The bishop's book was altered in many places, contrary to his own inclinations, by the archbishop, and particularly in those wherein he had called the pope antichrist, or spoke too favourably of the morality of the sabbath; and said, that presbytery was of use, where episcopacy could not be obtained. His grace disapproved of his lordship's waiving the question, whether episcopacy was a distinct order, or only a higher degree of the same order; and of his advancing the divine right of episcopacy no higher than the apostles, whereas he would have it derived from Christ himself. Upon the whole, his lordship's book was so modelled by his metropolitan, that in the debate hereafter mentioned, he could hardly go the lengths of his own performance.

The bishops still kept a strict hand over the Puritans: not a sermon was to be heard on the distinguishing points of Calvinism all over England. In some diocesses great complaints were made of Puritan justices of peace, for being too strict in putting the laws in execution against profaneness. At Ashford in Kent the archbishop said, he must have recourse to the statute of abjuration, and call in the assistance of the temporal courts to reduce the separatists, the censures of the church not being sufficient. Upon the whole, there was no abatement of the height of conformity, even to the end of this year, though the flames that were kindling in Scotland began to disturb the tranquillity of the church.

Mr. Bagshaw, a lawyer of some standing in the Middle Temple, being chosen reader in that house for the Lent vacation, began to attack the power of the bishops. In his lectures on the 25th Edw. III. cap. 7, he maintained that acts of parliament were valid without the assent of the lords spiritual. 2. That no beneficed clerk was capable of temporal jurisdiction at the making that law. And, 3. That no bishop, without calling a synod, had power as a diocesan to convict a heretic. Laud, being informed of these positions, told the king that Bagshaw had justified the Scots covenanters in decrying the temporal jurisdiction of churchmen, and the undoubted right of the bishops to their seats in parliament; upon which he was immediately interdicted all farther reading on those points; and though Bagshaw humbly petitioned the lord-keeper and the archbishop for liberty to proceed, he could get no other answer, after long

attendance, than that it had been better for him not to have meddled with that argument, which should stick closer to him than he was aware of.* Whereupon he retired into the country.

The resolution of the English court to renew the war with Scotland, was owing to the lord-deputy Wentworth, whom archbishop Laud had sent for from Ireland for this purpose. This nobleman, from being an eminent patriot, was become a petty tyrant, and had governed Ireland in a most arbitrary and sovereign manner for about seven years, discountenancing the Protestants, because they were Calvinists, and inclined to Puritanism, and giving all imaginable encouragement to the Roman Catholics as friends to the prerogative, whereby he suffered the balance of power in that kingdom to fall into the hands of the Papists. Wentworth, being come to court, was immediately created earl of Strafford and knight of the garter, and in concert with Laud advised the king to set aside the pacification, and to push the Scots war with vigour, offering his majesty eight thousand Irish, and a large sum of money for his assistance; but this not being sufficient, the war was thought so reasonable and necessary to the king's honour, that it might be ventured with an English parliament, which being laid before the council, was cheerfully agreed to, and, after twelve years' interval, a parliament was summoned to meet April 13, 1640.

The Scots foreseeing the impending storm, consulted where to fly for succour; some were for throwing themselves into the hands of the French, and accordingly wrote a very submissive letter to that monarch, signed by the hands of seven Scots peers, but never sent it; for upon application to their friends at London, they were assured by a letter drawn up by lord Saville, and signed by himself, with the names of Bedford, Essex, Brook, Warwick, Say and Seal, and Mandeville (who agreed to the letter, though they were so cautious as not to write their own names), "that the hearts of the people of England were with them; that they were convinced, the liberties of both nations were at stake, and therefore they might depend upon their assistance as soon as a fair opportunity offered.". Upon this encou ragement the Scots laid aside their design of applying to * Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 407.

France, and resolved to raise another army from among themselves, and march into England.

"The parliament that met at Westminster (says the noble historian*) was made up of sober and dispassionate men, exceedingly disposed to do the king service," and yet his majesty, would not condescend to speak to them from the throne,+ ordering the lord-keeper Finch to acquaint them with the undutiful behaviour of the Scots, whom he was determined to reduce, and therefore would not admit of the mediation of the two houses, but expected their immediate assistance, after which he would give them time to consider of any just grievances to be redressed. But the But the commons, instead of beginning with the supply, appointed committees for religion and grievances, which disobliged the king so much, that, after several fruitless attempts to persuade them to begin with the subsidy-bill, he dissolved them in anger, without passing a single act, after they had sat about three weeks. The blame of this hasty dissolution was by some cast upon Laud, by others on sir Harry Vane, while the king laid it on the misbehaviour of the house of commons, who would not take his royal word for redress of grievances, after they had voted the necessary supplies; he therefore sent the leading members of the house into custody, and committed them prisoners to the Fleet and other prisons.

4

His majesty having failed of a parliamentary supply at the time he demanded it, was told by lord Strafford and others of the council, that he was now absolved from all rules of government, and might take what his necessities required, and his power could obtain. This indeed was no more than his majesty had been doing for twelve years before; but some people drew an unhappy conclusion from this maxim, viz. that if the king was absolved from all

* Clarendon's Hist. vol. 1. p. 159.

† Lord Clarendon says, "After the king had shortly mentioned his desire to be again acquainted with parliaments after so long an intermission, &c." he referred the cause to be enlarged on by the speaker. "It is plain from hence (Dr. Grey adds) that his majesty did condescend to speak to them from the throne." This is observed to impeach Mr. Neal's veracity. But when the reader has lain before him the short speech delivered from the throne, he will judge whether Mr. Neal stands charged with more than an inaccuracy. It is given us by Nalson, vol. 1. p. 306.

"There never was a king that had a more great and weighty cause to call his people together than myself; I will not trouble you with the particulars; I have informed my lord-keeper, and command him to speak, and to desire your attention." This was not properly a speech from the throne, but, as Mrs. Macaulay calls it, preface" to the lord-keeper's speech.-Ev.

a short

rules of government, the people were absolved from all rules of obedience.

However, all the engines of arbitrary power were set at work to raise money for the war, as loans, benevolences, ship-money, coat and conduct money, knighthood, monopolies, and other springs of the prerogative, some of which, says lord Clarendon, were ridiculous, and others scandalous, but all very grievous to the subject. Those who refused payment, were fined and imprisoned by the star-chamber or council-table, among whom were some of the aldermen of London, and sheriffs of several of the counties. The courtiers advanced 300,000l. in three weeks, the clergy in convocation gave six subsidies, the Papists were very generous; Strafford went over to Ireland, and obtained four subsidies of the parliament of that kingdom; soldiers were pressed into the service in all counties, few listing them selves voluntarily except Papists, many of whom had commissions in the army, which gave rise to a common saying among the people, that the queen's army of Papists were going to establish the Protestant religion in Scotland.

The people groaned under these oppressions, the odium whereof fell upon Laud and Strafford, who were libelled and threatened with the fury of the populace. May 9, 1640, a paper was fixed upon the old Exchange, animating the apprentices to pull the archbishop out of his palace at Lambeth; upon this the trained bands were ordered into St. George's Fields; nevertheless, the mob rose and broke his windows, for which one of them being apprehended suffered death as a traitor, though he could not be guilty of more than a breach of the peace. From Lambeth the mob went to the house of the pope's agent, where they were dispersed by the king's guards, and some of them sent to the Whitelion prison; but the following week [May 15], they rose again and rescued their friends. The country was in the same mutinous posture, there being frequent skirmishes between them and the new-raised soldiers, even to bloodshed. The city train-bands were in arms all the summer, but the campaign proving unsuccessful, there was no keeping the people within bounds afterward; for while the high-commission was sitting at St. Paul's, October 22, near two thousand Brownists, as the archbishop calls them, raised a disturbance, and broke up the court, crying out, No

bishops no high-commission. Such were the distempers of the times!

The convocation that sat with this parliament was opened April 14, with more splendour and magnificence than the situation of affairs required. The sermon was preached by Dr. Turner, canon residentiary of St. Paul's, from St. Matt. xvi. 16, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep among wolves." After which they adjourned to the chapter-house, where the king's writ of summons being read, the archbishop, in a Latin speech, recommended to the lower house the choosing a prolocutor, to be presented to himself or his commissary in the chapel of Henry VII. on Friday following, to which time and place the convocation was adjourned.

On the 17th of April after divine service, Dr. Steward dean of Chichester and clerk of the closet, was presented to the archbishop as prolocutor in the chapel of Henry VII. whom his grace approved, and then produced his majesty's commission under the great seal, authorizing them "to make and ordain certain canons and constitutions, for the establishing true religion, and the profit of the state of the church of England."* The commission was to remain in force during the present session of parliament, and no longer; and by a remarkable clause, "nothing was to be concluded without the archbishop's being a party in the consultation." It was intended also to draw up an English pontifical, which was to contain,-The form and manner of royal coronations. A form for consecrating churches, churchyards, and chapels.-A form for reconciling penitents and apostates.-A book of articles to be used by all bishops at their visitation.-And a short form of prayer for before sermon, comprehending the substance of the fiftyfifth canon. But most of these projects were interrupted by the sudden dissolution of the parliament.

The convocation, according to ancient custom, should have broken up at the same time, but one of the lower house having acquainted the archbishop with a precedent in the 27th year of queen Elizabeth, of the clergy's granting a subsidy or benevolence, of two shillings in the pound, to be raised upon all the clergy, after the parliament was risen, and levying it by their own synodical act only, under the penalty of ecclesiastical censures, it was concluded from

* Collyer's Eccles, Hist. p. 793. Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 423.