral, to the service of which 
 he was lovingly attached, and in order to renew his intercourse 
 with many friends who lived there. The next day he received 
 a host of callers, come to bid him welcome. On the day 
 following (Sunday) he rose early and went to " two or three 
 churches : " selected a place of burial at the Cathedral, which 
 he described to his wife and son, enjoining them to see that 
 he was buried there. Later in the day he attended the 
 Cathedral sermon, and engaged in cheerful conversation 
 with friends. On Monday he went to visit his elder brother, 
 Sir Laurence Hyde,^ and leaving him again went to church. 
 Immediately after, he had one of his usual seizures, and 
 
 ' My friend. Dr. Norman Moore, whose literary interests open a still 
 wider range to his professional qualiiications, informs me that the disease of 
 which Henry Hyde died was angina pectoris. In his Life (i. 78) Clarendon 
 describes his father's symptoms in some detail, especially a frequently recurr- 
 ing pain. Prom the age of sixty, it increased very much. " He was still and 
 constantly seized on by so sharp a pain in the left arm for half a quarter of 
 an hour, or near so much, that the torment made him as pale (whereas he 
 was otherwise of a very sanguine complexion) as if he were dead ; and he 
 used to say that he had passed the pangs of death, and he should die in 
 one of those fits. As soon as it was over he was the cheerfullest man living 
 . . . but he had the image of death so constantly before him in those con- 
 tinual torments, that for many years before his death he always parted 
 with his son as to see him no more." 
 
 - " Who was then making a journey in the service of the King " 
 (Clarendon, Life, i. 20). 
 
1632] HIS FATHER'S DEATH 19 
 
 dropped down dead, without the least motion of any 
 limb.i 
 
 " It cannot be expressed," says Hyde himself, " with 
 what agony his son bore this loss, having, as he was used to 
 say, not only lost the best father, but the best friend and the 
 best companion he ever had or could have." 
 
 In the days of Hyde's greatness, the memory of his 
 parents did not grow weaker. " He did not value any 
 honour he had so much as the being the son of such a father 
 and mother." In the formal days of the seventeenth 
 century, it is not often that we meet with a bond between 
 father and son so fuU of reverence, and, at the same time, of 
 cordial companionship and sympathy. 
 
 Hyde was now nearly twenty-four years of age, and had 
 been called to the Bar two or three years before. Eesponsi- 
 biUty and ambition alike quickened his industry, and one 
 incident after another gave him opportunity, which he was apt 
 to turn to the best use, of cultivating relations with the larger 
 world. For this he was now fitting himself (in spite of those 
 
 ' " The suddenness of it," says Clarendon, " made it apprehended to 
 be an apoplexy : but there being nothing like convulsions, or the least dis- 
 tortion or alteration in the visage, it is not like to be from that cause : nor 
 could the physicians make any reasonable guess from whence that mortal 
 blow proceeded." 
 
 For the following note I am again indebted to Dr. Norman Moore : — 
 " Dr. William Heberden, in his Commentaries published in 1802, but 
 written some years earlier, first described this disease (for a sentence in 
 Cselius Aurelianus is too indefinite to be considered a description) accurately. 
 He had seen nearly one hundred people with this disorder, and mentions one 
 case almost exactly like that of Clarendon's father. 
 
 " A man in the sixtieth year of his life began to feel, while he was walking, 
 an uneasy sensation in his left arm. He never perceived it while he was 
 travelling in a carriage. After it had continued ten years, it would come 
 upon him two or three times a week at night, while he was in bed, and then 
 he was obliged to sit up for an hour or two before it would abate so much 
 as to suffer him to lie down. He died suddenly without a groan at the age 
 of seventy-five." Dr. Arnold of Rugby, and Sir Charles Bell, the discoverer 
 of the motor and sensory nerves, both died of this disease. It is now known 
 to be associated with disease of the aortic valves, with degeneration of the 
 commencement of the aorta, and with obstruction and degeneration of the 
 coronary arteries of the heart." 
 
20 HYDE'S EAELY YEARS [chap, i 
 
 more wayward and dangerous associations, to the peril of 
 which he looked back in later years with thankfulness for 
 risks only just avoided), by carefully cherishing every chance 
 of intercourse with what was most worth cultivating in the 
 circle amidst which he lived. One of the most solid founda- 
 tions of his power was that genius for friendship which was 
 so eminently his. As for his political opinions, we may take 
 it that they were now of no very decided complexion ; and 
 one so shrewd as he was not likely, amidst the shifting 
 phases of the world around him, to pronounce them with 
 undue emphasis. His uncle, as we have seen, had prevailed 
 with his conscience to frame his legal decisions on the lines 
 acceptable to the Court, and in accordance with the pre- 
 vailing views of the supremacy of royal prerogative ; but 
 if the story told by Burnet as to his father's last injunctions 
 to him be true, any such leanings on the part of young 
 Hyde must have been more than balanced by his father's 
 suggestion that the prerogative might be stretched too far.' 
 Politics will only too soon assume a dominant place in the 
 story of Hyde's hfe. For the present it is more pleasant 
 to trace the early friendships, the memory of which lived 
 with him to the end, and which he has painted for us with 
 the master hand of an artist. 
 
 The first group of acquaintances is that in which he found 
 himself one of its youngest members, and consisted of men 
 who had either achieved their fame, or were pursuing careers 
 
 ' According to Bumet'a story {Bistory of Bis Own Times, i. 159), aarendon 
 in later years used to trace his own attachment " to the ancient liberties of 
 England, as well as to the rights of the Crown," to advice given him by his 
 father just before his death. " That men of his profession did often stretch 
 law and prerogative, to the prejudice of the Uberty of the subject, to recom- 
 mend and advance themselves : so he charged him, if he ever grew to any 
 eminence in his profession, that he should never sacrifice the laws and 
 liberties of his country to his own interests, or to the will of a prince " 
 Burnet says he had the story from Lady Ranelagh, to whom it was often 
 told by Clarendon. Burnet is mistaken as to the circumstances of Henry 
 Hyde's death ; but this does not disprove the truth of the a4yice. 
 
1633] BEN JONSON 21 
 
 which were soon to draw them apart from sympathy with 
 Hyde. His intercourse with them belonged to the days 
 when he was only a student of law, and when " he stood at 
 gaze, irresolute what course of life to take." Chief amongst 
 them stood Ben Jonson. It was very soon after Hyde's 
 arrival in London as a boy of seventeen, that Jonson was 
 overtaken by the scourges of palsy and dropsy, which made 
 him but a shadow of what he once had been. The old days 
 of the ' Mermaid Tavern,' which had seen the colloquies 
 of Shakespeare and Jonson, were now long past. But Ben 
 Jonson still reigned supreme, in spite of all the attacks of 
 envenomed enemies, and after the storm of a hundred 
 bitter fights, as the dictator of the English hterary world ; and 
 the ' Old Devil Tavern ' at Temple Bar was the home of that 
 Apollo Club which he had founded, and there the Latin 
 rules which he had drafted were displayed for the guidance 
 of all novices, who aspired to be inscribed as the adopted 
 sons of the old Laureate, and to be " sealed of the tribe 
 of Ben." Young Hyde could scarcely have been more 
 than an obscure attendant at these conviviaHties, and perhaps 
 his estimate of Ben Jonson's powers is the result rather of 
 later formed judgment than the impressions of these early 
 meetings.^ But it must have been much to the boy to see 
 one who had been the friend of Shakespeare and of Bacon, 
 and whose patronage was now sufficient to open to the young 
 aspirant the most exclusive circles of the poets and the wits. 
 It was no small boast that he had met " with extraordinary 
 kindness " from such an arbiter of taste. But the dictator 
 
 ' Recalling these days in his own Life, in 1668, Clarendon's judgment of 
 Ben Jonson is that of a mature intellect, not of a boy. " His name," he says, 
 " can never be forgotten, having by his very good learning and the severity 
 of his nature and manners, very much reformed the stage, and indeed the 
 English poetry itself. His natural advantages were, judgment to order and 
 govern fancy, rather than excess of fancy, his productions being slow and 
 upon deliberation, yet then abounding with great wit and fancy, and will 
 Lve accordingly," and so on (Ldft, i. 34). 
 
22 HYDE'S EARLY YEARS [chap, i 
 
 accepted nothing but absolute allegiance. " Mr. Hyde's 
 business had its claims upon his time," and Jonson " believed 
 that business ought never to be preferred before his company." 
 Another of the group was Selden— wisest, most learned, 
 most fastidious, most judicial, most moderate, and yet most 
 baffling of all who took part in the troublous sea of civil 
 contention. Most calm of revolutionaries ; most temperate 
 of iconoclasts ; one who would have based all innovations 
 upon some historical theory, and would have reformed the 
 Church in the light of patristic learning. Again and again 
 in later years, Hyde was to turn to that unique figure of 
 unruffled calm, and find it hard to reconcile his choice of 
 party with his well-balanced judgment and with that absolute 
 sincerity which Hyde had learned to appreciate to the full. 
 When he is arguing for the rights of the Church, and for the 
 fundamental importance of its episcopal government, he 
 can understand the opposition of the vulgar herd of 
 lawyers, but the estrangement of the truly learned lawyers 
 — of " the knowing and discerning men " amongst them — he 
 cannot explain.^ We cannot doubt that throughout all that 
 elaborate pleading, he has Selden in view, and is vainly 
 trying to find a reason for the divergence which was drawing 
 them so far and so painfully apart. His words, telling of 
 their early friendship, which brought him, a youth in his 
 teens, under the influence of a man his senior by a quarter 
 of a century, and already a sufferer for his bold maintenance 
 of constitutional rights, are strong enough to show the 
 amazing influence which Selden must have exercised upon 
 him, then, and, in spite of all differences, in far later years. 
 
 " Mr. Selden was a person whom no character can flatter, 
 or transmit in any expressions equal to his merit and virtue. 
 He was of so stupendous learning in all kinds and in all 
 languages (as may appear in his excellent and transcendent 
 
 ' History of the Behellion, iv. 40. 
 
1633] SELDEN 23 
 
 writings) that a man would have thought he had been 
 entirely conversant amongst books, and never spent an 
 hour but in reading and writing ; yet his humanity, courtesy, 
 and affabUity, was such, that he would have been thought 
 to have been bred in the best courts, but that his good 
 nature, charity, and delight in doing good, and in com- 
 municating all he knew, exceeded that breeding. His style 
 in all his writings seems harsh and somewhat obscure, which 
 is not wholly to be imputed to the abstruse subjects of which 
 he commonly treated, out of the path trod by other men ; 
 but to a little undervaluing the beauty of a style, and too 
 much propensity to the language of antiquity ; but in his 
 conversation he was the most clear discourser, and had the 
 best faculty of making hard things easy, and presenting 
 them to the understanding, of any man that hath been known. 
 Mr. Hyde was wont to say that he valued himself upon 
 nothing more than upon having had Mr. Selden's acquaint- 
 ance from the time he was very young, and held it with great 
 delight as long as they were suffered to continue together 
 in London ; and he was much troubled always when he 
 heard him blamed, censured, and reproached, for staying in 
 London, and in Parliament, after they were in rebellion, and 
 in the worst times, which his age obliged him to do ; and how 
 wicked soever the actions which were every day done, he was 
 confident he had not given his consent to them, but would 
 have hindered them if he could with his own safety, to which 
 he was always enough indulgent. If he had some infirmities 
 with other men, they were weighed down with wonderful and 
 prodigious abilities and excellencies in the other scale." ^ 
 
 It is a generous, almost a lavish, tribute of praise, in spite 
 of the hint of sarcasm against that weakness in Selden which 
 made him a feeble combatant in an age that called for fighting 
 men.^ We cannot doubt that, whatever had been the 
 tenor of his father's precepts, it was to Selden that Hyde 
 owed, not only the dominant note of moderation that clung 
 
 1 Life, i. 35. 
 
 ' " He was always a lover of his ease," says Hyde agam, in the History 
 of the Rebellion, Book V. p. 209. 
 
24 HYDE'S EARLY YEARS [chap, i 
 
 to his whole scheme of poHcy, but also that historic sense, 
 and that reverence for institutions as a part of the life of the 
 nation, which from first to last shaped and inspired that 
 scheme. Hyde was cast in stronger mould than Selden ; 
 his courage was keener, his heart was stouter, and, with 
 warmer feelings, his anger was more easily roused. But 
 the gentle courtesy and the well-balanced judgment of the 
 cultured scholar remained with him as a guide and an 
 example throughout his life. 
 
 There were others of the circle who had no such potent 
 influence on Hyde, but served to introduce him to another 
 phase of society, and gave him new subjects for that study 
 of human character in which he was to prove himself such 
 an adept. Such were Charles Cotton and Thomas Carew, 
 both scions of good family, who added to a lively wit, and 
 to a superstructure of learning more imposing than solid, 
 the graces that were the fashion in a society of studied 
 courtesy and grace. They both aspired to be finished 
 gentlemen according to the ideas of the day ; facile votaries 
 of an artificial muse ; and esteemed it an added ornament to 
 a courtier's life, to be counted of the inner circle of men of 
 letters and scholarship. Of Cotton — whose son has earned 
 a more enduring name as the friend and collaborator of 
 Izaak Walton — Hyde speaks with indulgent kindness. 
 
 " He had all those qualities which in youth raise men to 
 the reputation of being fine gentlemen : such a pleasantness 
 and gaiety of humour, such a sweetness and gentleness of 
 nature, and such a civility and delightfulness in conversation, 
 that no man in the Court appeared a more accomplished 
 person ; all these extraordinary qualifications being sup- 
 ported by as extraordinary a clearness of courage and fear- 
 lessness of spirit, of which he gave too often manifestations." 
 
 It gives us a bright glimpse of a blithe spirit ; but one 
 ill-assorted with the coming times of strain and struggle. 
 
1633] SIR KENELM DIGBY 25 
 
 Under the waves of civil struggle the graceful and polished 
 courtier was submerged ; his age was less reverenced than 
 his youth, and he " gave his best friends cause to wish that 
 he had not lived so long." ^ Carew, like Cotton, fluttered 
 about the Court, as a choice specimen of the literary dandy, 
 and, like him, knew how to make the pursuit of the muses 
 add another accomplishment to the equipment of the fine 
 gentleman ; but he at least contributed, as Cotton did not, 
 a few jewels of sound quality to the treasures of English 
 poetry. In learning to value the sharpness of a fancy like 
 his, and the dexterous elegance of his poetic diction, Hyde 
 gained a new ingredient, which was to swell the music of 
 his own deep-sounding organ. 
 
 Amongst that memorable circle there was one — almost 
 Hyde's own contemporary — who even thus early had achieved 
 notable fame, — the fame of a doughty soldier, of a finished 
 courtier, of an accomplished man of letters. Sir Kenelm 
 Digby's extraordinary personal qualities helped him, the 
 son of one who had died a felon's death for participation in 
 the gunpowder plot, to overcome all difficulties, to hold his 
 own amongst the proudest aristocrats, and to astonish the 
 world by his amazing versatility. He was the choice example 
 of the travelled courtier of the day, familiar with every 
 country in Europe, affecting a proud catholicity of taste, 
 fostering a dignified, if somewhat flamboyant, pride, by all the 
 arts that could add ornament to life. He was a brilliant 
 meteor rather than an enduring force ; but Ben Jonson's 
 high-sounding words help us to conceive what such a 
 personality must have meant to his more humble contem- 
 porary, young Edward Hyde. 
 
 " In him all virtue is beheld in State : 
 And he is buUt Uke some imperial room 
 For that to dwell in, and be stUl at home." 
 
 > U}e, i. 37. He died in 1658. 
 
26 HYDE'S EARLY YEAES [chap, i 
 
 They are brave words, echoing the sound of a brave 
 and goodly company, that filled the eyes of the young 
 lawyer in these early years. 
 
 There were others about whose names no such glamour 
 gathers as they live in Hyde's reminiscences. John Vaughan 
 was only a few years his senior, and their lives ended in the 
 same year. Early friendship made them associates for a 
 time in the first stages of the civil struggle, but Vaughan's 
 time-serving and vacillation made it hard for any one to 
 discern any principle in his action. Alternately he served 
 King and Parliament, and was at least astute enough to 
 suffer no severity of hardship at the hands of either party. 
 After the Restoration, Hyde tried to induce his friend of 
 early days to accept a judgeship. Perhaps Vaughan's 
 grudging nature was jealous of the great place now held by 
 the companion of his youth. He refused the offer, and used 
 his undoubted eloquence and eminent parliamentary power ^ 
 as Hyde's persistent and embittered adversary. His later 
 years seem to have fulfilled the promise of his youth as 
 depicted by Hyde : — 
 
 " A man of great parts of nature, and very well adorned 
 by arts and books, and so much cherished by Mr. Selden 
 that he grew to be of entire trust and friendship with him, 
 and to that owed the best part of his reputation : for he 
 was of so magisterial and supercilious a humour, so proud 
 and insolent a behaviour, that all Mr. Selden's instructions, 
 and authority, and example, could not file off that roughness 
 of his nature, so as to make him very grateful." 
 
 The circle evidently contained examples useful to young 
 Hyde, of what to avoid, as well as of what to follow, and 
 
 • In Pepys's Diary we have repeated references to the eloquence of " the 
 great Mr. Vaughan ; " and Pepys's tribute is not rendered the less lavish from 
 the circumstance that Vaughan flattered the good Secretary's vanity by 
 well-timed praise. But even Pepys has to admit that he was " passionate 
 and opiniastre." 
 
1633] OTHER ASSOCIATES 27 
 
 Vaughan was a notable instance of the former. Powers that 
 were weighed down by a sulky temper, an intellectual 
 capacity blunted by prejudice, jealousy that brooded over 
 fancied wrongs, and an eloquence backed by no con- 
 structive power — these were the qualities which showed 
 themselves to young Hyde in his youthful companion, 
 and the fruit of which the Chancellor was to feel in after 
 years. 
 
 Another there was, endowed with none of those gifts of 
 fortune, and none of the graces of mind or body which were 
 shared by the brighter members of the circle. Thomas May 
 was some fourteen years older than Hyde, and already, 
 before Hyde came to London, he had achieved a certain 
 literary reputation by his translation of Lucan, to which 
 he afterwards added a continuation carrying the history of 
 Rome to the assassination of Julius Caesar, which it was 
 the fashion of the new school to treat as an act of righteous 
 vengeance for outraged liberty. Depressed by poverty, and 
 by an impediment of speech. May could not aspire to be an 
 ornament of Court, nor to play the role of a pohshed gentle- 
 man ; but his translations had attained a succes d'estime, 
 and his essays in historical writing had secured at least the 
 favour, if not the admiration, of the literary circles of the 
 Court. But the temper of a soured dependant is apt to be 
 easily irritated. May failed to obtain the Laureateship on 
 the death of Ben Jonson. He nursed his grudge against the 
 Court : drew into ever closer relations with its opponents, 
 and became the associate of those in whose service he could 
 feed his personal jealousy. During the Civil War, he acted 
 as " Secretary " to the Parliament (whatever that office 
 meant) and was employed to write the official " History of 
 the Long Parliament " — a production whose very origin 
 prescribed a certain formal appearance of impartiahty, which 
 can deceive no one, and made necessary a prosaic dulness 
 
28 HYDE'S EARLY YEARS [chap, i 
 
 which has reserved its perusal only for the curious.' It was 
 a sorry task, and Clarendon has a word of pitying regret for 
 the servUe function which his early friend fulfilled. His 
 life ended in 1650, while he was still busy over the task of 
 chronicling the doings of his paymasters. 
 
 With this circle, Hyde mixed only as the young student, 
 finding in the society of older men a guide and an incentive, 
 and above all a safeguard against that more frivolous 
 society which had attractions for him — the less dangerous 
 because he recognized the danger, and carefully cultivated 
 the antidote. A few years later he found himself in 
 another society of men, almost all contemporaries of his 
 own — attracted to them not by the humble reverence of 
 youth for age, but by the stronger ties of ungrudging 
 admiration, close sympathy, and warm affection. 
 
 " He had then another conjunction and communication 
 that he took so much delight in, that he embraced it in the 
 time of his greatest business and practice, and would suffer 
 no other pretence or obligation to withdraw him from that 
 famiharity and friendship : and took frequent occasion to 
 mention their names with great pleasure, being often heard 
 to say ' that if he had any good in him, in his humour, or in 
 his manners, he owed it to the example and the information 
 he had received in and from that company, with most of 
 whom he had an entire friendship.' " ^ 
 
 They were Lucius Carey : Sir Francis Wenman : Sidney 
 Godolphin : Edmund Waller : Gilbert Sheldon : George 
 Morley : John Earles : John Hales of Eton : and William 
 Chilhngworth. A goodly company, indeed, and amongst 
 them Hyde was no longer the obscure and callow student, 
 but the formed man of the world, taking his place amongst 
 
 ' Chatham's praise of its impartiality is, of course, well known, but can- 
 not alter the fact. Partiality can be shown as much by sins of omission as 
 by eloquence of denunciation. 
 
 ' Life, i. 41. 
 
1638] CHOICE OF FRIENDS 29 
 
 them as an equal, facing the same fierce contentions, 
 warmed by the same ambitions, exchanging the same 
 commerce of thought and argument on the great problems 
 of the day. It was an association far different from that of 
 the older circle. 
 
 In both cases the guiding principle in his choice of friend- 
 ships remained the same. As he quaintly expresses it,* 
 according to his usual method in the autobiography, of 
 resorting to the third person, " he was often heard to say " 
 that 
 
 " next to the immediate blessing and providence of God 
 Almighty, which had preserved him throughout the whole 
 course of his life (less strict than it ought to have been) from 
 many dangers and disadvantages in which many other young 
 men were lost, he owed all the Uttle he knew, and the Uttle 
 good that was in him, to the friendships and conversation 
 he had stUl been used to, of the most excellent men in their 
 several kinds that Uved in that age : by whose learning, and 
 information, and instruction, he formed his studies, and 
 mended his understanding : and by whose gentleness and 
 sweetness of behaviour, and justice, and virtue, and example, 
 he formed his manners, subdued that pride, and suppressed 
 that heat and passion he was naturally inclined to be trans- 
 ported with." 
 
 So again — 
 
 " he used often to say ' that he never was so proud, 
 or thought himself so good a man, as when he was the worst 
 man in the company ' ; ' that in the whole course of his hfe 
 he never knew one man of what condition soever, arrive to 
 any degree of reputation in the world, who made choice 
 or dehghted in the company or conversation of those who in 
 their qualities were inferior, or in their parts not much 
 superior to himself.' " 
 
 To some, this may savour of sycophancy. The very 
 frankness with which he utters what is not a resolution made 
 
 1 Life, i. 33. 
 
30 HYDE'S EARLY YEARS [chap, i 
 
 in youth, but a conclusion drawn in old age and after ripe 
 experience, shows that there is in it nothing of servility or 
 obsequiousness. It is at least sycophancy much sublimated, 
 and moving in an atmosphere in which the sycophant can 
 scarcely breathe. And it is most indubitably sound worldly 
 wisdom, the result of a due sense of proportion. It remained 
 Hyde's firm conviction to the end of his life. Again and 
 again, in his inimitable delineations of character, he traces 
 evil traits, which marred and disfigured many a personahty,to 
 ill-chosen associates, intercourse with whom dragged a man 
 downwards, instead of teaching him to lift his gaze higher, 
 and to breathe a purer air.^ 
 
 Of that younger company, the centre and inspiring spirit 
 was young Lucius Carey, afterwards Lord Falkland. 
 Low of stature, with an awkward gait, a countenance of 
 no intellectual mark, an inharmonious voice — he yet gave 
 to others the priceless gift of a nature framed at once of 
 gentlest courtesy, of invincible courage, and of the purest 
 sincerity. " All mankind could not but love and admire 
 him " ; and that love and admiration were to Hyde as a 
 religion, that kindled all that was best in his nature, that 
 gave him the companionship of a soul of noblest chivalry, 
 and that left the world for him gray and overcast when his 
 friend fell in the early years of the civil war. Till death 
 parted them their lives were knit in closest union ; and again 
 and again we have to trace Hyde's opinions shaping them- 
 selves in the bond of this his closest friendship, that inspired 
 him even during the troublous years when it had ceased to 
 be aught but a cherished memory. 
 
 It was at Carey's house of Tew, in Oxfordshire, that the 
 company gathered most often. Thither they came to find 
 
 ' As one example amongst many, see the character of Lord Robartes 
 (Life, ii. 19). In Hyde's opinion even Laud's character suifered from the 
 same experience of sycophantic surroundings. 
 
1633] SOCIETY AT TEW 81 
 
 their lodgings ready as in their colleges at Oxford. They 
 came " to study in a purer air, finding all the books they 
 could desire in his library, and all the persons together whose 
 company they could wish, and not find in any other society." 
 There Wenman brought his courtly grace, his incomparable 
 wit, his piercing judgment, and his ripe scholarship. There 
 Sidney Godolphin ^ showed how large a store of fancy and of 
 mental grasp might be contained in a puny frame that 
 nursed itself with something of Epicurean tenderness, 
 which he proved himself able to throw aside when his country 
 called him, and when he gladly gave his life in battle for what 
 he deemed the better cause. There Waller charmed with 
 his pleasant discourse, in earnest and in jest ; indulged his 
 brooding fancy and shaped his stately eloquence ; and there 
 he sharpened the excellence and power of that wit " of 
 which," says Hyde, " no more need be said than that it was 
 of magnitude enough to cover a world of very great faults " — 
 a narrow nature, a lack of courage, servile flattery and 
 insinuation ; that strange blend of qualities that to the end 
 of a long life saw Waller safe through many degradations, 
 and " continued to his age with that rare felicity, that his 
 company was acceptable where his spirit was odious, and he 
 was, at least, pitied when he was most detested." 
 
 There Gilbert Sheldon nursed that grave and prudent 
 spirit of statesmanship that made his young companions 
 mark him as one " born and bred to be Archbishop of 
 Canterbury ; and there George Morley's lively wit, his 
 
 ' Sidney Godolphin was born of a good Cornish family in 1609. From 
 his earliest days he was a favourite at Court, and an adherent of Lord 
 Strafford, whose attainder he resisted. When war broke out, he joined 
 Hopton's army, and was kiUed at Chagford in 1643. His nephew was the 
 Earl of Godolphin, the Whig minister of Charles II. and Queen Anne. 
 " There waa never so great a mind and spirit contained in so little 
 room " (Clarendon, Infe, i. 51). Even Falkland, small as he was, found 
 his friendship for Godolphin all the pleasanter because in his company he 
 could reckon himself " the properer man." 
 
32 HYDE'S EARLY YEARS [chap, i 
 
 graceful scholarship, his dexterity in argument, at once 
 attracted and puzzled the admiring circle. If his proneness 
 to jest at first roused prejudices in the mind of Laud, his 
 dexterity overcame them, and he lived to earn, by stalwart 
 loyalty and abundant sufferings, the high preferment which 
 came to him in later days under the ministry of his early 
 friend Edward Hyde. There Earle's quaint genius and 
 facetious wit ripened in a congenial soil ; and there John 
 Hale's far-reaching charity and learned tolerance found that 
 restful haven of peaceful friendship which was all his soul 
 desired. There Chillingworth's restless humour indulged its 
 craving for discussion, foiled and perplexed his adversaries 
 by his imperturbable good temper, and luxuriated in those 
 wire-spun arguments that led him through a maze of doubt, 
 and entangled him in endless religious transformations ; 
 destined to spend the latest efforts of his ingenuity in the 
 strange endeavour to devise a new martial instrument, which 
 involved him in the clash of opposing armies, and made him 
 end his days a prisoner of war. With such wealth of com- 
 panionship, and amidst such happy scenes, Hyde spent the 
 leisure of these ripening years, snatched from a life of 
 constantly increasing business. Together the little circle 
 watched the great problems, slowly emerging, pregnant with 
 fateful issues for so many amongst them. But misgivings 
 as to the future were readily alleviated by the perennial 
 luxury of speculative discourse. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 WIDENING EXPERIENCES 
 
 We have dwelt with the more detail upon the personalities 
 of the two notable circles with which he mixed in youth and 
 in his maturing manhood, because they meant to Hyde 
 much more than they would have meant to most men. To 
 him friendship was the chief deHght of life, the study of 
 character its most absorbing interest. The historic sense 
 was strong in him, but it was marked by his own idiosyn- 
 crasies. He looked upon history as the gradual development 
 of institutions, and as the result of great personaHties. 
 With great popular movements he felt no deep sympathy, 
 nor did he seek to recognize in history the evolution of any 
 supreme law of human progress. His Ufe fell in a thrilhng 
 epoch, and he viewed it as a scene on which the figures moved 
 with all the picturesque distinctness of their own strong 
 individuahty, hke the actors in a great drama.^ They 
 seemed to him to shape circumstances to their own ends, 
 and history derived for him its chief interest as the stage 
 upon which these dominating figures moved. We need not 
 seek in Hyde for the qualities of a philosophic historian, or 
 for any attempt to pursue the themes of what a later age has 
 called the science of history. To him history was character 
 in action ; and it was as one of the prime actors that he 
 
 ' " I conceive," says Hyde, in a letter to Dr. John Earle of March 16, 
 1647, " that the preservation of the fame and merit of persons, and deriving 
 the same to posterity, is no less the business of history than the truth of 
 things " ( Clarendon, State Papers, ii. 350). 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
34 WIDENING EXPERIENCES [chap, ii 
 
 viewed those who shared the stage with him. Hence the 
 interest in his hfe of those personal associations, and hence 
 the importance of the first incidents that brought him into 
 close contact with the hving society of his day. Books were 
 much to him, but the drama of human passion in action 
 around him was far more. We now turn to some of the 
 incidents that gave him his first experience of the ways of 
 men. 
 
 It was in 1633 that Hyde was called upon to intervene in 
 the first of those many social complications in which he 
 was to play a part. Such episodes interpose themselves 
 with strange frequency amidst the political contests of the 
 day, and upon these they often had an influence which may 
 surprise us, but which we cannot refuse to take into account. 
 We can understand the anger which was stirred by them ; 
 the abiding family feuds they bred. The puzzling element 
 comes in when we try to appreciate the motives that operated 
 amongst those who were parties to these feuds, and who 
 often enough shaped their poUtical allegiance by the passions 
 which were thus aroused. They are stirred as we would be 
 to-day ; but it is only when we come to consider what 
 honour and deUcacy of feeling would dictate to us, that we 
 find a strange divergence between that day and our own. 
 
 A scandal had arisen within the precincts of the Queen's 
 Court, in which the honour of more than one noble family 
 had been deeply involved. Eleanor ViUiers, the sister of 
 Lord Grandison, and a maid of honour to the Queen, had 
 suffered the most cruel wrong from that coarse and brutish 
 libertine, Henry Jermyn. He was an adventurer of a base 
 type, who managed, by over-weening self-confidence, a 
 specious address, and unbounded powers of dissimulation, 
 to gain some credit at Court. The physique of a drayman 
 had earned him credit for a manliness which he did not 
 possess, and a certain clumsy cajolery supplied in him the 
 
1633] A SOCIAL EPISODE 35 
 
 place of wit. By such plausible arts he had gained much 
 influence with the Queen, and, revolting as it is to connect 
 a vulgar scandal with one of the foremost figures in the great 
 tragedy now beginning, that favour undoubtedly made the 
 Queen the victim of some malicious tales, widely repeated 
 and as widely believed. However that might be, this coarse 
 debauchee acquired a reputation which won for him the 
 contempt of every honourable man, and maintained it in 
 fuU vigour until he died an octogenarian in 1684. At once 
 a bully and a coward ; a hypocrite and a bungler ; a gamester 
 who haunted the card-table when his palsied hands could 
 scarcely grasp the cards, and when his eyesight had so failed 
 that another had to describe their faces to him; a glutton who 
 retained the greed of the gourmand without his appetite ; a 
 spendthrift loaded with ill-gotten gains, and yet with all the 
 avarice of the miser — in a word, a byeword even to the 
 gallants of Charles II.'s Court as a loathsome monument 
 of decayed debauchery. 
 
 Such was the man who had stained the good fame of 
 a Jady coimeeted with some of the leading aristocratic 
 houses. Powerful influence was now employed to force 
 Jermyn'to repair the injury by marriage. The brother of 
 Eleanor Vilhers, Lord Grandison, sought to avenge the 
 insult by the means which would have suggested itself to 
 most men down to a far later day ; but the settlement of 
 the matter by duel was prevented by an order from the 
 King, which committed both the parties to prison. Such 
 an order seems to have aroused no resentment, although 
 one would have thought that a proud aristocracy would 
 — perhaps with some recklessness, but not without attracting 
 some sympathy — have more readily tolerated interferences 
 with poUtical privileges than with the right of setthng their 
 own affairs of honour by the course then usual. But this 
 rough and ready method being perforce abandoned, the 
 
36 WIDENING EXPEEIENCES [chap, ii 
 
 matter became the subject of grave and embittered dis- 
 cussion, in which the denizens of the Court became violent 
 partisans. The affair involved serious party divergences, 
 and constitutional issues were mixed up with it. The 
 Marquis of Hamilton was deeply concerned, as a near 
 relative of the family ; and as the lady was first cousin to 
 Hyde's first wife, that fact, and his own warm friendship for 
 Lord Grandison, caused his advice to be called in during 
 these acrimonious discussions. It marked his position at 
 once as a kinsman of a noble house and as a lawyer of rising 
 reputation. The enmities bred of that dispute did not soon 
 die, and from the Court factions it developed, Hyde 
 traces the new and baneful influence exercised by women 
 of the Court in poUtical affairs. Perhaps it was, in part, 
 the origin of the Queen's inveterate jealousy of Hyde, 
 which was afterwards to be more openly shown, when 
 Hyde's influence was more worthy of her serious jealousy. 
 At all events, he himself felt that it had a decisive influence 
 upon his career, and he records it with that half-humorous 
 and half-pedantic analysis which he habitually applies as 
 impartially to his own case as to others. " It introduced 
 him," he tells us,^ " into another way of conversation than 
 he had formerly been accustomed to." " By the friends and 
 enemies he then made, it had," he says, " an influence upon 
 the whole course of his Hfe afterwards." It was an ugly 
 story, and one which most men would have gladly buried in 
 oblivion. But that was not the manner, nor suited the 
 taste, of the time : nor would Hyde's narrative have had its 
 dramatic force for us, had it hidden away unsightly, but 
 crucial, episodes like this. 
 
 Jermyn, after suffering banishment for a certain time, 
 was restored to his former position about the Court. The 
 Marquis of Hamilton became, strangely enough, drawn 
 
 ' Life, i. 16. 
 
1634] A COURT MASQUE 37 
 
 into closer confidence with the Queen, and was estranged 
 from Hyde, who conceived that he saw signs of that want 
 of sincerity in the Marquis which his later experience 
 confirmed. 
 
 An episode of the following year, which introduced 
 Hyde into a new sphere of activity, has more amusing 
 ingredients. The Court circles had recently been much 
 disturbed by the publication of Prynne's Histriomastix, 
 which denounced the depravity of stage plays, and seemed 
 to reflect upon the Queen, who had not felt it incon- 
 sistent with her dignity to take part in some masques at 
 the Court. The unfortunate lampooner was severely 
 dealt with by the Star Chamber, which, after the drastic 
 fashion of the time, condemned him to stand in the 
 pillory, to have his ears cropped, and to suffer imprisonment 
 of uncertain, but prolonged, duration. Even those, like 
 Hyde, who had no sympathy with Prynne, were scandalized 
 by the severity of his punishment, which seemed more 
 suitable to the case of a notorious malefactor than to that 
 of a professional man, whose perverted zeal for puritanic 
 strictness had tempted him to Ubel the person of the Queen. 
 But such scruples did not prevent the feeling that it was 
 necessary to meet the insult to the Court by some flattering 
 compliment which would show that the attack found neither 
 sympathy nor approval. It seemed to be a suitable method 
 of doing this that the Inns of Court should organize a 
 masque, on a lavish scale, for the entertainment of their 
 Majesties. This was done at vast expense by the brethren 
 of the Gown ; and Hyde, as a barrister in rising business, 
 was one of the four chosen by the Middle Temple to represent 
 them on the occasion. The matter was not left in the hands 
 of those who were pronounced favourers of the Court, and 
 the names of Whitelocke and Selden appear as promoters who 
 took a prominent part in the festivity. It is to Whitelocke 
 
38 WIDENING EXPBEIENCES [chap, ii 
 
 indeed, that we owe the most elaborate description of 
 the display. Descending into quaintly minute particulars, 
 and detaiUng, with almost excessive particularity, the dresses 
 of the participants and the elaborate arrangements of the 
 procession, his account shows that whatever might be the 
 difficulties of raising money for national needs, there was 
 no disposition to curtail extravagant expenditure on festal 
 display, and that the fraternity of the Bar were not unwilling 
 to rival the ornate fashion then prevalent amongst the 
 courtiers and the landed aristocracy. It teaches us much 
 as to the wealth which had accrued to England from the 
 burst of commercial activity which dated from the days of 
 Elizabeth. The cost to the Inns of Court was calculated 
 at not less than twenty thousand pounds, and this does not 
 probably include the lavish private expenditure which the 
 show entailed. The masque was The Triumph, of Peace, by 
 James Shirley, and after a full parade of all the accessories 
 of the display in a procession from Ely House, in Holborn, 
 to Whitehall, the masque was " incomparably performed " 
 in the Banqueting Hall before the King and Queen and the 
 Court. It was repeated next day in the city, where the 
 Court was entertained at a banquet by the Lord Mayor. It 
 is strange to think of another scene which that same Banquet- 
 ing Hall was to witness sixteen years later, when Charles 
 passed through its window to the scaffold on which he was 
 to die. 
 
 As a sequel to the splendour of the entertainment, which 
 was one of the last of its kind before the nation entered upon 
 another mood, and betook itself to graver concerns, Hyde 
 was, with the other organizers, presented to the King and 
 Queen. Inconsistent as it seems with the tenor of Hyde's 
 later life, we must not forget that in these early days such 
 an entertainment was dignified for him by the example of Ben 
 Jonson and others of the great fraternity with whom he had 
 
1635] INTEECOUESE WITH LAUD 39 
 
 been linked in his younger years. For the present it served 
 as one more step in that social advancement which the 
 shrewd young lawyer sought in common with his contem- 
 poraries, and which he saw to be as useful for professional 
 advancement as dogged perseverance in the drudgery of the 
 law. The latter he did not neglect ; but a sure instinct told 
 him that knowledge of men and manners was after all a more 
 powerful lever for his ambition, and he is throughout incUned, 
 perhaps with some complacency, rather to exaggerate his 
 neglect of the drudgery, and to dwell upon those accessories 
 which were to make him a facile and adaptive judge of 
 character, and were to" enable him with ease to take his place 
 amongst the proud and somewhat fantastic aristocracy of 
 the day. At present we must regard him as the young man 
 careless of grave pohtical problems, and carried onwards 
 by the favouring breeze of youthful ambition. Probably to 
 him and to his fellow-masquers there came little thought of 
 the solid mass of obdurate nonconformity which was scan- 
 daHzed by such performances ; and, in the triumph of their 
 well-received and courtly comphment, they troubled them- 
 selves Httle with the strictly legal effect of the Star Chamber 
 incident, the memory of which it was intended to obliterate. 
 
 It is curious to surmise how it may have been viewed by 
 the stricter conscience of Laud, who might have approved 
 the punishment of an iU-mannered satirist, but can scarcely 
 have relished the extravagant fantasy of the flatterers of 
 the Queen. The next incident in Hyde's hfe brought 
 him into closer contact with that ardent leader of the 
 Church, who has been the central theme of admiration 
 and abhorrence to those who have taken diverse views 
 of the history of the time ; and with regard to no one 
 is the shrewdness of Hyde's judgment of character more 
 conspicuous. 
 
 The occasion of their first meeting was curious, and tells 
 
40 WIDENING EXPEEIENCES [chap, ii 
 
 us much of Hyde's gradual advance in the line of hfe that 
 he had chosen. In 1635, the death of Weston, Earl of 
 Portland, had vacated the office of Lord Treasurer. It was 
 " an office very slippery and not fast to those who had 
 trusted themselves in it." ^ Weston had risen to it painfully, 
 after patient labour and years of disappointment. Assiduous 
 courting of the great, and especially of Buckingham, had at 
 length won for him preferment ; but it was only after long 
 years of perilous labour in foreign missions, and after ripe 
 experience had taught him how to " swim with a good grace 
 in those troubled and boisterous waters, in which the Duke 
 of Buckingham rode as admiral," ^ that he earned the con- 
 fidence of the great favourite sufficiently to be appointed 
 Lord Treasurer. Buckingham's patronage might have 
 failed him when his own promotion gave food for jealousy ; 
 but Buckingham's death a few months later left Weston 
 in possession of the full confidence of the King. His grasping 
 ambition had grown during these tedious years of waiting 
 and of hazardous climbing ; and greed of money and of power 
 soon made him unpopular. Under his administration all 
 Eoyal bounty was checked except that which flowed towards 
 himself : the value of the Royal domains was enhanced by 
 exactions from others, but diminished by lavish grants to 
 the Lord Treasurer. The expenditure of the Crown was 
 curtailed, but that of Weston's own household was so ex- 
 travagant that all his grasping and his greed could not suffice 
 for it. He feebly imitated the pride of Buckingham, without 
 his splendid generosity and his personal attraction : he had 
 all his ambition, but only a small portion of his ability, and 
 nothing of his audacity and courage. He helped Charles to 
 economize ; but he pursued his economies without tact, and 
 
 ' History of Rehellion, i. 101. Weston was created Earl of Portland in 
 1634, about a year before his death. 
 2 Ibid., p. 104. 
 
1635] LAUD AS COMMISSIONER OF TREASURY 41 
 
 he joined to them unlimited personal cupidity. He checked 
 the expenditure of the Crown ; but under him the adminis- 
 tration of the Treasury had nursed discontent in every 
 section of the nation. 
 
 The Treasury was now put in commission, and the chief 
 of the Lords Commissioners was Laud — now Archbishop of 
 Canterbury. With his usual zeal and passion for method 
 and detail, Laud threw himself into the work. He had 
 already his hands full enough with the government of the 
 Church and with the business of the High Commission Court. 
 But no labour came amiss to the indomitable industry of 
 Laud ; and with all the zeal of a novice he determined that 
 his new function should not be a sinecure, but that he would 
 introduce new order and economy into the revenues of the 
 Crown. In his case certainly there was no tincture of 
 personal cupidity, and his only desire was to make his 
 administration at once economical and scrupulously just. 
 Unfortunately for him these aims were not enough to secure 
 for it popularity. So long as he felt his own aims sincere 
 and his purposes unselfish. Laud was the last man to think 
 of the aspect that they wore to the eyes of others, or to trouble 
 himself about those petty concessions to individual feelings 
 which often help to ingratiate even acts of questionable 
 rectitude when guided by tactful policy. He had no mercy 
 for the crooked arts of those who were less conscientious than 
 himself, and it was characteristic of him that amid his zeal 
 for financial rectitude he could not exclude a satisfaction 
 in undoing some of the work of his predecessor, whom he 
 had long recognized as a personal enemy, of whose influence 
 with the King he had been jealous, and whom he suspected 
 as of Roman Catholic tendencies, and a concealed traitor 
 to the Church. Strict honesty did not atone for his own lack 
 of tact. Those who honestly sought for relief from oppression 
 found Laud's ears open to their complaints, so long as they 
 
42 WIDENING EXPERIENCES [chap, ii 
 
 urged nothing inconsistent with his central aim of economy ; 
 but such gratitude as these could feel weighed lightly in the 
 balance of popularity to a minister of finance. 
 
 Amid the pressure of the great burdens that now accumu- 
 lated upon him, Laud was wont to seek for a spell of easy 
 intercourse amongst his neighbours at Croydon, near which 
 lay his country palace. One of these was a leading London 
 merchant, named Daniel Harvey, and Laud varied his 
 week-end talks with Harvey by discussions about the due 
 encouragement of trade, and learned from him how much 
 oppression was caused by petty and vexatious regulations, 
 which brought no profit to the Crown, but enhanced the 
 ill-gotten gains of the farmers of the customs. Amongst 
 these was one rule in particular which compelled the mer- 
 chants to unlade even their heavy goods at the Custom 
 House, and imposed upon them vast inconvenience and 
 expense, with no gain to the revenue. Their goods were 
 thus delayed at the caprice of the wharfinger, and their 
 market was often lost. The Archbishop pursued the subject, 
 and insisted upon knowing the whole history of the dispute, 
 and the proceedings relating to a petition of the merchants 
 on the subject. It then appeared that the regulation was 
 made, to the prejudice of the other farmers of the customs, 
 and in the interests of one who was the late Lord Treasurer's 
 favourite, and doubtless recouped him for his partiality. 
 Laud asked to see a copy of the petition, and was referred to 
 a young lawyer who had been consulted by the merchants, 
 and had stated their case to the late Lord Treasurer. The 
 young lawyer, he was told, was one Hyde, the son-in-law of 
 Sir Thomas Aylesbury ; and through Aylesbury, Hyde was 
 summoned to an interview with Laud at Lambeth. The 
 colloquy between the young lawyer, abeady versed in the 
 ways of men, who had sharpened his wits by constant inter- 
 course with the wits of the day, and the aged Archbishop, 
 
ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 
 
 (From the original hy Sir Anthony Vandyke, at Lrimieth.) 
 
1635] ADVICE FEOM HYDE 43 
 
 who, in a long life of ceaseless industry, had never learned 
 the first alphabet of social tact, and was, in essence, but the 
 coBege don with a vast fund of administrative energy, is both 
 dramatic and of infinite importance in the life of Hyde, 
 With his usual candour. Laud expatiated to the youth of 
 seven-and-twenty on his own ignorance of his new task and 
 of his zeal to master it, and told him of his earnest desire to 
 rectify the grievance of the merchants. Hyde was sufficiently 
 versed in the ways of the world to recount to the Archbishop 
 " two or three passages in the transactions which he heard 
 would please him most " : ^ he recounted the arrogant 
 reception he had met from the Lord Treasurer, and how 
 Hyde had made bold to tell him that " if the farmers of the 
 customs were weary of their bargain, he would help the King 
 to forty thousand pounds a year above the rent they paid " : 
 how the Lord Treasurer " had let himself out into an indecent 
 rage." It is not surprising that he found this " not un- 
 grateful to the Archbishop " ; who, thereupon, " required 
 him to see him often." Hyde had at least made one friend 
 in high place by helping him to that he wished, and in the 
 way he wished it ; and he had the most rare quality of all — 
 tact, which taught him not to press the advantage unduly. 
 With that naive candour, which is one of his charms, he 
 takes us into his confidence, and tells us " that he well knew 
 how to cultivate these advantages." Henceforward he 
 became Laud's chosen confidant. 
 
 This advanced greatly his position at the bar ; and, with 
 pardonable pride, he tells us how "he enjoyed a very 
 pleasant and a plentiful hfe, having a competent estate of 
 his own, and living much above the rank of those lawyers 
 whose business was only to be rich : and was generally 
 beloved and esteemed by most persons of condition and 
 great reputation." ^ He was " no slave to his profession, 
 
 'Life,i.30. -Life,!. 31. 
 
44 WIDENING EXPERIENCES [chap, ii 
 
 but kept both his friends at Court, and about the town, by 
 his frequent apphcation and constant conversation." They 
 used to meet at dinner, and " enjoyed themselves with 
 wonderful delight and public reputation, for the innocence, 
 and sharpness, and learning of their conversation." He 
 never supped for many years, that he might have that time 
 to spare for polite learning. No Ufe could have been a better 
 preparation for the great part that he was yet to play ; and 
 the vein of happy self-complacency only serves to let us 
 know better the man with whom we have to deal. It was 
 the sort of self-complacency that breeds heroism when 
 occasion calls for it. 
 
 One thing only he regretted — that after that first circuit 
 with his uncle, the Chief Justice, he never again rode the 
 country circuits. He considered that the best part of a 
 lawyer's life, both for its wholesome exercise, and for the 
 intimate knowledge it gave of all classes of the people. To 
 the lack of the first perhaps some of the ill health of 
 his later years may be ascribed. As for the second, Hyde 
 did his best, in later years, to supply the defect. But 
 strictly professional society never, either now or in his later 
 years, had much charm for Hyde. With it " he had at most 
 formal acquaintance, and little familiarity." ^ He used 
 " seldom, when his practice was at the highest, so much as 
 to eat in the hall, without which no man ever got the reputa- 
 tion of a good student." Possibly Hyde did not feel that 
 the society there conformed to his rule of avoiding the 
 company of those " who in their qualities were inferior, or 
 in their parts not much superior to himself." He almost 
 grudged the increase of practice which prevented him from 
 assigning " so much time as he had used to do to his beloved 
 conversation." 
 
 He now found himself noticed, and even courted, by 
 
 ' Life, i. 67. 
 
1635] OTHER GEE AT FRIENDS 45 
 
 those who were most notable in their age, and for this he 
 was obhged to the countenance of the Archbishop. These 
 more imposing figures at least revealed themselves suf- 
 ficiently to the young lawyer to enable him to draw their 
 portraits with unerring insight. He received the courteous 
 attention of the Lord Keeper Coventry, who from small 
 begirmings had, by profound knowledge and consummate 
 dexterity, attained the highest position in the law : had 
 known how to elude the machinations of powerful and 
 unscrupulous foes : had insinuated rather than expressed his 
 doubts as to innovations which strained the Royal preroga- 
 tive, and the fatal reaction against which he had foresight 
 to predict, though too cautious to arraign its cause : who had 
 managed to combine the grace of the courtier with a natural 
 simpKcity of his own : who despised dissimulation, and yet, 
 without raising false hopes, could dismiss an applicant not 
 unpleased ; and who, in a sHppery time, " stood upon his 
 defence without making desperate salUes against growing 
 mischiefs," and thus secured to himself a tenure of of&ce 
 unequalled in its duration ; and who, withal, was " a man 
 rather exceedingly liked, than passionately beloved." * Hyde 
 found a good reception with Coventry's personal enemy, the 
 Lord Privy Seal, Lord Manchester, who, a younger son, 
 had risen through a long and varying succession of dignities, 
 and whose known wisdom, long experience, and confessed 
 gravity and ability were weighed down only by that cupidity, 
 which his means, too narrow for his great position, made 
 him too sedulous to satisfy ; and who had " ballast enough 
 for sails filled by the wind of the popularity " earned by his 
 indubitable zeal for Protestantism and his unquestioned 
 loyalty. He found a ready famiharity from the Earl of 
 Pembroke, the Lord Chamberlain, the elder of that " in- 
 comparable pair of brethren," who have the proud boast of 
 
 ' History oj Behellion, i. 100 
 
4G WIDENING EXPEEIENCES [chap, ii 
 
 being permitted to be Shakespeare's patrons.j He was 
 now " the most universally loved and esteemed of any man 
 of that age," 2 and in his descent as well as his personal 
 qualities he epitomizes much of the picturesque romance 
 of the age. He was the lavish patron of literature and art, 
 with no mean hterary instinct of his own : magnificent at 
 once in the splendid pomp of his hfe, and in his generosity : 
 a finished courtier, yet scorning the favours of the Court : 
 unrestrained alike in his pride of independence and in 
 those " pleasant vices " which might be indulged with 
 no tincture of avarice or meanness. " Never man was 
 planted in a Court that was fitter for that soil, or brought 
 better qualities with him to purify that air," is the verdict 
 of such a stern moralist as Hyde. It was a misfortune for 
 that Court that he died in 1630, and left his title and estates 
 to his younger brother, a man of very different calibre.^ 
 The latter had no pretension to intellectual gifts, but was 
 rather the buoyant sportsman, whose learning was chiefly in 
 horses and in dogs. It was a curiously misplaced ambition 
 that made him an unsuccessful candidate against Laud, to 
 succeed his brother as Chancellor of Oxford — a dignity which 
 he obtained later as the nominee of Cromwell. Another of 
 the grandees of the Court, now friendly to Hyde, and in 
 after-years so often involved in his fortunes, was Henry 
 
 ' William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, was born in 1580, and waa the 
 son of Mary, sister of Sir Philip Sidney — Spenser's 
 
 " Urania, sister unto Astrophel." 
 
 He fulfilled in himself the promise of his descent ; and to a dignified 
 presence added consummate bravery and marvellous intellectual force. 
 
 ^ History of Rebellion, i. 120. 
 
 ^ Philip Herbert, the younger son of the Earl of Pembroke, was bom in 
 1584, and early gained the special favour of King James. He was created 
 Earl of Montgomery in 1620, and succeeded, without equal grounds, to much 
 of his brother's popularity. By waywardness, rather than any special 
 divergence on political principles, he became estranged from the Court ; 
 and various petty ties of personal friendship, as well as the mastering desire 
 to secure the safety of Wilton and all its treasures, confirmed him later in 
 his allegiance to the Parliament. He died in 1650. 
 
1635] STRAFFORD 47 
 
 Rich, the younger son of the Earl of Warwick, created Lord 
 Kensington and Earl of Holland. His character will reveal 
 itself in later incidents. 
 
 Such patronage won for the young lawyer pecuHar 
 attention in the Courts, and, various as were his interests, 
 he apphed himself sufficiently to his profession to make his 
 success in it secure. Fortune seemed to smile kindly on his 
 life ; and he was dexterous enough to avoid those enmities 
 in which the favour of men who belonged to very different 
 factions at Court might easily have involved him. 
 
 It does not follow that Hyde was satisfied with the 
 existing state of the political world. There is one outstanding 
 name which does not emerge in his account of his earlier 
 relations to those in high office, and it is just the name which 
 stood higher than all others. There were few of the great 
 with whom Hyde had not some tie of friendly patronage, 
 or at least some slight acquaintanceship ; but no record 
 remains of any association of his with the Earl of Strafford. 
 The omission of that name from Hyde's catalogue of the 
 leading men of that day is significant. Across the troublous 
 period that followed we look back on Strafford's as the one 
 outstanding personality. Of all the seeming statesmen, he 
 was the only man who had what was, at least, a consistent 
 and courageous scheme of government. A few years later 
 we shall hear Hyde's deliberate and balanced verdict on his 
 work. But at this earlier period, although Strafford was 
 the central figure, Hyde evidently hesitates to sketch even 
 the outlines of that figure, or to assign to him his part in the 
 working of the government machine. It is no part of our 
 task to discuss in detail or to attempt to investigate fully 
 the merits and defects of the great minister whose task was 
 almost over before Hyde's political career began. But it 
 is enough to say that in the permanent elements of foresight 
 and unfaltering courage, the genius of Strafford dwarfs all 
 
48 WIDENING EXPERIENCES [chap, ii 
 
 his contemporaries, and all those, save one, who were actors 
 in the great drama that was to follow. He failed, but he failed 
 largely because he came too late, and because he fought under 
 impossible conditions. The sixteenth century had nursed 
 an energy and an enterprise that could not be confined 
 within the trammels of arbitrary rule ; and the reign of 
 James had taught the nation that their salvation was not 
 to be in the Monarchy. Even then, a monarch, steadfast 
 in purpose, and unflinching in the assertion of his authority, 
 might have given to Strafford the opportunity he desired of 
 working out a great future for the nation, under a preponder- 
 ating monarchical power, and with an aristocracy tamed and 
 disciplined to other work than the promotion of their own 
 sectional power, and their own swollen possessions. Again 
 and again, in later generations, the nation — or some amongst 
 its leaders — was to swing back to that ideal, which sought 
 to curb the power of a selfish oligarchy, intent only on 
 exploiting the growth of national prosperity for its own 
 advantage. But Strafford was the last who realized the idea 
 fully, who laid his plans consistently, and who, so far as his 
 own efforts were concerned, won a victory which was 
 sacrificed only by the tortuous methods and the vacillating 
 temper of a King, in whose composition nature had not 
 added the courage of manly candour to a narrow-minded 
 sincerity of purpose, or impulsive energy to moral rectitude 
 and to no small share of personal dignity and courage. 
 
 But men do not, with their contemporaries, completely 
 gauge the full bearing of deep-laid schemes and far-reaching 
 principles : least of all was it possible for the young lawyer 
 under thirty years of age to do so. It was much that Hyde 
 could, in the closing scene, see the loftiness of Strafford's 
 character, and recognize the consummate dignity which he 
 showed in the tragic end of his life. At present, when 
 Strafford was at the height of his power, an observer, however 
 
1635] PEACE AND PEOSPEEITY 49 
 
 acute, could only judge his actions by his impression of their 
 effect upon the nation at large. Unquestionably, so far as 
 Hyde was concerned, his verdict on the course which Strafford 
 now pursued was an adverse one. 
 
 There was much in the position of the nation at that time 
 which was pleasing to Hyde, perhaps even more in the 
 retrospect of later years than it seemed at the moment. The 
 wasteful and iU-considered wars in which Buckingham had 
 involved his master were now ended, and the kingdom 
 enjoyed a profound peace, the more noticeable because of 
 the universal clash of arms on the continent. Scotland, 
 England's enemy of many generations, was now in the 
 enjoyment of a peace which it had never known. Ireland, 
 after a glut of rebellion, was now firmly administered, and 
 instead of being a sponge, drawing endless expenditure, was 
 turned into a good source of commercial revenue. Our 
 colonies were rapidly increasing, and English capital and 
 enterprise found there a field of infinite promise. Our 
 commerce was advancing by leaps and bounds, and we held 
 almost undisputed command on the high seas. The name 
 of England was feared and respected in every corner of 
 Europe. There was a very wantonness of prosperity at 
 home. A wealthy and luxurious aristocracy seemed ready 
 to leave higher politics alone, so long as they enjoyed undis- 
 puted sway over a docile crowd of unconsidered men, and 
 were allowed, by lavish grants from the Crown, and by the 
 exercise of uncontrolled privileges, to increase the revenues 
 which they wasted in extravagant display. The mass of the 
 people had new fields of industry, and troubled themselves 
 little about theories of political power. 
 
 But, on the other hand, fears were aroused on every side, 
 by new and unaccustomed methods of administration ; and 
 these were most felt and most sharply criticized by the more 
 wise and thoughtful part of the nation. A strong current 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
50 WIDENING EXPERIENCES [chap, ii 
 
 of alarm set against vaguely threatened extensions of the 
 Eoyal prerogative. The wealthy aristocracy found their 
 revenues curtailed by revivals of the forest laws, and by 
 fines exacted upon estates which they had acquired by 
 questionable means, and to which they had no very assured 
 titles. The equahty of all ranks before the law, administered 
 by an ever-encroaching prerogative, had no great charm for 
 a nation in which the aristocratic principle was deeply 
 planted. The trading classes measured their verdict on the 
 Government, not by their new gains, but by the new taxes 
 imposed. So long as tonnage and poundage, and the new 
 tax of ship-money, were levied only on the pretext of special 
 exigency, they could be endured ; but when, after the famous 
 test case of Hampden had been tried, the law courts were 
 induced to'give them a sanction, based rather upon political 
 than legal grounds, these new exactions became doubly 
 odious and formidable. They were now felt to involve a 
 tampering with the chief security of property — the unsullied 
 purity of legal decisions. The measured and settled pro- 
 cedure of the law courts was invaded by maxims borrowed 
 from reasons of State, liable to be strained by the ambitions 
 of the executive ; and this was especially dangerous at a 
 time when much of the intellectual energy of the nation was 
 occupied inthecareful investigation of constitutional principle. 
 Under the wise polity of former reigns, however high the 
 prerogative had been strained, it had never called to its 
 aid the devices of the lawyers, or made of the law-courts 
 workshops where new chains for liberty might be forged. 
 Hyde was lawyer enough to see the danger, and man of the 
 world enough to see how little rehance was to be placed upon 
 the new agents whom the prerogative was calling to its aid. 
 In Noy, the Attorney-General, and Finch, the Lord Chief 
 Justice, he recognized two men who were precisely of the 
 type into which he saw a danger that his own profession 
 
1636] ABUSES OP POWER 51 
 
 might degenerate — narrow, pedantic, and incapable of 
 tempering the niceties of legal disputation with the larger 
 principles of policy. The Court of High Commission and 
 the Star Chamber had long exercised unbridled jurisdiction, 
 and had enforced arbitrary decrees, dealuag with questions 
 which lay outside the sphere of the ordinary courts. In 
 former times they had given rough and ready decisions, and 
 had heard causes in secret ; but the criticism upon their 
 action had been the less acrimonious just because they had 
 not attempted any formality of procedure. Now the very 
 elaboration of process lent itself to new criticism, and excited 
 new alarm. Discussion and argument and comment swelled 
 enormously the tide of antipathy. Drastic and summary 
 methods were felt only by the handful of people affected : 
 the elaboration of formal process made the whole nation 
 uneasy. Strafford's was the strong brain and the forcible 
 hand in the background ; he had little taste for the subtleties 
 of legal process. His influence was rather felt than seen. 
 But Laud's was the narrower brain, the equally courageous 
 heart, and the often blundering and tactless method which 
 was more in evidence. And Hyde's feeling of profound 
 respect and ungrudging admiration for Laud's obvious 
 sincerity did not blind him to Laud's fatal errors. 
 
 With Laud's main aims — which were first shown in his 
 University administration, where he introduced order out 
 of chaos, discipline in place of anarchy, a stately comeliness 
 in place of slovenly boorishness, sober scholarship in place 
 of the restless fanaticism of disputation, and which were 
 afterwards expanded in the larger sphere of civU and 
 ecclesiastical statesmanship — Hyde had the fullest sympathy. 
 He detested as cordially as Laud the uncouth fashions of the 
 puritan, and desired as eagerly as he the restfulness of control, 
 the decencies of worship, and the peacefulness of sound order 
 in religious ritual. In Strafford, Laud had found an 
 
52 WIDENING EXPERIENCES [chap, ii 
 
 all-powerful ally, united to himself in his ecclesiastical ideals, 
 and finding in these a convenient adjunct to his own great 
 scheme of sound administrative discipUne both in Church 
 and State. In Hyde, he had a useful adviser, who sympa- 
 thized with his churchmanship, but doubted his scheme of 
 resting it upon a strained prerogative, and whose perception 
 of the fatal errors in Laud's methods, and the danger of his 
 hopeless lack of tact, prompted him from time to time to 
 add to his advice some much-needed warnings. 
 
 " The greatest want the Archbishop had," says Hyde,' 
 " was of a true friend, who would seasonably tell him of his 
 infirmities, and what people said of him." Laud was by 
 nature too sincere not to be conscious of the want : and even 
 his fiery temper, and the arrogancy of manner which was 
 perhaps the necessary consequence of his origin and his early 
 training, did not make him resent the plain speaking of a 
 candid friend. It was a hard part for the young lawyer to 
 assume ; but Hyde knew how to discharge it with boldness, 
 yet with needful prudence. The picture Hyde gives us of 
 one such scene is drawn with all his consummate art, and 
 admirably depicts the dexterity of the younger man, and 
 the lamentable defects, as well as the essential humility and 
 candour, of the older one. It was on his return from the 
 country for Michaelmas Term that Hyde found the fit 
 occasion. Laud was walking in the gardens of Lambeth, 
 which he loved so well, and where in the springtime he used 
 to listen to the nightingale and the thrush. He asked Hyde, 
 " What good news in the country ? " and was answered, 
 " There was none good ; and (which troubled Hyde most) 
 many people spoke extreme ill of his Grace, as the cause of 
 all that was amiss." Laud said he was sorry for it, but 
 that he would not give over serving the King and the Church 
 to please the people. Hyde told him, " He thought he need 
 
 > Life, i. 69. 
 
1636] DEFECTS OP LAUD'S METHODS 53 
 
 not lessen his zeal for either ; and that it grieved liim to 
 find persons of the best condition, and who loved both King 
 and Church, exceedingly indevoted to him, complaining of 
 his manner of treating them, when they had occasion to 
 resort to him, it may be, for his directions." He then 
 recounted a particular instance, where two persons of " the 
 most interest and credit in Wiltshire," had reason to complain 
 of the manner in which Laud alone, of all the members of the 
 Council Board, had treated them cavalierly. One of them 
 had gone next morning to Lambeth to learn the cause, and 
 to endeavour to remove it ; but when, after long delay, he 
 had been admitted, the Archbishop, " scarce hearing him, 
 sharply answered him, that ' he had no leisure for compli- 
 ments.' " Laud took the rebuke in good part, and heard 
 the story very patiently, and said with evident trouble 
 that " he was very unfortunate to be so ill understood ; that 
 he meant very well." He remembered the incident, but 
 the sharpness of his diction at the Council Board was un- 
 intentional and due to the " imperfection he had by nature, 
 which often troubled him." When the visitor came to 
 Lambeth, he had been engaged in an affair of importance, 
 had " received him very kindly, as he thought," but being 
 troubled with his elaborate ceremony in place of business, 
 told him " that he had no time for comphments." He 
 regretted the incident ; but " if his integrity and uprightness, 
 which never should be liable to reproach, could not be 
 strong enough to preserve him, he must submit to God's 
 pleasure." 
 
 Hyde was not yet prepared to spare him. He told the 
 Archbishop that his own story showed how much reason 
 the gentleman had to be offended, and that he " did exceed- 
 ingly wish that he would more reserve his passion to all 
 persons, how faulty soever ; and that he would treat persons 
 of honour and quality and interest in their country, with 
 
54 WIDENING EXPERIENCES [chap, ii 
 
 more courtesy and condescension." Laud was still not 
 offended. 
 
 " Smiling, he said ' that he could only undertake 
 for his heart ; that he had very good meaning : for his 
 tongue he could not undertake that he would not sometimes 
 speak more heartily and sharply than he should do (which 
 oftentimes he was very sorry and reprehended himself for), 
 and in a tune which might be liable to misinterpretation 
 with them who were not very well acquainted with him, and 
 so knew not that it was an infirmity which his nature and 
 education had so rooted in him, that it was in vain to con- 
 tend against it.' ' In the state and distance he kept with 
 men, he thought it was not more than was suitable to the 
 place and degree he held in the Church and State.' " 
 
 Most men, who recognized their own defects so well as 
 Laud, would have gone half-way to curing them; but Laud's 
 own verdict on himself was the true one. The defects of his 
 temper and education were too deep-seated to be cured. 
 None the less, it says as much for the aged dignitary as for 
 his youthful Mentor, that the conversation sowed no seeds 
 of ill will. 
 
 " After this free discourse, Mr. Hyde ever found himself 
 more graciously received by him, and treated with more 
 familiarity ; upon which he always concluded, that if the 
 Archbishop had had any true friend, who would, in proper 
 seasons, have dealt frankly with him in the most important 
 matters, and wherein the eiTors were like to be found most 
 penal, he would not only have received it very well, but 
 have profited himself by it." 
 
 Hyde recognized the cause with ample perspicacity. 
 
 " It is," he adds in memorable words, " the misfortune 
 of most persons of that education (how worthy soever) that 
 they have rarely friendship with men above their own con- 
 dition, and that, their ascent being commonly sudden from 
 
1636] HYDE'S CANDID ADVICE 55 
 
 low to high, they have afterwards rather dependants than 
 friends, and are still deceived by keeping somewhat in 
 reserve to themselves even from those with whom they 
 seem most openly to communicate ; and, which is worse, 
 receive for the most part their informations and advertise- 
 ments from clergymen, who understand the least, and take 
 the worst measure of human affairs, of all mankind that 
 can write and read." 
 
 " In the most important matters, and wherein the errors 
 were hke to be most penal," Hyde could advise his old friend 
 about his tactlessness and discourtesy ; but it was not 
 tactlessness and discourtesy alone in which he saw that 
 Laud committed grievous errors, " like to be most penal," 
 and for which a sterner judge and a more weighty friend 
 than the young lawyer was required. We know from Hyde 
 himself, that he saw how triumphs for the Church were 
 dearly bought if accompanied by punishments, inflicted with 
 Laud's assent and approval, which shocked the feelings of 
 the nation. The ordinary penal code of that day was, of 
 course, admittedly drastic and barbarous in our eyes ; but, 
 with all allowance for this, it was not crime only, it was 
 fatuous folly, to condemn to the pillory and ear- cropping 
 men like Prynne and Bastwick and Burton ; graceless 
 fanatics, it may be, but none the less, educated men, whose 
 delinquencies, even in the eyes of the most zealous Church- 
 man, deserved no such barbarous treatment, and whose 
 torture and degradation roused the indignation of their 
 sympathizers, and gave cause for doubt and disgust even 
 to many of the warm supporters of the Church. Well might 
 Hyde say, in a condemnation far graver than his warnings 
 about tactless arrogance or discourtesy, " Every profession, 
 with anger and indignation enough, thought their education 
 and degrees and quality would have secured them from such 
 infamous judgments, and treasured up wrath for the time 
 
56 WIDENING EXPERIENCES [chap, ii 
 
 to come." ' We may admit that Laud's chief and sincere 
 desire was to secure the peace of the Church, and to provide 
 for her a seemly ritual. But however earnest his zeal, the 
 intrusion of the drastic methods of the pillory and the 
 executioner's knife into the arena of religious disputes 
 made that zeal an ally which even a secular minister, 
 engaged in the rougher task of strengthening the royal 
 prerogative in civil matters, might have seen cause to dread. 
 But there was another and a more fatal error in Laud's 
 scheme of government, which aroused even greater animosity, 
 and deeply involved the Church in the prevailing under- 
 current of discontent, and which no honesty of administra- 
 tion and no sincerity of aim could atone for. By a strange 
 perversion of judgment — the result of Laud's exaggerated 
 medisevalism, which counted for a good deal in his general 
 policy — he conceived the idea of restoring to the Church its 
 old power in the State, when great churchmen were also the 
 leading statesmen of England. It was the scheme of a 
 visionary, blind to what was passing round him. The days 
 of Becket, and Langton, and Wykeham, and Wolsey were 
 buried in the past, and never could be restored. But Laud 
 cherished the idea that the leaders of the Church might again 
 lay their hands upon the administration of the State, and be, 
 not the allies, but the supreme rulers of secular policy. It 
 was in this spirit that he accepted for himself a place in the 
 management of the Treasury, and became one of the Com- 
 missioners of the Admiralty. By a strange delusion, he 
 fancied that mere honesty of purpose could disarm the envy 
 which such action aroused. He strove to make himself no 
 mere formal coadjutor, but to penetrate into every detail of 
 administration. His boundless industry served only to 
 weaken his influence as the leader of the Church, and in a 
 corrupt age his very sincerity of purpose enhanced the ill- 
 
 ' Hist. 0/ Bebellion, i. 197. 
 
1636] JUXON AS LORD TREASURER 57 
 
 will aroused by his interference in secular business. In 
 1636, he fancied that he had won a lasting triumph for the 
 Church when he obtained the nomination of his intimate 
 friend Juxon, the Bishop of London, as Lord Treasurer. 
 Juxon brought to the task an industry and an unselfish 
 purity of administration equal to his own : but the jealousy 
 was enormously increased. " Now," Laud says, in his Diary, 
 " if the Church will not hold themselves under God, I can do 
 no more." He fancied that he had secured the indubitable 
 supremacy of the Church : in fact, he involved her in stormy 
 waters, in which she was soon to be submerged. He presently 
 attempted the same thing in Scotland, with equally fatal 
 results. To Strafford, as well as to Hyde, the error must 
 have been apparent enough. 
 
 Hyde was now forced to form his opinions on the world 
 of politics around him ; and unquestionably he found much 
 amiss in its present state. Looking back in after-years, 
 Hyde might condemn the impatience of an opposition which 
 nursed what then seemed factious discontent in the midst 
 of unprecedented prosperity. But there can be no doubt 
 that he himself, with a steady loyalty to the established 
 constitution, with an enthusiastic devotion to the Church, 
 and with a hatred of any tendency to revolution, was never- 
 theless imbued with some dislike of the existing regime, 
 some suspicion of its wisdom, and some dread of its tendency 
 to strain the royal prerogative unduly. His opinions were 
 crystallizing, as they must crystallize with a man whose life 
 and work were developing, and before whom there lay the 
 promise of a wide sphere of influence. His own lines seemed 
 to lie in pleasant places. He was esteemed by the great and 
 powerful, and his home was one of exceptional happiness. 
 His business was rapidly increasing, and he felt attracted 
 to the active pursuit of his profession with all the pleasure 
 that successful effort brings in its train. He gives us a 
 
58 WIDENING EXPEEIENCES [chap, ii 
 
 picture of his own position, and a retrospect of his career 
 so far, which is characteristic at once in its candour and in 
 its complacency. 
 
 " Under this universal acquaintance and general accepta- 
 tion," he tells us, " Mr. Hyde led for many years as cheerful 
 and pleasant a life as any man did enjoy, as long as the 
 kingdom took any pleasure in itself. His practice grew 
 every day as much as he wished, and would have been much 
 more if he had wished it ; by which he not only supported 
 his expense, greater much than men of his rank and pretences 
 used to make, but increased his estate by some convenient 
 purchases of land adjoining to his other : and he grew so 
 much in love with business and practice that he gave up his 
 whole heart to it ; resolving, by a course of severe study, 
 to recover the time he had lost upon less profitable learning, 
 and to intend nothing else, but to reap all those benefits to 
 which that profession could carry him, and to the pursuing 
 whereof he had so many and so unusual encouragements ; 
 and towards which it was not the least that God had blessed 
 him with an excellent wife, who perfectly resigned herself 
 to him, and who then had brought him, before any troubles 
 in the kingdom, three sons and a daughter, which he then 
 and ever looked upon as his greatest blessing and 
 consolation." 
 
 An open path to smooth and secure professional success ; 
 an ample competence ; domestic comfort ; an acceptance 
 in the choicest social circles that satisfied his human interest, 
 made still more pleasant by his possession of a vein of gentle 
 self-complacency — these seemed now the prospect before 
 Hyde. Far as he is removed above the social, moral, and 
 intellectual plane of Pepys, it is impossible not to recognize 
 a quaint similarity in the self-congratulation with which 
 both men regard their own careers, as they find themselves 
 gradually advancing by sure and cautious steps to a con- 
 sideration amidst the more imposing figures round them. 
 The initial resemblance adds piquancy to the after-contrast. 
 
1636] DANGEES OP HYDE'S POSITION 59 
 
 Pepys played his little role of sprightly industry, of alert 
 assurance, and of shrewd competence, consistently to the 
 end. Hyde, in spite of all the traits of early superficial 
 likeness, was cast in heroic mould, and ordained to play a 
 foremost part in a tragedy for all time. With him the petty 
 aims of self-advancement gradually disappeared, as heavy 
 burdens crowded on him ; the garment of self-complacency 
 fell away from him, as he laboured to reach a haven after a 
 long storm, and strove to reconstruct the monarchy after 
 its disasters ; and when great ofiQce came, it had lost for 
 him all its allurements. 
 
 Already he discerned that he was gaining his experience 
 even now in a dangerous school. In later life he was, he 
 tells us, 
 
 " often wont to say that when he reflected upon him- 
 self and his past actions, he had much more cause to be 
 terrified upon the reflection than the man had who viewed 
 Rochester Bridge in the morning that it was broken, and 
 which he had galloped over in the night ; that he had passed 
 over more precipices than the other had done, for many 
 nights and days, and some years together ; from which 
 nothing but the immediate hand of God could have preserved 
 him." 
 
 His associates had not all been of the type of Falk- 
 land and of Selden. He had mingled with the licence 
 of Alsatia, and knew the rough soldiers of fortune in their 
 cups and over the gaming-table. Scenes of reckless ex- 
 travagance and unrestrained debauchery had passed before 
 his eyes. But " he had, by God's immediate blessing, dis- 
 entangled himself from these labyrinths (his nature and 
 inclination disposing him rather to pass through those 
 dissolute quarters than to make any stay in them), and was 
 enough composed against any extravagant excursions." 
 Severe men, he confesses, thought him for a time a " person 
 
60 WIDENING EXPERIENCES [chap, ii 
 
 of more licence than in truth he was." Hyde was, in fact, 
 neither the victim of undue self-laudation nor of morbid 
 self-abasement. From the first he steered his bark through 
 the dangerous eddies with consummate skill ; and his ex- 
 periences were of untold value to him in his after-life. He 
 recognized his own infirmities, but he had self-knowledge 
 enough to measure them duly; " by a providential mercy 
 they were seasonably restrained from growing into vices, 
 at least into any that were habitual." He had ambition 
 enough " to raise his spirit to great designs of raising himself, 
 but not to transport him to endeavour it by any crooked and 
 indirect means." He could proudly boast that " he was 
 never suspected to flatter the greatest men, or in the least 
 degree to dissemble his own opinions or thoughts." He 
 does not forget to confess that " he indulged his palate very 
 much, and took even some delight in eating and drinking 
 well, but without any approach to luxury, and, in truth, 
 rather discoursed like an epicure than was one " ; and in 
 later years, he learned in the school of adversity to know 
 what it was often to go without a meal. " He had a fancy 
 sharp and luxuriant ; but so carefully cultivated and strictly 
 guarded that he never was heard to speak a loose or a profane 
 word : which he imputed to the chastity of the persons 
 where his conversation usually was, where that sort of wit 
 was religiously detested." That was no mean boast for one 
 who knew the courtiers of Charles I. and was the intimate 
 associate of his successor. 
 
 He knew his failings of temper aa well as of temperament. 
 
 " He was in his nature," so he confesses, " inclined to 
 pride and passion, and to a humour between wrangling and 
 disputing very troublesome, which good company in a short 
 time so much reformed and mastered, that no man was more 
 affable and courteous to all kind of persons : and they who 
 knew the great infirmity of his whole family, which abounded 
 
1636] SELP-CHAEACTERIZATION 61 
 
 in passion, used to say that he had much extinguished the 
 unruhness of that fire." 
 
 With a candour that is almost more rare and more 
 courageous, he notes for us his better quahties. 
 
 " That which supported and rendered him generally 
 acceptable was his generosity (for he had too much a contempt 
 of money) and the opinion men had of the goodness and justice 
 of his nature, which was transcendent in him, in a wonderful 
 tenderness and delight in obHging. His integrity was ever 
 without blemish, and believed to be above temptation. 
 He was firm and unshakable in his friendship : and though 
 he had great candour towards others in the differences of 
 religion, he was zealously and deliberately fixed in the 
 principles both of the doctrine and discipline of the Church, 
 yet he used to say to his nearest friends, in that time when 
 he expected another kind of calm for the remainder of his 
 life, ' though he had some glimmering light of, and incHna- 
 tion to, virtue in his nature, that the whole progress of his 
 life had been full of desperate hazards ; and that only the 
 merciful hand of God Almighty had prevented his being 
 both an unfortunate and a vicious man,' and he still said 
 ' that God had vouchsafed that signal goodness to him for 
 the piety and exemplar virtue of his father and mother,' 
 whose memory he had always in veneration." 
 
 A smaller man might well have shrunk from such 
 Ciceronian frankness of self-delineation, which the greatness 
 of Hyde's after- work securely redeems from the imputation of 
 self-conceit. As it is, we accept it as only one more of the 
 matchlessly clear-cut cameos of his contemporaries which 
 he has bequeathed to us. He had come through the furnace 
 without scathe ; and quotes with enjoyment the saying of 
 his kinsman and bosom friend, Hyde, afterwards Chief 
 Justice, " that his cousin had passed his time very luckily, 
 and with notable success, and was like to be very happy 
 
62 WIDENING EXPERIENCES [cjhap. ii 
 
 in the world : but he would never advise any of his friends 
 to walk in the same paths, or to tread in his steps." 
 
 Such was Hyde's life tUl 1639, when the seemingly clear 
 horizon of England became darkened with thick clouds. 
 The disturbance arose from Scotland. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE SCOTTISH TROUBLES AND THE SHORT PARLIAMENT 
 
 In 1633, when all seemed to be going weU with the Govern- 
 ment in England, in spite of the cessation of Parliaments 
 since 1629, and when there was no outward sign of the 
 undercurrent of uneasiness or discontent, the King had 
 made a progress to Scotland, in order to be crowned and to 
 investigate the position of matters there. He was attached 
 to the country of his birth with a warmth of affection with 
 which Hyde had no sympathy, and which he seems to have 
 regarded as an amiable weakness on the part of the King. 
 This was enough to give a motive for the journey ; but behind 
 it lay another, inspired by Laud — the hope of settling the 
 Church on a sounder basis and bringing it into closer 
 conformity with Laud's ideal for the Church of England. 
 Charles inherited to the full the nervous dread and the 
 innate dislike of Presbyterianism which the irksome 
 experience of his earlier years had impressed upon his 
 father. 
 
 His progress to the North was arranged on a scale of 
 unprecedented splendour, and involved expenditure in the 
 same proportion. The leading nobles were summoned to 
 attend, and found a new opportunity of indulging that 
 lavish display which suited the taste and fashion of the 
 day, and which, by crippling many goodly estates, gave 
 new motives for the rapacious greed characteristic of the 
 aristocracy of the period. The Scottish nobility met the 
 
64 THE SCOTTISH TROUBLES [chap, iii 
 
 King on his journey. Their real power, and their inde- 
 pendence of the restraints of the law or of the authority of 
 the Crown, were greater even than those of their class in 
 England. But their extortions, however ruthless, were 
 drawn from a poverty-stricken country, and their wealth 
 was much less ; yet their hereditary pride forbade their 
 being outshone by the English aristocracy in the lavishness 
 of their display, and they vied with each other in the number 
 of their retainers, in the costliness of their equipage, and in 
 the extravagance of their hospitality. A show of luxury 
 and a pretence of cordiality were mere coverings for virulent 
 jealousy and boundless schemes of disloyal ambition. 
 
 Outwardly, indeed, matters seemed to go smoothly enough. 
 The Parliament met, and some Acts were passed for restrain- 
 ing the power of the nobility, who seemed for the moment 
 to acquiesce. In their apparent submission Hyde discerns 
 only craftiness of dissimulation. 
 
 Laud, still Bishop of London, but soon to be advanced 
 to the Primacy, accompanied the King on this progress, and 
 was at his elbow to stimulate his zeal for ecclesiastical 
 uniformity. Although Episcopacy existed in name in 
 Scotland, it was a hollow pretence. The bishops had neither 
 power nor consideration. The rigid creed and the rugged 
 and unseemly worship of uncompromising Presbyterianism 
 were dominant throughout the land, and held the spirit of 
 the people in the chain of keen and militant enthusiasm. 
 Charles and his clerical adviser saw the difSculty of their 
 task, but wrongly judged that by temporizing they might 
 gain their object. They were badly seconded ahke by their 
 lay and by their clerical allies in the country. The first 
 offered only a semblance of support, and were quick to discern 
 in the gathering rehgious storm a new opportunity for 
 strengthening their own power. The second were men, for 
 the most part, of low rank and feeble judgment — whom 
 
1633] THE SCOTTISH HIEEAECHY G5 
 
 habit had made too timid to assert themselves, and who 
 were unable to give any useful advice as to methods. It was 
 hard to say whether it would be best to introduce the English 
 liturgy unchanged, or to devise a modified liturgy for Scottish 
 use. The latter course might rouse new jealousy of innova- 
 tion, and give rise to fears of papistical leanings ; the former 
 course might inflame the national passion for independence, 
 which watched with angry jealousy any undue imitation 
 of English modes and fashions. The result was the usual 
 refuge of feeble counsels — procrastination, which only gave 
 the irritation time to mature. It was left to the Scottish 
 hierarchy, in consultation with some of their brethren in 
 England, to frame a liturgy which was to be submitted to 
 the King. 
 
 Before he returned from Scotland, Charles carried out 
 one part of the scheme which must have been dear to the 
 heart of Laud. The hierarchy was made more imposing. 
 Hitherto the capital had only formed a part of the diocese 
 of St. Andrews ; but now a Bishopric of Edinburgh was 
 created, and a Cathedral and Chapter were endowed. A 
 still more marked offence was given at once to the nobility, 
 jealous of their own exclusive hold over the administration, 
 and to the deep-rooted predilections of the nation, by 
 adopting the course so dear to Laud in England, of placing 
 ecclesiastics in possession of civil power. Archbishop 
 Spottiswoode of St. Andrews was made Lord Chancellor ; 
 and several of the Bishops were summoned to the Privy 
 Council, and placed on the Bench of the Court of Session. 
 Charles and his ecclesiastical adviser were equally un- 
 conscious of the storm which their rash attempt to 
 realize a visionary dream was soon to evoke. 
 
 The liturgy was drawn up by the Scottish bishops 
 and revised by their Enghsh brethren. Every error and 
 defect of diplomacy were illustrated in the methods pursued. 
 
 VOL. I. F 
 
66 THE SCOTTISH TEOUBLES [chap, hi 
 
 The ecclesiastical Canons were promulgated before the 
 liturgy was issued, and not only were they published without 
 the assent of the Scottish Council, but they compelled the 
 clergy to submit upon oath to a liturgy which they had not 
 seen. With unconscious irony. Laud employed, upon a 
 people most jealous of their national independence, and upon 
 consciences most envenomed with hatred of prelatical pre- 
 tensions, methods which might well have strained the 
 allegiance of the most docile of his Anglican followers. 
 Not content with fastening upon the untameable fierceness 
 of the fanatical Presbyterian religious ordinances which his 
 soul loathed, the Canons invaded the field of Civil Govern- 
 ment by claiming for the Crown a prerogative " according to 
 the pattern of the Kings of Israel," which was in contradiction 
 to every tenet of Scottish tradition. 
 
 It was in 1637 that the first attempt to read the liturgy 
 took place, and the riots which it produced fill a lively page 
 in history, possessing its ludicrous as well as its serious side. 
 They were evoked quite as much by a fit of angry temper 
 as by the force of national and deeply-rooted indignation. 
 They drowned, in a sort of tidal wave, a side of Scottish 
 life neither the least intellectual nor the least attractive. 
 They left behind them in their course a deeply riven ravine, 
 which separated the great mass of Scottish feeling for genera- 
 tions from much that was most characteristic of English 
 feeling. The anger gathered strength as it advanced, and 
 identified itself with some of the strongest fibres of Scottish 
 national life. But for the moment it is chiefly memorable 
 because it showed how much havoc can be worked by inept 
 persistency in the pursuit of an aim, unaided by foresight, 
 firmness of action, or dexterity of method. It may still 
 be permitted us to believe that wiser counsels, better 
 strategy, and firmer resolution than were to be found in 
 the partnership between Charles and Laud, might have 
 
1639] SCOTTISH REBELLION 67 
 
 attained, without civil war, all the essential objects at which 
 they aimed. 
 
 But the heather was now on fire. The Assembly of the 
 Church, and the lay councils which were known as " The 
 Tables," and which were composed of representatives of 
 all the Estates, met without any authority from the Crown. 
 The Bishops were excommunicated, and their remnant of 
 authority was defied. Even while outward observances 
 of respect to the Crown were maintained, the nation as a 
 whole bound itself by a Covenant to demand the total 
 extirpation of prelacy ; and steps were taken to enlist an 
 army, of which General Lesley, a veteran of the wars of 
 Gustavus Adolphus, was placed in command. 
 
 Charles was compelled to raise an army to meet the 
 threatened rebellion ; and thanks to careful management 
 of the Treasury, he had ample means at his command. The 
 Earl of Arundel was appointed general ; the Earl of Essex, 
 lieutenant-general ; and the Earl of Holland, general of the 
 horse. The Marquis of Hamilton, whose fidelity Hyde always 
 counted more than questionable, was placed in command of 
 a fleet, which was to blockade the Firth of Forth. Of all 
 those named, the Earl of Essex was the only wise selection ; 
 and it was not long before he received cause for reasonable 
 offence. For the present, he rendered the only useful 
 service, by advancing in rapid marches and seizing Berwick 
 for the King. 
 
 Charles himself now proceeded towards Scotland, sum- 
 moning the nobility to attend him on his progress, and 
 imposing on them a " protestation " of their loyalty. It 
 was a tactless error, which did not increase his forces by 
 a single man, and enabled two leading nobles, Lord Say and 
 Sele and Lord Brooke, to find a constitutional reason for 
 emphasizing their disagreement with the King by refusing 
 to take the oath. 
 
68 THE SCOTTISH TEOUBLES [chap, hi 
 
 Charles reached the neighbourhood of Berwick, and 
 effected a juncture with the troops of Essex. He had a 
 force amply sufficient to have crushed any army which the 
 Scots could bring against him. But Holland, with positive 
 treachery or absolute incompetence, withdrew from the 
 front of Lesley's little army at Dunse, and returned to the 
 camp of the King. His reception there was so cordial, 
 that it looks as if this pusillanimous retreat was contrived 
 with the consent of the King. Charles seems to have 
 thought that rebellion could be stamped out by a flaunting 
 of troops in the face of the rebels, and by allowing these 
 rebels to gain confidence from the weakness of his opposition. 
 
 But the really dangerous element in the situation was that 
 the Scots had established close relations with many in 
 Charles's own army. They still used, in all their addresses, 
 the semblance of loyalty, and couched their petitions in 
 language of fulsome adulation. It was a studied device, 
 which preserved those who trafficked with them from the 
 penalties of avowed treason. A so-called " treaty " was 
 made, " That the armies were to be disbanded ; an Act 
 of Oblivion passed ; the King's forts and castles to be restored ; 
 an Assembly and Parliament called for a full settlement ; 
 no persons reserved for justice, because no fault had been 
 committed." ^ As a fact, those stipulations only which served 
 to mark the triumph of the rebels were effective ; the King 
 had sacrificed the advantage of force that was in his hand 
 to a semblance of submission in which his authority was 
 openly flouted. 
 
 The effect amongst his immediate surroundings was 
 equally disastrous. His own army was disbanded. Essex 
 was permanently alienated. Holland, whose inefficiency 
 had been condoned, drew his connection with the Scots more 
 
 ' This is Clarendon's own summary of the Treaty of Berwick {History 
 of RtbeUion, ii. 50). 
 
1639] PARLIAMENT TO BE SUMMONED 69 
 
 close without losing 'his influence at Court. Sir Henry 
 Vane, whose character showed no consistent trait except 
 that of undeviating treachery, through the cunning design 
 of one who was almost as treacherous as himself, the Marquis 
 of Hamilton, became Secretary of State. On the other 
 hand, the Scots not only defied the authority of the King 
 within their own borders, but stimulated opposition in 
 England, and were in negotiation with Richelieu, who saw 
 in the encouragement of rebellion an admirable opportunity 
 of aiming a blow at England's power. The turbulent 
 Scottish aristocracy were confirmed in their independence, 
 and knew themselves safe against any renewed assertions 
 of the royal prerogative. Their power of mischief was 
 limited only by the fact that they fought, each for his own 
 hand ; and the treachery of Hamilton was rivalled and 
 balanced by that of Argyle. 
 
 It was plain that if the power of the Crown was not to 
 sink into contempt, some resistance must be made to what 
 was not only a defiance of its authority, but, by the mainte- 
 nance of the Scottish army on the English border, was a 
 standing menace to the peace of England. The carefully 
 gathered resources of the Exchequer had been scattered in a 
 vain march, ending in a disgraceful capitulation, which bore 
 the name of a treaty. Charles was at his wits' end. He 
 consulted his council, and by their unanimous advice' he 
 resolved to summon a Parliament. The first step in the 
 surrender of a strained prerogative was taken. 
 
 We have seen how deeply, in spite of outward prosperity, 
 the canker of discontent was working. Laud's diary shows 
 that already he had misgivings, although but a short time 
 before he had drawn up a report upon the state of his diocese 
 that had shown all well. The schemes which he and Strafl:ord 
 
 ' Laud tells us (in Strafford Correi:poitdence) that he was one of the 
 leaders in the advice. 
 
70 THE SCOTTISH TEOUBLES [chap, hi 
 
 had cherished jointly were becoming tangled. Strafford 
 himself must have seen clearly the fatal weakness and 
 vacillation of the King, and appreciated in their true signi- 
 ficance the devious methods of disloyalty at Court. But 
 outwardly there was no sign of the angry fretfulness, and 
 none of the bold defiance of rebellion. On the eve of the 
 summoning of Parhament Lord Wentworth (as he then 
 was) was raised to the title of Earl of Strafford, by which he 
 is known to history, although he held that title scarcely a 
 year ; and when the Parliament met he was introduced with 
 all pomp to a submissive and adulatory House.' Royalty 
 preserved all its old dignity, and the King was still addressed 
 in words which accorded with the elaborate and fulsome 
 courtesy of the day, and had insensibly habituated men's 
 minds to an almost slavish reverence for the Crown. Just a 
 year before the Parliament met (on March 27th, 1639) Charles 
 had listened to an address from Sir Thomas Widdrington, 
 the Recorder of York, which began with these words : 
 
 " Most Gracious and Dread Sovereign, Be graciously 
 pleased to pardon this stay, that we, the least and meanest 
 motes in the Firmament of your Majesty's Government, 
 should thus dare to cause you (our bright and glorious Sun) 
 to stand. . . . Give us leave, who are the members of this 
 Ancient and decayed City, to make known unto your Majesty 
 (even our Sun itself) where the Sun now stands in the City 
 of York." 
 
 It would be easy to parallel these words by many similar 
 utterances. No one yet dreamed that the Crown and its 
 dignity were to be assailed. Rumours of Scottish turbulence 
 had scarcely yet penetrated into England. The various 
 wranghng factions at the Court had found, as they fancied, 
 new chances of increasing their influence in the confused 
 
 ' In the House of Lords, Whitelocke tells us, thanks were paid to Strafford 
 for his part in the summoning of Parliament. 
 
1640] HYDE IN PARLIAMENT 71 
 
 negotiations with the Scots. Those more ardent spirits 
 who chafed at Laud's ecclesiastical innovations, and at 
 Strafford's domination ; those scattered victims who had 
 suffered from the various unconstitutional tribunals ; the 
 wealthy landowners whose properties were crippled by fines, 
 and the lawyers who found the jurisdiction of the ordinary 
 courts interfered with, doubtless recognized that the summon- 
 ing of Parhament must cUp the wings of the prerogative. 
 But none of them contemplated an impending struggle in 
 which the Crown would, in a few months, have to listen to 
 words of thinly veiled insult and open defiance, instead of 
 the language of an almost oriental servihty. 
 
 It was on April 13th, 1640, that Parhament once more met 
 after an interval of eleven years ; and for the first time Hyde 
 found himself embarked definitely on a political career, as 
 member of the assembly which was soon to make itself the 
 sovereign influence in the constitution. It says much for 
 the influence and credit that he had already gained at 
 two-and-thirty, that he was chosen for two places — Wotton 
 Basset in Wilts, and Shaftesbury in Dorset ; and the double 
 election proves that he did not owe his seat to the nomination 
 of a patron. He selected to sit for Wotton Basset. When 
 he entered Parliament, it did not involve any serious inter- 
 ference with his professional career. Men had grown 
 accustomed to count Parhamentary service as merely one 
 of many occupations of hfe ; and if they contemplated a 
 continuance of the revived assembly, no one could dream 
 that its sessions would be so prolonged or so continuous as 
 seriously to encroach upon their other business.' It was 
 a position which the young lawyer would assume as the 
 natural appendage of his rank as a country gentleman of 
 
 ' The House met at eight o'clock and sat till midday. The afternoon 
 was assigned to the work of committees, but no one foresaw that such work 
 would be as constant and engrossing as it became. The business of a lawyer 
 was largely done in the afternoon. 
 
72 THE SCOTTISH TROUBLES [chap, hi 
 
 influence and credit, and which he would regard as Hkely 
 to enhance his professional standing. It involved no divorce 
 from the business of his life, and just as little was it looked 
 upon as a step towards employment under the Crown. That 
 was assigned on other grounds than those of Parliamentary 
 service. 
 
 But Hyde clearly entered Parhament with a full intention 
 of playing his part in the redress of grievances and in curbing 
 claims of prerogative which the great mass of professional 
 opinion held to be grievous errors, quite as likely to work 
 injury to the Crown as to the liberty of the subject. This 
 attitude he assumed as a matter of course, and it was the 
 almost inevitable line for any independent man entering a 
 House of Commons which had been summoned because the 
 position under the administration of the last eleven years 
 had become impossible, and of which the members were sent 
 there solely to redress the existing grievances. There is 
 not the smallest evidence that he acted in any way as a 
 member of a party, or that any scheme of procedure was 
 jointly arranged. The party opposed to the Court was 
 virtually the whole nation. If any deliberate scheme was 
 operative at aU, it was only amongst a very small group, 
 with which Hyde had little connection, and it is doubtful 
 whether even they had very definite aims in these earher 
 months. There was no organized opposition ; and it is 
 clear that even while he was boldly and openly attacking 
 some phases of strained prerogative, Hyde did not regard 
 himself as hostile to the Crown, and continued in the closest 
 intimacy with Laud himself. He chose his attitude as the 
 result of his own deliberate opinion, and without fear or 
 favour. It could not secure the gratitude of the Court, 
 although it led to no breach of favour. On the other 
 hand, no thought of ambition could have prompted him 
 to court the favour of an opposition, which neither had, 
 
1640] MODERATION OF PARLIAMENT 73 
 
 nor to all appearance was likely to have, any favour to 
 bestow. 
 
 The opening scenes of the session saw no diminution 
 in the ample and ceremonious loyalty towards the King 
 which the fashion of the day prescribed. In the reception 
 given to the King's speech, in the choice of a Speaker,^ and 
 in the terms of the address made by the Speaker on behalf 
 of the House, there was no jarring word which could indicate 
 any deliberate intention of pressing opposition to lengths 
 which would infringe on the lavish respect paid to the Crown, 
 far less of seriously altering the balance of the constitution. 
 The consistent note of the debates is that grievances were to 
 be redressed, not by alterations of that balance, but by the 
 removal of what were either innovations or at most trouble- 
 some accretions that had grown up through neglect, and 
 were cumbering the administrative machine. We are even 
 told that when ship-money was, by a too impetuous lawyer, 
 stigmatized as an " abomination," the susceptibilities of 
 the House were shocked, and the too zealous orator narrowly 
 escaped censure for his unbridled tongue. A susceptibihty 
 so delicate is not without its humorous aspect, in the light 
 of later events. 
 
 The opening speech ^ dealing with the general grievances 
 
 ' Serjeant Glanvil was really the choice of the King, whose wish was 
 submissively accepted by the House. Hyde describes him as " a man very 
 equal to the work, very well acquainted with the proceedings in Parliament ; 
 of a quick conception, and of a ready and voluble expression, dexterous in 
 disposing the House, and very acceptable to them." Much latitude was 
 allowed to the Speaker, and he intervened on behalf of the Crown in one 
 important debate in committee, where another member took the chair. 
 His speech on that occasion was admirably conceived, and all but commanded 
 the assent of the House ; and yet, because he had to balance his advocacy of 
 a fenerous grant by some strictures on ship-money, he was (as Hyde declares) 
 the object of suspicion at Court. Charles had, indeed, an admirable faculty 
 of alienating some of his most useful allies. 
 
 ^ In regard to the course of this Short Parliament, Professor S. R. 
 Gardinei' speaks with his usual contempt of Hyde's account and of his 
 personal position. It is true that Hyde wrongly places Pym first in order 
 of time, as he was first in importance amongst the speakers. The error is 
 
74 THE SCOTTISH TROUBLES [chap, iii 
 
 resulting from the cessation of Parliament, was made by 
 Harbottle Grimston,' the member for Colchester ; but the 
 chief part in the debate fell to the man even then the most 
 experienced Parliamentarian in the House, and soon to 
 be the central figure of a determined opposition — Pym. 
 A few weeks were to show Pym's wonderful astuteness as a 
 parliamentary strategist, and at the same time to disclose 
 the unsuspected extent of his aims and objects ; but now 
 he began a discourse of two hours by mentioning the King 
 " with the most profound reverence," and commending his 
 wisdom and justice. 
 
 The next day Hyde made his maiden speech, and devoted 
 it to an attack upon the flagrant abuses of the Earl Marshal's 
 Court. This court was one of those fungous growths 
 which had vastly swollen during the non-parhamentary 
 interval, and which really benefited no one but its president,^ 
 and the crowd of legal myrmidons who battened on its 
 extortions. The royal prerogative derived neither strength 
 nor revenue from the fantastic and grotesque jurisdiction 
 which that court claimed ; and probably had Strafford not 
 
 not a serious one. If we wish for a clear and vivid picture of the debates, 
 and a statement of their essential meaning, some will prefer Clarendon 
 to Professor Gardiner. It is difficult, from the mass of the Professor's 
 intricate comments, to follow the procedure at all. The closing words of 
 his comment on the whole procedure are in his usual tone of depreciation. 
 Hyde's regret for the failure of any compromise he explains thus : " Hyde 
 never knew what he wanted beyond some dream of his own ... in which 
 tyranny and sedition were to be renounced as equally impracticable." We 
 may all stigmatize each other's aims as " dreams," but, as described, Hyde's 
 object does not seem altogether undesirable. To assert that he did not 
 know what he wanted, and to decry his " lawyer-like dexterity," do not 
 savour of very novel or impartial criticism. 
 
 ' Harbottle Grimston was almost as moderate in his views as Hyde 
 himself. He belonged to an ancient and wealthy family, and by the death 
 of his brother became heir to his father's baronetcy and ample estate. 
 Such a man was not the stuff of which revolutionaries are made. At a later 
 day he resisted Oomwell, and presided over the Convention Parliament 
 which restored Charles II. 
 
 ^ The Earl Marshal was the Earl of Arundel, of whose character and 
 intellect Hj'de had perhaps an unduly mean opinion, and who repaid the 
 favours of the Crown to which he owed his impunity in the extravagant 
 licence of his jurisdiction, by what Hyde deemed disloyalty and ingratitude. 
 
1640] HYDE'S FIRST EFFORT 75 
 
 had weightier business in hand, be might have swept away 
 such sorry and ridiculous scandals of administration. Hyde's 
 attack upon its abuses was based upon ridicule as well as 
 invective, and a very meagre recital of the antics of this 
 court was enough to cover it with contempt. Trumpery 
 charges ; fictitious insults based upon harmless jests on a 
 nobleman's coat-of-arms ; extravagant attempts on the 
 part of aristocratic spendthrifts to evade their debts by 
 charging their base-bom creditors with scant obeisance to 
 their rank — such instances in abundance could be adduced 
 from the most recent records of the court, and it appeared 
 that it had not even the merit of antiquity, because some 
 of its precedents dated only from 1633. It was a subject 
 admirably fitted for the first effort of the young Parlia- 
 mentarian. Hyde made deft use of it, and did not spoil 
 his effort by any excess of vituperation, or by personal 
 reflection upon the aristocrat whose privileges were 
 threatened.^ He achieved an eminent success. As he 
 complacently reports, " that being the first part he had 
 acted upon that stage, brought him much applause ; 
 and he was ever afterwards heard with great benignity." 
 A few months later, he had even better evidence of 
 the efficacy of his speech. The " great man " who was 
 attacked so far debased his greatness as to make court to 
 
 ' "The modesty of that time not permitting the mention of great men 
 with any reproach" (Idje, i. 82). Such excess of modesty was short- 
 lived, t ■ r 
 
 But while we allow all credit to Hyde for his attack upon the antics of 
 this court, it is ridiculous to claim for that attack the merit of a sublime 
 patriotism, which Hyde himself would have been the furst to disavow. The 
 claim is made, in the true spirit of orthodox Whiggism, by Mr. Lister, who, 
 with equal absurdity, passes many a censure upon Hyde wherever he seems 
 to act contrary to the accepted maxims of that creed. The powers of the 
 Earl Marshal's Court were really a survival, which was not without a certam 
 quaint piquancy, but which no man could seriously defend. To treat them 
 as an adjunct of the royal prerogative, or as involving great constitutional 
 questions, shows a lack of humour. There are some picturesque and equally 
 absurd survivals stiU ; but they are not felt to be of primary importance. 
 Hyde found in the Earl Marshal's Court a good subject for a maiden speech, 
 which could offend nobody but the hangers-on of the Court. 
 
76 THE SCOTTISH TEOUBLES [chap, m 
 
 the invader of his privileges, to thank him for " having 
 treated his person so civilly," and to excuse himself by the 
 ill advice of injudicious lawyers ; winding up with a pro- 
 fession of kindness and esteem " when in his heart he did him 
 the honour to detest and hate him perfectly, as he professed 
 to all whom he trusted." 
 
 But the course of Parliamentary procedure did not long 
 run so smoothly. The Court was at its wits' end for money, 
 and a mere discussion of past grievances, however respectful 
 the language in which it was carried on, could not fill the 
 coffers of the King, or enable suitable preparations to be 
 made for the threatened renewal of hostilities by the Scots. 
 In despair of other methods, the agents of the Court suggested 
 to the House of Lords that they should move the Commons 
 to grant a supply, and to proceed afterwards to discuss their 
 grievances. It is strange that such inept advice should 
 be given ; stranger still that it should be accepted. It can 
 only be explained by the curious apathy to Parliamentary 
 rights, bred by eleven years of Parliamentary suspension. 
 It gave rise to vehement protests from the Commons against 
 the gross breach of privilege, and from that moment a new 
 temper was aroused. The feeling in the Commons was 
 unanimous ; and Hyde was as indignant as his fellow-members 
 at the unprecedented presumption of the Lords. Profuse 
 apologies were offered ; the Lords protested that in offering 
 their advice they had no thought of dictating the methods of 
 the grant. But the mischief was done, and there were plenty 
 of men in the House of Commons who might hesitate to 
 infringe the tone of respect adopted by universal assent, but 
 were in no wise unwilling to see a sturdier spirit prevail. 
 
 Another expedient was adopted. Sir Henry Vane, the 
 new Secretary of State, was commissioned by the King to 
 offer a bargain to the House. If they would grant him 
 twelve subsidies, he " would release all his title or pretence to 
 
1640] PAELIAMENTAEY TACTICS 77 
 
 ship-money." It was a singularly clumsy proposal. Bargains 
 of the kind are in their essence inadmissible. They bring 
 discredit on both sides. If ship-money was justified by the 
 prerogative of the Crown, the King could not abandon it 
 without legislative enactment ; if it were doubtful, the 
 Commons could not carry out their side of the compact 
 without seeming to condone an illegal act, by admitting that 
 the King had some right which he could bargain away. 
 Their grants must be free gifts, not the payment of a price. 
 On the next day there was a debate of what was then deemed 
 unprecedented length, but was soon to be usual, lasting 
 from nine in the morning till four in the afternoon. It was 
 renewed the following day, and then appeared the arts of 
 Parliamentary tactics on both sides. Hampden — 'Whom 
 Hyde judges to have been " the most popular man " in 
 the House — proposed to put the question in the bluntest 
 form, " whether the House would consent to the proposition, 
 as contained in the message ? " This would infalhbly have 
 produced a negative vote, as the vast majority of the House 
 deemed the amount excessive ; and although Glanvil, the 
 Speaker, intervened with a persuasive speech in the debate 
 in committee to advocate the proposal, the intervention 
 was in vain, and the opponents of the Court insisted upon 
 Hampden's question. Then it was that Hyde, for the first 
 time, showed that he could add to a brilliant maiden speech 
 an astonishing skill in the tactics of debate ; and his action 
 for the first time indicates that he was not prepared to go 
 all lengths in opposition to the Court. He moved that the 
 first question should be merely whether they would grant 
 a supply or not ; and that thereafter they might discuss the 
 amount and manner of the grant. This device commanded 
 a large measure of assent, and almost foiled the scheme of 
 Hampden and Pym. The House was fairly divided, and 
 alternate cries for " Mr. Hampden's motion," " Mr. Hyde's 
 
78 THE SCOTTISH TROUBLES [chap, hi 
 
 motion " were shouted from the benches. Hyde might 
 have won a decisive triumph, and the impending struggle 
 might have been materially modified, or even averted. But 
 a strange intervention on the part of Herbert, the Solicitor- 
 General, and Sir Henry Vane, the Secretary of State, scattered 
 to the winds all hope of pacification. Herbert opposed the 
 proposal, and he was vehemently supported in his opposition 
 by Vane. Vane was an emissary of ill omen for the King, 
 and it is doubtful whether he only transmitted an ill-judged 
 message which he had not attempted to avert, or deliberately 
 invented a device which he intended should lead to trouble. 
 Whatever may be the truth,' Vane rose and announced that 
 " the carrying that question could be of no use ; " as he 
 had authority to tell them that a vote otherwise than in 
 the proportion and manner proposed would not be accepted 
 by the King. There was nothing for it but to adjourn the 
 House till the next day. The peevishness and pride of 
 Herbert wrought as hurtfully to the King as they did on 
 many a future occasion ; ^ and the perverted ingenuity of 
 
 ' The King is reported by Hyde as having afterwards " declared with 
 great anger that he had never given Vane any such authority " (History of 
 Rebellion, ii. 79). " It ia incredible," says Professor Gardiner, " that Vane 
 should have acted thus without express authority from Charles." 
 Credibility is not a safe guide with regard to Vane's action, and we must 
 remember that Vane in the Council pressed twelve subsidies against eight, 
 which was the reduced figure advised by Strafford, and adopted after 
 careful discussion. Vane, therefore, either altered the deliberate decision 
 of the Council with the informal assent of the King, or he made a false 
 representation to the House of Commons. The distinction between the two 
 views of his conduct does not seem a material one. Hyde does not profess 
 to know, but he indicates what was the general, and not ill-grounded, opinion. 
 
 ^ Edward Herbert was cousin to Lord Herbert of Cherbury, and was 
 bom in 1590. In the first stages of his legal and Parliamentary career his 
 attitude was rather that of an opponent of the Court, and he was engaged 
 in the impeachment of Buckingham in 1626. But soon after, he obtained 
 advancement at Court, and we hear of him as one of those who (with Hyde) 
 arranged the masque for the Royal entertainment in 1634. He became 
 Solicitor-General in 1639, and Attorney-General in 1640 ; and soon after 
 was involved in suspicion with the Parliament, as having drawn the charges 
 against the five members whom Charles attempted to arrest. From that 
 time he was an avowed Royalist ; but his sulky temper, and his confused 
 arguments made him of little advantage as an adherent. He died in 1657. 
 
1640] DISSOLUTION OF SHORT PARLIAMENT 79 
 
 Vane ^ brought him one step nearer to the vengeance on Straf- 
 ford and Laud which was now the master passion of his life.^ 
 The case was now bad enough, but evil counsels at Court 
 soon made it worse. All now feared that a fit of temper 
 might bring about a dissolution. Hyde saw the danger, 
 and when the debate closed he hastened to Lambeth to 
 impress his own alarm upon Laud. He found him as usual 
 in his garden, already depressed by the fear of impending 
 disaster. Hyde told him the general expectation, and 
 besought him " to use all his credit to prevent such a 
 desperate counsel as dissolution." He represented the temper 
 and disposition of the House as such as could never be hoped 
 for again, and expressed his conviction that whatever 
 obstruction there might be, there was no settled intention 
 of disturbing the Government of the King. Laud absolutely 
 declined to interfere ; he would neither persuade nor dis- 
 suade the dissolution, and he made it plain that, in his view, 
 delay and obstruction were tantamount to deUberate dis- 
 obedience to the behests of the King. On May 5th the King 
 hurried to the House of Lords in unseemly haste, and, 
 summoning the Commons, dissolved the Parliament which 
 had sat but three weeks. 
 
 ' Sir Henry Vane, the elder, was born in 1589. At an early age, after 
 leaving Oxford, he attached himself to the Court. He obtained the honour 
 of knighthood from James I. in 1611, was employed on various foreign 
 missions, and managed by shrewdness and obsequiousness to become the 
 holder of several lucrative posts, by which his wealth rapidly increased. 
 His abilities were very meagre, and his promotion to the post of Secretary 
 soon after was not explained by any personal eminence. His wealth enabled 
 him to purchase Raby Castle, and it was the assumption by Strafford, as his 
 second title, of the name of Baron Raby, that made Vane his sworn enemy. 
 
 ^ In the life of Edmund Waller, prefixed to his poems, an incident is 
 told which shows that Waller concurred with Hyde, and was anxious to 
 bring about a reasonable settlement. Waller was, it appears, so far m 
 credit at Court, that he had been asked by the King to exert himself for the 
 grant. He heard Vane's announcement with dismay, and " spoke earnestly 
 to Sir Thomas Jermyn, Comptroller of the Household, to save his master 
 from the effects of so bold a falsity." But Sir Thomas did not venture to 
 intervene, and " his son, the Earl of St. Albans, afterwards told Mr. Waller 
 that his father's cowardice ruined the King." 
 
80 THE SCOTTISH TROUBLES [chap, hi 
 
 Within an hour after this fatal dissolution, Hyde met 
 St. John. The customary gloom on St. John's morose face 
 had given place to " a most cheerful aspect," and Hyde, 
 as much against his usual wont, was gloomy and depressed. 
 St. John asked him, " What troubled him ? " " The same," 
 answered Hyde, " as he believed troubled most good men ; 
 that in such a time of confusion, so wise a Parliament, which 
 could only have found a remedy for it, was so unseasonably 
 dismissed." St. John answered warmly, " That all was 
 well ; that it must be worse before it was better ; and that 
 this Parliament would never have done what was necessary 
 to have been done." St. John doubtless spoke not for 
 himself alone, but for plenty more ; for Pym and Hampden, 
 for Martin and the younger Vane, and, above all, for the 
 member for Cambridge, OHver Cromwell — a silent member 
 in the first Parliament of 1640. The thin cloak of reverential 
 submission was soon to be thrown aside. Dulness of per- 
 ception had prevented Charles from using it to his advantage 
 as and when he might have done so. 
 
 Parliament was dissolved on May 5th ; on the 6th, papers 
 were posted in the city calling on the apprentices to rise 
 and attack the Archbishop in his palace at Lambeth. A 
 few days later a rabble, according to some accounts five 
 hundred strong,^ gathered round the palace, and although it 
 had been put into some state of defence. Laud was obliged 
 to escape in disguise, and to take refuge in Whitehall. 
 One of the rioters was hanged ; but this did not prevent the 
 outbreak of disorder elsewhere, and even on a more serious 
 scale. The crop of libels on Laud was again heavy, and 
 the turbulence which these showed was soon to rise 
 higher. 
 
 ' Clarendon {Rebellion, ii. 86) saya " some thousands," and it would seem 
 that his estimate is more likely to be correct. A gathering of five hundred 
 people hardly deserves the name of a " riot." 
 
1640] PEBPARATIONS FOR WAR 81 
 
 Meanwhile every eflfort had to be made by the King's 
 Council to prepare for the war with the Scots, and to re- 
 plenish the Exchequer. In addition to the other evils which 
 surrounded the King, there was the further evil of a divided 
 Council/ Every effort was made to raise money : by loans, 
 by ship-money, by voluntary contributions, or even by 
 borrowing from Spain. Troops were levied by the royal 
 warrant, but the efficacy of the warrant was disputed, and 
 the troops, when raised, mutinied against their officers, 
 and showed that little reliance could be placed on their 
 fidelity when put to the test. The Earl of Northumberland 
 was placed in command of the army, with Lord Conway 
 for his general of horse— a tried soldier, but an indolent 
 man, half-hearted in the work to which he was called, and 
 too much inclined to the pleasures of the table, and to a hfe 
 of debauchery, to be relied on for great efforts in a desperate 
 cause. But he was possessed of no mean powers as a 
 scholar, and was a man capable of warm friendship ; and 
 his social gifts, combined with his cordial support of the 
 Church, had endeared him to Laud. He allowed himself to 
 
 • Of the King's counsellors the first and foremost, upon whose strength 
 of purpose all must depend, was Strafford himself. But he could rely upon 
 little firmness of resolution in the King, and he was himself hard pressed by 
 dangerous illness, which frequently during these last months, rendered 
 him incapable of action. Laud still carried on a. vigorous policy in Con- 
 vocation, which continued, with doubtful legality, to sit after Parliament 
 was prorogued. Next to these was Lord Cottington, the Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer — suave, bland, and far-sighted, but cautious and even timid in 
 action. When Portland had been the " Lady Mora," or Lady Delay, of the 
 Strafford and Laud correspondence, Cottington had been referred to as 
 " Lady Mora's waiting-maid." Northumberland was joined to them " for 
 ornament," and Bishop Juxon,of London, was Laud's faithful henchman, 
 and held place as Lord Treasurer. Vane and Windebanke were the two 
 Secretaries of State : the first was treacherous, and playing a double game ; 
 the second lay under a burden of odium which was soon to force him to 
 mthdraw himself from the vengeance of the Parliament. The Marquis 
 of Hamilton had inspired a false confidence of his fidelity in the King, but 
 was suspected, on good grounds, by the others, who knew that he was a 
 ivorthy pendant to the double-minded Argyle. These constituted what was 
 opprobriously known as the Junto or Cabinet Council {Hist, oj Seiellion, 
 ii. 99). 
 
 VOL. I. G 
 
82 THE SCOTTISH TROUBLES [ohap. m 
 
 be outmanoeuvred, and while attempting to dispute the 
 passage of the Tyne by the Scots at Newburn, about four 
 miles from Newcastle, his forces were routed, and he was 
 compelled to yield Newcastle into the hands of the Scottish 
 army. Strafford found that all depended upon himself, 
 as the one spirit whom no adverse circumstances could 
 dismay. It was as a desperate resource that he was appointed 
 to, or it might be more correct to say assumed, the command 
 of the army ; but he found, when he betook himself, broken 
 as he was in health, to the seat of war, all in the 
 dismay attendant upon divided counsels, disaffection and 
 treachery in full sway, and an army ill provided, mutinous, 
 and with no true spirit of discipline. It was no wonder that 
 his efforts to restore order in its ranks marshalled against 
 him bitter feeling from every grade in the army. Those 
 who had been silenced by his undisputed sway now sum- 
 moned courage to plot against him, and did not scruple 
 to accuse him as the head and fount of all that had aroused 
 discontent throughout the kingdom. 
 
 The defeat at Newburn came at the end of August. 
 Thereafter the Scots made new demands, and asked that 
 commissioners should be appointed to treat. The advisers 
 of the King could only suggest, as a temporary substitute for 
 Parliament, that a Great Council of the Peers should be 
 summoned. That Council met on September 24th, and the 
 King announced in his opening speech his intention to 
 summon a Parliament to meet on November 3rd. The 
 Council was a futile experiment, that proved its own 
 futility at the outset. Pending the meeting of Parlia- 
 ment, the King consulted them as to the steps to be 
 taken in view of the rebel army which had invaded 
 the country. To Charles himself most probably, and to 
 Strafford most certainly, the best course would seem to 
 be to prosecute the war. It was not the view of the 
 
1640] TEEMS AEEANGED WITH THE SCOTS 83 
 
 majority of the Great Council. The Earl of Bristol/ whose 
 long experience and great abilities gave him preponderating 
 weight, and who, although he had no reason for attachment 
 to the Court, was not prepared to make any extreme and 
 dangerous concession to its opponents, swayed the Council 
 against any prosecution of the war. Commissioners were 
 appointed to meet at Eipon, and finally a treaty which 
 secured the Scots in the full enjoyment of all the advantages 
 which they had won, and burdened the English exchequer 
 with the pay of their army, encamped on Enghsh soil, was 
 ratified on October 28th. To all the accumulated discontent 
 arising from political grievances, there was now added, 
 in the eyes of the nation, the costly indignity of a foreign 
 army planted within their borders, to be maintained by the 
 taxation of the Enghsh. It did not lessen the damage to the 
 King's cause that amongst his opponents, and even amongst 
 those who maintained an outward loyalty, there were not 
 a few who found in the presence of that army, and in their 
 own connection with its leaders, an added chance of insisting 
 more peremptorily on their demands, and who foresaw a 
 new function for the Parliament, so soon to meet, in mediating 
 between that army and the King. The summoning of the 
 Great Council was the device of timid advisers to an irresolute 
 master, and was in itself a sign that Strafford's vigour was 
 no longer the King's chief guide. The announcement that 
 
 ' John Digby, the first Earl of Bristol, was born in 1580. At an early 
 age he was employed in some embassies of the first importance, and had a 
 most difficult part to play as ambassador to Spain when the Spanish marriage 
 was contemplated. The complications that arose out of the ill-timed visit 
 of Buckingham and Charles to Spain involved Bristol in disfavour, which 
 led to a senseless attempt to impeach him. He was ordered not to obey 
 the ^vrit formally sent to him as a peer, but defied the order. For many 
 years he had remained aloof from the Court, with dignified reserve. At a 
 later day he was a friend to whom the Royalists owed much, and although he 
 disapproved of Strafford's acts, he made a brave attempt to resist his execu- 
 tion. He died in 1654, and was succeeded by his more brilliant, but not so 
 trustworthy son, of whom we shall afterwards hear much in Hyde's own 
 story. 
 
Si THE SCOTTISH TKOUBLES [chap, iii 
 
 Parliament was to meet, inevitable as it had now become, 
 really meant the abandonment of the bolder policy which 
 Strafford's courage was prepared to face. In the diminished 
 authority of that one counsellor of incomparable power, 
 it is impossible not to see something of the evil influence 
 of the Queen, who had long regarded his ascendency with 
 jealousy, and who had all the rancour of a petty nature, 
 with a keen appetite for power. She was blind to the real 
 condition of the country and to the danger that threatened 
 the Crown, and fancied that the shifting of ministers, as the 
 result of her own clumsy political intrigue, would increase 
 her personal authority. With the fatal deference to the 
 whims and caprices of' his wife which so often led Charles 
 astray, he gave, as Hyde informs us, the credit of the con- 
 cession to the wishes of his subjects in the summoning of 
 Parliament, to her advice. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 HYDE IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT 
 
 It was on November 3rd, 1640, that the Parhament destined 
 to play so large a part in our history began its long and 
 eventful career. It was of far different temper from that 
 Short Parliament which had met a few months before, and 
 had run such a scanty course. In many places men of 
 moderate views were set aside in favour of more pronounced 
 reformers. The Recorder of London, Gardiner, designed by 
 the King as Speaker, and eminently qualified for the position, 
 lost his seat for London, where four members of the opposition 
 were returned as the City members. The popular leaders 
 made every effort to prevent Gardiner's election elsewhere. 
 Selden was elected for the University of Oxford in place of 
 a pronounced adherent of the Court. The same change was 
 seen in many other elections. In place of Gardiner, Lenthal, 
 a lawyer of no particular distinction, was nominated as 
 Speaker, and obtained the approval of the Crown. 
 
 Hyde was again returned, but this time for the borough 
 of Saltash. We do not know what occasioned the change 
 of constituency ; but apparently he was already sufficiently 
 suspected of holding moderate views, to make it an object 
 with some — in which they did not succeed — to invalidate 
 his election.^ His friendship for the Archbishop and his 
 attachment to the Church were now too well known to permit 
 of his being trusted by the advanced reformers. But he 
 
 ' Life, i. 84. 
 
86 EARLY DAYS OP LONG PARLIAMENT [chap, iv 
 
 was still on outwardly friendly, if not intimate, terms with 
 those who were the chief opponents of the Court. Meeting 
 Pym, a few days before the opening of Parliament, he 
 learned something of the prevailing views. Pym told him — 
 
 " that they must now be of another temper than they 
 were the last Parliament ; that they must not only sweep 
 the house clean below, but must pull down all the cobwebs 
 which hung in the top corner, that they might not breed 
 dust, and so make a foul house hereafter ; that they had now 
 an opportunity to make their country happy, by removing 
 all grievances, and pulUng up the causes of them by the roots, 
 if all men would do their duties." 
 
 It was a plain enough warning to Hyde ; and he had soon 
 confirmation of it in the first of Pym's speeches, which 
 showed an irreconcilable discontent. Pym still preserved 
 an appearance of deference and respect for the person of 
 the King ; but he made a direct attack upon Strafford, and 
 openly declared that his influence must be decisively ended. 
 
 None the less Hyde entered with full zest upon the work 
 of moderate reform. He now abandoned his profession, 
 and threw himself whole-heartedly into political business ; 
 nor, hard as his lot was to be in that sphere, did he ever utter 
 a word that indicates any regret for his choice. 
 
 The leaders of the opposition, which soon showed itself 
 determined to make no terms with those who might be 
 disposed to counsels of moderation, were Pym and Hampden ; 
 and from the impression which these outstanding figures 
 made upon him, in retrospect, we can gather the development 
 of Hyde's own views. Pym was valued chiefly for his great 
 experience in Parliamentary business, to which he joined 
 considerable practical knowledge of administration derived 
 from service in the Exchequer. Although he sided with 
 the Puritans, he had none of their fanatical hatred of the 
 
1640] PYM AND HAMPDEN 87 
 
 Church. But Hampden, while he acted as Pym's Ueutenant, 
 had powers in certain directions even greater than those 
 of his chief. With a manner of consummate address, and 
 a faculty of adroit insinuation, he joined the deepest design. 
 After a youth of licence, he had " suddenly retired to extra- 
 ordinary sobriety and strictness," but with nothing of the 
 grim exterior which we associate with the character of the 
 Puritans. Hampden's part in the great fight against 
 ship-money, which had shown men that they must trust for 
 the assertion of financial liberty not to the Law Courts, 
 but to themselves, had assured him the confidence of all 
 who distrusted the Government. That confidence he used 
 with consummate prudence and ability. He rarely inter- 
 vened early in a debate, but, when he had watched the 
 position with the eye of a strategist, " he took up the 
 argument, and shortly and clearly and craftily so stated it, 
 that he commonly conducted it to the conclusion he desired." 
 None were more skilled in dexterously avoiding a decision 
 which he felt to be inexpedient. To outward seeming 
 modest, he knew how to appear " to have no opinions or 
 resolutions," but only to assume those of others which he 
 was adroit enough to suggest. The long race of versatile 
 and dexterous party leaders may be said fitly to take their 
 start from one who could compare with the most skilful 
 of the list. With such leaders as these opposed to him, 
 it was hard for an untried new-comer to make an impression. 
 That at thirty-two years of age, Hyde, with no dignity of 
 aristocratic connection to help him, was able to make himself 
 a power in the assembly, shows how high were his aptitudes 
 for statesmanship. 
 
 It was only within comparatively narrow limits that 
 such independence as he sought to maintain was possible. 
 As a whole, the House was dominated by one opinion. They 
 were called together to limit the prerogative as it had 
 
88 EARLY DAYS OF LONG PARLIAMENT [chap, iv 
 
 recently been interpreted, and in that general view Hyde 
 and Pym and Hampden were practically of one mind. For 
 good or HI, the ideal which Strafford had set before him had 
 passed away, and become impossible to realize. The 
 notion that, so long as government was soundly and justly 
 administered without respect of persons, and the needful 
 revenue was justly raised, it was not of essential im- 
 portance whether the Crown or Parliament were supreme, 
 had disappeared with Strafford's power. To the Parliamen- 
 tarian of the day, as to the Whig of last century, it 
 mattered far more that the taxes should be regulated 
 absolutely by Parliament than that they should be just in 
 their incidence. According to the most approved doctrine 
 of the Radical of the present day, taxation should be regu- 
 lated according to the power to bear it ; and there can be 
 no doubt that the taxes (including ship-money) which 
 Strafford imposed or contemplated, complied admirably 
 with this doctrine. But the fundamental creed of the 
 Parliament, now entering on its eventful career, assumed, 
 as an axiom beyond question, that the vital point was that 
 the authority of Parliament, and of Parliament alone, must 
 stand behind just, as well as unjust, taxes ; and that the 
 whole foundation of liberty was founded upon that maxim. 
 
 But besides this axiomatic creed, which was doubtless 
 shared by all, there was another influence, the most potent 
 of all in the hands of astute Parliamentary tacticians, which 
 affected the minds of many both in the House and in the 
 nation. It was the mfluence of a vague and undefined fear. 
 Strafford, it was felt, was their enemy, profound in design, 
 prompt in action, unbending in resolution. There might 
 just be time to master their enemy ; if not, it must be theirs 
 to suffer at his hand. There was no room in one kingdom 
 for theories of government so radically opposed as his and 
 theirs ; and, in their view, it was their imperative duty to 
 
SIB THOMAS WENTWOKTH, HRST EAEL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 {From the original hy Sir Anthony Vandyke, in the National Portrait 
 Gallery. ) 
 
1640] IMPEACHMENT OF STEAEPOED 89 
 
 show that his was incompatible with the Constitution, and 
 was not only a policy to be combated, but a crime to be 
 crushed out of life. 
 
 It was no wonder, then, that with scarcely a dissentient 
 voice, Strafford was impeached on November 11th, was 
 arrested in his place in the House of Lords on the same 
 day, and committed to the Tower, and that in little more 
 than two months the articles of his impeachment were 
 drawn up and voted by the House. Falkland had ventured 
 to urge that before proceeding to an impeachment they 
 should hear the charges. Pym knew how to work through 
 the suggestion of fear. " They could not afford to wait," 
 he said ; and each member felt that with Strafford at liberty, 
 their freedom, perhaps their lives, were at stake. They 
 demanded from the Lords the arrest and imprisonment of 
 Strafford ; and Hyde was one of the committee to whom 
 the duty of framing the charges was subsequently entrusted. 
 
 The scene of Strafford's arrest was a dramatic one. 
 He knew the threats against him, and fully realized the 
 implacable enmity upon which they rested. At the request 
 of the King, he had come from the security of his post in 
 Yorkshire, as commander of the army. That summons 
 was based upon a pledge of safety, which proved miserably 
 insecure, and the emptiness of which none, most likely, 
 recognized better than Strafford. When he heard of the 
 impeachment, " I will go," he said, " and look my accusers 
 in the face." His entrance into the House of Lords was 
 greeted with shouts for his withdrawal ; and when he left 
 the House the order for his committal was immediately 
 carried out. Summoned back, he was bidden to kneel while 
 the order was read, and passed from the House in the custody 
 of the Black Eod. A crowd awaited him outside, " no man 
 capping to him, before whom that morning the greatest in 
 England would have stood uncovered." 
 
90 EAELY DAYS OP LONG PARLIAMENT [chap, iv 
 
 Strafford's fall from power was followed by the impeach- 
 ment or dispersal of his associates and his satellites. Laud 
 was impeached on December 18th, and had to linger three 
 tedious years in the Tower before he was brought to trial. 
 Whatever part Hyde took in the business of Strafford's 
 impeachment, he certainly must have felt bitterly the hard 
 measure dealt out to one with whom his relations had been 
 so intimate, who had befriended him so warmly, and in whose 
 rectitude he believed so implicitly as he did in that of Laud. 
 But it did not prevent him from joining heartily in other 
 reprisals determined on by the House. Finch, the Lord 
 Keeper, and the most pronounced defender of ship-money, 
 was impeached — Hyde emphasizing the crime by saying in 
 the course of the debate, " 'Tis treason to kill a judge, how 
 much more to slay justice itself ! " But the preliminaries, 
 whether purposely, as Hyde suggests, or not, were so prolonged 
 that Finch had time to withdraw to Holland.^ The same 
 opportunity was given to Windebanke, one of the Secretaries 
 of State. Perhaps it was felt that such evidence as was 
 given at his trial must inevitably involve their own ally. 
 Sir Henry Vane, who was now playing the double part of a 
 servant of the Crown and one of its bitterest opponents. 
 
 But there was other work than that of imprisonments 
 and impeachments, and for a time Hyde gave steady and 
 hearty co-operation in it. In his own words, " He was very 
 much in the business of the House ; the greatest chairman 
 in the committees of the greatest moment ; and very 
 
 ' In a passage which was suppressed in the History of the Rebellion, Hyde 
 distinctly states that Finch was allowed to escape by the connivance of the 
 leaders of the Parliamentary party. He had taken the earliest opportunity 
 of courting their favour, and had shown himself ready to help their designs, 
 although he continued in the service of the King. They managed to prolong 
 the discussion until the House of Lords had adjourned. Falkland was then 
 commissioned to impeach him ; but it was known that he could not do it 
 till next day, and meanwhile Finch escaped. Warburton says the passage 
 was suppressed out of deference to the Earl of Nottingham (Finch's 
 descendant). See History of Rebellion (edit. 1849), vol. vi. pp. 283, 603. 
 
1641] HYDE AND CROMWELL 91 
 
 diligent in attending the service both in the House and at 
 committees." From his being a member of a committee, 
 we are not entitled to assume his support of all its proposals. 
 But where he was chairman he must have had at least a 
 dominating voice ; and still more when he was nominated, 
 as he frequently was, to report the matter to the House of 
 Lords. He was chairman of the committee on the Earl 
 Marshal's Court ; and sat on the committee for examining 
 the constitution and procedure of the Court of York and 
 the Court of the Marches in Wales ; on that regarding the 
 judges' decision in ship-money ; and on the committee for 
 examining the Bill for abolishing Episcopacy. In the last he 
 used his authority, as we shall see, in rather a peculiar way. 
 
 It must have been early in the session that Hyde found 
 himself, casually, in the chair on a " private " committee 
 for examining the legality of certain enclosures of common 
 lands formerly belonging to the Queen, which had been 
 given by her to a servant, and by him sold to the Earl of 
 Manchester. The disputed enclosure was defended by 
 Manchester and his son Lord Mandeville. One of the 
 members of committee was Oliver Cromwell. In the course 
 of the proceedings, Cromwell, in the obtrusive zeal of 
 partisanship, conceived that the legal dispute had some 
 political bearing, and advertised his enthusiasm for liberty 
 by stimulating the passion of the tenants, who conceived 
 themselves to be wronged ; by casting aside all pretence 
 of judicial impartiality, and by attacking with indecent 
 rudeness that most courteous gentleman and most cordial 
 ally of the popular party, Lord Mandeville. Hyde may 
 perhaps be pardoned if his description of the scene is a 
 little coloured by later and more serious grounds of antipathy. 
 " In the end," Hyde tells us, " his (Cromwell's) whole 
 carriage was so tempestuous, and his behaviour so insolent, 
 that the chairman felt himself obliged to reprehend." He 
 
92 EARLY DAYS OF LONG PARLIAMENT [chap, iv 
 
 threatened to adjourn the committee and report CromTvell's 
 conduct to the House. " Which," adds Hyde, " he never 
 forgave ; and took all occasions afterwards to pursue him 
 with the utmost malice and revenge, to his death." ' 
 
 The anecdote must refer to the very earliest weeks of 
 the session, because Hyde tells us that Cromwell had never 
 before been heard to speak in the House of Commons. This 
 may mean only that he was not an habitual speaker, and 
 that Hyde had never heard him. But before December 
 was over, Cromwell had moved the second reading of the 
 Bill for Annual Parliaments, and had already become a 
 familiar figure to most members of the House. 
 
 As chairman of the committee on what he himself (with 
 an indication of its comparative unimportance) calls the 
 "pageantry" of the Earl Marshal's Court, Hyde once more 
 took up the theme which had furnished him with the matter 
 of his successful maiden speech in the Short Parliament. 
 But we may fairly say that judgment, in that case, went by 
 default. There was really no defence offered for the court. 
 It was voted to be " illegal and a grievance." It died of 
 the resolution without any further blow, and " never pre- 
 sumed to sit afterwards," as a court by which penalties 
 could be inflicted. It had served Hyde to good purpose ; 
 as many a similar windmill has been found convenient to 
 be tilted at by Parliamentary novices in search of themes 
 for their maiden efforts. 
 
 Hyde's success in business methods was not always so 
 palatable to his present allies. Money was required to 
 get rid of the Scottish army, which remained on English soil, 
 
 ' Cromwell's more devout admirers naturally find the story apocryphal, 
 which they would do the more heartily, were it not that they find in it an 
 edifying specimen of heroic zeal, heedless of the decorous routine of judicial 
 procedure to which Hyde was a slave. It may be permissible to think that 
 heroism may be better evinced than by the methods of the blustering bully. 
 There is nothing in Cromwell's recorded acts which warrants us in pro- 
 nouncing the story to be untrue. 
 
1641] EXPEDIENTS FOR RAISING MONEY 93 
 
 and was running up a heavy score against the EngHsh 
 exchequer. But the most edifying protests were made 
 against the possibiHty of procuring any advance from the 
 city until " deUnquents were brought to justice " — the 
 usual and most convenient way then adopted of describing 
 those who did not accept the views of the more advanced 
 advocates of Parliamentary prerogative, and who did not 
 profess sympathy with the religious views of the Puritans. 
 Hyde, however, urged " that he did not believe the thing to 
 be so difficult as was pretended ; that no man lent his money 
 who did not gain by it ; and that it was evident there was 
 plenty of money ; " and he was confident that a committee, 
 empowered to pledge the credit of the House, would soon 
 raise it. The committee was appointed ; and found, as 
 Hyde predicted, that it was very easy to get the money. 
 The city merchants professed themselves as only too ready 
 to lend if they were secured against the incubus of an invading 
 army, supported at the nation's own expense. " The 
 report was received with great applause by the major part 
 of the House, as was reasonably collected by their counte- 
 nance ; but it was as apparent that the governing party 
 was exceedingly perplexed with it, and knew not suddenly 
 what to say to it." ^ In fact, they did not want Hyde to 
 get the credit ; and, still more decidedly, they did not want 
 to get rid of the Scots, who were the best supporters of the 
 pohcy of stubborn resistance to the Crown. So the debate 
 was adjourned. Next day, their good ally. Alderman 
 Pennington, afterwards the Puritan Lord Mayor, threw 
 doubts upon the report,^ and a suggestion so inopportunely 
 practical was tactfully laid on the shelf. 
 
 ' Bebellion, iii. 92. 
 
 ' Pennington was not above the foible of whioli his fellow-aldermen of 
 all generations have been by common habit suspected — that of using long 
 words with no particular meaning. After speaking of the conference, " In 
 the end," he said, " there was colioguintida." The House made merry with 
 the good alderman's Latin, and the debate evaporated in the laughter. 
 
94 EARLY DAYS OP LONG PARLIAMENT [chap, iv 
 
 A much more serious topic was dealt with by another 
 committee in which Hyde was associated with Whitelocke, 
 Pym, and St. John, as well as with Falkland. This com- 
 mittee dealt with the illegality of ship-money, and after a 
 debate which St. John opened, and in which all of those 
 named vied with each in the vigour and swelling rhetoric 
 of their speeches, the condenmatory motion of St. John 
 was adopted by the House. A month later, on January 14th, 
 that motion was " transferred " to the House of Lords, and 
 a resolution was passed 
 
 " That thanks be rendered from this House to Mr. 
 St. John and Mr. Whitelocke, the Lord Falkland,^ and 
 Mr. Hyde, for the great service they have performed, to 
 the honour of this House and good of the Commonwealth, 
 in transferring the business of the ship-money." 
 
 The Lords concurred in St. John's motion. So far there was 
 no sign of Hyde's faltering in his energy, nor any outward 
 suspicion of the whole-heartedness of his reforming zeal. 
 
 In January, also, there was an addition to the advisers 
 of the Crown, which might have portended some possibility 
 of co-operation. In Finch's place, Littleton became Lord 
 Keeper ; Sir Edward Herbert was advanced to the Attorney- 
 Generalship ; and, strangely enough, Oliver St. John ^ was 
 
 ' Lord Falkland, the Lucius Carey of Hyde's early friendship, had now 
 succeeded to his father's Scottish peerage, and was, at the same time, member 
 of the English House of Commons. 
 
 ^ Oliver St. John was born in 1598, and died in 1673. He was connected 
 with the family of St. John of Bletsoe, to which the more famous St. John 
 Lord Bolingbroke also belonged. In earlier years he had more than once 
 come into collision with the Court, and had been arraigned before the Star 
 Chamber. But the chief reason for his ardent support of the extreme 
 faction was the fact that he had married a cousin of Cromwell, and was 
 on the most intimate terms with him. He was named Chief Justice of the 
 Common Pleas in 1648 ; but although he was then a keen supporter of the 
 Parliamentarian Party, he refused concurrence in the trial and execution 
 of the King. In later years he opposed Cromwell's policy, and, by partial 
 co-operation with Monk, he secured exemption from punishment at the 
 Eestoration. He died abroad. 
 
1641] ST. JOHN AS SOLICITOR GENERAL 95 
 
 nominated Solicitor-General. Littleton was disliked by the 
 popular party for his decision on ship-money, and, on the 
 other hand, his fidehty to the King, although ultimately 
 proved to be real, was at present, it would appear, some- 
 what suspected. Herbert was a man whose captious temper, 
 and sullen peevishness, brought more harm to the royal 
 cause than his support was worth. But it is hard to 
 explain the grounds either for St. John's selection, or 
 of his acceptance of office. His opposition to the Crown 
 was the result of offence for his prosecution before the 
 Star Chamber ; and although he had suffered no penalty, 
 his was a spirit to brood deeply on any personal wrong. 
 He was one of those natures to whom adherence to a 
 political view necessarily involves a rooted beUef in the 
 moral culpability of aU who dissent from it. Moderation 
 and compromise were to him not merely difficult to 
 attain ; had they been easy, he would have held them 
 to be evil in themselves. To aggravate the friction was 
 his avowed aim, because so only could he work vengeance 
 on the powers against which his hatred had been kindled. 
 It was the Earl of Bedford who procured the King's 
 consent to the nomination : but whatever was hoped from 
 it, it did not lessen by one whit St. John's mahgnity 
 to the Court, but only gave him new opportunities for its 
 indulgence. 
 
 In February Hyde was intimately associated with an 
 incident that showed how far the dominant party was ready 
 to go in flagrant disregard for the decencies of political 
 warfare. Berkeley was one of the judges who had com- 
 mitted the unpardonable sin of holding that the levying 
 of ship-money was justified by law. Hyde reported the 
 finding of the committee against him, and Sir John Cole- 
 pepper was appointed to impeach him before the House 
 of Lords. 
 
96 EARLY DAYS OF LONG PARLL\MENT [chap, iv 
 
 " Which being done, and it being now Term time, the 
 Judge Berkeley sitting upon the King's Bench in West- 
 minster Hall, the Lords sent Mr. Maxwell, the Usher of the 
 Black Eod, to fetch him off the Bench, which he performed 
 in the face of the Court, Westminster Hall being then full 
 of people, and brought him away prisoner ; which was no 
 small amazement to the people and others of his profession." ' 
 
 No doubt the saunterers of Westminster Hall had food 
 for gossip, and were duly impressed by the majesty of 
 Parliament. But it must be remembered that a couple of 
 police-constables could at any time remove a Lord Chief 
 Justice from his seat on the Bench. Such a proceeding 
 savours as much of burlesque as of serious drama, and 
 the judge does not play the least dignified part in this 
 comic rowdyism. We need not suppose that the fact of 
 Hyde's presenting the report proves that he concurred in 
 the subsequent melodrama. 
 
 But in April Hyde was engaged in more serious work. 
 He then represented the House of Commons, in a conference 
 with the Lords on the Court of York and the Court of Wales 
 and the Marches.*' In this instance Hyde could speak with 
 full conviction, and the professional zeal of a common lawyer 
 was enlisted against these grave interferences with the juris- 
 diction of the ordinary courts. Whether his speech does 
 
 ' Bushworth, iv. 188. 
 
 "^ Lister takes a curious delight in convicting Hyde of some little in- 
 accuracy in the account which he gave long after, aided only by a wonder- 
 fully retentive memory, of the Parliamentary proceedings ; and the fashion 
 is followed with equal zest by Professor Gardiner. But most readers will 
 find Hyde's account infinitely more clear than those which have been pieced 
 together out of fragments from records of very varying authority. In the 
 present instance, we find that Hyde was more accurate in his account of 
 the sequence of events than his critics. Lister gives the speech on the 
 Court of York, which was delivered in AprU, after Hyde's speech on the 
 judges, delivered in July. Later than either he places Hyde's intervention 
 in the Root and Branch Bill, which took place in May and June. To say 
 the least of it, this is confusing to the reader. Hyde ia perfectly correct 
 in the order he gives to the occurrences. 
 
1641] THE COURT OF YORK 97 
 
 not contain a considerable amount of exaggeration may be 
 open to doubt. That there had been instances of high- 
 handed action is unquestionable ; but after all, the amount 
 of tyranny, really worthy of the serious name, which 
 could be executed by a court which certainly had the advan- 
 tage of promptitude and local knowledge, and the whole 
 expenses of which did not exceed £1300 a year, could hardly 
 be very great. It stirred the jealousy of a few men, angry 
 at Strafford's ascendency ; but the great mass of Englishmen, 
 north of the Humber, probably had but slight knowledge of 
 its existence. At all events, it did not leave Yorkshire the 
 portion of the kingdom least attached to the cause of the 
 Crown. But Hyde placed the grievance high, and demanded 
 its instant cessation. 
 
 " Truly, my Lords," he concluded, " these vexed worn- 
 out people of the north are not suitors to your Lordships to 
 regulate this court, or to reform the judges of it, but for 
 extirpating these judges, and the utter abolishing of the 
 court. . . . They desire not to be beholden to this court 
 hereafter for justice, the very administration of justice itself, 
 founded upon such illegal principles, being a grievance and 
 oppression to the subject." 
 
 Hyde's reminiscence of the speech, after an interval of 
 years, is hardly so stern in its denunciation. He represents 
 himself then as admitting that the court had been continued, 
 after the days of Henry VIIL, when it was founded in order 
 to stamp out rebellion, because " it was found that thi$ 
 commission did much good." Perhaps Hyde had been 
 tempted to exaggerate his language out of deference to the 
 reforming zeal of his present allies. Later experience had 
 shown him that there were more serious evils than a rough 
 and ready administration of justice, even although it did 
 not run strictly according to all the rules of Westminster. 
 
 As it was, his speech " had a wonderful approbation in 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
98 EAKLY DAYS OF LONG PAELIAMENT [ohap. iv 
 
 both Houses." It was reported verbatim for the Lords' 
 Journal, and it was proposed " that Mr. Hyde should have 
 pubUc thanks for the service he had done the House." But 
 the leaders of the opposition may have had their suspicions 
 that Hyde's zeal was to some extent simulated, and may 
 have noted signs on his part of independent action. They 
 dissuaded the House from such a compliment by saying 
 " that he had too much credit already, and needed not such 
 an addition as he behaved himself." A critical attitude 
 and a spirit of moderation were no passports to the confidence 
 of Pym and Hampden and St. John. 
 
 If Hyde felt uneasy, that feeling had extended to 
 others also. The trial of Strafford was proceeding with 
 all that inveterate vindictiveness which nothing but a sense 
 of past fear combined with present triumph could inspire. 
 Racked by sickness, vexed by the failure of his schemes, 
 convinced, against his will, that he had reckoned upon a 
 sense of resolution in the King which was entirely wanting, 
 Strafford never showed the loftiness of his genius more 
 conspicuously than under that terrible ordeal. Able as were 
 his foes, he dwarfed them by comparison. It was but a 
 small part of the triumph that he baffled them in argument, 
 and convinced them to their own chagrin that it was im- 
 possible, with any show of legality, to convict him of con- 
 structive treason. The alternative method of a Bill of 
 Attainder was now proposed — a method which would avoid 
 all the cumbrous delays of legal procedure, and would 
 cut the Gordian knot by dispensing with evidence altogether.' 
 It was true that by such a method the Parliament would 
 make a precedent for a tyranny beside which ship-money 
 
 ' In his subsequent speech in reportmg the Bill to the House of Lords, 
 St. John said " That in that way of BUI, private satisfaction to each man's 
 conscience was sufficient, although no evidence had been given in at all " 
 (Clarendon's History of Rebellion, iii. 140). It is curious to remember that 
 these words of odious cant ^^•ere uttered by His Majesty's Solicitor-General. 
 
1641] BILL OF ATTAINDEE 99 
 
 and High Commission Court and Star Chamber were merely- 
 passing nightmares. But with a political party elated by 
 a sudden transfer from nervous fear to dominance, scruples 
 vanish in the white heat of exalted enthusiasm. 
 
 As a persuasive to pressing on the process of the Bill of 
 Attainder, a revival of old fears was added to the sense of 
 triumph over their foe. A plot to instigate the army to 
 renew hostilities with the Scots in the interest of the King 
 had been started by Jermyn and Suckling, hangers-on at 
 the Court of the Queen, and had made some progress amongst 
 the officers. Goring,^ the son of Lord Goring, managed to 
 become a confidant of the plotters, who found no encourage- 
 ment from the King ; and when the scheme seemed hopeless. 
 Goring found that opportunity of betraying his associates 
 which was in accordance with his known character. The 
 disclosure served the purpose of the " Inflexibles " by enabling 
 them to stir once more the dread of a military ascendency, 
 which might revive the influence of the Court. 
 
 The Attainder Bill was pressed through the House of 
 Commons. During its passage Hyde gave no sign that he 
 dissented from it ; and we cannot claim for him the honour 
 of being one of those who were stigmatized and marked for 
 public odium by having their names published as " Straf- 
 fordians." At the most he may have abstained from a vote. 
 But it is unquestionable that, however he may, at the time, 
 have sympathized with those who were persuaded that 
 security to the Constitution could only come by the death 
 of Strafford, whether by fair means or by foul, Hyde was 
 already ill at ease amongst his associates, and soon came to 
 recognize the injustice of the procedure. Nor did he fail to 
 see, in its proper measure, the baseness by which the two 
 
 ' It is the first time we meet with this notorious scoundrel, whose 
 oooeisional aid was even more hurtful to the King than his repeated treachery. 
 See note, post, p. 168. 
 
100 EAELY DAYS OF LONG PAKLIAMENT [chap, iv 
 
 Sir Henry Vanes/ father and son, lent themselves to 
 the concoction of a piece of evidence as worthless in sub- 
 stance as it was ignoble in origin. Vane, the father, had 
 not scrupled, in the teeth of the evidence of his fellow- 
 councillors, to ascribe to Strafford the use of words in 
 Council which would have seemed to suggest to the King that 
 the frame of government might be altered by military force. 
 He had no documentary evidence, and his word was not 
 corroborated. But while the Bill of Attainder was being 
 discussed. Vane the younger, with a fine show of hypocritical 
 repentance, threw himself on the mercy of the House ; 
 declared how he had been entrusted with his keys by hia 
 father to search his boxes for a document required in some 
 family business ; how he had used those keys to satisfy his 
 curiosity by opening other boxes and examining other papers ; 
 how he found a " copy " of a paper which supported his 
 father's uncorroborated evidence. The father then played 
 his part in the ignoble comedy ; told how he had made notes 
 of the words at the time ; how he had, according to order, 
 destroyed them ; how he had preserved a copy ; and how 
 that copy had been found by his son, who now, in the 
 tenderness of his conscience, was unable to conceal the 
 discovery, which was to help in the destruction of Strafford, 
 the object of their envenomed hatred. A tawdry conspiracy 
 of falsehood could hardly have been more clumsily advised. 
 It was quite satisfactory to " the Inflexibles." ^ 
 
 ' The younger Vane was born in 1613. After a boisterous youth, he 
 became an ardent puritan, and banished himself for a time to New England, 
 where he became Governor of Massachusetts, and involved the young 
 colony in bitter disputes. Returning home, he obtained a lucrative appoint- 
 ment as Treasurer of the Navy, and afterwards was a member both of the 
 Short and of the Long Parliaments. From the first he acted closely with 
 the " Inflexibles." 
 
 ' Professor Gardiner carries a show of impartiality to a strange length 
 in connection with this incident. " It is unnecessary," he says, " to go 
 into the question whether the younger Vane was justified in betraying the 
 secret. It was a case of a conflict of duties " (Note on p. 328 of vol. ix.). 
 We might acquiesce in this, but in another than Professor Gardiner's sense. 
 
1641] BITTEENESS OF THE INPLEXIBLES 101 
 
 But the Bill of Attainder had still to pass the House of 
 Lords. It was recommended by St. John in a speech which 
 could hardly be paralleled except in the bloodthirsty 
 virulence of the French revolution. Statute law and pre- 
 cedent were to be disregarded, as well as evidence. 
 
 " We give law to hares and deer, because they be beasts 
 of chase ; it was never accounted either cruelty or foul play 
 to knock foxes and wolves on the head as they can be found, 
 because they be beasts of prey. The warrener sets traps 
 for polecats and other vermin for the preservation of the 
 warren." ' 
 
 When things were in this critical position, Hyde had a 
 conversation which he records to us fully, and which marks, 
 and doubtless hastened, the uneasy feeling of dissatisfaction 
 with the action of " the Inflexibles " of which the seeds had 
 already been planted in Hyde's mind. We must not suppose 
 that the uneasiness rested solely upon difference of political 
 principle. Principle may count for much, but in human 
 affairs, tastes and instincts count for more. The methods 
 of these associates ; the envenomed cruelty of St. John ; 
 
 Whether it is justifiable to open private receptacles and examine private 
 papers ; whether such action is any the better because keys have been 
 entrusted to us for other purposes, and because the trust has been imposed 
 in us by a father ; whether it is consistent with the dimmest ray of rectitude 
 to conceal the possession of these papers so long as it suits us, and to make 
 their discovery coincide with the declared invalidity of evidence which we 
 wish to bolster up — that is a question which all men of honour may agree 
 it is scarcely necessary to discuss. It may be held equally unnecessary to 
 discuss whether the concocted display of hypocrisy between father and son 
 merits any weight whatever as a piece of evidence, or whether their malignant 
 scheme of gratifying their feelings of personal revenge is compatible with 
 the common feelings of humanity. The plot was not made more dignified 
 from the fact that for a time the father and son exhibited outward signs of 
 estrangement from one another. That estrangement was transitory, although 
 it revived in later years. The elder Vane died, says Hyde, " in universal 
 reproach, and not contemned more by any of his enemies than by his own 
 son." 
 
 ' Professor Gardiner's "impartial" comment upon this is "Strafford's 
 maxims were thus turned against himself " (vol. ix. p. 345). If this is 
 impartiality, we would prefer the full-blooded rancour of the partisan. The 
 detestable cruelty of the words of this English St. Just can derive no excuse 
 from an imputation against Strafford which is based on no evidence. 
 
102 EAELY DAYS OF LONG PAELIAMENT [chap, iv 
 
 the studied hypocrisy of the Vanes ; the tempestuous 
 bluster of Cromwell — all these jarred on Hyde's feelings, 
 which he admits to us again and again were ardent and 
 impetuous. Difference in innate feeling and temperament 
 breaks up more political associations than difference in 
 constitutional creed. 
 
 It was in the end of April that Hyde was accosted in a 
 place of public resort ' by the Earl of Bedford,^ who told him 
 that there was a friend of his (the Earl of Essex) who needed 
 his counsel. Bedford fully recognized the evils of the courses 
 now pursued by the extreme party. He said " that the 
 business concerning the Earl of Strafford was a rock upon 
 which we should all split." The King was anxious to save his 
 life, upon condition that he should be no more employed ; 
 nay, if Parliament took his death upon them by an Act of 
 their own judicature, he would not intervene ; but his 
 conscience was pained at the thought of being a party to 
 the Act of Attainder, and of that he begged to be relieved. 
 That the King's conscience, his honour, his sense of manliness 
 and self-respect were all alike pledged to Strafford admits 
 of no doubt ; and human nature somehow sickens at a " con- 
 science " that is always proclaiming its own difficulties, and 
 seeking relief from pledges that become troublesome. Be- 
 tween that suspense, and unconditional surrender, there is 
 little space. At all events, such delicately poised cases of 
 conscience do not argue the confidence that sways a 
 critical contest. 
 
 '■ " A place called PiccadiBy (which was a fair house for entertainment 
 and gaming, and handsome gravel walks with shade, whither very many of 
 the nobility and gentry of the best quality resorted, both for exercise and 
 conversation " (History of Rebellion, i. 392). 
 
 " This Earl of Bedford was Francis Russell, born in 1592. He had 
 succeeded to the Earldom in 1627, and was a leader in the popular party, so 
 long as its aims were moderate. His influence might have told powerfully 
 in favour of a compromise, but he died very soon after his interview with 
 Hyde — on May 9 — the very day on which the King gave hia assent to the 
 Attainder BUI. One of his daughters was wife of Digby. 
 
1641] CONPEEENCES AS TO ATTAINDEE 103 
 
 Bedford was prepared himself to vote for the attainder, 
 but he scrupled about the conscience of the King. He did 
 not despair, if only Lord Essex could be persuaded to 
 acquiesce, of bringing some of his friends to agree to a more 
 moderate course, which would exclude Strafford from power, 
 but save him from death. He had himself, he said, spoken 
 with Essex, but " found him so obstinate that he could 
 not in the least degree prevail with him." Could not Hyde 
 talk to Lord Essex ^ and see whether he could persuade him 
 to compliance ? Hyde agreed, and soon met the Earl of 
 Essex in company with the Earl, just created Marquis, of 
 Hertford.^ The meeting was evidently concerted with 
 Hertford, because he took his departure and left Hyde and 
 Essex alone. Essex's first words to him must have been 
 disconcerting to Hyde. He " began merrily," by telling 
 Hyde that he had that morning (in his denunciation of the 
 Court of the North) done a service which he knew he did 
 not intend to do ; he had revived the indignation against 
 Strafford, and they would now proceed with vigour to pro- 
 secute the Attainder Bill. This clearly shows that Hyde was 
 understood to be disinclined to pushing matters too far 
 against the falhng minister. Hyde disclaimed any such 
 
 ' Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, was the son of Elizabeth's brilliant 
 courtier, whose trial and condemnation clouded her last years, and together 
 form one of the many mysteries that baffle us as to her character and feelings. 
 The present Earl was now fifty years of age, and had already had a chequered 
 career, having been divorced under strange circumstances from his first 
 wife, who became the wife of Carr, the notorious Earl of Somerset. He 
 had few ties to the Court, and was now one of the most powerful leaders of 
 the reforming party. He became, for a time, their most trusted general, 
 and died in 1646. 
 
 ' William Seymour, Marquis of Hertford, was born in 1588. In early 
 life his ill-fated marriage with Arabella Stuart involved him in trouble ■nith 
 the Court. After her death he married Frances Devereux, sister of the Earl 
 of Essex, and is therefore referred to, in Hyde's narrative, as Essex's 
 " brother." His former estrangement from the Court did not prevent him 
 from being most loyal in his support of the King, amongst whose most 
 chivalrous adherents we shall find him in later years. After the Restoration 
 the Dukedom of Somerset was revived in his favour, as he belonged to the 
 family of the great Duke who was Protector in the days of Edward VI. 
 
104 EAELY DAYS OF LONG PAELIAMENT [chap, iv 
 
 intention ; and while he agreed that " there were crimes 
 and misdemeanours evidently enough proved," he pressed 
 for some milder remedy than death. Essex shook his head 
 and answered, " Stone-dead hath no fellow." If Strafford 
 lived, the King would soon relieve him of all penalties. 
 He said that he would talk no longer then, but would 
 confer with Hyde again. At their next conference he was 
 guarded in his talk ; and to the objection against forcing 
 the conscience of the King, he urged that the King's 
 conscience must be conformed to the conscience of the 
 Parliament. That was the sophistry to which the party 
 had learned to adhere. 
 
 But the course of the Bill through the Upper House was 
 not smooth. Digby,^ whose grace and dignity gained him 
 the hearts of all, whose eloquence gave him commanding 
 influence, and whose power in the country was injured only 
 by that perverse ingenuity and those erratic ventures 
 which were a perplexity at once to his allies and his opponents, 
 had in the Commons made a sturdy resistance to the inherent 
 injustice of the Bill, and prophesied its failure to secure the 
 assent of the Lords and the King. He condemned ex post 
 facto legislation. 
 
 " Let the mark be set on the door where the plague is, 
 and then let him that will enter die. . . . We must not 
 piece up want of legality with matter of convenience, nor 
 the defaillance of prudential fitness with a pretence of 
 legal justice." ^ 
 
 In the Lords, Digby's father. Lord Bristol, acted upon the 
 same principles as his son, and was the object for the 
 insults of an angry and excited mob, who shouted as he passed 
 
 ' George Digby, son of the Earl of Bristol, was born in 1612, and was 
 summoned to the House of Lords during his father's lifetime by his second 
 title of Lord Digby. 
 
 - Rushworth, viii. 53. 
 
1641] ATTAINDEE BILL PASSED 105 
 
 that they would have justice upon him and his " false son." 
 His influence weakened the majority, but did not prevent 
 a decision adverse to Strafford. Forty-five peers only 
 attended the debate on the third reading of the Bill on 
 May 8th, and of these 26 voted in its favour and 19 
 against it. 
 
 Hyde recognized the greatness of Strafford ; but he 
 failed to recognize the full scope of Strafford's aims, and 
 passes no condemnation on the fate which overtook him. 
 Strafford, indeed, played for high stakes, and the political 
 ideal for which he strove was one hidden from the com- 
 prehension of his contemporaries, and was only faintly 
 shadowed in later theories of a patriot King. His leading 
 aim was to get rid of practical abuses, and sources of 
 weakness in the commonwealth, by the speediest and 
 most direct methods. It was no part of his intention 
 to subvert the constitution ; but rightly or wrongly he 
 believed that, amidst all the contrivances for adjusting 
 the different parts of it, there must be an ultimate sovereign 
 power, and that the sovereign power, in the last emergency, 
 rested with the Crown, and might be exercised in the best 
 interests of the nation. It was a theory in unison with the 
 philosophy of Hobbes, and linked with the dreams of 
 Bolingbroke a century later. But it was as much ahen to 
 Hyde's theories of constitutional monarchy, jealously guard- 
 ing the strictly legal prerogatives of the Crown, as it was to 
 the notions of the uncontrolled supremacy of Parliament, 
 which had impressed themselves upon the extreme Parlia- 
 mentarians. Strafford fell ; but in the dignity of his isolation 
 he was supreme. 
 
 It remained to the King to vindicate his honour by 
 interposing his veto on the Bill. To that, at all risks, he was 
 pledged by every consideration that could bind a man of 
 simple straightforwardness. He failed in the greatest crisis 
 
106 EAELY DAYS OF LONG PAELIAMENT [chap, iv 
 
 of his life. We may recognize the dignity of Charles's later 
 conduct under misfortune, his personal bravery, the sincerity 
 of his action in defence of what he believed to be the true 
 Church. But we cannot acquit him of failure to the 
 pledges he had given to his greatest servant. Time-serving 
 Bishops, hke Williams, might spin sophistries about a 
 public and a private conscience. These do not relieve Charles 
 of his crowning error ; and the conscience of Juxon refused 
 to accept any such subterfuge. Hyde makes the best excuse 
 for him that he can ; but we have only to read between the 
 lines to see that he felt how much some palhation of the act 
 was necessary. 
 
 The vengeance of the " Inflexibles " was not yet sated. 
 They still spoke of " the evil counsellors about the King, 
 who obstructed many gracious acts which would otherwise 
 flow from his goodness and bounty to his people." ' A new 
 object of their jealousy was the Duke of Richmond, who 
 " was the only man of consideration . . . who did not in the 
 least stoop, or make love to them, but crossed them boldly 
 in the House." ^ Hyde joined in their complaints, but with 
 another object. He " did really believe that there yet 
 remained some evil counsellors," and desired that they 
 might be named, and their wrongdoing investigated. His 
 motion pointed at his old enemy, the Marquis of Hamilton ; 
 and the case of the marquis was sufficiently hazardous to 
 induce his confederates to avoid anything which would 
 weaken the position of so useful an ally. The vague insinua- 
 tions were dropped ; but there was another score chalked 
 up against Hyde, for his intractability. 
 
 Hyde's opposition to the aims of " the Inflexibles " soon 
 became more uncompromising and declared. At the same 
 time that the Eoyal assent was given to the Bill of Attainder, 
 it was also given to the Bill which prevented the Parliament 
 
 ' Rebellion, iii. 236 " Ibid., iii. 237. 
 
1641 J BREACH BETWEEN HYDE AND FALKLAND 107 
 
 from being dissolved except with its own consent. The 
 balance of arbitrary power was thus completely shifted. 
 The mask was now cast aside, and an avowed tyranny of a 
 temporary majority, which enforced its view by terror, was 
 substituted for the alleged excess of the prerogative of the 
 Crown. Under the pretence of temporary exigency, the 
 balance of the constitution was thrown out of gear, and 
 absolute power was grasped by a parliamentary majority, 
 guided by a few leading men. 
 
 In May and June, the House was occupied with the 
 discussions on the Root and Branch Bill, which was intended 
 to extirpate episcopacy. It had been preceded in February 
 by a Bill for excluding the Bishops from the House of Lords, 
 in regard to which those sworn friends, Hyde and Falkland, 
 had found themselves, for the first time, sharply divided in 
 opinion. Hyde had opposed it ; Falkland had supported 
 it, as a concession which might save the Church ; and the 
 variance between these firm friends had given much satis- 
 faction to their common foes.^ But the Root and Branch 
 Bill, which was to sweep away the whole religious traditions 
 of the country, found these two united in firm opposition. 
 The strength of that opposition was fully understood, and 
 it was hoped to discount it by putting Hyde in the chair 
 of the Committee of the whole House on the Bill, and so 
 depriving him of a vote. They reckoned without taking 
 account of the power of the chairman to obstruct the business. 
 Hyde proved himself to be an adept in the art, and he is 
 
 ' Mr. Lister, strangely enough, argues that Hyde must have voted for 
 the Bill of Attainder because Falkland did so, and because Hyde declares 
 that the difference on the question of the Bishops was their first variance. 
 But the Bishops' BiE was the result of a committee appointed in February, 
 and the Attainder Bill was not passed till late in April, long before which 
 any difference in regard to the Bishops' seats must have emerged. Chrono- 
 logical inaccuracy, it appears, is not confined to Hyde's defective memory. 
 The whole occurrence of Falkland's and Hyde's dissidence is related in a 
 later passage of Lister's book. So he is not even consistent with himself, 
 much less vrith historical truth, 
 
108 EAELY DAYS OF LONG PARLIAMENT [chap, iv 
 
 honest enough to make no secret of his intentional obstruc- 
 tion. 
 
 But he still remained for certain purposes a useful ally 
 even to the " Inflexibles." His grasp of constitutional 
 principle made him the most effective exponent of the evils 
 of the judges' decision upon ship-money, and late in May 
 he was commissioned to carry up to the House of Lords the 
 charges against the Barons of Exchequer. He did so in 
 a powerful speech on July 6th. The fervency of its language 
 may perhaps be due to a natural wish on Hyde's part to 
 vindicate the suspected sincerity of his crusade against 
 grievances. 
 
 " There cannot," he began, " be a greater instance of 
 a sick and languishing commonwealth than the business of 
 this day. Good God ! how have the guilty these late 
 years been punished, when the judges themselves have been 
 such delinquents. 'Tis no marvel, that an irregular, extra- 
 vagant, arbitrary power, like a torrent, hath broken in upon 
 us, when our banks and our bulwarks, the laws, were in the 
 custody of such persons. Men who had lost their innocence 
 could not preserve their courage ; nor could we look that 
 they who had so visibly undone us, themselves should have 
 the virtue or credit to rescue us from the oppression of other 
 men. It was said by one who always spoke excellently, 
 that the twelve judges were like the twelve lions under the 
 throne of Solomon — under the throne — in obedience — but 
 yet lions. Your Lordships shall this day hear of six, who 
 (be they what they wiU be else) were no lions : who upon 
 vulgar fears delivered up the precious forts they were 
 trusted with, almost without assault ; and in a tame and 
 easy trance of flattery and servitude, lost and forfeited 
 (shamefully forfeited) that reputation, awe and reverence 
 which the wisdom, courage and gravity of their venerable 
 predecessors had contracted and fastened to the places they 
 now hold ... It is in your Lordships' power (and I am 
 sure it is in your Lordships' will) to restore the dejected 
 broken people of this island to their former joy and security : 
 
1641] DECLAMATORY LANGUAGE 109 
 
 the successors of these men to their own privileges and 
 veneration, et sepultas prope leges revocare." 
 
 There is a good deal of rhodomontade in this speech, 
 as in others which Hyde delivered about the same time. The 
 people of the island were not altogether broken or dejected ; 
 and when he looked back calmly in retrospect, the speaker 
 saw how httle the description answered to the truth. But 
 it reflects faithfully the rather swollen rhetoric which was in 
 the taste of the day, and conforms very carefully in its 
 elaborate metaphors and its wealth of biblical allusion 
 to the prevailing hterary fashion. Hyde knew perfectly well 
 that counsels of prudence were not likely to approve them- 
 selves if they were couched in language of studied moderation 
 — least of all in the case of those who, like himself, were 
 suspected of lukewarmness. On the same day Edmund 
 Waller delivered a speech in impeachment of Mr. Justice 
 Crawley, which was even more elaborate in its metaphors, 
 and more copious in its classical allusions, and which was 
 as full of fiery indignation against the peccant judges. But 
 Waller was not by nature prone to any very enthusiastic 
 adherence to a political creed ; and hints about moderation 
 may be detected amidst his glowing periods, just as much 
 as in Hyde's. Hyde had — what Waller had not — the 
 lawyer's instinctive dread of what appeared to be infringe- 
 ments of the law. But Hyde showed at a later day that he 
 could make really passionate indignation and ardent pleading 
 breathe through every line of a state document ; and his 
 own efforts in that kind during a real crisis of intense con- 
 flict afford the best contrast to the somewhat stilted declama- 
 tion of his speeches at these conferences, when he had to 
 denounce these poor judges — who, after all, had perhaps 
 acted according to their lights, and had followed the lead 
 of Hyde's own uncle, the Lord Chief Justice. It must not 
 
110 EARLY DAYS OP LONG PAELIAMENT [chap, iv 
 
 be forgotten that Hyde, as spokesman, was bound to express 
 the feelings of those whom he represented ; and an orator of 
 thirty-two years of age may be forgiven for some rotundity 
 of epithet. 
 
 But none the less, these utterances emphasize the position 
 of Hyde as regards the main points in the great controversy 
 of the day. Hyde from his heart disliked the schemes of 
 Strafford, and upon carefully considered grounds he sincerely 
 dreaded the dangers which they courted. He had never had 
 any personal intercourse with Strafford, and had never come 
 within the sway of his personal influence. To Laud, on 
 the other hand, he felt not only the gratitude of a young 
 man for early notice and kiudly favour, but he regarded 
 his character as entirely unselfish, he knew him to be actuated 
 by the sincerest motives, and to the end of his Hf e he retained 
 a powerful impression of Laud's saintly personaUty. But it 
 was far more than a merely personal feeling which guided 
 Hyde's judgment of the two men. He looked upon Strafford's 
 policy as equally hurtful to the Crown and to the people. 
 To Laud's ideal of Chm'ch government, Hyde continued 
 throughout to feel a profound attachment ; and he found 
 in it nothing that was inconsistent with the real interests 
 at once of Crown and people, and made it his aim, when in 
 power, to carry it out. He saw in it no real restriction 
 upon liberty, but only a means of encouraging order and 
 decorum in the Church. Instances which looked hke 
 excessive stringency in enforcing uniformity he was inclined 
 to ascribe rather to the ill-ordered procedure of courts 
 unknown to the fundamental laws of England. While, as 
 a staunch royalist, he felt the Grown to be the appointed 
 representative of the people, and the foundation upon which 
 the framework of the constitution rested, he thought the 
 straining of administrative authority under Strafford to be 
 an error of judgment fraught with danger to the Crown 
 
1641] ESTIMATE OF STEAPFOBD 111 
 
 itself, and his instincts as a lawyer made him reahze that it 
 hazarded the power of the Crown upon accidental circum- 
 stances, rather than based it upon fundamental principles 
 embodied in the law. He recognized Strafford's con- 
 summate abihty. " He was a man of great parts, and 
 extraordinary endowments of nature," is his summary ; but 
 he felt the weakness of his position. " It was his mis- 
 fortune to be of a time wherein very few wise men were 
 equally employed with him ; " and for the attainment of 
 Strafford's ideal, a combination of great minds and of 
 fortunate circumstances was absolutely necessary. He 
 wrongly ascribed to Strafford " elation and arrogance " ; a 
 " disdain of other men " ; a contempt " of the forms of 
 business." In balancing the charges against him, Hyde seems 
 to ascribe as much importance to Strafford's drastic and con- 
 temptuous dealing with a selfish and dishonest underHng like 
 Mountnorris ^ — whom Strafford doubtless regarded as the 
 worthless product of political intrigue and ignoble self-seeking 
 — and to his somewhat rough and ready methods with Ely,^ 
 
 ' Francis Annesley was born in 1685, of English descent, but very early 
 went to Ireland, and became a conspicuous specimen of the English ofSce- 
 hunter, who battened on the plunder of the Irish. He accumulated a 
 vast number of offices, and enriched himself at every fresh distribution of 
 land in Ireland. He was the bane of Lord Falkland (Lucius Carey's father) 
 when he was Lord Deputy of Ireland, and his turbulent arrogance and 
 greed eventually drove Falkland from office. When Wentworth came over, 
 in 1633, Annesley (who had become Lord Mountnorris in 1628) found that 
 he had met a sterner master. Wentworth was determined to stop the 
 shameful plunder of Ireland, and to brush aside those who stood in the way 
 of his just but firm rule. This vain and insolent peculator was tried by 
 court martial for breach of discipline, and condemned to death. The 
 sentence was only formal, and he was allowed to go to England, but deprived 
 of office. By assiduous courting of the Parliamentary party at a later day, 
 he again managed to procure the means of plundering the Irish, and was 
 aided by Henry Cromwell in his effort to procure the reversion of his office 
 to his son. He died in 1660, as Viscount Valentia. 
 
 ^ Adam Loftus belonged to another of those English famiHea who had 
 profited by the rich perquisites of Irish office. His grandfather, Edward 
 Loftus, was a Yorkshnre landowner, and his father, Robert Loftus, saw more 
 than one son in high office. Adam Loftus became Lord Chancellor of 
 Ireland in 1619, and was created Viscount Loftus of Ely. He died in 
 England, early in the Civil War. 
 
112 EARLY DAYS OF LONG PARLIAMENT [chap, iv 
 
 the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, as to matters of such moment 
 as the wider ideals in which Strafford's mind was absorbed. 
 The difference between the two was the fundamental one 
 between the lawyer, devoted to the principles of constitu- 
 tional monarchy, and at the same time seeing the Crown as 
 the cardinal point upon which the constitution hinged, 
 and the man of action, less careful about means, so long 
 as he obtained the unquestioned sway for his own arm, 
 which he felt to be needful to steer safely the ship of the 
 State. 
 
 But Hyde nevertheless allowed no personal prejudice 
 to blind him to the inherent injustice of the Bill of Attainder, 
 and makes no pleas in its excuse. However much he 
 was divided from Strafford, the separation between himself 
 and the " Inflexibles " was a far deeper one. It was felt 
 as much on one side as on the other. We have already seen 
 indications of the suspicion in which he was held as one who 
 was lukewarm to the cause. He tells us a curious instance 
 of that suspicion. He was walking one day with Lord Rothes 
 in Westminster Hall, when the Earl suddenly asked him 
 " to walk towards the coach, and he would overtake him by 
 the time he came thither." When after some delay they 
 rejoined, the Earl told him 
 
 " that he must excuse his having made him stay so long, 
 because he had been detained only concerning him : that 
 when he was walking with him a gentleman passing by 
 touched his cloak, which made him desire the other to go 
 before : and turning to the other person, he said, that seeing 
 him walking in some famiharity with Mr. Hyde, he thought 
 himself obliged to tell him, that he walked with the greatest 
 enemy the Scottish nation had in Parliament, and that he 
 ought to take heed how he communicated anything of 
 importance to him." ^ 
 
 ' BehelUon, iii. 41. 
 
1641] HYDE AND FIENNES 113 
 
 If the Scots disliked Hyde, the feeUng was certainly amply 
 reciprocated. 
 
 But Hyde soon discovered much that intensified the 
 alienation on his own side. While he was acting as Chairman 
 in the Committee of the House on the Root and Branch Bill, 
 he was in friendly communication with the advocates of the 
 Bill, widely as their views differed, and was frequently asked 
 by them to dine with them at Pym's lodging, close to 
 Westminster Hall. Hampden, Hazlerigg, Nathaniel Fiennes, 
 and others, met there daily to inspire new enthusiasm into 
 the laggards. On one occasion Fiennes asked Hyde to join 
 him in a ride into the fields to Chelsea, and in the course of 
 their ride Fiennes asked him " what it was that inclined 
 him so passionately " to the tottering fabric of the Church. 
 Hyde professed the dictates of his conscience, and asked 
 what they would place in the room of episcopacy. " Time 
 enough to think of that," said Fiennes ; but " if the King 
 resolved to defend the bishops, it would cost the kingdom 
 much blood, and would be the occasion of as sharp a war as 
 had ever been in England." Hyde then learned how far 
 they were prepared to go in defence of a view which was 
 radically opposite to his own most cherished feehngs, and, 
 as he thought, to the general opinion of the kingdom.^ 
 
 He soon learned more. He was intimate with Henry 
 Marten,^ and in the unrestraint of that intimacy Marten 
 
 ' Ufa, i. 90. 
 
 ' Henry Marten or Martyn, the regicide, was 3on of Sir Henry Marten, 
 who died in the year 1641, after having won considerable repute as a civilian, 
 and having amassed, by dexterous management and untiring industry, a 
 large fortune which his son managed to dissipate in that riotous living which 
 was only one of the features of his life that made it notorious in no very 
 seemly way. Cautious as the father had been, and anxious as he proved 
 himself to be, to conciliate the reforming party, he had nevertheless incurred 
 the suspicion of the " Inflexibles " about the time of his death. The son 
 incurred no such suspicion, and had already become notable for the extra- 
 vagance of his views, and for the violence with which he pressed them — so 
 violent, indeed, in his attacks on the King, as to incur the rebuke of a House 
 which found it more politic to preserve a semblance of respect, however 
 hollow. His first anti-monarchical impulse is said to have been inspired by 
 
 VOL. I. I 
 
114 EARLY DAYS OF LONG PARLIAMENT [chap, iv 
 
 allowed him to see the truth as to the aims of his associates- 
 As they walked together, one day in the summer, in the 
 churchyard at Westminster, Marten told him " he would 
 undo himself by adhering to the Court." Hyde told Marten 
 that he had no relation to the Court, but was puzzled to 
 know how Marten found himself able to act with men whose 
 views Hyde knew had not his approval, and put to him the 
 direct question, " What he thought of such and such men." 
 Marten " frankly answered that he thought them knaves." 
 " What was it," asked Hyde, " that he desired ? " Marten 
 paused, and then said, " I do not think one man wise 
 enough to rule us all." ^ It agrees with all we know of 
 
 an occasion when the King had ordered his expulsion from a gathering at 
 Hyde Park, as a " whoremaster " and a profligate. Marten lived to be 
 rated in the same terms by Cromwell. 
 
 From the first he acted with the extreme party in the Long Parliament ; 
 and his avowed contempt at once for the decencies of life and for the 
 solemn cant of his confederates often sorely scandalized them. As matters 
 went further, he became the close confidant of Cromwell, who employed 
 him for his own ends, and roughly shook him off when he proved refractory ; 
 but down to the death of the King (when Marten was one of his judges), 
 Cromwell and he were on cordial terms, and the story is told, how Marten's 
 coarse horseplay infected Cromwell, when they flecked one another with 
 the ink from the pens with which they had signed the Death Warrant. 
 PerpetuaUy involved in personal disputes, at all times acting the insolent 
 and abusive buHy, Marten suffered the indignities usual to such a character, 
 and on one occasion was publicly caned by the Earl of Northumberland. 
 He was the swashbuckler of the war, and the buffoon of Parliament ; but 
 his buffoonery was helped by a ready wit, and his bluntness of plain-speaking 
 gained him some popularity. On one occasion a motion — directed, amongst 
 others, against Marten, who habitually slept during debates — was made 
 ' ' to put out such scandalous members as slept." Marten capped the 
 motion neatly. " Mr. Speaker, a motion has been made to turn out the 
 nodders : I move to turn out the noddees " {Aubrey). But hia flagrant 
 debauchery in the end made him obnoxious to the Puritans of Parliament, 
 and he incurred the contemptuous anger of Cromwell, as an adherent of 
 the Levellers. At the Restoration he managed to escape the death penalty, 
 saved largely by the plea made on his behalf by Lord Falkland. " It was 
 an old law," said Falkland, "that sacrifices were to be without spot or 
 blemish. Now you are going to make an old rotten rascal a sacrifice." He 
 died in prison in 1680. " An indomitable little Roman pagan, if no better," 
 says Carlyle. Hardly, perhaps, the most heroic type of Roman paganism. 
 
 ' Professor Gardiner's comment on this is curious. " Hyde was 
 shocked," he says, " by such words. He did not see that the only way 
 in which Charles could answer them was by being wise enough to govern." 
 There is no sign that Hyde was " shocked." He emphatically disagreed. 
 He did not indulge in the epigrammatic reflection suggested by Professor 
 
1641] HYDE AND HENRY MARTEN 115 
 
 Marten that he should be ready, in what might then seem 
 almost a paradox, to subscribe to what, in Hyde's opinion, 
 amounted to republicanism. There is no evidence that such 
 a scheme had as yet shaped itself in the minds of any con- 
 siderable party in the House. But that persistent attacks 
 upon the powers of the Crown, however much cloaked in 
 language that bore the formal mark of respect for its majesty, 
 should accustom men to such doctrines, was only an inevitable 
 consequence. The frankness of common-sense manages to 
 penetrate through the veil of Parhamentary phrasing. 
 But its blunt assertion was new to Hyde, and showed him 
 to what further alliance with the " Inflexibles" would soon 
 conduct him. 
 
 One thing more confirmed Hyde in his deter- 
 mination to detach himself from their cause. After the 
 " conference with the Lords," ^ as he was leaving the House, 
 Henry Percy, the brother of the Earl of Northumberland,^ 
 
 Gardiner, because even in Hyde's day it would have been thought a fallacy 
 hardly to be tolerated in the nursery or the school. Surely our constitution 
 rests upon some foundation a little more safe than the improbable one that 
 aU its agents, at any given moment, are " wise enough " to discharge their 
 functions perfectly. Is the power of the House of Commons only to endure 
 while its members are all " wise enough " ? 
 
 ' Probably that of July 6, at which Hyde's speech against the Barons of 
 the Exchequer was delivered. 
 
 ^ Henry Percy, although the brother of the Earl of Northumberland, 
 did not share the Earl's political sympathies. But he managed to incur 
 suspicion from both sides in the struggle. He was a strong adherent of the 
 Queen, and shaped his course largely under her direction. Hyde was on 
 far from cordial terms with him during the Commonwealth, but their 
 relations became better before the end. He died in 1659. 
 
 Professor Gardiner points out that Hyde is in error in naming Percy as 
 his introducer to the King, as Percy had fled, owing to his implication in 
 the Army Plot, in May, before the Root and Branch Bill was discussed. 
 The error is not in any case a very serious one ; but it would appear more 
 likely that Hyde errs in regard to the date rather than the person. The 
 King's remarks as to the passion against the Church might have had plenty 
 of basis other than the Root and Branch Bill ; and Hyde's memory is not 
 likely to have played him false as to the person who arranged a meeting so 
 momentous in its consequences upon his own future. Nor is it certain 
 when Percy actually left the kingdom. He concealed himself for some 
 time after his disappearance, and delayed his journey upon some occasions 
 of his own, and even found means to return to London (History of EebtUion, 
 iii. 223). 
 
116 EAELY DAYS OF LONG PARLIAMENT [chap, iv 
 
 accosted him, and told him that the King desired to speak 
 to him that afternoon. Hyde could scarcely believe that 
 the message was intended for him, but was assured that 
 there was no mistake ; and the same evening he was intro- 
 duced into the gallery at Whitehall, and there had an inter- 
 view with the King alone. 
 
 " The King ^ told him ' That he heard from all hands 
 how much he was beholden to him : and that when all his 
 servants in the House of Commons either neglected his 
 service, or could not appear usefully in it, he took all occa- 
 sions to do him service : for which he thought fit to give 
 him his own thanks, and to assure him that he would 
 remember it to his advantage.' He took notice of his 
 affection to the Church, for which he said ' he thanked him 
 more than all the rest ' ; which the other acknowledged with 
 the duty that became him, and said ' he was very happy 
 that his Majesty was pleased with what he did : but if he 
 had commanded him to have withdrawn his affection and 
 reverence for the Church he would not have obeyed him ; ' 
 which his Majesty said made him love him the better." 
 
 No one knew better than Hyde how to cover in a phrase 
 of apparent independence, what was really a pledge of 
 deferential loyalty, and courteously to indicate that his 
 service would be manly and not servile. The King dis- 
 cussed the " passion of the House " for the Root and Branch 
 Bill, and asked " if they could carry it ? " Hyde trusted 
 to his own tactics of obstruction, and believed that it would 
 at least be a long process. " If they do not carry it before 
 I go to Scotland," said the King, " I will undertake for the 
 Church after that time." 
 
 It was a tacit pledge between them. The King received 
 full and regular accounts of the debates. He knew well 
 how small was the help he got from those in the House who 
 
 ' UJe, i. 93. 
 
1641] HYDE AND THE KING 117 
 
 held office, even when they did not, like St. John, actually 
 oppose the measures of the Court. BUnd as he often showed 
 himself to be to the real position of matters, he must have 
 seen that it was urgently necessary to secure to himself some 
 Parliamentary ally on whom he could rely. His strongest 
 defender had faUen, deserted at the critical moment by the 
 King himself ; Laud was silenced and powerless as a prisoner 
 in the Tower ; Pinch and Windebanke had fled, and the 
 judges who had bent their opinions to his service had been 
 impeached and were awaiting trial. Charles may almost 
 have been convinced of what was self-evident to every one 
 else, that the power of the Crown was no longer the central 
 pivot of the State, to which all else was a passing accident, 
 but that the monarchy could hold a semblance of power only 
 by restoring the balance of the constitution, and throwing 
 the odium of encroachment upon his enemies. He was 
 forced to have recourse to some one who had taken part in 
 many of the measures for the curtailment of the prerogative. 
 From his secretary, Nicholas, who was Hyde's intimate 
 friend, he no doubt learned Hyde's misgivings about the 
 new schemes of his former allies ; and at least he knew that 
 Hyde was a pledged and enthusiastic adherent of Laud's 
 ideals in the Church. Whether he was prompted by political 
 sagacity or by despair, Charles could have made no 
 wiser choice. 
 
 For Hyde, on the other hand, the proposal brought 
 certainly no prospect of personal advantage. Office under 
 such a King was a perilous hazard, and the formal acceptance 
 of office might not only bring on him jealousy on the part 
 of many of the adherents of the Court of higher rank, but 
 would certainly make him the mark of active enmity, and 
 not mere suspicion, on the part of the " Inflexibles." That 
 Hyde took the pledge of the King from no ignoble motive 
 is certain, because no such motive could exist. But two 
 
118 EARLY DAYS OF LONG PARLIAMENT [chap, iv 
 
 appeals the King could make to him : one to that passionate 
 reverence for the Crown's legal rights, which was an instinct 
 with him, and survived many a strain ; and the other to his 
 enthusiastic devotion to the Church. These were the two 
 fixed principles of his life. They cemented the bond that 
 from this time forth united him to the Crown, and he brought 
 to that service — at first a service only of aid without official 
 position — an indomitable pertinacity of purpose, an un- 
 tiring industry, and a courage which nfever failed in the 
 moments of 'direst struggle or of blackest outlook. Others 
 changed and varied in their allegiance, sometimes from 
 selfish motives, sometimes from honest doubt and perplexity, 
 and not seldom because a variation of allegiance seemed 
 to be the likeliest way of bringing about a compromise. 
 We need pass no sweeping condemnation on them. But 
 this, at least, is certain, that out of the countless actors in 
 that great drama, there was not one who steered his course 
 more straight, who was more honest in his first choice of 
 adherence, and who maintained more unchangeably the 
 principles which he had set before himself from the outset 
 than Edward Hyde.^ 
 
 ' For the first time, after Hyde's influence began to be felt, and in steadily 
 increasing measure after that influence became confirmed, a clear vein of 
 policy emerges in the conduct of the Royalist cause. At a later day he 
 never swerved from his conception of the line which should be followed in a 
 Restoration settlement ; and it is not the least of his triumphs that, although 
 his personal career was swamped by a combination of the baser elements in 
 the Court of Charles II., his own downfall did not prevent him from leaving 
 an indelible impress upon subsequent history. Professor Gardiner (vol. ix. 
 p. 387) judges the incident of the meeting worthy only of a cursory mention 
 in a couple of lines. Charles and Hyde united, he thinks, because they had 
 much in common. They " both venerated the ceremonies of the Church, 
 and neither had any of the larger qualities of statesmanship." It would 
 hardly be possible to imagine a more complete misconception of Hyde's 
 character, ability, and acluevement, or a verdict more lacking in a sense 
 of proportion. Truly, much rancour may be combined with an almost 
 quaker-like profession of what is called historical impartiality. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 Hyde's position becomes defined 
 
 With the execution of Strafford, the " Inflexibles " had won 
 a notable triumph : with the Act which made dissolution 
 dependent upon the will of the House of Commons, they 
 had established a tyranny in their own hands. Nor were 
 they slow to show the real meaning of it. Dire vengeance, 
 with no show of legal procedure, now fell on those who ventured 
 to indicate any dissent either from their tenets or their acts. 
 Mr. Tailor, member for Old Windsor, for saying that in 
 Strafford's case they "had committed murder with the 
 sword of justice," was expelled the House, declared incapable 
 of election, and committed to prison at the pleasure of Parlia- 
 ment. This was only one instance amongst many. Reli- 
 gious persecution was revived, and in July a Roman Catholic 
 priest named Ward was put to death with every circum- 
 stance of cruelty, solely on account of his creed. On 
 July 29th they drew up a Protestation, which pledged all who 
 took it to bind themselves to assist the aims of the advanced 
 party and to fight against all who would oppose them. They 
 proceeded to enforce their Protestation upon all and sundry. 
 The most powerful of all motives, that of craven fear, was 
 still to be cherished in the hearts of their adherents, and for 
 this purpose they sedulously kept alive the rumours of a 
 plot of the army, which was to be employed to crush the 
 liberties of Parhament. All through the spring and summer 
 this talk of an army plot had filled men's mouths. It had 
 
120 HYDE'S POSITION BECOMES DEFINED [chap, v 
 
 a solid foundation, but was cunningly exaggerated and 
 misrepresented in order that the prevailing fear might have 
 no time to slacken. 
 
 A not unnatural jealousy of Parliamentary action had 
 spread itself amongst the army. They had been used as 
 instruments by the Parliamentary leaders ; but they now 
 found themselves the object of almost contemptuous dis- 
 regard. Their pay was in arrear ; and while lavish pro- 
 mises and lavish payments were made to the Scots, the 
 English soldiery found themselves ill-supplied and neglected. 
 They were dissatisfied with the course of affairs, and had no 
 mind to be used as the submissive tools of an arrogant 
 Parliamentary clique. A gratuity of three hundred thousand 
 pounds, in addition to the pay of twenty-five thousand a 
 month, was voted to the Scots ; and this specially roused 
 the anger of Hyde. 
 
 " Without doubt," he writes, " when posterity shall re- 
 cover the courage, and conscience, and the old honour of the 
 English nation it will not with more indignation and blushes 
 contemplate any action of this seditious and rebellious age, 
 than that the nobility and gentry of England, who were not 
 guilty of the treason, should recompense an invasion from 
 a foreign contemned nation, with whatever establishments 
 they proposed in their own kingdom, and with a donation 
 of three hundred thousand pounds over and above all charges, 
 out of the bowels of England." 
 
 It was hardly surprising that the EngHsh army should 
 feel uneasy and dissatisfied ; and their feelings were fairly 
 and not immodestly urged in a petition to the King, in 
 which they lamented the violence threatening his person 
 and his Court, and " the subversion of the whole frame of 
 government " to suit the private fancies of a few. They 
 professed that it was far from their thoughts " to believe, 
 that the violence and unreasonableness of such kind of 
 
1641] DISCONTENT IN THE AEMY 121 
 
 persons can have any influence upon the prudence and justice 
 of the Parliament." 
 
 Their wish was only that " your Majesty and the Parlia- 
 ment may be secured from such insolences hereafter. For 
 the suppressing of which in all humility we offer ourselves 
 to wait upon you (if you please) hoping we shall appear as 
 considerable in the way of defence, to our gracious Sovereign, 
 the Parhament, our reHgion, and the established laws of the 
 kingdom, as what number soever shall audaciously presume 
 to violate them." 
 
 None but a stickler for the petty points of legal construc- 
 tion could object to such a loyal proffer of help or could find 
 in these words any proposal of the army to assume to itself 
 the authority of the State ; and even such a stickler cannot 
 but recognize that Parliament itself had annulled the moral 
 force which any pedantic legal arguments could possess. The 
 army was not a professional one : it consisted of citizens, 
 summoned in a pressing emergency to perform their duty 
 to their King, and not thereby forfeiting any of their rights. 
 As such, the petition was rightly interpreted by the King to 
 be a plea for some settlement of the quarrel upon the basis 
 of a fair compromise, and a pledge that they would loyally 
 support any such compromise which might rid the country 
 of a crushing tyranny, and restore the vigour of the 
 law. 
 
 So far went the scheme which was presented by Chud- 
 leigh, an emissary from the army, favourably received by 
 Digby and Henry Percy, and confirmed by the King. But 
 another plot, less scrupulous, and more daring, according 
 to which the army was to coerce the civil power, renew 
 active hostilities with the Scots, and virtually begin a 
 civil war, was promoted by others at the same time. It was 
 concocted by Suckling, who could turn a graceful lyric, 
 could play the part of a sprightly man of fashion and gay 
 
122 HYDE'S POSITION BECOMES DEFINED [chap, v 
 
 courtier, but who carried into political plotting the light- 
 hearted inconsequence of his intrigues of debauchery ; by 
 Goring, who associated himself in any plot, only to betray 
 his comrades ; and by Jermyn, who may have seen in the 
 more desperate scheme a means of further ingratiating 
 himself with the Queen. As soon as the agents in these 
 two separate plans came together, and Jermyn, Goring, and 
 Suckling revealed their scheme, they were opposed by Percy 
 and Digby, and discarded by the King. There is not a 
 fragment of real evidence that the more desperate scheme 
 received any countenance whatever from any one entitled 
 to speak on behalf of the Kiag.^ 
 
 But to keep alive the fiction of a purpose of armed inter- 
 vention served the useful purpose of preventing the fears 
 of Parliament from going to sleep. These fears were shown 
 in no very dignified way. Parliament appealed to the city 
 for protection. The trained bands surrounded Westminster. 
 Hysterical excitement reigned within the House. The 
 members went about as if they were in fear of their lives. 
 The creaking of a beam in a gallery portended a new gun- 
 powder plot, and the people's representatives ran scared 
 from the House, and joined in the alarm of the loiterers 
 outside.^ The sight of patriots in hysterics is not an edifying 
 one. 
 
 It still seemed to many not impossible that a compromise 
 might yet be reached, and that the King might be able 
 to use the certain reaction against the tyranny of Parliament 
 to draw to his counsels some of the moderate men in 
 the opposite ranks. The death of the Earl of Bedford, 
 who, although he had vigorously opposed Strafford, had 
 
 ' Professor Gardiner endeavours to prove that the two schemes were 
 equally countenanced by the King, or at least that his aversion to the last 
 was only lukewarm. The gossip of the Papal envoy is no sufficient 
 evidence, and it is contradicted by all the more substantial proofs, and 
 by the whole probabilities of the case. 
 
 ^ Rushworth, Strafford's Trial, 744. 
 
1641] EFFORTS AT COMPROMISE 123 
 
 endeavoured to prevent his death, and who was uneasy at the 
 threatened destruction of all the landmarks of government, 
 removed one who might have greatly assisted in this way. 
 Essex, whose popularity throughout the country was 
 unrivalled, who had unequalled sway in the army, and who 
 brought a stout arm and a faithful heart to any cause he 
 served, was induced to accept the post of Lord Chamberlain 
 in place of Pembroke, and might have been gained stiU more 
 had not the Earl of Holland, by a singular lack of discern- 
 ment, been preferred by the King to Essex for the command 
 of the army. There were rumours that even Pym and 
 Hampden might be brought into the Council, and given 
 high office, but such rumours, although they doubtless 
 rested upon the fact that such a scheme was under considera- 
 tion, never took actual shape. The Earl of Bristol, wisest, 
 most experienced, most cautious of living statesmen, was 
 given a post in the Household. In such a position, he might 
 be helped in the efforts at conciHation which he was anxious 
 to make. 
 
 But Charles had now planned another journey to Scotland, 
 and cherished a hope, which proved to be but a delusive one, 
 of obtaining help from that country. The Scots were by 
 this time at variance with the Parliament, and pressed for 
 the King's presence in their country, declaring that they 
 were ready to spend their strength in his defence. He 
 started on his progress northwards on August 10th, 1641, a 
 few weeks before Parliament adjourned, as it did on 
 September 9th, for a six weeks' recess. 
 
 The close of the first session gives to Hyde the 
 opportunity of recounting and estimating the Acts to 
 which the Royal Assent had been given. He emphasizes 
 the magnitude of the concessions therein made by the 
 King ; and incidentally allows us to see what was his 
 own attitude towards the changes thus brought about. 
 
124 HYDE'S POSITION BECOMES DEFINED [chap, v 
 
 The Act for Triennial Parliaments he believes to have 
 been of great benefit ; and although the power granted of 
 issuing writs in case of the failure of the Crown to do so 
 was derogatory to the King, yet the advantages of the change 
 were in his view great enough to outweigh these drawbacks.^ 
 The Act aboHshing the High Commission Court, and that 
 abolishing the Star Chamber were both, he thinks, justified 
 and necessary ; but he regrets that in doing away with the 
 High Commission its jurisdiction in regard to certain moral 
 offences was not supplied by some other means ; and he 
 hints that the reviving of the Star Chamber may hereafter 
 be thought as politic as its removal was at that time. 
 
 The Act for limiting the Forest laws, and the jurisdiction 
 of the Justice-in-Eyre's Court ; that for limiting the authority 
 of the King's Clerk of the Market ; those against the exaction 
 of fines in lieu of knighthood ; for abolishing the monopoly 
 for the manufacture of gunpowder ; and against the Stannery 
 Courts, were all, in Hyde's opinion, beneficial, although they 
 diminished the revenue and prestige of the Crown. That 
 aboHshing ship-money he most cordially approves ; and 
 that which gave to Parliament the sole power of determining 
 its own dissolution, he, with equal decision, condemns. It 
 was the last time that he could pass any judgment upon 
 the doings of the House, in which praise and blame could be 
 mingled. 
 
 The King started on his journey to Scotland, much to 
 the disgust of the Parliament, where there was some dread 
 lest he should find effective aid from the Scots. But, what- 
 ever were his hopes or their fears, they were alike falsified 
 by the result. He was obliged to shut his eyes to much open 
 defiance of his power amongst the Scots ; and although for a 
 time he conceived that he might look for support to Argyle 
 
 ' His tone, when discussing the repeal of the Act after the Restoration, 
 is considerably more condemnatory of its provisions. 
 
1641] THE KING IN SCOTLAND 125 
 
 or Hamilton, he soon found that they were equally disloyal, 
 and equally bent on securing their own power rather than 
 admitting any semblance of authority in the Crown. Amid 
 the obscure dissensions of Scottish factions, a scheme of 
 vengeance on Argyle and Hamilton seems to have been 
 started by some of their local enemies. It was conveniently 
 ascribed to the machinations of the royalists, and the " In- 
 cident," as it was called, served only to increase the power of 
 these two, the nominal supporters, but real custodians, of the 
 King. Charles attempted still to conciliate their friendship 
 by a show of courtesy, and on his departure from Scotland, 
 raised Argyle to the rank of a Marquis, Hamilton to that 
 of a Duke. But the Parliament found that, instead of 
 enemies, they had new allies in these local potentates ; and 
 the dangers which these northern supporters were supposed 
 to have incurred served as new reasons for increasing the 
 demands made on the King by the " Infiexibles." 
 
 On October 20th the sittings of Parliament began again. 
 The minds of men were excited by new rumours of danger to 
 the cause, industriously fomented, and calling for the presence 
 of an armed guard to protect the House. But it was soon 
 apparent that serious dissidence had begun in the ranks of 
 the reforming party, and that no unanimity was to attend 
 their further debates. That circumstance only served as an 
 excuse for new virulence and intolerance ; for more drastic 
 browbeating and tyranny ; and for increased stringency 
 in pushing their revolutionary demands. Hyde's position 
 of estrangement from them was becoming every day more 
 clear, and he did not stand alone.^ He had an ally, bound 
 
 • It is at this point that marked divergence must necessarily arise in 
 regard to the judgment to be passed upon the course of events, and the 
 chief actors in them. It is well known that during the greater part of last 
 century, the pages of the leading historians who depicted the time were 
 deeply tinged, to some, it seems, grievously perverted, by an arrogant 
 assumption of the unquestionable truth of Whig principles, and by a deter- 
 mination to find a glorification of these principles in the unassailable 
 
126 HYDE'S POSITION BECOMES DEFINED [chap, v 
 
 to him by the closest ties of friendship, and of sympathy, in 
 Falkland ; and every day increased the number of those who 
 were estranged by the excesses of the dominant party. In 
 the Lords, a majority sympathized with the moderates, 
 who followed the lead of Lord Bristol, and his son, Lord 
 Digby. 
 
 With the beginning of November, a new project was 
 started. This was the Grand Remonstrance. The House of 
 Commons was to make an appeal to prejudice by restating 
 all the grievances of the reign, all the wrong-doings of 
 dead statesmen, all the allegations of popish schemes, and 
 all the hindrances that had been placed in the way of that 
 form of religious doctrine to which alone they were prepared 
 to give the name of pure religion. Many of the grievances 
 embodied in that Remonstrance had been the objects 
 of Hyde's attacks, and he could not contradict their con- 
 demnation. But the open provocation involved in this 
 renewal of buried controversies ; the virulence of the 
 references to the Church ; and the defiance of all precedent 
 
 rectitude of those who stood out as the assertors of popular rights against 
 the Crown in the seventeenth century, from whom these principles were 
 deemed to be a sacred inheritance. The very exaggeration of this uniform 
 tyranny of an accepted opinion led to a certain reaction ; and, more recently 
 the followers of these historians, animated by the same principles or pre- 
 judices, have cultivated an apparent, but not very real, impartiality of tone. 
 If we are not to be allowed to judge the course of the struggle, and the 
 motives and characters of those engaged in it, by ordinary rules of common- 
 sense, apart from preconceived political ideas, then it may be permissible 
 to doubt whether avowed and straightforward partisanship is not to be 
 preferred to a painful strain of seeming impartiality, which, while it credits 
 both parties with fidelity to their ideals, at the same time incessantly 
 blames both for failing to realize some vague scheme of comprehensive 
 toleration, which appears admirable to students in retrospect, but has little 
 to attract the thoughts of men on the brink of a deadly fight. Somehow 
 this impartiality of the student always contrives, in dealing with particular 
 incidents, to find opportunity for depreciating the mental calibre, if not the 
 moral character, of the adherents of the King, and to detect something in 
 his own past acts, to deprive his action at any particular juncture of fuU 
 justification ; and, with equal regularity, discovers in Pym and his followers, 
 an unfailing substratum of rectitude in their most flagrant acts of oppression, 
 and holds them justified by their suspicion of the King, in their most daring 
 defiance of legality. 
 
1C41] THE GEAND EEMONSTEANCE 127 
 
 in the methods adopted, ensured his disHke of the whole 
 project, and his open hostihty to it in its last stages.^ 
 
 At first there was impatience that the Remonstrance 
 should even be discussed. Cromwell upbraided Falkland 
 for his desire to delay what ought to occasion but httle 
 debate. Cromwell found his calculation erroneous. In the 
 last stage of what had been long and frequent debates often 
 interrupted, the House met as usual, at eight in the morning, 
 and it was only at midnight that the Remonstrance was 
 finally adopted, and then only by a majority of eleven. A 
 further struggle took place over its publication without the 
 concurrence of the other House. An attempt to procure 
 that concurrence might have resulted in defeat ; at the best 
 it would only have stript the Remonstrance of its menace 
 as a sign of independent threatening on the part of the 
 majority of the Commons. The debate on the question was 
 
 ■ The Remonstrance may be read in Rushworth, iv. 438. It was 
 accompanied, when presented to the King, by a Petition, which urged 
 that security should be taken against papacy ; that the assent of the 
 King I should be given to the Bill which was to deprive the Bishops of 
 their seats in the House of Lords (a Bill, be it observed, which had not 
 yet received the assent of the Upper House) ; the removal of " malig- 
 nant " counsellors ; and the proper method of disposing 'of the lands 
 which they presumed would be forfeited as a consequence of the rebellion 
 in Ireland, 
 
 The Remonstrance itself is a long rigmarole of 206 numbered paragraphs. 
 It has had a great name as the solemn manifesto of patriots struggling for 
 liberty ; but it is, in truth, a sorry production. It is rambling and dis- 
 cursive, without plan or arrangement, a farrago of narrative, of ejaoulatory 
 lamentations, of bitter invective, and of pietistic aspirations. The wrongs 
 done to themselves are contrasted with the great benefits they have done to 
 the ICing ; the dangers that are to be dreaded from the Court, with the 
 bright hopes inspired by their own efforts. It enumerates certain schemes 
 of improvement — including such proposals as one for the improvement of 
 the herring fishery, hardly, one would have thought, appropriate in the 
 discussion of a Constitutional dispute. It looks as if each of the excited 
 participants had contributed a fragment, stating his own particular 
 grievance, and as if the whole were thrown together without the labour of 
 revision, or any care for logical sequence. Not the most profound respect 
 for the dignity of a great popular movement, can find in this confused 
 jumble any distinction either of language or of sentiment. It is not, 
 indeed, without an luiconscious touch of humour, where it hints that 
 the Parliamentary party may have deserved some blame for their undue 
 moderation. 
 
128 HYDE'S POSITION BECOMES DEFINED [chap, v 
 
 heated and prolonged/ and led to angry scenes, and to 
 the usual trampling on independent opinion by the leaders 
 of the " Inflexibles." Hyde claimed the right to enter his 
 protest ; and he was joined by many other members in an 
 angry shout of dissent. Passions became so heated that 
 it seemed as if swords would be drawn. At four in the 
 morning, after the Remonstrance, the stormy debate upon 
 the publication was adjourned. The essential point had 
 been gained in the adoption of the Remonstrance itself. For 
 its pubhcation other steps could be taken. As they left 
 the House, Falkland twitted Cromwell on his prophecy as to 
 the curtness of debate. Cromwell told him " that he would 
 take his word another time " ; and gave him the whispered 
 confidence, that " if the Remonstrance had been rejected, 
 he would have sold aU he had the next morning, and never 
 have seen England more : and he knew there were many 
 other honest men of the same resolution." Hyde may be 
 forgiven for his comment, " So near was the poor Kingdom 
 at that time to its deliverance." But Cromwell's statement 
 is noteworthy, if we can accept it as sincere. It indicates that 
 to some, at all events, the Remonstrance was not altogether 
 an assertion of triumph, prompted by the arrogance of 
 conscious power, but also a test of the security of a position 
 which they felt to be extremely hazardous. If the last 
 hypothesis is well-founded, it proves that the " Inflexibles " 
 recognized how small their support in the nation was. 
 
 This happened on November 23rd. On the 25th Charles 
 returned from Scotland, and made what seemed a triumphal 
 entrance into London, where he was received by the City 
 authorities on his way from Theobalds to Whitehall. The 
 Lord Mayor was Gurney, a firm adherent of the Royalist 
 
 ' Hyde says the debate went on till two in the morning ; others put it 
 two hours later. Whitelocke, possibly referring to a previous discussion on 
 the subject, says it lasted from 3 p.m. till 10 a.m. next morning. The 
 diumala of the various authorities often vary in a perplexing way. 
 
1641] lEISfl EEBELLION 129 
 
 party, and the majority of the Common Council held his 
 views. Once again the King found himself in the centre of 
 a welcoming crowd, was received with every circumstance 
 of honour, and heard those phrases of exaggerated loyalty 
 which were familiar to the phraseology of the day. It was 
 an indication that the views of the " Inflexibles " found 
 few sympathizers amongst those who represented the centre 
 of England's commercial interest, and who could control her 
 financial position. Such a stronghold of royahst feeling 
 had to be captured before Pym could feel his power secure. 
 
 At an opportune moment there came from Ireland to 
 account of the Rebellion there, with every circumstance 
 to stir the alarm, and kindle the prejudices, of those who 
 were determined to identify the cause of the King with 
 popish leanings, who represented episcopacy and the existing 
 forms of Church government in England as only a half-way 
 house to papacy, and who identified papacy with the 
 deepest treachery and the most savage cruelty. It is a 
 matter of common agreement that the accounts of the 
 cruelties of the rebels were grossly exaggerated,^ and that 
 the narratives were strange compilations of unsifted evidence 
 and superstitious fancies. But they were sufficient to 
 revive, in all their alarming force, the stories of popish plots, 
 and rumoured schemes of wholesale massacre, which added 
 flame to the fuel of popular excitement, and stimulated attacks 
 by the mob upon all who were supposed to have royahst 
 sympathies. Prom day to day the bodyguard at Whitehall, 
 and the gentlemen of the Inns of Court, were on the point 
 of encounters with the apprentices of London, and the 
 disorderly concourse of loiterers in the street. It seemed as 
 
 ' Estimates were made by some which represented the deaths amongst 
 the English settlers at 200,000 or even 300,000 ; an unduly moderate estimate 
 — as it was thought — was that of Hyde, which put it at 40,000. It is now 
 agreed that the deaths within two or three years could not have exceeded 
 some figure between 12,000 and 20,000. See Gardiner, x. 68. 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
130 HYDE'S POSITION BECOMES DEFINED [chap, v 
 
 if, unbidden and spontaneously, civil war might any day 
 break out in the streets of London. 
 
 Charles had returned with some confidence from Scotland, 
 in spite of ominous signs of opposition to his authority 
 there. On December 1st, the Remonstrance was presented 
 to him at Hampton Court on behalf of the House of Commons. 
 The member commissioned to do so was Sir Ralph Hopton ; 
 but although that sincere and loyal heart may have been 
 persuaded that the Remonstrance was, in the circumstances, 
 a necessary guarantee of their security, he must have already 
 had doubts as to many of the schemes of his associates.^ 
 The King listened to the Petition in a mood of confident 
 and almost disdainful imperturbabiUty. He interrupted its 
 reading with an easy repudiation of insinuations about 
 the papist attempts to pervert him, and bade them be careful, 
 with reference to the suggestion as to disposing of lands to 
 be forfeited on account of the Irish rebellion, for dealing 
 with which they had provided no effective means, not " to 
 sell the bear's skin before it was dead." The next day he 
 returned to Westminster, and assured the House of his 
 determination not only to maintain the existing Acts of 
 Parliament, but " to grant what else can be justly desired 
 in point of Kberties or in maintenance of the true religion as 
 here estabUshed." 
 
 But his confidence was misplaced, and he was in dire need 
 of a true counsellor who would honestly teU him the plain 
 facts of the position. It soon appeared that no reliance 
 could be placed on the support of the city. Mob-law then 
 prevailed, and on December 21st, the power of Sir 
 Richard Gumey and his sympathizers was swept away by 
 a new election of the Common Council, which left the Parlia- 
 
 ' Hopton seems to have read to tlie King only the Petition, and not the 
 Remonstrance itself. This last was probably considered to be something 
 to which all were allowed to contribute something, but for the rambling 
 inconsequence of which no one in particular was to be held responsible. 
 
1641] HYDE'S FIEST STATE PAPEE 131 
 
 mentary party supreme. Rumours of popish plots, and of 
 threatened armed intervention concocted by the papal 
 advisers of the Queen, were rife, and had exasperated both 
 the Parliament and the London crowds. 
 
 No one saw better than Hyde the need of new and wiser 
 advisers for the King. Again there was some expectation, 
 which Hyde would willingly have seen realized, that the 
 King would disarm some of his antagonists by calling them 
 to assume office as his ministers, and it was thought that 
 Pym, Hampden and Hollis might be induced to accept 
 office.^ It was at this juncture that Hyde himself, for the 
 first time, although without office, was called on to discharge 
 an important service for the Crown. The Parliamentary 
 party had issued their manifesto to the nation in the Grand 
 Remonstrance, and it became necessary to issue a counter 
 manifesto in the form of a reply. The history of the incident 
 is curious. Hyde, it appears, " only to give vent to his 
 indignation, and without the least purpose of communicating 
 it " had drawn up a full reply. His intimate friend Lord 
 Digby came to see him " where he was alone amongst his 
 books and papers ; " and Hyde, as the result of their talk, 
 read to him this reply, with which Digby was greatly im- 
 pressed, and asked his leave to show it to the King. Some 
 reply had to be issued at once : and a few days later. Lord 
 Digby came to confess that, in conversation with the King, 
 he had told him of Hyde's draft, and of his own high estimate 
 of its force ; and how, as a consequence, the King had 
 conjured Digby to send him the paper. Hyde was an- 
 noyed at what Digby had done, whose " over-activity, to 
 which his restless fancy always disposed him," was distasteful 
 to Hyde : but there was nothing for it but to deUver up the 
 paper, on condition of the strictest secrecy, and with the 
 stipulation that it should not be published without the advice 
 
 ' Bebellion, iv. 76. 
 
132 HYDE'S POSITION BECOMES DEFINED [chap, v 
 
 of the King's Council. His conditions were observed. The 
 reply was adopted by the Council, and pubhshed about the 
 end of December.^ As soon as it was issued, the force of 
 its arguments, its clear appeal to the arbitrament of the 
 law ; its studied moderation ; the dexterity with which it 
 indicates rather than too bluntly states, the excesses of the 
 Parhament ; and above all, its appeal to the sober sense of 
 justice in the nation — all showed that a new mind was en- 
 listed in the service of the King. Those at whom it was 
 aimed could make no effort at a reply. They could only 
 seek to penetrate the secret of authorship, that they might 
 glut their vengeance.^ 
 
 The hope that Pym and Hampden might become ministers 
 of the Crown was disappointed ; but on January 2nd, 164^; 
 a change of importance in his advisers was made by Charles. 
 Falkland became Secretary of State, and Colepepper Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer. The two men had little in common. 
 Falkland, with strong popular sympathies, an almost exagge- 
 rated dislike of any straining of the prerogative, and a very 
 decided leaning to latitudinarian views in religion, had never- 
 theless been driven, in his dislike of the Parliamentary 
 excesses — a disUke bred at once of conscience and of tempera- 
 ment — to see that the authority of the Crown and the safety 
 
 ' This reply to the Remonstrance, is given by Nalson (vol. ii. p. 746), and 
 fully represents the case from the King's point of view. Hyde {History of 
 Rebellion, iv. 82) gives an abridged version which quite fairly expresses 
 its general drift. The answer cited by Professor Gardiner, as printed in 
 Rushworth (vol. iv. p. 452), is not Hyde's answer to the Remonstrance, but 
 a short and summary reply to the Petition which accompanied the Remon- 
 strance. It is merely formal, and is of no particular importance. 
 
 It is significant that Professor Gardiner does not think it necessary to say 
 one word as to Hyde's authorship of the reply to the Remonstrance. To pass 
 over in silence the authorship of a State paper of the first moment, which 
 marks a new epoch in the King's dealings with the Parliainent, and defines 
 the attitude of his principal adviser ; to omit all reference to the paper 
 itself, and to cite in its stead a short reply to a different and less important 
 paper, is, to say the least of it, a considerable concession, in an historian 
 of such minute accuracy, to his own overmastering desire to belittle Hyde's 
 part in the history of his time. 
 
 ^ The circumstances are fuUy narrated by Hyde in his Life, i. 97. 
 
1642] FALKLAND AND COLEPEPPEE 133 
 
 of the Church must be defended ; and once he had come to 
 that conclusion, his chivalrous sentiment of loyalty defined 
 his place for him. To the service of the Crown he brought 
 indomitable energy and perseverance, absolute unselfishness, 
 and a calm judgment. He could not bring to it either 
 ripe experience or any constructive statesmanship. But he 
 helped to secure to Charles's service the invaluable counsel 
 and the powerful pen of Hyde. 
 
 Colepepper was a man of another mould. He had 
 few gifts of nature to ingratiate himself at Court, or to 
 make him a dexterous debater. But he had courage 
 and confidence, a spirit free from prejudice, and Uttle 
 likely to be swayed by any overpowering sense of religious 
 feeUng. He could carry his personal independence to 
 the length of combating, even in those of highest place, 
 opinions with which he did not agree ; and if his views were 
 expressed with what was sometimes inconvenient emphasis, 
 they nevertheless managed to obtain ascendency by the 
 dogged force of his arguments. With no grace of oratory, 
 he could nevertheless intervene with telUng effect at the 
 close of a debate, and so marshal the arguments as to prevail 
 upon the general sense of the House. Such men as Falkland 
 and Colepepper were at least an improvement upon the 
 wayward volatility which marred Digby's brilliant talents, 
 upon the treacherous versatility of Vane, or upon the avowed 
 and sulky opposition of St. John. 
 
 It was about the same time that Hyde himself received 
 a pressing invitation from the King to accept ofiice. Again 
 he was summoned to the royal presence — this time by Digby ; 
 and on being introduced he found that the Queen was to 
 be a partaker in the interview. The King told him that " he 
 was much beholden to him for many good services, and pro- 
 posed to make him his sohcitor-general, in the place of him 
 (St. John) who had served him so ill." Hyde suddenly 
 
134 HYDE'S POSITION BECOMES DEFINED [chap, v 
 
 answered, " God forbid." The King was surprised, and 
 asked his reason. " It was not," said Hyde, " fit at this 
 time that he should remove the other ; and if he were 
 removed, himself was in no degree fit for it." The Queen 
 pressed on him the acceptance of the post, and declared that 
 good judges had thought him "as fit for it as the other." 
 Hyde remained unmoved. The King might, indeed, he 
 admitted with his usual dexterous bluntness, have better 
 filled the vacancy with another man than St. John, but it 
 was inopportune to remove him, and when that was done, it 
 ought to be filled by the ablest man of the profession, not 
 by one so young and inexperienced as himself. The Queen 
 deprecated such modesty, but Hyde was not to be moved. 
 " Madam," he replied, " when you know me better you will 
 find me not so modest, but that I hope, by your Majesty's 
 favour, to be made a better man ; " but though St. John 
 could never do much service, he would be more mischievous 
 if removed. The King then offered another place ; but 
 Hyde's purpose was fixed. He was determined to enter the 
 King's service without ofiice or reward, and so it was 
 arranged. With Falkland and Colepepper, he was to be in 
 constant consultation, and they three were to guide his 
 Majesty's affairs. The King " pledged himself very 
 solemnly " that without their advice he would take no step 
 in Parliament. We shall see presently how soon he found 
 himself betrayed into a disastrous breach of that solemn 
 pledge. Hyde had now taken the most momentous decision 
 of his life ; and we can understand its importance only by 
 estimating all that it involved. To refuse a lucrative post, 
 and especially one like the Solicitor-Generalship, which was 
 lucrative rather by fees than by direct payment from the 
 Court, was probably a matter which counted for little with 
 Hyde. He had a competence ample enough to have warranted 
 him already in abandoning his profession. Personally he 
 had no greed for money, and his position at that time 
 
1642] HYDE EEFUSES OFFICE 135 
 
 involved no heavy expenses. It was much more that he 
 should definitely range himself on one side in a fierce pohtical 
 struggle, and that the side against which, as he clearly saw, 
 the tide was running fast.^ Only two motives could decide 
 him. One was personal loyalty ; but although that was a 
 motive which his long misfortunes, and the deepening of his 
 character by their means, strengthened into devotion, it was 
 probably not so ardent in the earlier days of Hyde's associa- 
 tion with the King as it was in retrospect. The other was 
 Hyde's passionate attachment to the Church, and to those 
 broad lines of the Constitution, which he conceived to be 
 entwined indissolubly with all that was strongest and most 
 distinctive in the Church.^ In his fideHty to these two 
 principles we may find the key to Hyde's character, the 
 source of his indomitable courage, unwavering aHke in the 
 darkest gloom of misfortune, and in the delusive gleams of 
 a fitful simshine ; the explanation of the consummate skill 
 with which his pilotage steered the vessel into port at last. 
 To picture Hyde as a pedantic lawyer, bound in the meshes 
 of legal precedent, is a ludicrous travesty. The steadfastness 
 which could weather storms, the dexterity which could conduct 
 long and deUcate negociations, nominally as the representative 
 of a powerful sovereign, in reality as the discredited agent of 
 a vagabond and beggarly crew, who masqueraded as a 
 
 ' " He did believe that the King would be oppressed by that party which 
 then governed, and that they who followed and served him would be 
 destroyed" (lAfe., i- 110). But Hyde's forecast does not imply that he 
 thought that a reaction might not come at a later date. He and his 
 associates might be destroyed, but the cause might survive. 
 
 ^ " He had a most zealous esteem and reverence for the Constitution 
 of the Government, and believed it so equally poised, that if the least 
 branch of the prerogative was torn off, or parted with, the subject suffered 
 by it, and that his right was impaired ; and he was just as much troubled 
 when the Crown exceeded its just limits, and thought its prerogative was 
 hurt by it, and therefore not only never consented to any diminution of the 
 King's authority, but always wished that the King would not consent to 
 it, with what importunity or impetuosity soever it was desired and pressed " 
 (lAfe, i. 109). Hyde is at least, explicit ; but a firm attachment to the 
 Constitution is not the same thing as a stickling for legal forms. 
 
136 HYDE'S POSITION BECOMES DEFINED [chap, v 
 
 Court ; the knowledge of human nature which could construct 
 a policy out of the warring factions of a dissolute crowd, and 
 could grasp chance occasions and impress his own mark 
 upon a reconstructed constitution — these are not the qualities 
 that are developed out of the stuff of legal pedantry ; yet 
 all these qualities Hyde was yet, most indubitably, to show. 
 From this moment, a young man of thirty-three, he made 
 his choice, and almost alone amidst the shifting crowd, he 
 maintained one unchanging attitude, and pursued one con- 
 sistent aim. His most malevolent critics must acquit him 
 of all sordid motives, if only for the sufficient reason that 
 such motives were absolutely non-existent in his case. 
 Young as he was, he was sagacious enough to cliag to his 
 faith in the instinctive bias of his countrymen, which would 
 ultimately keep them true to the traditions of a balanced 
 constitution and a tempered and decorous ordering of the 
 national Church ; ^ seeking no sordid end, he had ambition 
 enough, of the kind that was kept alive by the conviction 
 that he could play a notable part in the great struggle that 
 was impending. 
 
 We have seen, and shall see again, how ardent was the 
 affection between Hyde and Falkland, although their natures 
 were in many respects strangely different. But between 
 these two and Colepepper there was little which could deepen 
 their association in public business, into anything hke the 
 cordiality of warm friendship. Colepepper had passed his 
 earlier years in the hard discipline of foreign service, and his 
 hot head and rough courage savoured more of the soldier of 
 adventure, than of the counsellor who was to steer a policy 
 in the stormy currents of parliamentary strife. But his 
 shrewdness and independence, and the quick decision of his 
 
 ' " He did really believe the Church of England the most exactly formed 
 and framed for the encouragement of learning and piety, and for the pre- 
 servation of peace, of any Church in the world" (Life, i. 109). 
 
1642] HYDE, FALKLAND AND COLEPEPPER 137 
 
 judgments, balanced his uncourtliness of mien, and the 
 passionate turbulence of his temper. Religion was with 
 him rather a matter of pohcy than of conviction. The 
 narrowness of his means might have made a smaller man 
 greedy of gain ; but his hf e was simple and his habits thrifty, 
 and by these he was saved from " stooping to any corrupt 
 ways, to which he was not inclined." ^ The picture which 
 Hyde draws of his association is coloured by no warmth of 
 friendship, but it credits Colepepper with all the essential 
 qualities that command respect. 
 
 On the whole, the three acted very amicably together. 
 Colepepper's rougher methods were encountered by greater 
 skill and dexterity, but by an equally impetuous temper, in 
 Hyde, while the more equable temperament of Falkland had 
 often to be called in to allay their strife. Hyde's steadiness 
 of poKcy swayed the other two ; and in any doubtful point 
 of counsel, the King was used to ask " whether Ned Hyde 
 were of that opinion." This impUes that, when matters 
 were fully discussed, it was " Ned Hyde " who often gave 
 the casting vote. But the more free access of Falkland and 
 Colepepper to the King frequently gave an opportunity for 
 the adoption of measures of which Hyde disapproved. 
 
 ' Clarendon, Life, i. 106. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 INCEBASING EXASPERATION, AND THE WAE OF WOEDS 
 
 In the hands of his three new advisers, it might have been 
 hoped that the King's affairs would proceed more smoothly. 
 Falkland had high aims, unresting industry, and was above 
 all suspicion of corruption. Colepepper, with all his rash 
 impetuosity, was honest and clear-sighted ; and Hyde had 
 a steady conviction as to the course which it was wisest for 
 the King to pursue. But their fears were now excited 
 by underlying suspicions, and it was soon found that a 
 steady pursuance of the poUcy which was agreed upon 
 amongst these three advisers was made impossible by 
 these fears and these suspicions, which invaded the 
 precincts of the Court. 
 
 The brawls and disturbances about Whitehall were 
 matters of daily occurrence, and mob-law, which found 
 encouragement in the violent dissension amongst those in 
 authority, stimulated each party to new schemes for their 
 own protection, and new projects of attack upon their 
 opponents. The ParUament surrounded themselves with 
 armed guards, and passed resolutions against the " maHg- 
 nants " who surrounded the King ; the Court summoned 
 its adherents to arm themselves for their own protection, 
 and the cavahers and templars drove off the mobs who were 
 clamouring at the gates of Whitehall. Amongst those who 
 frequented the Court of the Queen there were fierce spirits 
 who cared little for constitutional ideals, and were inclined 
 
1642] LORD DIGBY 139 
 
 to take more drastic measures for crushing the tyraimy of 
 the Parliamentary majority, and the crowds of rioters 
 whom that majority encouraged to browbeat their opponents. 
 There were rumours of schemes for impeaching the Queen, 
 and to these fiercer spirits it seemed that such schemes 
 could best be met by bold reprisals. It is to this we must 
 ascribe the rash step now taken by the King, without that 
 consultation with those selected advisers to which he had 
 solemnly pledged himself. 
 
 Lord Digby was amongst the chief of those whose rashness 
 was to be feared. As the son of Lord Bristol, who had 
 encountered, with dignity, the enmity of the Duke of 
 Buckingham when at the height of his favour, Digby had 
 little reason to court the favour of the Crown, and had with- 
 drawn from the crowd that sought office or emolument. 
 He had disliked the policy of Strafford, and had shown his 
 sympathy for those who organized a ParHamentary resist- 
 ance. He had helped in the impeachment of the great 
 minister, and was looked upon as one of the most eloquent 
 defenders of the popular cause. But although not of the 
 Court, Digby was a polished courtier, endowed by nature 
 with aU the mental and physical gifts that fitted him for 
 the part. A born aristocrat, he had no mind to see distinc- 
 tions of society levelled, or to have the rank, the privileges, 
 or the luxuries of his order trampled on by the common herd. 
 He was too proud to stoop to injustice, and had manfuUy 
 resisted the sinister vengeance of the Attainder Bill. The 
 breach between himself and the " Inflexibles " grew rapidly 
 wider ; his opposition to their schemes more marked ; and 
 while, in common with his father, he found himself the mark 
 of the insults of the mob, who discerned in him the proudest 
 of the order whose privileges they wished to curtail, he found 
 the King ready to accept his service and was called up to 
 the House of Lords just when the dominant majority in the 
 
140 INCREASING EXASPERATION [chap, vi 
 
 Commons were preparing to mete out to him the discipline 
 kept ready for refractory members. Endowed as he was, 
 he soon found means to conciliate the friendship of the 
 Queen, and became involved in those romantic schemes that 
 were to save her from the vengeance of her sworn foes. 
 There could be no surer passport to the confidence of the 
 King. 
 
 Neither the personal graces, the brilliant wit, nor the 
 freedom of manners; of Digby were likely to win for him the 
 friendship of Falkland, whose simplicity of nature framed 
 a far different ideal of aristocratic duty. But Hyde's know- 
 ledge of the world tolerated, and Colepepper's military 
 bluntness was attracted by, an ally whom neither entirely 
 trusted. They were soon to realize more clearly the danger 
 in which he might involve their master and themselves. 
 
 " He was a man," says Hyde, " of very extraordinary 
 parts by nature and art, and had surely as good and excellent 
 an education as any person of that age in any country ; a 
 graceful and beautiful person ; of great eloquence and 
 becomingness in his discourse, and of so universal knowledge 
 that he never wanted subject for a discourse." ' To these 
 gifts Digby added, unluckily, a strain of affectation, and, 
 with " an ambition and vanity superior to all his other parts," 
 a " confidence peculiar to himself, which sometimes intoxi- 
 cated and transported and exposed him." Such a character 
 was an inconvenient aUy, in a time when wary dealing was 
 above all things needful. It was he and the Queen who 
 inspired the new act of senseless recklessness. 
 
 On January 3rd, Herbert, the Attorney-General, was 
 instructed to impeach of high treason before the Lords, 
 Lord Kimbolton, the son of the Earl of Manchester, and five 
 members of the House of Commons, Pym, Hampden, Hollis, 
 Hazlerigg and Strode. At the same time the House of 
 
 ' Bebellion, iv. 127. 
 
1642] ATTEMPTED ARREST OF FIVE MEMBERS 141 
 
 Commons received a message, asking for their arrest. The 
 message to the Lords, however dangerous, was strictly legal. 
 But the arrest was a matter which, according to prece- 
 dant, lay with the House of Commons alone. The Lords 
 returned a temporizing answer ; the Commons appealed to 
 their privilege. 
 
 The next day (January 4th) the King took a far more 
 questionable step. Entering a coach at Whitehall, he 
 summoned his armed retinue to follow him, drove to the 
 House, and barely announcing his presence, entered the 
 House, took his place at the Speaker's Chair, and asked that 
 the members denounced should be handed over to him. 
 They had already received full warning, had been forced to 
 withdraw, and were shortly safe from arrest in the city. 
 Their rooms, however, were visited and their papers sealed, 
 only to be broken open by the order of the House. The 
 King and the Commons were now openly at defiance. He 
 found his authority scouted ; they beheved their personal 
 liberty to be in danger. The King, trusting to the loyalty of 
 the Lord Mayor, Sir Richard Gurney — who no longer com- 
 manded a majority in the Common Council — visited the 
 Guildhall next day in a vain attempt to intimidate the City 
 by his presence ; but he was received in the streets where 
 he had so lately been acclaimed; with sullen looks and shouts 
 of " Privilege of Parliament." For the moment he was not 
 moved from his purpose. 
 
 The incident came as a shock to Hyde, Falkland, and 
 Colepepper. These three — 
 
 " Without whose privity the King had promised them he 
 would enter upon no new counsel, were so much displeased 
 and dejected that they were incUned never more to take 
 upon themselves the care of anything to be transacted in the 
 House ; finding already that they could not avoid being 
 looked upon as the authors of those counsels, to which they 
 
142 INCREASING EXASPERATION [chap, vi 
 
 were so absolute strangers, and which they so perfectly 
 detested." ' 
 
 Digby's was the ill-omened advice to which the counsels 
 were due, and to his rashness he added the guilt of dissimula- 
 tion. When the impeachment was brought before the Lords, 
 he whispered to Kimbolton, next to whom he sat — 
 
 " That the King was very mischievously advised ; and 
 that it would go very hard, but he would know whence 
 that counsel proceeded ; in order to which, and to prevent 
 further mischief, he would go immediately to his Majesty." ^ 
 
 The mischief was already done. Only " the abstracted 
 consideration of their duty and conscience, and of the present 
 ill condition the King was in " kept Hyde and his companions 
 longer at their task. The very straits of their master made 
 them staunch. Though often tried, Hyde never again 
 allowed such vexation to quench the ardour of his loyalty. 
 
 It was to Httle purpose that the King, who speedily 
 recognized the ill consequences of his act, endeavoured to 
 soothe the susceptibilities of the House, and professed his 
 respect for their privileges. New guarantees must now be 
 found to secure them against such attempts in future ; 
 new advances on the part of the reformers seemed to be 
 imperatively called for. 
 
 Such was the position when the King resolved, with his 
 wife and family, to quit Whitehall for Hampton Court, 
 whence on January 13th, he moved to Windsor. He was not 
 to see Whitehall again until the fatal day in January, 1649. 
 
 The scheme of impeachment had virtually failed, and its 
 forced abandonment left the majority in Parhament in 
 possession of the field. Two questions now became chiefly 
 prominent, as those upon which that majority were to 
 
 ' Rebellion, iv. 158. ' Ibid., iv. 154. 
 
1642] THE MILITIA QUESTION 143 
 
 display their triumph. These were the Bill for the Exclusion 
 of the Bishops from the House of Lords, and the settlement 
 of the authority which should dispose of the military forces 
 of the country — the Militia question, as it was generally 
 called. There can be no doubt that, according to all 
 legal and constitutional priociple, the control of any military 
 force lay with the Crown. But the expenses it involved 
 could be suppUed only by the House of Commons. Special 
 exigencies, however, might arise, which would require the 
 Crown to exercise its right without the prehminary financial 
 guarantee ; and it was the special prerogative thus involved 
 that was at once the foundation of Strafford's plans, and of 
 the fears and suspicions of the Commons. Subsequent 
 developments of constitutional practice made better pro- 
 vision against this essential element of contradiction. But, 
 apart from all this, it is none the less indisputable that, 
 according to the constitution, the supreme command of 
 any military force rested with the Crown. 
 
 The question was constantly in dispute during these 
 winter months. Two Bills for its settlement had been 
 introduced, and had made a certain progress. In connection 
 with one of these Hyde brings a distinct charge of bad faith 
 on the part of St. John, and of treachery to his duty as a 
 servant of the Crown. The Bill proposed to settle the 
 question of nulitary command. Hyde argued that such a 
 settlement was unnecessary, as that command clearly be- 
 longed to the Crown. St. John declared that this was not 
 warranted by the law, and that his duty as a minister was 
 to insist upon a decision, so that all doubt should be removed. 
 With a view, nominally, to remove doubts, but in reahty to 
 have the question settled in favour of Parliament, he intro- 
 duced a Bill providing that the control should rest with , 
 
 the rest being left blank to be filled in by Parliament. But 
 now the procedure by Bill had been abandoned, and in its 
 
144 INCREASING EXASPERATION [chap, vi 
 
 place there was proposed a Militia Ordinance, vesting the 
 authority in the hands of persons to be named by ParUament. 
 The question of the confirmation of this Ordinance was that 
 which was now urged upon the King, along with the confirma- 
 tion of the Bishops' Exclusion Bill. 
 
 Unfortunately the three chosen advisers did not agree 
 in regard to these two crucial questions. Colepepper, sup- 
 ported by Falkland, as well as by the immediate advisers of 
 the Queen, was in favour of a concession on the Bishops' 
 Exclusion Bill, and a firm refusal of the MiUtia Ordinance, 
 while Hyde thought that the Bishops' Exclusion was the 
 more dangerous of the two, but that both proposals should 
 be resisted. Supported by the Queen, the view of Cole- 
 pepper prevailed. The royal assent was given to the 
 Exclusion Bill on February 13th. The " Inflexibles " were 
 elated, and the Royahsts proportionably dismayed. Hyde 
 feared, as proved to be the case, that whatever the King 
 decided as to the Militia Ordinance, the ParUament would, 
 as the event proved, " wrest it out of his hand without his 
 consent." At the same time, Digby, who was chiefly 
 responsible for these and previous disastrous counsels, fled 
 to the Continent. 
 
 The King already recognized that the real power had 
 practically passed out of his hands. This had made hun 
 anxious to be elsewhere than in the immediate neighbourhood 
 of the ParUament, at Whitehall. For himself, he would not 
 have fled before personal danger, but his fears were aroused 
 by what seemed to him to be the imminent danger to the 
 Queen. In spite of the remonstrances of Parliament, she 
 left the country for the Hague before the end of February, 
 and the King now resolved to do what he could to rally his 
 adherents to his side by putting a greater distance between 
 himself and Parliament. Orders had been issued from the 
 House, which virtuaUy assumed the validity of the MiUtia 
 
1642J THE KING WITHDEAWS TO YOEK 145 
 
 Ordinance, and placed the towns which favoured the 
 Parliament's cause under the command of those whom they 
 could trust. With this view Sir John Hotham was 
 despatched to hold the fortifications and stores at Hull. 
 
 In taking his departure from Whitehall, the King had 
 desired to have the Prince in his company, while the 
 Parhament were determined to hinder this to the utmost of 
 their power. The Prince was now under the guardianship 
 of the Marquis of Hertford at Richmond, and to Hertford 
 they sent a message forbidding the removal of the Prince. 
 Once more Hyde was called in, and by his shrewd manage- 
 ment, which prevented rash action on the part of the King, 
 the company of his son was secured. He persuaded the 
 King to withdraw an unwise letter, and to remain satisfied 
 with the substantial advantage. Charles now retired towards 
 York, leaving Hyde to watch, and to keep him informed on 
 the course of events. He was to forward draft rephes to the 
 missives which the Parhament might send, and these drafts 
 the King promised to copy in his own hand. In reality he 
 was to be a hostage in the hand of the enemy. 
 
 Hyde did not shrink either from the danger or the 
 incessant and anxious labour that this charge involved. It 
 was the more irksome because he thought the King's absence 
 a mistake. The Parhament strongly resented it, and sent 
 a remonstrance to the King. Hyde again dreaded a rash 
 reply ; and through his close friend. Lord Grandison,^ he 
 managed to apprize the King of the impending message, 
 and to urge him to temporize in his reply. He had still 
 
 • William Villiers, second Viscount Grandison, was the son of Sir Edward 
 Villiers, and nephew of the great Doke of Buckingham. His mother was 
 niece of Oliver St. John, who was created Viscount Grandison, withremainder 
 to the issue of this niece, whose son, William Villiers, thus became second 
 Viscount. He was a man whose loyalty was above reproach, and whose 
 character Hyde held in the highest esteem, and this deepened the grief 
 with which he viewed the evil notoriety which the daughter of his old friend 
 attained as mistress of Charles II. She became Lady Castlemaine, and 
 afterwards Duchess of Cleveland. 
 
 VOL. I. L 
 
146 INCEEASING EXASPEEATION [chap, vi 
 
 hopes that some amongst the ParHamentary party, such as 
 Essex and Pembroke, might have come to recognize how 
 much they had to lose in the flood of revolutionary change, 
 submerging all social distinctions, and might be ready to 
 help towards a compromise. Hyde would have had the 
 King stay to make hazard of that hope ; but the King's 
 mind was fixed, and on March 3rd he began his progress 
 to York. 
 
 The conduct of the Parliament might not unreasonably 
 have shaken the confidence of the King, as to his personal 
 safety in their company. 
 
 " The practice both Houses had gotten, to send for 
 persons by a sergeant-at-arms upon any suggestions of light 
 discourse, or upon general and ungrounded suspicion, by 
 which they were compelled to give long attendance, if 
 they were not committed to prison, had so terrified all con- 
 ditions of men, that very few resorted to Court." ^ 
 
 We have abundant instances to justify these and even 
 stronger words. Benyon, a London citizen, for petitioning 
 that the City Govermnent should not be altered, was con- 
 demned to lose his franchise ; to be for ever disqualified for 
 office ; to pay a fine of £3000 ; and to be imprisoned for two 
 years. Sir Edward Deering, whose inflated eloquence had 
 so tickled his own ears, that for the half contemptuous 
 applause it met with, he had allowed himself to be carried 
 far on the current of revolution, at last found himself the 
 object of impeachment, for presenting a very reasonable 
 petition from the freeholders of Kent. On the other hand, 
 the London mob, the market porters, and the shopmen's 
 wives were profoundly thanked for petitions, in which they 
 ascribed their poverty to the wickedness of the " malignants," 
 and plainly threatened that if these were not removed they 
 
 Life, i. 128. 
 
1642] TYEANNY OF PAELIAMENT 147 
 
 would take the law into their own hands.^ Sir Ralph Hopton, 
 who at last was wearied of their political buffooneries — 
 was committed to the Tower for having said, when they 
 solemnly adduced evidence from Rome, Venice, Paris, and 
 other places as to the King's designs against Parhament and 
 for a change of reUgion, that they " grounded an opinion of 
 the King's apostasy upon evidence which would not hang a 
 man for stealing a horse." ^ A tradesman named Sandeford, 
 who had " cursed the Parhament, called Warwick and Essex 
 traitors, and declared that Pym and Hotham should be 
 hanged," was sentenced to a fine, to stand in the pillory, to 
 be whipped from Cheapside to Westminster, and to be kept 
 to hard labour for his life. These are only a few instances of 
 the even-handed justice, the calm moderation and the mild 
 toleration, of these defenders of liberty who had been shocked 
 because Strafford was stern to a selfish and corrupt office- 
 seeker hke Mountnorris, or because the Star-chamber occa- 
 sionally condemned a persistent Hbeller to the cUpping of 
 his ears. 
 
 While they were thus trampling on the laws of which 
 they claimed to be the sole defenders, they did not cease to 
 make new applications to the King, grounded on their fears 
 and jealousies. On March 9th, they sent a message to meet 
 him at Newmarket, which he had reached on his way to 
 York. They had estabHshed a reign of terror at Westminster, 
 and had already assumed to themselves military command, 
 yet they stiU besought him to return and to accept the 
 Mihtia Ordinance. Pembroke, who was one of the mission, 
 
 ' Hyde prints two of these petitions [Rebellion, iv. 262), one from the 
 Porters, and another from " the Poor about London." The Porters urge 
 that their condition can be improved only if the Cinque Ports are fortified 
 against the Papists. This is the petition which that portentously solemn 
 Whig, Mr. George Brodie, " does not hesitate to pronounce a forgery by 
 Clarendon " — ^the fact being that Brodie, historical purist as he was, 
 had failed to examine the Commons Journals with that care he professed. 
 See Lister's lAfe of Clarendon, vol. i. p. 123. 
 
 - Rebellion, iv. 338. 
 
148 INCEEASING EXASPEEATION [chap, vi 
 
 and who, perhaps, still indulged in hopes of a compromise, 
 pressed for the King's return, and suggested that the Militia 
 Ordinance might be accepted " for a time." Charles 
 answered fiercely, " By God — not for an hour. You have 
 asked that of me was never asked of a King, and with which 
 I will not trust my wife and children." ' 
 
 The hollow pretence that a Government existed in which 
 any other voice could prevail than that of the majority in 
 Parliament was already exploded. The ministers of the 
 King no longer held administrative power. Step by step 
 the nation was moving to the inevitable crisis of civil war. 
 
 Hyde soon found that his position as regards the King 
 on one side, and Parhament on the other, involved him in 
 suspicion, and that his liberty and even his lifewere threatened. 
 The authorship of those disastrously weighty repHes to the 
 fulminations of the Parliament was soon detected. Essex 
 and Holland had chanced, by their possession of keys as 
 Chamberlain and Lord of the Bedchamber, to detect Hyde 
 closeted with the King at Greenwich, and it was vain to 
 suppose that his close relations with the Court could longer 
 be concealed. It soon appeared, however, that the dominant 
 party were prepared to follow up their suspicions by acts, 
 and no trust could be placed in any scruple as to defect of 
 legality which they might feel. Keen as were their spies, 
 Colepepper managed to have spies as keen to ferret out their 
 designs, and he soon informed Hyde of their intention to 
 commit him to the Tower. Falkland and Colepepper 
 himself would doubtless have followed him there before 
 long. 
 
 For a time the three friends stood their ground in Parha- 
 ment and defied their enemies. To make their committal 
 effective, it was necessary that the blow should fall on all 
 three at once. Could they all be found in Parliament 
 
 ' Kushworth, iv. 532 ; BeheUion, iv. 344. 
 
1642] HYDE THEEATENED 149 
 
 together, it was only a case of passing a resolution — the 
 mildest criticism of which would doubtless have involved 
 some new waverer in pains and penalties — and the three 
 obnoxious advisers of the Crown would have been immured 
 in the Tower. But to desert their posts suddenly would have 
 been disastrous, and would have brought the final breach 
 appreciably nearer. They arranged that the three should 
 never all be absent from the House and should never all 
 be present. One or two at the most attended to watch the 
 proceedings, while maintaining a most careful reserve. 
 The others kept on the alert for any contingency that 
 might necessitate flight. 
 
 Towards the close of April the King commanded Hyde's 
 attendance at York. But there was still business to be done 
 at Westminster. The Lord Keeper Littleton was there, and 
 some doubt prevailed as to the cordiahty of his loyalty to 
 the King's cause, and as to his willingness to take the Great 
 Seal to the King at York. Even in such an upturning of all 
 precedents as had already befallen, forms did not count for 
 nothing, and it was of vital importance that the custody of 
 the Great Seal should be with the King. Littleton had to 
 be advised with, to be reconciled, and to be assisted to escape.' 
 
 ' Littleton was not one of the least interesting figures in an age rich in 
 the brilliant qualities of those who played the leading parts on the political 
 stage. Like so many of the lawyers of that day, he was no mere product 
 of a legal training. Of good birth and fair fortune, with gifts of person and 
 of mind, he had learned how to bear himself so as to wear the reputation 
 of a man of courage, which he had earned by the sword. After the adven- 
 tures of his early youth he had employed himself in the law, and, besides 
 acquiring much slnU in the more recondite parts of the law, he had obtained 
 a lucrative practice. Drawn into the service of the Crown, he had become 
 Solicitor-General, and, favoured both by Strafford and Laud, had been 
 appointed Lord Chief Justice. For that post he was eminently fitted ; but, 
 in his further steps, he scarcely realized the promise of his earher days. 
 After the flight of Pinch, he had become Lord Keeper ; but his performance 
 there had disappointed the hopes of the King. He had faUed to show any 
 courage in Strafford's defence ; became suspected of disloyalty, and this 
 suspicion inclined the King to deprive him of the seals. It was only on 
 Hyde's urgency that he retained Littleton in office but without confidence ; 
 and now, in the crisis of his fortunes, he feared that Littleton might desert 
 
150 INCREASING EXASPERATION [chap, vi 
 
 All this was done by the deft management of Hyde, and on 
 June 3rd, the King had his Lord Keeper, with his Great Seal, 
 at his side in York. 
 
 Hyde saw soon that his own work in London was over. 
 He was required in York to assist in drafting a reply to the 
 nineteen propositions embodied in the declaration of June 2nd. 
 But it was necessary to use all caution in making his escape, 
 as every movement of his was watched. On pretext of 
 illness that required a change of air — duly certified by his 
 physician — he removed himself from London, and stayed at 
 Lady Lee's house at Ditchley, near Oxford. The flight of 
 the Lord Keeper roused new suspicions against Hyde, 
 which presently took active shape. But designs that were 
 the talk of a parliamentary crowd were soon divulged. His 
 old friend Dr. Morley heard of the mischief brewing, and that, 
 on the next day, Hyde was to be impeached of high treason. 
 No time was to be lost. Falkland was informed, and a 
 message sent to Hyde at Ditchley. Even then it was no easy 
 matter for one so ignorant of the northern roads to reach 
 York without falling into the hands of the emissaries of 
 Parliament. At this juncture, Hyde found an old friend 
 who could help him. Chillingworth, one of that happy 
 circle that used to gather under Falkland's roof at Tew, 
 offered to be his guide to York, and by devious ways, through 
 Coventry and Lutterworth, and so through Derbyshire, they 
 passed to Nostall, within twenty miles of York, where Hyde 
 awaited a further summons from the King. It was not long 
 in reaching him. An answer to the ParUament's declaration 
 was urgently called for, " that the poison thereof might not 
 
 his cause. Littleton was depressed by this want of confidence, which he 
 quickly perceived, and it was only by Hyde's contrivance that the friction 
 was got rid of, and that the Lord Keeper was induced to take the bold step 
 of passing over to the King at York, and defying the vengeance of the 
 Parliament. But the essential point was gained — that the Great Seal was 
 in the King's custody. 
 
1642] HYDE AT YORK 151 
 
 work too long upon the minds of the people ; " and no hand 
 could draw it with the eloquence or skill of Hyde. 
 
 The Parliament soon took notice of his absence. The 
 Speaker explained it on the ground of his being troubled 
 with the stone, and produced the physician's certificate. But 
 the position was quickly guessed. " He was troubled," 
 said one orator, " with no stone but the stone in his heart." 
 But however they might rage, the bird was flown, and they 
 presently heard of him as one of the company that had 
 gathered round the King at York. 
 
 Events had been moving forward rapidly there. Each 
 side was now marshalling its forces, and there were few who 
 could doubt that the dispute must soon be referred to the 
 arbitrament of war. The King's refusal to assent to the 
 Militia Ordinance had been answered by the Parliament by 
 the open assertion of their mihtary authority. Eight thou- 
 sand of the London Trained Bands were reviewed before the 
 Houses in Pinsbury Fields, and notices had been issued to 
 those whom they had named as Lord Lieutenants to make 
 levies elsewhere. The King proclaimed the treason involved 
 in these orders, and on his own side summoned those who 
 adhered to the constitution to lend him their aid. The 
 attention of both sides had been particularly turned upon 
 Hull, where the King had gathered an abundant store of 
 ammunition and artillery, and which was strongly fortified. 
 Its position and its easy access to the Continent rendered it 
 doubly important when the Queen was busily employed in 
 gathering arms and munitions of war in Holland, and was 
 raising money by the sale of her jewels. The Earl of Warwick, 
 as their Lord Admiral, was ordered by the Parliament to 
 remove the stores to London, and Sir John Hotham, whose 
 appointment as Governor we have already noted, was bidden 
 to hold the place against the King. On April 23rd, the King 
 appeared at the gates with a following of three hundred men, 
 
152 INCEEASING EXASPEEATION [chap, vi 
 
 and summoned Hotham to admit him. Hotham pleaded the 
 orders of his masters, the Houses of ParHament, and closed 
 the gates in the face of his sovereign. The town was in 
 favour of the King, but was overawed by the presence of 
 Hotham's garrison. It would scarcely be wrong to say that 
 the Civil War dated from that day. 
 
 The dramatic character of that incident ; the personal 
 insult to the King ; the sight of his own citadel's gates closed 
 against the sovereign — these have all given to the scene at 
 Hull a prominence that is perhaps a little exaggerated. 
 Hotham's bluff refusal, his perplexed career, with its strange 
 story of a deadly feud between father and son, and its tragic 
 end, have thrown a lurid colour on his figure, which seems 
 to be intensified by the fact that he was the first who actually 
 stood in arms against his sovereign, and face to face defied 
 his orders. But it is not quite so easy to pronounce a verdict 
 as to his action. A military commander has no alternative 
 but to act in accordance with the written orders that have 
 placed him in his command. No political superior, not the 
 King himself, can by his personal presence override these 
 orders, even if they were issued in his name. If, in our own 
 day, the Secretary of State for War were to appear in an 
 armed garrison and personally to interfere with the general's 
 authority, it would, we apprehend, be the duty of that 
 general to place him under arrest until he received written 
 and duly attested orders from head-quarters. The King's 
 personal intervention was, to say the least of it, unwise. He 
 could have issued an order, duly certified by a minister, and 
 despatched a representative to carry it out ; and had the 
 order been correct in law, Hotham would have been guilty 
 of treason for his disobedience to it. But his personal 
 presence only complicated the matter. Hotham was there 
 under the written commission of the Parliament ; he might 
 justly plead that, as a military commander, he had nothing 
 
1642] HYDE'S ANSWEE FOR THE KING 153 
 
 to do -with political disputes, and that it was none of his 
 business to analyse the authority of his commission. It is 
 not impossible that greater dexterity in the preUminary 
 measures might have led to a different result.^ It would, at 
 all events, have spared the King a damaging personal 
 rebuff. 
 
 During these last weeks a shower of declarations and 
 counter declarations passed between the Parliament and the 
 King, the arguments for the King being in each case drafted 
 by Hyde. To give these in detail would be more in place in 
 a history of the Civil War, than in the biography of Hyde. 
 They were studiously moderate in tone, and avoided any 
 exaggerated claim for the prerogative. Hyde's ideal, as we 
 must often insist, was a constitutional monarchy, and not an 
 absolutism framed on foreign models. He knew also that 
 the appeal was made, not to ParUament, nor to any high 
 court of appeal, which might decide the questions in dispute 
 according to some legal maxim, but to the moderate majority 
 of the nation, whose human sympathies were to be enlisted 
 on behalf of the Crown. Hyde's moderation found critics 
 amongst the supporters of the King, who thought his 
 arguments unduly imbued with the spirit of accommo- 
 dation, and Hobbes, in the Behemoth, is sarcastic about 
 those " either lawyers by profession, or such gentlemen as 
 had the ambition to be thought so," who drafted these 
 declarations — 
 
 ' This seems to be Hyde's opinion. " Many were of opinion that if he 
 had been prepared dexterously beforehand, and in confidence, he (Hotham) 
 would have conformed to the King's pleasure ; for he was master of a noble 
 fortune in land, and rich in money, of an ancient family and well allied, 
 his affections to the Government very good, and no man less desired to see 
 the nation involved in a civil war than he " {RebeUion, v. 91). It must be 
 remembered that Hotham's sympathies, as was on more than one occasion 
 subsequently proved, were not entirely against the King. In the June 
 following, he refused to betray Digby, wlio had landed in disguise and placed 
 himself in Hotham's mercy. At that time Hotham was almost persuaded 
 to surrender Hull to the King. 
 
154 INCREASING EXASPERATION [chap, vi 
 
 " Averse to absolute monarchy, as also to absolute 
 democracy or aristocracy, all which governments they es- 
 teemed tyranny, and were in love with a sort of monarchy 
 which they used to praise by the name of mixed monarchy. 
 They were such as having been members of this Parliament, 
 had declared against ship-money and other extra Parlia- 
 mentary taxes as much as any, but when they saw the Parlia- 
 ment grow higher in their demands than they thought they 
 would have done, went on to the King's party." 
 
 We may admit that these declarations had none of the 
 spirit of Hobbes' rigid logic. But Hyde did not show any 
 ignorance of the nation's instincts when he felt that logic 
 would not guide their ultimate settlement of the dispute. 
 Long before he entered the lists of written controversy with 
 Hobbes, Hyde was, in fact, combating his doctrines of 
 polity. 
 
 Perhaps the most important, and also the most lengthy, 
 of these declarations by Parliament, were those of May 19th 
 and May 26th, to each of which Hyde, in the name of the King, 
 made an elaborate reply. It was an age when lengthy 
 sermons, elaborate disquisitions, and cumbrous arguments 
 were acceptable to the taste of the day ; and these declara- 
 tions and counter declarations were studied by the people 
 with a diligence, and produced an effect, which may seem 
 astonishing to our own day, when the limits of popular 
 patience would probably not extend beyond a few cursory 
 paragraphs, if indeed it were not content to judge grave 
 constitutional questions upon the basis of a few phrases 
 culled from platform speeches. Our grandfathers took their 
 politics more seriously, and the provender supplied to them 
 was perhaps not inferior to the facile aids of journaUstic 
 comment in our own day. Serious argument is now em- 
 bodied in Blue Books ; but the State papers on each side in 
 the days preceding the Civil War were read by the people 
 
1642] DECLARATIONS BY PARLIAMENT 155 
 
 whom they concerned. The same could scarcely be said of 
 the modern Blue Book. 
 
 The new declarations of Parliament certainly do not 
 sink to the level of the Remonstrance, either in substance 
 or in form. But they reiterate, with a perseverance that 
 becomes tiresome, the hypocritical distinction between the 
 King and his " evil counsellors ; " they pretend to find the 
 agency of these counsellors even in the most personal acts 
 of the King, and they draw the usual subtle distinction 
 between his personal position and his titular authority. 
 Their arguments in effect assume that the only authority to 
 be recognized in the Crown is that which is carried on with 
 the assent, and, if need be, under the sole management of 
 the majority in the House of Commons, even if the King 
 personally has no part in it. They renew once more their 
 protestation of respect for his person and his place in the 
 realm ; but that respect is made not only to be compatible 
 with resistance to his will, but to be a compelling force 
 in requiring them to resist that will. Those who, at his 
 summons, assist him with their counsel, or are ready to 
 aid him with their arms, are said to be traitors to his 
 cause, and to be levying war against his person, because 
 that cause and that person can be conceived only as 
 embodied in Parliament and expressed by its decrees. 
 
 All this had not a little affinity with the religious doctrines 
 which were prevalent, and with the wiredrawn arguments 
 by which they constantly found those doctrines upheld in 
 nonconformist pulpits. But there is, fortunately, in human 
 nature a rooted prejudice against arguments based on an 
 abstract theory which has no relation to facts. That 
 prejudice is apt to find in such arguments something akin 
 to insincerity and affectation. Their fears of an overstrained 
 prerogative might be fully justified. Their desire for new 
 guarantees for Pariiamentary liberty might be reasonable. 
 
156 INCREASING EXASPERATION [chap, vi 
 
 They might have sound reasons for distrusting some of those 
 who were in the confidence of the King. Looking at the 
 dispute in the hght of subsequent developments, we can 
 discern clearly that a new theory of the Constitution was 
 emerging, towards which the action of the Parliament was 
 making definite progress, for good or ill. But somehow 
 human nature has a distaste for arguments that are purely 
 artificial, that attempt to present revolution under the false 
 guise of a strict adherence to precedent, or that dress-up 
 resistance in a fanciful guise of profound loyalty. We prefer 
 revolution that recognizes and announces itself for what it 
 is ; and we grow weary of being told that we must discern 
 in the attitude of the dominant majority some underlying 
 principle quite different from what its words express. We 
 would be more content to read a direct attack upon the 
 King, and a more plain, because a more sincere, identification 
 of him with those actions for which he was in fact responsible, 
 and for which those who assailed them did, in their hearts, 
 recognize his responsibility. 
 
 It was this inherent inconsistency between the reality 
 and the pretence, which gave Hyde an effective opportunity 
 of reply. He did not attempt to defend an unlimited 
 prerogative, which he had himself resisted, and to which 
 he was sincerely opposed. He found the Parliament 
 guilty of precisely those errors which, in his opinion, had 
 endangered the Constitution in the days of Strafford. In 
 their present action he found a proof of — 
 
 " The method of God's justice . . . that the same 
 principles and the same application of those principles, 
 should be used to the wresting all sovereign power from the 
 Crown, which the Crown had a little before made use of for 
 the extending its authority and power beyond its bounds to 
 the prejudice of the just rights of the subject. A supposed 
 necessity was then thought ground enough to create a power, 
 
1642] HYDE'S DBXTEEOUS MODEEATION 157 
 
 and a bare averment of that necessity to beget a practice, to 
 impose what tax they thought convenient upon the subject, 
 by writs of ship-money never before known ; and a supposed 
 necessity now, and a bare averment of that necessity, is as 
 confidently, and more fatally, concluded a good ground to 
 exclude the Crown from the use of any power by an ordinance 
 never before heard of." '- 
 
 Hyde's aim was a Constitutional monarchy ; but it was 
 a Constitutional monarchy to be shaped upon strictly con- 
 servative lines. 
 
 In their claims for the Crown, therefore, Hyde's declara- 
 tions were moderate enough to incur the criticisms to which 
 we have already referred. But that moderation was not 
 without its weight and its advantage. It secured for the 
 Royalist cause a favourable hearing. It dispelled from men's 
 minds those fears of monarchical tyranny which the Parlia- 
 mentary majority had sedulously cultivated. As a fact, it 
 did secure for the King a body of support entirely unexpected 
 by his opponents, and extremely disconcerting to their 
 aims. 
 
 And it does not follow that because Hyde's scheme for 
 a settlement was moderate, his statement was tame, or his 
 appeal to passion ineffectual. On the contrary, he enlists 
 on his side every device of rhetoric to make the Parliamentary 
 position odious, and to make its glaring inconsistencies 
 apparent. Ridicule, sarcasm, invective, apt illustration — all 
 are marshalled against them. A parallel for them is found 
 in the Thirty Tyrants of Athens. The insincerity of their 
 pretence of loyalty is exposed. The subterfuge which cloaks 
 the evident responsibility of the King under attacks upon 
 his " evil counsellors " is unmasked. The ignorance which 
 mistranslates the Latin words of the Coronation oath is 
 satirized at the same time that the absurdity of that 
 
 ' Bebellion, v. 151. 
 
158 INCEEASING EXASPEEATION [chap, vi 
 
 interpretation is made evident.' The unbridled language used 
 by individual members in Parliament is dragged into the 
 light, and contrasted with the empty phrases of apparent 
 loyalty in their conjoint addresses. His majesty " doubts 
 not all his good subjects did now plainly discern, through the 
 mask and vizard of their hypocrisy, what their design was." 
 Those references to the black satin suit and white boots in 
 which Mr. Jermyn had escaped, which ParUament had not 
 felt it beneath their dignity to adduce as grounds for their 
 alarm of plots, as proving the haste and secrecy of his flight, 
 are not spared a contemptuous and sarcastic notice. Their 
 concern for the King's safety, their assumed fear that he 
 was coerced by the little band of his own guard, are con- 
 trasted with their connivance with those disorderly crowds 
 that attacked Whitehall, insulted his adherents in the streets, 
 and threatened to pull down the Abbey. 
 
 If Hyde was moderate in his constitutional aims, and 
 studiously left room for compromise between the rights of 
 the King and of his subjects, he was by no means timid in 
 the language with which he ridiculed the assumptions, and 
 laid bare the insincerity of the Parliamentary disputants. 
 Not unnaturally they felt that this war of words did not 
 redound to their credit. Finally, on June 2nd, they despatched 
 to the King the nineteen propositions, which embodied their 
 demands. Even before the reply was sent to their declaration 
 of May 26th, the tenor of these propositions was known, and 
 a reference is therein made to them. In connection with the 
 
 ' The Parliament chose to translate the word " elegerit," in the 
 Coronation oath prescribed by an Act of the reign of Henry IV., " shall 
 chose," instead of " hath chosen." Their ignorance of the use of the 
 subjunctive mood was like to have more serious consequences than usually 
 attend grammatical errors. It involved the strange proposition that the 
 King was not only bound to maintain the existing laws, but was unable to 
 refuse assent to any law which the Commons might pass hereafter. However 
 much usage may have altered, the lapse of nearly three centuries has not 
 made the serious breach in the Constitution which that would have entailed. 
 
1642] HYDE AND FALKLAND'S DIFFEEENCES 159 
 
 reply to the nineteen propositions there arose one of those rare 
 differences of opinion that occurred in the warm friendship 
 of Hyde and Falkland. Hyde had his hands full of other 
 work when the propositions were received, and he perhaps 
 felt that for the moment he had exhausted the fountain 
 of his argumentative invective. Colepepper and Falkland 
 undertook the drafting of a reply, and they were not likely 
 to pay special attention to ecclesiastical rights and privileges. 
 In that part of the paper which Colepepper drew up, he 
 spoke of the King, the Lords, and the Commons as the three 
 estates of Parhament. To this Hyde objected as admitting 
 a dangerous and unconstitutional principle. The three 
 estates were properly the Lords Temporal, the Lords Spiritual, 
 and the Commons, the King being the head and sovereign of 
 the whole. Falkland had overlooked the error, and handed 
 the paper to Hyde to be printed without change. Unwilling 
 to alter the work of his friends, Hyde advised the King that 
 no further reply was necessary, and suppressed the paper. 
 Falkland, when he learned the fact, resented it with some 
 warmth, and accused Hyde of having " disUkedit because he 
 had not writ it himself." Hyde's only reply was " that he 
 had never expected so unkind a reproach from him," and 
 immediately sent the paper to the printer. The slight jar 
 was soon smoothed over and produced no change in their 
 friendship. Falkland, although not so keen a supporter of 
 ecclesiastical privileges as Hyde, yet admitted the mistake 
 into which he had been led by Colepepper. The paper was 
 printed as it stood. 
 
 Some of the demands, the King admitted, " were to be 
 approved by every honest man ; others were specious and 
 popular ; some had been aheady granted." But they were 
 " cunningly mixed and twisted with other things of their 
 main design." He could not accept them without infringe- 
 ment of the law, and without stripping himself of " those 
 
160 INCREASING EXASPERATION [chap, vi 
 
 flowers of his crown " which he had inherited from his 
 ancestors, and which were necessary for the welfare and 
 security of his subjects. The suggestion that he should 
 bargain these away for a safe, and even increased revenue, 
 he rejects with contemptuous disdain. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE PIEST CAMPAIGN OF THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 But a short space was now left for either side to make 
 preparations for that war which by this time all recognized 
 as inevitable. In London the Parliament was raising 
 money, was issuing orders for the levying of troops, wag 
 reviewing the trained bands, and had already designated 
 Essex as leader of the army. The adherents of the King 
 were resorting in large numbers to York, and there Hyde 
 was soon joined by his fellow-counsellors, Falkland and 
 Colepepper. 
 
 He gives us some glimpses of his life at this time, which 
 help us to realize its difficulties and its shifts. We have 
 seen the stratagem he employed to get beyond the reach of 
 the Parhamentary leaders, and the devious roads by which, 
 under the guidance of ChilHngworth, he had reached the 
 neighbourhood of York. When the King summoned him 
 to his presence, a house was prepared for his use. Hyde 
 found it convenient enough ; but when he was retiring to 
 rest, his servant came to tell him that he wished he would 
 lodge elsewhere ; the house was good enough, but the people 
 of the house were the worst he had ever seen, and he was 
 confident, would do his master some mischief. It appeared 
 that when his household first arrived they were received with 
 all attention by the master and mistress of the house, and 
 desired to call for all they wanted. It was only when Hyde's 
 name became known that the aspect of matters changed. 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
162 FIRST CAMPAIGN OF CIVIL WAR [chap, vii 
 
 " What, Hyde of the House of Commons ? " exclaimed the 
 good lady, with a shriek ; " he should not lodge in her 
 house." Her husband, when he learned the hated name, 
 was equally open-mouthed in his denunciations, and swore 
 that he would sooner set his house on fire than entertain 
 such a guest within its walls. It was in vain to urge that 
 Hyde had never been in York till that day, that he could not 
 possibly have done harm to a man whom he had never seen. 
 The anger and the imprecations were as stormy as ever, and 
 when Hyde himself, upon learning what had happened, asked 
 to see his hosts, the only answer returned was that they were 
 gone to bed. There was nothing for it but that Hyde 
 should go to bed himself, hoping that in the morning, when 
 they were in their sober senses, he would be able to appease 
 their unreasonable fury. Things were no calmer in the morn- 
 ing, and it presently appeared that the man had real grounds 
 for his dislike. He had been an attorney in the Court 
 of the North, and Hyde was chief of the pestilent reformers 
 who had assailed that Court and destroyed his means of 
 livelihood ; it was he who had been Chairman of the Committee, 
 and who had carried to the Peers the resolutions upon which 
 the Court had been dissolved. Hyde had philosophy enough 
 to confess that his unwilling host had better reason to be 
 angry with him than others had, who were as angry and 
 persecuted him more. It was just as well that he should 
 be reminded, in entering on his new duties, that there were 
 penalties to be paid for reforming zeal, even when its ardour 
 was abated. He felt bound to spare the dispossessed 
 attorney the irksomeness of his presence, and presently 
 found lodgings with a prebendary of the Minster. 
 
 It was for other delinquencies than that alleged against 
 him by his outraged host that Hyde's more formidable 
 enemies sought revenge. The Parliamentary leaders desired 
 his presence in Parliament because they knew methods of 
 
1642] HYDE AT YOEK 163 
 
 dealing drastically with those in their midst who showed 
 themselves refractory. The summons to him to return to his 
 place in the House was at first couched in civil terms enough. 
 Commissioners were still passing between Westminster and 
 the Court. A group of these Commissioners, now in York, 
 learned that Hyde " was walking in the garden with the 
 King." They presently sought him there, and with all show 
 of courtesy, let him see their instructions from the House, 
 which told them to command the immediate attendance of 
 any member whom they might find at York ; and " so they 
 desired he would excuse them for doing their duty." Hyde's 
 reply to a message in which the threat was only thinly hidden 
 by the veil of politeness, was probably just what they 
 expected. " He had come in obedience to his Majesty's 
 commands, and knew not yet what service he was to do ; 
 when his Majesty gave him leave he would return." 
 
 He had another meeting about the same time with one 
 whom he had known long, and towards whom he had no 
 cordial feehngs. The Earl of Holland ' had now come as 
 
 ' Henry Rich was the second son of Lord Rich and Penelope Devereux, 
 the daughter o£ the first Earl of Essex, and sister of the favourite of 
 Elizabeth. Her marriage to Rich (who was subsequently created Earl of 
 Warwick, and whose eldest son became Parliamentary Lord Admiral) was 
 an unhappy one, and she did not allow strict scruples as to the marriage 
 bond to regulate her conduct. After a long intimacy with Sir Philip Sydney, 
 who addressed her as Stella, she became the mistress of Charles Blount, 
 Earl of Devonshire, and by him (to whom she was subsequently married) 
 she had, besides other chUdien, an illegitimate son, created Earl of Newport, 
 and appointed Governor of the Tower, an office in which the brutal levity 
 of his character found congenial work, of which we have a sample in his 
 avowed resolution to have Strafford murdered in the Tower if the King 
 should exercise his prerogative of mercy. The marriage of this divorced 
 mother of an unsavoury progeny was the reUgious ceremony which Laud 
 was persuaded to perform in his earUer days, and which was the subject of 
 his life-long repentance. The young Henry Rich ingratiated himself with 
 James by acts which won him no honour amongst men of any scruple as 
 to conduct, and his good looks and persistent insinuation won for him vast 
 grants and lucrative offices, especially that of Justice in Eyre, when he 
 exercised his opportunities of extortion to the discredit of the Crown. He 
 was created Earl of Holland, and by Royal favour obtained a wealthy wife, 
 through whom he became Lord of the Manor of Kensington. He did not, 
 for all his social arts, escape the imputation of cowardice, and his wavering 
 
164 FIEST CAMPAIGN OP CIVIL WAE [chap, vii 
 
 an emissary from the Parliament to propose terms to his 
 master. He, who owed all the honour and all the wealth 
 he now enjoyed to the King and his father, had neglected the 
 attendance which was his duty as Groom of the Stole ; 
 and was now in the confidence of the enemies of the Court. 
 As Hyde was riding to Beverley, he encountered him on 
 the road, and those greetings prescribed by strict courtesy 
 passed between them. Holland hoped he would be " welcome 
 to all honest men at Court, because he came to invite the 
 King to return to his Parliament and to abolish all jealousies 
 between them." " He would be welcome indeed," said 
 Hyde, "if he brought proper expedients to produce either 
 of these ends ; but his errand must be of another composition 
 than the King understood it to be." Their conversation 
 became heated, and Hyde lost his usual " guard upon 
 himself." The canting hypocrisy of such a man was little to 
 his taste, and Hyde sought no further intercourse with him. 
 Holland failed to win him by pliant courtesies ; and his 
 threats were still more ineffectual. Hyde was not surprised 
 to learn that, after Holland's return, a vote was passed 
 excluding Hyde from pardon in any accommodation that 
 might be made. The newly begotten intimacy between 
 the King and their escaped colleague became a favourite 
 theme with the ParUamentary journalists. One day Hyde 
 was accosted by the King, amidst a crowd of courtiers, 
 with the strange inquiry, " Ned Hyde, when did you play 
 with my band-strings last ? " Hyde was naturally put out 
 of countenance by the merriment that followed, until the 
 King reassured him. " Be not troubled at it, for I have 
 worn no band-strings these twenty years." He was then 
 shown the Parliamentary " diurnal," in which it was duly 
 
 allegiance to each party in turn, increased the aversion which that imputa- 
 tion caused. Few men owed more to the Royal favour, or repaid it worse, 
 and his reputation was only partiaEy retrieved by his death on the scaffold, 
 in 1649. 
 
1642] DOUBTS AND MISGIVINGS 165 
 
 chronicled that Ned Hyde was so familiar with the King 
 that he used to play with his band-strings.^ 
 
 Holland found little favour at the Court. The natural 
 resentment of the King at his gross ingratitude was shown in 
 an avoidance of all personal intercourse, and in a coldness 
 of manner which was visible to all. His repulse was decisive, 
 and he had to carry back a message in which his elder brother, 
 the Earl of Warwick, was denounced as a traitor. 
 
 Already, hke the sparks preceding a great conflagration, 
 skirmishes had broken out in different parts of the country. 
 Men's passions were now so roused as to make them eager to 
 have recourse to the arbitrament of the sword. In spite of 
 all his efforts to keep up a show of courage, Hyde found the 
 spirits of those around him often depressed. He records a 
 conversation with Sir Edmund Verney, the Knight Marshal, 
 one of the few whose unselfish chivalry sustained him in the 
 midst of doubts. Verney congratulated Hyde upon his 
 vivacity and cheerfulness amidst the general depression. 
 Hyde answered that " he was beholden to his constitution, 
 which did not inchne him to despair." But though he 
 thought as ill of affairs as most men did, he felt it to be his 
 duty to make a show of courage, if only to dissipate the 
 dejection of others. Verney's reply was a sad one. He would 
 do the best he could, but he would " act it very scurvily." 
 Hyde, he said, had the satisfaction that his conscience told 
 him that he was in the right. For himself, Verney did not 
 like the quarrel. But "he had eaten the King's bread, and 
 served him near thirty years," and would not desert him 
 now. His loyalty rested upon a foundation of gratitude 
 rather than of reason. Within two months Verney had lost 
 his life for the King at Edgehill. If others had been like 
 him, says Hyde, that battle never would have been fought. 
 The simpler guides of fidelity are not only the easiest for a 
 ' Ufe, i. 157. 
 
166 FIRST CAMPAIGN OF CIVIL WAR [chap, vii 
 
 man to obey ; perhaps they help the pubHc weal as much as 
 the sophistries of political argument. 
 
 Hyde, during this brief and ominous interval, had heavy 
 work upon his hands. It was he who chiefly arranged for 
 collecting funds, and he had already been finding out from 
 the colleges at Oxford what offerings they could make in 
 money or in plate for the Royalist cause. It was no small 
 task, now that the fabric of government had collapsed, 
 to keep up a semblance of respect for constitutional forms, 
 and to furnish what was essential not only to maintain the 
 dignity associated with the Crown, but to provide for the 
 equipment of a military force.^ That task fell upon him 
 even before he formally assumed the office of Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer. 
 
 Besides this, he had to draft the endless replies and 
 declarations which were called for, not only in negotiations 
 with Parhament, but in correspondence with various parts 
 of the country. Even in its diminished splendour, the 
 Court retained, in full measure, its complement of greedy 
 suitors, and of jealous aspirants ; and all these had to be kept 
 in a fair measure of good temper. At times Hyde seems to 
 have had his share in work which was scarcely so official. 
 Papers were printed which purported to report verbatim 
 
 1 We are apt to overlook the degree to which that age was accustomed to 
 consider lavish display and very profuse expenditure as things inseparable 
 from the Royal State. The revenue of the nation was so small in com- 
 parison with modem standards, that we not unnaturally think of the Royal 
 household as managed on similarly narrow lines. This was not the case. If 
 we examine the national accounts, we find that the only item which does 
 not fall notably below present-day standards is the Civil List ; and when 
 we allow for the difference in the value of money, this points to a large 
 expenditure in the maintenance of Royalty. The Court was surrounded 
 by a crowd of retainers, each drawing on its revenue, and open table 
 was kept. Professor Gardiner's summary of revenue for several years, 
 between 1610 and 1635, shows that of a total varying from £442,000 
 to £636,000 (in round figures), considerably more than one-third went to 
 the Court. The change from this to something near to destitution imposed 
 a heavy burden on those charged with management of finance. See 
 Gardiner, x. 222. 
 
1642] MOVEMENTS OF THE KING 167 
 
 the speeches delivered in Parliament. If they were more 
 imaginative than true, this did not render them the less 
 useful in conveying a desired impression to the public ; and 
 Hyde did not disdain to lend a hand in concocting such 
 mirrors of Parliament. He tells us how,' on one occasion, 
 he imitated so accurately the style of the Lords Pembroke 
 and Brooke, that the first of the two lords was ready 
 to accept the speech as his own, and the second was indig- 
 nant to find that his fellow-peers were ready to aver that 
 they had heard him say just what was attributed to him, 
 which he as strongly disavowed. Pembroke, too, helped 
 Falkland to win a bet from the King, who avowed that he 
 knew Hyde's peculiar style so well, that he could tell anything 
 that he had written amongst a multitude of writings by 
 other men ; and was ready to lay an angel that he could 
 not be deceived. Falkland some days later brought him 
 the journal with the ParHamentary speeches. The King was 
 surprised that Pembroke " could speak so long together ; " 
 but the words were surely his, for no one else could have 
 uttered them. Falkland whispered that he claimed his 
 angel, and the bet was promptly paid. Hyde had written 
 the speech. 
 
 In order to keep in touch with the Midlands and the West, 
 it was decided that the King should move to Nottingham, 
 which was appointed as a rendezvous for his adherents. 
 Already there were dissensions on the point, and it seemed to 
 some unwise to quit the neighbourhood of Hull, and to go 
 further from Newcastle, which was the port most securely 
 held for the King. As usual the very men who urged the 
 change were those who doubted its expediency when made. 
 Hyde wisely thought it a case of objections, which " at the 
 entrance of great actions, cannot be too much deUberated, 
 though, in the execution, they shall best be shut out." 
 
 ■ Life, i. 161. 
 
168 FIRST CAMPAIGN OF CIVIL WAR [chap, vii 
 
 The words are typical of Hyde's character. Alas ! too often 
 the Royahst counsels were conducted on a principle exactly 
 the reverse ! 
 
 It was in melancholy mood that Charles and his adherents 
 moved to the rendezvous. On the way he attempted to 
 seize Coventry, but met with a repulse. A body of his 
 horse, under Wilmot,^ made a somewhat discreditable retreat 
 from an inferior force. At Nottingham there was no great 
 conflux of supporters. Scarcely a regiment was yet levied 
 and organized, and no supply of arms and ammunition was 
 in readiness. " On the evening of a very stormy and tem- 
 pestuous day" — August 25th ^ — the standard was erected, 
 and the prevailing sadness detected ill-omens in many 
 circumstances. By an untoward accident the hurricane 
 blew the standard down, and it could not be fixed again 
 for some days. 
 
 If honest doubts like those of Verney, anxious hearts in 
 those who could gauge the lack of preparation, counsels 
 perplexed by disloyal jealousies, and nerves ready to conjure 
 up presages of ill, were not enough to dishearten the King's 
 party, worse news soon reached them. To a long series 
 of treacheries and deceits. Goring,^ now added the disgrace 
 
 ' Afterwards Earl of Rochester. 
 
 ''■ Other accounts indicate the 22Qd. 
 
 ^ The two Gorings, father and son, are amongst the most notable figures 
 in a period when notabilities were abundant. George Goring, the elder, was 
 born about 1583, and early in life became attached to the Court, and was 
 cherished there for his bonhomie and wit, and as an efficient deviser of 
 sports and entertainments. But he had a shrewd sense of worldly advance- 
 ment, and amassed large wealth by grants of lucrative monopolies. He 
 became Lord Goring in 1628, and, having benefited largely by Court 
 patronage, he did not, like others, lose the sense of gratitude. He spent 
 freely of his fortune in aid of the Boyal cause, and was a devoted adherent 
 of the Queen in her efforts to procure equipment for the Royalist Army. 
 In 1644 he was created Earl of Norwich, and was a notable figure in the 
 second Civil War, when he was the chief organizer of the Royalist adherents 
 in Kent and Essex. He surrendered to Waller after the siege of Colchester, 
 and was more fortunate than his fellows in escaping (by the casting vote of 
 the Speaker Lenthal) the death penalty. He was in exile with Charles II. , 
 and returned at the Restoration — towards which he gave effective help. 
 
1642] THE EOYAL STANDARD RAISED 169 
 
 of the surrender of Portsmouth which he had finally pledged 
 himself to hold for the King, and which he now abandoned 
 to Waller, whether by deUberate treachery or by a neglect 
 of that provision of defence for which he had procured the 
 necessary means from King and Parliament at once. 
 Disaster added to dejection boded ill for the Royalist cause. 
 Things were going ill, too, with the Marquis of Hertford in 
 
 He became a member of the Privy Council, and died in 1663. He was 
 cherished as a boon companion, and a good-natured wit ; but left no reputa- 
 tion for capacity or effective power. 
 
 His son. Colonel George Goring, was a much more remarkable power ; 
 but while he vied with his father as » bon vivant, he had a reputation for 
 far greater capacity, unfortunately ujiited with a total absence of fidelity 
 to any cause. He had many qualities that might have given him a high 
 place amongst his contemporaries. He was conspicuously brave, and had 
 earned an unquestioned reputation for valour in war abroad. He bore 
 the honourable mark of military service in permanent lameness, having been 
 severely wounded at the siege of Breda ; but that, so far from marring his 
 appearance, "only made him the more comely and prevailing," and 
 enhanced a carriage " winning and graceful in all its motions." " He had 
 a civility which shed itself all over his countenance, and gathered all the 
 eyes and applications in view ; his courage was notorious and confessed ; 
 his wit equal to the best and in the most universal conceptions ; and his 
 language and expression natural, sharp, and flowing, adorned with a 
 wonderful seeming modesty, and with such a constant and perpetual 
 sprightfulness and pleasantness of humour, that no man had reason to be 
 ashamed of being disposed to love him, or, indeed, of being deceived by 
 him." This, the fullest of Hyde's many portraits of Goring, is given in the 
 MSS. of Clarendon's lAfe, as a continuation of the reference to Goring in 
 Book V. of the History of the BebelUon, p. 439. See vol. vi. of the History 
 (edit. 1849), p. 364, Appendix 2, M. But, withal. Goring was a consum- 
 mate actor, and was no sooner detected in the basest deception than he 
 was, with scarcely an interval, admitted into the confidence of those whom 
 he had betrayed. The open profligacy of his life did not alienate even the 
 strictest puritans, to whom his seeming lack of hypocrisy served as a 
 guarantee of an open nature. He had been a participator in the Army 
 Plot, which the King refused to countenance, but made his peace with, the 
 Parliament by betraying his associates, and accusing them of designs to 
 which they had been no parties. He promised to hold Portsmouth for the 
 Queen, and at the same time professed, in his place in the House, his fidelity 
 to Parliament. He obtained money for its defence both from Parliament 
 and from the Queen, and then neglected to make it safe ; and, after throwing 
 off the mask, and declaring for the King, he surrendered it to Sir William 
 Waller at the very opening of the war. Again he returned to the Royalist 
 cause, and won some conspicuous military successes. But even his con- 
 summate military skill did not compensate for his inveterate deception, 
 his lack of discipline, and the licentious turbulence of his life. He died 
 (before his father) in 1657, an exile in Spain, and in straits for means of 
 support. It is a story of brilliant parts marred by unbounded roguery. 
 
170 FIRST CAMPAIGN OP CIVIL WAR [chap, vii 
 
 Somersetshire ; and the few officers of vigour,' who gathered 
 small bands together by their personal influence, found no 
 headquarters to which they might resort. Fortunately for 
 the King the Parliamentary forces were not prepared to 
 use the opportunity and advance against him at Nottingham, 
 where, by a prompt attack, an overwhelming victory could 
 easily have been obtained by any fairly equipped force 
 under competent leading. Essex did not leave London to take 
 command till September 7th ; and the inferior officers were 
 afraid in his absence to take the initiative. It may even 
 be that some of the leaders shrank at this early stage, 
 from a direct attack upon the King, and from a victory which 
 in the present situation might have been something of an 
 embarrassment. But the position was sufficiently critical 
 to suggest to some amongst the counsellors of the King 
 that it was expedient to make overtures for peace. It was 
 with the utmost difficulty that the King was brought even 
 to discuss the proposal. There can be little doubt that the 
 Queen, who was now busy in gathering supplies, and enlisting 
 aid abroad, was urging that course of unyielding resistance, 
 to which the spirit she had inherited from her father disposed 
 her, and of which she could not measure either the danger or 
 the difficulty. To suggestions from that source Charles 
 rarely turned a deaf ear. 
 
 The Council sat long into the night discussing the problem 
 of offering proposals for a compromise ; and although the 
 King's assent was at last wrung from him, the indignity 
 involved moved him so strongly that " he brake out into 
 tears." ^ The next day the message was ready — once more 
 the work of Hyde — but " in a softer and calmer tone than 
 
 ' One of the earliest of these to move was Sir Ralph Hopton, who had 
 now shaken the dust of the Parliament off his shoes, and begun that long 
 service which shines conspicuous for its unsullied and unselfish loyalty. 
 
 - The whole scene is fully described in the History of the Rebellion (edit. 
 1849), vol. vi. Appendix, p. 382. 
 
1642] DEPRESSION OF THE KING 171 
 
 his Majesty had been accustomed to for some months ; " ' 
 and Southampton and Colepepper set out on their journey 
 to London, as the bearers of overtures from the King. 
 
 Charles continued in deep depression and " cared not to 
 be entertained with any discourse, which he did not usually 
 avoid." It was to Hyde that he turned to express his real 
 feeling. He drew him apart, and observing that he looked 
 sad — 'Unlike his wont — he told him " he had been drawn to 
 do that which must make all men sad who had any love and 
 kindness for him." Had but one of his Council^ adhered 
 to him, he would never have consented to make this address. 
 He had almost called Hyde to his aid, but forbore, in order 
 not to involve him in ill-will by opposing the others. The 
 message itself pleased him more than the sending it, " because 
 he had used no mean and base expressions of condescension 
 to them ; " but he was resolved, treaty or no treaty, never 
 to consent to anything " that might be to the prejudice of 
 any of his friends who adhered." One wonders whether 
 the ghost of Strafford haunted the King, that he made 
 these unasked-for protestations. By the vote of Parliament 
 Hyde was already exempted from any possibility of amnesty, 
 and he knew well that the authority of a defeated King was 
 powerless to protect him against their vengeance. Can 
 Strafford's dying words, " Put not your trust in Princes," 
 have found an echo in the secret places of his heart ? 
 
 Hyde's ^ reply was not probably intended to have any 
 
 ' It is given in the History of the Rebellion, vi. 11. 
 
 ^ We must remember that Hyde was not yet formally of the Council. 
 But it does not appear that he would have given different advice from the 
 rest. 
 
 ' In Hyde's own graphic description of this scene there occurs one of 
 those passages that now and then startle us in reading the personal history 
 of the day, and bring us sharply up against the barrier that occasionally 
 erects itself between their natures and ours. We admire their courtly 
 dignity, their elaborate courtesy, their deep-rooted pride, and we have 
 often to acknowledge their lofty ideal of character and their high sense of 
 public duty. Suddenly we find ourselves checked by a phrase of formal 
 and specious artificiality, by a revolting callousness, by a condoning of 
 
172 FIRST CAMPAIGN OF CIVIL WAR [chap, vii 
 
 sarcastic implica,tioii, but it is difficult to avoid feeling that 
 in his heart there was some touch of irony. He at once 
 accepts his Majesty's declaration, not as a statement of pohcy, 
 but as an apology to himself. " He assured his Majesty that 
 the message and his sending to Parliament did not in the 
 least disturb him." If a treaty followed, his Majesty would 
 be bound by that, and could not cover his concession by 
 anything that he might conceive it to imply. " The interest 
 of all particular persons must be subjected to public con- 
 venience and peace ; for which he protested he was himself 
 very cheerfully prepared, and expected as sour a portion as 
 would be assigned to any man in England." On the whole, 
 he thought the message would do good. And once again, 
 Hyde knew how to administer good counsel without offence. 
 
 " He concluded with an earnest desire to his Majesty, 
 that he would compose his own countenance, and abolish 
 that infectious sadness in his own looks which made the 
 greatest impression upon men, and made them think that he 
 found his condition more desperate than any one else believed 
 it to be. The King was very pleased with the discourse, 
 and told him he was a very good comforter." 
 
 Hyde was a past master in the reading of character. 
 Perhaps it was well that the conversation had no auditor 
 with a sarcastic turn, who might have probed the royal 
 sophistries. 
 
 Southampton and Colepepper were received with scant 
 courtesy, and the overtures for accommodation came to 
 
 conduct that with us would banish a man from decent society. Once or 
 twice — and this is one of the occasions — Hyde shows a strange callous- 
 ness. In the course of the conversation, he told the King that he was 
 not conscious of the trouble in his look of which he had spoken ; but it 
 might be there, " jor he had that very morning received news of the death of a 
 son of his which did affect him though it would not disturb him long." One 
 wonders, did the struggles and dissensions of the counsellors weigh so much 
 in the father's heart, that the real sorrow was paralyzed and dumb ? Or 
 was Hyde merely adopting the mannerism of artificial courtesy ? They 
 spoke in other language, and dressed their feelings in other guise, than ours. 
 
1642] FAILURE OP NEGOTIATIONS 173 
 
 nothing ; nor did a further conciliatory message sent by 
 Falkland have any better effect. The Parliament only 
 renewed its defiant tone, and demanded as a preliminary 
 to all treating for accommodation, that the King's standard 
 should be taken down, his declaration recalled, the instruc- 
 tions to the Commissioners of Array countermanded, and 
 that he himself should return to London, place himself in 
 the hands of his Parliament, and be guided solely by their 
 advice. 
 
 By such a message, of course, Parhament openly 
 proclaimed that their object was no longer redress of 
 grievances, or the restoration of that balance in the constitu- 
 tion which they believed necessary as a security for liberty ; 
 it was not even a proposal of revolutionary change, which 
 was to alter fundamentally the government of England ; 
 their claim was now for a personal tyranny centred in the 
 hands of a small and indissoluble group of men. Aspirations 
 that had taken that shape, were of all others the least hkely 
 to permit of any accommodation, until a lesson of adversity 
 had been learned. But Hyde plainly indicates that either 
 in his own view, or in that of others who were well-wishers, 
 the suggestion that the King should return to London, and 
 appear in the Parliament House, was not to be hghtly laid 
 aside. The hopes of his cause, says Hyde, were so desperate 
 " that he was privately advised by those whom he trusted as 
 much as any, and those whose affections were as entire to 
 him as any men's, to give all other thoughts over." ' If 
 Hyde really points at himself as agreeing in this advice, 
 it must have been because he hoped that the King's return 
 would produce a revulsion of feeling, and enhearten those 
 who were willing, if only they had dared, to declare 
 against the excesses of Parliament. It would at best; 
 however, have been a hazardous risk ; and perhaps Hyde 
 
 ' Bebdlion, vi. 15. 
 
174 FIRST CAMPAIGN OP CIVIL WAR [chap, vii 
 
 means to give a hint of doubtfulness when he adds, " It 
 must be solely imputed to his Majesty's own magnanimity 
 that he took not that course." 
 
 But although it led to no direct result, the King's professed 
 inclination to an accommodation was not without advantage. 
 It necessarily led to differences in the Parliamentary camp, 
 and these differences produced vacillation and delay. Their 
 forces, at first so much in excess of those of the King, were 
 not concentrated in any one plan, and were still without 
 vigorous leading. On the other hand, the King's adherents 
 gained new courage, as they found the work of the Commis- 
 sions of Array prosper, and result in the rapid levying of 
 troops. It was with an ever-increasing attendance that 
 the King moved, by Derby and Stafford, to Shrewsbury, 
 which he purposed to make his headquarters. It was to 
 Hyde that the duty had been entrusted of making sure that 
 the town was so well disposed as to be ready to admit the 
 King. This he arranged through personal friends of his own, 
 and it was with new courage and confidence that the Royalists 
 found that they constituted a goodly martial array to con- 
 front the enemies of their King. " All men were even 
 wishing for the Earl of Essex, and all fears were vanished." ^ 
 The King's army soon mustered 6000 foot, 3000 horse, and 
 2000 dragoneers.^ Nor were there wanting other circum- 
 stances of good omen. The discipline and order of the 
 army were admirable, and the relations with the country 
 people most cordial. Free loans and contributions poured in 
 abundantly, and the pay was regular. Unfortunately Hyde 
 was soon obliged to tell another story. 
 
 Prince Rupert, the nephew of the King, then a youth of 
 two-and-twenty who had already shown military talents, 
 
 ' History of Bebellion (edit. 1849), Appendix, vol. vi. p. 387. 
 ^ The dragoneers were a sort of mounted infantry, armed with sword 
 and gun, and were so called from the dragon's head on their carbines. 
 
PRINCE RUPERT. 
 
 {From the original by Sir Anthony Vandyhe.) 
 
1642] PLAN OF CAMPAIGN 175 
 
 and was soon to be recognized as one of the most dashing 
 cavalry leaders on either side, although his impetuous 
 temper and impatience of control were destined to inflict 
 as much evU upon the EoyaHst cause as his undoubted 
 courage helped it, had recently joined the King. He was 
 now sent forward to meet Essex, and it was with the advanced 
 guard of the Parliamentary forces that the EoyaUsts under 
 Rupert had the first encounter of the war. The Prince's 
 impetuous leading won the day ; and the honour of the first 
 victory lay with him. 
 
 It was now decided not to attack Essex at Worcester, 
 where the country was ill fitted for the cavalry manoeuvres, 
 in which the Koyahsts chiefly hoped for success, but to 
 advance on London through the more open grass country of 
 Northamptonshire and Warwickshire. There was little doubt 
 but that Essex, as soon as he heard of the movement, would 
 place himself across their march, and the opportunity that 
 they desired, of a trial of strength, would then be offered. 
 
 The King's general was the Earl of Lindsey, a man well 
 seasoned in the foreign wars, who, although he had all the 
 roughness and the easy licence of a soldier of fortune, was of 
 unimpeached honour, of sterling loyalty, and added to great 
 mihtary skill, the dignity and influence of high descent, and 
 a fortune, impaired indeed by the freedom of his hfe, but 
 still ample. Such a man, had his life been spared, would 
 have been a tower of strength to the King. He had as little 
 sympathy with the selfish trickery which marked many 
 of the courtiers, as he had with the sanctimonious manner 
 and the nonconformist enthusiasm of their foes. His was 
 a type which found little place amidst either the self-seeking 
 luxury of the Court cliques, or the perfervid zealots of the 
 other camp. Even in the brief period granted him to display 
 his loyalty he found his authority as general flouted by the 
 reckless and fatal arrogance of Prince Rupert, whom the 
 
176 PIEST CAMPAIGN OF CIVIL WAE [chap, vii 
 
 King's indulgence freed from all the bonds of discipline. 
 Under him, Sir Nicholas Byron, Colonels Fielding and Went- 
 worth, and Sir Jacob Astley commanded the regiments of 
 foot. Prince Rupert, with General Euthen as nominal 
 adviser, commanded the horse ; and the dragoons or mounted 
 infantry were led by Sir Arthur Aston. Full of courage 
 and good heart as they were, they were far inferior to the 
 force under Essex in numbers, and still more conspicuously 
 so in arms and equipments. But there was one body, the 
 King's troop of guards, under Lord Bernard Stewart, brother 
 to the Duke of Richmond, which was in itself a match for any 
 regiment which the Parliament could raise. It consisted 
 entirely of " persons of honour and quality," equipped at 
 their own expense, fighting for all that was dear to them, 
 trained from their boyhood to arms, and pledged to maintain 
 their honour by every motive that could appeal to their 
 feelings of ambition or of shame. With them there followed 
 another troop consisting of their squires and attendants, 
 under Sir William Killigrew — vying with their masters in 
 equipment and in zeal. 
 
 The King advanced by rapid marches by Bridgenorth, 
 Wolverhampton, Birmingham, and Kenilworth to the 
 borders of Northamptonshire and Warwickshire. Essex 
 had set out two days later from Worcester, and for some 
 days the armies marched in almost parallel columns at 
 a distance of about twenty miles, and ignorant, it would 
 appear, of their proximity. On October 22nd, the King 
 reached Edgecot, on the Northamptonshire border ; and 
 while there he received reports from Prince Rupert, whose 
 scouts had discovered that Essex, with his army, was only 
 seven miles off, at Keinton in Warwickshire. Here it was 
 resolved on the next morning,^ to show fight. 
 
 The work of Hyde, as servant of the King, with a 
 
 ' Sunday, October 23rd. 
 
1642] EDGEHILL 177 
 
 preponderating influence throughout the long struggle 
 which was to ensue, did not lie, in any degree whatever, in 
 the battlefield. His knowledge of mihtary affairs was 
 small, and he never attempts to pass judgment on matters 
 of strategy or warlike tactics, other than that which a civilian 
 may without presumption form, after weighing the verdict of 
 competent military authority. In his biography, therefore, a 
 full or detailed record of the battles of the Civil War, or of the 
 later campaigns in Scotland, and in Ireland, can find no place. 
 It was his only to shape the poHcy and adapt it to the varying 
 fortunes of the war. In two years and a half from this date, 
 he passed to a distance even from the scenes of war, and 
 spent the later years of the contest elsewhere than in 
 England. 
 
 But the battle of Edgehill, which took place on that clear 
 calm day of late October, merits some special attention. 
 In the forces engaged, in the spirit with which they undertook 
 the fight, and in the fatal lack of discipline and generalship, 
 by which the full fruit of what might have been a decisive 
 victory, was thrown away, we can gather much both of the 
 strength and of the weakness of the Eoyal cause, and of 
 the immature and unwieldy forces behind the Parliament, 
 which time and discipline were required to hammer into 
 shape. Within these few hours each party showed much of 
 the stuff of which it was made. 
 
 Even during the march, symptoms of dissension and 
 jealousy had appeared. Soon after, we have to mark the 
 dangerous rift between the civilian courtiers and the military 
 commanders of the Crown. But now, even within the 
 mihtary ranks, that discipline which was so imperiously 
 necessary was shaken by the mutinous spirit of independence 
 of which Prince Rupert gave the chief example. Relying 
 upon the King's natural affection, this novice obtained an 
 exemption from all orders but those of the King, and flouted 
 
 VOLi I. N 
 
178 FIRST CAMPAIGN OF CIVIL WAR [chap, vii 
 
 the commands of the mihtary veterans to whose hands the 
 King had committed the fortunes of his troops. 
 
 Those theatrical displays of personal courage, which have 
 thrown a certain halo about his memory, were in reality but 
 a form of ambitious selfishness, the very negation of the 
 military instinct, and worthy to be dealt with only, but for 
 his favoured rank and untoward influence, by the summary 
 methods of the drumhead court-martial. 
 
 The details of the fight have been given in countless 
 military histories of the war. On the Saturday afternoon, 
 the King had reached Edgeoot, in Northamptonshire, four 
 miles from Banbury ; and late that night he received news 
 from Prince Rupert that the enemy's headquarters were at 
 Keinton, on the borders of Warwickshire. The King then 
 appointed Edgehill — a height some two miles from Keinton — ■ 
 as the rendezvous. On the Sunday morning, Essex saw that 
 the hill was occupied ; and without waiting for two regiments 
 of foot, and one of horse, that were a day's march in the rear, 
 he deployed his army into an open campaign ground that 
 lay between Keinton and Edgehill. The Royalist forces 
 (some of them eight miles away) were hurried on, as it was 
 determined to attack that day ; but it was not tiU one 
 o'clock that the advance could be made, and the battle did 
 not begin till three — with but little left of the short light 
 of a late October afternoon. It was doubtful whether so 
 late an attack was wise ; but the Royalists were in unfriendly 
 country, and knew that next day would see a large increase 
 in the enemy's forces. In some hurry and confusion, Prince 
 Rupert began the charge, and the cavalry, carrying all before 
 them, recklessly continued the pursuit, leaving the King 
 defenceless. Fortunately the remaining part of the ParUa- 
 mentary force did not snatch the opportunity, and although 
 a Royalist victory was thrown away, it was not turned into 
 a reverse. Both armies kept the field during the night. 
 
1642] INCIDENTS OF THE FIGHT 179 
 
 but retired the next morning. The King was able to seize 
 Banbury ; and this gave him some fair ground for claiming 
 the honour of victory. 
 
 The battle of Edgehill has a place in Hyde's biography 
 which cannot be claimed for the other incidents of the war, 
 not only because it gives us so clear a picture of the material 
 difficulties with which political management had to deal, 
 but also because he was himself actually present at the 
 fight. When the Prince's message, armouncing the presence 
 of Essex's army, was brought to the King at Edgecot, Hyde, 
 with Colepepper and Falkland, was at Culworth, about a 
 mile distant from the King. He at once went off to join the 
 King, and was with him when the King's horse were making 
 their slow descent from Edgehill into the plain below. There, 
 it appears, he remained until the fortune of the day seemed 
 doubtful, and the Earl of Lindsey had fallen, fatally wounded. 
 The Prince of Wales and the Duke of York, boys of twelve 
 and nine years of age, were close by under the guard of the 
 Pensioners, and the King ordered them and their guard, 
 with Hyde, to withdraw towards the hill. As evening fell, 
 they saw a troop of horse, which was taken for part of the 
 King's forces, approaching, and advanced towards them. 
 They were reaUy the Parliamentary horse under Sir William 
 Balfour ; but the mistake was discovered just in time, and 
 the Princes were sent back to Edgecot, by the orders of the 
 King. Had they been seized, the event would have been an 
 untoward blow for the hopes of the King. Falkland had been 
 with Wilmot's troop during the afternoon, and urgently 
 pressed that they should attack Balfour. But Wilmot 
 preferred a cautious inaction, and by his supineness Balfour 
 was able to get off in safety. The King was pressed to retire 
 towards the west, and to leave the foot and cannon at the 
 mercy of the enemy ; but Colepepper, who was soldier as 
 well as statesman, and had borne himself well during the 
 
180 PIEST CAMPAIGN OF CIVIL WAR [chap, vii 
 
 day with Eupert's horse, vehemently protested, and his 
 protest was approved by the King, who refused to quit the 
 field during the whole of a cold and frosty night. Next 
 morning, with daylight, it was proposed to renew the charge ; 
 but the numbers were too small, and the men and horses 
 too much spent, to make further efforts. Fortunately the 
 enemy were equally unwilling to begin the fight again. 
 
 It had been carefuUy planned that, before the fight began, 
 a proclamation should be made, by herald, of a free pardon 
 for all who would lay down their arms ; and it was hoped 
 that this would cause heavy defection from the Parliamentary 
 force. In the hurry of the first charge this carefully planned 
 design was foiled, and Sir William Le Neve, the herald, 
 was made prisoner before the proclamation could be read. 
 The Parliamentary officers were in no mood to pay attention 
 to the cumbrous rules of heraldry, and Le Neve's expostula- 
 tions were in vain. His proclamation was snatched from 
 him, and he was asked whether the King and Prince were 
 in the field. Essex asked the question because he fancied 
 the King was not there, and because the army had been 
 made to believe that they were to fight, not against the King 
 himself, but against the band of mahgnants who kept the 
 King from Parliament. Finally, Le Neve was blindfolded, 
 conducted to the outposts of the army, and there dismissed. 
 
 Each side drew off and the fight was not renewed.^ But 
 if each could claim a partial victory, the King had at least 
 shown that he knew how to fight in person along with his 
 supporters. That courage, which many of his acts might 
 make us doubt, and which was to grow in strength and in 
 dignity with new trials, had begun to show itself. 
 
 But even the credit of this doubtful victory had been 
 dearly bought by the Royalists. Lord Lindsey, the rough 
 but loyal commander whose last hours had been embittered 
 
 ' See History of Rebellion, vol. vi. App. 391. 
 
1642] ALARM IN LONDON 181 
 
 by learning the rash orders that freed the Prince from the 
 rules of discipline, was carried off the field, a prisoner and 
 mortally wounded, and died in a few hours. Verney's 
 forebodings were fulfilled, and his perplexities ended by 
 his death. Lord Auvigny, the brother of the Duke of 
 Bichmond, " of a very clear courage and a gentle and wioning 
 disposition," fell in the first charge ; a fate which was soon 
 to befall two of his brothers. On the other hand, of five 
 thousand who fell on the field it was computed that two-thirds 
 belonged to the- ParUamentary army, and one-third to that 
 of the King. 
 
 The result of the battle might be doubtful, but it was 
 enough to spread dire terror in the Parliament and in 
 London. It seemed as if the army of Essex was broken up 
 and dispersed. Many had marched out in the confident hope 
 that the mere show of their power would scatter the few 
 adherents of the King, and that the war would be ended 
 without a fight. The idle rumour had spread that the King 
 was not with them, or that if he were there it was only as a 
 prisoner carried about against his will. Now it was seen 
 that the King was leading, in person, a formidable army of 
 that part of his subjects who were best trained in war. 
 For the first time the courage of the new-levied Parliamen- 
 tary soldiers was tried by the grim realities of war ; no 
 wonder that at the -first shock the nerves of the citizen 
 soldiers gave way. The news was first brought by the 
 fugitives, many of whom reached St. Albans, thirty miles 
 away, before dark, never having drawn bridle since they 
 quitted the field. All, they reported, was lost, and the King's 
 army was advancing in irresistible force. The Earl of 
 Essex had fallen, and in his dying words had bidden each 
 man shift for himself. 
 
 Doubts were soon thrown upon these frenzied reports 
 of terrified fugitives. On Monday afternoon. Lord Holland 
 
182 FIRST CAMPAIGN OP CIVIL WAR [chap, vii 
 
 read in Parliament a report from Lord Essex, admitting 
 the first impression made by the King's troops, but averring 
 that " the conclusion was prosperous." Lord Hastings, 
 however, entered the House soon after " with frighted and 
 ghastly looks, and positively declared all to be lost against 
 whatsoever they believed or flattered themselves with." 
 For eight and forty hours they were the victims of varying 
 reports ; until, with a promptitude that was at once pious 
 and businesslike, they put an end to doubts by passing a 
 resolution " that their army had the victory," and proved it 
 beyond gainsaying by appointing a day for a solemn thanks- 
 giving. 
 
 But in spite of a victory so incontestably determined by 
 the happy expedient of a Parliamentary vote, the prevailing 
 desire to make overtures for an accommodation could not 
 be resisted. The King had, from the battlefield, after 
 leaving a garrison at Banbury, repaired to his own royal 
 manor of Woodstock, and from thence to Oxford, where he 
 had been received with exuberant loyalty, and where the 
 breaches in his army were soon repaired. In an ill-moment, 
 as Hyde thought, a resolution was taken to push the royal 
 army closer to the metropolis, and the King marched to 
 Reading, where he threatened London at a distance of only 
 thirty miles. It was a temptation to further advances which 
 in the opinion of some of the King's counsellors involved 
 grave danger to his cause. 
 
 We have already seen the rapid growth of jealousy in 
 the King's army, and the lack of discipline to which it gave 
 rise. Prince Rupert had plenty of imitators who were 
 ready to vie with him in presumption, and in whose view the 
 constitution was to be settled by the arbitrament of the 
 sword, and the spoils of victory were to fall to those by 
 whose hand that sword was wielded. Flushed with his 
 easy triumph. Prince Rupert had neither the experience 
 
1642] SCHEME OE ADVANCE ON LONDON 183 
 
 to understand, the good sense to learn, nor was he in the 
 mood to be advised, as to the real conditions of the 
 struggle. It seemed to him that the only course to be 
 followed by the King was to advance in triumph on the 
 capital. The mutinous bands of revolted citizens were to be 
 forced upon their knees. And at the centre of Government, 
 his victorious soldiers were to dictate to the nation the terms 
 on which they would be permitted to return to their alle- 
 giance, and take any modicum of liberty permitted by the 
 gracious bounty of those who had taught them their duty. 
 That was the danger which Hyde, and those who thought 
 with him, rightly feared. It has been represented ^ that 
 Hyde's hesitation about the advance arose from his secret fear 
 that Charles would no longer accept the position of a con- 
 stitutional King, but would have attempted, in the hour of 
 triumph, to undo all that had been done. Such an hypo- 
 thesis would convict the King of little else than madness, 
 and Hyde of a deliberate breach of loyalty to his 
 master. No sane man could have dreamed that any such 
 doubtful victory as had been won would induce the Parlia- 
 mentary leaders to assent to the annulment of all the work 
 of reform that had been accomplished ; nor is there any 
 evidence to support the view either that Charles thought of 
 it, or that Hyde suspected him of such a thought. But 
 Hyde had seen enough to make him dread the unbridled 
 recklessness of many whose words carried weight with the 
 army. He knew the arrogance of their pretensions, and 
 the grasping selfishness of their aims. Already he felt 
 that they were growing jealous of the counsellors, and anxious 
 to undermine their credit with the King. An advance to 
 London, followed by success, however temporary, would 
 
 ' This is the view which approves itseli to the orthodox Whiggism of 
 Mr. Lister, who represents Hyde as deliberately acting so as to thwart what 
 he understood to be the wish and intention of the King. 
 
184 PIEST CAMPAIGN OP CIVIL WAR [chap, vii 
 
 have placed the capital at their mercy ; and habits of plunder 
 and of free booty are soon learned by an army, and not 
 easily forgotten. One such success, followed by the inevit- 
 able revenge and reprisals, would have made a settlement 
 impossible, and might have crushed the monarchy for ever. 
 It was in the express interests of his master, and to avoid 
 the pressure of a military faction that might become as 
 insolent to the Crown as to the people, that Hyde desired 
 to avoid these dangers ; not because he fancied that a success 
 might help Charles to realize a vain dream of estabhshing an 
 undisputed absolutism in England. 
 
 What Hyde dreaded was exactly what came to pass. 
 The overtures were made and accepted. The King spoke 
 of returning to Windsor, and there carrying on negotiations 
 with Commissioners from Parliament ; and there seemed 
 every prospect that the preliminaries would be arranged. 
 But by a fatal error, over-persuaded by the youthful im- 
 petuosity of Prince Rupert, Charles allowed his troops to 
 advance so near to the capital as Brentford, where a sharp 
 encounter took place with the Parliamentary troops. They 
 had advanced too close to the hive, and the bees burst out 
 with an irritation that made their sting the more dangerous. 
 The nerves of the new soldiers had once been shaken ; but 
 the lesson had taught them steadiness. The triumph of 
 the cavaliers might be pushed too far. The troops of the 
 Parliament began to see that the Royalistswere not invincible, 
 and grew tired of renewed overtures for peace. In vain 
 did the King try — as he had been forced to try before — to 
 find excuses for his error. The attack on Brentford had been 
 made in what was in reahty, if it was not technically, an 
 armistice, during which the preliminaries for a conference 
 were to be discussed. An explanation was necessary ; and 
 explanations, however meritorious, are apt to bear a 
 suspicious resemblance to the submissiveness of apology, 
 
1642] WINTEE QUAETBRS AT OXFORD 185 
 
 The closeness of the danger had stimulated the contributions 
 of the Parliament's supporters ; its repulse had aroused 
 new courage; and Parhament resolved to try once more 
 the hazard of war, before they involved themselves in the 
 possible meshes of a conference. The Royalist troops were 
 drawn off to Reading ; and a declaration was issued by the 
 King to soothe the susceptibihties that had been aroused. 
 Hyde disliked the whole business, and there is perhaps a 
 little mischievous intention in his careful statement that the 
 declaration was one of the few which other occupations 
 rendered him unable to undertake, and that its author 
 was Falkland. It certainly does not stand on the same level, 
 either in cogency of argument, or dignity of style, as those 
 for which Hyde was responsible. 
 
 The seemmg chance of peace was gone ; but it was in 
 no downcast mood that the Eoyahsts fixed their winter 
 quarters at Oxford, towards the close of November. There, 
 in the chosen home of loyalty, surrounded by devoted 
 adherents, and amidst scenes that were congenial at once 
 in themselves and in their associations, the King and his 
 immediate advisers settled down for what were to be the 
 last few months of peace that were to brighten that career 
 round which the shadows were fast gathering. The comfort, 
 and even the dignity, of some kingly state were not absent. 
 Over a large portion of the nation his authority was sub- 
 mitted to without question ; and the ardour of loyalty 
 was never stronger amongst his devoted supporters. With 
 foreign states he still maintained the high terms of sovereign 
 authority, and his right to grant honours and dignities was 
 not seriously disputed. 
 
 Within the stately precincts of St. John's, the Court 
 had no unseemly lodgings in those quadrangles which had 
 been reared by the loving care of the faithful Archbishop, 
 who in the lonely and weary hours of his imprisonment, 
 
186 FIRST CAMPAIGN OF CIVIL WAR [chap, vii 
 
 must have sadly pictured to himself that Court in which 
 he had once been a moving spirit, haunting those cloisters 
 and gardens that he loved so well. Within an easy ride, 
 the King had his own vast forest and ancient palace of 
 Woodstock, amidst those scenes which the imagination of 
 Scott has filled with so vivid a picture of the time. 
 Hyde found a home at All Souls', where his old friend, 
 Dr. Sheldon, was Warden, and where he was surrounded 
 with friends that must have recalled to him the happy days 
 spent at Tew and Burford, under Falkland's hospitable 
 roof. In Christ Church, the King himself was housed, and 
 in Wolsey's splendid Hall, a remnant of the ParUament 
 was yet to assemble and give their counsel to their King. 
 When the Queen returned, it was at Merton that she found 
 lodgings not unfitting for the state of her Court. For 
 these months, had they been able to forget the grim menace 
 of the certain renewal of Civil War, and had they not been 
 harassed by the unceasing anxiety of insufficient prepara- 
 tion, Hyde and his companions might have found in their 
 surroundings, both of scene and of society, much to cheer 
 them in the winter's suspense. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII 
 
 HYDE IN THE COURT AT OXFORD 
 
 The Court and the Royalist army settled at Oxford in 
 November, 1642, for their winter quarters, after the battle 
 of Edgehill. Marlborough was soon after captured by 
 Wilmot, and the Royalist influence was materially strength- 
 ened in the Midlands and the west, while in the north New- 
 castle had considerable success ; but between York and 
 Oxford the Parliamentary forces held a strong position. 
 Meanwhile some changes in the personal aspect of the Court, 
 which count for much in the biography of Hyde, were 
 proceeding. By an untoward accident, a letter from Charles 
 to the Queen (then preparing to return to England with a 
 supply of arms and money) was intercepted and published 
 by the Parliament. It contained some awkward revelations. 
 The King spoke freely on the irksomeness of his position 
 from the constant importunity of those around him for 
 honours, office, and preferments. He named the applicants, 
 and sought the Queen's advice in regard to the selection, 
 promising that until he received that advice he would make 
 no appointments, with the exception of a few which were 
 urgently required. He thought of making the honest and 
 trusty Nicholas Master of the Wards, from his present post 
 of Secretary of State ; and then, he went on to say, " I 
 must make Ned Hyde Secretary of State, for the truth ia, 
 I can trust no one else." The publication of such a letter 
 did not add to the dignity of the royal resolution, and it 
 
188 HYDE IN THE OOUET AT OXFORD [chap, viii 
 
 was not likely to conciliate for Hyde the favour of dis- 
 appointed applicants. 
 
 It was from the King himself that Hyde first learned the 
 existence of this letter ; and the King proposed to make 
 amends for it by nominating him at once as Secretary of 
 State. To this Hyde was strongly opposed ; he had no mind 
 to oust Nicholas — to whom the new office proposed for him 
 was likely to be of little profit in the present circumstances, 
 when wards were likely to pay little heed to royal dispositions 
 — and he felt himself unqualified for the post by his ignorance 
 of foreign languages, and by being entirely unversed in 
 foreign affairs. The King made light of bis objections, 
 and bade him consult Nicholas upon the subject. Nicholas 
 was at first weU pleased with the proposal ; but Hyde took 
 pains to show him that it was not for his advantage, and 
 assured him that he had no mind to profit at Nicholas's 
 expense.^ Just at this time, the office of Master of the Rolls 
 fell vacant by the death of Sir Charles Csesar, and this gave 
 the King the chance of promoting Colepepper to that post, 
 and appointing Hyde Chancellor of the Exchequer in his 
 place. This course was strongly urged by Falkland, who 
 desired to see his old friend and associate a member of the 
 Council officially, as he already was, in fact. This new 
 proposal Hyde was not unwilling to entertain. Another 
 bitch in the arrangements now arose. Colepepper had hoped 
 to retain both offices, and was in no mind to res-gn the 
 Chancellorship. It was only the warm expostulations of 
 Falkland and Digby, supported by the King, that compelled 
 Colepepper to make way, and the circumstance aggravated 
 that jealousy between him and Hyde, of which the difference 
 between their views and temperaments had already laid 
 
 ' Hyde's record of their interview shows how cordial were their terma. 
 On Hyde's arrival Nicholas greeted him as his son. " It was not," said 
 Hyde, " the part of a good son to undo his father, or to become his son that 
 he might undo him " (Life, i. 169). 
 
1643] HYDE CHANCELLOR OP EXCHEQUER 189 
 
 the foundations. Colepepper saw with regret that Hyde's 
 influence at the Council was likely to be at least as potent 
 as his own. It was not till February that Hyde was at 
 last sworn in as Privy Councillor, and a week later he was 
 appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. At the same time, 
 he was knighted, and hereafter we must know him as Sir 
 Edward Hyde. The King told him, with much grace, 
 " which was not natural in him upon such occasions," ^ how 
 content he was in his new minister, and added, " that he was 
 very fortunate, because he verily beheved that nobody 
 was angry at his preferment." Hyde himself knew better. 
 " He had great enviers, of many who thought he had run too 
 fast."^ The leaders of the aristocracy were inclined to think 
 that such posts belonged to their class of right. Those of 
 his own profession were jealous that a young man of thirty- 
 three, who had shown no great love of their society, and no 
 ardent devotion to the practice of the law, should have 
 obtained a preferment for which they thought themselves 
 fully qualified. Above all, the appointment had the unusual 
 character of being made neither by the interposition nor 
 by the privity of the Queen ; and that lady was apt to think 
 that those who rose without her aid would not be equally 
 at her disposal, Hyde adds, with some bitterness, that 
 the perferment " was not the more unwelcome to him 
 from that circumstance." In title and appearance the post 
 was a great one for a man so young to have attained. But 
 it was likely to .bring with it more of burden in care and 
 responsibiUty than either of credit or emolument. He was 
 envied for obtaining that which only duty and conscience 
 forced him to accept. The difficulties to which he felt 
 himself exposed could not find better expression than in the 
 
 ' Life, i. 171. Hyde's narrative loses nothing by such casual words of 
 portraiture, deftly introduced. 
 ^ Life, i. 171. 
 
190 HYDE IN THE COUET AT OXFOED [chap, viii 
 
 words, evidently extorted from him by the memory of many 
 bitter jealousies — 
 
 " It were to be wished," he says,' " that persons of the 
 greatest birth, honour, and fortune, would take that care 
 of themselves by education, industry, literature, and a love 
 of virtue, to surpass aU other men in knowledge and in all 
 other qualifications necessary for great actions, as far as 
 they do in quality and titles, that princes, out of them, 
 might always choose men fit for all employments, and high 
 trusts, which would exceedingly advance their service, 
 when the reputation and respect of the person carries some- 
 what with it that facilitates the business. And it cannot 
 easily be expressed, nor comprehended by any who have not 
 felt the weight and burden of the envy, which naturally 
 attends upon those promotions, which seem to be per saltum, 
 how great straits and difficulties such ministers are forced 
 to wrestle with and by which the charges, with which they 
 are entrusted, must proportionally suffer, let the integrity 
 and wisdom of the men be what it can be supposed to be. 
 Neither is the patience, temper, and dexterity, to carry a 
 man through those straits, easily attained : it being very 
 hard, in the morning of preferment, to keep an even temper 
 of mind, between the care to preserve the dignity of the 
 place committed to him (without which he shall expose 
 himself to a thousand unchaste attempts, and dishonour 
 the judgment that promoted him, by appearing too vile for 
 such a trust) and the caution that his nature be not really 
 exalted to an overweening pride and folly, upon the privilege 
 of the place ; which will expose him to much more contempt 
 than the former, and therefore is, with a more exact guard 
 upon a man's self, to be avoided, the errors of gentleness 
 and civihty being much more easily reformed, as well as 
 endured, than the other of arrogance and ostentation." 
 
 Hyde adds something more, which was clearly the fruit 
 of his own bitter experience. A man's best protection, 
 he says, in such a position is " an expectation of those gusts 
 
 ' Rebellion, vii. 282. 
 
1643] HIS FELLOW COUNSELLORS 191 
 
 and storms of rumour, detraction, and envy ; and a resolu- 
 tion not to be over-sensible of all calumnies, unkindness, 
 or injustice." " There is not," he adds, " a more trouble- 
 some passion, or that often draws more inconveniences 
 with it, than that which proceeds from the indignation of 
 being unjustly calumniated, and from the pride of an upright 
 conscience." It was a passion from which Hyde, in his 
 time, was to suffer much. 
 
 Henceforward, not merely as unacknowledged and 
 confidential adviser, but as a minister of the King, Sir 
 Edward Hyde was to guide the counsels of the Eoyahst 
 party. Others were to conduct the military operations, 
 to organize the army, to decide what positions should be 
 defended, and what strategic combinations might be 
 attempted. On him was to rest the chief burden of devising 
 schemes for obtaining supplies, of directing policy according 
 to the shifting currents of popular opinion, and of countering 
 and parrying the thrusts of Parliamentary argument, and 
 steering his way in the thorny paths of occasional negotia- 
 tion. Before we turn to these, it will be convenient here, 
 with the help of his own graphic word portraits, to glance 
 at the character and personaUty of the men who, by virtue 
 of high birth and rank, held the foremost place in the Court 
 of the King, and in the ranks of his enemies, and to learn 
 something of the motives which determined their choice of 
 sides. 
 
 Amongst those who gathered about the King there were 
 few who united to high social position, or to marked natural 
 abihty, a long experience in pubhc business. Of two of the 
 group of counsellors, Falkland and Colepepper, we have 
 already seen a good deal, and shall yet see more. Colepepper 
 owed his rise to ambition and long years of labour ; and 
 Falkland, although he stood high by birth and fortune, 
 did not count amongst the outstanding members of the 
 
192 HYDE IN THE COURT AT OXFORD [chap, viii 
 
 aristocracy in rank and wealth. Littleton, who was still 
 Lord Keeper, had preserved his fidelity in spite of some 
 suspicions ; but his powers were never brilliant, and they 
 were now depressed both by age and by the untoward 
 circumstances of the time. He, even more than Colepepper, 
 was the dependant, rather than the rival, of the great nobles, 
 whose power and influence might be enhanced by, but was 
 by no means based upon, any favours of the Crown. It is 
 these great nobles who pass across the pages of Clarendon's 
 History, in the lineaments of life. 
 
 First in rank, as directly descended from the King's own 
 house, stood the Duke of Richmond and Lennox. Nature 
 had fitted him admirably for the part he had to play ; and 
 from his earHest youth, he had enjoyed ample opportunities 
 for acquiring the graces of the courtier, and learning, amongst 
 the grandees of Spain, and France and Italy, all the accom- 
 plishments that gave the distinction common to each of 
 these varying groups. When scarcely more than a boy, 
 he had become a member of the Privy Council, and his 
 marriage to the daughter of the great Duke of Buckingham 
 not only enlarged his ample heritage, but ensured him the 
 close friendship of the King. He was of no mood to dream 
 of party, or to trouble himself with the political dissensions 
 of the day. For him the rights of the people did not exist. 
 His high place, and his personal pride, bound him to the 
 rules of honour, and in that code, loyalty to the Crown stood 
 in the highest place. Between him and the popular party 
 there could be no terms. He was born to despise them ; 
 and to them he was the very type of all that they were 
 eager to destroy. His loyalty was no matter of policy 
 or expediency, nor was he fitted to direct the counsels 
 of the Crown in a hazardous time. With his three brothers, 
 all of whom lost their lives in the service of their 
 King, it was not a matter of choice, but unquestioning 
 
1643JEICHMOND: HEETFOED : SOUTHAMPTON 193 
 
 religion, to devote themselves and their fortunes to his 
 cause. 
 
 With regard to the Marquis of Hertford, the guardian to 
 the Prince of Wales, we have already seen how little his past 
 history, or his own tastes, had inclined him to become the 
 active supporter of the King. He had long Uved, if not 
 estranged from, at least independent of, the Court. A 
 scholar who loved his ease, he found himself better suited 
 for the position of a great territorial magnate than of a 
 participant in the favours of the Crown. But for him, as 
 for the Duke of Eichmond, there could be no terms of alliance 
 with the popular party. No favourer of Strafford, he had 
 nevertheless held aloof from the measures taken against him. 
 His influence and his wealth were at the King's disposal ; 
 and it was no calculation, but the promptings of instinctive 
 sympathy, that made him throw himself with ardour unto 
 the levying of troops, and the organization of military 
 preparations, for the Eoyalist cause. 
 
 The Earl of Southampton had in temperament some 
 similarity with Hertford. Disdaining some of the con- 
 ventional trappings of high birth and position, his pride made 
 him eschew the society of the Court. He never had any 
 conversation with it, nor owned any obUgation to its favour. 
 A tinge of melancholy in his nature made him inchned to 
 solitude. His well-known aversion to the Court, and his 
 opposition to Strafford, gave some hopes of an alliance 
 between him and the Parliamentary leaders ; but his quick 
 intelligence, and his power as a debater, gave him an influence 
 which deep-rooted aversion to popular changes soon made 
 him throw into the support of the Eoyahst party. He sought 
 eagerly for an accommodation which might stay the progress 
 of revolution ; but it was rather from dishke of the new 
 designs than from any purpose of mediating between King 
 and Parliament, that he threw himself into these plans. 
 
 VOL. I. o 
 
194 HYDE IN THE COUET AT OXPOED [chap, viii 
 
 Mutual respect, and a similarity of aim, made him, now 
 as in later years, the warm friend and associate of Hyde. 
 
 Another, and a very different type of man, was the Earl of 
 Leicester. A soldier in his early manhood, and afterwards 
 Ambassador to France and Denmark, he had not managed 
 to acquire much practical aptitude for business. His 
 abilities were considerable, but they were those of a bookish 
 man and a mathematician, and he " expected a greater 
 certitude in the consultation of business, than the business 
 of this world is capable of." In this verdict, Hyde indicates 
 his own attitude as a practical statesman, versed in the 
 ways of men. After the execution of Strafford, Leicester 
 was appointed Lieutenant of Ireland ; but in the unhappy 
 affairs of that kingdom he played but Uttle part. A man 
 of honour and fidelity to the King, Hyde believed that 
 " his greatest misfortunes proceeded from the staggering 
 and irresolution in his nature." 
 
 The outstanding abihties, and long experience of the 
 Earl of Bristol, have already been recorded. With no 
 attachment to the Court, he had at first taken a leading 
 place in the Parhamentary party, but quickly found himself 
 at variance with their designs, and was one of the earliest, 
 on getting out of their clutches, to join the King at York, 
 and was present at Edgehill. He was of the Council at 
 Oxford, but his long estrangement from the Court, and his 
 confidence in his own abilities and consequent impatience 
 of contradiction, detracted from his weight. His lengthy 
 discourses and his passionate temper lessened his esteem ; 
 and the restless and ambitious volatility of his son. Lord 
 Digby, led to an estrangement between father and son, 
 which had the effect of still more impairing the respect which 
 Bristol's age, experience, and talents, as well as his unselfish 
 loyalty, would justly have commanded. 
 
 In the north, the cause of the Eoyalists was upheld by 
 
1643] BRISTOL AND NEWCASTLE 195 
 
 the Earl of Newcastle/ whose lofty courtesy and boundless 
 generosity, endowed with ample resources in his great estate, 
 were well fitted to attract support and concihate the hearts 
 of those who joined his standard. But he was fitful and 
 wayward, and had defects that weighed down his better 
 qualities. He was without any pretence to military skill 
 or knowledge. The pomp and ch-cumstance of war were 
 what attracted him ; but his defects in this respect were 
 fairly supphed by his lieutenant. General King, a shrewd 
 and experienced Scottish veteran. Unfortunately even 
 King's patience was often tried by the capricious moods 
 of the Earl, who had in no small degree the fanciful preciosity 
 of the preceding generation. He was " amorous of poetry," 
 and often when action was needed Hyde tells us how he 
 " retired to his dehghtful company, music, or his softer 
 pleasures, to all which he was so indulgent, and to his ease, 
 that he would not be interrupted upon what occasion what- 
 ever." We can imagine with what temper the old Scotch 
 soldier would receive such fopperies, and how irksome they 
 must have been amid the hazards of the time. But, as not 
 rarely falls out, the very affectation which proved the self- 
 indulgent aristocrat, playing the soldier, did not prevent 
 him from feeling an exaggerated contempt for the slow pro- 
 cesses of the Council Chamber. EQs belated foppery, how- 
 ever, was never allowed to lessen the honour or the devotion 
 of his chivalrous loyalty, until the impetuous arrogance 
 of Prince Bupert broke his hopes and made him quit the 
 kingdom in despair. 
 
 There were men to whom birth and high station, rather 
 
 ' William Cavendish had inherited large estates from a grandfather 
 who had been enriched by the spoils of the monasteries. He himself received 
 much favour as a courtier : was created Viscount Mansfield in 1620 ; Earl 
 of Newcastle in 1628 ; Marquis in 1643, and eventually Duke in 1665. He 
 was tutor to the Prince of Wales for two years after 1638. His graces are 
 somewhat fulsomely described in the Lije written by the Duchess, whose 
 account sets forth most amply her own and her husband's virtues. 
 
196 HYDE IN THE COUET AT OXFOED [chap, viii 
 
 than their influence or abihties, gave some prominence. 
 The Earl of Berkshire had been captured by the troops 
 of the ParHament, and imprisoned until his Hberty was 
 granted on the rather contemptuous ground, that he was 
 " a man who could do them no harm anywhere ; " and to 
 whom the fact of that imprisonment secured some merit 
 when he repaired to Oxford. " His affection for the Crown 
 was good ; his interest and reputation less than anything 
 but his understanding." Lord Dunsmore was another who 
 owed any esteem rather to accident than to character. 
 He was " of a rough and tempestuous nature," lacking 
 judgment and temper. But as father-in-law to the Earl 
 of Southampton, he had a borrowed lustre from his name. 
 
 There were others towards whom Hyde felt a repugnance 
 which came very near to bitter hatred. Lord Savile had 
 earned rewards from the Court, which seemed out of all 
 proportion to his merits, "of an ambitious and restless 
 nature ... In his disposition and inclination so false 
 that he never could be believed or depended upon." His 
 dominating motive, from the first, had been malice against 
 Strafford, and under the influence of that passion he had 
 entered into close relations with the Scots — relations which 
 were in themselves enough to secure to him the hostiUty of 
 Hyde. By a forged letter, purporting to come from some of 
 the English nobility, he had invited the Scots into England ; 
 and it was only when he found his credit with the rebels 
 less than he had hoped, that he again insinuated himself 
 into the favour of the Queen, and with her help, secured 
 ill-earned rewards from the King. He remained at Oxford, 
 despised and shunned by all men of honour, and was, in 
 time, detected for the time-serving traitor that he was. 
 
 No negligible part was played by honest Secretary 
 Nicholas, whose plodding labours and unblemished integrity 
 won him a credit to which no splendid abihties or lofty 
 
1643] PARLIAMENTAEY LEADERS 197 
 
 ambition attached any jealousy in a circle only too prone 
 to such a feeling. His virtue and fidelity were his only 
 recommendation ; and it was in the retrospect of long 
 years of trusty friendship that Hyde recalls him as "in 
 truth, throughout his whole Hfe, a person of very good 
 reputation and singular integrity." He was a good type of 
 the well-tried official whose long experience opened to him 
 the paths of statesmanship. 
 
 But the men of great birth, high rank, and vast posses- 
 sions were not to be found amongst the RoyaUsts alone. 
 Amongst the Parliamentarian ranks, the foremost in splendour 
 of estate was the Earl of Northumberland. He had been 
 the recipient of countless favours from the Crown, and was 
 chosen by Charles as Lord High Admiral of the greatest 
 fleet that England had ever launched. No man of the age 
 was more punctilious in demanding all the deference due to 
 his great station. A tyrant in his own family, he earned 
 rather by a specious show of wisdom than by any sound 
 foundation of real ability, the reputation of a wise man. 
 As a great aristocrat, he despised the common herd of men ; 
 but he forgot also the respect which was due from himself 
 to his sovereign. Such Ul-based pride as his was above all 
 other moods that most amenable to the assaults of flattery ; 
 and his support of the popular cause arose from no sincere 
 desire for political change, but from the petty and sadly 
 mistaken fancy that prompted him to think that in that 
 crowd his own supremacy would not be debated. 
 
 The Earl of Pembroke was the second of those brothers, 
 to whom Shakespeare's notice has brought immortaUty. 
 But he had more than his brother's prodigal excess, and much 
 less than his skill in attracting popularity. His lavish 
 extravagance, his vast possessions, his rather ostentatious 
 patronage, won for him a certain appearance of influence, 
 which he strove to increase by rather unctuous protestations 
 
198 HYDE IN THE COUET AT OXFORD [chap, viii 
 
 of his sympathy with the prevaiUng rehgious views — a 
 sympathy which, from people of his stamp, seems always 
 to have been accepted with but scanty discrimination. 
 When Laud, from his prison house, resigned the Chancellor- 
 ship of Oxford, those who favoured the Parliament had 
 procured Pembroke's election in his place. When the Court 
 once more gave to the University a period of freedom, he 
 was excluded from the office, and Lord Herbert was elected 
 in his place. The triumph of the popular cause made 
 Pembroke once more the Chancellor of a University in 
 thraldom to an intolerant and unsympathetic sectarianism. 
 To such a man, the very type of the most arrogant pretensions 
 of aristocracy, and of its most insolent display of luxury, 
 the aims of the popular party had little hkely to attract him: 
 But when he discerned the current of anti-monarchical 
 feeling, " his fear, which was the passion always predominant 
 in him above aU his choler and his rage, prevailed so far 
 over him, that he gave himself up into the hands of Lord 
 Say, to dispose of him as he thought fit." Henceforward 
 he was a despised tool in the hands of abler masters. When 
 a MiUtia Ordinance had to be executed, " they sent him into 
 the country and showed him to the people, under the conduct 
 of two or three members of the House, in whom they could 
 confide." He talked as he was bid, and repeated the stock 
 phrases about mahgnant and scandalous ministers. Hyde 
 retained a lingering kindness for the poor wretch even in 
 his fallen estate ; and speaks, with no excess of contempt, 
 of the guiding principle of his policy, as centred in the desire 
 that he should still be master of Wilton and its treasures. 
 
 The Earl of Essex was a man of far other type ; and 
 Hyde at more than one critical juncture regretted the fatal 
 errors on the part of the Court, that had brought about the 
 alienation of such a statesman. No man had a higher 
 sense of honour, no man abhorred rebelhon more, and no 
 
1643] NOETHUMBEELAND : ESSEX : WAEWICK 199 
 
 man more despised any crooked or tortuous course. His 
 very absence of ambition made his pride the greater, and he 
 was gradually drawn into a position alien to his nature 
 and in direct opposition to all his interests, because he fancied 
 that he could guide the course of events, and was attracted 
 by the notion of giving a favour to, rather than receiving it 
 from, those whom he accepted as his allies. Once embarked 
 upon a certain course, Essex would change by no device 
 of stratagem or treachery, but only upon sound reasons 
 which could be pubhshed to the world. Over and over 
 again the King's advisers, much to Hyde's disgust, allowed 
 chances of gaining the support of Essex to slip by. 
 
 For Lord Sahsbury, Hyde has a contempt which is only 
 intensified by the glamour which his ancestors and their 
 great achievements threw around him. The petty tyrant 
 in his own domain and within his own sphere of influence, 
 he was swayed in Council by every current of the prevailing 
 humour. A sudden access of loyalty would be followed 
 by the promptings of fear, and the craven desire of saving 
 himself and preserving Hatfield. Under the strained 
 administration of the Forest laws, he had suffered a 
 heavy fine levied upon the vast estates granted to his 
 predecessors ; and that grudge he never allowed to go to 
 sleep. His vacillation ended by unquestioning submission 
 to the orders of the ParUamentary leaders, and he was at 
 last one of the few members of that old and proud 
 aristocracy who accepted the degradation of a seat in 
 Cromwell's mock House of Lords. 
 
 The Earl of Warwick was Holland's elder brother, and 
 partook with him of that descent of doubtful credit both on 
 his father's and his mother's side which was a byword 
 amongst the aristocratic scandals of the day. " He was a 
 man of a pleasant companionable wit and conversation ; of 
 an universal jollity ; and such a licence in his words, and in 
 
200 HYDE IN THE COUET AT OXFOED [chap, viii 
 
 his actions, that a man of less virtue could not be found." 
 But, with their usual complacence, the dissenting ministers 
 did not suffer their puritanism to bar against them the 
 hospitable doors of one who " spent a good part of his estate, 
 of which he was very prodigal, upon them, and by being 
 present with them at their devotions, and making himself 
 merry with them, and at them, which they dispensed with," 
 so that " he became the head of their party, and got the 
 style of a pious man." He played his cards well, turned his 
 patriotic zeal to good account in repairing the breaches 
 which his extravagance had made in his estate ; and did not 
 allow his aristocratic pride to refuse the daughter of Crom- 
 well as a wife to his grandson and heir. He died before the 
 tyranny which he had helped to place upon his country 
 had fallen before the anger of the people whom he had 
 misled. 
 
 It was partly due to Warwick's influence that a far 
 betterand more honest man was led to a course which brought 
 him little comfort, and which he lived to repent. This 
 was the Earl of Manchester. " Of a gentle and a generous 
 nature ; " one " who loved his country with too unskilful 
 a tenderness ; of so excellent a temper and disposition, that 
 the barbarous times, and the rough parts he was forced to 
 act in them, did not wipe out or much deface these marks " — 
 Manchester was diverted into the popular alUance, partly 
 by the neglect of the Court, partly by his marriage to 
 Warwick's daughter, and partly " by the bewitching popu- 
 larity, which flowed upon him with a wonderful torrent." 
 To the fatal error by which his name, as Lord Kimbolton, 
 was included amongst those at whom Charles aimed the 
 misguided blow of that rash impeachment, which vexed 
 the souls of Hyde and Falkland, must be ascribed the 
 ahenation of a possible adherent, who might have brought 
 to the King the rare benefit of an honest, a straightforward. 
 
1643] MANCHESTEE AND SAY 201 
 
 and an unselfish loyalty, and who, as it was, not unnaturally 
 suspected a prerogative from which he and his father had 
 ahke suffered wrong. 
 
 Lord Say was another of those whose birth and position 
 would naturally have led them to belong to the party of the 
 Court, but who, after some wavering, were found amongst 
 the numbers of its enemies. It would not be fair always to 
 accept the account of the conversion of such men from 
 those who, like Hyde, considered them as false at once 
 to their order and to their sovereign, and who must 
 consequently find some more or less discreditable motive 
 for their action. But the pen with which Hyde draws 
 the portrait of Lord Say is charged with an unusual 
 amount of gall ; and he did not stand alone in thinking 
 him capable of a treachery deeper even than that which 
 passed current in an age when the standard of political 
 fidelity was by no means high. 
 
 Lord Say attempted to fill the difficult position of a wit 
 amongst the aristocrats, and an aristocrat amongst the wits. 
 It is a role which rarely attracts regard, and very frequently 
 forfeits even respect. Of old lineage. Say found it convenient 
 to establish his claim to be of Founder's kin at New College, 
 and therefore entitled to a fellowship on the foundation, 
 by concocting for himself a pedigree so lengthy as to give 
 rise to ridicule. His college coimection led him to converse 
 with books more than with men, and did not cure — perhaps 
 it even increased — 'the natural pride and moroseness of 
 his temper. On the one hand, " no man valued himself 
 more upon his title ; " on the other hand, " although his 
 own parts were not quick, they were so much above those 
 of his own rank, that he had always great credit and authority 
 in ParHament." He had one quality, of which it may be 
 feared that Hyde was not an impartial critic — " he had, 
 with his milk, sucked in an implacable malice against the 
 
202 HYDE IN THE COUET AT OXFOED [chap, viii 
 
 Government of the Church." It would be unfair to condemn 
 on such an arraignment ; but no difference of opinion as to 
 the verdict to be passed upon the crime of non-conformity 
 can affect the contempt which Say earned by repeated 
 tergiversation. His submissiveness earned for him the 
 patronage of Buckingham, untU it was lost by his pedantic 
 self-sufficiency. He had sought for preferment at Court, with 
 the sullen obstinacy of one who had lived in the contracted 
 life of the college, and with the greed of a man whose 
 means were not equal to his rank ; and unsatisfied ambition 
 was supposed to have given him the first suggestion of popular 
 sympathies. But he had expected to rule where his new 
 allies would permit him only to follow. His efforts to stay 
 the torrent he had let loose were vain ; and in the end he 
 won only the contempt of both parties in the State. 
 
 Last of those who, under the strain of circumstance 
 or the impulse of resentment, quitted the service of the 
 Court for that of Parhament, was the elder Sir Henry Vane. 
 With^all the boisterous ambition of his son, he had neither 
 his quickness of intellect nor his erratic and visionary 
 promptings ; but even with his slower and less cultivated 
 faculties, he managed to make himself the centre of almost 
 as many embroilments. Whatever charges can be brought 
 against either father or son, they cannot be accused of 
 assiduous courting of the great. With Buckingham, as with 
 Strafford, Vane was in constant feud ; and the turbulence 
 of his nature made him, in the latter case, carry that feud to 
 discreditable lengths, in the scene, already referred to, where 
 his son produced, and he himself admitted as authentic, the 
 doubtful and unsupported evidence of his own confidential 
 papers. Deprived of the Court appointment which his 
 energy and industry, rather than his talents, had won for 
 him, he threw himself into the arms of the opposition. There 
 he earned little credit. There was no more conspicuous 
 
1643] SIE HENRY VANE THE ELDER 203 
 
 example of the influence of civil feuds in engendering bitter- 
 ness of feeling between father and son, typified also by the 
 cases of Bristol and Digby, and of the two Hothams, and 
 easily accounted for by the many cross currents that pre- 
 vailed in that stormy poHtical vortex. 
 
 Such were some of the chief actors in this first scene of 
 the Civil War, and during these winter months at Oxford 
 that scene witnessed many rapid developments. On the 
 whole, the prospects of the RoyaMst party quickly improved. 
 Although the regular machinery for raising money had been 
 broken up, and the wealth of the capital was tapped entirely 
 by Parhament, the supplies for the King's army came in 
 with a regularity surprising in the circumstances. The pay 
 of his troops amounted to £3000 a week, and it was paid 
 promptly enough. The levying of tonnage and poundage 
 was continued by Parhament, although the legal authority 
 for it had expired ; and undoubtedly the King's proclama- 
 tion demanding the payment of these dues had better legal 
 foundation than the action of the Parhament. Still less 
 show of legal ground was there for the further levying of a 
 new tax in the shape of one-twentieth of each man's goods, 
 assessed by officers nominated on Parhamentary authority 
 alone, and enforced by penalties unknown hitherto to the 
 law. Each side attempted to create an interest for itself 
 abroad ; and by a pohcy which Hyde stigmatizes as not 
 only immoral, but strangely short-sighted, the monarchical 
 powers of the Continent found an opportunity for diminishing 
 the power of England, by encouraging the growth of the 
 civil dissension, and by stimulating the Parhamentary 
 opposition to the King. Petitions from different sections of 
 the people of London, urging their grievances, poured in 
 upon Parhament ; they had now secured a Com m on Council 
 entirely subservient to their interests, and in January, 164f , 
 they obtained from it a petition to the King, protesting their 
 
204 HYDE IN THE COUET AT OXFOED [chap, viii 
 
 own loyalty, and begging him to return to his capital, and 
 there to consider, with his ParHament, the grievances under 
 which they laboured. In reply the King assured them that 
 he entertained no doubt of the loyalty of his city ; but he 
 besought them to consider what hope of personal safety he 
 could entertain amid those who had thwarted his authority, 
 and opposed him in arms ; what benefit could accrue to the 
 Protestant religion from persistent reviling of the doctrine 
 and usages of the reformed Church ; and what guarantee 
 for legal action there was from those who without any 
 precedent, extorted their property from the citizens in 
 defiance of the law. His concurrence in any plan for the 
 removal of real grievances was, he said, sufficiently attested 
 by his previous concessions to the Parliamentary demands ; 
 and his only condition preliminary to an accommodation 
 was an assurance that the forms of law would be respected. 
 It was one of Hyde's most effective pronouncements. It was 
 proposed to submit it to a " common hall," or assemblage 
 of the citizens. But the experiment might have been a 
 dangerous one ; and the Parliament intervened to prevent it. 
 WhUe declarations and addresses followed each other 
 in brisk succession, it is difficult to say with which party the 
 success chiefly lay during those winter months. If Sir 
 William Waller seized Chichester, and discomfited the hope 
 of the Eoyalists in Sussex, the success of Prince Eupert in 
 capturing Cirencester raised the King's influence in the west ; 
 while in Devonshire and Cornwall, Sir Bevil Grenvil, the 
 most honoured gentleman of those parts, and Sir Ealph 
 Hopton — that chivalrous soldier, whose unblemished honour 
 survived through all these troublous times, without taint 
 or suspicion — made spirited advances, and at length inflicted 
 a notable defeat upon the Parliamentary forces at Bradock 
 Down. In many parts of the country, where hopes were 
 still entertained that the fury of civil war would soon be 
 
1643] EETUEN OF THE QUEEN 205 
 
 appeased, there was a disposition to remain quiescent and 
 await events ; and Hyde gives it as his firm conviction that 
 this general behef of the short duration of the war was, 
 more than anything else, the cause of its long continuance. 
 Each party saw only a small portion of the general scene ; 
 and confidence in the accessions of power which they received, 
 made thembeheve that they had only to show a httle patience, 
 and that their foes would be compelled to yield. 
 
 It was in February that the Queen landed at Bridlington 
 Quay, in Yorkshire, bringing with her a good supply of arms 
 and ammunition, which strengthened the King's cause in 
 these parts. In the Midlands the balance of success lay 
 with the Parhamentary forces ; and although Lord Herbert 
 made a spirited effort about Worcestershire and the Welsh 
 borders, Sir WiUiam Waller, whose vigour in the early part 
 of the war won for him the title of WilHam the Conqueror, 
 more than balanced his influence by a sweeping movement in 
 which some of the strongest fortified places feU into his 
 hands. Beyond all their successes in the field, the Parliament 
 had at their hand a still more advantageous opportunity 
 of discrediting the cause of the King, by representing that 
 the long-drawn-out rebellion in Ireland was due to his secret 
 sympathy with Eoman Catholic rebels there, and that 
 plots were afoot for drawing them over to assist in the 
 subjugation of England. 
 
 The King had some time before made proposals for a 
 cessation of arms, preliminary to a treaty of accommodation, 
 and he now pressed the Parhament for a reply. This gave 
 new influence to that party in Parliament that were not 
 inclined to push matters to extremity, and in the beginning 
 of March their proposals for an armistice were submitted 
 to the King. But it gave no indication of the sincerity of 
 those proposals that, at the very time, they imposed upon 
 London and the rest of the country an assessment of the 
 
206 HYDE IN THE COUET AT OXFOKD [chap, viii 
 
 unprecedented amount of forty-three thousand five hundred 
 pounds a week, or two million two hundred and sixty thousand 
 in the year. Such was the remedy propounded by Parlia- 
 ment for the intolerable taxation endured under Royal 
 prerogative ! At the same time, as if to accentuate their 
 deternaination that no cessation of arms should imply any 
 diminution in their demands, they were pressing for the 
 King's assent to the complete extirpation of episcopacy, 
 and their demand was backed by a deputation which reached 
 Oxford from the Scottish General Assembly, in order to 
 urge upon the kingdom the adoption for both countries 
 of the Presbyterian model, as the only means whereby 
 the insidious onslaughts of Papacy might be averted. It 
 did not render the presumption of this address the less 
 intolerable, nor its insinuations the less dangerous, that it 
 was accompanied by a specious pretence of unswerving 
 loyalty to his person, and an earnest desire to increase his 
 prosperity and the dignity of his crown. The mediation 
 was declined, in words of which the dignified courtesy 
 and tone of studied moderation scantily concealed the 
 sarcastic treatment which such arrogance deserved. 
 
 The Commissioners to treat for the cessation arrived at 
 Oxford early in March. Amongst them was Whitelocke, 
 the early friend of Hyde, and between the two some inter- 
 course, on something hke the old terms, was renewed. 
 The negotiations for a cessation of hostilities, and about the 
 terms on which peace might ultimately be secured, made Kttle 
 progress. The continued levying of taxes by Parliament, 
 without any legal foundation, which was, in fact, an active 
 preparation for war, was one of the chief ostensible causes 
 for breaking off the negotiations, and the return of the 
 Commissioners before the end of the month. But in truth 
 there were other and very different negotiations on foot. 
 At the head of the Commissioners was Northumberland, 
 
1643] NEGOTIATIONS AT OXFORD 207 
 
 and he had already reason enough to dread the evident 
 consequences of complete Parliamentary success. It was 
 represented to Hyde that the question of extirpating episco- 
 pacy was one on which the majority in Parliament might 
 be disposed to come to some accommodation. The Militia 
 question presented more difficulty ; but even for that a 
 temporary arrangement might be made. Above all, a 
 personal question emerged ; and on that Hyde was anxious 
 that some conciliation should be shown. Northumberland 
 was ready to accept the office of Lord High Admiral for the 
 King. He was ready to make terms with the Court ; and 
 so far as his proud nature would admit, he showed himself 
 disposed to accept with gratitude any favour from the King, 
 and to repay the obUvion of his past errors by assisting 
 to restore much at least of the royal authority. But Hyde 
 found a strange reluctance on the part of the King to accept 
 the advice which he urged with the freedom of true loyalty. 
 Addresses were presented to the King from some who were 
 his most trusted supporters, representing the iU consequence 
 of any premature cessation, which would thwart their own 
 efforts and hinder their preparations, while leaving the 
 hands of the ParUament free. Hyde suspected the origin 
 of these addresses ; and found he was not mistaken in 
 thinking that they were in fact suggested by the King himself, 
 in order to support his own obstinate refusal of the terms. 
 Hyde made bold to tell him that he had raised a spirit that 
 he would not be able to conjure down ; and the event proved 
 that such advice once received was apt to breed a crop of 
 self-appointed counsellors, whose discontent grew as their 
 spontaneous, and often diverse, proposals were rejected. 
 Charles urged, with a bitterness of animosity that was 
 aHen to his nature, that the ingratitude of Northumber- 
 land was too great to be condoned. Driven, in his 
 embarrassment, to inconsistent arguments, he affected to 
 
208 HYDE IN THE COURT AT OXFORD [chap, viii 
 
 slight Northumberland's influence ; and again he varied 
 his position by offering to entertain the proposal at some 
 future time. Behind the whole there was, as Hyde soon 
 perceived, another and more potent influence. When the 
 Queen had left England in the autumn, she had extorted 
 a promise from the King that no appointment would be 
 made without her knowledge and consent ; and in words 
 of studied respect, but at the same time of deep-rooted 
 condemnation, he records his impression of their fatal 
 influence upon his master. 
 
 " The King's affection," he says, " to the Queen was of 
 a very extraordinary alloy ; a composition of conscience, 
 and love, and generosity, and gratitude, and all those noble 
 affections which raise passion to the greatest height ; inso- 
 much as he saw with her eyes, and determined by her judg- 
 ment ; and did not only pay her this adoration, but desired 
 that all men should know that he was swayed by her, which 
 was not good for either of them. The Queen was a lady 
 of great beauty, excellent wit and humour, and made him a 
 just return of noblest affections ; so that they were the true 
 idea of conjugal affection, in the age in which they lived. 
 When she was admitted to the knowledge and participation 
 of the most secret affairs (from which she had been carefully 
 restrained by the Duke of Buckingham, whilst he lived), 
 she took delight in the examining and discussing them, and 
 from thence in making judgment of them, in which her 
 passions were always strong." 
 
 The promise he had made to her the King kept with 
 fatal fidelity. " This promise (of which his Majesty was too 
 reUgious an observer) was the cause of his rejection, or not 
 entertaining, this last overture ; and this was the reason he 
 had that aversion to the cessation." The Queen was now 
 in Yorkshire, and wrote strongly against the treaty. The 
 King would gladly have prolonged it until she came to Oxford, 
 when he hoped to change her views. But the fatal decision 
 
1643] THE ARMY AND THE COUNCIL 209 
 
 was made, and a chance was lost which Hyde never ceased 
 to think was the most favourable ever likely to occur. He 
 had the less important satisfaction of finding his advice 
 prevail in regard to the answer to the Scotch General 
 Assembly. The King had desired to show his zeal for the 
 Church by a reasoned reply — in which perhaps he showed 
 that he inherited some of his father's taste for theological 
 discussion. Falkland would have had the reply confined 
 to a simple negative. Hyde gained the day for the reply 
 that was actually sent, which rejected the overture as the 
 act of egregious presumption that it was. 
 
 In the field some successes continued to attend the 
 arms of the King ; but they were marred by the growing 
 dissensions between the army officers and the Council. 
 The military party deemed that the hopes of the Crown lay 
 only in their sword-arm, and in the boisterous courage of their 
 troopers, who loved the freedom and excitement of the camp, 
 and promised themselves ample reward when the work 
 should be done. For them the niceties of legal discussion 
 and constitutional principles had no attraction. They recked 
 little of the difference between Bishop and Presbytery, and 
 to them it was only a matter about which orthodox opinions 
 had to be battered into the thick skuUs of the Eoundheads, 
 who must be taught that reverence for the lawn sleeves was 
 part of the rehgion of a gentleman. They were impatient 
 of the chicanery of pohtical arguments, and thought little 
 of the pursuit of any fixed course of policy by a body of 
 unwarhke statesmen, managing affairs from their safe retreat 
 at Oxford. The time, they deemed, was past for the politician, 
 and the fortunes of the nation were to be settled only on the 
 stricken field. 
 
 Meanwhile the tides of victory and disaster swept back- 
 wards and forwards with bewildering variety. If the 
 movements are puzzling to us, they were still more so to 
 
 VOL. I. P 
 
210 HYDE IN THE COUET AT OXFORD [chap, viii 
 
 those who attempted to follow the diverse reports that 
 reached them from day to day from different parts of the 
 comitry. If Newcastle had a passing triumph over Fairfax 
 in the north, it was balanced by the nimble marches in which 
 Waller swept westwards to Hereford. Prince Rupert 
 continued his impetuous career, and earned a dearly bought 
 victory in the capture of Bristol ; but Essex made a victorious 
 progress from the capital, with an army re-equipped and 
 strengthened, and seizing on Reading, estabhshed a post in 
 dangerous proximity to the Kiag's quarters at Oxford. 
 A symptom of Ul-omen for the cause was the loudly uttered 
 complaint that Reading had been surrendered by the 
 treachery of Colonel Fielding. He demanded a court-martial, 
 but, in spite of a good defence, he was convicted of treachery 
 and sentenced to death. The sentence was remitted, and 
 he Hved to do good service to the King. But the affair 
 started the pernicious seed of mihtary dissension, and of 
 cabals in the army which were yet to work stiU greater 
 mischief. The natural result of these dissensions was that 
 the frame of discipline was broken, and that the common 
 soldiers imitated the licence and turbulence of their officers. 
 The good relations with the people, amidst whom they were 
 quartered, were no longer maintained. Instead of restraint 
 and fair dealing, there arose riot and plunder ; and the 
 charges which had at first been brought against the hastily 
 raised levies of the ParHament were now raised with even 
 better reason against many bodies of the Royalists. In pro- 
 portion as the discipline of the Parhamentary forces advanced, 
 the standard of that prevailing amongst the King's troops 
 was lowered. " In so much," to use the words of Hyde,i 
 " as one side seemed to fight for Monarchy with the weapons 
 of confusion, and the other to destroy the King and Govern- 
 ment with all the principles and regularity of Monarchy." 
 
 ' BebeUion, vii. 276. 
 
1643] DIFFICULTY WITH PEINCE EUPEET 211 
 
 These quarrels amongst the military commanders had 
 appeared in a still more serious form in Bristol, where the 
 uncurbed arrogance of Prince Eupert had led to serious 
 disputes with the Marquis of Hertford, the most respected 
 of the King's adherents, with whose complaints against 
 the King's nephew the other members of the aristocratic 
 party made common cause. So heated had these discussions 
 become, and so evident was their danger to the cause, that 
 the King resolved himself to repair to Bristol, in order to 
 appease them. He took with him Hyde, Falkland, and 
 Colepepper. The strife was allayed rather than settled; 
 the King had not yet awakened from that fatal partiaHty 
 to his nephew which was to work such dire mischief before 
 the end. 
 
 At Bristol Hyde himself found reason to complain of 
 an infringement of his own proper official functions. The 
 chief advantage of the possession of Bristol was that it gave 
 the King a hold upon the great trading centre of the west, 
 and promised, in the customs and duties, a sure source of 
 financial supply, which, if well managed, was of untold 
 value. But Hyde found that his influence there was thwarted 
 by a grant of authority from the King to Ashbumham ' 
 
 ' John Ashbumham, bora in 1603, was connected through his mother 
 with the great Duke of Buckingham, and so secured his patronage. In 1628, 
 he became Groom of the Bed-chamber, and, as such, not only managed to 
 enrich himself, but to earn the entire confidence of the King. He sat in 
 the Long Parliament, but withdrew from it to attend the King, and was 
 formally expelled. For a time he had to fly to Holland, but returned later, 
 and was with the King at Hampton Court. The blunder by which he 
 and Sir John Berkeley betrayed the presence of Charles in the Isle of Wight, 
 to Colonel Hammond, the Governor, whom he fancied on no sufficient 
 grounds to be weU-afEected, made him an object of suspicion, but he never 
 lost the trust of the King. He suffered much under the Commonwealth, 
 and was once more Groom of the Bed-chamber after the Restoration. He 
 died in 1671. Hyde was never on cordial terms with him. He was a man 
 of stately presence and graceful maimers, and, so far as we can judge, of 
 sincere loyalty. It has been his misfortune to have his memory defended, 
 in a very foolish book, by " his lineal descendant," in 1830. His indiscretion 
 in critical circumstances brought about disasters. But, except for his 
 descendant's sUly defence, no one would visit hardly such an error in a 
 Groom of the Bed-chamber. 
 
212 HYDE IN THE COUET AT OXFORD [chap, vm 
 
 and Colepepper, to deal with the Bristol revenue. He found 
 it necessary to expostulate with his colleagues, and to 
 complain to the King ; and the complaint was repeated 
 with still more urgency by his friend Falkland, who made 
 all Hyde's grievances his own. He received explanations 
 and apologies ; but personal satisfaction did not remove 
 the source of a new mischief which sprang from such 
 private apphcations too readily admitted by the King. 
 Ashburnham's training at Court had taught him the habit 
 of annexing perquisites. 
 
 As the currents of victory and defeat passed backwards 
 and forwards, each side felt a new confidence in their own 
 military strength, and they were the less disposed to hsten 
 to a compromise ; and on both sides tempers were aroused 
 by losses which they longed to avenge. Amidst the Cornish 
 successes the King had lost, in an obscure skirmish at 
 Chagford, a young adherent of singular promise, and the 
 object of universal affection, — Sidney Godolphin ^ ; and in 
 the fight at Lansdown there had fallen the very soul of the 
 Cornish EoyaHst contingent. Sir Bevil Grenvil ; while his 
 stout comrade. Sir Ralph Hopton, was for a time disabled by 
 a wound. At Hopton Heath, by Stafford, the King's 
 troops had won a victory, dearly bought by the loss of the 
 Earl of Northampton, as signal in the unselfish devotion 
 of his loyalty as he was conspicuous by his prowess in the 
 field. He was a fine specimen of the magnate of the day, 
 sharing fatigue with the common soldier, mixing in the 
 thick of the fight, and he fell surrounded by the enemy, 
 and disdaining the quarter which was freely offered him. 
 The capture of Bristol had not been effected without 
 heavy losses, that made it but a Pyrrhic victory. Not 
 the least notable of these was the young Lord Grandison, 
 a model of knightly chivalry, alike in courage and in 
 ' See ante, p. 31. Godolphin had been one of the circle at Tew. 
 
1643] DEATH OP HAMPDEN 213 
 
 gentleness.^ With such a spirit amongst them, and such 
 a debt of vengeance to repay, the Eoyalists were Uttle in 
 the mood for peace. 
 
 In the city and amongst the adherents of Parliament, 
 there were many who did not feel the same ardour for the war. 
 They, too, had suffered heavy losses. In June, the gentlest, 
 the most conciliatory, the most courteous, and the most 
 unselfish of those who had opposed the King, had ridden, 
 mortaUy wounded, from a skirmish at Chalgrave Field, 
 and died within a week. In John Hampden, behind that 
 mask of courtesy, there lay an intensity of purpose, and a 
 subtle power of guiding other men, that made him a tower 
 of strength to his party. He had left no legacy of a desire 
 for compromise. Whatever had been his purposes at first, 
 the charge of high treason, levelled against him, had made 
 him the relentless enemy of the King. " Without question," 
 says Hyde, " when he first drew his sword, he threw away 
 the scabbard ; " and he had consistently disapproved any 
 overtures for an accommodation. 
 
 But there were others on that side — and they had no 
 small support in the city — ^who thought that the time was 
 come once more for proposing terms of peace. The House of 
 Commons were stern enough ; they refused to concur with 
 the Lords in accepting overtures from the King; they 
 levelled a charge of treason against the Queen for bringing 
 in a supply of arms for those who were fighting against " The 
 King and his Parhament ; " and they threatened to deal 
 with his emissaries as spies. But defections from their side 
 proceeded apace. 
 
 ' Of Grandison, whose birth and connections are described on p. 145, note, 
 Hyde writes : " He was a young man of so virtuous a habit of mind, that 
 no temptation or provocation could corrupt him ; so great a love of justice 
 and integrity, that the Court, or camp, could not show a more faultless 
 person, or one to whose example young men might more reasonably conform 
 themselves." The only charges brought against him were that as a youth 
 he had been venturesome in duels, and that he was stUl " too prodigal of 
 his person." 
 
214 HYDE IN THE COUET AT OXFOKD [chap, viu 
 
 When the King and Queen were again in Oxford, some 
 repentant perverts came with proffers of allegiance. These 
 were Holland, who never remained long fixed to one set of 
 principles ; Bedford, the son of that Earl whose death in 
 the previous year had removed the man in whom Hyde 
 placed most hope for a fair compromise between the King 
 and the aggressive part in the Parliament ; and the Earl of 
 Clare.^ A still greater defection was, not without good 
 reason, anticipated, and would have taken place had Essex, 
 who had all but abandoned the ParUamentary party in 
 disgust, not been persuaded to prolong his allegiance, and 
 link his fortune still more closely with theirs. Even 
 Northumberland had once more shown symptoms of wishing 
 to release himself from the Parliamentary net. 
 
 About the reception of Lord Clare no difficulty arose. 
 But when the King returned to Oxford he found his adherents 
 there violently divided on the question of Bedford and 
 Holland. Bedford had in person fought against the King, 
 and of Holland's double-faced treachery there could be no 
 doubt. The question of allowing them to come from 
 Wallingford to Oxford was fiercely debated. For once 
 Hyde found himself in agreement with the Queen, who, by 
 the persuasion of Jermyn, had come to think that in Holland 
 and Bedford she would find aUies for her own party in the 
 Court at Oxford. For different reasons Hyde thought that 
 repentant opponents should be welcomed and encouraged. 
 But most of the others were too indignant to have any 
 dealings with the traitorous earls ; and although it was 
 decided, after long discussion, that they should be permitted 
 to present themselves, and although they actually did betake 
 
 ' John Hollis, eldest son of the first Earl of dare, was bom in 1595, and 
 survived the Restoration, dying in 1666. He was the brother of the notable 
 Parliamentary leader, Denzil Hollis, who made terms with the Royalists 
 before the Restoration, was created Lord HoUis in 1661, and survived till 
 1680. Their sister was the wife of Strafford. 
 
1643] BATTLE OF NEWBUEY 215 
 
 themselves to lodgings, one in Magdalen and the other in 
 Balliol, they found themselves coldly received, treated with 
 marked disdain, and finally were forced to quit the Court in 
 disgust at the scorn of their overtures. Holland ^ was the 
 first to go, and he was quickly followed by Bedford and Clare. 
 Northumberland, who from his retreat at one of his own 
 houses, had watched the issue of the negotiations, returned 
 and made his peace with Parliament. Once more what 
 Hyde thought a good opportunity for reviving the fortunes 
 of the Royahsts was recklessly thrown away. 
 
 The defections of the discontented Lords had left the 
 extreme party in Parliament masters of the situation ; and 
 although for a short space the King's affairs seemed to 
 march prosperously, the fixed determination of the Parha- 
 mentary leaders soon repaired their losses, and enabled 
 Essex to start on a victorious campaign. The King's siege 
 of Gloucester was raised : Essex seized on Cirencester ; and 
 the success of Prince Rupert at Cranbome Chase only stayed 
 for a time the prosperous advance of Essex. It was at 
 Newbury that the forces of the King met those of Essex on 
 September 19th, and an undecided battle left the road free 
 for Essex to return to London after a series of notable 
 triumphs which completely restored the confidence of his 
 party. Before winter set in each side were shaping for more 
 decisive action. 
 
 The Battle of Newbury marked for Edward Hyde an 
 epoch, not in the campaign only, but in his Ufe. The losses 
 there were notable ; and we need not be unduly surprised 
 that Hyde, after the fashion of his day, weighs hghtly the 
 chance of some obscure officer having fallen, or some citizen's 
 wife having been put into mourning, on the Parliament 
 side, as compared with those cavaHers of birth and fortune 
 
 • See History of Rebellion, vii. 247. Holland was ill received by the 
 Parliament (Ibid., 311). 
 
216 HYDE IN THE COURT AT OXFORD [chap, viii 
 
 who gave their lives for the King. The Earl of Sunderland ' 
 fell in his first campaign — a youth of twenty-three ; and the 
 Earl of Carnarvon,^ who had redeemed a life of luxury and 
 easy pleasure by devoted loyalty, which was in his case 
 joined with a keen military instinct, untainted honour, 
 and a promise of discernment in statesmanship which 
 aristocratic idleness had concealed until adversity had 
 wakened it. 
 
 But there was one, above all the others, in whose death 
 Hyde " lost the joy and comfort of his life." By all the 
 ties of early friendship, by close association in pursuits that 
 inspired all their deeper feelings, and shaped their warmest 
 aspirations, Falkland and Hyde were bound together with a 
 love passing that of brothers. The very variety of their 
 dispositions made one the complement of the other. 
 Falkland found in Hyde that discernment of men, that 
 tried instinct in affairs, that fixity of poUtical aim, and that 
 unswerving devotion to the dominant traditions of consti- 
 tutional order in Church and State which were required to 
 guide his vaguer aspirations, his proneness to linger over 
 the defects of either side, and his lack of definite conviction 
 on the leading questions of the day. In Falkland Hyde 
 found one who enlarged his sympathies, gave a wider range 
 to his precociously practical perception of worldly wisdom, 
 and imparted higher ideals to the somewhat professional 
 cast of his political aims. They supphed one another's 
 defects and supported one another in a lofty effort to rise 
 
 ' This Earl of Sunderland was bom in 1620, succeeded his father as Lord 
 Spencer in 1636, and in 1639 became the husband of Dorothy Sidney, 
 daughter of Lord Leicester, and celebrated as Waller's Sacharissa. He was 
 a youth of singular promise, and after acquitting himself well at EdgehiU, he 
 was created Earl of Sunderland in June, 1643. He was killed three months 
 later at Newbury. His son, bom in 1640, became the byword for political 
 treachery and tergiversation in the Revolution period, and earned the 
 distrust of every party with which he acted, and of every sovereign whom 
 he served. 
 
 - Robert Dormer, Earl of Carnarvon, 1610-1643. 
 
LUCIUS C'ARY, LORD FALKLAND . 
 
 {From the original in the Bodleian, Oxford. Painter unknown.) 
 
1643] DEATH OP FALKLAND 217 
 
 above the petty selfishness that often ruled supreme in 
 the troubled sea of poHtical trouble that raged around 
 them. Hyde's statesmanship was more profound ; his 
 perception of political expediency more acute ; but to a 
 feebler practical ability Falkland added the romance and 
 chivalry of the soldier's instinct. Henceforward Hyde was 
 to tread alone, and unsustained by that ardent alffection, the 
 steep and arduous path that lay before him. 
 
 In the dignified and passionate elegy which Hyde utters 
 upon Falkland's grave, he tells us in words that sound with 
 thrilHng force through all these years, the noble traits of his 
 friend's character. He traces his life once more through all 
 these years ; he shows his acute appreciation of the motives 
 that shaped Falkland's views in all the early stages of the 
 troubled times ; he sets forth the reasons for Falkland's 
 acceptance of the heavy burden of service as minister of a 
 falling monarchy, the high principles that inspired him in 
 his task, and the doubts and perplexities that encumbered 
 his instincts as a soldier with sad misgivings as to the 
 confusion and evil tendencies of the times. These are the 
 solemn words in which Hyde describes the last tragic scene 
 of his friend's short life — 
 
 " When there was any overture or hope of peace, he 
 would be more erect and vigorous, and exceedingly solicitous 
 to press anything which he thought might promote it ; and 
 sitting among his friends, often, after a deep silence and 
 frequent sighs, would, with a shrill and sad accent, inger- 
 minate the word Peace, Peace ; and would passionately 
 profess, ' that the very agony of the war, and the view of 
 the calamities and desolations the kingdom did and must 
 endure, took his sleep from him, and would shortly break his 
 heart.' This made some think, or pretend to think, ' that 
 he was so much enamoured on peace, that he would have 
 been glad the King should have bought it at any price ; ' 
 which was a most unreasonable calumny. As if a man, that 
 
218 HYDE IN THE COURT AT OXFORD [chap, viii 
 
 was himself the most punctual and precise in every circum- 
 stance that might reflect upon conscience or honour, could 
 have wished the King to have committed a trespass against 
 either. And yet this senseless scandal made some impression 
 upon him, or at least he used it for an excuse of the daringness 
 of his spirit. ... He would say merrily ' that his office could 
 not take away the privileges of his age ; and that a secretary 
 in war might be present at the greatest secret of danger ; ' 
 but withal alleged seriously ' that it concerned him to be 
 more active in enterprises of danger than other men ; that 
 all might see that his impatiency for peace proceeded not 
 from pusillanimity or fear to adventure his own person.' . . . 
 Whoever leads such a Ufe needs not care upon how short 
 warning it be taken from him." ^ 
 
 ' BebeUion, vii. 233. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 FIGHTING AND PARLEYING 
 
 For eighteen months more Hyde was to remain as guide and 
 adviser at Oxford before he took his farewell of the King. 
 They were months eventful, alike in fighting and in policy, 
 on both sides. So far as the fighting was concerned, no real 
 skill in strategy, and no plan consistently pursued, had yet 
 appeared on one side or the other. In pohcy new causes of 
 exasperation, and with these new projects and designs, were 
 arising each month. The military affairs do not enter 
 directly into Hyde's biography. But his was the steadying 
 and, in the main, the guiding influence in pohcy ; and he 
 could not discharge his thankless task without keeping 
 himself in touch with every turn in the shifting fortune of 
 the battlefield, and every passing broil in the motley band of 
 military leaders. He was no longer sustaiaed in that task 
 by the friend who was bound to him by ties of the most 
 entice sympathy, and by an affection that endured as the 
 strongest of his Ufe. 
 
 Falkland fell in September, 1643. The outlook was then 
 black indeed for the cause of the King. In the preceding 
 June Charles had taken a step of doubtful policy, which made 
 hopes of conciliation more remote. Its motive was clear 
 enough. Was it dignified, or even wise, for the King to 
 continue to address that House, which had extorted from 
 him the concession that dissolution should depend solely on 
 their own will, and a remnant only of which now, with the 
 
220 FIGHTING AND PARLEYING [chap, ix 
 
 solemn title of Parliament, exercised tyrannical power and 
 treated all variety of opinion as treason ? The name of 
 Parliament wielded an almost superstitious influence upon 
 the minds of the people, and it seemed possible that by 
 disputing its pretensions the King might dissipate the spell 
 that it exercised on popular fancy. 
 
 It was the King himself who first mooted the new project 
 to Hyde ; and he did it as follows. 
 
 It was true that he had assented to the Act which made 
 dissolution independent of his wiH. But he doubted whether 
 such assent was legal, and whether he could divest himself of 
 such an inherent and essential part of his prerogative. Even 
 were this not so, the fact that the dominant majority 
 had expelled so many members, had forced the King to 
 withdraw from Whitehall, and had steeped itself in re- 
 bellion and treason, surely deprived it of the character of 
 a Parhament. 
 
 The argument had the inherent vice of aU those contri- 
 vances by which a man tries to slip out of the consequences 
 of his own acts ; and it is one of those many devices by which 
 the King gave some reason to the charges of Jesuitical 
 reasoning so often urged against him. It did not carry weight 
 with Hyde, and he had no hesitation in stating his doubts. 
 To declare against the authority of Parhament would provoke 
 the fiercest jealousy, and end for ever all hope of accommoda- 
 tion. The Act which assigned to it the veto on its own 
 dissolution might be right or wrong ; but to dispute it on 
 the ground that the royal assent was invahd would be to 
 raise a similar doubt as to aU the Acts by which the King had 
 made concessions to the popular demands. It would at once 
 consohdate all the wavering elements on the Parhamentary 
 side, and force them, if they desired to assure even the most 
 moderate security for Uberty, to side with those who would 
 carry on the resistance to the bitter end. 
 
1643] AUTHOEITY OP PAELIAMENT QUESTIONED 221 
 
 By the King Hyde was referred to Herbert, the Attorney- 
 General, who had clearly encouraged, if he had not absolutely 
 suggested, the arguments by which the King tried to justify 
 the proposal. Herbert was one of those sulky natures who, 
 after they have persuaded themselves of a certain course by 
 means of pedantic legal arguments, resent any other view as 
 a personal insult. He had not intelligence sufficient to form, 
 nor modesty sufficient to allow himself to be guided to, any 
 simple and straightforward course of action. Driven from an 
 opinion which he could not defend, he only involved himself 
 and others in a maze of verbal confusion. It was with 
 difficulty that either Hyde or the King persuaded him to 
 attempt to put his views on paper ; and when he did so the 
 result was that Charles's exaggerated estimate of his abihty — 
 perhaps due to an iimate sympathy for legal chicanery — 
 underwent a startling modification. Herbert no longer 
 carried any weight with him. 
 
 Hyde was prepared to admit that a fair argument against 
 the authority of Parhament might be grounded on the fact 
 that it was acting under coercion, and that many of its 
 members were illegally excluded. That its participation in 
 treason could involve its dissolution was a figment that he 
 promptly dispelled. Treason might disqualify those who 
 were proved guilty of it, but the act of individuals could not 
 possibly take away from Parhament its essential character. 
 A Declaration was accordingly issued, which made no attempt 
 to escape from the consequences of an Act which had re- 
 ceived, with aU due formaUty, the seal of the royal assent, 
 but which virtually declined to recognize the authority of 
 the Parhament at Westminster, constituted as it was. 
 
 It was only natural that this should kindle new resentment 
 in the Parhament. It made the thought of accommodation 
 more than ever impossible, and inflicted a discouraging blow 
 on those who were disposed to press for it. The same effect 
 
222 FIGHTING AND PAELEYING [chap, ix 
 
 was increased by the alarming discovery of a plot in their 
 own midst, by which the city was to be seized for the King, 
 the Parliament's sympathizers in the Common Council im- 
 prisoned, and the centre of their credit handed over to the 
 military forces of the Crown. Two men of position in the 
 city, Tomkins and Challoner, were involved ; and with 
 them Edmund Waller, who besides being the brother-in-law 
 of Tomkins, was the near kinsman of Cromwell and of 
 Hampden, and whose ingratiating popularity, as well as his 
 silvery eloquence, gave him a weight in Parliament rarely 
 accorded to one whose chief occupation lay in the service of 
 the Muses and in the cultivation of a reputation — ^European 
 in its ambit — of a polished wit. Severe examples must be 
 made and dire vengeance taken for a plot so daring. Tomkins 
 and Challoner were executed ; and Waller escaped only by 
 a craven submission, by a fuU confession, and by an appeal 
 to Parliament to which his wit and eloquence supphed 
 irresistible weight. He was fined £10,000, and hved to a 
 ripe old age with a reputation which his shiftiness depressed, 
 and which only his wit and social tact redeemed from utter 
 abasement. 
 
 Neither one side nor the other were yet prepared to admit 
 defeat, although neither had the resources or the skill to 
 achieve victory. Only further bloodshed could bring a 
 settlement, and meanwhile, during the winter months, each 
 could seek to secure their.own political position, and strengthen 
 their alliances. 
 
 The death of Falkland had left a Secretaryship of State 
 vacant. The King proposed that it should be filled by Hyde ; 
 but Hyde knew the measure of his own capacity, and he also 
 had experience enough of the jealousy felt at Court on 
 account of bis increasing influence. Once more, as when 
 it was proposed that he should take the place of Nicholas, 
 he refused the offer, on the plea of ignorance of foreign 
 
1643] PLOT IN THE CITY 223 
 
 affairs and of foreign languages, and joined his influence to 
 that of the Queen, who pressed the claims of Digby. Hyde 
 knew Digby's quickness and capacity, much as he distrusted 
 his waywardness and his whims. He had at least the 
 experience and knowledge of foreign affairs which the 
 position called for, and his powers were soon put to the test. 
 
 In France, a change of vast significance had taken place 
 by the removal from the scene of Louis XIII and of Richelieu. 
 The balance of influence there had passed into another 
 faction, and there was some hope that a new policy of greater 
 sympathy with the British Crown might be evoked. The 
 former ambassador was recalled, and in his place was sent 
 the Count d'Harcourt — a distinguished soldier, a noble of 
 royal descent, and the distant connection of the English 
 Kuig. The Queen and Digby cherished fond hopes of 
 effective assistance from their friends in France. But it 
 soon appeared that Mazarin was only feeUng his way ; that 
 he had no mind to an irreparable breach with the English 
 ParUament, nor sought to pursue a dangerous knight errantry 
 in succouring the King from the hands of his foes. Harcourt 
 came nominally as ambassador, really as a spy. His object 
 was ostensibly to assist in bringing about an accommodation ; 
 in truth it was to establish a good understanding with the 
 Parliamentary leaders. Rumours were rife that French 
 gold had made them more ready to accept his overtures. 
 Be that as it may, the ambassador soon retired, leaving the 
 hopes of the Royalists even lower than before, and having 
 established direct relations, over the head of the King, with 
 his rebeUious subjects. 
 
 On the part of the King and of Parliament new steps were 
 in progress for securing their position. Littleton had carried 
 the Great Seal to the King, and it proves the long survival of 
 respect for law even amid the clash of arms, that the absence 
 of that ceremonial badge was felt to weaken the Parliament's 
 
224 FIGHTING AND PAELEYING [chap, ix 
 
 authority. The Parhamentary leaders took the strong step 
 now of issuing orders for a new Great Seal, which was 
 placed in the hands of duly nominated Commissioners. 
 Although the King was absent, the emblem of his authority 
 was now replaced. 
 
 One of the greatest perplexities of the King, as it gave 
 to the Parliament a pretext for suspecting his allegiance to 
 Protestantism, had been the management of the Irish 
 rebeUion. While they refused him the means of staying the 
 progress of the rebels, the Parliament was able to lay to his 
 charge the triumphs in Ireland of the cause of Papacy, on the 
 ground that he would not agree to their terms, and combine 
 with them — or rather abandon to their hands — the conduct 
 of military affairs there. Charles saw that this festering sore 
 was draining at once his resources and his reputation as a 
 sincere Protestant, and that at aU hazards some reUef must 
 be given to the sufferings of that country from a civil war 
 which — allowing for all exaggeration — was being waged with 
 unexampled bitterness, and was permitting a dangerous 
 interference by foreign powers. He made terms for a 
 cessation of arms ; and once that was arranged, the order was 
 sent to the Marquis of Ormonde to despatch to the King's 
 assistance some of the troops liberated from the immediate 
 task of subjugating the Irish rebels. It was a dangerous 
 experiment. The accusation of faithlessness to his Protestant 
 subjects, of intriguing with Popish powers abroad, of unholy 
 compacts for the extirpation of the reformed reUgion, 
 increased in virulence. The moderate contingent of troops 
 sent over from Ireland were soon defeated and dispersed. 
 The vain effort to recruit his resources by condoning the guilt 
 of rebellion, and withdrawing some of the troops sent to put 
 it down, was worse than useless ; it seemed almost to give 
 colour to the very charges which the Parliament were most 
 anxious to maintain. 
 
1643] SCOTTISH AND IRISH CONTINGENTS 225 
 
 A far more effective means of seeking a new alliance 
 presented itself to the Parliament. The faction of Argyle 
 had long been dominant in Scotland. Any tincture of 
 Royalist tendency which yet lived there was effaced by the 
 essential sympathy between those in both countries who 
 sought to depress the authority of the Crown. Argyle had 
 pressing need of support. Strong as he was in Scotland, by 
 virtue of his passing skill in dissimulation, he had in the 
 Marquis of Hamilton and his brother, the Earl of Lanark, 
 more than doubtful allies, and in the Earl of Montrose an 
 open and implacable foe. It was almost of necessity his 
 policy to form a close bond with the English Parliament. 
 The overtures were readily received, and Commissioners 
 were soon sent from England to treat of the conditions 
 upon which a Scottish army might enter England as the 
 allies of the Parliament. 
 
 The arrangements were not simple, and in the turbulent 
 sea of Scottish politics it was easy to discern currents that 
 would contend fiercely with the main stream of the English 
 popular movement. The Solemn League and Covenant, which 
 embodied the fundamental standard of Scottish Presbyterian- 
 ism, was the most powerful weapon in the hands of Argyle, 
 and all who felt with him. It was by means of this that the 
 most powerful, selfish, and unscrupulous of aristocratic 
 oligarchies enlisted in its support aU that was fervent and 
 enthusiastic in the popular sympathies of Scotland. No 
 tampering with it was possible ; and no alliance that did not 
 rest upon this foundation was admissible. How could it be 
 made palatable to English appetites ? 
 
 The leading commissioner sent to deal with the Scots 
 was the younger Sir Henry Vane,^ a man who, to his father's 
 turbulence, joined a dexterity in the management of hazar- 
 dous combinations to which that father could not pretend. 
 
 ' Commonly known, Anthony a Wood tells us, as Sir Humorous Vanity. 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
226 FIGHTING AND PARLEYING [chap, ix 
 
 From his experience in America, he had acquired a love of 
 political intrigue, and a strong sympathy with the Independent 
 phase of religious or ecclesiastical doctrine ; and this was en- 
 hanced by his natural tendency to a sort of mystic exaltation, 
 in him united with an instinctive love of tortuous ingenuity. 
 With marvellous subtlety he managed to bring the Scottish 
 leaders to trust their proposed allies, and the English Parha- 
 ment to accept, under easy reservations, the Solemn League 
 and Covenant, which was the price to be paid for the assist- 
 ance of the Scottish army. It was, indeed, a feat of 
 MachiavelHan dexterity to bring a party which was hotly 
 set upon the extirpation of Episcopacy — very largely because 
 Episcopacy was the faithful ally of the Crown — to accept 
 the yoke of an intolerant Presbyterianism, of whose creed the 
 monarchical system formed an inherent part. 
 
 It was in vain that the King strove, by new addresses and 
 negotiations, to break the compact between the Scots and 
 Parliament. It was hard for any one at Oxford to see through 
 the tortuous mazes of Scottish poUtics. The King knew not 
 whom to trust. He had long since discerned how little he 
 could depend upon the treacherous pretence of loyalty 
 assumed by Argyle. Hamilton and Lanark were not much 
 more worthy of confidence, although Lanark's shiftiness was 
 due rather to the influence of his brother than to anything in 
 his own disposition. Even as to Montrose it was hard to 
 judge what rehance could be placed on his vehement denuncia- 
 tions of the treachery of men who were his inveterate foes ; 
 and the difficulty was the greater because scandal perhaps 
 credited him with an offer to remove them by assassination.^ 
 
 ' It is perhaps too much to say that such a scandal ever took sub- 
 stantial form. That rough soldier of fortune, the Earl of Crawford, did 
 certainly ofEer to kidnap Hamilton and Argyle, or to stab them with his 
 own hand, and the same readiness in ruthless method may have been 
 ascribed to Montrose. Strangely enough, Hyde, when ■ivriting his Life far 
 from documents, did assume its truth : but it found no place in his 
 earlier, and more accurate History of the ReheUion. In any case Montrose's 
 character gives the lie to the story. 
 
1643] SCOTTISH AID TO PARLIAMENT 227 
 
 The Eoyalist policy in regard to Scotland was nothing 
 but a helpless groping after some hght amidst its darkness. 
 Hamilton and Lanark came to Oxford, but were first 
 received with coldness, and then placed under arrest. 
 Within this sphere of political action Hyde's guidance, 
 if it was exerted, was worse than useless. He neither 
 possessed, nor sought to acquire, any real knowledge of 
 Scottish affairs. The beginning and end of his policy towards 
 Scotland was relentless and uncompromising hatred for a 
 nation which he held to be steeped in rebellion, hardened to 
 an uncouth form of reUgious creed and ceremonial, inspired 
 only by restless selfishness, and ready to achieve its ends by 
 flagrant breaches of every law of conscience or of honour. 
 In one point only Hyde's pohtical instinct was absolutely 
 correct in regard to any compact with Scotland. It told 
 him that no compromise would be more fatal to his own 
 ideals, or more inconsistent with the deepest feelings of the 
 mass of Englishmen, than one which sought to foist upon 
 England the yoke of an ahen Presbyterianism. 
 
 The negotiations between the Court and the Scottish 
 Parliament failed absolutely ; and for the time a new and 
 heavy blow was dealt to the hopes of the adherents of the King. 
 Those between Vane and the Scottish Covenanters resulted 
 in the acceptance of the Covenant by the English Parhament, 
 and the presence in England in January, 164|, of a Scottish 
 army of 21,000 men. It may almost be said that the compact 
 sowed the seeds of a growth which eventually led to the 
 disruption of that party for whose strength and confidence 
 it was arranged. Hyde failed, as a diplomatist, in deaUng 
 with the Scots ; but he judged correctly, as a prophet, 
 the path which his own countrymen would ultimately tread. 
 
 The violence of the ecclesiastical poUcy of the Parhament 
 had already shown itself. Hundreds of Episcopahan 
 ministers had already been thrust out of their charges. 
 
228 FIGHTING AND PARLEYING [chap, ix 
 
 Armed soldiers had dispersed congregations, and the attempt 
 to read the Book of Common Prayer had been summarily 
 repressed. Now the taking of the oath to the Solemn League 
 and Covenant was enforced on every incumbent. For the 
 time, a triumphant Presbyterianism had full scope for its 
 intolerant sway. The Parliamentary leaders were soon to find 
 that the advantages that they thus gained might be purchased 
 too dearly. Before many months were over there were 
 murmurings between the EngHsh and the Scottish armies ; 
 before a year was over Independency was showing its power, 
 and England was realizing that she had gained little by 
 enthroning Presbyterianism in place of Episcopacy. 
 
 The policy of this new compact had been strongly sup- 
 ported by one, the end of whose career was near. Pym's 
 health failed rapidly during the autumn — according to the 
 most trustworthy accounts, from a painful internal ailment. 
 To him, probably more than to any other man, the gradual 
 progress of the Parliamentary opposition had been due. He 
 had guided it in its first stages ; had intervened, with the 
 instinct of a Parliamentary tactician, at the critical moment in 
 the most important debates ; and again and again he had given 
 the lead at a doubtful juncture. His object from the first 
 had been, not merely to curb the excesses of the Royal preroga- 
 tive, but fundamentally to alter the relative position of the 
 Crown and the Parliament ; to introduce something like the 
 modern system, in which the Crown acts only through 
 responsible ministers, who virtually owe their position to 
 Parliamentary support — a system in which the theory that 
 the Sovereign can do no wrong is reconciled with actual 
 facts by arranging that, however great the personal influence 
 of the holder of the Crown may be, he can, as a Sovereign, 
 undertake no political act whatever, independent of his 
 ministers. It is a scheme, perhaps salutary, but at the very 
 least as revolutionary as was that which inspired Strafford 
 
JOHN PYJI. 
 
 {From the original by Cornelius Janssen, in the Victoria and Albert 
 Museum. ) 
 
1643] DEATH OP PYM 229 
 
 in the opposite direction. Pym is entitled to claim the credit 
 due to one who anticipated a movement which was destined 
 eventually to point the line of Enghsh constitutional develop- 
 ment down to our own day. He would be a rash man who 
 would claim for it finahty ; the man who would claim for it 
 indubitable supremacy amongst all other constitutional 
 systems, or hold it to be a sure guarantee of individual hberty, 
 proves only his own dogmatic confidence. Pym, as a poli- 
 tician, was simply an adherent, by anticipation, of the creed 
 associated with the Whig of the days of the Revolution and 
 the Act of Settlement. But before England accepted the 
 pohtical settlement at which he aimed, she had to shake 
 herself free from the incubus of a rehgious system alien to 
 her tastes, her traditions, and her sympathies. It was in 
 partnership with a strong national Episcopacy, and not in 
 alliance with an alien Presbyterianism, that she ultimately 
 shaped her constitutional future. 
 
 Pym's aims, then, were neither very exalted nor very 
 original, but they undoubtedly showed much foresight. To 
 realize them he applied with much skill the arts that must 
 be practised by a Parhamentary leader. In the modern 
 sense of the word he and Hampden may be said to be the 
 first of the long line, and these two laid down some rules 
 that have guided their successors ever since. Pym's was 
 no accidental leadership, nor was it designated by any 
 patron or chque. He was emphatically leader because 
 he had the power to lead. He was not exempt from 
 the temptation, incidental to the position, of submitting 
 himself to a poUcy with which he was not in accord, 
 because it was necessary in order to hold his party 
 together. He accepted the Solemn League and Covenant, 
 most undoubtedly, from poUcy and not from conviction. 
 This does not involve any charge of personal dishonesty, 
 nor is there any sufficient ground for maintaining 
 
230 FIGHTING AND PARLEYING [chap, ix 
 
 such a charge against Pym. That he was ready to enter 
 into negotiations for accepting office from the King as late 
 as the autumn of 1641, involves no implication against his 
 honour, nor any abandonment of his aim. He may well 
 have supposed that, as a minister with a powerful Parlia- 
 mentary backing, he could have moulded the actual adminis- 
 tration to his own mind, and reduced the Crown to the degree 
 of stripping away all its independent pohtical power, without 
 taking from it the weight of personal influence. That he 
 accepted bribes from France would require proof stronger 
 than mere gossip, and is scarcely consistent with his dying 
 a poor man, whose debts Parliament had to pay. 
 
 Pym died in December, and in January, 164|, the Scottish 
 army, whose assistance had been bought, by his advice, at the 
 price of accepting the Solemn League and Covenant, entered 
 England. In the same month a bold defiance was offered 
 to the Parliament, by the meeting at Oxford of those members 
 of both Houses who had long been expelled, or had withdrawn, 
 from Westminster, and whom the King had summoned to 
 meet him where his Court was then held. The numbers 
 were considerable : not fewer than 118 of the Commons and 
 43 of the Lords responded to his summons. The King ad- 
 dressed both Houses in the Hall of Christ Church, and after- 
 wards the two Houses sat separately in the Convocation 
 Rooms. They at once showed their readiness to enter upon 
 negotiations for a settlement. A letter, signed by all Peers 
 and members of the House of Commons who were at Oxford, 
 was sent to Lord Essex on January 29th, stating their own 
 anxiety " in the deep and piercing sense of the present 
 miseries and desolations of our country ... to be happy 
 instruments of our country's redemption from the miseries 
 of war," and inviting Essex " to take part in that blessed 
 work." They pray for his help in arranging that " some 
 persons be appointed on either part, and a place agreed on, 
 
1644] PARLIAMENT AT OXFORD 231 
 
 to treat of such a peace as may yet redeem our country from 
 the brink of desolation." ^ 
 
 The purpose of the letter would seem too good to be 
 recklessly thrust aside by any one who had the public weal 
 at heart. But Essex was in a difficult position. He was the 
 servant of the " Parliament assembled at Westminster," and 
 to receive as authoritative a communication from " the 
 Parliament assembled at Oxford " would have been a breach 
 of his commission. Technically he was right simply to 
 acknowledge " a letter and parchment subscribed by divers 
 Lords and gentlemen " and to answer that " it neither 
 having address to the two Houses of Parliament, nor therein 
 there being any acknowledgment of them, I could not 
 communicate it to them." No solution of the dispute was 
 to be hoped for, through the medium of rival Parliaments, 
 each denying the right of the other to recognition. The 
 intention might be laudable, but its method was foredoomed 
 to failure. 
 
 So far as can be seen, the dehberations of both Houses 
 followed very much the lines indicated by the Council of the 
 King, or rather by the smaller council, which was called the 
 Junto or Cabinet,^ and there is no evidence that any division 
 of parties was developed, or that long debates took place. 
 One important step they did take, but only following a 
 poHcy which had already been adopted by the Parliament 
 at Westminster. In January that House had, to meet its 
 financial necessities, established an excise " upon wine, beer, 
 ale, and many other commodities." ^ The example was too 
 good to be thrown away, and in March a similar excise was 
 estabHshed in all the towns held by the King. On both 
 
 ' Bebdlion, vii. 373. 
 
 2 This consisted of the Duke of Eichmond, Lord Cottington, Lord 
 Digby and Nicholas, the Secretaries of State, Sir John Colepepper, Master 
 of the Rolls, and Hyde, Chancellor of the Exchequer (Life, i. 204). 
 
 = Eebdlion, vii. 396. 
 
232 FIGHTING AND PARLEYING [chap, ix 
 
 sides it proved the easiest and most sure source of financial 
 supply. Both sides made, as Hyde tells us, " ample declara- 
 tions, with bitter reproaches upon the necessity that drew 
 on this imposition, ' that it should be continued no longer 
 than to the end of the war and then laid down and utterly 
 abolished ' ; " " which few wise men," he adds, " beUeved it 
 would ever be." His own experience, as Chancellor of a 
 very impoverished exchequer, was quite sufficient to give 
 him confidence in that early prognostication, which time has 
 proved so true. 
 
 The spring saw the renewal of the campaign, and the 
 months of early summer were filled with some thrilling 
 adventures. Oxford was threatened as the Parliamentary 
 forces seemed to close around it. The Oxford Parliament 
 had done what little was required of it, besides furnishing 
 the means of surrounding the Court with more of legal form 
 and authority, and it was prorogued till October. In April 
 the Queen, who knew the inveterate hostility she had aroused, 
 and against whom Parliament had launched an impeachment, 
 quitted Oxford, and took what was fated to be her last 
 farewell of the King, her husband. She retired to Exeter, 
 where in June she gave birth to a Princess, who began her 
 short life amidst the noise and confusion of civil war, and 
 ended it under a cloud of suspicion as Duchess of Orleans. 
 Before the Queen's health was re-established, she was anxious 
 to take the waters at Bath, and applied to Essex for a safe 
 conduct, which was refused ; and the almost sarcastic offer 
 of a conduct to London was proposed instead. With the spirit 
 of her race she ventured the journey to Falmouth indepen- 
 dently, and safely escaped to France. 
 
 The state of military preparation was not fitted to inspire 
 confidence amongst the Royalists ; and the worst feature of 
 all was the ignoble suspicions and jealousies — both against 
 the members of the Council and against each other — which 
 
1644] PINAL DEPARTUEE OE THE QUEEN 233 
 
 prevailed from the highest to the lowest grade of the officers, 
 and naturally infected the rank and file of the King's 
 army. Little as he personally could presume to judge of 
 tactics, Hyde saw enough to know that no consistent military 
 plan was pursued for many days together. Had they held 
 with strength the various garrisons round Oxford, within 
 easy striking distance of the capital, in case it should be left 
 deserted, and had they moved a strong force to aid their 
 friends in the west, such a plan would in Hyde's opinion 
 have brought good promise of success to the Royalist arms. 
 But this was precisely what was not done. Jealousy as to 
 command, the over-obstinacy of one, the wayward change- 
 ableness of another, and above all the constant jealousy of 
 the Council, which could alone judge of the political position, 
 perplexed all plans, and made it plain that the Royalists were 
 in no position to avail themselves even of such chances as 
 might be offered. The Council of War admitted to its 
 deliberations only Digby and Colepepper, of the officers of 
 State. When Hyde himself was consulted, it was only when 
 it was too late for advice, and when ways and means had 
 to be provided. 
 
 Of the miUtary officers — besides Prince Rupert, who set 
 authority at defiance — the first in position was Lord Ruthen, 
 the old Scotch general, created first Earl of Forth, and then, 
 in this year 1644, Earl of Brentford. He had military 
 experience, and unquestionable courage and integrity. 
 But his best work was done. Never more than the rough 
 Scottish military adventurer, he had acquired the vices of 
 his class, and his very moderate understanding was now 
 often muddled by drink. He had a convenient deafness, 
 which could always, when he chose, relieve him of responsi- 
 bility for plans proposed in his presence and accepted 
 without demur, which it might be convenient for him 
 afterwards to disavow. Dugald Dalgetty, in his cups and in 
 
234 FIGHTING AND PARLEYING [chap, ix 
 
 his dotage, was not the best leader of an army that called 
 for iron will and an intelligence alert enough to catch every 
 chance opportunity, in a war where swift decision and 
 prompt action told for more than the slow methods of 
 prolonged campaigns. 
 
 Lord Wilmot, the general of the horse, had made himself 
 beloved by the army as the brightest, wittiest, most free and 
 careless of boon companions ; alert enough in pressing a 
 proposal that he fancied, but never dominated by one fancy 
 for long. Impatient of contradiction, with a positiveness 
 that looked hke resolution, ready at one moment to mock 
 the senile feebleness of the general, and at another to rouse 
 his temper at imagined slights from the perverse " coun- 
 cillors ; " more than once carrying independence of action far 
 beyond the point wherein discipHne passes into rank mutiny 
 — Wilmot was one who had to be alternately humoured 
 and controlled. Hopton's qualities we have already seen ; 
 a man of "a good understanding, a clean courage, an 
 industry not to be tired, a generosity not to be exhausted ; " 
 above all, of " a virtue that none of the rest had " ; but 
 his ambition did not aspire to, nor his abilities warrant, 
 his appointment to supreme command. 
 
 There was another, who, although once already proved to 
 be capable of strange freaks of treachery, had now returned 
 from his exile and again found himself trusted with high 
 command in Charles's armies. This was Goring, whose past 
 history we have already seen, and whose conspicuous abilities 
 were more than balanced by a callous insensibUity to all the 
 claims of honour. He divided with Wilmot the claims of 
 super-eminence in all the Hcence of profligate debauchery. 
 Both were past masters in that vice, but Wilmot had the 
 decency to prevent its interfering with necessary business. 
 Both had sharp wit, but Goring's was the sharper, " save in 
 the exercise of debauchery, and then Wilmot was inspired." 
 
1644] GOEING AND WILMOT 235 
 
 If Wilmot was keen to discern and guard against danger, 
 Goring had the stronger nerves and the cooler brain to meet 
 it. Not the most urgent claims of military strategy could 
 tear Goring from a carouse ; Wilmot usually kept sober 
 when an enemy was at hand. To the claims of friendship 
 and the calls of honour both were insensible ; but Wilmot 
 generally had a motive for their violation, while Goring 
 sinned without scruple, and in the mere wantonness of 
 humour. In both, ambition was restrained neither by 
 justice nor good nature; but Wilmot had occasional moods 
 of religious impulse which startled him from the foulest 
 wickedness. To greater recklessness of crime Goring added, 
 also, a higher range of dissimulation. When Wilmot 
 happened to be sober, he felt at times some qualms of con- 
 science ; it was only Goring's utter abandonment to 
 debauchery that kept him from the supremacy of wickedness 
 in his generation.^ 
 
 It was no wonder that with such military leaders, the 
 advice of trained statesmen like Digby and Colepepper 
 should have a weight in Council which was apt to irritate the 
 soldiers' professional pride. 
 
 In the opening of the summer Essex advanced against the 
 King with a well-equipped force. Manchester, supported by 
 the Scottish army of 21,000 men, could be trusted to look 
 after the north. If Waller kept matters safe in the west, 
 Essex might concentrate his efforts on making Oxford 
 untenable by the King. It seemed by the end of May as if 
 his purpose might be accomplished, and consternation was 
 felt amongst those gathered in what had hitherto seemed the 
 secure retreat of Oxford. Hyde had to pass some weeks of 
 strained anxiety, all the greater because he had not the reUef 
 
 ' Hyde gives vent to his evident detestation of both in the two portraits, 
 where he allows his pen an almost extravagant range of vituperation, and 
 points it with his most acid wit {History of Eehellion, viii. 169). 
 
236 FIGHTING AND PAELEYING [chap, ix 
 
 of that active service which fell to others. Essex approached 
 as near as Abingdon, and eventually had his outposts at 
 Islip. Waller was hemming in the city on the other side, and 
 it was only its convenient defences of the Isis and the Cherwell 
 that stayed the victorious advance of the Parliament's 
 combined army. That advance must have placed the King 
 and all his followers absolutely at the mercy of Essex and 
 Waller. 
 
 It was on June 3rd that Charles left Oxford for the west, 
 and passed by hurried marches first to the Cotswold Hills, 
 and then to Worcester. It was a desperate attempt, but 
 skilfully contrived, and carried out with that conspicuous 
 courage that grew stronger in the King's breast the more 
 disasters crowded upon him. The Parliamentary army 
 learned only after he had had a good start, that the object 
 of their attack on Oxford had escaped their hands. They 
 followed him when too late, and left the Oxford garrison with 
 leisure to strengthen their defences and to increase their 
 stores. When he had reached Worcester, having led his 
 enemies on a fool's errand, Charles turned back and reached 
 Oxford safely on June 20th, only seventeen days after he had 
 left it. He found that good use had been made of the 
 interval, and that the city could face a threatened siege 
 with easier courage. 
 
 But the King's plan was now to make little stay at 
 Oxford. During July he was moving about Bucks and 
 Northamptonshire, seeking to counter the plans of Waller. 
 It was a consciousness of weakness, perhaps, that suggested 
 this plan of restless campaigning. But it disconcerted his 
 opponents, kept his armies busy, and perhaps happily 
 prevented that concentration of forces which would have 
 exhibited too plainly the enormous preponderance of the 
 Parliamentary army. There were dissensions between Essex 
 and Waller, and discontent on the part of Essex with the 
 
1644] MAESTON MOOR 237 
 
 treatment meted out to him by the leaders at Westminster. 
 These gave the King a fair opportunity, that with better 
 fortune and more settled counsels might have been turned to 
 more effective use. But the lack of discipline in his own 
 army prevented his availing himself to the full of any 
 such chances as offered. At Copredy Bridge, in North- 
 amptonshire, however, on June 29th, he managed to inflict 
 a blow which, if it did no more, at least reduced the 
 prestige of Waller's strategy and the courage of his army. 
 Again the King moved westward, to rouse the spirits of 
 his friends there. But on his way there he was met by 
 the crushing news of the disaster of Marston Moor. With 
 his usual recklessness, Rupert, when he had jomed his 
 forces to those of Newcastle, neglected all precautions, 
 flouted the orders of the older general, and scorned all 
 military advice. Had he only remained quiescent, the 
 Parliamentary army in the north, which was honeycombed 
 with jealousies, and ill at ease in its junction with the Scots, 
 might soon have been reduced to impotence. But Rupert's 
 overweening confidence persuaded him to hurry on the 
 battle with an enemy " who had no other hope to preserve 
 them but a present battle." ^ The consequence was the 
 calamitous rout of Marston Moor, in July, at the hands of 
 Fairfax and Cromwell, which broke the back of the Royalist 
 power in the north, lost to the King the city of York, and 
 marked the most decisive decline that the Royalist cause had 
 as yet suffered. Newcastle, disgusted at his treatment by 
 Prince Rupert and the open scorn of his command, threw 
 up his commission, and retired to the Continent, feeling that 
 all his loyalty and all his lavish sacrifices had been wasted on 
 a failing cause, and vexed to see the reckless indiscipline of a 
 favoured boy preferred to the experience and unsehish loyalty 
 of the best of England's aristocracy. The King's forces were 
 
 ' Rebellion, viii. 74. 
 
238 FIGHTING AND PAELEYING [chap, ix 
 
 not only defeated ; the defeat had overwhelmed them with 
 shame and indignation. They were not beaten only, but 
 betrayed. The consequences of such a blow might perhaps 
 be repaired by new sacrifices of money and of life ; the 
 memory of it would never be effaced. 
 
 Charles still moved about with marvellous pertinacity 
 and courage in the west, and especially in Cornwall, where 
 he was opposed by Essex. The King commands respect for 
 an energy, and even a grasp of strategy, which disaster only 
 brought more vividly to Ught. When he was present, 
 success generally attended the Royahst arms ; it was when 
 his authority was absent that wavering and inconsistent 
 plans led to defeat. No behttUng of his abiHties can set 
 aside the unquestionable fact that the interest and the 
 essence of the war now centred about the person of the King ; 
 that it was he individually who aroused the devotion of his 
 followers and inspired the animosity of his opponents. 
 Constitutional theories grew pale in the fiercer light of the 
 personal drama. 
 
 Rumours of Essex's discontent had by this time pene- 
 trated to the Royahst camp, and they inspired renewed and 
 eager efforts to detach him from his fealty to ParHament. 
 But it must be remembered that every day of a soldier's 
 service makes fealty to the cause he has adopted more 
 entirely part of that soldier's instinct of honour. During 
 the first skirmishes men might feel that they had erred or 
 been deceived, and might with honour and with honesty 
 change their sides. But as the war waxed older they had 
 formed new ties of comradeship and had pKghted a deeper 
 faith ; they had fought and had bled, and had seen others 
 fight and bleed, for a common cause that was now sacred to 
 them ; honour now pointed out their course more clearly, 
 and the instinct of mihtary fidehty had obtained a firmer 
 grip upon their hearts. Essex acted after his own character, 
 
1644J ESSEX DECLINES TO TREAT 239 
 
 and haughtily dechned all dealings apart from those in the 
 ParUament, whose commission he bore, and whose right 
 to his mihtary duty was a stronger thing to him than any 
 refinements of poHtical argument, or any theories of con- 
 stitutional authority. He answered a letter sent by 
 certain officers, with the connivance of the Bang, suggesting 
 a conference, in words that were at once curt and dignified : 
 
 " My Lords, 
 
 " In the beginning of your letter you express by 
 what authority you send it ; I, having no authority from 
 the Parliament who have employed me, to treat, cannot give 
 way to it without breach of trust. 
 
 "I am, 
 
 "Your humble servant, 
 
 " Essex. 
 " August 10, 1644." 
 
 These were the words of a soldier who prized his military 
 honour above all things, and who knew the duty which 
 faithful allegiance, however rashly pledged, imposed upon 
 him. But Essex had Httle to encourage him to the fight. 
 Waller had already hampered and opposed him, and doubtless 
 Essex had already learned that an opposition stronger than 
 that of Waller was forming against him, and against others 
 of his order. He had good reason to beheve that Parliament 
 was not over-zealous in their support ; and as a fact, even 
 had that support been more hearty, the resources of Parlia- 
 ment were, for the time, unequal to the task of keeping on 
 foot the various armies that were absolutely necessary to 
 maintain their cause. Although just on the eve of a great 
 accession of strength, they were now in dread of imminent 
 danger. If a RoyaHst army were dispersed, the magic of the 
 King's name might evoke another from the scattered crowds 
 of his adherents. One or two decisive defeats of the Parha- 
 mentary forces, on the other hand, would be enough to 
 
240 FIGHTING AND PAELEYING [chap, ix 
 
 dissipate the whole fabric of their power, and place them 
 absolutely at the mercy of the King. There were com- 
 paratively few on the Royahst side who, hke Hyde, would 
 have deemed that such a success might prudently be 
 followed only by obhvion of past offences, and a moderate 
 restoration of the power of the Crown. The Parliament 
 knew that, if defeated, they would be at the mercy of 
 exasperated men. 
 
 Essex was therefore hard pressed, and at last found himself 
 irretrievably cut off by Charles's forces at Lostwithiel, in 
 Cornwall. He added indignity to his defeat by himself 
 escaping by sea to Plymouth, and leaving his lieutenant to 
 surrender to the King. Charles, with a desire for conciliation 
 that was perhaps mistaken, suffered the Parliamentary army 
 to depart with the loss only of their arms. 
 
 This happened in September, and Charles now began to 
 move eastward to Oxford. Before he arrived there he had 
 another fight with the combined forces of Manchester and 
 Waller, at Newbury. The issue of the fight was very 
 different for the two sides. For Charles it was enough to 
 achieve his object of returning to Oxford, where he could 
 make secure the surrounding garrisons, and establish himself 
 safely for the winter in his usual quarters. For the Parlia- 
 mentary generals it seemed essential, if the struggle so often 
 repeated was not to be faced again, that the army of the 
 King should be so broken as to make his maintenance of 
 the garrisons round Oxford impossible. Charles achieved his 
 object successfully ; Manchester and Waller suffered a 
 defeat for which each blamed the other. The necessity of 
 a reorganization of their forces and a reconstitution of the 
 commands was brought distinctly into prominence. The 
 King returned once more to winter quarters at Oxford on 
 November 23rd, 1644, and the task of again framing a new 
 policy and of providing new resources for the struggle fell 
 
1644] CEOMWELL'S INFLUENCE 241 
 
 on Hyde and his fellow-councillors. They soon found 
 that they were now to have a more relentless enemy to 
 deal with, and one whose plans were more deeply laid. 
 
 Already it had become clear that a new force was at 
 work in the Parliamentary ranks. Those members of the 
 great aristocracy, like Essex and Manchester, who had 
 hitherto given to the cause the great weight of their names 
 and influence and had brought to it more or less efficient 
 miUtary skill, were necessarily inclined to some compromise, 
 which, while it would curb the royal prerogative, would 
 leave their social and pohtical conditions unaltered. They 
 could have no desire to see the whole fabric of their privilege 
 disappear, and already they must have been convinced that 
 if any remnant of it were to be preserved, some means of 
 ending the war must be devised. As for religious matters, 
 so far as they attached any importance to them, they were 
 content with a modified Presbyterianism, and were not 
 prepared to hazard other things in order to preserve — if they 
 did not even wish to destroy — Episcopacy. They found it 
 hard to keep their troops, casually raised, and still more 
 casually paid, by the county authorities, together as an 
 effective force ; and it was therefore clear that a protracted 
 war included the possible risk of a disastrous ending which 
 would leave them all in the position of defeated traitors. 
 
 All such counsels, and all those in whose interests they 
 were pressed, had now to meet the deUberate hostility of 
 Cromwell, whose plans were rapidly ripening. He had no 
 love for the Scots. He had minimized the value of their 
 aid. He had no mind that the work on which the Parliament 
 and its armies were embarked should have a limit set to it 
 by the pedantries of a Scottish Assembly, or the selfish tricks 
 of a few Scottish nobles. He found in their vaunted Presby- 
 terianism a new instrument of galling tyranny, even less 
 acceptable than Episcopacy, because it was of alien birth ; 
 
 VOL. I. R 
 
242 FIGHTING AND PAELEYING [chap, ix 
 
 and in the growing force of Independency he found an ally 
 which he could bend far more easily to his own purposes. 
 He felt that the fight now was with no abstract aims of pre- 
 rogative, but with the person of the King ; and to him the 
 man who sought to effect a compromise was one who mis- 
 conceived the whole meaning of the struggle, and who was 
 a traitor to the cause. Above all, he saw clearly that no 
 levies raised by a timid and ineffective militia ordinance, and 
 no army which could impose a limit to its own military 
 duties, and had to look for sustenance only to casual and 
 irregular pay, could be a fit instrument for the work which 
 they now had in hand. When they had drawn the sword, 
 they had necessarily cast away the scabbard ; and the army 
 must have its action freed from the delays and imbroglios of 
 ParHamentary faction. 
 
 To any overtures of accommodation CromweU was 
 invincibly opposed, and gradually he prepared his mines 
 against them. Essex had now lost all that influence with 
 the Parliament which had once made his easily the most 
 commanding name amongst the adherents of their cause. 
 The influence of Manchester was at first a counterpoise to 
 his, but Cromwell now made no secret of his opposition both 
 to Essex and Manchester. Already in the autumn of 1644, 
 after both had suffered military disaster, he made use of his 
 authority in Parhament to undermine their influence. At 
 the same time he pressed on the scheme of the New Model 
 Army, which was to be levied, not through county authorities, 
 but by the supreme power of Parhament, and for which pay 
 was to be provided regularly, and at fixed rates, by those 
 who represented the State. This at once made a totally 
 new theory of discipline operative, and stopped, once for all, 
 any plea that a man could not be called upon to serve except 
 in the county to which he belonged and whose summons he 
 had obeyed. Cromwell pressed another and a more drastic 
 
1644] THE NEW MODEL 243 
 
 ordinance, which was aimed at the commanders them- 
 selves. No member of either House of Parliament was to be 
 capable of holding military command. As soon as this 
 ordinance should become law, every member of the House 
 of Lords was necessarily deprived of any hope of wielding 
 authority in the army, which was for the time the centre of 
 power, and the army was equally divorced from the ties that 
 bound it to the House of Commons. If a man wished to 
 have his hand on the real weapon of power, he must retire 
 from its debates. 
 
 The House of Lords was not prepared to agree to a change 
 which would so fundamentally alter their relation to affairs. 
 But the project was started ; their eventual assent must sooner 
 or later be extorted ; and they were reduced to a degree of im- 
 potence that made their temporary opposition count for little. 
 
 The best policy for those who were determined to check 
 projects of compromise was to give stern instances of their 
 resolve. Such an opportunity was found in the revival of 
 the prosecution of Archbishop Laud. For three years he had 
 lain in prison, and amidst the confusion of rapid change and 
 the shock of arms it might have been thought that charges 
 which were already out of date, and accusations which had 
 lost their meaning, might have been allowed to pass into 
 oblivion. Laud was to all appearance powerless now, and 
 his death at this juncture would in no way affect the ultimate 
 result of his work. But a stern lesson had to be taught to 
 those who talked of compromise, and, if possible, an irre- 
 parable breach must be made with those on the RoyaUst side 
 who would hsten to proposals of accommodation on every 
 other subject but the Church. The most pronounced 
 representative of their views, the man who, more than any 
 other, stood for the traditions, ceremonies, and government 
 of the Church, must be pursued to the death. It was an 
 ignoble pursuit ; but its very ruthlessness made it effective. 
 
244 FIGHTING AND PARLEYING [chap, ix 
 
 There was a pretence of a trial before the Peers ; but the 
 few members of the House, who stiU deigned to wield an 
 almost obsolete authority, scarcely made a show of attention, 
 and did not take the trouble of sittiug through the arguments 
 upon which they were to pass judgment. With less of scruple 
 even than in the case of Strafford, an" Ordinance of Attaiuder" 
 — it was no longer possible even to assume the fiction of an 
 Act — was passed by the Commons and contemptuously 
 forced upon the Lords, even though some lingering qualms 
 of conscience made them hesitate. Amidst their own quarrels 
 and jealousies, and while the chief matter occupying the 
 stage was the ambition that grasped at a tyraimical mihtary 
 domination, these stalwart combatants could spare a moment 
 to take a belated vengeance upon an aged and enfeebled 
 enemy in order that by so doing they might make the breach 
 in the State henceforward unbridgeable. 
 
 Laud was led to execution on January 10, 164|. So far 
 as the present rehgious controversy was concerned his passing 
 from the scene did not alter the position by a hair's- breadth. 
 Humanity, were it allowed to judge the deed upon the broad 
 and wholesome standards that may fitly be applied to such 
 a case, will have little difficulty in placing it in the proper 
 category as an act of atrocious cruelty, carried out in defiance 
 both of legal sanction and of moral scruple. That pretence 
 of impartiaUty which seeks to find excuses for all the acts 
 of the Parhamentary majority, and helps its sophistries by 
 some admission of merit in the aims of Laud, is ready to 
 argue that his punishment was justified because of his 
 intolerance, and because he did not realize the ineffable 
 advantages of a vague dream of indefinite comprehension 
 which was in some happy period to take shape, and was to 
 obliterate the chief features of the Church of England. To 
 such pretence the downright prejudices of pronounced 
 partisanship are almost to be preferred. If his persecutors 
 
1645] LAUD'S EXECUTION 245 
 
 are to be justified in executing Laud because he was intolerant 
 in enforcing conformity within the Church, would it not be 
 well to adduce one word from them alleging such a charge ? 
 Laud was accused not of intolerance, but of innovation. 
 There was sound reason in the charge. Undoubtedly Laud 
 did attempt to bring into the services, the discipline, the 
 spirit, of the Church, an order, a decency, a religious fervour, 
 which, since the Reformation, it had most certainly lacked. 
 That his ideal was neither that of disordered, albeit perfervid, 
 fanaticism, nor that of gelatinous indifferentism, is a crime 
 or a merit according to the taste of each man. Of being 
 intolerant. Laud was not charged by his enemies ; of intro- 
 ducing a spirit of innovation he was not only accused, but 
 he would not have denied the charge. His innovations have 
 the merit, whatever that amounts to, of having lived from 
 his day to our own. It is to him, more than any man, that 
 we owe the fact that the Church broke with the cramping 
 spirit of Puritanism — ^not in its vulgar sense of mere decency 
 of morals, but in its deeper sense of a negation of the 
 intellectual and aesthetic aspect of religion. It was he who 
 gave that ideal of Church order, which was all but banished 
 in the commotion of the Reformation. It was Laud also 
 who gave that germ of independence to the Church which, 
 while it made her a partaker in the machine of well-ordered 
 constitutional government, yet preserved her from the 
 thraldom of an exaggerated Erastianism. With a House of 
 Commons largely nonconformist that is a strange survival, but 
 none the less it is a real and permanent one ; and it is to 
 Laud that the Church owes what has been the most vitalizing 
 element in her constitution. 
 
 The execution of Laud was a defiance of those who would, 
 like Charles himself and Hyde, have sacrificed much in 
 order to preserve the Church. It was also a defiance of the 
 House of Lords. Again that House was humiHated in 
 
246 FIGHTING AND PARLEYING [chap, ix 
 
 the proceedings regarding the two Hothams, father and son. 
 These formed a tragic ending to a long story of vacillation 
 on the part of these two representatives of a great and 
 wealthy family whom their own misplaced ambition 
 and tergiversation brought to a cruel and despised 
 end. With Kttle to tempt them into the paths of revo- 
 lution, they had at first sided with the Parhament, and 
 had found themselves forced to inflict upon the King the 
 first and crowning insult of closing in his face the gates of 
 his garrison of HuU. Then, jealous of the superior Fairfax 
 influence, they had involved themselves in treachery to 
 Parhament, and had been imprisoned for a year. They were 
 now tried by court martial, convicted, and beheaded,' 
 father and son vying with one another in an odious effort 
 each to save his own life at the expense of the other. Even 
 in the annals of this miserable war there are few episodes so 
 pitiful. The efforts of the Lords to save them were imperi- 
 ously brushed aside. 
 
 The temper of the dominant party in Parliament was in 
 little mood for framing terms of accommodation. On the 
 other hand, Hyde and those who thought with him were 
 resolved not to lose the chance of a treaty for which they 
 trusted that the divisions amongst their opponents gave a 
 gleam of hope. The Parhament at Oxford had again 
 assembled, and was ready to make overtures ; but it was 
 felt that such overtures would come with little prospect of 
 success from a Parhament whose very name imphed a 
 derogation from the dignity of the Houses at Westminster. 
 The King himself wrote to propose a conference, and sent 
 the message by the hands of the Duke of Richmond and the 
 Earl of Southampton, to whom the Parhament granted a 
 safe conduct. Even if it failed, Hyde rightly judged that 
 it would be useful in impressing the nation with a behef in 
 
 ' January, 164^. 
 
1645] CONFERENCE AT UXBRIDGE 247 
 
 the King's anxiety to end the miseries of war. Both for the 
 King and for Hyde, the Church was the one point on which 
 there could be no betrayal of their trust ; and that was also 
 the one point on which the Parhamentary party was hope- 
 lessly divided. Cromwell and his party were fixed in their 
 resolution to carry on the war to the bitter end, but it did 
 not suit them now to incur the odium of rejecting at the out- 
 set all proposals for peace. They might enter upon a con- 
 ference in the full trust that they would secure its utter 
 failure. It was in this spirit on both sides that the conference 
 at Uxbridge was arranged, and gathered in February for a 
 brief and agitated meeting. At that meeting there appeared 
 for the ParUament Northumberland, still angry at the former 
 rejection by the Court of his overtures for accommodation ; 
 the Earls of Pembroke and SaUsbury, of httle credit and interest 
 either ia Parliament or the country, and both judging " that 
 the highest point of prudence and politic circumspection " 
 was the retention by the one of Wilton, and by the other of 
 Hatfield ; and the Earl of Denbigh, whose pride and arrogance 
 had entangled him too deeply in designs of which he would 
 willingly have shaken himself free, and who professed that 
 willingness very freely to one of the commissioners, whom we 
 may safely identify with Hyde. Pembroke expressed to 
 Hyde his concurrence, whatever it was worth, in similar 
 views. Whitelocke was there, pledged by his own interests, 
 although his views were wavering, to adhere to his Parha- 
 mentary allies. Loudoun and Lauderdale, with the other 
 Scottish commissioners associated with the EngHsh represen- 
 tatives, made it their business to press the Presbyterian 
 settlement, which commanded no hearty support from 
 their fellows. Sir Henry Vane, St. John, and Prideaux 
 were the representatives of the Independents, and were 
 in truth but spies upon the rest.^ From commissioners 
 
 '- BebeUion, viii. 241. 
 
248 FIGHTING AND PARLEYING [chap, ix 
 
 so divided little hope of effective business could be looked 
 for. 
 
 The main points for discussion were three : the settlement 
 of the Church ; the MiHtia ; and the affairs of Ireland. In 
 regard to the first Hyde was privately assailed at once by 
 Loudoun and Pembroke by earnest suggestions that some 
 substantial concessions should be made. The other points, 
 it was urged, could easily be arranged if this stumblingblock 
 were out of the way, and if, by a surrender of the Episcopal 
 hierarchy, the King would yield to the earnest wish of those 
 who would support him in the essentials of his power. Such 
 a concession would have been against the conscience of 
 Hyde as much as of the King, and he was perhaps able to 
 discern that, even had it been made, it would have rendered 
 the hostility of the Independents not less, but more, inveterate, 
 He expressed himself in the same sense in the open dis- 
 cussions. 
 
 In regard to the Mihtia, for a time it looked as if a com- 
 promise were more possible. If, it was urged, some con- 
 cessions might be made, it would weaken the objections under 
 the other heads. Hyde and the commissioners for the King 
 urged him to give them leave to propose that the Militia 
 should be placed, for seven or eight years, in the hands of 
 persons sworn to observe certain articles which the treaty 
 might lay down, and they even suggested certain names, 
 including those of Essex, Northumberland, Warwick, 
 Manchester, Fairfax, and Cromwell. The King reluctantly 
 agreed, and named certain persons on his own part, amongst 
 whom, to his dismay, Hyde found himself included. But 
 time was thus wasted ; there was no cordial wish for a 
 settlement on the side of Parhament, and when the con- 
 ference broke up no agreement was reached. 
 
 As for Ireland, the matter was really one rather of 
 mutual suspicion than of real desire to settle some method 
 
1645] ITS FAILUBE 249 
 
 of procedure. The Parliamentary commissioners complained 
 that the King had made an untimely truce, and had then 
 employed the troops, set free by it, against his own Parlia- 
 ment. The King's commissioners could equally urge that 
 the Parliament had employed troops and money, raised for 
 Ireland, in prosecution of the civil war in England. Each 
 saw that to hand over to their opponents the means of 
 effectively deahng with the Irish difi&culty was to place in 
 their hands an instrument that might be used for far 
 different purposes. It was a battle of accusation and 
 suspicion, not a sincere effort to compose a difficulty. 
 
 The sands of time were running out, and Hyde found his 
 worst fears realized. The quarrels amongst the adherents of 
 ParHament, however fierce, were not enough to make them 
 yield up any of their pretensions. Had either party of the 
 disputants within their ranks shown any such indication, 
 they knew that they would return to Westminster discredited 
 and powerless. Cromwell had foreseen with absolute fore- 
 sight that this futile effort would increase his power. Hyde 
 saw that he must be content with having shown that the 
 King was eager for a settlement. His efforts to get nearer 
 to it were doomed to disappointment. From his own vivid 
 account of the negotiations we can picture the thin coating 
 of superficial courtesy that covered ineradicable suspicion, 
 and a deadly conviction that either side must aim at nothing 
 less than the complete destruction of the other. We catch 
 glimpses of renewals of old intercourse, which would fain 
 have become more cordial, but were carried on under the 
 watchful eyes of jealous associates. The rules of precedence 
 were strictly observed. Ample opportunities were given for 
 consultation, and the premises at their disposal were arranged 
 with every regard to the convenience of aU. They approached 
 the Council Chamber by separate doors and staircases ; they 
 respected one another's privacy ; and carefully abstained from 
 
•250 FIGHTING AND PAELEYIN6 [chap, ix 
 
 violence of language. But it was such observance of studied 
 courtesy as is maintained during the prehminaries of a deadly- 
 duel. The men who sat opposite one another could recall 
 old friendships, and many of them would gladly have for- 
 gotten later feuds ; but they knew well that they greeted one 
 another for the last time, and would meet, if they ever met 
 again, as implacable foes. 
 
 The conference broke up after the stated period of one 
 and twenty days, and from the last sittings it became clear 
 that even the formaHties of outward courtesy could not be 
 observed much longer. They had been days of unresting 
 labour for Hyde, above all, by whom many of the written 
 replies for his own side were drawn. His strength was well- 
 nigh exhausted, and he welcomed the end of the useless 
 effort. The conference ended without result ; but during 
 its progress the King's affairs had been notably injured by 
 the loss of Shrewsbury. 
 
 Hyde's own position was soon greatly altered. Some — 
 he probably amongst them — were of opinion that the cost 
 of the effort to keep the Court at Oxford was too great. They 
 would have wished the garrison reduced to a minimum, 
 while the Court moved westward to Bristol or Exeter, where 
 the King would have had leisure to recruit his forces. But 
 Oxford provided a pleasant and convenient lodging for the 
 luxurious crowd that still gathered round the Court — ^most of 
 them counting as mouths to feed, and not as arms to fight. 
 This bold change of plan was therefore abandoned. But 
 the King came to the conclusion that to keep the Prince in 
 his own company was " to venture too much in one bottom." 
 " It was time," ' he thought, " to unboy his son by putting 
 him into some action and acquaintance with business, out 
 of his own sight." He had already chosen a Council for the 
 Prince, consisting of the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of 
 
 ' Prince Charles was bora in 1630, and was now in his fifteenth year. 
 
1645] DEPARTURE OE HYDE AND THE PRINCE 251 
 
 Southampton, Lord Capel, Lord Hopton,^ Lord Colepepper, 
 and Hyde ; to whom the Earl of Berkshire was added as 
 the Prince's governor, a post in which he had succeeded 
 Hertford, and which from sheer stupidity he was singularly 
 incompetent to fill. It was now decided that the Prince, 
 with his Council, should move to the west, and take up his 
 quarters at Bristol. Richmond and Southampton foresaw 
 the difficulties that would attend the task, and managed to 
 evade it. The others had to undertake what was an irksome 
 charge. Under the nominal command of the Prince — in 
 reahty under the supervision of his Council — the forces in the 
 west had to be reorganized. At a distance from the supreme 
 authority of the King, it was certain that mihtary jealousies, 
 easily stirred against civil control, would soon reappear in re- 
 doubled intensity, and Hyde, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 whose ministerial authority was enforced by no commanding 
 rank or aristocratic connection, was Ukely to feel the full brunt 
 of those jealousies. It must have been with sore misgivings 
 that Hyde, on March 4th, 164|, took what was to be his last 
 farewell of the master whose confidence had been extended 
 to him unsought and had remained unbroken ; his loyalty 
 to whom, though often tried, had never been impaired ; and 
 to whom his advice had been given, always with honesty, 
 and often with uncompromising frankness. He entered now 
 upon one of the most harrowing and anxious of the many 
 weary years that lay before him. The King's last words 
 urged him to preserve the peace with Colepepper, whose 
 jealous temper he knew as well as Hyde. The Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer was confident enough in his own power of 
 seL£-command to reassure the King, and by anticipation to 
 take the blame upon himself, if any such quarrel should 
 injure the interests of the cause. 
 
 ' Sir Ralph Hopton and Ciolepepper had now been created Barons. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 DISASTER TO THE ROYAL CAUSE 
 
 Hyde was not allowed to begin his journey westwards, 
 and enter on a charge which was to be an arduous, a thank- 
 less, and a disheartening one, without having a foretaste 
 of the treacherous dealing with which he would have to 
 count, amongst the various contending cliques at the Court. 
 He was unwilling to go, and begged the King that he might 
 be suffered to stay at his side, where his duties as Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer could alone be properly discharged. Rich- 
 mond and Southampton had claimed exemption, although 
 they belonged to the Council attached to the person of the 
 Prince ; and it seemed as if Hyde's ofEcial position gave 
 him at least an equal claim to such exemption. It was only 
 on the King's declariag that, unless he would go, the Prince 
 must at all hazards remain at Court, that Hyde withdrew 
 his objections. He knew well the suspicions that were rife 
 as to the object of withdrawing the Prince. It was only, 
 according to these reports, a first step towards withdrawing 
 him from the kingdom. Such a withdrawal would seem 
 to indicate reliance upon Prance, and to portend an armed 
 foreign force, organized by the Queen's efforts, for the restora- 
 tion of the power of the Crown, on terms satisfactory to the 
 Roman CathoKcs. Whether this was so or not, the with- 
 drawal of the Prince to a place of safety certainly made the 
 King more independent of the Parliament, and less likely 
 to be forced to come to terms. As a consequence of such 
 
1645] DIGBY'S STEATAGEMS 253 
 
 a move, it was only too probable that all overtures for peace 
 would be laid aside. Hyde sympathized with those who 
 desired to further such overtures, and probably dreaded 
 that in his absence the King would be persuaded to follow 
 a policy of determined resistance, and to recruit that resist- 
 ance from sources — 'Whether in Ireland or abroad — that 
 would irretrievably break any hope of compromise. 
 
 But there were other influences at work. Through 
 Digby, to whom every art of insinuation came easily, and who 
 was never diverted from a plan because it was daring or 
 hazardous. Queen Hemrietta maintained her power, and 
 pursued her own policy, at the Court of Oxford. Her resi- 
 dence in France had brought her into close relations with 
 the Queen-Mother, and Mazarin's cunning for the moment 
 induced him to pretend to be favourable to the RoyaHst 
 cause. Henrietta formed new hopes, and these she would 
 not sacrifice either to a desire to placate the Parliament, 
 or to any scruples about ruiming counter to Charles's fixed 
 determination to give no ground for suspicions of his leaning 
 to the papists. Hyde soon found that all his prudence 
 would be required to guard him against the traps laid for 
 him. Digby approached him, purporting to be the bearer 
 of compliments from the King, who desired to express his 
 high sense of Hyde's services, and who, as Digby pretended, 
 was withheld from personally consulting him on a point of 
 the highest moment only by the fear that Hyde would not 
 agree with his own judgment. Hyde replied that he had 
 always given his opinion freely, but that he would feel 
 bound to carry out any order " that became an honest 
 man," even though he did not beheve it to be a wise 
 one. Digby then dilated on the serious aspect of the 
 King's affairs ; the chances that a cessation of discord 
 in the Parhamentarian ranks might range against the King 
 an invincible, because united, army. In such a case, did 
 
254 DISASTEE TO THE ROYAL CAUSE [chap, x 
 
 Hyde not think it would be wise to remove the Prince 
 from England ? 
 
 Hyde repHed that such a contingency must undoubtedly 
 be faced, and that if it occurred, and a real and not imaginary 
 danger of the Prince falling into the hands of the ParHament 
 arose, then it would certainly be right to transport him any- 
 where — to Turkey, if need be— in order to prevent his 
 becoming the prisoner of Parhament. But such a design 
 must be kept absolutely secret, and must never be carried 
 into effect " upon any sufposition of a necessity." 
 
 So far, Digby proceeded, they were all agreed ; but there 
 was something more. If the King's affairs went adversely, 
 then he would be pressed by the nervous timidity of some 
 of his friends, even more than by the enemy. In terror of 
 the risks they themselves ran, they would urge the King 
 to place, not the Prince only, but himself and aU his children, 
 in the hands of the ParHament. They would fear that the 
 King's natural alarm would lead him to send the Prince to 
 France, and in order to prevent such a design would press 
 him to bring the Prince back to his own presence, or at least 
 to issue peremptory orders against his quitting England. 
 The result would infallibly be to make the King and his 
 heir at once prisoners to Parhament, and to render the King 
 powerless to press for terms, which he might do in reliance 
 upon his heir being beyond their reach. These timid 
 counsellors would secure their own object, which was to 
 earn a claim upon the gratitude of the Parhament, whose 
 game they would play so well. 
 
 Hyde was shrewd enough to detect the snare. Clearly, 
 whatever orders the King might give as to the Prince remain- 
 ing in England, these would be represented as based only 
 on compulsion, and it would be urged that it was the duty 
 of the Prince's Council to carry out, not the letter of the 
 King's orders, but what they must conclude was his real 
 
1645] HYDE'S PROTEST 255 
 
 interest. That the King might convey such an indirect 
 message to Hyde was evidently intended as a hint that he 
 should not hereafter pay undue attention to written orders, 
 but that, on any suspicion of danger, the Prince should be 
 transferred to France. There the Queen and her Eoman 
 Catholic adherents might proceed, with such a hostage in 
 their hands, to make terms for the King's security which 
 might be Uttle in accordance with his wish. Hyde was to 
 be made a tool in the very policy which it was his first 
 object to counteract. He turned upon Digby in words 
 that implied the scorn of any honourable man for such 
 trickery. 
 
 " He hoped," he said, " that the King had made up a 
 firm resolution never to depart from his own virtue, upon 
 which his fate depended ; if he forsook himself, he had no 
 reason to depend upon the constancy of any other man, who 
 had nothing to support that confidence but the conscience 
 of doing what was just." 
 
 If the King ordered his son to be carried out of the 
 kingdom, to avoid his being taken by the rebels, he would 
 not only obey the order, but advise its prudence. " But 
 if the King, being at Uberty, and with his own counsellors 
 and servants, should under his hand forbid " such an act, 
 he would never disobey such a command, once received. 
 " He might take the boldness to conjure him never to put 
 an honest and a faithful servant to that unjust strait, to 
 do anything expressly contrary to his plain and positive 
 command, upon pretence of knowing the secret pleasure." 
 Such an " artifice was not worthy the royal breast of a great 
 monarch." What he would do if an order were issued when 
 the King was actually in duress, circumstances must decide. 
 
 These words tore through the whole sorry web of deceit. 
 Hyde told Digby that he would be glad if the King spoke 
 
266 DISASTER TO THE ROYAL CAUSE [chap, x 
 
 to him, and that he would repeat to his Majesty the same 
 views. But he suspected — and his suspicions were confirmed 
 — that the guise of an emissary from the King was only 
 assumed by Digby for the purpose which he and the Queen 
 designed. There was no reason, as Hyde knew well, that 
 the King should not speak to him directly, if at all. They 
 had been in constant intercourse, and every detail of the 
 Prince's journey had been privately discussed between the 
 King and Hyde. Not a single word of this Jesuitical 
 contrivance was breathed by the King to Hyde ; and 
 " concurrent circumstances," as he says with some sarcasm, 
 convinced him that the whole was devised by the Queen, 
 and promoted, under her orders, by Digby. Digby " tried 
 to feel his pulse," and did not like the symptoms. The 
 Queen and he learned now how httle Hyde's dogged fidelity 
 might be tampered with. 
 
 The Prince and his train set out on a day ' of storm and 
 rain from Oxford, and reached Bath in three days. There 
 he stayed for two days before going on to Bristol. The 
 wet journey, or the still worse anxieties, proved too much 
 for Hyde's health. For the first time he had a severe 
 attack of gout, which, during the harassing years that 
 followed, again and again laid him aside. This time it was 
 soon relieved. 
 
 The narrative of the next year is not only the most 
 stormy and dramatic in incident, and the one most marked 
 by the increasing disasters that pursued the Royalist cause ; 
 but it is also that in which, so far as the military history goes, 
 Hyde was most directly interested. We have plenty of 
 memoirs and documents which give us ample and not 
 always consistent accounts ; but that of Hyde transcends 
 them all in its force and reality, and in its impression of 
 candid truth. It is always, of course, possible to point 
 
 1 March 4, 1645. 
 
1645] HOPELESSNESS OF ROYALIST CAUSE 257 
 
 out small errors and inconsistencies, and for those who are 
 out of sympathy with his views of the whole struggle, these 
 small points naturally assume an exaggerated importance. 
 But no one had a grasp of the influences underlying all the 
 Royalist pohcy equal to that of Hyde, and no one adhered 
 with more constancy to a certain consistent course. He could 
 estimate the diJBQculties better than almost any one in that 
 camp ; and while absolute accuracy is manifestly impossible 
 to one who attempted so large a survey as he after the lapse 
 of years, only partisan prejudice can attribute to him any 
 conscious desire to vary from what he beUeved to be the 
 truth. The actual conduct of military affairs did not rest 
 with him, and the details of failure and success do not come 
 within the scope of his biography. But we have only to 
 think what all the other narratives would be, without his, 
 to recognize what we owe to the sweep and comprehensive- 
 ness of his survey of the march of events. It is the broad 
 outlines only that we have to mark. 
 
 He begins his narrative with a sort of prologue of denuncia- 
 tion of the evils that had crept into the Royahst party, and 
 of the dire effects they wrought. It has the intensity and 
 moral weight of the chorus in a Greek tragedy. It was, 
 he says — 
 
 " A time, in which the whole stock of affection, loyalty, 
 and courage, which at first alone engaged men in the quarrel, 
 seemed to be quite spent, and to be succeeded by negligence, 
 inadvertency, and dejection of spirit contrary to the natural 
 temper, vivacity, and constancy of the nation ; and in which 
 they who pretended most pubhc heartedness, and did 
 really wish the King all the greatness he desired to preserve 
 for himself, did sacrifice the public peace, and the security 
 of their master, to their own passions and appetites, to their 
 ambition and animosities against each other, without the 
 least design of treachery or damage towards his Majesty ; 
 a time in which want of discretion and mere folly produced 
 VOL. I. s 
 
258 DISASTEE TO THE ROYAL CAUSE [chap, x 
 
 as much mischief as the most barefaced villainy could have 
 done." 
 
 He proceeds in words which are all the graver because 
 of his sincere and faithful loyalty. 
 
 " Nor is it possible to discourse of all these particulars, 
 with that clearness that must subject them to common 
 understandings, without opening a door for such reflections 
 upon the King himself as shall seem to call both his wisdom 
 and his courage into question, as if he had wanted the one 
 to apprehend and discover, and the other to prevent, the 
 mischiefs which threatened him. . . . And as he was always 
 severe to himself, in censuring his own oversights, so he 
 could not but well foresee that many of the misfortunes 
 of this ensuing year would reflect upon some want of 
 resolution in himself, as well as upon the gross errors and 
 oversights, to call them no worse, of those who were 
 trusted by him." 
 
 But even these reflections do not lessen the weight of 
 his generous meed of admiration for the King. 
 
 " Without my being over-solicitous to absolve him from 
 those mistakes and weaknesses to which he was in truth 
 sometimes liable, he will be found not only a prince of 
 admirable virtue and piety, but of great parts of knowledge, 
 wisdom, and judgment ; and that the most signal parts 
 of his misfortunes proceeded chiefly from the modesty of 
 his nature, which kept him from trusting himself enough, 
 and made him believe that others discerned better, who were 
 much inferior to him in those faculties." 
 
 He proceeds with the narration, in a proud spirit of 
 personal impartiality. 
 
 " I know myself to be very free from any of those passions 
 which naturally transport men with prejudice towards the 
 persons whom they are obliged to mention, and whose 
 actions they are at Hberty to censure." 
 
 When the Prince and his Council proceeded towards the 
 
1645] DISOEGANIZATION 259 
 
 west, it was with strong assurance of abundant help, and 
 lavish undertakings as to financial contributions. But 
 when they arrived at Bristol, it was soon found how empty 
 these promises had been. No force had been brought 
 together, no scheme for organizing possible resources of 
 revenue had been devised. On the contrary, the Council 
 found themselves immersed in a sea of ignoble quarrels 
 and selfish personal jealousies. Such military forces as 
 existed were honeycombed with factions, which agreed 
 only in their consuming jealousy of the civilian members 
 of the Council, and in their determination that whatever 
 was undertaken should be under the sole direction of the 
 military officers, and should aim at what would secure for 
 them the reward which they believed themselves to have 
 earned. Just at the moment when the Parliamentary forces 
 were being reorganized in the only way consistent with 
 prolonged mihtary operations, the evils which from the 
 first had been present amongst the Eoyahst levies became 
 exaggerated into something like anarchy and disorder. 
 The rumours that had reached them of Cromwell's New 
 Model Army only gave food for ill-timed and ill-judged 
 ridicule and contempt. Cromwell had discerned that the 
 old levies by commissions of array, or militia ordinances, 
 raised by separate counties, subject to separate local 
 authorities, paid by the irregular contributions of their own 
 districts, and conceiving that their duties were limited to 
 those districts — were totally unfitted for the work they had 
 to do. He had established the germ of a regular army — 
 paid by national funds, owing allegiance to national authority, 
 pledged, not to local, but to national service. TheEoyalist 
 forces were more than ever casual in their assembling, and more 
 ready to disperse themselves when they conceived that they 
 had done their meed of duty. They were casually paid by 
 contributions levied from each locality to defray the charges 
 
260 DISASTER TO THE ROYAL CAUSE [chap, x 
 
 of its own recruits. They were officered by men who were 
 supposed to have local connection and local influence, and, 
 as a consequence, were too often involved in local quarrels, 
 that infected the different branches of the military force 
 in the service of the King. That force was often found to 
 consist only of an undisciplined horde, who conceived that 
 every topic of personal jealousy was an adequate ground for 
 freeing them from their allegiance, and that each danger 
 threatened to their own possessions gave them a right to 
 withdraw themselves for their defence. 
 
 The so-called Self-denying Ordinance was soon after 
 (in April) assented to by the Lords, and the whole system of 
 military commands on the Parliamentary side was fundament- 
 ally changed. The miUtary fabric stood upon its own 
 foundation, entirely separate from the Parliament. Nomi- 
 nally it was under Parliamentary control ; but as the work 
 in hand was one on which difference of opinion was certain 
 to emerge at every turn, the dissidence of army and Parha- 
 ment was inevitable, and it was easy to foresee with which 
 the weight must lie. The Self-denying Ordinance was, 
 indeed, a corollary of the New Model. Once a regular army 
 was constituted, it was inevitable that its officers should 
 be a body apart from the legislature. Only by that means 
 could the fiction of subordination be maintained ; and 
 equally it was by that means alone that a separate entity, 
 of overpowering strength, could come into existence. That 
 Cromwell alone should at once maintain his seat in Parlia- 
 ment and his military command, was not so important as 
 it might seem. It was no doubt useful for him that Parlia- 
 ment should still be open to him as a possible means of 
 denouncing his enemies, and of browbeating a troublesome 
 faction. It was convenient that he should seem to have that 
 respect for ParHament which his membership implied. 
 But in truth Cromwell had never been a Parliamentary 
 
1645] CORRUPTION OF ARMY 261 
 
 leader in the sense of Pym and Hampden, and now he ceased 
 even to have an interest in ParHamentary affairs, except 
 so far as these afforded an index of the prevailing feehng. 
 His sphere of action was henceforward in the army and in 
 the army alone. He had in it a machine of ever-developing 
 force, whUe he had opposed to him an army in which all the 
 inherent defects were day by day becoming more apparent. 
 It was in the midst of its vain efforts, and in view of its new 
 disasters, that Hyde had to do his best to maintain some 
 consistency of pohcy. 
 
 Hyde is careful, in the grave denunciatory words with 
 which he opens his narrative, to guard himself against 
 being supposed to depict any " universal corruption." 
 There were stUl wise and earnest men amongst the King's 
 advisers. There were pure and ardent souls, Uke Lord 
 Hopton and Lord Capel, of whose unselfish heroism we shall 
 have full proof. There were stUl many whose deaths might 
 be recorded in words hke those which Hyde uses of the 
 Earl of Lichfield, who fell, following two of his brothers who 
 had already given their lives for their King, when Poyntz 
 broke the King's force at Chester — " He was a very faultless 
 young man, of a most gentle, courteous, and affable nature, 
 and of a spirit and courage invincible." But for the mass 
 of those who commanded what Hyde is compelled a few 
 months later to describe as "a dissolute, undisciplined, 
 wicked, beaten army " — " only terrible in plunder and 
 resolute in running away " — it is difficult to say whether 
 greed, arrogance, blundering, or debauchery was the most 
 notable characteristic. Let us take a few specimens. There 
 was Lord Goring whom we have met so often— now intent 
 chiefly on quarrelling in turn with every colleague doomed 
 to serve with him ; thwarting, secretly or openly, the 
 Council of the Prince ; perpetually changing his plans, and 
 sulkily standing aloof when the precise position which he 
 
262 DISASTEE TO THE EOYAL CAUSE [chap, x 
 
 coveted was not assigned to him ; constant only to that 
 perpetual debauchery which was reducing his admitted 
 military capacity to absolute uselessness ; careless what 
 rancours he might arouse so long as he gratified a passing 
 humour, or inflicted some injury upon the personal enemy 
 of the moment ; perpetually appealing against the Council 
 to the King, and yet affecting independence even of the 
 King's authority. When complaints were made against 
 his marauding soldiers, who made no distinction between 
 friends and foes, he turned them off with an insult or a jest. 
 The fishermen going to sell their fish at Exeter complained 
 that they were plundered. " Why then," said Goring, " how 
 you libel my soldiers by accusing them of proneness to swear- 
 ing ! If they were profane, how could they catch fish ? " 
 When Cornishmen were fighting under his command, in 
 their own county, he stirred their just anger by his familiar 
 treatment of Irish recruits, whom he would jocularly slap 
 on the back, and tell them " they were each worth ten 
 Cornish cowards." There was Sir Richard Grenville, also 
 of admitted bravery and no small military talent, but so 
 absorbed in love of money that he considered his command 
 as Uttle but a means of extortion, whether with or without 
 some petty legal pretext ; under whose authority loyal 
 adherents of the King were fined or committed to prison, 
 because they did not submit to some arbitrary fine or 
 contribution. So far as he himself was concerned, he threw 
 discipline to the winds, defied and even insulted the Council, 
 attempted to challenge the express orders of the Prince, and 
 was reduced to submission only when placed under arrest. 
 It argues much for the loyalty of the simple souls who had 
 groaned under his oppressions, that when stern measures 
 were taken with him, they were the first to intercede on his 
 behalf, and even to fret themselves into mutiny against 
 those whom they deemed his persecutors. It is not 
 
1645] INTRIGUES AROUND THE PRINCE 263 
 
 surprising to find Hyde provoked to impatience at such 
 childish inconsistency.^ 
 
 Nor were there wanting other unruly elements in the 
 mixed crowd that gathered about the Prince. Young as 
 he was, Prince Charles seems even thus early to have shown 
 considerable shrewdness, and the power of making his 
 authority felt. But his was to be a hard school of experience, 
 and already flatterers and rogues had learned how to in- 
 sinuate themselves into his good graces. At Bridgewater 
 he found his former nurse, Mrs. Windham, whose pride and 
 arrogance tempted her to assume an air of familiarity ; who 
 openly scoffed at the CouncU, and magnified the Prince at 
 the expense of the King. In the midst of serious business 
 it was a hard aggravation for Hyde to have to counteract 
 the insolent promptings of an iU-natured and ill-bred woman ; 
 and at a later day her son, Colonel Windham, had equally 
 to be excluded from the company of the Prince.^ Even 
 grosser agents of debauchery and corruption had to be 
 excluded from that company by the ill-supported action of 
 the Council.* It says much for Charles, and not less for 
 Hyde, that a tutelage borne and exercised amidst such un- 
 toward circumstances, did not break down the barriers either 
 of respect or of affection between the two. Whatever judg- 
 ment we may pass on his later years, Charles undoubtedly 
 
 ' Hyde in his letters shows us clearly enough his views of the generals. 
 " Well, you generals are a strange kind of people," he begins, in writing to 
 Goring from Bristol. He goes on to try to cajole and argue him into com 
 plianoe with some reasonable scheme, and winds up thus : " For God's 
 sake let us not fall into Ul-humours, which may cost us dear. Get good 
 thoughts about you, and let us hear speedily from you to a better tune ; 
 however, you will pardon the plainness of Your Lordship's, etc., Edwaed 
 Hyde." In June he writes to Nicholas about Goring in plain terms enough. 
 " If Lord Goring had been as much soldier as we expected, that work" (the 
 reduction of Taunton) " had been done long before this time ; but he nothing 
 but drinks and plays." 
 
 ^ See Bebellion, ix. 19, 53. 
 
 ^ One Wheeler, whose character was of the most noisome baseness, 
 managed for a time to get admittance to, and was with diflSculty banished 
 from, the Prince's Court. 
 
264 DISASTER TO THE EOYAL CAUSE [chap, x 
 
 gave proof, at this time, of no small mental acuteness, as 
 well as of a physical strength which could endure fatigue 
 and hardship with no undue repining. Few boys of fifteen 
 could have risen so well to that delegated authority which, 
 even if it was exercised under supervision, yet often called 
 both for acuteness and for tact. The disappointments 
 which met the Prince and his Council on their arrival at 
 Bristol were quickly followed by fresh mihtary disasters. 
 More and more the troops of the ParUament pressed towards 
 the west, until it looked as if the Eoyahst adherents were to 
 be pent up in Cornwall. In the earher stages of the war 
 they had achieved success by preventing the Parliamentary 
 forces from co-operating with one another. It was by similar 
 tactics, pursued on a far more persistent system, and on a 
 larger scale, that Fairfax and Cromwell now managed to 
 crush them ; and the disorganization of the Koyahsts rendered 
 it easy. The King continued to show marvellous activity 
 and undaunted courage ; but even the partial success which, 
 in the preceding years, had generally followed his own pre- 
 sence, now deserted him ; and he found it hard to maintain 
 any real discipline, or to rely upon co-operation amongst 
 the various commanders in any common plan of campaign. 
 Divided counsels ; large tracts of country estranged by the 
 repeated outrages of an undisciplined mihtary horde, which 
 made no distinction between friends and foes in their in- 
 discriminate robbery ; the anxiety of many to secure peace 
 on any terms ; above all, the hopelessness of obtaining the 
 necessary contributions — all these were quickly wasting the 
 last remnants of hope for the Eoyahst cause. But the King 
 himself was the last to abandon that hope. 
 
 The Parliamentary forces gave him some respite, and 
 pursued a mistaken plan of campaign, by engaging in the 
 siege of Oxford — a long, an almost hopeless, and (even if 
 successful) not likely to be a remunerative, task. This left 
 
1645] DEFEAT AT NA8EBY 265 
 
 the King, who no longer remained at Oxford, free to move 
 about the west and the midlands, and to make new attempts 
 which would have been impossible if the Parliamentary 
 troops had been entirely reUeved of the tedious and useless 
 business of besieging the fortified towns, and if every effort 
 had been spent in active movements through the country, 
 which must eventually force the Royalists to a decisive 
 battle. A success was achieved at the end of May by the 
 forces of the King, in the capture of Leicester ; and the high 
 hopes which were raised by Montrose's brilliant campaign 
 in Scotland, tempted the King to march north, so as to 
 recover his own influence in Yorkshire, and perhaps to 
 combine with the Highland army under Montrose. But 
 such an attempt was hopelessly belated. The Parliamentary 
 armies were soon in full advance — at once to the north, to 
 the midlands, and to the extreme west. The siege of 
 Oxford was abandoned, and Charles found himself gradually 
 hemmed in on every side. Only a fortnight after the 
 seeming success at Leicester, Cromwell and Fairfax inflicted 
 by far the most damaging defeat that it had yet suffered 
 upon the King's army at Naseby, in the middle of June. 
 The Eoyalist forces were hopelessly broken, and many 
 of Charles's wisest foUowers were inclined to direct their 
 measures as if they were in view of the inevitable defeat of 
 their cause. Isolated efforts were in vain ; but a most 
 crushing blow to the King's hopes in the west came in the 
 surrender of Bristol by Prince Rupert on September 11th. It 
 was only two days later — on September 13th — that Montrose's 
 army was utterly defeated by Lesley at Phihphaugh. On 
 every side the clouds were gathering close, and every ray 
 of hope was sinking into darkness. Nothing was left for 
 the King and his most faithful adherents but to hold fast 
 to their courage, to maintain their Standard as long as possible, 
 and meanwhile, to make such attempts as were possible to 
 
•266 DISASTEE TO THE ROYAL CAUSE [chap, x 
 
 achieve a compromise by diplomacy, by dexterous manage- 
 ment, and by appealing to those elements in the various 
 warring parties amongst their foes, which seemed to offer 
 the best prospect of obtaining tolerable terms. 
 
 The fall of Bristol had not only been a crushing blow to 
 all his hopes ; for Charles it had at last opened his eyes to 
 the defects of his nephew. Prince Rupert, for whose sake he 
 had long braved the discontent of those adherents who were 
 jealous of Rupert's imperious temper and undue favour 
 with the King. It was not only that Rupert had fallen 
 short of his own undertaking that, for four months at 
 least, he could hold Bristol against the enemy. The King 
 knew that Rupert had been unduly ready to advise a treaty,^ 
 on any terms to be obtained, and he could not but suspect 
 that his defence of the town had been half-hearted. From 
 Hereford, where he had appointed such straggling remnants 
 of the Royalist troops as could be mustered to meet him, 
 Charles wrote to Rupert on September 14th, in words which 
 show that the bitterness of disappointed affection and trust 
 weighed even more with him than the loss of Bristol. 
 
 ' Only in the previous month of August, the King had stated very plainly 
 to Rupert his determination against further concessions, and had shown 
 how resolved he was to fight to the end, and if need be, to die. " As for the 
 opinion of my business," he writes, " and your counsel thereupon, if I had 
 any other quarrel but the defence of my religion, crown, and friends, you 
 had fuU reason for your advice. . . . Speaking as to mere soldier or statesman, 
 I must say there is no probability but of my ruin ; but as to Christian, I 
 must tell you, that God will not suffer rebels to prosper, or His cause to be 
 overthrown. ... I cannot flatter myself with expectation of good success 
 more than this, to end my days with honour and a good conscience ; which 
 obliges me to continue my endeavour, as not despairing that God may in 
 due time avenge His own cause. . . He that will stay with me at this time, 
 must expect, and resolve, either to die for a good cause, or, which is worse, 
 to live as miserable in the maintaining it, as the violence of insulting rebels 
 can make him. . . . Having plainly told you my positive resolutions, which, 
 by the grace of God, I wiU not alter, they being neither lightly nor suddenly 
 grounded, I earnestly desire you not in any ways to hearken after 
 treaties " (History of Rebellion, ix. 70). These are solemn words, spoken 
 from the heart to one whom Charles held most dear ; and the suspicion that 
 they had been deliberately disregarded was enough to stir his bitterest 
 indignation. 
 
1645] SUREENDEE OP BEISTOL 267 
 
 " Nephew," he wrote, " though the loss of Bristol be a 
 great blow to me, yet your surrendering it as you did is of 
 so much affliction to me, that it makes me not only forget 
 the consideration of that place, but is likewise the greatest 
 trial of my constancy that hath yet befallen me ; for what 
 is to be done, when one that is so near me as you are, both 
 in blood and friendship, submitted himself to so mean an 
 action ? . . . I must remember you of your letter of August 
 12, whereby you assured me that, if no mutiny happened, 
 you would keep Bristol for four months. Did you keep it 
 for four days ? Was there anything like a mutiny ? " 
 
 He bids him withdraw beyond seas, and sends him a pass 
 for the purpose ; and ends with the words : " I shall have no 
 greater joy in a victory than a just occasion without blushing 
 to assure you of my being Your loving uncle, and most 
 faithful friend, C.R." 
 
 But Charles knew well, however he might attempt to 
 assume an appearance of courage to those around him, that 
 the hope of victory in the field was now gone. It was not 
 long before some of those whose waywardness and restlessness 
 of counsel, as with Digby, or whose undisciplined arrogance 
 and wanton profligacy, as with Goring, had done such injury 
 to the cause, found means of withdrawing from the threaten- 
 ing danger. Digby escaped first to the Isle of Man, and 
 thence to Ireland. Goring had already betaken himself to 
 France. Eupert again after an interval presented himself 
 to the King, and perhaps his presence once more persuaded 
 Charles " to hearken after treaties." More than once Charles 
 seems to have summoned Hyde to attend him,^ but either 
 the unwillingness of the Prince to spare him, or his now 
 frequently recurring enemy, the gout, had prevented him from 
 obeying the summons. He might, had his companionship 
 been possible, have held the King more firmly to his purpose. 
 
 ' In June, at Hereford (see letter from Hyde to Nicholas of June 25), and 
 later at Raglan, in August (HUt. of Rebellion, ix. 73). 
 
268 DISASTEB TO THE ROYAL CAUSE [chap, x 
 
 After five months of constant wanderings, amidst ever- 
 increasing disasters in the field, from Naseby in June, to 
 November, Charles once more returned to Oxford, for the last 
 time. Two courses, not consistent, and not steadily pursued, 
 now occupied all his efforts. A last attempt was to be made 
 to rally such forces as were at his disposal ; vain propositions 
 were to be made to the Parhament for peace ; and, failing 
 these, new aUiances were to be sought. When he first 
 returned to Oxford, Charles was in no mind to yield to those 
 who would have him compromise with his conscience, and 
 he was evidently suspicious of those who had been willing 
 to submit to degrading terms. Hyde was content to wait 
 patiently for the result of the evident divisions amongst their 
 foes, and would have prevented any surrender of principle. 
 Whether he could have materially altered the course of affairs, 
 had he been with the King throughout, must remain an in- 
 soluble problem. 
 
 In the west, a last effort, however hopeless, might be 
 made. For this, the one most incorrupt spirit amongst all 
 the Eoyahsts was chosen ; and he did not shrink from the 
 task, however certain the disaster. In January it was decided 
 that Lord Hopton should take the whole command upon 
 him. With him, at least, there would be no selfish greed or 
 ambition, and justice would be meted out to all with no 
 thought of gain or self-aggrandisement. 
 
 " It was a heavy imposition, I confess," says Hyde, " to 
 which nothing but the most abstracted duty and obedience 
 could have submitted." ' Hopton confessed to the Prince 
 that " he could not obey his highness at this time without 
 resolving to lose his honour, which he knew he must, but 
 since his highness thought it necessary to command him, 
 he was ready to obey him with the loss of his honour." As 
 usual, Grenville raised a punctiHo of personal prestige : 
 
 ' Rebellion, ix. 135. 
 
1646] DESTINATION OF THE PRINCE 269 
 
 " He would not consent to be commanded by Lord Hopton." 
 The limits of patience with such degrading selfishness were 
 exhausted ; Grenville was placed in custody at Launceston, 
 and a few days later was permitted " to transport himself 
 beyond the seas." Lord Wentworth raised similar scruples ; 
 but was told by the Prince that his orders were not to be 
 scanned ; he might submit or no ; but must answer directly. 
 He made a virtue of necessity, and did as he was told. Lord 
 Capel joined himself to Hopton's chivalrous attempt. Hyde 
 and Colepepper were left with the Prince, watching from 
 day to day the hour when the toils might close round them 
 so closely as to make escape from England a necessity. By 
 letters in August, in September, in November, and in 
 December, Charles had impressed upon the Council the neces- 
 sity of being in readiness to carry the Prince either to Den- 
 mark or to France. The plan was not to be precipitate ; but, 
 above all, the danger of his falling into the hands of the 
 rebels was to be guarded against. Charles felt that his last 
 card would be played if not he only, but the heir to his crown, 
 should be in the hands of those who laboured to annihilate 
 his power. Now, on February 5th, while he admitted the 
 soundness of the reasons for delay which had hitherto 
 operated, and agreed that the Prince " was not to go until 
 there be an evident necessity," he at the same time re- 
 iterated his commands that there should be no delay if the 
 hazard were visible. 
 
 The Prince, he had always directed, was to be subject 
 to the Queen's commands in aU things except religion, where 
 he was to be guided by the Bishop of Sahsbury.^ Hyde still 
 disUked the thought of sending the Prince to France, which 
 he knew would be distasteful to the nation, and would 
 strengthen the hands of the Queen in carrying out schemes 
 which he deemed fatal to the ultimate success of the Eoyal 
 
 1 Dr. Duppa, formerly the Prince's tutor. 
 
270 DISASTER TO THE EOYAL CAUSE [chap, x 
 
 cause. But he had at last the definite commands of the 
 King for the speedy departure of the Prince ; and he could 
 no longer doubt that the danger of capture was imminent. 
 He found a medium course. Scilly was a part of Cornwall, 
 and was technically in England; there for a time at least 
 the Prince might await events ; and if further danger 
 threatened, he might easily be carried over to Jersey, still 
 within the Kingdom, but not under the sway of Parliament. 
 On March 2nd, Hyde and his charge set sail for Scilly. Hopton 
 found his httle army no longer amenable to discipline, and 
 melting away before his eyes. It was useless to prolong the 
 struggle. He gave his mutinous subordinates leave to 
 treat ; and himself joined the Prince in Scilly. Cornwall 
 was virtually abandoned to the enemy. 
 
 There remained the alternatives of combination with 
 some section of the rebels, and the formation of new alliances ; 
 and at these, as Hyde had httle to do with them, we must 
 glance very briefly. It is clear that he had little hope from 
 any such schemes, and fully realized the dangers to which 
 they were hable. There was first the possibility of an aUiance 
 with the Scots. Hyde himself had found in Cornwall one 
 who professed himself ready to place his services at the King's 
 disposal for the purpose. The Duke of Hamilton had been 
 a prisoner at Pendeimis Castle ever since his arrest at Oxford. 
 He had the treatment suitable to his rank, and was kept 
 under no very severe conditions ; but he chafed at his en- 
 forced inaction. When the Prince visited the Castle, the 
 Duke desired to have access to him, and he managed to have 
 several long colloquies with Hyde. He represented how 
 unfounded were the suspicions agamst him, and how glad 
 he would be to assist the King against his enemies. His 
 influence in Scotland was enormous ; he was not unwilUng 
 to pit himself against Argyle, and he was ready to co-operate 
 even with his old enemy Montrose. But if he were to exert 
 
JAMES HAMILTON, FIR^i I ■ . I. I OF HAMILTON. 
 
 {From the oriyinal by Sir Anthony Vandyke, in the collection of the Dulce of 
 
 Hamilton.) 
 
1646] HYDE AND THE PEINCE IN SCILLY 271 
 
 his influence to any purpose, it was absolutely necessary 
 that he should be set at liberty, and that his presence in 
 Scotland should attest the reality of his resolution to support 
 the King, and should animate his followers with the same 
 desire. Hyde trusted neither the Duke himself, nor the 
 nation to which he belonged. He was courteous, but frankly 
 avowed that he could give no advice in favour of the Duke's 
 proposals. If the Duke desired to help the King he must 
 give an earnest of that desire by writing to his adherents 
 in Scotland. Until that was done, he could not advise that 
 a freedom, which he might easily misuse, should be granted. 
 Upon others who were in attendance on the Prince, the Duke 
 made more impression ; but Hyde and the Council retained 
 their suspicions. Plainly Hyde disliked, not the agent only, 
 but the scheme of the alliance which he offered. At the best, 
 it offered hopes that could be realized only by a betrayal 
 of the Church, from which Hyde shrank as strongly as 
 the King. Matters thus drifted on. The Duke was set 
 free when Pendeimis Castle fell into the hands of the Par- 
 liament. He made his way to London ; and lived — as 
 Hyde is fain to admit — to show the sincerity of his new- 
 found loyalty, and to give his life in proof of his attachment 
 to the EoyaHst cause. 
 
 The first effort on the part of the King, which, bold as it 
 was, was clearly only an effort of despair, was to propose a 
 personal treaty in London. He was ready to come himself 
 to treat with the Parliament at Westminster, attended by 
 a retinue restricted to three hundred. The hazard he ran, 
 in spite of any safe conduct which the Parhament could 
 give, was evident. The only hope was that his presence 
 might animate those who secretly detested the new tyranny, 
 and might stimulate the distrust that was rife between 
 sections which were as yet fairly evenly balanced. That 
 it should lead to any compromise which would be consistent 
 
272 DISASTER TO THE ROYAL CAUSE [chap, x 
 
 with the retention of any real authority in the Crown was 
 obviously hopeless. 
 
 The next plan was the project of an alliance with the 
 Independents, based upon their deep-rooted hatred of the 
 Presbyterians, whose rigid intolerance excluded all thought 
 of compromise with any other form of religion than that estab- 
 lished by the Covenant. Charles's hopes of any such alliance 
 were based only upon his ignorance of their real aims, and 
 of the dominant ambitions of those like Vane, Cromwell, and 
 Ireton, who swayed their counsels. " They were a faction 
 newly grown up, and with which he was utterly un- 
 acquainted." ^ He could see in their jealousy of the Presby- 
 terians some hope for the Church ; but he did not measure 
 the extent to which they were prepared to go in revolution 
 in the State. It was his fixed conviction that " nothing 
 was more impossible than that the English nation should 
 submit to any other than monarchical government." 2 To 
 Hyde any such alliance seemed little else than a chimera. 
 
 Another, and an even more dangerous device, was that 
 of procuring help from Ireland. If terms of settlement 
 could be made with the rebels there, abundant troops 
 might beset free to aid the Royahsts' cause in England, and 
 hopes might be vaguely cherished of drawing assistance 
 even from those, in a pacified Ireland, who had previously been 
 looked upon only as irreconcilable foes. How far such hopes 
 took shape in any deliberate scheme can probably never be 
 settled. That Charles ever conceived those extravagant 
 schemes attributed to him, in the frenzy of partisanship, 
 by the ParUamentary leaders, of crushing the ParHament 
 and re-estabhshing Episcopacy in close alhance with Papacy, 
 must be absolutely dismissed by any sane historian. But, 
 short of this, how far he was prepared to go in order to pro- 
 duce pacification by granting a certain measure of toleration 
 
 ' Rebellion, ix. 167. ■ Ibid. 
 
1646] DEALINGS WITH IRISH REBELS 273 
 
 to the Irish Roman CathoHcs, it is impossible to say, for 
 the very simple reason that he himself probably formed no 
 very definite scheme. To balance phrase against phrase 
 in a long series of tangled transactions, and upon such nice 
 calculations to estabhsh charges of bad faith, is only to waste 
 time, and totally to misconceive the rough logic that sways 
 human affairs amidst the clash of arms, and the desperate 
 expedients of a civil war. Such matters are not to be poised 
 with the deUcate precision of a legal document. We must 
 frame our judgment upon a broad survey of the facts. That 
 the King contemplated any compromise with Roman 
 Catholicism as a State reUgion is absurd. It was against 
 all his strongest convictions and predilections.^ But he may 
 well have perceived — ^what it was the evil genius of England 
 that prevented the nation at large from perceiving — that 
 a certain measure of toleration for that reUgion in Ireland 
 was rendered inevitable by the logic of facts and the irre- 
 futable dictates of humanity, which transcend the most 
 cherished prejudices, and impress themselves even upon the 
 most unwilling consciences. In the secret counsels of destiny 
 it was fated that they would, to the immeasurable detriment 
 of both countries, take long to translate themselves into 
 actual fact ; but that Charles should have perceived them, 
 even though it was under the pressure of his own accumulating 
 difficulties, and perceived them perhaps more fully than he 
 himself recognized, is not a matter of blame to him. It is 
 quite possible that, in his instructions to Glamorgan,^ he 
 
 ' " As for the Irish," he says in the letter to Prince Rupert, of August, 
 1645, " I assure you they shall not cheat me ; but it is possible they may 
 cozen themselves ; for, be assured, what I have refused to the English, I 
 will not grant to the Irish rebels " (Hist, of Rebellion, ix. 70). 
 
 2 Hyde is strangely silent on the matter in his History, and it is not 
 unfair to infer that he was nervous as to its effects and suspicious as to its 
 bearings. He writes from Jersey, in 1647, to Nicholas : " A King may be 
 gracious to his Catholic subjects, and be willing by any means to unite them 
 to his service, without any immoderate inclination to their opinions. Yet 
 I must tell you I care not how little I say on that business of Ireland, since 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
274 DISASTER TO THE ROYAL CAUSE [chap, x 
 
 made concessions to this tendency, involving dangers more 
 serious, and surrenders of principle more far-reaching, than 
 he knew himself. Necessity is a hard master. Glamorgan ^ 
 undoubtedly was tempted to go beyond his instructions, 
 under pressure from the Papal nuncio, and through the 
 stubbornness of the Irish rebels. Misunderstanding might 
 easily arise amidst such desperate straits, and phrases might 
 perhaps creep in that had a semblance of bad faith and shifty 
 poHcy. But a pacification was indubitably necessary if it 
 could be attained ; and we, who recognize how fully, how 
 absolutely, just such toleration was, according to the com- 
 placent superiority of a more modern intelligence, must not 
 be in haste to condemn what seemed to concede it with undue 
 precipitancy, under the pressure of imperious necessity. 
 
 But undoubtedly such concessions were out of harmony 
 with the dominant spirit of the time, and we need not be 
 surprised that Hyde was doubtful about them, and felt that 
 they were dangerous to the best interests of the King himself. 
 
 those strange powers and instructions given to your favourite, Glamorgan, 
 which appear to me so inexcusable in justice, piety, and prudence ; and I 
 fear that there is much in that transaction of Ireland, both before and since, 
 that you and I were never thought wise enough to be advised with in. . . . 
 Those stratagems have given me more sad hours than aU the misfortunes 
 in war which have befallen the King, and look like the effects of God's anger 
 towards us " (Clarendon, State Papers, ii. 337). But those who blame the 
 King most severely, and dwell on his minister's condemnation as conclusive 
 of Charles's wrongdoing, must remember that Hyde spoke as one to whom 
 the merits of universal toleration were not apparent, and whose evidence 
 they, as champions of toleration, are not entitled to call in their own support. 
 ' Edward Somerset was the son of the Earl of Worcester, and was born 
 in 1601. In his earlier years he was known as Lord Herbert, but was in 
 1644 created Earl of Glamorgan, and received ample powers as military 
 commander for the suppression of the Irish Rebellion, with lavish promises 
 of reward for success. How far his commission went, and whether he 
 exceeded it, in his concessions to the Roman Catholics, cannot be pronounced 
 with certainty ; but he was disavowed by the King, and, at the same time, 
 suffered severely from the Parliament. His estates were sequestered, and 
 Worcester House, his London mansion, was occupied by Cromwell. In 
 1646 he succeeded his father, who had been created Marquis of Worcester. 
 He returned from exile at the Restoration, and survived till 1667, but his 
 later life was occupied with mechanical pursuits, in which he attained 
 proficiency, a claim having even been advanced for him, as the first inventor 
 of a steam engine. 
 
1646] MEDIATION OP PRANCE 275 
 
 They were favoured by the Queen and her adherents, and 
 this was, in itself, enough to condemn them in Hyde's eyes, 
 as he knew how Uttle trust was to be placed in that faction, 
 and how hopelessly it was out of sympathy with the 
 general drift of EngHsh thought. It was another sign of 
 that weakness which Hyde thought fatal to the best hopes 
 of the Crown.' Patience and iirmness, with a consistent 
 policy, were, in his eyes, the only stand-by ; but they would 
 probably suffice only to preserve the King's conscience and 
 his good name — ^not his power and his royal dignity. 
 
 The next device was that of an alliance with the Scots 
 by the mediation of France. We have already seen how 
 Hyde had received the overtures from the Duke of Hamilton ; 
 and his dislike of this alhance was in accordance with the 
 views he had consistently held as to the hopelessness of any 
 secure confederacy based upon concessions to Presbyterianism 
 which he considered to be inconsistent with the King's con- 
 scientious belief, and with the deep-rooted essential adherence 
 of the English nation to its own Church. But since the death 
 of Richelieu and Louis XIII, the influence of Queen Henrietta 
 had greatly increased at the Court of France. Mazarin, 
 whose power was now secure, affected to dread the growing 
 domination of Parhament, and the Queen-Mother was at 
 least friendly to Queen Henrietta. A means of reconciliation 
 now appeared to offer through concessions to the Scottish 
 Presbyterians which would not militate against the hopes 
 of the Roman Catholics, and might indeed help them, by 
 depressing the influence of AngUcanEpiscopacy. To Henrietta 
 the difference between Presbyterianism and Anglican Episco- 
 
 ' Hyde's general view as to concessions is shortly and pithily expressed 
 by him in a letter to Sir John Berkeley (printed in vol. iii. p. 47 of ^ Lister's 
 Life). " To my understanding I must still say the question is not, nor of 
 a long time hath been, whether he should perish with all his regalities, or, 
 by parting with some, preserve himself and the rest . . . but whether he will 
 perish before he parts with them ... or perish after he hath parted with 
 them." 
 
276 DISASTER TO THE ROYAL CAUSE [chap, x 
 
 pacy was of little importance, and she would not have been 
 unwilling that the leanings of the Presbyterians towards the 
 monarchy should be made use of for the restoration of the 
 King's civU prerogative, at the price of concessions to their 
 religious views. With a strange perversity, she refused to recog- 
 nize the attachment of the King to the Church, for which he 
 was prepared to sacrifice not his prerogative only, but his hfe. 
 By her contrivance, new steps were taken to patch up an 
 agreement which was doomed to failure. A new Ambassador, 
 MontreuH, was despatched to England, nominally to enter into 
 negotiations between the Court of France and the Parliament, 
 but in reahty to promote some dealings with the Scots, 
 pledging the influence of France to secure the performance 
 of mutual engagements between the King and the Presby- 
 terians. From the first it was evident that no settlement 
 would commend itself to the Scots which did not guarantee 
 the establishment of Presbyterianism in England. This 
 seemed to the Queen and her advisers a small price to pay 
 for an aUiance which must break the power of ParHament. 
 But equally from the first, it was plain that no such con- 
 cession could be obtained from the King ; and Hyde looked 
 with misgiving upon a scheme which would surrender what 
 he regarded as the most essential point of Royalist policy, 
 and which would effectually flout and discourage the deep- 
 rooted sympathy with the national Church which Hyde re- 
 garded as the means certain, sooner or later, to bring the 
 national aspirations into line with the policy of the Crown. 
 When Montreuil laid his proposals before the King, he was 
 definitely informed that no such concession to the Pres- 
 byterian demands could be made. The promise of the 
 Queen was adduced against this refusal, and her own written 
 words were sufficient proof of that promise. In these words, 
 says Hyde, " there were such expressions concerning religion 
 as nothing pleased the King, and made him look upon that 
 
1646] LAST EFFOETS IN THE FIELD 277 
 
 negotiation as rather a conspiracy against the Church 
 between the Roman Catholics and the Presbyterians than 
 as an expedient for his restoration or preservation." It in- 
 creased the suspicions which he already felt of some of his 
 adherents, and taught him what dangers were to be faced if 
 the Prince were conveyed to Prance, and became subject to 
 such pernicious counsellors. 
 
 The insuperable difficulties which stood in the way of any 
 such agreement were not allowed to put an end to what all 
 might judge as a possible, and which some hailed as a favour- 
 able, opportunity for reviving hopes for the King's cause. 
 We can imagine the difficulties of the adroit French diplo- 
 matist in his efforts to bring about an agreement between 
 the dour and doughty champions of militant Presbyterianism 
 and the conscientious scruples of the King. Each seemed, 
 doubtless, to him to be contending for varieties in heresy 
 which he held of infinitesimal moment, and to be abandoning 
 the stupendous secular objects which both professed to have 
 at heart. By not concediag the demands of Presbyterianism, 
 Charles was abandoning his Crown ; by insisting on their 
 special brand of heresy the Scots were paving the way for 
 their own subjection to the Independents of the army. 
 Between negotiators who would emperil so much for what 
 he deemed so Kttle, the dexterities of the French diplomat 
 laboured in vain. 
 
 If diplomacy could do little, armed resistance could do 
 still less for the Royalist cause. Lord Astley gathered a 
 feeble force from the remaining garrisons of the west, and 
 marched from Worcester to Oxford to meet the King. There 
 was no time for conveying orders or making secure arrange- 
 ments for a rendezvous. The two bodies missed one another, 
 and at Stow-on-the-Wold, Astley was attacked by a far 
 superior force. Resistance was impossible ; and Astley had 
 nothing for it but to surrender himself as prisoner. He 
 
278 DISASTER TO THE ROYAL CAUSE [chap, x 
 
 admitted to his captors that the straggle was over. " You 
 have now done your work," he told them, " and may 
 go play, unless you will fall out among yourselves." ^ 
 " The few that escaped were so scattered and dispersed, that 
 they never came together again, nor did there remain, from 
 that minute, any possibility for the King to draw any other 
 troops together in the field." ^ 
 
 ' Rushworth, vi. Ul. The date was March 22, 1G4§. 
 ^ Rebellion, ix. (at end). 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 DEFEAT OF THE EOYALIST CAUSE 
 
 When Hyde quitted England in 1646 for what was destined to 
 be a fourteen years' banishment, the outlook for the King was 
 already poor enough. There were, as Hyde himself puts it, 
 " no seeds of hope left." The negotiations with the Scots 
 were still proceeding ; but from them Hyde presaged httle 
 good ; and the result showed how true were his forebodings. 
 Had the King been able, by any possible device, to draw 
 five thousand men together, he would rather, so Hyde tells 
 us,i have perished in a hopeless attempt upon the Parha- 
 mentary forces than have waited for any conditions that 
 were likely to be made after the long-drawn attempts at a 
 treaty. It seemed for a time as if it might be possible to 
 bring such a number together, and it was a vara hope of 
 French assistance to this extent, which had been delusively 
 held out, that had kept the Prince from sailing to SciUy till 
 Fairfax was withia twenty nules of him. But even this 
 delusive prospect, like other hopes from France, was now 
 entirely dispelled. 
 
 The Prince and his companions — ^iacluding Hopton and 
 Capel, who soon joiaed Hyde and Colepepper — were far from 
 being safe at Scilly. The defences were scanty. Ships of 
 the Parliamentary fleet were cruising in the neighbourhood ; 
 and the soldiers upon whose help the little Court had to 
 depend, were Comishmen, and could not be trusted to hold 
 
 ' Rebellion, x. 2. 
 
280 DEFEAT OP THE EOYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 out long after Cornwall surrendered to Fairfax, which must 
 be a matter of weeks, if not of days. The supplies were short, 
 and there was difficulty in obtaining means of subsistence. 
 Clearly they, as guardians of the Prince's safety, could make 
 no long stay there. By the middle of April they managed 
 to elude the Parhament's ships of war, and landed safely 
 in Jersey. Just before they started, there had been twenty- 
 seven or twenty-eight of these ships compassing the island, 
 only the dispersal of which by an opportune storm gave the 
 fugitives the chance they desired. While their escape was 
 still doubtful, the Prince produced a letter from the King, 
 which had been written just before the fatal blow of Naseby, 
 and which he had been enjoined to keep to himself until the 
 last crisis should arrive. In it Charles bade his son never, 
 in the case of the King being taken prisoner, to yield to 
 any condition dishonourable, unsafe for himself, or derogatory 
 to the royal authority, in the vain hope of saving his father's 
 life. 
 
 " To save my hfe by complying with them," wrote the 
 King, " would make me end my days with torture, and disquiet 
 of mind, not giving you any blessing, and cursing all the rest 
 who are consenting to it. But your constancy will make 
 me die cheerfully, praising God for giving me so gallant a 
 son, and heaping my blessings on you." 
 
 Apprized of this letter, the Council could have no alter- 
 native but to remove the Prince from the clutches of the 
 rebels. The choice lay between Jersey and France ; and 
 the objections to France were, in the minds of Hyde and his 
 fellow-councillors, insuperable. Jersey was safe at least 
 from any present attempt, and it had the incontestable 
 advantage of being technically within the Kingdom of 
 England. The King's adherents could still rest assured that 
 the fate of the heir to the Crown was not in foreign hands. 
 The Queen was anxious, as she had always been, that his 
 
1646] SCHEMES AS TO THE PRINCE 281 
 
 destination should be France. But she knew the objections 
 of the Council ; and in a letter of April 5th, she only insisted 
 that he should be removed to Jersey, pledging the faith of 
 the Queen Regent of France, that should he be compelled 
 to put into a French port, he should receive a good re- 
 ception there. In her heart, she wished Jersey only to be 
 a stage on his journey to France. 
 
 Colepepper repaired to France for further conference with 
 the Queen : and on his return Hyde found that he had been 
 largely converted to the views of the Queen and her Court. 
 In Jermyn, Queen Henrietta had one who ardently furthered 
 her views ; and from this time Hyde, in conjunction with Hop- 
 ton and Capel, had a long struggle against what they rightly 
 deemed to be the fatal policy of the Queen, backed up by 
 Jermyn and Colepepper. Soon after, Jermyn communicated 
 to them a letter from the King, of March 22nd, which assumed 
 that the Prince was now with his mother in France, and 
 which bade him be guided by her in all things, except in regard 
 to the vital matter of religion. Hyde rightly feared that 
 the exception was one too large to be very carefully observed ; 
 and he was well aware that its breach would have dissolved 
 for ever the hopes of a Royahst revival. 
 
 Meanwhile, a diversion of a new kind arose from the 
 ever-active brain, and sanguine temperament, of Digby. We 
 have seen already how he had escaped, after defeat in the 
 field, to the Isle of Man, and thence to Ireland ; and while 
 Capel and Colepepper ^ were dispatched on a mission to the 
 Queen, to explain the doubts of the Council, a new scheme 
 was started by Digby. He had conceived vast hopes of 
 efficacious assistance to the Royal cause from Ireland. If 
 only the Prince were there, aU factions would be reduced ; 
 his EngUsh adherents would flock to his standard ; the Irish 
 
 ' Colepepper could hardly be counted as a faithful exponent of views 
 with which he was not now in sympathy. 
 
282 DEFEAT OF THE EOYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 rebels would return to their allegiance ; the papal nuncio 
 would abate his extravagant pretensions. By a sort of happy 
 magic all that Glamorgan's unwise concessions had failed to 
 achieve was to be accompHshed without difficulty. To this 
 end Digby arrived at Scilly, full of his new scheme, but only 
 to find that the Prince had just gone to Jersey, and there 
 he followed him. Even the delay involved in considering 
 so novel an expedient only served to make Digby the more 
 impatient, and in no way lessened his sanguine faith in his 
 own scheme. The Prince explained that he must await 
 the return of Capel and Colepepper, and further orders from 
 the King. Digby fretted at the want of enterprise that 
 would not immediately embrace such an opportunity. He 
 was sure he could persuade the Queen ; delay would only 
 dissipate the bright hopes that awaited them in Ireland. 
 He had further talk " with one of the privy council," whom 
 we may safely take to be Hyde — and while he lamented 
 the loss of this occasion, he inveighed with the utmost bitter- 
 ness, in terms no doubt intended to capture Hyde's confidence, 
 against any scheme of sending the Prince to France.'' So 
 strongly did he feel the ruin such a scheme involved, that 
 he declared himself ready to entice the Prince on board his 
 frigate, and then sail with him to Ireland, whether with his 
 will or no. Hyde condemned any such scheme, and showed 
 that he was determined to prevent it. But opposition never 
 daunted Digby, and he was confident that by going to 
 France, he would soon persuade the Queen to abandon her 
 own ideas and join cordially in his own. 
 
 " Transported with this happy auguration, he left 
 Jersey ; leaving at the same time his two ships, and half 
 a dozen gentlemen of quahty (who upon his desires and 
 
 ' At this time Digby was as keenly alive as Hyde to the dangers of any 
 tampering with Roman Catholicism. We shall see, at a later day, how his 
 attitude changed. 
 
1640] DIGBY'S DEVICES 283 
 
 many promises, had kept him company from Ireland) without 
 one penny of money to subsist on during his absence." 
 
 Digby was true to his own character throughout. The 
 envoy, who was to persuade all in. the Queen's Court to 
 adopt his own scheme with enthusiasm, was soon captive 
 in the hands of a far more wily diplomatist. The Queen 
 was as determined as ever that her son should join her in 
 Prance ; and she had an able, but astute, ally in Mazarin. 
 He knew Digby's foible, and flattered him to the top of his 
 bent. He was full of protestations of warm friendship for the 
 Enghsh Crown. They ia France, according to the Cardinal, 
 had learned the error of their ways in suffering the King to be 
 oppressed by bis enemies. " The Crown of France was to wed 
 the Crown of England ; " but a necessary preUminary was 
 that the person of the Prince should be in France. It was, 
 of course, purely in the interest of the Prince himself that 
 this condition was pressed. Once he was there, an ambas- 
 sador would be sent to England to state to the Parhament 
 the peremptory demands of France, and failing a speedy 
 answer, to declare war. An army would at once be ready, 
 and at the head of such a force as would leave nothing in 
 doubt, the Prince would " have the honour to redeem and 
 restore his father." The Cardinal professed to know fresh 
 dangers which the Prince ran ; and he took care that a letter 
 from himself to Conde should come into the hands of the 
 Queen, in which he told how some persons " about the Prince 
 in Jersey," were ready to surrender him to the Parliament 
 for twenty thousand pistoles.^ The letter was conveyed to 
 Jersey, and Hyde saw what construction would be placed 
 upon his refusal to assent to the removal to France. 
 
 The scheme now propounded was skilfully adjusted to 
 the volatile mood of Digby ; to him a noble part was assigned, 
 
 ' Rebellion, x. 18. 
 
284 DEFEAT OP THE EOYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 and it was just such as served to attract his enthusiastic sup- 
 port. Ireland and its promises were at once forgotten, and he 
 became a sworn and whole-hearted advocate for the French 
 plan, which he had so unsparingly denounced to Hyde only 
 a few days before. With something of grim humour, Hyde 
 tells the story, of which he saw the amusing, as well as the 
 dangerous side. Digby returned to Jersey to paint the result 
 of his mission in the brightest colours. He told Hyde all 
 that the Cardinal had said, " not leaving out any of the 
 expressions of the high value his eminence had of Digby's 
 particular person." Everything had been trusted to Digby, 
 even to the selection of an ambassador. It was all so 
 hopeful, that " he conjured his friend to concur in that 
 advice, which would be very grateful to the Queen, and 
 be attended with much benefit to himself." The Queen was 
 " confident of his service ; " but whether Hyde agreed or no, 
 the Prince, Digby was certain, " would obey his mother." 
 
 Hyde, " who in truth loved him very heartily, though 
 no man better knew his infirmities," remained unmoved by 
 Digby's blandishments as well as by his threats. He refused 
 to accept the lavish promises of Mazarin, and reminded 
 Digby how he himself had been formerly deceived by promises 
 from the same quarter. For himself, he profoundly dis- 
 trusted them, and remained of his old opinion. Before he 
 agreed to the removal, he must have the authority of the 
 King. 
 
 The news now reached both France and Jersey, not 
 only that the King had delivered himself to the Scots,^ and 
 had been removed with the Scottish army to Newcastle, but 
 that he was kept by them in virtual imprisonment. His 
 friends were carefully excluded from any intercourse with 
 him, and Ashbumham, his gentleman of the bed-chamber, 
 who had accompanied him in the midnight ride from Oxford 
 
 ' AprU 27, 1646. 
 
1646] THE KING WITH THE SCOTS 285 
 
 to join the Scots at Newark, was not only debarred from 
 access to his master, but had narrowly escaped becoming 
 a prisoner in the hands of Parliament. Montreuil had found 
 himself no longer well received by the Scots, with whom 
 he had arranged the ill-fated compact between them and 
 the King, and he had been glad to sail for France in a Dutch 
 ship. He brought a letter from the King which Jermyn 
 and the Queen interpreted as confirming his previous in- 
 junctions that the Prince should take refuge in France. 
 Ashbumham knew of no such commands, and doubted the 
 wisdom of the scheme. Capel offered, at the risk of his 
 freedom and his hfe, to make a journey to Newcastle, and 
 receive the King's commands. But the Queen was positive 
 in her own opinion, and would now brook no delay. Jermyn 
 — who possessed authority as titular governor of Jersey — 
 Wilmot, and others were dispatched with Colepepper and 
 Capel to execute her commands. 
 
 It was in June that the emissaries of the Queen, and their 
 large train of attendants, arrived at Jersey, bearing letters 
 for the Prince. The Queen urged the danger of his present 
 situation — a danger which Hyde did not believe to exist — 
 and the express and reiterated commands of the King, as 
 the grounds on which she required him to make haste to 
 join her in France. The Council did not abandon their 
 position without a final effort. A conference was held at 
 which Jermyn and Digby assumed that there could be no 
 hesitation in obeying the Queen's commands. The members 
 of the Council argued that they, and they alone, were account- 
 able to the King, and to the Kingdom, for the movements 
 of the Prince. They could admit no others to that Council, 
 and they must insist upon fuUy debating the groimds of the 
 proposal, the terms and conditions of the King's orders, 
 and the reasons for thinking that Jersey was unsafe. Capel 
 gave a full account of his mission, of his representations to 
 
286 DEFEAT OF THE EOYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 the Queen, of his doubts of the good faith of the French 
 promises, and of the Queen's readiness, as expressed to him, 
 to, await expUcit directions from the King. High words 
 ensued between the two parties at the board. Hyde, Capel, 
 and Hopton were immovable in their opinion, while the 
 others urged as strongly the necessity of yielding obedience 
 to the Queen. The dispute was ended only by the Prince 
 yielding to the arguments of Digby and his supporters, 
 and declaring that he was resolved " to comply with the 
 commands of the Queen, and forthwith remove into France." 
 Further argument became, to use Hyde's own words, " not 
 only useless, but indecent." There was nothing for it, but 
 to accept the inevitable. But Hyde, Hopton, and Capel 
 could not bring themselves to join in a removal which they 
 no longer felt able to prevent. They took leave of the Prince 
 with all expressions of duty. Contrary winds prevented 
 him from starting for France for three or four days. During 
 that interval, the Prince saw much of his Council, and fully 
 understood their loyalty to his interests ; but between the 
 two factions there was open rupture. It was hardly to be 
 expected that councillors so tried and so faithful as Hyde, 
 Hopton, and Capel, should lightly submit to have their 
 policy flouted by the selfish intrigue of Jermyn, the unstable 
 caprices of Digby, and the perverse contrariety of Colepepper. 
 They fully appreciated the ill-effect of the departure for 
 France, both upon the nation at large, and upon the most 
 trustworthy of the EoyaHsts. Nor was there wanting another, 
 even graver, ground of suspicion as to the intentions of the 
 Queen and the stratagems of Mazarin. It was upon the 
 faith of a compact made by Montreuil with the Scots that 
 the King had placed himself in their hands. Already it 
 was apparent that that compact had conveyed to the Scots 
 expectations of the King's surrender of Episcopacy, and 
 submission to Presbyterianism, for which Charles had given 
 
1646] THE PRINCE GOES TO FRANCE 287 
 
 no warrant, and against which he would struggle to the 
 end. His purpose was fixed to be a martyr, if need be, for 
 the Church, and from that one purpose, at least, he never 
 wavered. Montreuil was disavowed by Mazarin ; but his place 
 as ambassador was taken by Bellievre, who had lived long 
 in England, who knew the intricacies of the various factions, 
 and whose sympathies were evidently strong against the 
 King. Concessions, it was now evident, had been indicated 
 by the emissary acting on behalf of the French Court, far 
 beyond any that the Kiag was prepared to make. Upon 
 these concessions Bellievre was instructed to insist with the 
 King ; and the King's conscientious scruples were treated 
 with a disregard that told, only too plainly, of the influence 
 of the Queen, who deemed his attachment to his Church a 
 vain dream for which he was sacrificiag a substantial reality. 
 The King was becoming more and more estranged from 
 the new ambassador, and the hardships to which his sojourn 
 in the hands of the Scots exposed him, only fixed him more 
 firmly in his resolution, and convinced him that he owed not 
 a little of the downfall in his fortunes to the shifty diplo- 
 macy of the French Court. His anxiety for the Prince's 
 safety might have made him contemplate his removal to 
 France ; but it was by no means sure that he would have 
 assented to it had he known the security of Jersey ; and it 
 was certain that he would have peremptorily forbidden it 
 had he known that it was associated with a scheme of sur- 
 render of the Church, which it was the dominating principle 
 of his life to resist. With these feelings Hyde strongly 
 sympathized ; and in addition he saw, with far more perspi- 
 cacity than the King, how ill would be the consequence of 
 a French connection upon the most stalwart of his EngHsh 
 adherents. 
 
 The schemes of the Queen were soon made even more 
 clear. On the failure of Bellievre to convert the King, she 
 
288 DEFEAT OF THE ROYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 sent a strange emissary for the purpose, in the person of Sir 
 WilHam Davenant.^ That wayward votary of the muses 
 shares with Waller and Suckling, the honour, such as it was, 
 of a brief and ill-fated excursion into the domain of politics ; 
 and that it should have been specially concerned with 
 ecclesiastical poUtics, makes his selection stranger still. 
 He was commissioned by the Queen to obtain access to 
 the King and explain to him the ill-consequences of his 
 misplaced scruples. By the mediation of the French am- 
 bassador, Davenant readily obtained access to the King, and 
 urged that he should part with the Church for his peace and 
 security ; arguing that this was the opinion of all his friends. 
 " What friends ? " asked the King. Jermyn was the first 
 adduced ; but the King told him " that Jermyn did not 
 understand anythiug of the Church." Jermyn himself 
 would have been amused at such a use of his authority. 
 Lord Colepepper was the next cited; but the King told 
 him " that Colepepper had no religion." " Was the Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer (Hyde) of that opinion ? " Davenant " did 
 not know ; Hyde was absent, and had deserted the Priace," 
 and he told of the Queen's displeasure against Hyde. 
 " Hyde," answered the King, " was an honest man, and 
 would never desert him, nor the Prince, nor the Church ; he 
 was sorry he was not with his son, but his wife was mistaken." 
 Davenant rashly urged some slighting opinions of his own 
 upon the Church, but this broke the patience of the King. 
 " Has Majesty was transported with so much passion and 
 indignation that he gave him more reproachful terms and 
 a sharper reprehension than he ever did towards any other 
 man ; and forbade him to presume to come again into his 
 
 ' Sir William Davenant won his fame in other spheres than those of 
 politics. He was born in 1606, the son of an Oxford innkeeper, unless we 
 accept the story, which Davenant himself did not vigorously combat, of 
 a more illustrious paternity. His mother was on good terms with 
 Shakespeare, who often stayed at the inn. 
 
1646] JERSEY TPIREATENED 289 
 
 presence." Poor Davenant for once felt that his wit was 
 baffled, and that he was involved in currents which he 
 could not navigate. He returned to France, a diplomatist 
 whose mission had egregiously miscarried. 
 
 Hyde, with his friends Capel and Hopton, remained in 
 Jersey, conscious that the charge with which they had been 
 trusted by the King was now at an end. They wrote to him 
 a dignified letter explaining their position, renewing their 
 pledge of loyal service, and their readiness to obey his com- 
 mands when necessity arose. Their fears were soon realized in 
 the cold reception accorded to the Prince in France, where 
 he was neglected, and found himself in complete dependence 
 on the Queen and her pernicious circle of adherents. Mazarin's 
 wiles had succeeded, and with the Prince in his power, he 
 found his hands free to mould the affairs of England in con- 
 formity with the interests of France. His emissaries had 
 involved the King in the toils of the ill-fated trust in the 
 Scots. Under the pressure of his new jailers the King issued 
 orders to Montrose to cease his campaign, and to Oxford 
 and the few garrisons that still remained to him in England, 
 to surrender. He found his adherents in Scotland treated 
 with ruthless barbarity by the very men who now held his 
 person in their power. 
 
 In October, Hyde and his friends had reason to know the 
 deeper danger of the trust in Mazarin's promises, and the 
 sordid aims of those who possessed the confidence of the 
 Queen. They found that there was a project, set on foot 
 by Jermyn, in consideration of a bribe, and probably some 
 delusive offer of effective assistance to the Enghsh Crown, 
 to surrender Jersey to the French. In view of such a 
 scheme, they soon took active measures of resistance. They 
 pledged their own security to Carteret, the acting Governor, 
 for the cost of improving the fortifications. They sent to 
 the Dutch to invoke their assistance against France, and they 
 
 VOL. I. u 
 
290 DEFEAT OP THE ROYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 pledged themselves that, sooner than allow an EngHsh pos- 
 session to fall into foreign hands, they would denounce the 
 scheme to Parliament. For themselves they had nothing 
 to hope. They had broken with ParKament beyond all 
 possibility of condonement ; but sooner than be parties 
 to such national treachery, they would appeal to the only 
 power in England that could defend her territory. It was 
 an act of which they had every reason to be proud, and it 
 showed that there were limits even to their adherence to a 
 party. The project was abandoned. 
 
 It was not long before they learned the fatal issue of the 
 ill-omened surrender to the Scots, which had taken place 
 on the faith of a misunderstood and impossible compact. 
 In January, after the King's sojourn with the Scots had 
 crushed his spirit, had forced him to experience ill-treatment 
 such as he had never felt before, and had brought pressure 
 on him to dissolve the elements of resistance thatstiU remained 
 true to him, he was delivered over to the Parliament in con- 
 sideration of a payment of £400,000, of which half was paid 
 at once. It is idle to seek for excuses for the sordid bargain. 
 It was a transaction of which every Scotsman must feel 
 profoundly ashamed ; and no dexterity of artful apology 
 can wipe out the wholesome verdict of humanity upon an 
 episode so despicably mean. Scotland's temporary leaders 
 proved how ill they represented the national character, and 
 their action roused the nation's disgust. 
 
 The last of the EngUsh garrisons, one by one, had given 
 up their hopeless resistance, and before the end of autumn 
 none remained. With a natural sympathy for stalwart 
 resistance, even when it went beyond the limit of political 
 prudence, Hyde learned with some pleasure that those who 
 held out longest obtained as good terms as any. Amongst 
 those who doggedly maintained a forlorn hope was the 
 garrison of the castle of Pendennis, in Cornwall. It had been 
 
1646] DEATH OF KILLIGREW 291 
 
 defended by the most staunch of the Cornish gentlemen, 
 and amongst them was one notable — Sir Harry Killigrew. 
 From first to last the bluff Comishman had never yielded 
 one jot to those whom his rough loyalty counted as mischief 
 mongers, and his honesty had won him Hyde's warm friend- 
 ship when they had met in the Long Parhament. Killigrew 
 was no courtier although he had the esteem of courtiers ; 
 he was no adept in poUtical controversy, and was only 
 poUtician enough to loath those who preached disloyalty. 
 When the House had levied an army, and made Essex their 
 general, there were those who from policy or fear announced 
 what men in arms they would maintain. Killigrew rose 
 and said : " He would provide a good horse, and a good 
 buff coat, and a good pair of pistols, and then he doubted 
 not but he should find a good cause." He was too popular 
 a man to be an easy object of violence ; but such a note of 
 defiance was too bold not to call for vengeance. He stalked 
 from the House, took horse to Cornwall, and there joined the 
 gallant band of Cornishmen, who gave Hopton the means 
 of a resistance that defied all the efforts of Parliament 
 for four years. Killigrew sought no command, and only 
 asked to be where the danger was greatest, and the fighting 
 fiercest. For a good comrade he had a ready wit and a 
 humour that no risks or hardships could quench ; for a 
 laggard he had a tongue sharp enough to make the coward 
 shun his company. He had no mind to compromise, and 
 reckoned the moderate man as only one step from the rebel. 
 In Hyde's pages we see the portrait of the bluff, hot-tempered, 
 frank, free-spoken cavalier, painted to the life. The final 
 surrender doubtless tried his spirit, and it must have been 
 in hot blood that he discharged the " good pistols " that 
 were to serve his King no more. As he did so, one of them 
 played him the ill trick of bursting, and a splinter inflicted 
 a bad wound in his forehead. In bis usual mood he made 
 
292 DEFEAT OF THE ROYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 light of the hurt, and insisted upon sailing for St. Malo, 
 whence he hoped to join his friends at Jersey, before the 
 surgeon permitted. Hyde, Capel, and Hopton, all knew 
 his worth, and were glad to welcome him. They waited 
 his coming with impatience, and when the ship, sent to fetch 
 him from St. Malo, put into the harbour, they hastened to 
 meet him. But to their grief the wound had proved fatal 
 at St. Malo just as he was about to sail*, and on board the 
 ship they found only the coffin that held his body. The 
 gallant soldier had not long survived the surrender that he 
 hated worse than death. Hyde dwells on the episode, which 
 doubtless served to make more real to him the extinction, 
 for many a year, of all the hopes of the master he had served 
 so well. 
 
 It was now only from a distance, and with no active work 
 to distract him, that Hyde was able to watch the progress of 
 events. He was, indeed, in constant touch with the other 
 members of his party, both in England, in Ireland, and in 
 France. But he could only guess the turn that matters 
 took by comparing the fragments of conflicting news that 
 reached him. It soon became clear that the breach between 
 the Presbyterians and the Independents had given place 
 to the far more serious and deadly breach between the 
 Parliament and the army. Cromwell had a difficult part 
 to play in reconciling the aims of a triumphant House of 
 Commons, which must be humoured for a while longer in 
 the furtherance of the drastic work of political revolution, 
 with the sterner forces of the great military engine which 
 he had fostered into strength, and which must now be 
 subdued to his own will. He had need of aU his vast powers 
 of dissimulation in order to play the diverse parts of the 
 possible friend of the King, of the political revolutionary, 
 and of the stern military disciplinarian, until the time 
 should be ripe for him to throw off the disguise and 
 
1646] CEOMWELL'S SUPEEMACY 293 
 
 teach the Parhament that they had reared, in their paid 
 servants, a power which they were helpless to control, and 
 which was to assume the position of their master as well 
 as their protector. Just as Parliament had crushed 
 the prerogative of the King on the pretext of protecting 
 him against evil counsellors, so now the army held the 
 Parliament captive on the pretext of defending it against 
 the crowds of London citizens who demanded that Par- 
 liament should resist the aggressions of military tyranny. 
 Cromwell continued to send letters to Parhament couched 
 in terms of the most dutiful respect, while day by day he 
 drew his Ironsides closer to the city. Parhament blustered 
 about its own authority ; then changed from bluster to sohci- 
 tation, and in the end its Speaker was compelled to meet the 
 general at his camp, and returned under his escort with all 
 the show of honour, and yet ah the reahty of captivity. 
 With grim mockery. Parliament was ordered to appoint a 
 day of thanksgiving for its own liberation. The city came to 
 offer its obeisance and to proffer its gifts. The first was 
 accepted with disdain, the last were scornfully thrust aside. 
 Cromwell was a consummate actor ; but no man knew better 
 when and how to cast the cloak aside, and show the stern 
 reahty of his power. 
 
 There was a strange opportuneness in the death this 
 autumn ^ of the Earl of Essex, the general whose gracious 
 countenancing of the Parliament's designs, and whose 
 acceptance of the command of their forces had only four 
 years before seemed the strongest guarantee of their mihtary 
 success. Month by month Essex had reaHzed more fully 
 how far the issue of the work, upon which he entered with 
 so much hope, had passed beyond his control. The direct 
 simplicity of his character had held him back from any 
 temporizing, and as a soldier, the bond of military duty 
 
 ' September, 16i6. 
 
294 DEFEAT OF THE ROYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 weighed heavily with him. A violent breach in the Par- 
 liamentarian ranks might have thrust upon him — even 
 against his will — the part of mediator, and perhaps he 
 might stUI have found adherents enough to break the rising 
 military power. But he died at the very time when the 
 propitious moment for compromise seemed to be near. 
 Cromwell was by his death relieved from any fear lest the 
 influence which Essex represented might revive. 
 
 Hyde learned only by chance letters of the progress of 
 the new duel between army and Parliament, and into his 
 biography the details of that struggle do not enter. It was 
 in January 164^ that the King passed from the hands of the 
 Scots into those of Parliament. It was in June that Cornet 
 Joyce 1 roughly entered the King's bed-chamber at Holmby, 
 and by the authority of his pistols and of his files of Iron- 
 sides, made him the prisoner of the Army. The Cornet 
 was a ready tool directed by a master hand. Five years 
 of Civil War had made the sword omnipotent. The army 
 had given checkmate to the Parliament, and the person 
 of the King was but the chief piece upon the board in the 
 game between the two. 
 
 The King was removed to Hampton Court ; and to out- 
 ward seeming his treatment at the hand of the army was 
 better than that he had received from the representatives 
 of the Parliament at Holmby. His friends were freely 
 admitted to him. Instead of the rabid Presbyterian divines 
 who, in his Scottish surroundings, had made his life a burden, 
 he found himself attended by his own chaplains, and the 
 leading officers of the army behaved themselves towards 
 him always with respect, and often with cordiality. At 
 Hampton Court his liberty was not outwardly curtailed, 
 
 ' Joyce was one of the agitators in the army, and had been a tailor. 
 He had served in a menial capacity for some years in Mr. HoUis's house. 
 Cromwell disavowed his action, but it suited his plans too well for it to be 
 possible to believe that it was without his authority. 
 
1647] THE KING WITH THE AEMY 295 
 
 and above aU he was suffered not only to receive his children, 
 the Duke of York, the Princess Elizabeth, and the httle 
 Duke of Gloucester, but he paid them frequent visits at 
 Sion House, where they were in the charge of the Earl of 
 Northumberland. Ormonde came from Ireland to consult 
 with him. Sir John Berkeley, and Ashburnham, the gentle- 
 man of his bed-chamber, resorted to him with instructions 
 from the Queen. Berkeley was a man for whom neither 
 the King nor Hyde had much respect ; for Ashburnham 
 the King had an affection which Hyde did not share. Per- 
 haps his most important visitor was Lord Capel, who came to 
 express to him more fuUy the views which he held in common 
 with his bosom friends, Hyde and Hopton. All these were 
 allowed full access to their master, and in free intercourse 
 with the officers of the army-, they were led to form hopes 
 of better days for the RoyaHst party. Even the Duke of 
 Hamilton once more came upon the scene as a friend of 
 the King, and held out good hopes that he might again 
 win for the Royalist cause some support in Scotland by 
 tearing to pieces the cunningly contrived web of Argyle's 
 treachery and deceit. He could count, he said, upon the help 
 of those who felt the honour of Scotland tainted by the 
 surrender of the King. Cromwell found it advisable for a 
 time to appear as the possible saviour of the King. Mean- 
 while, the Parliament could only look on, in impotent 
 jealousy, and see their authority gradually disappear before 
 the Frankenstein of their own creation. Hyde no doubt had 
 frequent messages from Hampton Court. The King wrote 
 to him, and zealously supplied him with documents and 
 information for his help in writing that record of the 
 great struggle upon which Hyde was now busily engaged. 
 But in the interval of composition, Hyde watched with 
 care the stages of the negotiations now in progress. To 
 his eyes they offered no such happy presages of hope 
 
296 DEFEAT OP THE ROYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 as his more sanguine friends allowed themselves to 
 form. 
 
 Cromwell found it prudent, as yet, to keep up some 
 semblance of respect for Parliament. It was his real and 
 principal business to bring matters to a final breach between 
 the King and Parliament. With his full approval the " Four 
 Bills " ^ were presented to the King, whose assent to them 
 was peremptorily demanded as a prehminary to any 
 negotiations. They were such as no inducement would 
 have forced the King to accept, and his refusal was followed 
 by a vote pledging the Parliament to receive no more 
 addresses from the King. It was in vain that Maynard ^ 
 argued that such a vote not only broke the machine of 
 Government, but virtually abrogated the functions of the 
 Parliament itself as a branch of the Constitution. Such 
 a consummation was indeed an essential part of Crom- 
 well's design. 
 
 But within the army itself, wayward and dangerous 
 elements of disturbance arose. The Levellers were now 
 making themselves heard, and they vowed that the whole 
 fabric of the Monarchy must go, and that all distinctions of 
 
 ' This was the name applied to four propositions, which for some 
 time had been discussed in Parliament, and had now taken the form of 
 Four Bills. The first of these gave to Parliament the control of all 
 military force for twenty years, and declared that the control should never 
 revert to the Crown, except with the assent of Parliament. The second 
 and third revoked the King's declarations, and canceEed all recently 
 granted honours. The fourth gave to Parliament the power of adjourning 
 to any place they pleased. The Bills were passed by Parliament about 
 the middle of December, and the King refused consent on December 28. 
 
 ^ John Maynard, who became Sir John in 1660, was born in 1602, and 
 his long life carried him through the troubles of James I.'s reign, through 
 the RebeUion, the Commonwealth, and the Stuart period, and over the 
 final act of the drama in the Revolution of 1688. He maintained his 
 independence throughout, and yet managed to steer a course which 
 "avoided dangerous pitfalls on every side, and left him a wealthy and 
 prosperous man. He must be distinguished from his contemporary. Sir 
 John Maynard, also a member of the Long Parliament, who maintained 
 the cause of the City against the army, and was involved, as a consequence, 
 in prosecution, fine, and imprisonment. 
 
1648] ESCAPE PROM HAMPTON COUET 297 
 
 rank must disappear. Such agitation might serve as a 
 means of hastening sterner measures ; but it was a force 
 which must not be allowed to assert itself in mutiny. Crom- 
 well knew how to take drastic steps to crush such a spirit 
 of rebellion at the right moment. The ringleaders were 
 summarily dealt with, and then his purpose relentlessly 
 disclosed itself. The hopes that had been roused had next 
 to be dissipated. The vain figments which had inspired 
 the various negotiations amongst the Eoyalists, the Scots, 
 the more loyal amongst the officers, and the friends of 
 Charles who had fancied that they saw new opportunities 
 for intrigue, had to be summarily dispelled. The King 
 found the demeanour of the officers altered. His liberty 
 was more restricted ; his friends had no longer easy access 
 to him ; stern denunciations of his own deceptions reached 
 his ears. Rumours of assassination were conveyed to hixa, 
 and it was not unnatural that he used such liberty as still 
 remained to him, and at midnight, on November 11th, in the 
 company of Berkeley and Ashburnham, escaped on horse- 
 back from Hampton Court. By stealthy roads he made 
 his way to the south coast. Whether he hoped to escape 
 to France or to Jersey is uncertain. But necessity gave 
 him no choice, and within a few days he found himself 
 obUged to commit himself to Hammond, the Governor of 
 the Isle of Wight, by whom he was lodged in Carisbrook 
 Castle, once more a prisoner in the hands of the army. Hyde's 
 forebodings of the ill-result of all these vain negotiations 
 were fully realized. In later days Berkeley and Ashburnham 
 were both blamed for having been responsible for betraying 
 him into Hammond's hands.^ Hyde had no respect for 
 either — and of the two he most despised Berkeley. But 
 on a full examination of the evidence, he was disposed to 
 lay the blame on the innate vanity that made them 
 
 ' See ante, p. 211. 
 
298 DEFEAT OF THE ROYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 the dupes of shrewder men, rather than on conscious 
 treachery. 
 
 Once more, at the Isle of Wight, the Scottish Com- 
 missioners renewed their offers. But Cromwell's disguise 
 was now more openly thrown aside. The King, after being 
 allowed a certain period of comparative freedom, during 
 which it would have been easy for him to have escaped^ was 
 now kept as a close prisoner. The hopelessness of any further 
 deahngs with him was more openly declared. Cromwell did 
 not hesitate to say that, if he encountered him in fight, he 
 would use his pistols upon the Royal person as freely as he 
 would upon any trooper in the enemy's ranks. The sacred- 
 ness of the kingly office he openly flouted, and the aims of 
 the Levellers became a part of Cromwell's dehberate policy, 
 now that the mutiny of those who first preached such 
 doctrine had been sternly checked. Hyde saw how truly 
 he had discerned that Independents and Presbyterians 
 were alike fickle allies. For the designs and character of 
 both he had an equally profound dislike. But the Presby- 
 terians were the worse politicians of the two. They had not 
 learned as thoroughly as the Independents, so he tells us, 
 the lesson taught by Machiavelli, that when you once enter 
 on tortuous designs to crush liberty, you must be prepared 
 to hesitate before no villainy that will make these designs 
 effective.* 
 
 The year 1647 closed with the disappearance of these last 
 hopes. Ormonde ^ continued for a time to nurse vain delusions 
 
 ' See Hyde's enunciation of this aspect of Machiavelli's teaching, and 
 his application of it to the Presbyterians and the Independents respectively 
 (History of Eebellion, x. 168). 
 
 ^ James Butler, descended from one of the most ancient families in 
 Ireland, was bom in 1610, and succeeded his grandfather as Earl of Ormonde 
 and Ossory. IVom his earliest years, he showed ability and energy, and it 
 was his independent spirit that won for him the respect of Wentworth 
 (Strafford) even when he resisted the imperious commands of that stern 
 Deputy in Ireland. His vast possessions enabled him to afford the King 
 efiective aid in the Civil War, and his losses in that war were estimated to 
 
1648] PRISONER AT CARISBEOOK 299 
 
 as to aid from France. These had already been proved to 
 be utterly deceptive. Mazarin had no mind to embroil him- 
 self with the growing power of CromweU. If the Royalists 
 indulged in any vain schemes of armed resistance to the new 
 authority, they were quickly undeceived. Nor were secret 
 designs attended with any better success. A zealous 
 adherent — one Captain Burley — ventured on a rash scheme 
 of rescuing the King from his imprisonment at Carisbrook 
 by the assistance of the loyalists of Newport. His plot 
 was nipped in the bud, and he paid with his life for the rash 
 effort to save from illegal imprisonment one who was still 
 his acknowledged Kiag. The King, as well as ParHa- 
 mentand the nation, was securely held in Cromwell's toils. 
 During these eighteen or twenty months, Hyde had been 
 in Jersey, spending the first period of his long exUe of fourteen 
 years. By constant correspondence, he kept a close touch 
 upon affairs in England, and was fairly well informed of all 
 that passed. He gauged rightly the profitlessness of the 
 various schemes of alhance with one or another of the 
 factions that now split the anti-RoyaHst party. In his own 
 mind, the only hope for the King lay ia patience, in the 
 steadfast pursuit of a consistent poUcy, and in allowing 
 the inherent instincts of the nation to re-assert their power. 
 That hope could only be realized by avoiding compromising 
 partnerships, by yielding to no unworthy terms of surrender, 
 
 exceed a million sterling. He had an arduous, hopeless, and ill-supported 
 task in the attempt to settle the Irish Rebellion, and was eventually driven 
 into exUe, where he suffered the direst privations. Again and again he 
 rettimed in disguise to England, to attempt forlorn hopes for the Royalist 
 cause. He came back at the Restoration, and was made Duke of Ormonde, 
 and Lord High Steward. He lived honoured and respected till 1688, and 
 proved, even in the reign of James II., that his loyalty could be united 
 with absolute independence. 
 
 Writing from Jersey, in May, 1647, Hyde speaks of Ormonde, afterwards 
 to be so closely associated with him in the warmest friendship, as one with 
 whom he had then no acquaintance, but the most sincere respect. He is, 
 according to Hyde, one " whom I take to be the most excellent subject the 
 King is Lord of " {Clarendon State Papers, ii. 366). 
 
300 DEFEAT OF THE EOYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 and by each member of the Eoyahst party resolving to face 
 loss and hardship rather than capitulate with his principles. 
 Hyde was not in sympathy with those who were ready to 
 " compound " with the rebels, and buy some measure of 
 contemptuous toleration by the payment of fines and 
 forfeitures. He saw no sohd reason which could justify 
 such compounding with treason for any one who had 
 originally resisted treason on conscientious grounds.' If 
 a man's conscience permitted him to buy such toleration 
 from rebels, it would have been better that he should have 
 played the traitor from the first, and not helped to prolong 
 the vain struggle of the Civil War. 
 
 But although he was impatient with such compromise, 
 Hyde in his exile was not unwilling to appreciate the temp- 
 tation it offered to those who remained. For them, further 
 fighting seemed hopeless ; and they might at least, by sur- 
 render, prevent the local administration of the country from 
 falling into the worst hands. Already it was apparent that 
 social rank was being submerged, and that the least worthy 
 and the least responsible were being pushed into an authority 
 which they were entirely unfitted to wield. The constable 
 was converted into the justice of the peace ; the overseer 
 of the poor became the autocratic commissioner.^ Might 
 
 ' Hyde expressed this view even more clearly in later days, but it is 
 visible in his correspondence even at this time. Writing to Lord Hopton, 
 on June 9, 1647 {Clarendon State Papers, ii. 370), he says : " Whatever 
 others do, let me persuade you, as you have ventured your life, and lost 
 your fortune, in the defence of your country, so do not think you have 
 preserved it, when you have bartered away those fundamental rights upon 
 which the Constitution of it is founded." Again, in a letter to Sir J. Berkeley 
 (October 6, 1647, State Papers, ii. 379) : " I must say that from the be- 
 ginning of these contentions, unreasonable concessions have always pro- 
 duced unreasonable demands, and if they see you will not yield, they must. 
 A firm peace can never be established but by the old models. I do not say 
 an honest, or an honourable peace, but a firm peace. Let it be never so 
 showy, it can never last, it the old banks be not kept up." 
 
 See also at a later day, Hyde to Hopton, Feb. 14, 1647 {State Papers, 
 iii. 2) ; Hyde to Nicholas, Dec. 29, 1650 {ibid., iii. 26) ; and Hyde to 
 Ormonde, Nov. 1, 1659 {ibid., iii. 595). 
 
 '' Rebellion, x. 151. 
 
1647] HYDE IN JEESEY 301 
 
 not prudent compromise become a duty, if it were 
 to preserve even a fragment of social order? Exile 
 was a melancholy fate enough ; but at least it saved Hyde 
 from those temptations to make terms with the Army and 
 the Parliament, which captivated many less conspicuously 
 marked out for the enmity of the rebels than he. 
 
 His enforced leisure at Jersey was happily occupied, 
 and this consoled him at once for anxiety on account of 
 his family, and for some petty privations which he had to 
 endure. After the Prince left in July, 1646, Hyde had in 
 Hopton and Capel the companionship of the two men whom 
 he would probably have chosen out of the whole remaining 
 band of his Eoyalist friends. Some of these, amongst them 
 the dearest of all — the Falkland to whom his memories 
 fondly returned in long-after years — had fallen in the struggle. 
 Others were dispersed or in hiding. Hopton and Capel,* his 
 present companions, were two of the purest and most un- 
 selfish spirits still surviving amongst the adherents of the 
 King. These three lived together at St. Helier's ; that is to 
 say, they occupied convenient houses in the town, and met 
 together each day at eleven o'clock in the church, where they 
 had the services of a chaplain of their own choice ; dined 
 together afterwards, and met in the evening to stroll together 
 on the sands. They were treated with warm cordiality by 
 Sir George Carteret, the Deputy-Governor, and met with 
 kindness from the loyal inhabitants of Jersey. Hopton and 
 Capel spent their leisure in riding or reading ; Hyde,^ with 
 
 ' Lord Capel's daughter became, long afterwards, the wife of Hyde's son, 
 the second Earl of Clarendon. 
 
 ^ In a letter to Dr. Morley he jests at himself for occupying his time in 
 reading the classics, instead of improving his French. He had an object 
 in studying the best models of historical composition. In a letter to Dr. John 
 Earle, of December 14, 1647 (Clarendon State Papers, ii. 386), he speaks of 
 Livy and Tacitus as his models, especially for the drawing of character, 
 and then proceeds : " I am contented you should laugh at me for a fop in 
 talking of Livy and Tacitus, when all I can hope for is to aide HoUingshead 
 and Stowe, or (because he is a poor knight, too) Sir Richard Baker." 
 
302 DEFEAT OF THE EOYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 his usual steady assiduity, set himself to writing the history 
 of that momentous struggle ia which he had already played so 
 conspicuous a part. Theirs was a thrifty life, and in one of 
 his letters, Hyde tells how they could afford only one good 
 meal in the day ; but they had abundant consolations. 
 Hyde enjoyed, " as he was wont to say, the greatest tran- 
 qmlKty of mind imaginable." ^ He could not but be anxious 
 about his wife and children, who still remained in England, 
 who certainly had scanty resources, and who might be made 
 to feel even more decided marks of the ill-humour of the 
 Parliament. But he could place full trust in the stead- 
 fastness of mind in his wife, which never failed him through 
 all these weary vicissitudes.^ He had at least philosophy 
 enough to teach him that undaunted hope and untiring work 
 were the best cures for the ills under which he lay. What- 
 ever others might do, he at least sought no subterfuges from 
 conscience, and no compromising pledges. He was sustained 
 in his work by seeing the History, which was to be his great 
 legacy to posterity, growing under his hand. Every page 
 of it tells us that the author was conscious, however he 
 might allege a less ambitious aim, that he was painting for 
 all time those scenes of history that he had helped to make ; 
 and his chief annoyance was that those who could, and had 
 promised to, supply him with material for those parts of it 
 which were beyond his own knowledge, often failed to give 
 him the help they might. The King at least found time to 
 do his part in sending him valuable material. He knew enough 
 of Hyde's pen to realize, perhaps almost unconsciously, 
 that his would be the hand that would portray the story 
 of the war which posterity would chiefly read. After a time, 
 
 ' Life, i. 239. 
 
 = In letters to the Duke of Richmond and the Earl of Southampton at 
 this time, he commends his wife and young family to their care, in the event 
 of his own death. He made his will, providing carefully for the payment 
 of his debts, and praying that the help of Lord Hopton, Lord Capel, and 
 Nicholas shall be extended to his wife {Clarendon State Papers, ii. 355). 
 
1647] HIS OCCUPATIONS THEEE 303 
 
 first Capel and then Hopton were called away to take part 
 
 in new efforts for the cause they all had at heart. Hyde 
 
 remained to prosecute his great work in quiet, and to await 
 
 the summons from the King to joia the Prince, as soon as 
 
 his assistance might be required. Bereft of his friends, he 
 
 accepted the invitation of Sir George Carteret to take up 
 
 his abode with him at Castle Elizabeth. There he built 
 
 for himself a small lodging against the wall of the church, 
 
 on which he inscribed the motto fitted for his quiet retreat, 
 
 " Bene vixit qui bene latuit." Lonely otherwise, he had 
 
 the companionship of his books and papers, and ten hours 
 
 every day went to the compiling of the first part of his 
 
 monumental History in its original form. By personal letters 
 
 from the King, he knew that he was not forgotten in the 
 
 love of the master he had served so well, who still looked 
 
 forward to the day when he or his successors would benefit 
 
 by Hyde's guidance and wise advice. Sheldon, who still 
 
 remained with the King, told Hyde how envious and 
 
 detracting messages from Paris had utterly failed to shake 
 
 the Kiag's faith ia his wisdom and his trustworthiness. 
 
 That good opinion was strengthened by the accounts given 
 
 by Lord Capel, who returned to England, and managed 
 
 to get access to the King. The serenity of spirit which, 
 
 in spite of his quick temper, never failed Hyde, stood him 
 
 in good stead now. Patience and hard work were the best 
 
 anodynes agaiust the depression and anxiety that might 
 
 well have overwhelmed a less courageous man. In the 
 
 spring of 1647, there seemed a real danger that Jersey 
 
 would be seized by the Parliamentary Fleet, and Hyde 
 
 knew well what fate awaited him should he fall into the 
 
 hands of his enemies. It was this which prompted him to 
 
 make his will, and leave his last injunctions to his family. 
 
 But the danger passed away. 
 
 Once more his pen was employed in a vindication of 
 
304 DEFEAT OF THE EOYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 the King against the Pariiament's vote of " No Addresses " ; 
 and it was by means of his old friend, Nicholas, the 
 Secretary, that it was conveyed to the King, to be published 
 for the judgment of the people. Like its predecessors, it 
 worked powerfully for the Royalist cause. Early in 1648, he 
 received from Capel notice that he must hold himself in 
 readiness to join the Prince at Paris. In April he was 
 warned that the summons would come soon. About the 
 middle of May the Queen sent the actual call to him to come. 
 It was no welcome one to Hyde, who knew he was bid to 
 place himself in a hot-bed of intrigue ; but he did not hesitate 
 to obey. From his quiet labour in Jersey he went to Caen, 
 and thence he joined, at Eouen, Lord Cottington (the 
 Lord Treasurer), the Earl of Bristol, and Secretary Nicholas, 
 who had received similar orders. The Prince had already 
 moved to Calais, and they were bidden to await new orders 
 at Rouen. These speedily arrived, and bade them be ready 
 to move to Holland. They repaired to Dieppe, where they 
 soon received their sailing orders. They looked for the iirst 
 chance vessel they could find to sail for Flushing — all except 
 Bristol, who hesitated to make such a hazardous venture when 
 the Channel was beset by the Parliament's Fleet ; and while 
 he returned to Caen, the others took advantage of a French 
 vessel of war, which offered to carry them to Dunkirk. Hyde 
 was a bad sailor, and the accommodation that the vessel 
 afforded was not such as lessened the hardship of the voyage. 
 They owed little thanks to France for the transport. Out 
 of their scanty supply of money, they were obliged to pay 
 the exorbitant demands of a greedy captain. When they 
 arrived at Dunkirk, it was to learn that the Prince had sailed 
 to the Thames with the English fleet, which had mutinied 
 against Parliament. 
 
 The Governor of Dunkirk (Marshal Rantzau) offered to 
 supply them with a ship which would enable them to join 
 
1648] SUMMONED TO JOIN THE PRINCE 305 
 
 the Prince and the Fleet. His welcome was a warm one ; 
 the man himself impressed Hyde well, and he indulges in 
 one of his vivid pen-and-ink portraits. 
 
 " He received them with great civility, being a very 
 proper man, and might well be reckoned a very handsome 
 man, though he had but one leg, one hand, one eye, and one 
 ear, the other being cut off with that side of his face ; besides 
 many cuts on the other cheek, and upon his head, with many 
 wounds in the body ; notwithstanding all which, he stood 
 very upright, and had a very graceful motion, a clear voice, 
 and a charming delivery ; and if he had not, according to the 
 custom of his nation (for he was a German), too much indulged 
 to the excess of wine, he had been one of the most excellent 
 captains of that age." 
 
 The frigate he supplied them with lost nothing in his 
 description. It bore the auspicious name of The Hare, and 
 transcended in swiftness, so said the Marshal, all the vessels 
 of the coast. After a jovial dinner they set sail in a bright 
 moonlight night, and all promised well. But, alas ! there 
 fell a dead calm, in which The Hare was as helpless as her 
 slower compeers ; and they found themselves surrounded 
 presently by six or seven stronger ships. These turned 
 out to be privateers, privately owned, but bearing the King 
 of Spain's commission ; and their captors treated them 
 with ruthless barbarity. Their persons were searched, and 
 all they possessed was taken from them. Cottington lost 
 over a thousand pounds ; and Hyde lost, besides his clothes, 
 aU the money he possessed — some two hundred pounds. 
 They were carried as prisoners to Ostend. They applied to 
 the magistrates for redress ; but soon found that they were 
 likely to get httle more than civil words. The ships were 
 actually owned by substantial merchants of the town, who 
 knew how to make the magistrates wink at their misdeeds. 
 Some small part of their goods and papers were discovered 
 
 VOL. I. X 
 
306 DEFEAT OP THE ROYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 and restored, but it soon appeared that their captors were 
 in no mood to hsten to proposals for complete reparation. 
 The magistrates talked big of the punishment that would 
 be meted out to the privateers. But it was evident that 
 they would go no further than words ; and Hyde and Cot- 
 tington were forced to content themselves with a hundred 
 pistoles which might serve to discharge their debts in the 
 town, and to carry them to the Prince. Their only satisfac- 
 tion was to observe that the trade of privateering was a risky 
 one, and that some, who had amassed great fortunes by it, 
 were hanging about the streets as beggars. Hyde treasured 
 the knowledge for a future day, and in the later wars with 
 Holland tried to dissuade his countrymen from a business 
 that had as Uttle of permanent profit as it had of justice or 
 sound principle. They made their way to Flushing, and 
 thence vainly endeavoured to join the Prince and the Fleet 
 in the Downs. Contrary winds prevented them. In August 
 they learned that the Prince was just about to return to the 
 Hague ; and there they joined him in September. They 
 found the exiled Court in a dangerous plight : unwelcome 
 guests amongst the Dutch, and adding to their own mis- 
 fortunes by being honeycombed by faction and personal 
 jealousies. Hyde had exchanged his peaceful days at 
 Jersey for a more troubled atmosphere ; and in it he 
 had to spend some months of daily increasing anxiety and 
 deepening tragedy. 
 
 Events had moved rapidly in England from the spring- 
 time when the King had found himself immured at Caris- 
 brook to these autumn days. The discussion between the 
 Parliament and the army had revived the hopes of the 
 Royalists, and for the moment brought to their side some 
 new adherents. The Earl of Holland conceived the idea 
 of recovering his lost reputation for loyalty, and entered 
 into schemes for a renewed resistance in which he found 
 
1648] NEW ROYALIST ATTEMPTS 307 
 
 a wonderful amount of ready co-operation from those to 
 whom he had long been a stranger. He was now in busy 
 correspondence with his friend Jermyn and the Queen; 
 and his connection with the Presbyterians, who were still 
 friendly to the monarchy, ensured him some influence with 
 them. He was named as general by the Prince, and found 
 that many were ready to flock to his standard when it should 
 be raised. There was, strangely, httle concealment of their 
 plans, and it is difficult to beUeve that Cromwell did not 
 purposely wink at these in order to bring into more pro- 
 minence the strength of the army and the helplessness of 
 the ParHament. In Scotland, the Duke of Hamilton, his 
 brother the Earl of Lanark, and the Earl of Lauderdale, 
 were united in a scheme which was to supersede Argyle, and 
 raise a Scottish army for the King. In Yorkshire and 
 Cumberland, Sir Marmaduke Langdale and Sir Philip 
 Musgrave were raising large levies amongst the aggrieved 
 Royahsts, whose hopes were buoyed up by the open dissensions 
 between Parhament and army, and by the widespread dis- 
 content amongst all classes of the nation against the growing 
 aggressions of the new tyranny. By a happy contrivance 
 the escape of the Duke of York was, with the consent of the 
 King, arranged for. Disguised as a girl, he managed to steal 
 from St. James's, to get on board a ship in the Thames, and 
 safely to reach Holland. Another valuable hostage was 
 thus filched from the enemies of the King. The loyal 
 Capel was again moving secretly through England, and 
 was ready to engage himself in any desperate exploit for the 
 RoyaUst cause. 
 
 For a time all seemed to go well. The fleet was dis- 
 gusted with the course of affairs, and spasmodic discontent 
 soon culminated in open mutiny. Their officers were 
 ejected from the ships, and the fleet sailed to join the Prince, 
 whom they were ready to receive as their admiral. At the 
 
308 DEFEAT OP THE EOYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 same juncture risings took place in Kent, and promises of 
 strong support were received from the country gentlemen. 
 It is true that its efficaciousness was the more doubtful as 
 it was largely based on a prevalent rollicking " good fellow- 
 ship," which kindled hopes and aspirations that might be 
 more imposing for the moment than stubborn in resistance 
 when opposition had to be met. To meet the fleet which 
 now offered its allegiance, the Prince hastened to Calais, 
 and embarking there, sailed to the Downs. The Earl of 
 Norwich (father of Lord Goring), who gained support rather 
 by his camaraderie and easy bonhomie than by any con- 
 fidence in his conduct or wisdom, was ready to help with the 
 Kentish levies, who accepted him as their general. Thus 
 opened what has been described as the second civil war. 
 
 But it was Httle else than the delusive flicker of an expiring 
 flame. Fairfax was sent against Norwich, who had advanced 
 to Blackheath, and whose army was soon scattered, and 
 himself taken prisoner. The fleet was without discipline, 
 and it required all Prince Rupert's energetic activity to 
 keep up a semblance of respect for their officers. Active 
 mutiny on board was not wanting, and on one occasion 
 Rupert quelled it only by the drastic method of pitching 
 two or three of the sailors overboard with his own hands. 
 Warwick was now dispatched by the Parliament with an- 
 other fleet, and that which chance had given to the Prince 
 was in no condition to resist their late admiral. The Duke 
 of Hamilton entered England with a Scottish army in July ; 
 but his force failed to co-operate with that of Sir Marmaduke 
 Langdale in Yorkshire, and at Preston his army was routed, 
 and himself taken prisoner by Cromwell. The Prince quitted 
 the fleet in hopeless despair, and repaired to the Hague, 
 where the news of Hamilton's disastrous defeat soon reached 
 him. He had already been joined by Hyde and Cottington. 
 
 Lauderdale soon came to the Hague with new promises 
 
1648] CROMWELL IN SCOTLAND 309 
 
 of help from Scotland, and an invitation for the Prince to 
 repair there with all speed. He affected to throw doubt 
 on Hamilton's defeat, but anyhow it did not lessen the 
 urgency of his summons. To that summons, which he saw 
 to be fraught with danger, Hyde opposed the strongest 
 resistance, and a keen struggle between himself and Lauder- 
 dale ensued, the memory of which lingered in far later days. 
 For Lauderdale's selfish treachery and profound dissimula- 
 tion he had already conceived the deepest contempt. The 
 invitation was for the Prince alone, and the company of 
 Prince Rupert and Hyde was strictly barred. To have 
 permitted the Prince to trust himself alone to Lauderdale 
 would have been a desertion of the charge committed to 
 Hyde by the King. With characteristic insolence, Lauderdale 
 attempted to browbeat the Council ; but he found himself 
 unable to prevail, and soon returned, in no good temper, 
 to Scotland. 
 
 Meanwhile Cromwell had advanced into Scotland, where 
 all bent before his power. Argyle was glad to bolster up 
 his threatened influence by obedience to Cromwell's behests. 
 Just enough deference was paid to the Presbyterians to 
 keep them quiet ; and Scotland was subdued sufSeiently 
 to wait until a better opportunity came for its complete 
 subjugation. With as little delay as might be Cromwell 
 was back in England to confirm his control over Parhament. 
 
 It took but little time to stamp out the embers of armed 
 resistance. Holland rose in Kent, but his army was soon 
 defeated, and after he had fled to St. Neot's he was captured 
 and conveyed to Windsor. Colchester, where Capel and a 
 gallant band still maintained themselves, was soon captured 
 by Fairfax. Cruel and summary vengeance was meted out 
 to some ^ ; others, and Capel amongst the number, were 
 
 ' The story is fully told by Hyde (History o/Behellion, xi. 105), and shows 
 amply the ruthlessnesa with which vengeance was now pursued. All the 
 
310 DEFEAT OP THE ROYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 taken prisoners, on terms which involved a pledge on the 
 part of Fairfax that their lives should be inviolate. Capel 
 was sent to join Hamilton, Holland, and Norwich in prison 
 at Windsor Castle, whence they were soon transferred to 
 the Tower. 
 
 The adherents of the King were defeated in the field. 
 But it did not follow that Royalist sentiments were dead, or 
 that the hatred for the encroaching tyranny was at an end. 
 The disputes between Parliament and army, between 
 Presbyterian and Independent, were as bitter as ever ; and 
 the regret and resentment, with which many who saw too 
 late the dangers to which the country was exposed, secretly 
 swelled the growth of these jealousies. The City was in- 
 dignant with the domination of the army ; but any show of 
 sympathy between City and Parliament was speedily followed 
 by another turn of the military screw. With more and more 
 of insistency the project of a personal treaty with the King 
 was urged. To veto such a treaty altogether might have 
 been dangerous ; it was therefore allowed to proceed, but 
 care was taken to make the terms to be pressed upon the 
 King such as it was well known he could not conscientiously 
 accept. On September 15th, the Commissioners charged to 
 carry on this personal treaty arrived in the Isle of Wight. 
 They found the King sadly changed by his long imprisonment 
 
 ofBcera in Colchester surrendered at mercy, on condition that the common 
 soldiers should be spared. From these officers, three were summoned, who 
 seemed of superior rank — Sir Bernard Gascoigne, Sir Charles Lucas, and Sir 
 George Lisle — and they were told to prepare for instant death. Three files 
 of musketeers were drawn up in readiness for their execution. It transpired, 
 however, that Sir Bernard Gascoigne was a native of Florence, and, to avoid 
 foreign complications, he was spared. The other two were straightway 
 shot. Lucas was brother and heir to Lord Lucas : " very brave in his 
 person, and in a day of battle a gallant man to look upon, and follow ; but 
 at all other times and places, of a nature not to be lived with, of an ill- 
 understanding, of a rough and proud nature." Lisle was as brave an officer 
 and as gallant a leader ; " but then, to his fierceness of courage he had the 
 softest and most gentle nature imaginable ; loved aU, and beloved of all, 
 and without a capacity to have an enemy." In choicest words Hyde lays 
 an imperishable wreath on a soldier's tomb. 
 
1648] TEEATY AT CARISBROOK 311 
 
 and by the many indignities to which he had been subjected. 
 Sorrow and anxiety had altered his appearance. He had 
 neglected the careof his dress, inwhich he had hitherto followed 
 punctiliously the stately fashions of the time. His hair and 
 beard were untrimmed, and they had become prematurely 
 grey. The impression of sadness affected the most heartless 
 of his enemies ; but they soon found that, in spite of outward 
 signs, Charles had borrowed a new cheerfulness from despair. 
 The long fight, as he clearly discerned, was nearly over ; and 
 his readiness for martyrdom on account of his conscientious 
 convictions had given him a strength greater than he had 
 ever shown before. Once more the old wrangles were begun. 
 The demands of the Commissioners were more imperious 
 than ever. The King was required formally to admit that 
 from first to last the right had uniformly lain with his 
 enemies, and he was to enter upon the treaty as the guilty 
 party, at whose door all blame was to be laid. He was to 
 sacrifice the Church, to strip himself of all military power, 
 to renounce any right of nominating his own ministers, and 
 to abandon his friends to the vengeance of Parliament. We 
 would entirely mistake the points at issue, if we transferred 
 back to that day the later usages of modern constitutional 
 monarchy, by which the nominal powers of the Crown are 
 exercised through a ministry entirely dependent on a Parlia- 
 mentary majority. The slow and gentle operation of time 
 and changing usage gradually worked that peaceful revolu- 
 tion. But by no party was such a solution realized as 
 possible in the middle of the seventeenth century. Accord- 
 ing to the notions of that day, ministers must be either 
 the servants of the King or his tyrannical masters. 
 
 In the severity of the terms proposed the hand of the 
 military commander was visible ; and that severity worked, 
 as he designed that it should, to make any compromise 
 impossible. 
 
312 DEFEAT OF THE ROYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 " It is almost evident," says Hyde, " that the major 
 part of both Houses of Parliament was, at that time, so 
 far from desiring the execution of all those concessions, 
 that, if they had been able to have resisted the wild fury 
 of the army, they could have been themselves suitors to 
 have decHned the greatest part of them," ^ 
 
 On November 25th the sorry farce was played out, and 
 the Commissioners broke off the treaty. 
 
 Before the negotiations closed the King had begun a 
 letter to the Prince, which really served as his last testament 
 and apologia to the world and to posterity. It was dispatched 
 a few days later. Whatever judgment we may pass upon 
 various actions of the King during the long struggle, it 
 is impossible to deny the consummate dignity of what was 
 virtually his farewell to the long fight, or to refuse to 
 subscribe to Hyde's words, " that it deserves to be preserved 
 in letters of gold." 
 
 In that letter Charles explained the motives that had 
 guided him in the late negotiations. He was ready to forget 
 the disloyalty of many amongst his subjects, and even 
 amongst those whom he had supposed to be his friends. 
 
 " But," he added, " never had prince a testimony in 
 others of more loyalty than he had ; and however that God, 
 for their and his punishment, had not blessed some of their 
 endeavours, yet more misguided persons were at last reduced 
 to their loyalty than could in any story be exampled." 
 " We have laboured in the search of peace," he told his son ; 
 " do not be disheartened to tread in the same steps. Use 
 all worthy ways to restore yourself to your right, but prefer 
 the way of peace ; show the greatness of your mind, if God 
 bless you, rather to conquer your enemies by pardoning 
 than punishing. . . . Give belief to our experience, never to 
 affect more greatness or prerogative than that which is 
 really or intrinsically for the good of subjects, not the satis- 
 
 ' Rebellion, xi. 189. 
 
1648] THE KING'S LETTEE TO HIS SON 313 
 
 faction of favourites. . . . These considerations may make 
 you as great a prince as your father is now a low one ; and 
 your state may be so much the more established as mine 
 hath been shaken. . . . The English nation are a sober 
 people, however at present infatuated." 
 
 He concludes thus : — 
 
 " We know not but this may be the last time we may 
 speak to you, or the world, publicly ; we are sensible into 
 what hands we are fallen ; and yet we bless God, we have 
 those inward refreshments the malice of our enemies cannot 
 perturb. We have learned to busy ourself by retiring into 
 ourself ; and can therefore the better digest what befalls 
 us ; not doubting but God's providence will restrain our 
 enemies' power, and turn their fierceness to His praise. 
 
 " To conclude, if God gives you success, use it humbly, 
 and far from revenge. If He restore you to your right upon 
 hard conditions, whatever you promise, keep. The men 
 who have forced laws, which they were bound to preserve, 
 will find their triumphs full of trouble. Do not think 
 anything in this world worth obtaining by foul and unjust 
 means. 
 
 " You are the son of our love, and as we direct you to 
 weigh what we here recommend to you, so we assure you we 
 do not more affectionately pray for you (to whom we are a 
 natural parent) than we do that the ancient glory and renown 
 of this nation be not buried in irreligion and fanatic humour ; 
 and that all our subjects (to whom we are a politic parent) 
 may have such sober thoughts, as to seek their peace in the 
 orthodox profession of the Christian religion as was estab- 
 lished since the reformation in this kingdom, and not in new 
 revelations, and that the ancient laws, with the interpreta- 
 tion according to the known practice, may once again be 
 a hedge about them ; that you may in due time govern, 
 and they be governed, as in the fear of God ; which is the 
 prayer of 
 
 " Your very loving Father, 
 
 " C. R." 
 
 Only two months now separated the King from the 
 
314 DEFEAT OF THE ROYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 scaffold, and the designs of the army proceeded apace. 
 Already for months, if not for years, there had been obscure 
 threatenings against the existence of the Monarchy and the 
 person of the King ; and these were now openly countenanced 
 by the highest in authority. The King had ample grounds 
 for fearing assassination, and it is evident that there were 
 plans formed for his death by violence, which would have 
 avoided all the hazards of a formal trial. To meet these 
 schemes there were some half-hearted efforts made by his 
 adherents to compass his escape. But they all miscarried. In 
 Prance, as Hyde tells us, there was no desire amongst certain 
 of the Royalists for the appearance of Charles upon that scene. 
 His escape to France would have at once dissipated the ill- 
 calculated but ambitious schemes of the Queen to retrieve 
 the position. That her callous attitude to the extreme danger 
 of her husband was partly, at least, due to ambition, is in- 
 dubitable ; and we need not stain her name further by 
 giving credit to the scandal, that infideHty to his ungrudging 
 and ample love was in any way a helping motive. 
 
 In Parliament the threatening voices against " the 
 Great Delinquent " were now unrestrained. The King was 
 moved to Hurst Castle, where even the scanty comforts of 
 Carisbrook were wanting. All those who opposed the new 
 designs were excluded from Parliament ; a Committee was 
 appointed to formulate charges ; and when these proved 
 unacceptable to the Lords, the doors of the House of Lords 
 were closed, and the attenuated House of Commons assumed 
 the whole authority of the State. England had experience 
 of, and learned, it maybe hoped permanently, neverto forget, 
 the danger and the tyranny of a single chamber. Urgent 
 missives from the Queen and the Prince received no response. 
 The King was brought to Windsor by water, and thence to St. 
 James's, in preparation for his trial, by a specially nominated 
 Commission, over which Bradshaw, an obscure lawyer, was 
 
1649] THE KING'S DEATH 315 
 
 appointed to preside. All resistance was crushed by the 
 presence of the army at the very doors of Parhament. 
 
 The rest of the tragedy, carried on far from Hyde's sight 
 or immediate knowledge, lies outside his biography, although 
 its effect changed the whole purpose of his life. On January 
 8th, 146|, began the degrading mockery of the King's trial; on 
 the 27 th, sentence of death was pronounced; and on the 30tb, 
 the final act was consummated in the execution of the King 
 at Whitehall. The nation, dominated by a band of deter- 
 mined men, insignificant in numbers, was cowed into silent 
 acquiescence in the perpetration of a daring outrage, which, 
 under a mask of judicial form, belied the inherent loyalty 
 of the EngUsh people and was at war with its innate respect 
 for the law. Amidst his grief for the loss of a master to 
 whose faults he was not blind, but to whose person he was 
 passionately attached, Hyde found himself immersed in 
 increasingly irksome duties at the exiled Court of his 
 successor. 
 
 It is not part of our business here to draw the character 
 of Charles I. But we would miss an important aid to our 
 judgment of Hyde himself were we to leave unnoticed the 
 verdict which he passes, in well-weighed words, upon his 
 dead master. It lacks at once the epigrammatic force and 
 the occasional brightness of wit which are to be found in 
 many of the characters interspersed throughout his history ; 
 nor has it the picturesque touches with which he often lightens 
 the description of some personality of striking and attractive 
 brilliancy and grace, or the fervent affection which he has 
 lavished upon a Ufelong friend like Falkland. It is grave 
 and dignified rather than forcible or impassioned ; he 
 imparts to it no touch of intimate famiharity, and deals 
 with his Royal master in a style of calm formahty. His 
 judgment is insensibly affected by the fact that the King was 
 to him the object of a loyalty that had much of the gravity 
 
316 DEFEAT OF THE ROYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 of religious feeling in its composition. It is rather a tribute 
 paid with something of solemn reverence than an echo of 
 personal affection. First of the King's private qualities — 
 
 " He was, if ever any, the most worthy of the title of an 
 honest man." " No temptation could dispose him to a 
 wrongful action, except it was so disguised to him that he 
 beheved it to be just." " He had a tenderness and com- 
 passion of nature which restrained him from ever doing a 
 hard-hearted thing." " So severe an exactor of gravity and 
 reverence in all mention of rehgion, that he could never 
 endure any light or profane word with what sharpness of 
 wit whatever it was covered. ... No man durst bring 
 before him anything that was profane or unclean." ^ " So 
 great an example of conjugal affection, that they who did 
 not imitate him in that particular did not brag of their 
 liberty." 
 
 We have here the portrait of one who had a certain 
 austerity of character, a well-guarded formality of manner, 
 possibly some narrowness of sympathy, and withal something 
 of that lack of self-confidence which might be alHed to tender- 
 ness of heart, but was ill-fitted to contend with the boisterous 
 forces let loose by civil strife. Reared within the sacred 
 precincts of the palace, such a character never acquired the 
 durance needed for contact with the rougher air. With 
 all his stem rectitude, and all his religious ardour, Hyde 
 himself had been trained in a rougher school, and had learned 
 to tolerate, even while be might secretly condemn, the 
 cruder aspects of social usage ; he had been discipHned in 
 a hard school, and knew how to curb the impulses of tender- 
 ness by the dictates of reason. He could strip away those 
 deceptions which, with Charles, so often concealed the truth, 
 
 • Bishop Warbiirton, commenting on thia passage, adduces against it an 
 instance of the King's reported conversation, which does not, when due 
 allowance is made for the habitual language of the time, appear sufficient to 
 support the inconsistency which the Bishop wishes to prove (see History of 
 Rebellion (edit. 1849), vi. 582). 
 
1649] CHARACTEE OF THE KING 317 
 
 and could " dispose him to a wrongful action," if " disguised 
 so that he believed it to be just." 
 
 " His kingly virtues had some mixture and alloy that 
 hindered them from shining in full lustre, and from pro- 
 ducing those fruits they should have been attended with." 
 " He was not in his nature very bountiful, though he gave 
 very much." " He kept State to the full . . . saw and ob- 
 served men long, before he received them about his person ; 
 did not love strangers, nor very confident men." 
 
 The picture of the King is the very reflection of the pre- 
 ceding portrait of the private man ; a picture of a King who, 
 in a scene of vast social and political change, was wedded to 
 routine, impervious to new impressions, suspicious of new 
 men and new ideas, and too reserved and proud to seek 
 the gratitude rightly due to his own bounty. 
 
 " Very fearless in his person ; but not very enterprising. 
 ... An excellent understanding, but not confident enough 
 of it. . . . If he had been of a rougher and more imperious 
 nature, he would have found more respect and duty." His 
 conscience " made him choose the softer way, and not 
 hearken to severe counsels how reasonably soever urged." 
 
 Every trait in the personal character is mirrored in the 
 merits and defects of the King. Hyde had learned them 
 by many a vexatious wrangle, and by the memory of many 
 a scheme, baffled by Charles's ill-timed impulsiveness, or 
 wrecked by his fatal instability of purpose. None knew 
 better than Hyde how much the dogged courage of endurance, 
 and the stately dignity of suffering, were marred and blighted 
 by innate defects of moral and intellectual force. 
 
 His character of Charles, if it wants something of the 
 heartiness of personal regard, shows no lack of consummate 
 art. It unites a full measure of sincerity with an ample 
 
318 DEFEAT OF THE ROYALIST CAUSE [chap, xi 
 
 and dignified tribute of reverential loyalty. Its closing 
 sentences reflect Hyde's attitude towards that master, 
 fidelity to whom, Hving and dead, was one of the dominant 
 motives during the last half of his Hfe : — 
 
 " To conclude, he was the worthiest gentleman, the best 
 master, the best friend, the best husband, the best father, 
 and the best Christian that the age in which he hved pro- 
 duced. And if he was not the best King, if he were without 
 some parts and qualities that have made some Kings great 
 and happy, no other Prince was ever unhappy, who was 
 possessed of half his virtues and endowments, and so much 
 without any kind of vice." 
 
 Those who find in history chiefly a field for the exercise of 
 casuistry, or for the display of poHtical partisanship, and 
 who never weary of dissecting, by the aid of petty and often 
 conflicting evidence, the character of Charles I., wiU deem these 
 to be words of undue praise. But in them Clarendon has an- 
 ticipated and cast into enduring form the verdict — rough it 
 may be, but broadly just — which the invincible instinct 
 of humanity has, after three centuries, passed, in spite of 
 conspicuous errors and some undoubted flaws, upon the 
 essential dignity and the pathetic virtues of the central 
 figure in the great tragedy of our Civil War. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 EXILE AND BROKEN HOPES 
 
 The execution of the King had sequels which deeply affected 
 Hyde. Others with whom his relations had been long and 
 intimate fell victims to that vindictive vengeance, which 
 sought to secure the new tyranny by inspiring terror. The 
 next of the conspicuous foes of the new rule brought to trial 
 were the Duke of Hamilton, the Earl of Holland, the Earl 
 of Norwich, and Lord Capel, with a Welsh gentleman. Sir 
 John Owen. With Hamilton, Hyde had been brought into 
 contact very early in his career, when as a young lawyer he 
 had been called into counsel in an affair where Jermyn's 
 conduct had brought scandal to many leading families, 
 amongst them that of Hamilton.-' The dark and mysterious 
 character of Hamilton, and his propensity to intrigue, had 
 always made him repugnant to Hyde, and in his case 
 Hyde's prejudice against the Scots was allowed full sway. 
 Hyde was doubtful of the wisdom of the King in putting 
 confidence in Hamilton's fidehty ; and he was nowise 
 opposed to Hamilton's being placed under arrest in Oxford 
 (where he came with a proffer of allegiance), and afterwards 
 imprisoned at Pendennis Castle. During Hyde's last months 
 in England, there had taken place those conversations at 
 Pendennis, where Hamilton urged his readiness and ability 
 to help the cause of the King, if he were granted liberty, and 
 
 ' See ante, p. 36. 
 
320 EXILE AND BROKEN HOPES [chap, xii 
 
 allowed to repair to his friends ia Scotland. Hyde saw that 
 the rapid success of the Parliamentary army would soon give 
 Hamilton the freedom he desired, and thought that it would 
 then be time enough for him to prove the readiness 
 which he professed to serve the cause which had suffered 
 so grievously at his hands. Since then Hamilton had 
 recognized the fury of the torrent which he had contributed 
 to let loose, and like many others of his order he had 
 no mind that the limitation of monarchy should involve 
 the destruction of social order and the sweeping away 
 of the vast privileges which belonged to his own class. 
 His jealousy of Argyle led him with all the more readiness 
 to adopt the Royahst cause, and he had, from selfish motives, 
 taken those active steps to defend the Crown, to which 
 feelings of loyalty had failed to impel him. But whatever 
 their motive, his recent exertions had undoubtedly helped the 
 Royalists for a time, and had been inspired by a zeal which 
 rarely animated Hamilton. Hyde admits the value of his be- 
 lated services, even while he feels no attraction to the man. 
 The Duke managed to escape from his imprisonment, 
 and was at liberty for three days ; but when he was about 
 to leave London, presumably for Scotland, he was re- 
 arrested in Southwark. When brought to trial, he denied the 
 jurisdiction of the Court before which he was arraigned, 
 and asserted that as he had taken command of the army 
 at the orders of the Scottish Parliament (to which alone 
 he owed allegiance) he could not be guilty of treason, and, 
 further, that he was subject only to the judgment of his 
 Scottish Peers. That plea was easily upset : he was judged, 
 not as Duke of Hamilton, but as Earl of Cambridge in 
 the peerage of England. He continued to cherish hopes of 
 a reprieve ; but his influence in Scotland was still too 
 substantial to allow the Parliamentary leaders to grant him 
 his life. 
 
1649] FATE OF HAMILTON AND HOLLAND 321 
 
 With Holland also Hyde had had a long acquaintance, 
 but no warmth of friendship. Holland's greed and selfish 
 ambition, his shiftiness and dissimulation, the gross ingrati- 
 tude which had transformed him — the most favoured of 
 courtiers — into one of the most virulent enemies of the 
 King, had alienated from him Hyde's regard, and had earned 
 him his contempt. Hyde, it is true, had endeavoured to 
 procure for Holland a rather better reception, when he betook 
 himself to the Court at Oxford, and found himself shunned 
 by those whom his ingratitude had alienated ; and had 
 thought that it would have been sound policy to encourage 
 his return to apparent loyalty. But, like Hamilton, Holland's 
 repentance came too late, and arose only when he found that 
 what his alliance with the popular party was to bring him 
 was small compared with that which it had cost him. His 
 fatal defect was one with which Hyde could have little 
 sympathy : " he did think poverty the most insupportable 
 evil that could befall any man in this world." The 
 Royalist who recked highly of wealth was hkely to prove 
 of little value to the Royal cause. 
 
 Holland would readily have accepted a pardon, at 
 the price of a new recantation, but the opportunity was not 
 allowed him. The efforts of his brother. Lord Warwick, and 
 the zealous intercession of the Presbyterians, who looked on 
 him as a champion of their faith, were not likely to weigh 
 much with men who cared little for Warwick's rank, 
 and regarded the Presbyterians as dangerous foes. Even 
 his age and faihng health did not suffice to stir the mercy of 
 those whose cause he had deserted, and in whose hands his 
 fate lay. He, like Hamilton, suffered the last penalty. 
 
 Norwich — whose abilities Hyde doubted, although he re- 
 cognized the rough and rather reckless loyalty which had 
 instigated him to the revolt in Kent — was more fortunate than 
 Hamilton or Holland. Personally Norwich had few enemies, 
 
 VOL. I. Y 
 
822 EXILE AND BROKEN HOPES [chap, xii 
 
 and was little more than a jovial squire whom the zeal of his 
 friends and neighbours had thrust into a task of knight 
 errantry for which he had little capacity. He had neither the 
 consummate abihty, the profound skill in dissimulation, nor 
 the turbulent ambition, that made Hyde look with mingled 
 astonishment and detestation upon his son Lord Goring. But 
 neither had he the high aims or heroic bearing of the nobler 
 type of cavalier. He addressed the Court " as a man that 
 would be beholden to them if they would give him leave to 
 live ; " and mercy was granted him as much, perhaps, from 
 contempt, as from the friendliness of some members of the 
 Court. 
 
 Lord Capel, that friend in adversity whom Hyde cherished 
 with the warmest love, belonged to another class of Royalist. 
 No purer and nobler soul had entered on the struggle. He had 
 no particular regard for the Court, owed Httle to its favour, 
 and had, by inheritance and good fortune, all that could 
 render life desirable, in wealth and station as well as in a 
 domestic circle of rare felicity. When the issue at stake 
 became evident, there was no hesitation on the part of 
 Capel. He saw that " clear path before him " which his 
 latest letter to his wife tells us it was his constant desire to 
 follow : no personal loss, no hardship, and no danger, could 
 for an instant weigh with him against the call of duty. No 
 ambition entered into his thoughts, and he sought only to 
 serve the King without claiming any part in his counsels. 
 Others might wrangle and look jealously upon the distribu- 
 tion of command : Capel's only object was to do his duty 
 as a loyal subject, at whatever cost and in whatever capacity. 
 In the long and weary days in the west, he and Hyde had 
 stood together as faithful allies on the Council of the Prince, 
 and had done what they could to check the evil fruit of 
 selfish faction and undisciplined contention. In Jersey, the 
 cherished companionship of Capel and Hopton had given to 
 
1649] LORD CAPBL CONDEMNED 323 
 
 Hyde the two years, which, in spite of privations and 
 anxieties, were the most peaceful period in his long exile. 
 
 At his trial Capel contended that, as a prisoner of war, 
 " the lawyers and gownsmen had nothing to do with him, 
 and therefore he would not answer anything they had said 
 against him." Fairfax, after the summary execution of 
 Lisle and Lucas, upon the capture of Colchester, had im- 
 plicitly, if not in express words, accepted the others as 
 surrendered prisoners ; and he stood self-convicted by 
 prevarication in giving evidence on the matter. No 
 doubts were permitted to come between Capel's enemies and 
 their vindictive lust for vengeance ; and he himself was not 
 sorry to owe nothing to their mercy. History presents few 
 parallels to the barbarous cynicism of Cromwell's argument 
 against any such leniency. When Lady Capel's petition was 
 under discussion, " Cromwell, who had known him very well, 
 spoke so much good of him, and professed to have so much 
 kindness and respect for him, that all men thought he was 
 now safe." But that was not the intention of Cromwell's 
 praises. He went on to say — 
 
 " that he knew the Lord Capel very well, and knew that he 
 would be the last man in England that would forsake the 
 royal interest : that he had great courage, industry and 
 generosity : that he had many friends who would always 
 adhere to him ; and that as long as he lived, what condition 
 soever he was in, he would be a thorn in their sides ; and there- 
 fore, for the good of the Commonwealth, he should give his 
 vote against the petition." 
 
 To Cromwell's cynicism there was added the " immortal 
 hatred " of Ireton, " who spake of him and against him as of 
 a man of whom he was heartily afraid." Some three or 
 four voices turned the scale against him; and rarely has a man, 
 even by the confession of his enemies, been so surely done to 
 death for the very virtues which made them fear him. He 
 
324 EXILE AND BROKEN HOPES [chap, xii 
 
 died as nobly as he had hved ; and Hyde's eulogy has the 
 eloquence and dignity which he knew so well to impart to 
 it. " In a word, he was a man, that whoever shall, after 
 him, deserve best of the English nation, he can never think 
 himself undervalued, when he shall hear that his courage, 
 virtue, and fidelity is laid in the balance with, and compared 
 to, that of the Lord Capel." 
 
 Sir John Owen's attitude to his judges was worthy of a 
 brave man who had ventured all for his King, and cared 
 little for any penalty they might inflict. " It was a great 
 honour," he said, " to a poor gentleman of Wales to lose his 
 head with such noble lords." His careless recklessness 
 sufficed, perhaps with the help of his inferior station, to save 
 him from the full fury of the Court, and they granted him a 
 life for which he had not demeaned himself so far as to 
 petition. 
 
 These were only conspicuous instances, amongst many, 
 of a vengeance which was inspired in the ParHamentary 
 leaders not by vindictiveness alone, but by fear, and by the 
 consciousness that they had against them the great majority 
 of the nation, if only it had been able to translate its feelings 
 into any practical shape. For Hyde, these deaths meant the 
 passing away of outstanding figures which had bulked largely 
 in his life in England, and whose removal added a new 
 sense of loneliness to his exile. For ten years more we have 
 to trace his action amid shifting scenes, far away from the 
 public life of England, steering, as best he might, amidst 
 the tortuous currents and eddies of the exiled Court : eluding, 
 as far as he could, for himself, and composing for others, its 
 perpetual series of ignoble quarrels : checking, as far as 
 possible, rash designs, or projects which would have Involved 
 fatal desertion of principle : striving, often by means that 
 a proud man could ill brook, to gather precarious means of 
 subsistence for the Court, and with vain efforts to introduce 
 
1649] HYDE IN THE EXILED COUKT 325 
 
 some semblance of order into its expenditure : vexed in his 
 soul by the petty caprices of the Queen, and the selfish 
 intrigues of her adherents : doing his best to maintain the 
 spirits, and at the same time to curb the impatience, of the 
 scattered contingents that would fain have aided, but, as a 
 fact, often hopelessly embarrassed, the Eoyal cause. Out- 
 wardly, during these weary years, Hyde is no actor in English 
 history ; he is at best the distant and obscure watcher, 
 intent on guiding through the breakers the very frail bark 
 of which he was the pilot. His influence was, however, 
 noticed sufficiently to make him the ready target of blame 
 for every malcontent. 
 
 The period which intervened between the disclosure of 
 the fixed intention to drive matters to the utmost extremity 
 against the King, and the actual commission of his judicial 
 murder, had been short. At that time the Queen was in 
 Paris, and the Prince at the Hague. Both sent urgent 
 messages which received no attention from Parliament ; and 
 Prince Charles went so far as to send a blank sheet of paper 
 with his seal and sign manual, upon which Parliament might 
 itself enter the guarantees for constitutional government 
 which they might exact as the condition of sparing his 
 father's life. A bargain with such a ratification could, of 
 course, have had no legislative importance, and it is certain 
 that the King himself would have been the first to discoun- 
 tenance any such compact. But none the less the impulse 
 which prompted it was natural, and its sincerity is open to 
 no doubt. When the blow fell, to a grim political outlook for 
 the Prince and his followers there was added poignant grief 
 for an irreparable loss. Amongst many virtues, the warmth 
 of his domestic affections was not the least conspicuous 
 quality of Charles I.'s character. His family hfe had been 
 but a short one. The circle to which he was so passionately 
 devoted was soon broken by the ruthless hand of civil war, 
 
326 EXILE AND BROKEN HOPES [chap, xii 
 
 and had early to begin their painful training in the vicissi- 
 tudes that attend helpless and needy aliens in foreign lands. 
 Charles II. had learned to " put off the boy ; " and if the ex- 
 perience of dealing with men and exercising some authority in 
 his teens had given him an insight into human motives beyond 
 his years, the rough debauchery of the camp had also given 
 him a certain callousness of heart. But the deep affection 
 of his father's heart left its impression on the hves of 
 his children ; and scattered though it was, that wandering 
 family continued to be bound together by bonds of warm 
 love throughout all their fortunes. The new Kuig had 
 need of all his courage to nerve himself, as he did with 
 sprightly humour and indubitable courage, if with doubtful 
 perseverance, for the long and often hopeless struggle that 
 lay before him. He passed through the fire of adversity 
 with less scathe than was afterwards wrought in him by the 
 sunshine of prosperity. He deserves honour, with all his 
 faults, for never having, throughout these long struggles, 
 lost his happiness of humour, his buoyancy of courage, his 
 constant kindliness to those who stood round him in mis- 
 fortune, or — what was not least important — the proper sense 
 of his own dignity. He soon heard from the Queen, whose 
 grief, whatever its intensity, never overcame her innate love 
 of power. With that sarcastic humour which never is 
 quite absent when Hyde treats of the Queen-Mother, he tells 
 how, " notwithstanding the great agony she was in, which 
 without doubt was as great a passion of sorrow as she was 
 able to sustain, she at once wrote to urge the King's return 
 to France, and desired him to swear none to be of his Council 
 till she could speak with him." The King was ready to 
 pay all filial respect to his mother, but none the less he re- 
 membered what was due to himself. He had no mind to 
 go to France, and there to renew his experiences of scant 
 courtesy. On his own initiative, he named his Council, and 
 
1649] CHAEACTER OF THE YOUNG KING 327 
 
 resolved, for the present, to rest his dependence on the Prince 
 of Orange — a wise and a kindly Mentor. His father's 
 advisers still commanded his confidence and respect. From 
 the States of HoUand, where the influence of the Prince of 
 Orange was still high, he received such expressions of sym- 
 pathy in his disasters as they might show without com- 
 promising themselves with the dominant powers in England ; 
 but he knew well enough how little he could rely upon any 
 effective help from them. It was a question only how long 
 he would be allowed to enjoy their furtive and somewhat 
 timid hospitality. 
 
 He had now two possible places of refuge to look to, and 
 from both there came pressing invitations. The affairs of 
 Ireland looked promising enough, for the moment, for the 
 Royalist cause, if only because despair had taught the Irish 
 how little mercy they were like to find at the hands either 
 of Parliament or army. The Scots, too, were incensed 
 against the rough action of the Parliament. They had no 
 wish to fortify an overstrained Royal prerogative ; but the 
 abolition of the monarchy and the extreme measures against 
 the King were not only a violation of their Solemn League 
 and Covenant (which recognized the maintenance of the frame 
 of monarchical government as a religious duty), but were 
 alien to all their national instincts. Against the proceedings 
 of the army they lodged a protest, which to all outward 
 appearance was solemn enough, even if it was of doubtful sin- 
 cerity, and although it was followed by no effective action. 
 The Scots were divided amongst themselves. There were 
 amongst them those who would have given an ungrudging 
 support to the Royalist cause. Their position was undermined 
 by the treachery of Argyle, who affected an attachment to 
 the monarchy, yet was at heart the close ally of Cromwell, 
 determined to allow no effective authority to the King. He 
 recognized that the nation's sympathy with its traditional 
 
328 EXILE AND BEOKEN HOPES [chap, xii 
 
 government was too strong to be resisted. But he knew 
 also that their indomitable attachment to their own Church 
 would make Scotsmen useful instruments in curbing the 
 real influence of the Crown. Argyle was compelled to join 
 in the invitation to the King to return to his Scottish people, 
 but he managed to attach to that invitation conditions which 
 were inconsistent with the honour of the King, and forced 
 him to disown his father's acts, and to disavow his father's 
 strongest principles. This was precisely the course which 
 Hyde most feared, and which he knew would be most fatal 
 to the Eoyahst cause in England ; and in proportion to his 
 suspicion of their specious offers, Hyde's inveterate hatred 
 of the Scots increased. Lauderdale was at the Hague as 
 the avowed emissary of Argyle. Adroit, arrogant, and over- 
 bearing, he was determined that Charles's return should be 
 clogged with conditions that would have left him helpless in 
 the hands of Argyle and himself. Hyde and he were foes 
 of old, and their terms became no better now, even if an 
 appearance of forbearance was necessary for the moment. 
 
 There was, however, still a powerful group of Scotsmen 
 who had no mind to weight their fidelity to the Crown with 
 any harsh conditions. Montrose was now at the Hague, 
 flushed with the success of his recent campaign, from which 
 he had been recalled only by the authority of the late King. 
 He had the faults of his qualities, and his consciousness of 
 the value of his own services made him little apt to yield to 
 those whom he saw to be enemies in disguise. To serve the 
 King he was ready to forget his former feuds, and to make 
 common cause with all in Scotland who favoured the 
 monarchy. But for him it was not to be a monarchy shorn 
 of all its attributes, and transformed into the puppet of 
 Argyle. He offered to join the new Duke of Hamilton — lately 
 Earl of Lanark — who had now succeeded to his brother's 
 title and estates, and to his influence as one of Scotland's 
 
JAMES GRAHAM, FIRST JIABQUIS OF MONTROSE, 
 
 (From the original hy Sir Anthony Vandyke.) 
 
1649] EPFOETS OF MONTKOSE 329 
 
 most conspicuous leaders. The new Duke was a very- 
 different man from his brother, whose darker spirit and 
 treacherous character had hitherto clouded his brother's 
 Ufe by their baneful influence. He had no love for Presby- 
 tery, and avowedly repented himself of the sorry part that 
 he had been made to play. Left to himself he would not 
 have been unwilhng to join Montrose, and prosecute the 
 Eoyahst cause as his ally. But Lauderdale and Argyle stood 
 successfully in his way, and their influence fought against 
 the more generous motives that inspired Montrose, and might 
 have enlisted the sympathy of Hamilton. Montrose visited 
 Prance in the hope that he might have the support of 
 Queen Henrietta, and might induce Mazarin to give him 
 effective aid. Hyde explains, in another of his sarcastic 
 phrases, the position of the Queen. She " was in straits 
 enough, and never open-handed, and used to pay the best 
 services with receiving them graciously, and looking kindly 
 upon those who did them. And her graces were still more 
 towards those who were like to do services, than to those who 
 had done them " — in other words, her gratitude was a 
 lively sense of benefits to come. Such grudging mood was 
 not likely to captivate the ardent spirit of Montrose, nor did 
 he find that Mazarin was inclined to risk anything for the 
 King. He had to seek for aid elsewhere. 
 
 Hyde was not blind to the faults of Montrose — to his 
 occasional vanity, and to the rashness which often marred 
 his romantic chivalry. But he was strongly inclined to see 
 in Montrose the central pivot of Charles's hopes so far as 
 Scotland was concerned. Hyde " beheved his Majesty should 
 bid Montrose very welcome, and prefer him before any other 
 of that nation in his esteem." As he expresses it again in 
 one of those happy phrases which show Hyde's unrivalled 
 touch, he felt with those who " believed his clear spirit to be 
 most like to advance the King's service." He did all he 
 
330 EXILE AND BROKEN HOPES [chap, xii 
 
 could to bring Lauderdale over to the same way of thinking, 
 but without success. Lauderdale replied by adducing, as 
 unanswerable objections, Montrose's " barbarities and in- 
 humanities." The Highland hordes, upon whose fiery bravery 
 Montrose had had to depend, did not certainly carry on war 
 in any gentle manner. On the battlefield they neither gave, 
 nor asked for, quarter, and their habits taught them to look 
 upon the foe who met them in the field as one who was to 
 give or to exact expiation for a long tale of hereditary clan 
 feuds. But it appeared that the " barbarities " consisted in 
 the rough vengeance of the battle, and not in any vindictive 
 cruelties done in cold blood. Scotland, as represented by 
 Lauderdale, could forgive such savage reprisals as followed 
 the Parliamentary victory at Philiphaugh, but not such 
 slaughter on the battlefield at Inverlochy as cost Argyle 
 fifteen hundred of his clan who fell before Montrose's High- 
 land host, while Argyle saved himself by an ignoble flight. 
 It was useless to argue with Lauderdale. He " swore with 
 great passion " that he had sooner never see the King restored 
 than that James Grahame should be permitted to come to 
 Court. Hamilton would have been willing, had he been free 
 to choose his own course, to serve with Montrose. But he 
 saw that such an alliance would lead to a breach with 
 Argyle, and so forbore. 
 
 The wrangle, so fatal to the Eoyalist cause, continued to 
 rage until matters were made worse still by an act of mis- 
 guided folly, in which Montrose's followers were deeply 
 involved. A certain Dutchman, named Dorislaus, a native 
 of Delft, had long resided in England, had been appointed 
 a lecturer at Gresham College, and had afterwards been 
 attached as Judge- Advocate to the army of Essex. He was 
 now in favour with Cromwell, and arrived at the Hague as 
 secret envoy to arrange terms between England and the 
 States. On the very night of his arrival, the house of 
 
1649] MUEDEE OF DOEISLAUS 331 
 
 entertainment, where he was supping in company with those 
 who usually resorted there, was invaded by a band of armed 
 men. They made no secret of the motive of their irruption, 
 and met with no resistance. The general company were 
 bidden not to stir ; they had come only to do vengeance on 
 the agent of the rebels in England, who had just murdered 
 their King. They stabbed him to death on the spot, and 
 left the eating-house at their leisure, making no secret of 
 their deed. The incident shows clearly enough what the 
 popular feehng at the Hague was. But it was none the less 
 desperately embarrassing to the States, and it was no wonder 
 that they found the King a guest whom they would willingly 
 speed. It was not the least untoward circumstance that the 
 deed had been done by Scotsmen, and these the servants of 
 the Marquis of Montrose. That would not lessen the resent- 
 ment of the new Commonwealth for the murder of their 
 emissary. 
 
 It was time for the King to be gone. At first Ireland 
 was to be his destination, and in reliance upon the promises 
 he had received he resolved to try his fortunes there. The 
 only question which was still in doubt was whether he should 
 sail direct for Ireland, or should, in response to the urgent 
 invitation of the Queen, visit her at Paris on the way. The 
 decision involved much. To Hyde and those who held with 
 him that the Queen's influence was detrimental to the cause, 
 the opportunity for strengthening that influence which such 
 a visit offered was distasteful. They well knew that once 
 more the Queen would press the expediency of coming to 
 terms with the Scottish Presbyterians. To her Eoman 
 Catholic advisers — above all to the new pervert Montague ^ — 
 
 ' Walter Montague was the younger brother of Edward, second Earl of 
 Manchester. Unlike him he had been closely attached to the Court, and 
 had been employed in foreign missions. He was one of those who helped 
 to arrange the marriage with Henrietta Maria, and this had brought him 
 into close relations with France, and made him the friend and confidant 
 
332 EXILE AND BEOKEN HOPES [chap, xii 
 
 it mattered little that one form of heresy should be balanced 
 by another. Neither Anglican Episcopacy nor Scottish 
 Presbyterianism was to be valued save as a means of attaching 
 adherents to the Crown. Hyde detested this as an abandon- 
 ment of principle. He despised it as a piece of folly which 
 would alienate the whole strength of English loyalty. 
 
 Before that journey to Ireland — which was never to take 
 place — could be arranged, other matters supervened, which 
 directly concerned Hyde, and one of which, by separating 
 him from the King, weakened for a time his influence over 
 the policy of the exiled Court. Ireland and Scotland, it was 
 felt, might be convenient footholds, helping towards the 
 recovery of the Eoyalist cause ; but meanwhile was it wise 
 to submit without protest to the present management of 
 English affairs ? Would it not be well to pubhsh a Declara- 
 tion, to indicate that the claims of the King were not in 
 abeyance, and to serve as a rallying cry for his adherents at 
 home ? Ought not such a Declaration to indicate a certain 
 policy as regards religion, and the terms upon which an 
 amnesty might heal the breaches of the civil war ? Who were 
 to be considered as enemies beyond pardon, and to whom 
 might be given hopes of indemnity which might induce 
 them to join in resisting the usurping Government which 
 their own acts had permitted to acquire a power that over- 
 rode the liberties of Englishmen ? 
 
 Hyde rightly judged that such a Declaration might 
 arouse dangers far more serious than those it sought to relieve. 
 The opinions on religion varied infinitely, and any definite 
 Declaration would either disappoint the hopes of the Presby- 
 terians or shock the deepest feelings of the Anglican Eoyalists. 
 
 of the Queen. He became a Roman Catholic in 1634. At a later day he 
 was in close alliance with the Royalist party, and was the go-between in 
 an attempt to procure French assistance for the cause of the King. He was 
 imprisoned, and afterwards banished by the Parliament, and in 1647 became 
 Abbot of St. Martin's, at Pontoise. Ho died in 1677. 
 
1649] AN ABORTIVE DECLARATION 333 
 
 No truce could honourably be made with the regicides ; and 
 beyond the confines of the Regicide Court itself there were 
 many who were as guilty as, or more guilty than, the actual 
 members of that Court. A Declaration as to forfeitures 
 would either obliterate the hopes of the despoiled Royalists, 
 or array against the King a powerful body of those who did 
 not wish to see a restoration of the Crown if that were to 
 strip them of all that they had gained. Strangely enough, 
 although it was Hyde who most decidedly shrank from any 
 such Declaration, it was to Hyde that all looked as the man 
 most fit to draft it. He played his part with his usual 
 skiU. The Declaration was drawn up. But as he confidently 
 anticipated, it revealed, when read, as many different opinions 
 as there were members of the Council. " The issue was, that, 
 except two or three of the Council . . . there were not two 
 persons who were admitted to the perusal of it who did not 
 take some exception to it, though scarce two made the same 
 exception." Without open opposition, which would only 
 have confirmed the more obstinate, Hyde obtained his end. 
 " It was more faintly debated." The difficulties became 
 more apparent. At length " the Declaration slept, without 
 further proposition to emit any." Once more Hyde's wary 
 patience had saved the situation. 
 
 But another plan soon removed him for a time from 
 attendance on the King, with very hurtful results. Cottington, 
 the aged Lord Treasurer, devised a mission which seemed to 
 promise good results, and which at least helped Cottington 
 to a post which accorded with his own tastes. That old and 
 shrewd statesman was wearied of the perpetual wrangles of 
 the Court. His age prevented him from indulging hopes of 
 seeing any restoration of the Crown. Meanwhile he saw a 
 chance of aiding the cause of the King, and at any rate of 
 allowing Cottington to revisit scenes which old associations 
 had endeared to him, and to draw him more closely into the 
 
334 EXILE AND BROKEN HOPES [chap, xii 
 
 bonds of that religion to which he had always felt a certain 
 leaning. For long, Cottington's conformity to the Protestant 
 religion had been formal only ; and a full reconciliation to 
 the Catholic faith would be an aid to that easing of conscience 
 towards which his temperament inclined him. He had 
 spent long years in Spain, and in returning there again he 
 would find himself at home. A mission to Spain might help 
 the King's resources, and strengthen his political alliances ; 
 and it would, at all events, bring Cottington back to familiar 
 scenes, and give him the chance of ending his life in ease. 
 He suggested to Hyde that they two should be joined in an 
 embassy to Spain. If it did not help, at least it could not 
 hurt, the King. For himself it could save him from attending 
 the King in the hazardous scenes that seemed to lie before 
 him. He shrank from the rigours of the winter in Holland. 
 In France he would lie under suspicion as one pledged of old 
 to the Spanish alliance. In Spain he would have the sun 
 that his health demanded, and he would be amongst friendly 
 surroundings. Cottington was one of those who generally 
 found that their duty lay where their inclination prompted. 
 Hyde saw no reason to doubt the possible benefit of an 
 apphcation to Spain. When Cottington first proposed that 
 Hyde himself should be one of the ambassadors he seemed 
 to Hyde to be speaking in jest. But Cottington returned to 
 the subject. Much was to be gained by the mission, of 
 which the full fruit could not be gathered unless, in addition 
 to his knowledge of the country and the language, he had 
 Hyde's wisdom and energy to help his own failing strength. 
 The King's voyage to Ireland was not likely to take place 
 very soon, if he was to be subjected to the dilatory advice 
 of his mother. The Chancellor of the Exchequer might 
 finish his work in Spain, and yet be ready to join the King 
 as soon as he would reach Ireland. There was much to 
 tempt Hyde to accept the proposed embassy. He was ill 
 
FKANCIS, BARON COTTINGTON. 
 
 {From the original in the National Portrait Gallery. Painter unknown.) 
 
1649] MISSION TO SPAIN 335 
 
 at ease in the exiled Court, and knew that he could count on 
 no favour from the Queen. He was unwilling to desert the 
 King in his need, for the sake of any personal comfort ; but 
 he was so far persuaded as to be ready to refer the matter 
 to the King himself. Cottington knew how to present the 
 matter tactfully to the King, and Hyde found that Charles, 
 when he first spoke of it, was already prepossessed in favour 
 of the plan. When it was generally known in the exiled 
 Court, it provoked the usual crop of jealousies. Only the 
 dominant Scotch faction were content, knowing that Hyde's 
 removal would free them from the most pronounced opponent 
 of acceptance by the King of their invitation, on the terms 
 of a ratification of the Covenant ; and that his absence 
 would at the same time lessen the favour shown to their old 
 enemy, Montrose. Colepepper was, as usual, angry that he 
 had not been preferred to Hyde for such a mission ; but 
 Cottington was shrewd enough to decline such a troublesome 
 companion. The matter was then settled ; perhaps with 
 some doubts on Hyde's part as to its expediency in the King's 
 interest, but with full satisfaction to himself. He was not 
 sorry to be away from his present surroundings, and he 
 promised himself a new and refreshing experience in this 
 mission to which, in later years, he looked back as his 
 second period of " retreat." To prepare for it, he sent for 
 his wife and children from England, and proposed to settle 
 them during his absence in the security of Antwerp, where he 
 had influence enough to make their sojourn pleasant. 
 
 When he had arranged for his family, Hyde's next business 
 was to provide for his own journey ; and it was with difficulty 
 that means could be gathered to furnish the embassy even 
 with a semblance of becoming state. The Prince of Orange 
 advanced — out of his own rather scanty resources — twenty 
 thousand pounds to the King ; and out of this Hyde and 
 Cottington received only what was enough to defray their 
 
336 EXILE AND BEOKEN HOPES [chap, xii 
 
 preliminary expenses. For the rest they had to trust to 
 their own contrivance. They took leave of the King in 
 May, 1649, and were conveyed in the yacht of the Prince of 
 Orange to Antwerp, where Hyde met his wife and family ; 
 and after spending some days there they proceeded to Brussels, 
 where they met the Spanish plenipotentiary, Le Brune, 
 already on his way to visit Charles II. They sought audiences 
 of the Archduke and of the Duke of Lorraine, who was then 
 at the head of a large army, levied to support Spain against 
 France. From the Archduke they obtained little help. 
 The Duke of Lorraine was then high in the esteem and in the 
 Councils of Spain, to which his vigorous aid was of supreme 
 importance. With full capacity to maintain his dignity 
 when needful, the Duke lived, with little state, and in the 
 frankest and most jovial intimacy with the citizens of Brussels 
 and their wives. He received the ambassadors cordially — 
 perhaps induced to do so by the friendly introduction of 
 Le Brune ; and in spite of his proverbial thrift, Cottington's 
 tact managed to procure from him a much-needed loan of 
 two thousand pistoles. Never was embassy put to more 
 degrading shifts than this of Cottington and Hyde. From 
 Count Pignoranda and Count Fuensaldagna, who might be 
 supposed to represent the feelings of the Spanish Court, the 
 ambassadors received civility, but nothing more. They 
 learned enough to show them that their visit to Madrid 
 might not be very welcome. 
 
 Meanwhile the King had begun his journey to Ireland, 
 in the course of which he was to visit the Queen. He pro- 
 ceeded first to Breda, thence to Antwerp, and so by Brussels 
 and Cambray made his journey towards St. Germains. 
 At each place he was received with the respect due to his 
 rank. Le Brune had met him with friendly messages at 
 Breda, and the Count Pignoranda paid him his respects 
 at Antwerp. But the journey, which took him through 
 
1649] HYDE AND THE QUEEN 337 
 
 different territories, which were actually at war, was a 
 hazardous one, and in his various encounters the King must 
 have felt that he was treading on delicate ground, and that 
 it was difficult to guess how much of cordial feeling lay 
 beneath the show of civility. 
 
 Cottington and Hyde, who had come so far on their way 
 to Spain, arrived at St. Germains soon after the King had 
 joined his mother there. The situation was a perplexing 
 one ; and the factions and jealousies which had been rife at 
 the Hague were redoubled here by the added elements of 
 dissension arising in the Court of the Queen. The circum- 
 stances under which mother and son now met after years of 
 separation were tragic enough. The grief, which on both 
 sides was probably sincere, claimed the first two or three 
 days ; but after that, the grievances of the Queen and the 
 anger arising from her frustrated ambition had full play. 
 She insisted upon discussing all pohtical plans, and was 
 bitterly disappointed when, instead of complete resignation 
 to her advice, she found the King reserved. He told her 
 plainly that while he would perform his duty towards her 
 " with great affection and exactness, he must in his business 
 obey his own reason and judgment." Her passionate 
 expostulations, which broke out at each interview, he met 
 by abrupt withdrawals, and it soon became clear that no 
 very cordial relations could be maintained until the Queen 
 understood and accepted the new position of affairs, and 
 learned that the duty of a son did not imply the resigning, 
 or even the sharing of, his authority by the King. 
 
 It was against Hyde that the Queen had always charged 
 the lessening of her authority ; strangely enough, it was to 
 Hyde that she now resorted in her trouble. She felt that 
 the lowering of her position had been carried further than 
 Hyde would have desured, and that other and more hostile 
 forces must be at work to undermine her influence. Thomas 
 
 VOL. I. z 
 
338 EXILE AND BROKEN HOPES [chap, xii 
 
 Elliot, whom Charles I. had formerly dismissed from atten- 
 dance on the Prince, had now recovered his influence over 
 Charles II., and had lately joined the Court as one of the 
 Grooms of the Bedchamber. He made the most of such 
 authority as he had over the King, and took no pains to 
 conceal his scanty regard either for the late King or the Queen. 
 He contrived to insinuate to the King that he would lose 
 popularity " if he were thought to be governed by his mother." 
 In other words, he infused into the mind of Charles a motive 
 of petty personal pride, in place of the grave and moderating 
 guidance of pubhc duty, as the controlling influence in his 
 relations to the Queen. He managed to estrange the affec- 
 tions of the King from the Earl of Bristol and his son. Lord 
 Digby. His insolence grew ; and as the dispenser of favours, 
 he contrived to persuade Charles to nominate Colonel 
 Windham as Secretary of State. Windham's sole qualifica- 
 tions for the post were that he was father-in-law to Elliot, 
 and that his wife had been Charles's nurse. We have already 
 seen that the family had given Hyde some trouble.^ 
 
 All this had embittered the feuds at Court, already violent 
 enough. Hyde found himself at once appealed to. Bristol 
 and Digby breathed out their griefs to him and Cottington. 
 The King recounted his annoyances with his mother's 
 grasping ambition ; the Queen poured forth her anger at 
 his lack of reverence and even of filial duty. She was 
 exposed to the insolence of the upstart Elliot, whom her 
 husband had detested ; and knew that with Windham as 
 Secretary, she would have another implacable enemy in the 
 confidence of the King. For this occasion she was content 
 to have Hyde's assistance, and assured him how fully she 
 recognized his faithful service, and how well she knew the 
 confidence her husband had always placed in him. 
 
 Hyde carried her tale of grievances to the King, who was 
 ' See ante, p. 263. 
 
1649] COTTINGTON'S INTEEVENTION 339 
 
 only too ready to have a wise and kindly arbitrator. He 
 desired, he said, nothing better than to Uve on good terms 
 with his mother, but on business he must be reserved. Her 
 hostility against Elliot and Windham was ill-founded and 
 unjust. Windham, he declared, would soon learn the little 
 business that had to be done as Secretary. Hyde could only 
 counsel some delay. It was left to Cottington's happy tact 
 to devise a means of diverting Charles's purpose. Hard 
 argument had little weight with the King, but he did not 
 lack the sense of humour. Cottington did not imitate the 
 grave advice of Hyde, or the angry protests of the Queen and 
 Digby. He attacked the difficulty in another way. 
 
 " Very gravely " (according to his custom who never 
 smiled when he made others merry) " he made a suit to the 
 King on behalf of an old servant, who was, as he verily 
 believed, one of the best falconers in England. The King 
 asked what he could do for the man. Cottington recognized 
 that the King was in no position to keep falconers, and if 
 he were, the old man was past his work. But he was an 
 honest man, and could read well and audibly ; so he begged 
 that his Majesty would make him his chaplain. So earnestly 
 was this said that the King asked him, with a smile, what he 
 meant. ' The falconer,' said Cottington, ' was as fit to be 
 chaplain as Windham was to be Secretary of State.' " 
 
 This produced an involuntary laugh from those who 
 heard it, and the matter was settled. The project of Wind- 
 ham's secretaryship was quietly dropped. 
 
 The wrangles and disputes in the exiled Court were 
 silenced, if not ended, by the pressure of adversity. Charles 
 was on the eve of starting for Ireland, in response to the opti- 
 mistic reports that told him he had only to appear there to be 
 received with acclamation. Those who were to prepare his 
 way had already sailed, and his own baggage had gone ahead 
 But stern facts were beforehand with him. Cromwell had 
 
340 EXILE AND BROKEN HOPES [chap, xii 
 
 crossed to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant, and only a short 
 space of time placed the country completely at his mercy, 
 and made it hopeless for the King to go there with the aim 
 of reviving the Royalist cause. Some other destination must 
 be found, and the settlement of the place for his new 
 attempt must be postponed. Patience must again be 
 exercised, and the turn of affairs must be awaited. But he 
 could no longer stay at St. Germains, and so moved to 
 Jersey, where, for a time at least, he could hope for some 
 security. 
 
 Cottington and Hyde were left to carry out their mission 
 to Spain, and it was with no high hopes that they set out 
 upon the task. They sent a message for a pass to Madrid to 
 meet them at St. Sebastian, and sought to engage a house 
 in the Spanish capital. Sir Benjamin Wright, an Enghsh 
 merchant there, was to do his best to ascertain the temper 
 of the Spanish Court. While at Paris they had asked 
 audiences from the Queen-Mother of France, the Duke of 
 Orleans, Prince Conde, and Cardinal Mazarin. The Duke 
 and Prince Conde were then in active opposition to Mazarin, 
 and it was no easy task to enhst the favour of powers so 
 vigorously hostile to one another. The Queen-Mother was 
 content to send by them a message of good-will to the King 
 of Spain. Orleans refused even that much, and roughly 
 told them that he had nothing to do with Spain. Conde 
 excused himself from seeing them, and the Cardinal sent a 
 message to Don Lewis de Haro, the chief minister of Spain, 
 proffering his own earnest services to secure a peace with 
 Spain — a message which, when it was accepted by Don 
 Lewis, the Cardinal shamelessly disavowed. Hardly a send- 
 off which could enhance their estimation as ambassadors ! 
 
 At the end of September they set out upon their journey. 
 
 ' There is a very interesting journal of the embassy, and of all its incidents, 
 in a note-book, written by William Edgeman, Hyde's secretary, and now 
 
1649] HYDE REACHES SPAIN 841 
 
 At Bordeaux they found hostilities in active progress between 
 the people and the royal Government, and had hard work to 
 make their way onward amid the clash of armed forces. 
 From Bordeaux they proceeded to Bayonne, and passing 
 through St, Jean de Luz, they took boat, three weeks after 
 leaving Paris, to cross into Spanish territory, and announced 
 their arrival to the Governor of St. Sebastian. At Fontarabia 
 and its neighbourhood they saw the ruins wrought by recent 
 war. At Gerona, in spite of alarms of war, the inquisitors 
 found time to visit their lodgings soon after their arrival and 
 search their books and papers ; but the stern demands of 
 the censor, although pressed by a priest " of a large size and 
 a very barbarous aspect and behaviour," were easily settled 
 by a small douceur. At St. Sebastian they found a more 
 courteous reception, and were left in quiet at the lodgings duly 
 provided for them. 
 
 But news soon reached them which showed the difficulties 
 that would have to be met, and the small respect which was 
 to be paid to the exiled Court and to the claims of the King. 
 It was evidently thought to be a hazardous matter to give 
 recognition to any opposition to the new Commonwealth. 
 The chief magistrate called, and with due apologies showed 
 them a letter from the Secretary of State, in which he was 
 told to receive " the ambassadors from the Prince of Wales " 
 with all respect, but if possible to persuade them to stay 
 where they were, until further instructions were received. 
 They received also a letter from Sir Benjamin Wright, in 
 which he told them that their pass to Madrid was made out 
 only under the same designation, and that delay had occurred 
 in providing lodgings for them in Madrid. To show im- 
 patience might involve the hopeless failure of their mission ; 
 
 preserved amongst the Clarendon MSS. in the Bodleian. It begins on May 
 27, 1649, and ends on November 11, 1654, and its account taUies so closely 
 with Hyde's that we may well suppose that the Chancellor borrowed the 
 book to refresh his own memory. 
 
342 EXILE AND BEOKEN HOPES [chap, xii 
 
 but it was impossible to accept the character of ambassadors 
 of the Prince of Wales. To abandon the proper designation 
 of their master was equivalent to a surrender of his rights. 
 They at once announced that while they might delay their 
 journey to Madrid, they must insist on being received as the 
 ambassadors of the King, or must at once return. The reply 
 showed how shifty the policy of the Spanish Court was. 
 Don Lewis de Haro apologized for the error, and imputed it 
 to the negligence of the Secretary. Passes were sent in 
 proper style, and they were " assured of a very good welcome 
 from his Majesty." Such vacillation, if it showed some 
 recognition of the hopes of the Royalist party, yet gave little 
 expectation of effective assistance. 
 
 Sir Benjamin Wright at the same time wrote to announce 
 that steps were being taken to provide a house, and that 
 other preparations were being made for their reception. In 
 November they left St. Sebastian and, passing into Castile, 
 they made a stay at Burgos, to view the bull-fight at the 
 invitation of the magistrates. The authorities were evidently 
 determined that, so far as mere courtesy went, nothing should 
 be markedly omitted. 
 
 When they reached the neighbourhood of Madrid, they 
 paused in their journey until they should hear more from 
 Sir Benjamin Wright ; when he met them, it was to tell 
 them that matters were no farther advanced. Polite 
 evasions were all that could be extorted from Don Lewis. 
 It was clear that Cardenas, the ambassador in England, had 
 contrived to inspire the Spanish Court with fears of rousing 
 the enmity of Cromwell by any concessions to the emissaries 
 of Charles. They were obhged to avail themselves of Sir 
 Benjamin's hospitality, and to him alone they were indebted 
 for the power of maintaining a semblance of proper dignity, 
 although their formal reception by the Court was still delayed. 
 The utmost they could obtain jwas a meeting with Don 
 
1650] AT MADEID 343 
 
 Lewis incognito, without any formal ceremony. At that 
 interview he expressed his sympathy with the sufferings of 
 the Enghsh Court, and promised more attention when the 
 festivities, on account of the approaching royal marriage, 
 were over.^ An invitation to the ambassadors to attend the 
 great bull-fight, in honour of the marriage, was sent as a 
 pledge of his good intentions. Don Lewis's object was only 
 to gain time, in order to judge of the turn of affairs. 
 
 They accepted the invitation, more from a wish not to 
 reject any show of civility than because such a ceremony 
 suited either their taste or their present circumstances, and 
 Hyde thus saw the national sport in all its savage repulsive- 
 ness. It was evidently unpleasing to him, and he recounts 
 with repugnance its sanguinary results — some sixteen horses 
 brutally done to death, and four or five men killed, besides 
 a large number seriously injured. He tells us how deeply 
 the love of such spectacles had penetrated the people, and how 
 the power of the King himself — even had he not personally 
 patronized it — could not have extirpated it. Even the 
 unrepealed Bull of Pius V. failed to prevent the presence of 
 the clergy, although in that Bull it was prohibited on pain 
 of excommunication. Hyde had enough of the philosopher 
 in his composition not to remit his observation on a strange 
 freak of national maimers, from any preoccupation about the 
 snares that lay about hia mission.^ 
 
 ' The marriage of Philip IV., who wag a widower, to Marie Anne, the 
 daughter of the Emperor Ferdinand III. 
 
 ^ Even in trifles it is amusing to observe how Professor Gardiner never 
 omits nn opportunity of belittling Hyde. There had, it appears, been some 
 talk of the ambassadors witnessing an auto de fi, although the sugges- 
 tion was abandoned. Gardiner, in speaking of Hyde's leaving Spain, records 
 it thus : " Hyde, who earlier in the year had been baffled in an attempt 
 to witness an auto de fi, had now to leave without an opportunity of adding 
 so edifying a spectacle to his memories of travel" {Commonwealth, i. 344). 
 This unworthy taunt ia based only upon the statement in Edgeman'a 
 Journal that the presence of the ambassadors at such a scene had been 
 thought of, but that " the journey was put off, to his (Edgeman's) great 
 regret." 
 
344 EXILE AND BROKEN HOPES [chap, xii 
 
 It was a proof that opinion throughout Europe was still 
 in suspense as regards events in England, that the other 
 ambassadors at Madrid showed no backwardness in paying 
 their respects. Until the reception by the King, such visits 
 were informal ; but they were none the less an indication of 
 some cordiality of feeling. It gave to Hyde new oppor- 
 tunities of studying upon a wider stage than any he had yet 
 moved in, the personal peculiarities of many of those who 
 were dominant figures in the politics of Europe. 
 
 But an audience must be pressed for, and was at length 
 conceded. Hyde hoped that such an audience might help 
 to smooth more material matters. A preliminary difficulty 
 arose as to the reception of the ambassadors in mourning dress, 
 which was evidently that becoming in the circumstances, but 
 might perhaps have committed the Spanish King further than 
 was safe. The excuse of the marriage festivities served 
 as a ground for dispensing for the day with the emblems 
 of mourning, and this concession the ambassadors deemed it 
 expedient to make. Each step in the conduct of an embassy, 
 which was, as it turned out, the only formal mission of the 
 sort ever sent by Charles to any Court during his exile, craved 
 the most wary management; and great dexterity was, above 
 all, essential in a Court which demanded such exact obedience 
 to formal ceremonial, as did that of Spain. 
 
 When the audience was fixed, horses were sent from the 
 Court, that the ambassadors, according to the rule for the 
 iirst audience, should ride to Court. Attended by their 
 servants, and by a numerous suite of English merchants, 
 and of Irish officers in the Spanish army, Hyde and Cottington 
 proceeded, with a large cavalcade, to the presence of the 
 King. They were received with all respect, and presented 
 their credentials. The King expressed " a very tender 
 sense " of his royal brother's condition, and properly lamented 
 the impious rebellion against his father. His own affairs, 
 
1650] THE COUKT OF SPAIN 345 
 
 alas ! prevented his power of interference ; but were a peace 
 arranged with France, his cousin of England would find all 
 the readiness to help his cause that he could desire. This was 
 a useful hint as to gratitude which would be earned by any 
 good offices at the Court of France. The rest of the audience 
 consisted of more free discourse as to current topics. 
 
 Inconclusive as it was, the interview produced certain 
 effects. The ambassadors were provided with a house, and 
 a royal coach was assigned them. They had obtained, as 
 the representatives of Charles, a position before the world 
 that at least preserved them from any sordid indignity or 
 contempt. They did not cease to prosecute their objects 
 amid the nnfamihar surroundings of the Spanish Court ; and 
 had useful aid from a son of Windebanke, the former English 
 Secretary of State, a young man then living in Spain, and 
 able, from his father's former relations there, to maintain 
 some sort of connection with the Court. Wright still con- 
 tinued to be their almoner, and to help them in the manage- 
 ment of their modest establishment. Hyde could always 
 beguile his tedium by studying the strange methods of the 
 Spanish Council and pourtraying the characters of those 
 who composed it. In a few words he has painted for us 
 Don Lewis, called to power by no personal ability or 
 persevering ambition, but by the accidental friendship of 
 the King ; with fair industry, the more commendable that 
 it was against his own inclination ; honest and well-natured, 
 but with few gifts either natural or acquired ; with none of 
 the confidence that comes from consciousness of power, and 
 weighed down by the melancholic hypochondria to which his 
 nation was no stranger, and to which the circumstances of 
 his country gave only too much ground. With her power 
 shattered and her national genius decadent, Spain for her 
 revival demanded a statesman of genius, and a generation 
 later she seemed almost to have found one. But now her 
 
346 EXILE AND BROKEN HOPES [chap, xii 
 
 destiny was in the hands of a timid, shifty, and melancholy 
 dullard, with no arts of popularity and no spring of courage. 
 The rest of the Council were, as a rule, fit colleagues for such 
 a premier. The impression Hyde gives us of them is that 
 of a group of soleuan, peevish, doubtfully honest, and generally 
 decrepit, grandees. The son of the modest country gentleman 
 who felt within himself the power, and who, even in adverse 
 currents, was already forced to accept the burden, of guiding 
 State affairs in a desperate crisis, was not likely to feel much 
 admiration for such relics of a decayed aristocracy. 
 
 The ambassadors resolved to make a new effort to press 
 their master's affairs, and, at a private audience of the King, 
 they proposed a renewal of the treaty between the Crowns, 
 and urged the assistance Spain might render to the Royalist 
 cause in Ireland. The answer they received, after due 
 consideration, postponed the renewal of the treaty " until 
 times should mend," and gave little prospect of efficacious 
 help in Ireland. It remained only to prosecute their attempt 
 to gain some little assistance in money or arms from the 
 scanty resources, and grudging benevolence, of the Spanish 
 Crown. That was clearly a matter which could not be hurried, 
 and to pass the time of waiting, Hyde, with his usual untiring 
 industry, betook himself to the study of Spanish literature, 
 and took up again the Commentary on the Psalms, which he 
 had begun hi Jersey. 
 
 A momentary gleam of hope came to their mission from 
 the sudden appearance of Prince Rupert with his fleet upon 
 the coast of Spain. This was a solid evidence of power that 
 outweighed many subtle calculations of pohcy with a crew 
 of craven time-servers, and the ambassadors found a new 
 cordiality extended to them, as the plenipotentiaries of a 
 titular sovereign who could adduce such proofs of his 
 authority. The governors of the ports were ordered to open 
 them freely to the fleet, and the utmost readiness was shown 
 
1650] DELUSIVE HOPES 347 
 
 to extend assistance to a cause that appeared so able to 
 dispense with it. 
 
 " But," says Hyde sadly, " the Government of these 
 benign stars was very short." The Prince's fleet was stronger 
 in appearance than reality. Rupert lost in a storm at Car- 
 thagena a large contingent of his fleet, and took refuge 
 with the rest at Lisbon. Popham soon appeared off the 
 coast with a far stronger fleet belonging to the English 
 Commonwealth, and sent his demands in no timid tone to 
 the Government of Spain. His masters " were willing to live 
 in amity and good intelhgence with his Catholic majesty, but 
 knew very well how to do themselves right for any injury or 
 discourtesy which they should sustain." The beams of tem- 
 porizing civility which shone on Hyde and Cottington were 
 soon dispersed ; and another state of things accrued when 
 Rupert was confined to the rivers of Portugal, and saw himself 
 forced to try conclusions with a much superior fleet. All that 
 he could obtain was to be allowed a day's start of Popham ; 
 and Popham, with his prey snatched from his clutches, took 
 ample vengeance upon the weakness of Portugal. Only a 
 little later Hyde and Cottington learned that Charles had 
 been forced to abandon his hopes of a successful rising in 
 Ireland, and that he had laid aside his purpose of going there. 
 Cromwell now held Ireland in a firm grasp, and had estab- 
 lished his domination by a ruthless cruelty that has rarely 
 been paralleled in the annals of civihzed warfare. Some 
 other scene had to be found for any attempt to revive 
 Royalist hopes ; and never were Hyde's presence and advice 
 more urgently required by the King than now, while he and 
 Cottington were vainly attempting to arouse a feeble interest 
 in, and elicit a scanty measure of assistance from, a crafty 
 and timid ally abroad. 
 
 In Scotland there still appeared to be a prevalent desire 
 for a restoration of the King. Argyle felt it to be too strong 
 
348 EXILE AND BROKEN HOPES [chap, xii 
 
 for resistance, and his only hope was that, if the King repaired 
 to Scotland, it would be under conditions so dishonouring and 
 so crippling to his authority, that Argyle would be in reahty 
 the master. His chief difficulty was how to reconcile even 
 that degree of support to the Royalist reaction with the 
 friendship which he desired to maintain with Cromwell. 
 Would Cromwell be content to permit a nominal monarchy 
 in Scotland, secure that a puppet King would be kept in 
 such subjection as would prevent any interference with 
 his own rule in England ? 
 
 It was plain that Jersey could not long serve as a secure 
 resting-place for the King. When their hands were free, it 
 would be no hard task for the forces of the Commonwealth to 
 reduce it. With danger threatening, those who had urged 
 the expediency of coming to terms with the Scots became 
 more persistent ; and the Queen was fully persuaded that 
 this offered the only chance of success, or even of safety. 
 France might at any time pass from the phase of studied 
 neglect to that of active hostility, as her understanding 
 with Cromwell became closer. Charles met the Queen, at 
 her own earnest request, at Beauvais, in Picardy, and passed 
 on to Breda, where he was to meet the Scottish Com- 
 missioners, and arrange these terms which she pressed him 
 urgently to accept. At Breda, he found the Commissioners 
 determined to insist upon all the old severity of conditions. 
 He was to come with no chaplain of his own, and both he 
 and all permitted to attend him were to be compelled to 
 sign the Covenant before entering the Kingdom. " Very 
 fair warning indeed," says Hyde ; " nor could any man 
 justly except against anything that was afterwards done to 
 him." 
 
 But in spite of all the drawbacks, the inducements to 
 accept the offers of the Scots were strong. Faint though 
 the hope was, scarcely any other course seemed open. The 
 
1650] DEFEAT OP MONTROSE 349 
 
 Queen and her adherents urged it keenly. The wiser advice 
 of the Prince of Orange went in the same direction, and the 
 opposition of the Anghcan Episcopacy could not weigh for 
 much with Charles himself. The Duke of Buckingham and 
 Lord Wilmot were ready to venture themselves with the King 
 in Scotland, and for them the signing of a covenant, more 
 or less, was but a jest. Cottington and Hyde were as 
 suspicious as ever of the good faith of the Scots, and foresaw 
 the shock which would be given to the Eoyalists in England by 
 the terms which the Presbyterian leaders in Scotland would 
 extort from the King. They guessed that the disasters which 
 had attended Hamilton's ill-fated attempt would be repeated 
 on a larger scale. They would fain have rejoined Charles, 
 and dissuaded him from the voyage. But the opposite faction 
 had no mind to have their plans frustrated, and they were 
 ordered to remain at their posts in Spain, and to prosecute a 
 hopeless embassy. 
 
 Before Charles went to Scotland, he had allowed Montrose 
 to make one more gallant effort to retrieve his cause. No 
 aid could be found for the Marquis, either in Holland or from 
 Prance. But Montrose was one whose courage never 
 failed. He resorted to Denmark and Sweden, and 
 finally to Germany, to see what troops he could gather, 
 were it only by the glamour of his own name. He accom- 
 plished little, and for the most part found himself forestalled 
 by the emissaries of the Commonwealth. He could sail 
 with no more than five hundred men, and he had to trust 
 mainly to his own magic influence with the Highland clans. 
 To them he again appealed, and they flocked to his standard. 
 But Argyle had his military forces better organized, and a 
 very brief campaign ended in the defeat and capture of the 
 Marquis. He and some thirty other leading men of the true 
 Royalist party in Scotland were condemned to death, and were 
 executed with every device of insult and cruelty that could 
 
350 EXILE AND BKOKEN HOPES [chap, xii 
 
 gratify the malignity of Argyle and his faction.^ Once more 
 a gallant contingent of loyal adherents had been encouraged 
 to waste their lives in a hopeless attempt. Charles was 
 told that Montrose's rebellion had been crushed in the 
 interests of the Crown. He was compelled to accept an 
 explanation which was at once an insult and a threat. 
 When he landed at Aberdeen, it was to see the limbs of 
 Montrose bleaching on its gates. He was forced to accept 
 the Covenant, to acknowledge the guilt of his father, to 
 renounce his mother's sins, and. in a word, he found himself 
 a degraded prisoner in the hands of Argyle, with nothing 
 but the empty symbols of royalty attached to his person. 
 
 There was something grimly humorous in the position 
 in which Hyde now found himself. Detesting any resort 
 to Scottish assistance, he was nevertheless forced to make 
 the best of it, and to represent the important advance in 
 the Eoyalist cause that was evinced in the King's acceptance 
 as undoubted sovereign by the northern kingdom ; and 
 strange to say, he found the Spanish Court powerfully in- 
 fluenced by the apparent accession of authority thus brought 
 to the cause of Charles. He was fain to make the most of 
 what he knew to be but a hollow farce. 
 
 Charles remained for three months, cut off from his 
 friends, under a galling tutelage, and harassed by those 
 uncouth surroundings that made him look back with regret 
 even on the humiliations that he had suffered as a wandering 
 exile, begging a precarious support from grudging and 
 doubting alms-givers. It is scarcely wonderful that imder 
 such an experience the iron of cynicism entered into his 
 soul, that a character naturally brave, courteous, and not 
 unkindly, was permanently warped, and that he learned 
 to look upon human action as influenced chiefly by selfishness, 
 furious fanaticism, and impenetrable deceit. And yet 
 
 ' May, 1650. 
 
1650] CHARLES IN SCOTLAND 351 
 
 during these weary months the notion was diUgently 
 fostered that the Eoyal cause had received powerful aid. 
 At the same moment his adherents in England were in 
 deeper despair than they had ever been, and suffered at 
 every turn some new proof of the vindictive spirit of their 
 foes. Nor did the embassy in Spain fare better. A deed of 
 violence, in which some of their own followers were impli- 
 cated, and which bore a singular resemblance to the assassi- 
 nation of Dorislaus at the Hague, complicated their mission 
 at Madrid. There one Ascham, the envoy of the Common- 
 wealth, was killed by some Eoyalist exiles. The murder 
 aroused no angry feeling amongst the Spanish populace, 
 whose sympathies were more hearty than those of their 
 rulers ; but a situation of great difficulty was thus created, 
 which all but extinguished any hopes that Hyde and Cotting- 
 ton might still cherish. Only the strict adherence to the 
 rights of ambassadors which prevailed in Spain saved them 
 from serious personal danger, but fortunately they found 
 themselves well supported by the strong feeling of the am- 
 bassadors from other States, who felt bound to insist upon 
 those rights. Even Don Lewis himself went so far as to 
 express his " envy of those gentlemen for having done so 
 noble an action." Doubtless he held other language to 
 the offended Commonwealth. 
 
 Meanwhile Cromwell took prompt steps to check even the 
 semblance of adherence to the Crown in Scotland. Assuming 
 personally the command in Scotland, he sent the bulk of 
 his forces there by sea. Illness prostrated him for six weeks ; 
 but as soon as he had recovered, he marched against the 
 Scottish army, and by out-manoeuvring, and inducing them 
 to quit an advantageous position, he inflicted on them a 
 decisive defeat at Dunbar.^ For the moment that defeat, 
 by crushing the pretensions of Argyle, seemed rather to 
 
 ' September, 1650. 
 
352 EXILE AND BEOKEN HOPES [chap, xn 
 
 improve the position of the King. But it had no such 
 aspect in Spain. There the news of the victory of Cromwell 
 seemed to dissipate the last hopes of the Royalist party. 
 Hyde and Cottington found the civilities of the Court 
 abated, and very direct hints were given them that their 
 stay should not be prolonged. They attempted to correct 
 the impression, but found that no credit was given to their 
 account, and the hints about their departure became more 
 urgent. In spite of the untoward season for travelling, 
 they were pressed to hasten their going, and Hyde suspected 
 that one reason for this haste was to conceal from them the 
 arrival of a shipload of pictures from King Charles's palaces 
 which had been sold by the orders of Parliament, and which 
 his former ally of Spain had not been ashamed to acquire, 
 probably at moderate price, Cottington's work was over, 
 and his only wish was to close his days in peace. Spain 
 offered him the best asylum, and for his residence in Spain, 
 reconciliation with the Roman Catholic Church, which had 
 always appealed to his not very earnest religious views, was 
 as convenient as it was pleasing to himself. That re- 
 conciliation was now effected, and the old statesman, with 
 the concurrence of the Spanish authorities, bade farewell 
 to his friend, and, quitting his ambassadorial functions, 
 retired to Valladolid. There he died a year later in his 
 seventy-seventh year. Hyde fully appreciated his ripe 
 wisdom, his rare command of temper, and the calm courage 
 with which he had pursued his way. Amongst his gifts 
 not the least was an abundant faculty of quiet humour. 
 
 " 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 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." 
 
1650] DISSENSIONS IN THE EXILED COUET 353 
 
 The portrait is coloured by no enthusiastic regard, but 
 it has all the living reality which Hyde knew so well how 
 to impart. 
 
 Hyde had failed in his mission, but he had earned per- 
 sonal friendship and respect. The gift bestowed on him, 
 according to the habit of the time, at his departure, was so 
 far below the usual scale that he was tempted to decline 
 it ; 1 but Cottington's wise advice and his own necessity 
 induced him to accept a supply which an empty purse made 
 welcome. He quitted Spain with a handsome introduction 
 to the authorities in Elanders, and was thereby enabled 
 to rejoin his family and live in comparative comfort at 
 Antwerp for a time. As he passed through France, he 
 found that there also, as in Spain, Cromwell's success at 
 Dunbar was believed to have extinguished the last hopes 
 of his master. It was no small injury to that cause that 
 the Prince of Orange, whose intervention on Charles's behalf 
 had often been efficacious, died in his prime, and left the 
 prospects of his yet unborn son at the mercy of the powerful 
 faction that disputed his rights, and for many years virtually 
 set them aside. Spain was as much elated as France was 
 depressed by an event which so powerfully affected their 
 rival interests. As Hyde passed through France, he found 
 also that there were new elements of dispeace in the house- 
 hold of the Queen. There were serious differences between 
 her and the Duke of York ; and an important section of 
 the Royalist party were bitterly estranged by the peremptory 
 prohibition of any Protestant service in the house of the 
 Queen. Hyde did what he could to compose these dis- 
 putes, and to impress the Queen with the impolicy of her 
 open preference of the Roman Catholics to those who formed 
 the real strength of the King's party in England. 
 
 ' It was an odd, and one would have thought not a very dignified, habit 
 which made an ambassador's emoluments depend largely on such gifts. 
 But Hyde speaks of it as a recognized custom. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 A 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Cromwell's protectorate 
 
 The time was now approaching when Charles was to make 
 a more resolute bid for the recovery of his power. There 
 was in Scotland a large body of Royalist adherents, upon 
 whom the brunt of the defeat at Dunbar had not fallen, 
 and who had no mind to follow the lead of Argyle. The 
 King gave the first sign of his recovered independence by 
 making his escape from Stirling, where he was under Argyle's 
 close observation, and betaking himself, for a short time, 
 to the fastnesses of the neighbouring Highlands. This 
 escapade — " The Start," as it was called — had little pru- 
 dence or design, but it served to show his resentment at his 
 subjection, and that resentment found an echo in the breasts 
 of his more faithful adherents. Argyle was obliged to lessen 
 his pretensions. Parliament was summoned in the King's 
 name, and preparations were made for his coronation at 
 Scone. Charles had spent the winter between Perth and 
 Stirling, where he strengthened his hold upon the people ; 
 and now Cromwell was making preparations at Edinburgh for 
 the coming campaign. By midsummer, in 1651, the two 
 armies — for Charles had now levied a very considerable 
 force — faced one another on the Highland borders. For a 
 time Charles might have withdrawn to the inaccessible 
 parts of the Highlands ; but this would have been an 
 admission of weakness, and a guerilla warfare there could 
 
1651] BATTLE OF WORCESTER 355 
 
 have had httle practical result. By successful mancEUvring 
 he was able to gain a march upon Cromwell, in advancing 
 upon England, where he hoped to gather adherents as he 
 progressed. His approach caused some trepidation to the 
 English Parliament, but they were reassured by Cromwell ; 
 " he would overtake the enemy before they should give 
 them any trouble." Monk was left in charge of Scotland, 
 and Cromwell, with full confidence in his own power, pre- 
 pared to follow the King. Once on the move, his advance 
 was rapid. The King did his best to sustain the spirits of 
 his army, but the outlook was far from bright. David 
 Lesley, his chief general, was depressed, and the King rallied 
 him in vain. " How could he be sad," he asked, " at the 
 head of so brave an army ? " " He was melancholy," 
 answered Lesley, " for he well knew that army, how well 
 so ever it looked, would not fight." In this spirit they 
 reached Worcester — as favourably situated as any spot in 
 England for the purpose of the King, and his army of twenty 
 thousand men might surely give a good account of themselves. 
 But depression still prevailed, and was deepened by messages 
 of disaster from outlying forces of his own adherents. The 
 Earl of Derby was defeated, and other valuable leaders were 
 lost. Dissensions prevailed amongst the King's own officers, 
 and Lesley made no secret of his increasing fears. They 
 had only a few days to wait for Cromwell's advance, and 
 the fatal iight of Worcester ' soon put an end to all hope 
 of martial resistance to the power of the Commonwealth. 
 The King's army was absolutely dispersed. The Duke of 
 Hamilton fell, and died a prisoner a few days later. The 
 chivalrous and high-spirited Earl of Derby had rejoined the 
 King and, after the battle, accompanied him to Boscobel. 
 He was intercepted on his return to the north, made prisoner, 
 and after a trial which was a mockery of justice, was executed 
 
 ' September, 1651. 
 
356 CROMWELL'S PROTECTORATE [chap, xiii 
 
 on October 5th.i The King himself escaped, only to wander, 
 a hunted fugitive, for months before he managed to make 
 his way across the Channel. He reached Rouen in November, 
 after a dire experience of hardships, amidst which his life 
 was almost miraculously saved by a devotion — in which his 
 Catholic subjects could claim no small share — paralleled only 
 by that shown to his grand-nephew, a century later, by the 
 loyal clansmen of the Highland glens. 
 
 Through all these tragic events, following in quick succes- 
 sion, Hyde had been but a distant and anxious onlooker. 
 During the latest weeks he had, with others, despaired of the 
 safety of the King. At last the message came that the King 
 had arrived in Paris, and commanded his attendance there. 
 A counter message also reached him from Mr. Long, the 
 King's secretary, prompted by the Queen, bidding him wait 
 for further orders. But Hyde was in no mood to be parted 
 from his master by any pettiness of Court intrigue. He 
 arrived in Paris at Christmas, and learned the machinations 
 of the Queen, who was shrewd enough to make the best of 
 the situation, and received him with outward graciousness. 
 When Hyde had determined on his line of duty, it required 
 strong agency to divert his purpose. At Paris he found 
 the Marquis of Ormonde, who, after Cromwell's complete 
 subjugation of Ireland, had managed to escape to Nor- 
 mandy. These two, who were now trusty friends, met 
 once more, and henceforward they pursued one whole- 
 hearted policy in their master's service, broken by no 
 
 ' James Stanley, seventh Earl of Derby, born in 1606, was one of the 
 many adherents of the King whose efforts on his behalf were stimulated by 
 no selfish motive. He had never been a courtier, and preferred the life of 
 a country gentleman (with the cultivation of literary tastes) to that which 
 prevailed at Court. When war broke out, he did good service in many 
 fights, and after all was lost in England, he held his " kingdom " of the 
 Isle of Man in defiance of the Parliament. His wife was the famous 
 Charlotte de TremouUle, daughter of the Due de Thouars. At Worcester 
 he was severely wounded ; but this did not prevent him from giving an 
 escort to the King in the first part of his wanderings. 
 
1651] HYDE REJOINS THE KING 357 
 
 suspicion of bad faith or even of divergent opinion. " The 
 King," Hyde tells us, " was abundantly satisfied in the 
 friendship they had for each other, and trusted them both 
 entirely ; nor was it in the power of any, though it was 
 often endeavoured by persons of no ordinary account, to 
 break or interrupt that natural confidence between them, 
 during the whole time the King remained beyond the seas." 
 Hyde acknowledged that, without the help of Ormonde, the 
 task that lay before him would have been beyond his 
 powers.^ 
 
 In the Court, besides the pressure of poverty, there was 
 trouble enough. The Duke of York was anxious to enter 
 upon the active business of soldiering, and was tired of 
 being kept inactive and in tutelage. Selfish and intriguing 
 confidants sought to strengthen their own influence by 
 urging him to take a position of independence. The Queen 
 and King were both perplexed, and hesitated at the risk. 
 Sir John Berkeley, for whom Hyde had no respect, and whose 
 inveterate love of sordid intrigue was yet to bring him more 
 trouble, was the chief of these advisers, and endeavoured 
 to make it appear to the Duke that Hyde was the great 
 opponent of the scheme. He Was also soliciting a place 
 on the Council for himself, with the post of Master of the 
 Wards, falsely alleging that he had the promise of the post 
 from the late King. For the Council he was not deemed 
 fit ; and to revive a now obsolete post in his favour was, 
 as Hyde perceived, an imminent danger to the Royal cause. 
 Charles had agreed to abandon the prerogative of wardship, 
 which was the object of hatred to the aristocracy on whom 
 his hopes depended. The ambitious intrigues of Berkeley 
 were frustrated. In spite of his importunity, Charles 
 " prevailed with himself, which he used not to do in such 
 
 1 In 1646, as we have seen, Hyde had not even met Ormonde. The 
 years of exile had quickly brought them into close relations. 
 
358 CEOMWBLL'S PROTECTOEATE [chap, xiii 
 
 cases, to give him a positive denial, and reprehension, at 
 once." ' Hyde had done a good service in strengthening 
 the King's resolution ; but it was at the cost of gaining an 
 inveterate and unscrupulous foe. 
 
 Not the least impediment in all the dreary time that was 
 to follow proceeded from the degrading and grinding poverty 
 of the Court. Very shame compelled the French Court to 
 make some provision for the necessities of their Royal guest, 
 the near kinsman of the French King, and at length an 
 allowance of six thousand pistoles was doled out to him. 
 But it was already heavily forestalled to the Queen, and 
 she abated none of her claims. The King himself often knew 
 not how to raise twenty pistoles. His most trusted advisers 
 were unpaid, and forced to irksome straits. Ormonde and 
 Hyde lodged obscurely, and for board and lodging paid a 
 pistole a week each. They were compelled to trudge about 
 the streets afoot, contrary to the custom usual amongst 
 the gentlemen of France. Meanwhile Jermyn, selfish as 
 usual, abated nothing of his usual luxury, kept an expensive 
 table, and drove his carriage with the best. The Queen 
 cared more for her favourite's ease than for the dignity of 
 her son. 
 
 Hyde suffered his own privations bravely, and confined 
 himself to waiting quietly the issue of affairs. During the next 
 few years his part in pohtics was an obscure one. The 
 events beyond the seas in England passed before him like 
 figures on a stage, which he could not directly influence. 
 He was anxious only that no rash attempt should be made, 
 and that the policy of non-intervention, which he was 
 convinced was the wisest, should not be broken. He had 
 constant correspondents in England, but was obliged to 
 guide his course without that immediate contact with the 
 changing conditions of his country which was urgently 
 
 ' Rebellion, xiii. 126. 
 
1652] OVEETURES FROM THE HIGHLANDS 359 
 
 necessary, and the loss of which told heavily, both now and 
 later, to the detriment of his influence. So far as Hyde's 
 biography is concerned, these years were, to all appearance, 
 a time of inaction ; and we can pass them only briefly in 
 review, eventful and fateful as they were in the history of 
 England. 
 
 The usual difficulties of mutual jealousies were still in 
 full force about the Court. The Queen and Jermyn were 
 as anxious as ever to cultivate alhances that would have 
 been distasteful to the Royalists of England. The Queen, 
 as fervid Catholic, and Jermyn, as having no care for religion 
 at all, were both eager that Charles should conciliate the 
 Nonconformists by attending the Presbyterian rites in the 
 church at Charenton. To this Hyde was vehemently 
 opposed, and he succeeded in bringing Charles to his views. 
 It was strange that at this very time overtures came from 
 the Highlands of Scotland, urging once more the prevalence 
 in their country of Royalist views, and suggesting new 
 attempts in that direction. But they did so under conditions ; 
 and the foremost of these was that any negotiations should 
 be conducted through Hyde, as ChanceUor of the Exchequer, 
 and should not be communicated to the Queen or Jermyn. 
 The concessions which these last were anxious to see 
 extended to the Presbyterians, evidently proved httle to 
 the liking of the Scottish Royalists, whom they fancied that 
 they would conciHate. The King urged upon Hyde the 
 charge of fostering this forlorn hope from Scotland, to 
 which he was strongly averse. He foresaw, what proved 
 to be the case, that the Queen would soon learn the facts, 
 and that her jealousy would be redoubled by her own 
 exclusion from these counsels. His own view was that the 
 Royal cause would best be helped by resting quietly, and 
 waiting for events to ripen ; but at the urgent request of the 
 King he was compelled to undertake the irksome task. No 
 
360 CROMWELL'S PROTECTORATE [chap, xm 
 
 good results came of it. It only showed how early the Stuart 
 cause had won the loyal, although now ineffectual, support 
 of the Highlands. 
 
 The dissensions at the Court of France, and the fierce 
 contentions between the Cardinal and Prince Conde, made 
 the position of Charles and his mother still more precarious. 
 So dangerous did it seem that, with the assent of both the 
 contending factions in France, the English Court moved 
 from Paris to St. Germains. But no hazards and no difii- 
 culties rendered the little cliques in that Court less hostile 
 to one another, or lessened the fierce pursuit of places and 
 honours which were, in reality, but empty names. No King 
 in the plenitude of authority was more worried than was 
 Charles by the shameless competitors for the phantom 
 honours of titular place and precedence which were all he 
 had to dispense. At some future day these might mean 
 something. Meanwhile the weakness of the Crown was an 
 encouragement to unabashed solicitation, and the fact that 
 what the King could give was so little worth, served as an 
 excuse for importunity in its pursuit. 
 
 A new and a possibly promising turn seemed to be given 
 to affairs in the increasing jealousy between the Common- 
 wealth and the States of Holland. The passing of the 
 Navigation Act, which prohibited the entry into the ports 
 of England of any merchandise on other than English 
 merchant ships, except such as came from the country to 
 which the ships belonged, struck a dire blow at the carrying 
 trade of Holland. That trade consisted of merchandise from 
 all parts of the globe, only a very small portion of which 
 came from Holland itself. A protest from the Dutch was 
 received with haughty disdain ; and by the spring of 1652, 
 the two nations had drifted into war, and Van Tromp and 
 Blake were trying conclusions in the Channel, and sinking one 
 another's ships, while envoys vainly attempted to patch up 
 
1652] ENGLAND AT WAR WITH HOLLAND 361 
 
 some arrangement. Merchant convoys were captured, com- 
 merce was broken, and Blake pursued the Dutchmen's fishing 
 vessels even to the Orkneys, and convoyed them into 
 English ports. 
 
 This quarrel of the Commonwealth with Holland seemed 
 to offer a possible chance for the exiled Royalists. Charles 
 and his advisers still trusted to some friendliness for their 
 cause amongst the fleet, where the crews were a people by 
 themselves, and were by no means enamoured of their new 
 masters. The Dutch ambassador at Paris, Borzel, was 
 on good terms with Hyde, and constantly interchanged 
 views with him. In consultation with Ormonde and Hyde, 
 the King conceived the idea of securing the alliance of the 
 Dutch, by offering to withdraw from the English fleet all 
 whose Royalist sympathies might induce them to desert 
 upon the summons of the King. Charles was ready to sail 
 on the Dutch fleet without command of any ships except 
 those which might repair to him from Blake's contingent. 
 This offer was duly communicated to the States. Some were 
 ready to accept it, and looked upon it with sanguine hopes, 
 as a means of crushing the insolence of the Enghsh Common- 
 wealth. But De Witt had no mind to commit his country 
 to such doubtful alliance. He made more cautious counsels 
 prevail, and a civil but non-committal answer was sent to 
 a proposal from which neither Charles nor the Dutch were 
 likely to be gainers. The superior power of the English 
 fleet was too evident to make resistance possible ; and after 
 some further disasters, the Dutch were ready to make 
 overtures for peace which Cromwell's own necessities made 
 him not unwilling to receive. He had nothing to fear from 
 foreign foes, who vied with one another in seeking for his 
 friendship. By the easy seizure of Guernsey and Jersey 
 he was complete master of the whole Enghsh kingdom. 
 Ireland and Scotland were held firmly in his grasp. The 
 
362 CROMWELL'S PROTECTORATE [chap, xiii 
 
 plantations in the West Indies readily accepted his authority. 
 His bitterest and most irreconcilable foes were those at home, 
 and to them he had now to turn his attention. 
 
 They were no longer confined to any one section of the 
 nation. However concealed the aims and workings of the 
 Royahsts were, Cromwell knew well enough that under their 
 influence a large proportion of the nation viewed him with 
 bitter and unrelenting hatred, which waited only for a 
 fitting opportunity to show itself. Other enemies were 
 more avowed. The Presbyterian influence in Parliament 
 was outspoken in its opposition, and endeavoured to thwart 
 him at every turn. Worse still, the Independents, including 
 Vane himself, were now jealous of his power, and were 
 willing to join even their old foes the Presbyterians, in de- 
 nouncing his tyranny, and showing defiance to his authority. 
 In the army alone he could always reckon upon well- 
 organized support, which could quickly silence any overt 
 opposition. A shower of petitions might easily be poured, 
 at any convenient moment, upon Parliament, in which the 
 soldiers could state in language of very thinly-veiled 
 threat, the neglect with which the factions at West- 
 minster had treated their labours and sufferings in the 
 cause. At length his patience was exhausted, or the time for 
 action seemed ripe. On April 2nd, 1653, Cromwell appeared 
 in the House, with some officers who were also members, and 
 announced plainly that he had come to put an end to their 
 authority. They would do weU to submit quietly, and, to 
 show how any resistance would be met, a file of musketeers 
 presently entered the House, and waited until the members 
 left. The mace was removed, the doors locked, and by a 
 single bold act the Parliament that had crushed the liberties 
 of England during thirteen years was dispersed. Cromwell 
 determined that if there was to be any semblance of Parlia- 
 ment, it must be of a kind that could possess little authority 
 
1653] THE BAEEBONE'S PAELIAMENT 363 
 
 or respect. Election would give it too much weight, and 
 accordingly he nominated 140 persons, few of whom had 
 any position of authority or any weight of character. This 
 strange gathering, which for a brief moment masqueraded 
 as the Parliament of England, was known, from the name 
 of Praise-God Barebone (a Fleet Street leather- dealer, 
 who was a notable member of the little group of fanatic 
 preachers), as the "Barebone's Parliament," met on July 4th, 
 1653. They were to deliberate on the affairs of the nation — 
 always subject to the control of Cromwell — until November 
 3rd, 1654 ; but three months before that date, they were to 
 nominate an equal number of men who were to take their 
 places, and were to wield the same powers for another year. 
 Cromwell had purposely made them weak and helpless in 
 his hands. But tyranny like his often overshoots the mark, 
 and it did so notably here. His Barebone's Parliament 
 was intended to be weak, but he can hardly have meant it to be 
 imbecile. For five months they were allowed to vapour over 
 a wide range of subjects with about as much inteUigence 
 as a crowd of Covent Garden porters. Then the signal was 
 given, On December 12th, 1653, one of the motley company 
 rose to propose that as they were clearly unequal to the task 
 laid upon them, they ought to surrender their authority into 
 the hands from which they had received it. Had they 
 lasted longer, they might have transmitted some of the 
 ridicule into which they had fallen to him who had created 
 them. As it was, they served him only as a new stepping- 
 stone to power. Their surrender of an authority which was 
 never meant to be real, left Cromwell and his Council the 
 only alternative to anarchy. The Instrument of Govern- 
 ment was now issued by the sole authority of the Council, 
 and by it Cromwell was constituted as Lord Protector. He 
 was to have a Council of twenty-one persons, and once 
 every three years he was to summon a Parliament, the date 
 
364 CEOMWELL'S PEOTECTORATB [chap, xiii 
 
 of its first assembling beiog fixed for September, 1654. In 
 the intervals of Parliament, the Lord Protector and hia 
 Council were to have legislative as well as executive power. 
 A more than royal prerogative was thus conferred upon 
 him ; and with something of royal state the ceremony of 
 installation was carried out. The sword of state was borne 
 before him, heralds proclaimed his titles and authority. In 
 the city he was received with all the solemn formality of 
 a sovereign, and as the fountain of honour, he conferred a 
 knighthood upon the Lord Mayor. As if to signahze his 
 triumphant accession, the struggle with the naval power of 
 the Dutch came to a conclusion, after more than one des- 
 perate engagement, with the death of Van Tromp, the greatest 
 naval commander of the day. The death of their commander 
 as well as their heavy losses compelled the Dutch to accept 
 any terms of peace. In April, 1654, Cromwell was able to 
 dictate conditions at his will. Besides important surrenders 
 of territory in the East Indies, the Dutch were compelled 
 to bind themselves to give refuge on their soil to no Royalist 
 adherent. Triumphant abroad as well as at home, he could 
 now turn to the task of taking vengeance upon those who 
 were detected in any scheme for giving effect to the con- 
 cealed but sleepless hatred of the RoyaUsts who stUl re- 
 mained on English soil. New and summary tribunals 
 were erected, and new victims were speedily claimed by the 
 scaffold. Cromwell could dictate terms to Holland as well 
 as to Portugal. He could spread terror amongst the Royalists, 
 and could silence Independent as well as Presbyterian. He 
 could not check the slow but certain growth of the ingrained 
 hatred of his rule which was spreading amongst every class 
 in the nation. Even the Levellers in the army, who had 
 helped him to reduce the Parliament, were now grumbling 
 in no uncertain tones against his overweening tyranny. 
 The autumn of 1654 had been fixed by the Instrument 
 
1654] THE INSTEUMENT OF GOVEENMENT 365 
 
 of Government as the date for the first Parliament. It was 
 not to be nominated Hke the Barebone's Parhament, but a 
 semblance of free election was to be given ; and by a bold 
 step towards ParhamentSry reform — to which even Hyde 
 finds himself obliged to give a tribute of praise — there was 
 to be a redistribution of seats which equalized representation; 
 by increasing the number of knights elected for each shire, 
 and reducing the number of burgesses for many of the more 
 obscure and petty boroughs. They met on September 3rd, 
 and had the usual type of address from the Lord Protector, 
 " full of texts," but indicating clearly enough the line of 
 action which he intended that they should pursue. Their 
 choice of Speaker — Lenthall, who had occupied the chair 
 in the Long Parliament — had something ominous about it. 
 
 The turn of debate soon showed the underlying discontent. 
 They began to discuss the authority which had convened them, 
 and the whole basis of the Government was assailed. It was 
 in vain that Cromwell summoned them to the Painted 
 Chamber, where he told them, in express terms, what were 
 the fundamental principles about which he would suffer 
 no dispute. There must be a single ruler ; that single ruler 
 would give a certain partnership of power to a Parliament ; 
 between these two the military power should be shared. 
 In religion there must be liberty of conscience. These were 
 fundamentals, and the Protector lectured his indocile Com- 
 mons, as if they were a crowd of unruly children, on the 
 error of their ways. To mend matters, a guard was set 
 upon the doors, and no one was suffered to enter who did 
 not swear to support the frame of the Government as now 
 arranged. Cromwell's methods of dealing with the recal- 
 citrant assembly were drastic to the point of comedy. But 
 it was of no avail. Like a set of raw recruits, they were 
 too stubborn to obey, but too stupid to mutiny. Their 
 ineffectual discussions dragged on. Five months was the 
 
366 CROMWELL'S PROTECTORATE [chap, xiii 
 
 period for which, according to the Instrument of Govern- 
 ment, a Parhament was to last. As soon as the bare five 
 lunar months had passed, on January 22nd, 165|, Cromwell 
 " let them know he could do the business without them." 
 He dismissed them back to their constituencies — to be new 
 seed-plots of discontent throughout the land. 
 
 There were two former adherents who had lately become 
 pronounced opponents, of whom Cromwell was now obhged 
 to take notice. These were Major John Wildman and John 
 Lilburne. Both were men who perhaps represented in- 
 fluences more potent amongst the masses of their country- 
 men, than other men whose names are written more largely 
 on the page of history. Wildman had found a congenial 
 sphere for his restless and turbulent ability in the outbreak 
 of civil hostilities. He was a graduate of Cambridge, and 
 already recognized for " his pregnant wit." Others were 
 inspired by the religious or political fanaticism of the day, 
 and acquired their strength from acting as soldiers in the 
 ranks of a great party. Wildman was one of those whom 
 revolution is apt to bring to the surface — a soldier of adven- 
 ture whose cue it was to make his own fortune in the fray. 
 With shrewd discernment, he had seen in Cromwell, still but 
 a captain in the army of the Parliament, one whom it 
 would be profitable to serve, and he had attached himself 
 closely to him. By his ready wit, his quick and facile pen, 
 his marvellous power of discerning motives, and of learning 
 the methods of directing the currents of popular enthusiasm, 
 Wildman made himself an invaluable servant to Cromwell. 
 He knew, as few others did, how to exasperate Parliament 
 and balance one faction against another, and how to turn 
 their disputes to the purposes of his leader. He quitted the 
 army, without loss of his influence there, and became a 
 well-recognized intermediary in all Parliamentary affairs. 
 One of the secrets of his influence was that he never 
 
1655] WILDMAN AND LILBUENE 367 
 
 sought to proclaim it to the pubUc. It was felt rather 
 than seen. 
 
 As Cromwell's designs became more plain, and as the 
 smouldering discontent showed itself in ominous signs, 
 Wildman's attitude changed. His power of intrigue was 
 exercised in a new direction, and Cromwell learned through 
 his spies the dangerous operation of Wildman's infectious 
 discontent, and the ramifications of his plots. But he 
 recognized how hazardous it was to strike a blow at random 
 against one who knew so many of his own secrets, and had 
 helped in so many of his earlier designs. Even when Wild- 
 man was actually arrested, with ample evidence of his 
 intrigues around him, and in possession of incriminatory 
 papers containing bitter denunciations of the Protector — 
 even then, Cromwell did not venture to come to conclusions 
 with a foe of so much resource. Wildman was imprisoned, 
 and the preparations for a prosecution were instituted. 
 But either prosecution would have revealed too much, 
 or it was hoped that Wildman's powers would once 
 more be enlisted in Cromwell's service. He was set at 
 liberty, and again resorted, with marked success, to his old 
 life of intrigue. To know more of his mysterious operations 
 would teach us much of the actual state of opinion at the 
 time. We can recognize in him only a stormy petrel of 
 politics, whose ambition was not place or outward power, 
 but to hang upon the skirts of the tempest, and to breathe 
 its bracing atmosphere. 
 
 The other, of a different character, and less nimble in- 
 tellect, who also caused the Protector trouble at this time, 
 was John Lilburne. He had been one of the wildest en- 
 thusiasts amongst the agitators of the army, and was idolized 
 by the keener fanatics in its ranks. In 1643 he had been 
 made prisoner at Brentford, and was saved from summary 
 execution only by the threat, on the part of the Parliament, 
 
368 CKOMWELL'S PKOTECTORATE [chap, xiii 
 
 of stern reprisals on their Royalist prisoners. While his 
 fate was undecided, he managed to escape, and again became 
 one of the most notable of the fiery spirits in the army. 
 Cromwell used his influence in all his contests with the 
 Parliament, and found in him one of those who could 
 secure the firm allegiance of the army. He defended 
 his henchman against the Parliament, who were incensed 
 at his outspoken attacks, and he checked severely any 
 censures with which they endeavoured to assail Lilburne. 
 But the power that he had thus cherished soon 
 became uncomfortably intractable. Lilburne's enthusiasm 
 would not bend to the necessities of political intrigue ; 
 and when Cromwell's tyrannical designs became more 
 clear, they found no bolder denouncer than the former 
 tool of Cromwell in his attacks upon the Parliament. His 
 taunts against the Protector's falsehood and hypocrisy 
 became too outspoken to be passed over with the contemp- 
 tuous negligence that Cromwell would willingly have shown. 
 His Council pronounced Lilburne guilty of high treason, 
 and even against his will, Cromwell was forced to bring the 
 charges to the issue of a trial. Had the matter been less 
 notorious, means could easily have been found to crush 
 in secret so troublesome a foe ; but secret methods were 
 impossible in such a case. The army would not suffer 
 their champion to suffer in silence, or by the quiet action 
 of arbitrary power. The arm of the law must be invoked, 
 and it must be allowed to operate on stricter rules than were 
 required in the case of any Royalist plot. In the proceedings, 
 Lilburne showed that boldness which the consciousness of 
 the support of the army gave him. He browbeat judge and 
 counsel, and stubbornly refused to palliate his attacks upon 
 the Protector. Against a usurper, he alleged, no act of 
 high treason could be committed. He had declared only 
 what all men knew to be true ; he was the assertor of their 
 
1654] TEOUBLES OP THE KING 369 
 
 liberties, and could easily have served his own interests 
 by preserving his old friendship for the tyrant. It was 
 because he refused to do so that he was now arraigned. 
 It was to no purpose that the judge urged that the charge 
 of high treason was fully proved. Lilbume was trium- 
 phantly absolved by the jury, and Cromwell's critical posi- 
 tion disabled him from showing resentment at their action. 
 By one whom he had regarded as a useful tool he had suffered 
 a repulse that was worse than a defeat in the field. He had 
 learned the temper of the nation in a way about which 
 mistake was impossible. He could only keep Lilbume in 
 prison in defiance of the law ; no sterner action was possible 
 without evoking a storm which even Cromwell would have 
 been powerless to resist. It was an incident Uke this 
 which gave to a distant observer like Hyde that trust 
 in the slow ripening of the nation's indignation which 
 supplied his only hope. In all other aspects the power of 
 the usurper seemed to gain in security both at home and 
 abroad. 
 
 The time arrived in June, 1654, when the King's con- 
 tinued residence in France, long irksome, finally became 
 impossible. A treaty between Cromwell and the French 
 Crown was all but arranged. Spain and Flanders, as well 
 as Holland, were already closed against the King. Ready 
 as he was to seek some other abode, it was difficult to say 
 where it was to be found. It would have been madness 
 now to attempt a landing on any part of British territory. 
 Middleton and some other Scottish adherents were true to 
 their loyalty ; but they recognized that quiescence was 
 their wisest policy for the present. Enthusiastic attempts, 
 like that of young Wogan, who marched safely with a 
 small band through England to join Middleton in Scotland, 
 and found his grave there, proved, indeed, that Charles 
 had passionate supporters, who would brave any danger 
 VOL. I. 2 b 
 
370 CKOMWELL'S PEOTECTORATE [chap, xiii 
 
 in his cause, and that they had secret sympathizers at 
 home ; but such attempts led only to a waste of noble 
 lives, and were not to be encouraged. Yet something 
 must be found as an alternative to the wretched life 
 at St. Germains. No one amongst the small band of the 
 King's counsellors found the life in France more irksome 
 than did Hyde. Ormonde shared all his views and 
 counsels ; but Ormonde's position was too secure to make 
 him the avowed object of the petty cabals of the Court. 
 It was upon Hyde that all their venom was directed. He 
 was blamed when this or that scheme for a Catholic alliance, 
 or some hare-brained plan of matrimonial connection for 
 the King, was discouraged and laid aside. So thoroughly 
 had the Queen become imbued with suspicions against 
 him, that she openly avoided any intercourse, and compelled 
 Hyde, in self-respect, to refrain from ever showing himself 
 in her presence. To her intimates, she made no secret of 
 her wish to separate him from the King ; and Hyde would 
 readily have fulfilled her wish, had not his sense of duty 
 forced him to remain amid the sordid cabals and vexatious 
 jealousies which encompassed him. 
 
 A community of hatred makes strange bed-fellows ; and 
 even in his annoyance Hyde found his sense of humour 
 stirred by an odd combination amongst his foes. The 
 remnants of the Presbyterian party at the Court resolved 
 to petition the King against the wicked opposition of the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, who frowned upon their hopes 
 of still stirring up a party for the King in Scotland. At the 
 same time the Roman Catholic party, headed by the Queen, 
 conceived that the only chance for Charles was reliance on 
 their aid, which would serve to restore him were it not for 
 the machinations of Hyde. Both parties combined their 
 forces and resolved together to send memorials to the King, 
 which they busied themselves in concocting. A faithless 
 
1654] INTEIGUES AGAINST HYDE 371 
 
 ally betrayed their purpose to Charles, who dealt with it 
 in that happy spirit of banter which never forsook him, 
 and perhaps helped to ease an intolerable situation. At 
 the Queen's dinner-table, he asked " When the petitions 
 against the Chancellor were to be presented ? " and the jest 
 happily frustrated the ridiculous scheme. But it left the 
 Queen none the less exasperated, and she had the sympathy 
 of the Queen-Mother of France, who naturally detested any 
 influence that interposed itself between a mother and a royal 
 son. Again Charles managed to turn the quarrel to ridicule. 
 He took Ormonde and Hyde to a masque at Court, and 
 seated them next to the royal party. The Queen-Mother, 
 who did not know Hyde by sight, asked, " Who was the fat 
 man sitting next Lord Ormonde ? " " That is the naughty 
 man," said Charles, " who causes all the mischief, and sets 
 me against my mother." Hyde was reduced to blushes ; 
 but the embarrassment of the Queen was not less than his 
 own. Explanations followed, and the jest once more eased 
 the situation for the time. But the intrigues soon broke 
 out again. 
 
 This time the source of trouble was that Mr. Eobert 
 Long, who turns up occasionally during these years, as 
 one of those who by assiduous self-seeking obtained a 
 transient influence of the intriguing kind. He had before 
 been a creature of the Queen and Jermyn, and as their tool 
 and emissary was in bad odour with the more serious adherents 
 of the King. But he had for some reason fallen into the 
 ill-graces of the Queen, and in a sort of petty revenge, had 
 allowed his tongue to run too freely on the disputes between 
 the King and his mother. At her instigation he had been 
 removed from the Council and from the office of secretary, 
 which he had somehow managed to secure — the duties of 
 the ofiQce being imposed on Hyde, as Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer. Peace was now patched up between Long and 
 
372 CROMWELL'S PEOTECTORATE [chap, xiii 
 
 the faction of the Queen, and at their instigation he peti- 
 tioned to be restored to his office. The King was in no mood 
 to yield to such caprices, and rejected the petition. Another 
 ground of accusation was next laid at the Chancellor's door. 
 A plot was arranged, to suborn some worthless evidence 
 for a ridiculous story of Hyde's having visited England 
 after his return from Spain, and having been in personal 
 communication with Cromwell. Herbert, now Keeper of 
 the Seal, showed his usual malignity in giving some credence 
 to this absurd concoction. It was finally crushed only 
 when it was denounced in no measured terms by the King 
 as a false and wicked charge, which discredited all concerned 
 in it. Herbert's spleen was only the more excited by the 
 exposure of such petty gossip, and he attempted to renew the 
 attack upon Hyde, by repeating stories which had reached 
 him of aspersions cast upon the King by the Chancellor. 
 Hyde asked only to be brought face to face with his 
 slanderer ; and on inquiry it turned out that Lord Gerard 
 had been the authority for the childish story. With all 
 gravity Gerard told the Council how upon one occasion when 
 he and Hyde were driving in company, Hyde had — 
 apparently after Gerard had led the way — spoken in no 
 guarded terms of the King's inattention to business. Hyde 
 confessed that — although he had no recollection of the 
 incident — it may very well have been true, and certainly 
 expressed his feelings. Lord Gerard and he, however, 
 were in no such friendly terms that he was likely to have 
 made him his confidant. With singular tactlessness Herbert 
 still urged the seriousness of the charge, until the King 
 himself silenced him, and said " that he did really believe 
 the Chancellor had used these very words, because he had 
 often said that and much more to himself, which he had 
 never taken ill." He declared that " he was very well 
 satisfied in the Chancellor's affection, and took nptbing ill 
 
1664] HYDE AND THE QUEEN 373 
 
 that he had said." That declaration closed the silly in- 
 cident ; but it serves as a mirror of the petty mahgnity that 
 prevailed in that sordid circle. 
 
 It was little wonder that the King and all those of his 
 adherents who did not enjoy the atmosphere of intrigue 
 were eager to get away from these degrading bickerings. The 
 only question was how the necessary means of discharging 
 debts and meeting the expenses of a journey were to be ob- 
 tained. As soon as that could be managed, Charles resolved 
 to join his sister, the Princess of Orange, at Spa. Fortunately 
 the Cardinal was as anxious to speed his unwilling guests as 
 they were to go. He drove a hard bargain for the purchase of 
 some cannon and equipment which was all that remained from 
 Prince Rupert's fleet, now back in port after a privateering 
 voyage. To that he added some grudging gifts from the Court 
 of France, and with this supply, and £3000 sent him by loyal 
 adherents in England, who were anxious to see their King 
 free from the humiUating abode in France, Charles was 
 enabled to shake off an irksome hospitality. Jermyn, of 
 course, stayed with the Queen, and the Lord Keeper Herbert 
 was told that his personal attendance was not required by 
 the King. Charles, for some years, found a refuge, pleasant 
 at least in contrast, in the independent German States. 
 
 Before he left Paris with his master, Hyde had a last 
 interview with the Queen. Charles desured that the long 
 estrangemenfc should be ended, and hoped some good effect 
 from the interview. Henrietta upbraided Hyde with his 
 neglect of her iuterest and authority, with his avoidance of 
 her presence, and with such lack of respect as only her 
 regard for the King prevailed with her to endure. Hyde 
 easily explained his not resorting to her presence, as caused 
 by her own studied neglect. The last thing he could ever 
 feel was disrespect for the wife of his dead master ; but he 
 desired only to learn how he had given offence. The pride 
 
374 CEOMWELL'S PROTECTOEATE [chap, xiii 
 
 of the Queen was too sorely touched to suffer her to make 
 amends. " She would be glad to see reason to change her 
 opinion," she said ; and a curt dismissal forced Hyde to 
 leave her with the breach unhealed. In June, 1654, the 
 King, with Hyde and Ormonde, quitted Paris. When he 
 reached Spa, Wilmot (now Earl of Eochester) joined him 
 from his mission to the German Diet, where he had gone to 
 raise some money for the King. He had met with some 
 success, and a sum of £10,000 — impaired by the costs of the 
 mission, and the vain projects into which the Earl's ambition 
 pushed him — came to the coffers of the King from this 
 source. The sum was small, but Charles was persuaded 
 to curtail his own expenditure to narrow limits, and the 
 cost of his household, Hyde tells us, did not now exceed six 
 hundred pistoles a month. An outbreak of smallpox at 
 Spa compelled him to move to Aix, where he was received 
 with all civility ; and there he was joined by Hyde's faithful 
 friend " the good old secretary Nicholas." Charles had 
 abler counsellors, but no more sterling friend, than this 
 veteran, who had served his father long and well. 
 
 The years that follow present a strange picture of mingled 
 hope and despair ; of unremitting watchfulness on the 
 part of Hyde, who, by correspondence and conference, did 
 his best to estimate the changing phases of public opinion 
 in England, and alternately kept alive the loyalty and 
 checked the rashness of the Eoyalist party there. Discontent 
 was rife enough in England, and it was only natural that it, 
 and the hopes derived from it, should be exaggerated in the 
 telling. Charles had a happy humour that beguiled the 
 dreariness of exile. His reception at different places of 
 abode was cordial enough. Hyde gives us no lurid picture 
 of the adventures of these years, and if his sterner sense 
 of rectitude was shocked by some scandalous episodes 
 in the King's life, he had enough knowledge of the world 
 
1654] MOVEMENTS OF THE EXILED COURT 375 
 
 not to dwell upon such incidents. In practice, as well as 
 in the pages of his history, he did his best to draw a veil 
 over all that detracted from that dignity to which his master 
 gave but little heed. In after days he was forced to be 
 more outspoken. 
 
 Prom Aix the Court moved to Cologne, where a reception 
 no less cordial was given them by the citizens of the town. 
 Even the zeal of the Roman Catholic clergy, which banished 
 all Protestants from the city, did not prevent them from 
 receiving the King with ready hospitality, and tolerating 
 the exercise of Anglican worship in their midst. Nowhere 
 did he find kinder treatment, or surroundings better suited 
 to his taste ; and Hyde, while conceaUng the less edifying 
 particulars of the royal conduct, is glad to record that Charles 
 gave some hours each day to retirement and the study of 
 Italian and French. The King's hfe at this time was simple 
 enough, and the scanty resources which he was able to beg 
 from the German princes did not permit him even to indulge 
 in the luxury of a coach. At no period does Charles seem 
 to have been more amenable to wise guidance, and to have 
 shown more judgment in his political action. He managed 
 to maintain the loyalty of his English friends, while de- 
 precating any rash or iU-timed attempts, and he checked, 
 with much firmness, the efforts of the Queen to convert his 
 youngest brother, the Duke of Gloucester, to Roman Catho- 
 licism. Under the influence of Montague, who managed to 
 ingratiate himself with her by his new zeal as a convert 
 to her faith, the young Duke had been sent to the Abbey 
 of Pontoise,^ where his religious principles were to be per- 
 verted. The attempt was happily foiled, and Charles 
 exerted his authority by sending Ormonde to France, with 
 peremptory orders to bring his brother to Cologne. In spite 
 of all the irritation shown by the Queen, who swore that 
 ' Of which Montague was Abbot. 
 
376 CEOMWELL'S PEOTECTOEATE [chap, xiii 
 
 she would not concern herself with the Duke further, nor 
 see him any more, the mission was successfully accompHshed. 
 About the same time there was a change in the circum- 
 stances of Hyde's family which was destined to have eventful 
 consequences. The Princess of Orange had been attracted 
 by Anne Hyde, his daughter, and proposed to make her 
 one of her maids of honour. Hyde at first strongly opposed 
 the proposal. He did not wish to separate his daughter 
 from her mother, and was averse to the new surroundings 
 amidst which she would be placed. Such a destiny had no 
 charm in his eyes, and he foresaw only too clearly that her 
 selection would give new grounds for the jealousy of the 
 Queen. But the Princess was firm in her purpose, and had 
 no mind to be governed by the Queen in the ordering of her 
 household. Charles also strongly supported the design, 
 and Hyde's only hope of averting it lay in what he thought 
 would be the certain objection of his wife. But the Princess 
 thought she could manage that part of the business, and it 
 was found that Lady Hyde entertained none of the objections, 
 as she was doubtless unable to estimate the dangers, foreseen 
 by her husband. Anne Hyde became attached to the 
 Princess's household, and was now one of the Court circle. 
 With whatever misgivings, Hyde was obliged to submit to 
 an arrangement which was pressed so strongly by those 
 whose wishes he could not oppose.' 
 
 But the quiet of Cologne was soon disturbed by rumours 
 of new attempts in England. The evidence of widespread 
 discontent in England stimulated the hopes of the Eoyalists, 
 and made them fancy that the Government was less securely 
 settled than it was. Secret murmurings, spreading from 
 mouth to mouth, gave a semblance of unanimity amongst 
 the opponents of Cromwell which did not really exist. To 
 
 ' For Anne Hyde's letter to her father at this time (October 19, 1654), 
 see Cal. oj Clarendon Papers at Bodleian, ii. 401. 
 
1655] ROYALIST ATTEMPTS 377 
 
 have united together all the scattered elements of resistance, 
 and to have brought them to act in combination, would 
 have required resources in men and money far beyond the 
 power of the Eoyalist party. Emissaries came and went 
 between England and the King with apparent ease. Their 
 movements seemed to baffle the Government, and the dis- 
 contented found themselves emboldened by the apathy of 
 those in authority, and were persuaded to exaggerate their 
 own power by the ineffective measures which seemed to be 
 taken to expose or thwart their designs. But Cromwell's 
 spies were in reality far more active than they knew. Nothing 
 could be better calculated to justify stern measures than to 
 allow plots to grow until they ran into the hazard of some 
 rash attempt. Rochester's Ul-governed ambition, and his 
 hopes of making himself the potent instrument in an over- 
 throw of the Government, led him to make a dangerous 
 expedition, in disguise, to England. He mingled freely with 
 the malcontents ; came to be unduly sanguine as to their 
 numbers and strength, and fancied that the deep-rooted 
 hatred of Cromwell's rule of which he heard on all sides, would 
 supply the deficiency of organization and concerted plans. 
 Reckless attempts were made in various places — not perhaps 
 without the knowledge and the secret connivance of the 
 Government. Many of those who shared the plots were 
 themselves in communication with the Government, and acted 
 as provocative agents in mad schemes which would only 
 expose those involved in them, and subject them to the 
 vengeance of the law.' 
 
 ' On October Slst, 1655, Cromwell issued a Declaration threatening 
 severe retaliatory measures against Royalists, including a proposal to 
 " decimate " them, or, in other words, fine them in one-tenth part of their 
 remaining property. To counteract this, Hyde composed and caused to 
 be published in England what purported to be " A Letter from a true and 
 faithful member of Parliament, and one faithfully engaged with it from 
 the beginning of the war to the end, to one of the Lords of His Highness's 
 Council," in which, in that assumed character, he deprecated such measures. 
 He refers to this in his Life, i. 308, and states that the work was done by 
 
378 CROMWELL'S PEOTECTORATE [chap, xiii 
 
 Eor the moment Royalist hopes ran high. Charles 
 was persuaded to move secretly to Flushing, and there 
 to expect the summons to land in England, where a 
 series of successful risings were to pave the way for his 
 reception. Hyde passed to Breda, where his family were 
 staying in a house provided by the Princess of Orange, 
 and where he would be able speedily to obey the orders 
 of the King. But the wild schemes came to nothing. 
 Momentary successes were quickly extinguished. The 
 King's devoted adherents, who had risked all for his cause, 
 became the victims of justifiable vengeance. Rochester's 
 usual luck enabled him, after many hazards, to return in 
 safety to the Eang. Once more the Court repaired, under 
 the burden of added disaster, to the safe retreat of Cologne. 
 Cromwell had ample justification for new ruthlessness of 
 severity in the maintenance of his rule. England was 
 parcelled out under the severe arm of military authority, 
 and twelve major-generals, responsible to the Protector 
 alone, were entrusted with the administration of the various 
 provinces. The Royalists were still further mulcted by 
 a levy of one-tenth upon the whole of such property as was 
 still left them. Commissioners were appointed to administer 
 this ordinance with unsparing severity, and the same action 
 which still further crushed the Protector's opponents, 
 enabled him to fill the coffers of the State without resort 
 to heavy general taxation. 
 
 After the King's return to Cologne a discovery was made 
 which proved how much the poison of treachery had pene- 
 trated into the Royalist schemes. Amidst the Court circle 
 there had been one young gentleman, named Manning, 
 
 command of the King ; and that " it was made great use of to inflame the 
 people, and make them sensible of the destruction that attended them, and 
 was thought then to produce many good effects." The ruse was successful, 
 and the pamphlet was ascribed to Sir Henry Vane. The manuscript has 
 now been identified in the Bodleian papers (see Calendar of Clarendon 
 Papers, iii. No. 216). 
 
1655] MANNING'S TBBACHEEY 379 
 
 who had hereditary and personal claims to some regard. 
 His father, Colonel Manning, a Roman Catholic, had been 
 killed, and he himself severely wounded, fighting for the King. 
 He professed abundant enthusiasm for the Royalist cause, 
 and a burning desire to avenge his father's death. He 
 accounted for the supply of money, which enabled him to 
 live in good style, by saying that he had sold the remnant 
 of his father's estate, and was now intent upon risking 
 his fortunes with the Royalist cause. To disarm suspicion 
 still more he now professed the Protestant religion, and 
 attended at worship with the King. An agreeable per- 
 sonalitj', and quick abilities, ingratiated him with all, and he 
 managed to stimulate the ambition of Rochester by pro- 
 mising to place at his disposal a small but serviceable band, 
 whom he had already enlisted in England, and who would 
 attend his lordship on his landing. By Rochester he was 
 introduced to the King, who looked with favour on his pro- 
 jects and commended him to Hyde. But Hyde had already 
 seen him, and was not satisfied as to the wisdom or even 
 as to the honesty of his plans. Manning professed to be 
 in the confidence of the Earl of Pembroke, who, he said, 
 was eager to help the King, and had £3000 in readiness at 
 Wilton to be delivered upon the mandate of the King. With 
 some success he managed to learn dangerous secrets ; but 
 Hyde's suspicions still made him cautious, and he had good 
 reason to beheve that Pembroke had none of the designs 
 attributed to him, and was in no position to command £3000 
 of ready money. Such suspicions were deemed by the 
 others to be overstrained, and to be merely part and parcel 
 of Hyde's usual ill-timed caution. It was only after the return 
 to Cologne, where Manning presented himself after having 
 spied on the King's motions at Flushing, that the suspicions 
 received confirmation. Manning's correspondence was 
 seized, and showed that he was in constant and regular 
 
380 CROMWELL'S PROTECTORATE [chap, xiii 
 
 communication with Thurloe, Cromwell's secretary. He 
 was arrested at his lodgings, and was found to have con- 
 cocted elaborate stories of plots that had no existence, as 
 well as to have betrayed all the secrets that he had learned. 
 He made a full and free confession, admitted that he despised 
 the work which he was paid for doing, and pleaded only 
 that by falsifying his narrative to his paymasters he had 
 misled them, and done no harm to the Royalist cause. He 
 is one of those waifs and strays of civil discord for whom it 
 is impossible not to have a certain pity. Honest at the 
 outset, well-gifted by nature, touched by the love of adven- 
 ture, and banished by fortune from any fair way of life ; with 
 the sense of honour blunted by harsh experience, and learn- 
 ing by degrees to cloak his misdoings by a specious excuse, 
 ready to accept the pay of the usurper, but perhaps inclined 
 at any moment to turn his energies to the cause which was 
 his own both by inheritance and by choice — his was a 
 character only too likely to be developed in the atmosphere 
 of an exiled Court, filled by needy and hungry adventurers. 
 It is not likely that in Charles's Court he found any striking 
 unselfishness of loyalty, which might have recalled him to a 
 nicer sense of honour. But the evil he had wrought could 
 not be condoned ; and in the exercise of a jurisdiction, 
 which was strangely enough accorded by their hosts, the 
 Council ordered Manning to be shot. No effort was made 
 by Cromwell to intervene for his release. To have made 
 such an effort might have betrayed a complicity with his 
 plots which it was, perhaps, deemed prudent not to publish. 
 A change in Cromwell's attitude towards France and 
 Spain now made a notable alteration in the position of the 
 King. The alliance between England and Prance became 
 more close, and signs were not wanting of an impending 
 breach with Spain. Two great fleets were equipped ; the 
 one, under the command of Blake, was to take vengeance, 
 
1656] CROMWELL'S BEEACH WITH SPAIN 381 
 
 in the first place, on the pirates of Algiers and Tunis for 
 their attacks on English trade, and thereafter to capture 
 the fleet of Spanish galleons on their return from the Spanish 
 colonies. The other, under Penn and Venables, was dis- 
 patched to the West Indies, to inflict a deadly blow upon 
 Spain in that region. Cromwell put full trust in the fidelity 
 of Blake. He guarded himself against the possible defection 
 of Perm and Venables by sending them to sea with sealed 
 orders, and in complete ignorance of the purpose for which 
 they were sent. Blake spread the terror of the English name 
 to the walls of Algiers and Tunis, and if he only partially 
 succeeded in the attack upon the Spanish merchant fleet, 
 he did enough to rouse the alarm of an enemy so feeble. Penn 
 and Venables failed completely in their attack upon His- 
 paniola, and their capture of Jamaica — then esteemed of 
 little importance — did not avail to save them from the 
 wrath of CromweU. On their return they were both com- 
 mitted to the Tower. A half-hearted execution of orders 
 was equivalent to treachery in Cromwell's eyes. 
 
 The breach with Spain was now complete, and Cromwell 
 cemented his alliance with France by dispatching 6000 men 
 to aid in the attack on Flanders. As a return, Dunkirk, 
 when captured, was to be placed in his hands. 
 
 In September, 1656, he deemed it necessary again to 
 summon a Parliament. Perhaps he thought that his power 
 was sufficient to warrant him in allowing a free election. 
 This proved an error. When Parliament met, he found 
 himself faced by opposition far stronger than before. He 
 could only resort to his old plan of requiring a subscription, 
 from all permitted to sit, to an undertaking, that they would 
 do nothing prejudicial to the Government as established. 
 Those who refused to take it had to return to their homes. 
 For a time all went well. Any attempt on the life of the Pro- 
 tector was declared to be treason. New taxes were imposed. 
 
382 CEOMWELL'S PEOTECTORATE [chap, xiii 
 
 and tonnage and poundage was granted him for life. But 
 the submission was only on the surface. There was a strong 
 under-current of opposition, and he found that in the army- 
 there was a considerable faction determined to curb his power. 
 At its head was Lambert, formerly his closest ally, now 
 his implacable foe. The murmurs against the major- 
 generals waxed louder, and Cromwell found it needful to 
 devise new methods for strengthening his authority. Was 
 it possible to enlist the aid of the nobility, and to capture 
 acquiescence by restoring the name and symbols of the 
 older monarchy ? 
 
 This design found many supporters. It was pressed upon 
 Cromwell — outwardly to his surprise and discomfiture — by a 
 powerful section amongst his party ; and even amongst the 
 Eoyalists there were found some who thought the design might 
 help their own aims. On the other hand, Lambert and a 
 dominant element in the army did not hesitate to avow their 
 invincible opposition, and their determination to carry that 
 opposition to the death. They had the assent of many of 
 those who stood closest to Cromwell, and who were allied to 
 him by marriage. A strong party in the Council, and the 
 majority in Parliament, favoured the design, which was 
 ultimately proposed to him in set terms. For a day or two 
 he wavered, and parried the proposal ; at length he was 
 convinced that the objections were insuperable. One of 
 his closest and most intimate adherents declared to him 
 that " if ever he took the title of King upon him, he would 
 kill him." It was confidently reported that a confederacy 
 existed, pledged to his assassination within a few hours after 
 his assumption of the title. After a long struggle with him- 
 self, he finally declined the project. To the mind of Hyde, 
 the decision sealed the fate of his power. Had he assumed 
 the name of King, he might, Hyde thinks, have captured 
 some of the old loyalty for the Crown. 
 
1657] HUMBLE PETITION AND ADVICE 883 
 
 But the refusal did not lessen his power at the time, nor 
 his boldness in its exercise. Even those who resisted the 
 design could not withstand new projects for confirming his 
 authority. In May, 1657, there was presented the 
 " Humble Petition and Advice " of Parliament, which 
 invested him with more than royal authority, in all but 
 name. He was to be Chief Magistrate, though under the 
 title of Protector, instead of that of King ; he was to name 
 his successor, and was to summon a Parliament of two 
 Houses once a year ; a Council of twenty-one was to 
 assist him ; and an ample revenue was placed at his 
 disposal for the maintenance of the navy and army 
 and of the civil administration. Save for legislation, the 
 Protector would find in Parliament no effective curb on his 
 supremacy. In June he was installed in Westminster Hall 
 with all the splendour of a royal function. To enable him to 
 confirm his new power and arrange his new model of Parlia- 
 ment, the House was adjourned till January, 165f ; and 
 meanwhile all military officers were compelled to swear 
 adherence to the Humble Petition and Advice. His eldest 
 son, Bichard, was sworn of the Privy Council, and appointed 
 Chancellor of Oxford. The younger, Henry, was named 
 Lieutenant of Ireland. To draw closer his bond with the 
 nobility, he gave his two daughters in marriage, one to the 
 heir of the Earl of Warwick and the other to Lord Falcon- 
 bridge. By a strange fancy, the public ceremonies of marriage 
 according to the prevailing tenets, were confirmed privately 
 by ordained clergy according to the form of the Book of 
 Common Prayer. 
 
 The added dignity of his power at home was enhanced 
 by further triumphs abroad. Blake, in April of this year, 
 achieved complete success in the capture of the Spanish 
 galleons from Peru and Mexico, and inflicted upon the 
 Spanish maritime power a blow so crushing that, in the 
 
384 CROMWELL'S PROTECTORATE [chap, xiii 
 
 eyeg of the Spaniards, the sailors who won " this unparalleled 
 action " were " rather devils than men." It was the greatest, 
 but it was the last, fight of that incomparable commander. 
 When he sailed upon his last expedition he felt that the 
 hand of death was upon him. His illness increased as 
 he sailed for home, and, just as he entered the Sound of 
 Plymouth, the man who had done more than any other 
 to make the fleet of England supreme breathed his last. 
 Hyde was not blind to the merit even of an enemy. 
 
 " He was the first," he says, " that infused that propor- 
 tion of courage into the seamen by making them see by 
 experience what mighty things they could do if they were 
 resolved ; and taught them to fight in fire as well as upon 
 water ; and though he hath been very well imitated and 
 followed, he was the first that drew the copy of naval 
 courage and bold and resolute achievements." 
 
 In January, 165^-, the two Houses met ; and after the 
 old fashion Cromwell sent Black Rod to summon the Com- 
 mons to attend him in the House of Lords, and addressed 
 them in the style of a king. But when the Commons met, 
 it was soon apparent that opposition was not at an end. 
 The members excluded for failure to subscribe the test of 
 submission to the Protector were restored. Vane and 
 Hazelrigg, with others, at once questioned the methods of 
 Government. By what authority, it was asked, did the 
 Protector issue writs of attendance to the peers ? Who 
 gave to those of the other House the title of Lords ? That 
 was a power that must rest with the legally constituted 
 House of Commons, and with that alone. 
 
 It is clear that their contention had at least as little 
 basis in any legal right as that of Cromwell himself. Had 
 he assumed the title of King, that single act of usurpation 
 would have warranted his action in summoning the peers, 
 and would have been a sound plea in law, under the statute 
 
1657] THE KING AND SPAIN 385 
 
 of Henry VII., to justify all who accepted him as King de 
 facto. Under no possible construction could the House of 
 Commons claim any right of interference with the other 
 House. Cromwell had small difficulty in crushing an oppo- 
 sition so poorly founded and with exponents of so little 
 weight. " The other House," he said, " were lords, and 
 should be lords." Let them set to work upon their business 
 and waste no time on fruitless discussions. The warning 
 was plain enough ; but it was neglected, and Cromwell had 
 no mind to prolong a futile wrangle. On February 4th 
 they were again summoned to the House of Lords ; and, 
 after being rated like schoolboys, were sent about their 
 business. 
 
 Meanwhile the breach between Cromwell and Spain had 
 given the King a new opportunity by which his advisers were 
 eager to profit. Little effective aid as Spain could give him, 
 yet even a nominal recognition by that power would greatly 
 enhance his position. The overtures of the exiled Court 
 might perhaps have been more cordially received by Spain, 
 as a means of weakening the position of their formidable 
 foe, had it not been for Cardenas, the former ambassador 
 in England. He knew every turn of English politics, and 
 knew also how little a Eoyalist alliance could benefit one 
 who, like himself, had been a keen ally of those who had 
 destroyed the power of the Crown. His whole influence 
 was thrown into the other scale, and it was only with a 
 niggardly hand that Spain dealt out any assistance to 
 the exiled King. The King's project of coming to Brussels 
 was strongly opposed. If he came there, it was alleged, 
 without proper state, it would be a blemish on the honour 
 of Spain, and yet the resources of that Crown would not 
 permit its ministers to defray the cost of furnishing the 
 means of such state. They were unwilling altogether 
 to reject the proffered aUiance because the influence of 
 VOL. I. 2 g 
 
386 CROMWELL'S PROTECTORATE [chap, xiii 
 
 Charles might well withdraw the Irish from the army 
 of France which now threatened Flanders.^ Yet they 
 grudged the price of that alliance, and the utmost con- 
 cession that could be got was permission to Charles to 
 reside incognito at Bruges ; and a promise that when a 
 good port town in England should declare for the King, 
 Spain would assist with 6000 foot and corresponding trans- 
 port and ammunition. With these terms Charles and his 
 advisers were fain to be content ; and on that footing the 
 exiled Court had taken up residence at Bruges in June, 1657. 
 Spain was half-hearted in her recognition of Charles, 
 because she had other designs and other allies, which it was 
 hoped might bring her more effective aid in England. Car- 
 denas had established relations with the disaffected Levellers 
 in the Enghsh army. Sexby,*^ who had been an enthusiastic 
 supporter of the popular party, had been one of those most 
 bitterly disappointed when he found that their labours had 
 been spent in vain, and that instead of earning freedom they 
 had only placed on themselves a yoke of tyranny greater 
 than had ever before been felt in England. He had joined 
 the ranks of the Levellers ; but for some years he had been 
 obliged to wander about the country in disguise, and do his 
 best to propagate his views by obscure pamphlets. He had 
 visited Brussels and Madrid, and had given early inteUigence 
 to Spain of the destination of the fleet under Penn and Venables. 
 Of his zeal and sincerity in the Royalist cause there could be 
 no doubt, and he seems to have impressed those who dealt 
 with him as entirely honest. The only uncertainty was as 
 
 ' There was undoubtedly at this time an attempt to induce the King to 
 declare himself a Roman Catholic, or at least to pledge himself to grant 
 indulgence to those of that faith, if restored. To the first Hyde was in- 
 vincibly opposed. The second, he had to point out, could only be granted 
 with the consent of Parliament. See Clarendon State Papers, iii. 291. 
 
 ^ Edward Sexby was a cavalry ofScer and a close follower of Cromwell. 
 He had been engaged in negotiations for arranging an alliance between the 
 Parliament and Spain against France ; and when this was abandoned, his 
 influence was gone, and he began to plot agamst his former leader. 
 
1657] SEXBY'S SCHEMES 387 
 
 to his power of organizing any effective check to Cromwell's 
 tyranny. If that were possible, his might be a more useful 
 alliance for Spain than that offered by the exiled Court. 
 The further question remained, could the two influences be 
 brought to converge on the same end ? 
 
 In the autumn of 1656 Sexby had been actively engaged 
 in negotiations with Spain, and was able to send supplies 
 to his sympathizers in England. Although he abhorred the 
 lax morality and scandalous lives of the Cavaliers, he was 
 not unwilling to join in a Royalist attempt, provided that 
 he were assured that Charles, if restored, would respect the 
 liberties which Parliament had extorted, and would make 
 no attempt to override the laws. In order to try whether 
 any further co-operation were possible, Sexby had sought 
 and obtained, towards the end of 1656, an interview with 
 Charles. It is characteristic of the nature of the man that 
 he expressly required that the ceremony of genuflexion, which 
 his conscience could not accept, should not be demanded,^ 
 as it had not been demanded of him by Charles I. He 
 had all the obstinacy and determination of the enthusiast ; 
 and strange as his procedure often was, he was apparently 
 true to his convictions, and moved by no selfish aims. 
 
 It is hard to follow the thread of all the mysterious and 
 complicated transactions now in progress. Spain was anxious 
 to secure any advantages against Cromwell and Prance. 
 The Spanish ministers recognized that there was little hope 
 of any effective attempt upon England by the Royalists ; 
 but Charles might render them useful aid by withdrawing 
 the Irish contingent from the French army, now operating 
 against Flanders. Sexby and the Levellers might, on the 
 other hand, cause serious trouble in England, and might 
 sow the seeds of disaffection in the army. Above all, in 
 
 ' See Calendar of Clarendon Papers, iii. 203. Letter from Talbot to the 
 King, No. 616. 
 
888 CROMWELL'S PROTECTORATE [chap, xiii 
 
 their fanatical zeal, they had no scruple in carrying on plots 
 for Cromwell's assassination ; and that event, if it occurred, 
 must undoubtedly paralyze the English power. Various at- 
 tempts were actually made without success ; and at last, in 
 January, 1657, a plot to fire Whitehall, and murder Cromwell 
 in the confusion, was betrayed, and its chief agent. Miles 
 Syndercombe, a close ally of Sexby, who had himself been 
 concerned in the plot, was caught and condemned to death. 
 On the morning fixed for his execution he was found dead 
 in his bed from the effects of poison. The discovery in no 
 wise checked the efforts of Sexby and others, who deemed 
 that the murder of Cromwell would be a pious deed. We 
 could scarcely expect that the Spanish Government would 
 have any scruple about the methods pursued by their allies 
 in England, and by them Sexby was encouraged in the 
 course he had chosen. In the autumn of 1657 he himself 
 went to England for the purpose. But he was discovered 
 and betrayed ; and rumours that, in the madness that seized 
 on him in prison, he was likely to make inconvenient revela- 
 tions, caused much perturbation at Charles's Court. His 
 stormy career ended shortly after, as he died in prison 
 
 How far Hyde and his fellow councillors had definite 
 knowledge of the assassination plots is a question which 
 admits of no very definite answer. That such designs were 
 widely talked about, and were approved by the general 
 verdict of the party, is beyond a doubt. But between such 
 general acceptance of a vague proposition and participa- 
 tion in a definite plot there is a wide gulf. No member of 
 the Cavalier party would have hesitated for a moment, if 
 Cromwell had been taken prisoner after an engagement, in 
 executing him summarily by martial law ; nor could they 
 fairly be condemned for such a purpose. Many would 
 probably have had just as little scruple about acting towards 
 him, if occasion offered, as their comrades had acted towards 
 
1657] ASSASSINATION PLOTS 389 
 
 Dorislaus at the Hague and Ascham in Madrid. But between 
 either course and the secret bullet or the dagger of the dis- 
 guised assassin there is a wide difference. It is evident enough 
 that, although not participating in any of the designs, nor 
 indicating any approval of them, Hyde had clear inti- 
 mation from his correspondents that such schemes were 
 on foot. It was hopeless for the Royalists to secure the 
 Spanish alliance without admitting the possibility of joining 
 the Levellers in any armed insurrection. Neither party 
 to the transaction shared their full plans with the other. 
 Sexby and Wildman — for the latter was closely associated 
 with Sexby — were content with pledges from Charles that 
 there should be no overriding of liberty and no vin- 
 dictive reprisals. The Royalist advisers were content 
 that the Levellers yielded so much of their old pre- 
 judices as to acquiesce in the restoration of the King. In 
 the methods privately pursued by either partner the other 
 shared no responsibility. Both Wildman and Sexby made 
 a good impression on their temporary aUies. Reckless con- 
 spirator as he was throughout the whole of a long career, 
 Wildman cannot be fairly set down as dishonest. Sexby, 
 with far less ability, had all the courage and the earnestness 
 that belong to the honest, although fanatical, enthusiast. 
 Both could have subscribed to — if they did not actually 
 share in the authorship of — ^the famous pamphlet entitled 
 " Killing no Murder." To its tenets probably the majority 
 of the Royalist party would in that day have given their 
 assent. To give direct countenance to an assassination plot 
 would have been alien at once to the feelings and the 
 principles of Hyde.^ To have denounced it pubhcly, or to 
 
 ■ Hyde mentions the pamphlet " Killing no Murder " in a letter to 
 Nicholas, but only as a curiosity and as " a piece full of wit," without any 
 judgment as to its doctrine. He speaks of it as a revelation and not 
 as indicating any scheme to which he was privy (Clarendon Stale Papers, 
 ii. 343). 
 
390 CEOMWELL'S PEOTECTORATE [chap, xiii 
 
 have separated himself from all who held it to be justified, 
 would have been both futile and impolitic. Cromwell had 
 invoked the storm ; it was not from his bitterest foes that 
 he could expect protection from the thunderbolts. We 
 must not forget that Hyde had distinct evidence that Crom- 
 well encouraged similar designs against the King. The 
 names of the agents and the means of detecting them were 
 supplied to Hyde by his English correspondents. The King 
 was to be attacked when he was " taking the air " with 
 few attendants, and the assassins were to take horse to 
 the next French garrison, where they were assured of 
 security.' 
 
 Slow as were the movements of the Spanish Court, the 
 treaty with Charles was at length arranged, and it materially 
 improved the position of the King. He was now provided 
 with a regular pension by Spain, and some of the straits 
 for money, which had put a severe strain on Hyde's power 
 of economy and his devices for raising revenue^ were removed. 
 Charles was now able to decline any further payments from 
 Prance, and thus gained freedom to act independently 
 of that power. He levied four regiments of foot, and 
 was able to intervene with some effect for the defence of 
 Flanders against the French armies under Turenne. At 
 his instigation the Irish troops in the French service with- 
 drew with their officers from the French camp ; and the 
 Duke of York threw up his French commission and joined 
 the King at Bruges. Charles now found himself in a position 
 where active warlike measures against Cromwell seemed 
 more possible, and he was pressed with urgency by his 
 friends at home to make a new attempt. Even his coun- 
 sellers at Bruges became persuaded that the time was 
 approaching for some greater activity ; and in January, 
 
 ' See Clarendon State Papers, iii. 336, 341, 397. Secretary Thurloe was 
 said to have given the instructions personally. 
 
1658] HYDE MADE LOED CHANCELLOR 391 
 
 165f , Ormonde determined personally to run the grave risk 
 of a visit to England to take a measure of their hopes there. 
 It was an heroic voyage, in which the chances of his escaping 
 the lynx eyes of Cromwell's spies were but few ; and Hyde 
 strongly opposed the venture, which hazarded the life of 
 the King's most powerful supporter. But Ormonde accom- 
 plished his mission in safety. For weeks he lay concealed 
 in London, and managed to hold communications with the 
 principal Eoyalists in England. He found the discontent 
 against the Protector's Government as widespread as had 
 been reported, and the zeal of the Royahsts as keen. But 
 these favourable signs were marred by mutual suspicions 
 and the absence of any common plan. In such circumstances 
 patience was the only wise policy. Matters were not yet 
 ripe for what must be a final attempt. The Royalists must 
 still, for a few months longer, wait until the King was pro- 
 vided with means for landing with a force sufficient to form a 
 nucleus for any general rising, if that was to be attended with 
 fair hope of success. Meanwhile the Royalists in England 
 must concert plans amongst themselves. 
 
 Just at the time that Ormonde started on his perilous 
 enterprise, Charles made another change in his Council. 
 Herbert, the Lord Keeper, had been left behind when the 
 King quitted Paris, taking the Great Seal into his own 
 custody.^ Herbert had since died, and the office of keeper 
 was now vacant. In January, 165f, Hyde was appointed 
 — much against his own advice — to be at once Lord Keeper 
 and Lord Chancellor. It was essential that, on the eve of 
 a possible restoration, the great offices of the Crown should 
 
 ' The Great Seal had been lost by the King at Worcester, having been 
 in the King's own custody after the death of Sir Richard Lane, who had 
 been the last Keeper under Charles I. After his escape, the King had another 
 seal engraved, intending to keep it in his own custody so long as he was 
 abroad. He had been persuaded by the Queen to confer the office on 
 Herbert in 1655. 
 
392 CEOMWELL'S PROTECTORATE [chap, xiii 
 
 be filled, and should not be left to be the prey, at a critical 
 moment, of the most unabashed applicants for reward. 
 
 Unwilling to be left inactive amid the clash of arms, 
 Charles offered to join his own troops in the Spanish camp, 
 and in spite of the remonstrances of Spain he carried out his 
 intention. He was present at the earlier operations, and was 
 in the thick of the fight at Dunkirk. If the scandals that 
 touched his name might shake the faith of his devout ad- 
 herents, he was resolved at least that lack of courage should 
 never be laid to his account. Disaster dogged the Spanish 
 arms ; and in June Dunkirk fell to Turenne, and accord- 
 ing to treaty was delivered to Cromwell in return for the 
 help he had given to the French. 
 
 While Cromwell thus won new success abroad, his hands 
 were full enough of trouble at home. By the exercise 
 of his own authority he dismissed Lambert from the army, 
 and lessened the overgrown power of the major-generals. 
 But this did not check the progress of disaffection. The 
 Cavaliers found new encouragement to plot in the seeth- 
 ing of discontent around them. Cromwell could only use 
 these new and thickening plots as a means of excusing his 
 own severities, and stimulating the zeal of his adherents. 
 A young gentleman of the family of the Earl of Mordaunt 
 had been in communication with Ormonde during his visit 
 to England, and was now arranging to send out commissions 
 in the King's name. He was betrayed and arrested, and 
 with two others. Sir Harry Slingsby and Dr. Hewett,' an 
 Anglican clergyman, he was arraigned before a new High 
 Court of Justice. He managed to elude conviction, much 
 to Cromwell's undisguised anger ; but both Slingsby and 
 Hewett were condemned and executed. Other victims 
 
 ' Dr. Hewett was the clergyman who had performed the marriage 
 service, according to the Anglican rite, for Cromwell's daughters, the wives 
 of Lord Rich and Lord Faloonbridge. 
 
1658] THE ANABAPTISTS' DECLARATION 393 
 
 followed, but the tide of conspiracy was only checked for 
 the moment. The zeal of his opponents inspired them to 
 court any danger in defiance of Cromwell's detested power. 
 
 Evidence of a new source of disaffection was now given 
 in a long and eloquent address dispatched to Charles on 
 behalf of the Anabaptists. It was a powerful appeal, in 
 which the usual scriptural phraseology was strangely mixed 
 with shrewd pohtical reasoning. They took blame to them- 
 selves, and counted themselves as worthy to suffer from the 
 visitation of divine wrath ; but at the same time managed 
 to hint at errors in the old Government that excused their 
 action, and while they offered to fight for the restoration of 
 the King, they coupled that offer, not undexterously, with 
 bargaining for the maintenance of free government. The 
 address was signed by Wildman, amongst others ; and it 
 is no rash conjecture to ascribe its authorship to his facile 
 and effective pen. It was accompanied by a letter — probably 
 also Wildman's own — which adopted a certain contemptuous- 
 ness of tone in its allusions to the extravagant phraseology 
 of the address, and tempered its heated appeals to scripture 
 with more of worldly wisdom and political strategy. The 
 writer described how he had combated the vain prejudices 
 of the sectaries, and persuaded them to be guided by the 
 dictates of reason ; and how much hope he had that their 
 aid might be effectually used to further the designs of the 
 King. Wildman — if we are right in identifying him as 
 the author of the letter and address — soon visited Bruges. 
 His interview with the King and his ministers was satis- 
 factory ; and Wildman returned to England to prosecute 
 his aims with new zeal, and with some confident hope of 
 effective aid. 
 
 At the close of his brief campaign with the Spanish army, 
 Charles retired from Brussels in August, and took up his 
 residence at Hochstratten, on the borders of Flanders, within 
 
394 CROMWELL'S PROTECTORATE [chap, xiii 
 
 six miles of Breda, where Hyde now was. Hyde had there 
 a good opportunity of contrasting the poverty of the popula- 
 tion in Flanders, subject to the unlicensed plunder of the 
 Spanish troops, with the settled prosperity of the Dutch 
 at Breda. It helped to convince him how unstable was the 
 alliance to which Charles was at present fain to trust. 
 The King's hopes were built upon a sorry foundation, if his 
 restoration were to be accomplished only by the aid of the 
 decaying power of Spain. 
 
 It was while Charles lingered here and waited for tidings 
 of the wavering hopes and fears of his adherents that news 
 reached him which mightily changed the situation. In the 
 midst of his stern and successful fight with disaffection, 
 Cromwell had met his conqueror. On September 3rd, 
 1658, after a fortnight's illness from tertian ague, the Lord 
 Protector died. His death took place amidst a storm of 
 wind that wrought havoc all along England's coast, and 
 transcended any tempest within memory. The very 
 elements seemed to be stirred to commotion at the passing 
 of a power that by its own sheer force, and with no aid 
 from accident or fortune, had shaped the history of a 
 mighty people, and had dominated European politics. The 
 great Dictator had time, before his death, to nominate his 
 eldest son Richard as the successor of his rule. It remained 
 to be seen whether such a bequest could be effective, when 
 the genius that had founded that rule was gone. 
 
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