IV. CHAP. highest bidder, and in that case to the owner himself, though it was contrary to the law. 4°. Privy seals for the loan of money were again issued to noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants of reputed property; and an immediate advance of £120,000 was imperiously required from the city of London. 5o. Under pretence of the protection of commerce in the narrow seas, the several ports were compelled to provide and maintain during three months, a certain number of armed vessels, and at the same time the lords lieutenants of the different counties received orders to muster the inhabitants, train them to arms, and employ them for the purpose of suppressing civil tumult, or of repelling foreign invasion.35 A forced loan. While men expressed their surprise and indignation at these arbitrary proceedings, intelligence arrived, which spread a deep gloom over the whole kingdom. A great and bloody battle had been fought at Luttern, between the imperialists under count Tully, and the allies of Charles under the king of Denmark. The latter had fled beyond the Elbe; their artillery and baggage had fallen into the hands of the conquerors; and the whole circle of Lower Saxony, abandoned without defence, lay at the mercy of Ferdinand. The cause of the prince Palatine was at last pronounced 35 For these particulars see Rym. xviii. 730. 7. 9. 41. 55. 71. 86. and Rush. i. 417-421, CHARLES I. IV. Feb. 5. desperate: the very existence of protestantism CHAP. in Germany was thought to be at stake. Charles seized the favourable moment to execute a measure which he had long meditated, but had not dared to attempt. He resolved to raise a forced loan by his own authority; and with this view he appointed commissioners in every county, instructed them to take the book of the last subsidy for their guide; and empowered them to exact from each individual the advance of a sum of money according to the former rate, in the proportion of cent. per cent. on land, and of a mark in the pound on personal property. This demand was of itself sufficiently despotic; it was rendered still more intolerable by the inquisitorial powers, with which the commissioners were armed. They received orders to interrogate the refractory upon oath; to require from them an avowal of the motive of their disobedience, and a disclosure of the names of their advisers; and to charge them on their allegiance to keep their answers to these questions secret from all persons whomsoever.36 the refrac To induce submission, the king published an Punishelaborate proclamation, stating, that he had ment of been driven to this extraordinary measure by tory. the exigence of the moment, which did not allow him time to consult his parliament; and promising that every farthing advanced by his 36 Rush. i. 422. Rymer, xviii. 835–842. IV. CHAP. loving subjects should be faithfully repaid out of the next subsidies by their grateful soveSept. 26. reign. At the same time he wrote to the clergy, calling on them to come forward in support of the protestant interest, to preach unanimity and obedience, and to impress on the minds of their parishioners the duty of aiding the king in his necessities.37 But there were many who refused to listen either to the commands of the sovereign or to the exhortations of their ministers. Their names were returned by the commissioners: the more opulent received a summons to appear before the council, and were either committed to prison, or confined in private houses at a considerable distance from their homes and families; the poor, that "they might serve with their bodies, since they refused to serve with their purses,” were forcibly enrolled in the army or navy. Charles refused to shew any indulgence. It had been repeatedly said that he was governed by Buckingham: now, that the favourite was absent he resolved to prove, by acts of vigour, or rather of despotism, that he had a will of his own, and was not of that easy and ductile disposition which had been attributed to him by his opponents. Causes of war with France. 38 The mission on which the duke was employed, had for its object to arm the French 37 Rymer, xviii. 764. Bibliotheca Regia, 298-305. Wilkin's con. iv. 471. as Rushworth, i. 426. Strafford papers, i, 36-41. protestants against their sovereign, and to make a descent upon the French coast. But what was the inducement, or rather the necessity, which led the king, at a moment when, in the estimation of every thinking man, there were only two expedients by which he could. extricate himself from his difficulties, a peace with Spain, or a reconciliation with his parliament, to neglect them both, and in addition, to provoke a war with the monarch, whose alliance he had courted, and whose sister he had married? The motives for this rash step were never openly avowed; they may perhaps be discovered by attending to the following incidents. CHAP. IV. passion 1o. When Buckingham, two years before, The duke's entered Paris, as the guide appointed by for Anne Charles to conduct the French princess to of Austria. England, he dazzled every eye with the splendour of his dress, and the number and magnificence of his retinue.39 Among the ladies at court, the gallant Englishman became the theme of general admiration: he singled out for the object of his attentions the young queen Anne of Austria, the eldest sister of the Spanish 39 He took with him "a rich white satin uncut velvet suit, set all "over both suit and cloak, with diamonds, the value whereof is "thought to be worth fourscore thousand pounds, besides a feather "made with great diamonds, with sword, girdle, hatband and spurs "with diamonds: which suit his grace intends to enter Paris with." He had twenty-seven other suits, all "rich as invention could frame or art fashion." Hardwicke papers, i. 571. Ellis, iii. 189. CHAP. infanta. Buckingham had the presumption to IV. love, and to fancy himself beloved; but his steps were watched, and a seasonable hint of danger restrained him within the limits of decorum. When he took leave of Anne on his departure from Amiens, it was observed that his eyes were suffused with tears; and the moment he reached Boulogne, leaving Henrietta to the care of her servants, he returned to that city under the pretence of important business, and boldly intruded, without notice, into the royal bed-chamber. Anne was attended by two of her maids of honour; she heard with apparent anger the protestations of attachment which her lover addressed to her on his knees; and ordered him to depart in a tone of severity, which her female biographer suspected to have been feigned. The presumption of the duke could not be concealed: and Louis ordered several of the queen's domestics to be immediately discharged. Buckingham, after his return to England, continued to nourish this extravagant passion, and had recourse to every expedient to procure another invitation to the French court. The reader has seen that he obtained the appointment of ambassador, but was refused admission by the cardinal of Richelieu; his confidant, the earl of Holland, who proceeded to Paris, laboured in vain to remove the impediment, and the French courtiers avowed their determination to shed the blood of the foreign |