condemned to pay a fine of ten thousand pounds, was degraded from the ministry, was publicly whipped in the palace yard, was placed for two hours in the pillory, and, in conclusion, had an ear cut off, a nostril slit open, and a cheek branded with the letters S. S. to denote a sower of sedition. These, however, were but the sufferings of one day. At the expiration of a week he underwent a second whipping, he again stood in the pillory, he lost the remaining ear, he had the other nostril slit, and the other cheek branded. Neither was his punishment yet terminated. Marked, degraded, mutilated as he was, he returned to prison, to be immured there for life, unless the king should at any subsequent period think him a fit object for mercy; but from Charles he found no mercy, and it was only at the end of ten years that he obtained his liberty from the parliament, then in arms against the king.' Leighton was a dangerous fanatic, capable, as appears from his writings, of inflicting on others the severities which he suffered himself. But this can form no apology for the judges who awarded a punishment so disproportionate to the offence. They sought to shelter themselves under the plea that he might have been indicted for treason, and therefore, instead of complaining of the sentence, ought to have been thankful for his life. government. Charles conceived it expedient to silence this murmur, by giving public proof of his orthodoxy. He carefully excluded all English Catholics from the queen's chapel at Somerset House; he offered in successive proclamations a reward of one hundred pounds for the apprehension of Dr. Smith, the Catholic bishop; and he repeatedly ordered the magistrates, judges, and bishops to enforce the penal laws against the priests and Jesuits. Many were apprehended, some were convicted. But the king, having ratified for the third time the articles of the marriage treaty, was ashamed to shed their blood merely on account of their religion. One only suffered the penalties of treason, through the hasty zeal of judge Yelverton; of the remainder, some perished in prison, some were sent into banishment, and others occasionally obtained their discharge on giving security to appear at a short notice.2 The same motive induced the king to act with lenity towards the lay recusants. The law had left it to his option to exact from them the fine of twenty pounds per lunar month, or to take two-thirds of their personal estate; but, in lieu of these penalties, he allowed them to compound for a fixed sum to be paid annually into the exchequer. Many hastened to avail themselves of the indulgence. The amount of the composition was determined at the pleasure of the commissioners; and the Catholic, by the sacrifice, sometimes of one-tenth, sometimes of one-third Both Charles and his adviser, Laud, were aware that the Puritans accused them of harbouring a secret design | to restore the ancient creed and worship. The charge was groundless. of his yearly income, purchased not It originated in that intolerant zeal which mistook moderation for apostasy, and was propagated by those whom interest or patriotism had rendered hostile to the measures of 1 Rush. ii. 56. Howell's State Trials, iii. 383. 2 Rush. i. 645; ii, 11, 13. Prynne, Hid the liberty of serving God according to his conscience (that was still forbidden under severe penalties), but the permission to absent himself from a form of worship which he disap den Works, 123. Clarendon Papers, i. 353, 485. Challoner, ii. 123. Bibliotheca Regia, 35-39. A.D. 1631.] DEATH OF THE PRINCE PALATINE. 183 proved. The exaction of such a sacri- | quess of Hamilton to levy the men, fice was irreconcilable with any princi-and to conduct them to Germany, ple of justice; but, inasmuch as it was a mitigation of the severities inflicted by the law, the recusants looked upon it as a benefit, the zealots stigmatized it as a crime in a Protestant sovereign.1 Before I conclude this chapter, I may notice the efforts of Charles in favour of his sister, and her husband the Prince Palatine. The king of Denmark had proclaimed himself the champion of their cause; but his career was short, and he was glad to preserve by a hasty pacification his hereditary dominions from the grasp of that enemy whom he had wantonly provoked. In his place the kings of England and France endeavoured to call forth a more warlike and enterprising chief, the famed Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden. By their good offices a truce for six years was concluded between that prince and his enemy the king of Poland; and Gustavus, landing in the north of Germany, astonished the world by the number and rapidity of his conquests. Nothing could resist the impetuosity of the Swedish hero. Armies were dissipated, fortresses reduced, and whole nations subdued. Charles had agreed to aid him with a body of six thousand infantry; but, that he might not offend the emperor by too open an avowal of hostility, he prevailed on the mar 1 See Appendix, LLL. as if it were a private adventure, undertaken at his personal risk. Gustavus had formerly promised to replace Frederic on the throne; but, when he saw himself in possession of a great part of the Palatinate, his views changed with his fortune; he began to plan an establishment for himself, and to every application from the king and the prince he returned evasive answers, or opposed conditions which it would have been difficult for Charles, disgraceful to the Palatine, to perform. Vane, the English ambassador, was recalled, and Hamilton received orders to contrive some pretext for his return; but the prince, deluded by his hopes, still followed the Swedish camp, till his protector fell in the great battle of Lutzen. Frederic did not survive him more than a fortnight, dying of a contagious fever in the city of Mentz; and all the efforts of his son Charles Louis proved as fruitless as those of the father. The imperialists routed his army in Westphalia; the earl of Arundel returned with an unfavourable answer from the diet of Ratisbon; and the reception given to the proposals made in his favour by the English envoy in the congress of Hamburg served only to demonstrate the utter hopelessness of his pretensions.? Memoirs of Hamilton, 7-9, 15-25. Cla 2 Rush. ii. 35, 53, 59, 83-87, 130, 166. rendon Papers, i. 62, 678. 184 CHAPTER V. THE KING IN SCOTLAND-DISCONTENT IN ENGLAND-IN IRELAND-OPPRESSIVE CONDUCT OF WENTWORTH-IN.SCOTLAND-NEW SERVICE-BOOK-COVENANTRIOTS-KING MARCHES AGAINST THE COVENANTERS-PACIFICATION OF BERWICK -SCOTTISH AND ENGLISH PARLIAMENTS-A SECOND WAR-SCOTS OBTAIN POSSESSION OF NORTHUMBERLAND AND DURHAM GREAT COUNCIL AT YORK-TREATT TRANSFERRED TO LONDON. The king, in imitation of his father, resolved to visit his native country. He was accompanied by a gallant train of English noblemen, and was received by the Scots with the most enthusiastic welcome. At his coronation, which was performed by the archbishop of St. Andrew's they gave equal demonstrations of joy, though several parts of the ceremony shocked their religious feelings, and the officious interference of Laud wounded their national pride.3 SCOTLAND, at the death of James, enjoyed a state of unprecedented tranquillity; but the restlessness and imprudence of the new king gradually provoked discontent and rebellion. It had been suggested that he might obtain a permanent supply for his own wants, and at the same time provide a more decent maintenance for the Scottish clergy, if he were to resume the ecclesiastical property which, at the Reformation, had fallen to the crown, and during the minority of his father, had been alienated by The next day Charles opened the the prodigality of the regents Murray Scottish parliament after the ancient and Morton. The first attempt failed, form. A liberal supply was cheerfully from the resistance of the possessors; voted to the sovereign-but on two in the second he proved more suc- points he met with the most vigorous cessful. The superiorities and juris-opposition. When it was proposed dictions of the church lands were to confirm the statutes respecting surrendered, and a certain rate was religion, and to vest in the crown fixed, at which the tithes might be the power of regulating the apparel redeemed by the heritors, and the of churchmen, an obstinate stand was feudal emoluments be purchased by made by all the members, who conthe crown. Charles congratulated scientiously objected to the jurisdichimself on the result; but the benefit tion of the bishops. The king sternly was more than balanced by the dis- commanded them not to dispute, but affection which it created. The many to vote; and, pointing to a paper in powerful families who thought them- his hand, exclaimed, "Your names selves wronged did not forget the are here! to-day I shall see who injury; in a few years they took the are willing to serve me." The lord most ample revenge.1 register solemnly affirmed that the 1 Burnet's Own Times, i. 20. Large Declaration, 1-9. Balfour, ii. 128, 139, 151, 153, 154. Statutes of 1633. 2 It was remarked by some that the Scots would imitate the Jews, and that their hosannas at his entry would be changed into "Away with him, erucify him!" Leslie, bishop of the Isles, mentioned this at dinner to Charles, who immediately turned thoughtful, and ate no more.-MS. letter of 30th Sept. 1633. Balfour, ii. 195-199. Rushworth, ii. 181, 182. Clarendon, i. 79. A.D. 1633.] CONDUCT OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 185 majority had given their voices in | tunity to place Laud on the archiefavour of the bills; the contrary was piscopal throne. The new metroafterwards as strenuously asserted by their opponents.' The notion that the king entertained sentiments favourable to popery had been maliciously circulated in Scotland; the ceremonies at his coronation, and his policy respecting the church were deemed confirmatory of the charge; and, though he surrendered to the importunity of petitioners most of the money voted by the parliament, his visit served neither to strengthen the attachment, nor to dissipate the distrust of his countrymen.2 During the six years which followed his return from Scotland, England appeared to enjoy a calm, if that could be called a calm which continually gave indications of an approaching storm. Charles governed without a parliament, but took no pains to allay, he rather inflamed, that feverish irritation which the illegality of his past conduct had excited in the minds of his subjects. Nor can it be said in his excuse, that he was ignorant of their dissatisfaction. He saw it, and despised it; believing firmly in the divine right of kings, he doubted not to bear down the force of public opinion by the mere weight of the royal prerogative. politan wielded the crozier with a more vigorous grasp than his predecessor. He visited his province, established uniformity of discipline in the cathedral churches, enforced the exact observance of the rubric, and submission to the different injunctions; and, by strictly adhering to the canon which forbade ordination without a title, cut off the supply of non-conforming ministers for public lectures and private chapels. After his example, and by his authority, the churches were repaired and beautified; at his requisition the judges unanimously confirmed the legality of the proceedings in the ecclesiastical courts; and by his advice the king, in defiance of every obstacle, undertook to restore St. Paul's cathedral to its ancient splendour. In these pursuits there was certainly much commendable in itself and becoming his station; but the jealousy of the Puritans had long ago marked him out as an enemy; the most innocent of his actions were misrepresented to the public, and whatever he attempted was described as an additional step towards the introduction of popery. A succession of written papers dropped in the streets, or affixed to the walls, or secretly conveyed into his house, warned him of the punishment which his apostasy He had scarcely time to repose from the fatigue of his journey when Abbot died, and he gladly seized the oppor-deserved, and which the orthodoxy of and acquainted him both with the thing and the person. Aug. 17. I had a serious offer made me again to be a cardinal. I was then from court: but so soon as I came thither (which was Wednesday, Aug. 21), I acquainted his majesty with it. But my answer again was, that somewhat dwelt within me which would not suffer that till Rome were other than it is." That this answer does not display any strong antipathy to the offered dignity may be admitted; but it certainly does not warrant the inference which his enemies afterwards drew from it. See his Diary, 49, and his Troubles, 388. That, however, there was more in the offer than is generally supposed, will appear from the next page. his opponents was already prepared to the controversy among the English inflict. Catholics respecting the expediency About this time the jealousy of the of appointing a bishop for the governPuritans was roused to the highest ment of their church. The secular pitch by their knowledge of the fact clergy and the regulars, with their that an accredited agent from Rome respective adherents, had taken ophad received the royal permission to posite sides on this question; and the reside in London. Two motives had warmth with which it was discussed induced the pope, Urban VIII., to in England had provoked a similar make this appointment. 1. Towards opposition between the episcopal body the end of August, 1633, Sir Robert and the monastic orders in France; Douglas arrived in Rome with the an opposition so violent and irritating character of envoy from the queen, as to threaten for some years a schism and a letter of credence signed by the in the French church. To appease earl of Stirling, secretary of state for this storm was an important object Scotland. It was soon discovered that with Urban: and, distrustful of the the real object of his mission was to representations of parties interested obtain, through her intercession, the in the dispute, he determined to dignity of cardinal for a British sub-appoint a confidential minister to ject, under the pretext that such a concession would go far towards the future conversion of the king. Urban, suspicious of some political intrigue, resolved to return no answer till he should have ascertained from whom this unexpected project had originated, and in whose favour the hat was solicited; and with that view he deemed it expedient to despatch an envoy from Rome, who might communicate personally with the queen. 2. Another motive was furnished by Laud's Diary, 44, 47. These reports and menaces urged the archbishop to prove himself a true Protestant by his vigilance against the Catholics. In a letter to Lord Strafford we are told that he had lately accused before the council a schoolmaster and innkeeper at Winchester, for bringing up Catholic scholars; that he had procured an order for the calling in and burning of a Catholic book, entitled, "An Introduction to a Devout Life," which he had previously licensed, with the change of the word mass into "divine service;" and that Morse, a missionary, who had distinguished himself by his attention to the sick during the contagious fever in St. Giles's, and had, by his charity, induced many to become Catholics, had been tried and convicted.-Strafford Papers, ii. 74. 2 Che sotto quasivoglia pretesto non tratasse col arcivescovo di Cantuaria.-Barberini's despatch of 13 Mar. 1635. Why so? Had it then been discovered at Rome collect information on the spot. The first whom he employed was Leander, an English Benedictine monk, with whose proceedings we are very imperfectly acquainted; but Leander was soon followed by Panzani, an Italian priest, of the congregation of the Oratory, who was instructed to confine himself entirely to the controversy among the Catholics, and on no pretext whatever to allow himself to be drawn into communication with the new archbishop of Canterbury.2 that Laud was the man for whom the dignity of cardinal had been at first solicited? It is not improbable. Douglas left England to make the request about the middle of July, and reached Rome about a month later. Now the offer of that dignity was made to Laud in England on the 4th, and repeated on the 17th of August.-Laud's Diary. This coincidence in point of time furnishes a strong presumption; and to it may be added that, in December, Du Perron, the chief clergyman in the queen's household, proceeded to Paris, and to Bichi, the nuncio, spoke highly in favour of Laud, with regard to his religious principles, and his willingness to show favour to the Catholics.-Despatch of Bichi to Barberini, Dec. 1633. Hence I am inclined to think that the proposal of the cardinal's hat came to the new archbishop from Queen Henrietta, under the notion that there might be some truth in the reports, which had been so long current, of Laud's secret attachment to the Roman Catholic creed. |