Chapter XX: THE REIGN OF CHARLES I. (continued) (5)

But that verdict was not obtained without a great struggle. In the Commons it was warmly debated, and it was not till the eleventh day, the 21st of April, that it was carried by a vast majority. Only fifty-four, or, according to Whitelock, fifty-nine members voted against the Bill, and the next morning the names of these were placarded in the streets as "Straffordians," who, to allow a traitor to escape, would betray their country. The Lords, who had been greatly influenced by Strafford's speeches, and his confident exposition of the law, displayed no alacrity to pass the Bill of Attainder through their House; but they soon found themselves exposed to the pressure from without. The nation had made up its mind to the punishment of the man who had advised the king to reduce them to the condition of serfs; and the Lords could not appear anywhere without being pursued by cries of "Justice! justice on the traitor!" Vast crowds surrounded the Parliament House, uttering the same demands, and a petition was carried up from the City, signed by many thousands. The country was terrified by rumours of insurrections and invasions, which were made plausible by the lately discovered plot for marching the army of York on London, and the Court preparations for rescuing and getting away Strafford. There is also clear evidence from the despatches of Rosetti, who was in the confidence of the queen, that the king had ordered the fortifications of Portsmouth to be strengthened; and the command of the fortress was given to Goring, that Charles might have a place of retreat if he was obliged to quit London, and an opening for the landing of troops from France or Holland, whom he might prevail on to come to his assistance.

In carrying up the Bill to the Lords, the Attorney-General, St. John, had endeavoured to get rid of the legal objections to the death of Strafford, by saying that laws were made for the protection of the peaceable and the innocent, not for those who broke all law for the destruction of the people. This was a dangerous doctrine, and did not at all mend the matter; he did not see that the real strength and justification of the case lay in the three branches of the Legislature interpreting the law as extending to the State and Constitution altogether, and by their united act rendering it law.

In the meantime, the anxiety and perplexity of the king became excruciating. He had clearly, by his confident assertions of protection, drawn Strafford into the snare, and if the Lords passed the Bill, how was he, by his own decayed authority, to defend him? He had previously sought the aid of the Earl of Bedford, who was the most influential of the peers, and promised him the disposal of all the great offices of State, on condition that Strafford's life should be spared. Bedford had accepted it, but just at this crisis he fell sick and died. Clarendon says, of his own knowledge, that it was the plan of Bedford to give the king the excise as a settled source of income, and thus extricate him out of all his troubles,--the very thing which was afterwards granted to his son, Charles II. On Bedford's death, Lord Say accepted the same position on the same terms; and it is asserted by Clarendon that it was by his advice that Charles now took a step that proved very fatal. He proceeded to the House of Lords on the 1st of May, whilst the Bill of Attainder was still before it, and calling for the Commons, informed them that having, as they knew, been constantly present at the trial of Strafford, he was perfectly familiar with all that had been advanced on both sides, and that the serious conclusion at which he had arrived was that he was not guilty of treason, and, therefore, in his conscience, he could not condemn him if the Bill were passed and came to him. "It was not," he said, "for him to argue the matter with them; his place was to utter a single decision. But," he continued, "I must tell you three great truths:--First, I never had any intention of bringing over the Irish army into England, nor ever was advised by any one to do so. Second, there never was any debate before me, either in public council or private committee, of the disloyalty or disaffection of my English subjects. Third, I was never counselled by any to alter the least of any of the laws of England, much less alter all the laws."

After the long breach of the law that the king shall not levy taxes without consent of Parliament; after the long exercise of the arbitrary power of the Star Chamber and the High Commission Court, where Magna Charta was utterly set aside; after the brandings, the lopping off of ears, the slitting of noses, and the fining and imprisonment of the subject at the king's pleasure, these assertions show how utterly regardless of truth this king was. He then admitted that Strafford was guilty of great misdemeanours. "Therefore," he said, "I hope you may find some middle way to satisfy justice and your own fears, and not to press upon my conscience. My lords, I hope you know what a tender thing conscience is. To satisfy my people I would do great matters, but in this of conscience, no fear, no respect whatever, shall ever make me go against it. Certainly, I have not so ill-deserved of the Parliament this time that they should press me on this tender point." He proposed that Strafford should be rendered incapable hereafter of holding any place of trust or honour under the Crown.

But the very declarations which he had made in this address were so untrue, that every one must have felt that as long as Strafford lived there was no security against his return to power. The Commons, however, took up the matter in another manner. On their return to their own House--the king had not recognised their presence by a single observation in the other--they instantly passed a resolution, declaring the king's interference with any bill before either House of Parliament, a most flagrant abuse of their privileges. This was Saturday, and the next day the ministers, Scottish and Puritan, took up the subject in their pulpits, and roused their hearers to a sense of their danger, only to be averted by the death of the arch-traitor. On Monday the population poured out in a vast concourse, and directed their steps towards Westminster. Six thousand infuriated people surrounded the Houses of Parliament, armed with clubs and staves, crying out for justice on the prisoner.

At this moment Pym was haranguing the House of Commons on the discovery of the plot to debauch the army, and informing them, moreover, that there was already a strong body of French troops assembled on the opposite coast, and that it was declared to be their intention to take possession of Jersey and Guernsey, and to land at Portsmouth. This was so far true that Montague, a favourite of the queen's, had been despatched to the French court, a fleet had assembled on the coast of Brittany, and an army in Flanders. Montreuil had endeavoured to convince the popular leaders, through the Earl of Holland, that the army was destined for the war in the Netherlands, and the fleet to protect the coasts of Portugal. Their being so near this country, however, was sufficient to justify the popular suspicion, and the public excitement continued to increase. Montague was advised to seek his safety by flight, and the queen was so terrified that she ordered her carriages to Whitehall to flee to Portsmouth. The Lords, however, prevented this by a remonstrance to the king, and thereby probably saved the queen's life from the enraged mob; for it was now that the disclosures of Colonel Goring of the Army Plot became public.

Pym seized the opportunity of this occurrence to press on the Commons a resolution to the effect that the seaports should be closed, and that the king should command that neither the queen, the prince, nor any person attending upon his majesty, should leave London without the permission of the king, acting on the advice of his Parliament. This was passed, and Pym then called on them to make a solemn Protestation, after the manner of the Scottish Covenant, which should be taken by the whole House, binding them by a vow, in the presence of God, to maintain and defend his majesty's royal person and estate, as well as the power and privileges of Parliament, the lawful rights and liberties of the subject, the peace and union of the three kingdoms against all plots, conspiracies, and evil practices, and that neither hope, fear, nor any other respect, should induce them to relinquish this promise, vow, and protestation. It was instantly signed by the Speaker, and by every member present.

The Commons next addressed a letter to the army in the North, assuring them that, notwithstanding the attempts to corrupt them, Parliament relied on their fidelity, and would take care to furnish their pay. They ordered the forces in Wiltshire and Hampshire to advance nearer to Portsmouth, and those in Kent and Sussex to draw towards Dover, and declared any man advising the introduction of foreign troops to be an enemy to his country. These resolutions they despatched with the Protestation to the Upper House by Denzil Holles, calling on the whole House to subscribe to the Protestation. The next morning, being the 4th of May, the Lords desired a conference with the Commons, and informed them of a message from the king, desiring that the intimidation of the mobs might be withdrawn, that the deliberation of the Parliament might be free; and as the peers proposed to take the Protestation unanimously, Dr. Burgess, a popular preacher, was sent out to inform the people of this, and to desire that they would peaceably withdraw to their own homes. The crowds, on this assurance, melted rapidly away. The Protestation was then sent out to be subscribed by the whole nation, as the Covenant had been in Scotland, and with the intimation that any one declining to adopt it should be looked upon as an enemy to his country. To complete their security, the Commons passed a Bill that Parliament should on no account be dissolved without the consent of both Houses.

The next day, on a false alarm that the House of Commons was in danger, the train-bands, headed by Colonel Mainwaring, marched with beat of drum to Westminster; it proved an unnecessary caution, but one that convinced the peers and the king that any resistance to the Commons, backed by the public, was useless. The very next day the news was circulated in Parliament that six or eight dangerous conspirators had fled, amongst them Jermyn, the queen's favourite, and Percy, both members of the Commons, and that the queen was still bent, if opportunity could be found, of escaping too. On the following day, May 7th, the peers voted by a majority that the fifteenth and nineteenth charges against Strafford were proved, namely, that he had quartered soldiers on the peaceable inhabitants of Ireland contrary to law, and had imposed on his own authority an illegal oath on all Scotsmen living in that country. Thereupon they consulted the judges, who unanimously decided that Strafford deserved to suffer the pains and penalties of treason. The Catholics kept away from the House because they would not take the Protestation, and therefore bore no part in Strafford's condemnation. The Bill was passed by a majority of twenty-six to nineteen. The following morning, May 8th, the Bill of Attainder was read a third time and passed; and, at the same time, the Lords also passed the Bill of the Commons against the dissolution of Parliament.

Charles was now reduced to a pitiable condition. On the one hand, he had solemnly pledged himself, both to Strafford and to Parliament, never to consent to the earl's death; but, on the other hand, the two Houses had pronounced against him, and the public was waiting with impatience for his ratification of the sentence. He had lately seen the ominous assemblage of the people, and the march of the City bands to support Parliament; the Scots still lay in the North, waiting with fierce desire for the fall of their enemy; one signal, and the whole country would be in a blaze. The Bill was passed on Saturday, and perhaps never was a Sunday spent by any man, or any house, in so dreadful a state as that passed by Charles and his family. The only alternative left him was to summon his Privy Council, and submit to them his difficulty. But from them he derived very little comfort. The members in general urged on him the necessity of complying with the demand of both Houses of Parliament, and the manifest desire of the public, who were again loudly declaring that they would have either the head of Strafford or the king's. The bishops strongly urged the same arguments; the terror of the Parliament and the people was upon them.

Williams, the old bishop of Lincoln, who had been treated with stern severity by both Strafford and Laud, told the king, when he talked of his conscience, that there was a public as well as a private conscience; that he had discharged his private conscience by doing all in his power to save the earl, and he might now exercise his public conscience by conceding to the decision of his Parliament; that the question now was not about saving Strafford, but about saving himself, his queen, and family. Juxon, Bishop of London, alone had the courage to tell him boldly not to consent to the shedding of the blood of a man whom in his conscience he felt to be innocent. Ussher of Armagh, Morton of Durham, and another bishop, advised him to be guided by the opinion of the judges. The judges being then asked, repeated their judgment that the case, as put to them by the Lords, amounted to treason. Thus borne down by all parties, Charles reluctantly gave way, and late in the evening, though he would not directly sign his assent to the Bill, he signed a commission to several lords to give the assent. Even in this last act his friends endeavoured to console him with the assurance that "his own hand was not in it." It was a miserable subterfuge, for the deed was equally valid, and he executed it with tears, declaring the condition of Strafford happier than his own.

The day of execution was fixed for Wednesday, the 12th of May, and on Monday, the 10th, the commission to this effect passed the Great Seal. But still Charles could not give up the hope of saving the unhappy man. He sent to the two Houses to inform them that he would instantly disband the Irish army; and the next morning, having appeared to have made a favourable impression on the Commons, who had returned a very flattering message, he sent the Prince of Wales to the Lords with a letter once more imploring them to consult with the Commons, and grant him "the unspeakable contentment" of changing the sentence of the earl to perpetual imprisonment, with a pledge never to interfere in his behalf; and if the earl should ever seek his liberty, especially by any application to himself, his life should be forfeited. If, however, it could not be done with satisfaction to the people, he said "_Fiat justitia_." In a postscript, stated to have been added at the suggestion of the queen, he appended the fatal words, "If he must die, it were charity to reprieve him till Saturday;" words which seemed to imply that, though he asked, he really did not hope to save him. Nothing, however, could have saved him. The House, after reading the letter twice, and after "sad and serious consideration," sent a deputation to inform him that neither of the requests could be complied with.

Strafford, on the previous Tuesday, hearing of the king's extreme agitation and trouble on his account, had sent him a letter which was full of magnanimity. He informed him that the hearing of the king's unwillingness to pass the Bill, on the ground that he did not believe him guilty, and of the excitement of the people against him on that account, had brought him into a great strait; that the ruin of his family on the one side, and fear of injury to the king on the other, had greatly troubled him; that to say that there had not been a great strife in him, would be to say that he was not made of flesh and blood; yet considering that the chief thing was the prosperity of the realm and the king, he had, with a natural sadness, come to the conclusion to desire the king to let matters take their course rather than incur the ill that refusing to sign the Bill might bring on his sacred majesty. Whitelock assures us that the king sent Carleton to him, to inform him that he had been compelled to pass the Bill, and adding that he had been the more reconciled to it by his willingness to die. On hearing this, Strafford started up from his chair, lifted up his eyes to heaven, laid his hand upon his heart, and said, "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men, for in them there is no salvation."

The night before the day fixed for his execution, Archbishop Ussher visited the prisoner, who begged him to go to his fellow-prisoner, Archbishop Laud, and beg his prayers for him that night, and his blessing when he should go forth in the morning. He had in vain endeavoured to persuade the Lieutenant Balfour to permit him to have an interview with the fallen prelate. In the morning, when led out to the scaffold, on approaching the window of the archbishop's prison, he begged the lieutenant to allow him to make his obeisance towards the prelate's room, though he could not see him himself.

AFTER THE PAINTING BY PAUL DELAROCHE, IN THE POSSESSION OF THE DUKE OF SUTHERLAND.]

Laud, however, was on the watch, and putting forth his hands from his window, bestowed his blessing. That was all that his weakness and his emotion permitted. He sank, overcome with his grief, to the floor. Strafford made a profound obeisance, and the procession moved on. But after a few steps the earl turned round again, bowed to the ground once more, saying, "Farewell, my lord! God protect your innocence!" Then proceeding again, he assumed a lofty and dignified air, more even than was usual to him. At the Tower gate the lieutenant requested him to enter a coach, lest the people should wreak their hatred upon him; but he declined, saying, "No, Master lieutenant, I dare look death in the face, and I hope the people, too. Have you a care that I do not escape, and I care not how I die, whether by the executioner, or the madness of the people. If that give them better satisfaction, it is all one to me." He was accompanied to the scaffold by Archbishop Ussher, the Earl of Cleveland, and his brother, Sir George Wentworth, and others of his friends were there to take their leave of him. The crowd assembled to see their great enemy depart was immense, and he made a speech from notes which he had prepared, still protesting his innocence; declaring that so far from wishing to put an end to Parliaments, he had always regarded them, under God, as the best means to make the king and his people happy. His head fell at a single blow, and the astonished people could scarcely believe that they had seen the last of their foe. They retired in quietness, as if overcome by the greatness of the satisfaction; but they testified their joy in the evening by bonfires in the streets (May 12, 1641).

The fall of Strafford carried terror through the Court. Many began to think of flying. Cottington had given up his office of Master of the Wards, and Lord Say and other noblemen of the popular party were introduced into the Ministry. The Marquis of Hertford was made Governor to the Prince, the Earl of Essex Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Leicester the Lord-lieutenant of Ireland. The king was wholly averse from the new ministers, but hoped to win upon them as he had done upon Strafford, Loudon, and Montrose; and indeed, after their appointment, a bolder and more independent spirit seemed to awaken in the Lords. They threw out several Bills sent up from the Commons, amongst others, one for excluding the bishops from their House. Essex, though a reformer, was by no means hostile to the hierarchy, and always obliged his servants to accompany him to church, and kept a chaplain who was a thorough conformist. The Lords did not object to the bishops and clergy in general being excluded from the Star Chamber, the Privy Council, and the Commissions of the Peace; but they contended that bishops had always formed a part of their body, and that the Commons might next take it into their heads to exclude barons.

The Commons, however, pressed on the Lords Bills for the abolition of the two greatest engines of tyranny in the country, the Star Chamber and the High Commission Court. These, with another for a poll-tax for the maintenance of the armies, the Lords passed; but Charles hesitated. He had given up much this Session: the right of prorogation without consent of Parliament, thus making Parliament perpetual if it pleased; the right to demand tonnage and poundage without the same consent; he had limited the forest laws; granted to the judges their places during good behaviour; and withdrawn the commission for the Presidency of the North as illegal. But to give up the civil and ecclesiastical inquisitions, those ready and terrible torture houses of the Crown, went hard with him. The poll-tax he passed at once, because he thought it would be unpopular, but he refused to sanction the others. The Commons came to a resolution that he should pass all three or none; and the tone of both Parliament and the people was so menacing, that on the 5th of July he gave his consent, and put an end to those un-English abominations.

The Commons having granted the king six subsidies, and tonnage and poundage for the year, he now proposed to proceed to Scotland to hold a Parliament. He was aware that a reaction had taken place there. The Marquis of Montrose had exerted himself to form a party amongst such noblemen and gentlemen as had grown to regard the popular leaders both in Scotland and England as bearing too insolently on the prerogatives of the Crown. He had prevailed on nineteen noblemen to subscribe a bond, pledging themselves "to oppose the particular and indirect practices of a few, and to study all public ends which might tend to the safety of religion, laws, and liberty." They were careful that the language of this bond should not clash openly with that of the Covenant; but the real design did not escape the vigilance of the Committee of Estates. They called on Montrose and his associates to clear themselves, and obtaining the bond, burn it publicly. Notwithstanding this, the confederates opened a secret correspondence with the king, and assured him of their confidence of victory over the Covenanters, if he would honour the Parliament with his presence, confirm his former concessions, and delay the distribution of offices and honours to the end of the session. But this correspondence also was discovered. Walter Stuart, the messenger of Montrose to the king, was seized near Haddington, and the letter of the marquis to the king, with various other suspicious papers, was found concealed in the pommel of his saddle. Montrose, Lord Napier, Sir George Stirling, and Sir Archibald Stuart, were arrested, examined, and sent to the castle of Edinburgh.

These events rendered Charles still more impatient for his northern journey. Not only Traquair, and the other four of his officers who had been excepted from pardon as incendiaries, but these, his new allies, demanded his assistance. By the beginning of August the treaty of pacification was signed by the Scots. They had received an engagement from the English Parliament for the payment of a balance of two hundred and twenty thousand pounds of "the brotherly assistance." Charles had granted an amnesty and an act of oblivion of all that was past, having cost the kingdom about one million one hundred thousand pounds, and both armies were ordered to be disbanded. The Parliament, however, looked on this journey with no friendly eye. Even amongst his own friends, the wily old Bishop of Lincoln, Williams, whom the king, in the absence of Laud, and the loss of Strafford, had taken into favour, and who was soon to be Archbishop of York, advised Charles to keep away from the Scots. He assured him that they would ferret out any secret negotiations that might pass between himself and the royal party, and make the English Commons acquainted with them; and that he would do much better to remain, and employ himself in corrupting and winning over as many as he could of the Parliamentary leaders. The Commons insisted on his appointing a Regency, if he should go, to act during his absence; but he consented only to the naming of a Commission. It was not till the 10th of August that he got permission for his journey, and he was not destined to depart without having another proof of the animus of the House of Commons. On the 4th, Serjeant Wild presented to the Lords a Bill of Impeachment against thirteen of the bishops--Laud's name being put among them--for their recent manufacturing of canons and constitutions contrary to law. Their grant of a benevolence to the king was made an offence under the name of a bribe, and by this means, though they had not been able to exclude all the bishops from the Upper House for ever, they excluded these thirteen for a time.

At length Charles was enabled to set out. He had made the Earl of Holland commander-in-chief of the Forces, much to the disgust of the friends of Essex, who was appointed commander only of those south of the Trent. He was attended in his coach by his nephew, Charles Louis, the nominal Elector Palatine, the Duke of Lennox, now Duke of Richmond, and the Marquis of Hamilton--rather ominous associates. The king had not been gone a week, however, when Holland having quarrelled with the queen, and the king having refused to make a baron at his suggestion, by which he would have got ten thousand pounds, sent a letter to the House of Lords, obscurely intimating some new practices and designs against Parliament. The Lords communicated to the Commons this letter, and the two Houses immediately appointed a commission to proceed to Scotland, ostensibly to procure the ratification of the late treaty, but really to keep watch over the king and his partisans. To this duty were named the Earl of Bedford, Lord Edward Howard, Sir William Almayne, Sir Philip Stapleton, Mr. Hampden, and Nathaniel Fiennes. The king endeavoured to get rid of this unwelcome commission, declaring it needless, and refused to sign the commission when sent to him; but the Parliament still pressing it, he allowed the commissioners to proceed to Scotland to attend him; all of whom did so except the Earl of Bedford.

Charles had set out with the resolve to win over as many of his enemies as possible, and to please the Scots at large, thereby to raise up a counter influence to that at home. At the northern camp, which was not yet broken up, he did all that he could to corrupt the officers, went to dine with old Leslie, the Scottish general, and soon after ennobled him. At Edinburgh he flattered the Covenanters by attending their preachings, and went so far as to appoint Alexander Henderson, the stout champion of the Covenant, his chaplain, appearing to take especial delight in his conversation, and having him constantly about him. He ratified all the acts of the last Session of the Scottish Parliament. As regarded the incendiaries, as they were called--that is, Charles's former ministers--who had been imprisoned for executing his commands, he promised on their release to give their offices to such persons as had pleased the Parliament. He submitted to them a list of forty-two councillors, and nine great officers of State. The Parliament conceded so far as to release all the incendiaries but five, and these were to be referred to a committee for trial, and their sentence to be pronounced by the king. So far, all promised well, but the Covenanters were desirous to have the Earl of Argyll, who had so openly espoused their cause in the General Assembly, appointed to the chief post in the ministry, that of Chancellor; but Charles conferred it on Loudon. Argyll strove for the next, that of Treasurer, a post of great emolument, but Charles gave it to Lord Ormond; but the Parliament would not consent, and the contest for this appointment had gone on ten days, when the feud thus commenced was rent still wider by what is known in Scottish history as the "Incident."

Since Charles had come to Edinburgh, he had continued to keep up his correspondence with the Marquis of Montrose, who was still prisoner in the castle, and who, notwithstanding his known intrigue with the king, had by concert with him kept up a pretence of being a zealous Covenanter. A letter from Montrose, revealing the progress of this correspondence, had been found by some traitorous person about the king, supposed, indeed, to have been taken from his pocket, and had been sent by the Marquis of Hamilton to the Covenanters. Montrose found means to convey to the king his ideas about it, and to warn him especially of the treasonable proceedings and intentions of Hamilton and Argyll. Hamilton, since his having, at Charles's request, assumed the part of a favourer of the Covenanters, had become suspected of being more really of that party than he pretended. The king had grown cool in his manner to him: the letters of Montrose, conveyed through William Murray, a groom of the bed-chamber, urged the king to make away with the traitors Hamilton and Argyll. At this juncture young Lord Kerr sent by the Earl of Crawford a challenge of treason to Hamilton, who appealed to Parliament in his justification, and Kerr was compelled to make an apology. But if we are to believe Hamilton himself, this did not prevent the prosecution of the plot to assassinate or carry them off to some place of concealment. He says, in a letter to his brother, Lord Lanark, that he was sent for suddenly by his brother and Argyll, as he was engaged with some company, desiring him to go to them on matters of the utmost consequence. When he went he was told by them that they had been desired to go to General Leslie, at his house, who informed them of a plot to kill or carry them away. On this being confirmed to Hamilton by Colonel Hurrie and Captain Stuart, the three lost no time in escaping from the city to Hamilton House, at Kinneil; whilst the rumour of the plot spreading, the burghers of Edinburgh had closed their gates, and armed themselves for the defence of the Parliament.

As this was a direct charge of a most black and murderous design on the part of the king, he lost no time, on receiving letters from the fugitive noblemen stating why they had fled, in marching to the Parliament House at the head of five hundred soldiers, to demand an explanation. The Parliament was justly alarmed at this menacing movement, and insisted that a commission should immediately be given to Leslie to guard Parliament with all the city bands, the regiments of foot near at hand, and some troops of horse.

Charles was loud in his complaints of the scandal cast upon him by the needless flight of the three noblemen and the arming of the citizens, and demanded an instant examination before Parliament for his clearance. The Parliament would not consent to a trial before the whole House; but in spite of the king's remonstrances, referred it to a committee, and ordered the immediate arrest of the Earl of Crawford, Colonel Cochrane, William Murray, and others. What the committee discovered is not known, for its proceedings were conducted with the profoundest secrecy; and they finally came to the conclusion that there was nothing which touched the king personally; and yet that the noblemen did not flee without sufficient cause, and were falsely accused by Montrose. Montrose himself, when examined regarding the letter to the king, declared that he meant to accuse nobody in particular; and Crawford, Murray, and the rest, gave confused and disordered answers. All was involved in mystery, and this was no little increased by Hamilton and Argyll returning to Edinburgh in the course of a few weeks, and Hamilton declaring that there was nothing in the affair which reflected any dishonour on the king. Still more to confound all reasoning on the matter, the plotters not only were liberated on bail, but Argyll was placed at the head of the Treasury, was created a marquis, Hamilton a duke, and Leslie an earl, with the title of Leven.

The news of the plot had been despatched with all speed to the Parliament in England, and had created great alarm in London, many being of opinion that a conspiracy was on foot to get rid of all the king's opponents. Parliament, which had adjourned to the 20th of October, had just met again, and the Council sent urgent requests for the return of the king to the capital.

The king, however, appeared in no haste. He remained entertaining all parties in great festivity, distributing the forfeited church lands amongst influential persons, not excepting his covenanting chaplain, Henderson. Honours were as freely bestowed. It was found that Charles had carried the Crown jewels with him: it was now well known that the great collar of rubies was pawned in Holland, and it was believed that Charles was buying up his enemies with others of the jewels, afterwards to be exchanged for money. These unpleasant suspicions were greatly increased by the fact that five companies of foot had, by the king's especial command, been detained at Berwick, notwithstanding the order for disbandment. The Council sent six ships to fetch away the artillery and ammunition from Berwick and Holy Isle, and again represented to Charles the necessity of his presence in London.

His departure, however, was at length determined by startling news out of another quarter, namely, of rebellion in Ireland.

INDEX

Abbott Bishop, Primate, 464.

"Addled Parliament," The, 453.

Albany, Duke of, assumes title of Alexander, King of Scotland, 44.

Albany, Duke of, proclaimed joint king with Mary of Scotland,
assassination of Rizzio, 264;
flees to Dunbar with Mary, 266;
unpopularity among the nobles, 267;
plot against him, 268;
murdered, 269.
(_See_ also Darnley, Lord.)

Amboise, Peace of, 258.

Amiens, Truce of, 39.

Archery, Decay of, 16th century, 388.

Architecture, 15th century, 67;
16th century, decline of Gothic, 380;
old Tudor, 381.

Argyle, Earl of, chief director of the Assembly, 572.

Armada, The Spanish, preparation by Philip, 315;
English fleet, 316;
strength of Armada, preparation for defence, 318;
sets sail, driven back by storm, sails up Channel, chased by
English, 319;
fight renewed, 320;
fire ships, 322;
retreat of Armada, English land forces, 323.

Arms and Armour, 16th century, 387.

Arran, Earl of, Regent, 191;
relations with England, 193;
with France, 194;
reconciled to Beaton, 194.

Arthur, Prince, married to Catherine of Aragon, 97;
death and character, 98.

Ascham, Roger, 363.

Aske, Robert, executed, 172.

Askew, Anne, tortured and burnt, 202.

Audley, Lord, the Cornish rising, 90.

Babington, Anthony, plot against Elizabeth, 306;
execution, 307.

Bacon, Sir Francis, scheme for managing Commons, 452;
Attorney General, 453;
undignified conduct on fall of Coke, Lord Keeper, 459;
Buckingham and Coke's daughter, 468;
Lord Chancellor, Baron Verulam, 470.
(_See_ also Verulam, Baron.)

Bacon, Sir Nicholas, first Baronet created, 452.

Bancroft, Bishop of London, Archbishop of Canterbury, 415;
animosity to Catholic and Protestant Nonconformists, 419;
supports James's claim to Royal Prerogative, 439;
death, 441.

Bankruptcy, Statute of, 347.

Barnet, Battle of, 34.

Baronet, new title created by James I.: its abuse, 452.

"Basilicon Doron," 413.

Bastwick, Dr., 555, 591.

Beaton, Cardinal, sent to Rome, 190;
claims regency, solicits aid from France, imprisonment, 191;
escape, 192;
plot to assassinate, 196;
burns Wishart, 199;
assassinated, 200.

"Benevolences," 453.

"Black Saturday," 206.

Blackwater, Battle of, 334.

"Bloody Statute," The, 175.

Boleyn, Anne, 146;
created Marchioness of Pembroke, married privately to Henry VIII.,
crowned, 156;
plot against, 164;
indicted for high treason, 166;
her defence, 167;
beheaded, 168.

Bonner, Bishop of London, imprisoned by Ecclesiastical Commission, 207;
deprived of his see, 216;
restoration of Catholicism, inhumanity, 236;
chief inquisitor, 238;
treated coldly by Elizabeth, 246.

Bosworth, Battle of, 63.

Bothwell, Earl of, murder of Darnley, mock trial and acquittal, 270;
divorce from his wife, created Duke of Orkney and Shetland,
marriage with Mary, 271;
rising of nobility, flight and death, 272.

Bothwell, Lord, intrigues to capture Scottish king, 89;
spy in Scottish camp, 90.

Brackenbury, Sir Robert, 54.

Brandon, Sir Charles, Lord Lisle. (_See_ Suffolk, Duke of.)

Buckingham, Duke of, 47;
harangues citizens of London in favour of Gloucester, offers crown
to him, 54;
instigates revolt to set Edward V. on the throne: his descent, 54;
proclaimed traitor by Richard III., 56;
marches to join Richmond, 57;
executed at Salisbury, 58.

Buckingham, Duke of, executed on charge of practising astrology, 124.

Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, 470;
his power, 471;
in Spain, 491;
at conference of Houses, 500;
impeachment, 519;
French expedition, 524;
assassinated, 536.

"Buckingham's Flood," 58.

Bulmer, Lady, burnt at Smithfield, 172.

Burleigh, Lord, Norfolk's execution, 289;
urges death of Mary, 290;
Mendoza, 303;
Lord Treasurer, 308;
Mary's death-warrant, 311;
counsels assistance to Henry of Navarre, 327;
death, 332.

"Bye Plot," The, 408.

Carr, Robert, 44.
(_See_ Rochester, Viscount.)

Casket Letters, The, 278.

Cateau-Cambresis, Treaty of, 250.

Catesby, Robert, Gunpowder Plot, 419.

Catherine of Aragon, married to Prince Arthur, 97;
betrothed to Prince Henry, 98;
married, 102;
regent during Henry's absence in France, 107;
treatment by the King, 146;
trial, 151;
divorce, 156.

Cavendish, Thomas, successful expedition to Spanish Main, 315.

Caxton, William, 66.

Cecil, Sir Robert, assembles council to proclaim James King, 404;
enmity to Raleigh, Cobham, and Gray, 406;
created Lord Cecil, Viscount Cranbourne, Earl of Salisbury, 406;
conspiracy against, 408;
Catesby's conspiracy, 423;
Lord Treasurer, 438;
death, 441.

Cecil, Sir William, confidential counsellor of Elizabeth, Secretary
of State, 246;
policy to Scottish reformers, 252;
Cecil and Elizabeth's relations to Leicester, 259;
Cecil and Murray, 277;
hostility to Mary Stuart's friends, 278;
Cecil and Knox, 283;
Scottish policy, 285;
Duke of Norfolk and Ridolfi plot, 288.
(_See_ also Burleigh, Lord.)

Charles, Prince, Spanish match, 491;
Henrietta of France, 503.

Charles I., First Parliament, 509;
tonnage and poundage, 514;
scheme to prevent Buckingham's impeachment, Second Parliament, 315;
illegal government, 522;
failure of expedition to Rhé, 524;
Third Parliament, 527;
the subsidies, 528;
Petition of Right, resistance of Charles, 531;
passed, 534;
force sent under Buckingham to aid the Rochellais, 535;
crowned at Edinburgh, 550;
adherence to Anglican Church, 551;
Bishop Williams, 556;
ship money, treaty with Spain against Holland, 557;
treatment of Irish, 564;
renewal of the covenant, temporises, 570;
letter to general assembly, 572;
conference, 578;
Wentworth, 581;
the Short Parliament, 584;
illegal extortions, 585;
Scottish Parliament, 586;
the Long Parliament, 590;
trial of Strafford, 595;
visits Scotland, 606.

Charolais, Count of, 38.

Chimneys, Introduction of, 382.

Clarence, Duke of, marries Isabel of Warwick, retires to Calais, 26;
at Olney, 27;
secret agreement with Edward to desert Warwick, 30;
joined in regency with Warwick, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 31;
deserts to Edward on eve of Barnet, 33;
quarrel with Gloucester, 36;
act of resumption, death of Isabel, 40;
suitor of Mary of Burgundy, 41;
at feud with Edward, charged with treason, death in the Tower, 42.

Cleves, Anne of, 178;
her reception by, and marriage to Henry VIII., 179;
divorced, retires to her estates, 183.

Coins and coinage, 15th century, 75;
16th century, their debasement, 392;
restitution of value by Elizabeth, 393.

Coke, Lord, indicts Raleigh, 410;
trial of Somerset, 453;
supports royal prerogative, 458;
disgrace, 459;
restored, 469;
popular leader, 489;
speeches in Parliament, 528.

Colonies, 395.

Commerce, 16th century, 394.

"Complaints of the Commons of Kent," 2.

Congregationalists, 356.

Costumes, 16th century, 388.

Courtenay, Earl of Devon, plot to marry Elizabeth and dethrone
Mary, 238.

Coverdale, Miles, 237.

Cranmer, Thomas, plan for settlement of King's divorce, 155;
Archbishop of Canterbury, 156;
Chancellor of the Exchequer, 157;
introduces bill for the supremacy and the succession, 158;
confesses Anne Boleyn, 167;
head of reforming party, 170;
conforms outwardly to statute of Six Articles, 175;
Anne of Cleves, 179;
fall of Cromwell, 182;
Catherine Howard, 184;
catechism, 207;
frames articles and canons, 219;
attainted, 227;
trial at St. Mary's, Oxford, 238;
cited to appear at Rome, renouncement and recantation, 239;
burnt at Oxford, 240.

Cromwell, Oliver, 538.

Cromwell, Thomas, successful advice on divorce to Henry VIII.,
Privy Councillor, 155;
Archbishop of Canterbury, pronounces Henry's marriage with
Anne Boleyn valid, 156;
Vicar General, 163;
Lord Cromwell, 170;
proposes royal marriage with Anne of Cleves, 178;
Earl of Essex and Lord Chamberlain, 180;
bill of attainder, execution, character, 182.

Culpepper, Thomas, alleged intrigue with his cousin, Catherine
Howard, 184;
attainted and executed, 185.

Darnley, Lord, 261;
marries Mary Queen of Scots, created Duke of Albany, 263.
(_See_ Albany, Duke of.)

Daubeny, Lord, suppresses Cornish rising, 91;
commands Royal forces against Warbeck, 94.

"De Tallagio non concedendo," 530, 559.

Desmond, Earl of, rebellion, 296.

Digby, Sir Everard, Gunpowder Plot, 424.

Dighton, John, murders Princes in the Tower, 54.

Douglas, Archibald, Earl of Angus, "Bell the Cat," puts to death
Earl of Mar, 44.

Drake, Sir Francis, sent by Elizabeth to harass Spanish settlements,
special favours from the Queen, 305;
exploits against the Spaniards, circumnavigates the globe,
knighted, 314;
destruction of ships in Cadiz harbour, 315;
fights against the Armada, 319;
expedition to Portugal, 326;
failure of expedition against Spanish settlements, death, 328.

Dudley, Sir Henry, plots to set Princess Elizabeth on the throne, 242;
plan to betray Hammes and Guines to the French, 243.

Dudley, Robert, 242;
Master of Ordnance, 243;
announces loss of Rouen to Elizabeth, 258;
her attachment to him, special favours, 259.
(_See_ Leicester, Earl of.)

Dymoke, Sir Thomas, 28.

East India Company chartered, 398.

Ecclesiastical History under Tudors, 351.

Edgecote, Battle of, 27.

Edward, Prince of Wales, 6;
attainted, 19;
saved by an outlaw, 22;
marries Anne of Warwick, 30;
crown settled on by Warwick's Parliament, 31;
death at Tewkesbury, 35.

Edward IV. crowned, 19;
secret marriage with Elizabeth Woodville, 23;
alliance of his sister Margaret and embassy to France, 24;
insurrection against him, 26;
unpopularity of the Woodvilles, 27;
taken prisoner at Olney by Warwick, 27;
marriage of daughter to George Neville, 27;
escapes from the Moor to Windsor, insurrections in Lincolnshire, 28;
detaches Clarence from Warwick, 30;
escapes to Court of Burgundy, 31;
lands at Ravenspur, 32;
defeats Warwick at Barnet, 33;
triumphant return to London, 36;
alliance with Burgundy against France, 38;
Treaty of Amiens, 39;
dissatisfaction of English, 40;
projected alliances, 43;
anger against Louis, 44;
death, burial at Westminster, character, 45;
children, 46.

Edward V., 46;
proposal for his coronation by Queen Mother, 47;
seized by Gloucester, conducted in state to London and removed to
the Tower, 48;
murder in the Tower, 54;
Sir Thomas More's account, 55.

Edward VI., 204;
repeal of Penal Acts of Henry, changes in doctrines and Church
discipline, 207;
Catechism and Liturgy, Book of Common Prayer, war with Scotland, 208;
public discontent and risings, 210;
Fall of Somerset, surrender of Boulogne, Church reform, 215;
new law of treason, revision of Prayer-Book, Act for compulsory
attendance at church, 218;
Cranmer's Articles of Religion and Code, failing health, 219;
change in the succession, death, 220.

Eliot, Sir John, 520;
speech in Parliament, 531;
imprisoned, 542.

Elizabeth, ecclesiastical legislation, 247;
Philip's proposed marriage, 248;
assumes title of Queen of France, 248;
relations with Mary Queen of Scots, 250;
indignation at Peace of Amboise, 258;
imprisons Mary, 274;
Commission of Inquiry, 275;
aids Protestants of France and Belgium, 279;
anger at proposed marriage of Duke of Norfolk, 280;
religious persecutions, 287;
Ridolfi plot, 289;
Duke of Anjou, 294;
religious conformity, 297;
relations with James VI., 303;
treaty with Protestants of the Netherlands, 305;
hesitation to sign death-warrant of Mary, 310;
sends Drake to harass Spanish Armada, betrays parsimony, 315;
negotiations with Philip's commissioners, 318;
reviews troops at Tilbury, 324;
persecution of Catholics and Puritans, 325;
sends Drake to Portugal, 326;
assists Henry IV. against Catholic League, 327;
rupture with Essex, 332;
death, 241.

Empson and Dudley, agents of Henry VII.'s avarice, 109.

Erpingham, Battle of, 28.

Essex, Earl of, created Marquis of Northampton, 207.

Essex, Earl of, Walter Devereux, plan to subjugate and colonise
Ireland, 295;
appointed Earl Marshal of Ireland, 296.

Essex, Earl of, favourite of Elizabeth, gallant conduct at
Peniche, 326;
at Cadiz, 329;
hostility of Cecils, commands Spanish expedition, 330;
Earl Marshal, 331;
quarrel with the queen, 332;
Lord-Deputy in Ireland, failure, 334;
trial, 335;
conspiracy, 336;
tried and executed, 338.

Étaples, Treaty of, 84.

Falkland, Lord, Lord-Deputy of Ireland, recalled, 560.

Fawkes, Guido, 420;
gunpowder plot, 422;
arrested, 427;
executed, 430.

Felton, John, 536.

Ferrybridge, Battle of, 18.

Field of the Cloth of Gold, 124.

Finch, Sir John, Speaker of the Commons, Chief Justice, 558;
speech at opening of Short Parliament, 582.

Firearms, 16th century, 388.

Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, refuses to take new oath of
allegiance, 152;
attainted and beheaded, 162.

Fitzgerald, Lord Thomas, 187;
surrenders to Lord Gray, 188.

Fitzhugh, Lord, 26.

Fitzwilliam, Sir William, created Earl of Southampton and Lord
High Admiral, 173;
receives Catherine Howard's confession of infidelity, 185.

"Five Articles," The, 463.

Flodden Field, Battle of, 112.

Forest, Miles, murders princes in the Tower, 54;
rewarded by Richard III., 55.

Fox, Bishop, 78.

France, Louis XI., 19;
invaded by Edward IV., 39;
expedition against Charles VIII. by Henry VII., 84;
invasion by Henry VIII., 107;
marriage of Princess Mary and Louis, 115;
alliance sought by Francis, 123;
war with England, 129;
treaty with Henry VIII., 143;
advantageous peace, 215;
Calais regained, 244.

Frobisher, Martin, 316;
bravery against Armada, 319.

Furniture and Decoration, 16th century, 386.

Gardiner, 147;
preaches at St. Paul's Cross against Lutheran doctrines, 180;
growing influence, 186;
impolitic conduct, 202;
disgrace and banishment from Court, 203;
imprisoned by Ecclesiastical Commission, 207;
liberated by Mary, 223;
patriotic caution, 226;
Chancellor, 227;
proposes reconciliation with Rome, 235;
President of Commission to try heretics, 236;
withdraws from the office, 238;
death, 242.

Garnet (Gunpowder plot) hanged, 430.

Gloucester, Richard, Duke of, accompanies Edward IV. in his flight
to the Continent, 31;
visits his brother Clarence the night before Barnet, 33;
quarrel with Clarence over Warwick estates, 36;
marries Anne of Warwick, 37;
pays court to Louis XI., 39;
hostile conduct towards Clarence, 42;
commands army against Scotch, enters Edinburgh, 44;
pledges support to Edward V., 46;
arrests Lords Grey and Rivers and others, 47;
seizes the king, 48;
and his brother, 49;
holds London in subjection, 50;
accepts Crown at Baynard's Castle, proclaims amnesty, 51;
crowned, 52.
(_See_ also Richard III.)

Gondamar, Spanish Ambassador, 474.

Gordon, Lady Catherine, marries Warbeck, 88;
attached to Queen's Court, 94.

Gowrie Conspiracy, The, 406.

Gresham, Sir Thomas, 395.

Grey, Lady Jane, 202;
marries Lord Guildford Dudley, and is made Queen, 220;
beheaded, 232.

Grindal, Archbishop of Canterbury, 298.

Guinegate, Battle of. (_See_ "Spurs," 110.)

Guise, Duke of, head of Catholic League, 304;
assassinated, 313.

Gunpowder Plot, The, 419-430.

Hamilton, Marquis of, sent by Charles to Covenanters, 568;
concessions, 570;
opens General Assembly, 571;
letter to Charles, 572;
ill-success of fleet, 577.

Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, 283;
assassinates Murray, 284.

Hampden, John, 552;
ship money, 560.

Hampton Court Conference, 414.

Hastings, Lord, confidant of Gloucester, 47.

Hawkins, Sir John, 313;
originates slave trade, 314.

Hedgeley Moor, Battle of, 21.

Henry VI., his imbecility, 6;
York appointed Protector, 7;
defeated at St. Albans, 8;
Great Council of Coventry, 9;
Conference at London, 10;
at Ludiford, 11;
defeated at Northampton, Parliament for redress of grievances, 13;
assents to bill of succession, 14;
attainted by Parliament, 19;
at Harlech Castle, 20;
captured and imprisoned, 22;
restored to throne by Warwick, 31;
defeat of Barnet, 34;
death in the Tower, burial at Chertsey Abbey, body removed by
Richard III. to Windsor, 36.

Henry VII., defective title, Parliament and attainted members, 76;
claims acknowledged by Parliament, 77;
marriage, Lord Lovel's rising, Lambert Simnel, 78;
failure of rebellion, 79;
battle of Lincoln Stoke, 81;
coronation of Elizabeth, 82;
origin of Star Chamber, 82;
his avarice, 82;
discontent in England, invasion of France, 83;
Treaty of Étaples, 84;
Perkin Warbeck, 85;
Scottish affairs, 89;
Cornish revolt, 90;
fresh invasion of the Scots, 91;
visits France, affiance of daughter Margaret to James
of Scotland, 96;
marriage of Prince Arthur to Catherine of Aragon, 97;
matrimonial schemes, death of Elizabeth, 98;
exactions, 99;
Philip of Flanders and his wife Joanna at Windsor, 99;
proposes marriage to Joanna when widow, 99;
death, 101.

Henry VIII., marries Catherine of Aragon, 102;
meets Maximilian, 108;
Wolsey, 116;
meets Charles V. at Dover and Field of the Cloth of Gold, 124;
secret treaty with Charles, 136;
"Defender of the Faith," seeks divorce, 145;
refers question to Clement VII., 147;
claims supremacy as head of the Church, 156;
suppresses the monasteries, 163;
execution of Anne Boleyn, 168;
marries Jane Seymour, 169;
Statute of the Six Articles, 175;
execution of relatives of Cardinal Pole, 176;
marries Anne of Cleves, 179;
disgraces Cromwell, 181;
marries Catherine Howard, 183;
Royal progress in the North, 184;
publishes Bishops' Book and the King's Book, 186;
claims Crown of Scotland, 190;
marries Catherine Parr, 195;
death, children, succession, 204.

Henry of Navarre, 304;
assisted by Elizabeth against Catholic League, abjures
Protestant faith, 327;
league with Elizabeth against Spain, 328;
assassinated, 445.

Henry, Prince, son of James I., popularity and character, 446;
proposed alliance with Princess Christine of France, illness
and death, 447.

Herbert, Lord, besieges Terouenne, 107;
created Earl of Somerset, 114.

Hertford, Earl of, takes title of Lord Protector and Duke of
Somerset, 205.
(_See_ Somerset.)

Hewett, Andrew, burnt at Smithfield, 160.

Hexham, Battle of, 21.

High Commission, Court of, 350, 606.

Holbein, Hans, 383.

Holles imprisoned, 540;
demands impeachment of Laud, 591.

"Holy Maid of Kent," 158.

Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, burnt, 236.

Howard, Lord, Earl Marshal, and Duke of Norfolk, 53;
falls at Bosworth, 64.

Howard, Lord, of Effingham, Lord High Admiral, 316;
created Earl of Nottingham, 331.

Howard, Lord Thomas, Lord Admiral, 107;
at Flodden, 111;
Earl of Surrey, 114;
war with France, 130;
sentenced to death, but escapes execution, 203.

Howard, Sir Edward, Lord Admiral, commands fleet against French, 105;
blockades Brest, brave death, 107.

Huguenots and Elizabeth, 257;
rise under Condé, 279;
massacre of St. Bartholomew, 289;
horror excited by, Elizabeth assists the Rochellais, 290;
expedition to Isle of Rhé, 507.

Independents, 356.

Ireland, Simnel in, 79;
Warbeck in, 86;
insurrection, 187;
made a kingdom, 189;
plantation of Ulster, 295;
Desmond's rebellion, 296;
Essex in, 333;
Tyrone's revolt, 334;
inquiry into titles, 464;
oppression of Catholics, 467;
Wentworth, 561;
his "Thorough" policy, 563.

Jack Cade, 2;
takes possession of London,
slain by Iden, 3.

Jacquetta of Luxembourg, 22.

James I., wholesale creation of peers and knights, 405;
"Main" and "Bye" plots, 408;
Hampton Court conference, 414;
abuse of royal prerogative at elections, 416;
Gunpowder Plot, 419;
royal treatise, Cardinal Bellarmine, 432;
collisions with Parliament, 434;
extravagance and impecuniosity, 436;
exaction of duties, 438;
Lady Arabella Stuart, 442;
Prince Henry, 446;
marriage of daughter Elizabeth, 447;
reign of favourites, 448;
venality at Court, 451;
George Villiers, fall of Somerset, 454;
episcopacy in Scotland, 462;
plantation of Ulster, 466;
execution of Raleigh, 478;
thirty years' war, 479;
his indecision, 480;
inquiry by Parliament into abuse of patents, 482;
"governing well," 488;
the Spanish match, 489;
negotiations with the Pope, 492;
public and private treaty with Spain, 495;
match between Henrietta and Prince Charles, 503;
secret arrangement with France, 506;
death, 507.

James II. of Scotland, slain at Roxburgh, 18.

James III. of Scotland, 43.

James IV. of Scotland, slain at Flodden, 114.

Jane Shore, 36.

Jesuits, Campian and Parsons, Elizabeth's proclamation against, 298;
their schemes and plots, 303.

"John Amend All," 2.

Juxon, Dean of Westminster, Bishop of London, Lord High Treasurer, 554.

Ket, Robert, rising in Norfolk, 211;
repulses royal troops, burns Norwich, 212;
defeat at Dussingdale, hanged, 213.

"King's Book," The, 186.

Knox, John, arrives from France, promotes the Reformation in
Scotland, 251;
urges on Cecil death of Mary Stuart, 283.

Lambert, John, reformer, put to death, 175.

Latimer, Bishop, sent to Tower, 227;
tried at Oxford and burnt, 238.