His intentions.

any intention of lowering the flag of the monarchy in the presence of the representatives of the nation. What he proposed was but an experiment and nothing more. "The Lords," as Windebank expressed it, "being desirous that the King and his people should meet, if it were possible in the ancient and ordinary way of Parliament, rather than any other, were of opinion his Majesty should make trial of that once more, that so he might leave his people without excuse, and have wherewithal to justify himself to God and the world that in his own inclination he desired the old way; but that if his people should not cheerfully, according to their duties, meet him in that, especially in this exigent when his kingdom and person are in apparent danger, the world might see he is forced, contrary to his own inclination, to use extraordinary means rather than, by the peevishness of some few factious spirits, to suffer his state and government to be lost.” 2

1

On December 5 the discussion was transferred to the Council itself. Traquair made a formal report of his mission.

Dec. 5. Traquair's relation to the Privy Council.

He painted the disobedience of the Scottish Parliament in the blackest colours; all the blacker perhaps because he knew that he was regarded at Court as an accomplice of the Covenanters, and that it was reported that he had said at Edinburgh that his Majesty desired but the shadow, but would be content to quit the substance. Wentworth's advice was unanimously accepted by the Council. Those members. who were in any way favourable to the Scots were also those who desired most heartily to see another Parliament at Westminster.

Wentworth's advice adopted.

The Coun

Before giving his formal consent to the proposal, Charles requested the Council to advise him on the financial situation. It was certain that no further help was to be expected cillor's loan. from the City. The loan which had been demanded in the summer had been absolutely refused, and repeated pressure had only produced an offer of 10,000l. as a gift: an offer which was at first rejected as insufficient, and only 1 In the old sense of 'evident.'

2 Windebank to Hopton, Dec. 13, Clar. S. P. ii. 81.

1639

THE COUNCILLORS' LOAN.

77

accepted when it became evident that no more was to be had.' The King now asked the Councillors whether, 'if the Parliament should prove as untoward as some have lately been, the Lords would not then assist him in such extraordinary ways in the extremity as should be thought fit.' They unanimously voted in the affirmative. On this the King announced that Parliament should be summoned for April 13, and that Wentworth should first proceed to Ireland to hold a Parliament at Dublin, which would doubtless set a good example to the English Parliament which was to follow.2 It is impossible not to recognise the hand of Wentworth here. It was no mere financial operation that was in question. Parliament was to be made to feel that the King did not rely on its vote alone. Before the Council broke up, it was resolved that its members should at once offer a loan to the King. Wentworth led the way with 20,000l. Coventry, Manchester, and Newcastle followed with 10,000l. apiece. The whole loan was fixed at 300,000l. In a few days the subscriptions amounted to 150,000l., and 50,000l. more were gathered before Christmas.3

Wentworth's next care was to preserve the appearance of magnanimity. The Scots were not to have it in their power to say that the King had refused to listen to them. In spite, therefore, of the dismissal of Loudoun and Dunfermline, Traquair was directed to return to Edinburgh, and to inform the committee left behind by the

The Scots invited to give satisfaction.

1 Rossingham's News-Letter, Aug. 6, 13, Add. MSS. 11,045, fol. 43, 45.

2 Windebank to Hopton, Dec. 13, Clar. S. P. ii. 31.

29'

20

30'

3 The King to the Lords of the Council, Dec. 6, S. P. Dom. ccccxxxv. 37. Rossetti to Barberini, Dec. R. O. Transcripts. Aerssens to the Prince of Orange, Dec. 19, Arch. de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, Sér. 2, iii. 155. The payments cannot be traced on the Exchequer Books, as they were secured as anticipations on payments hereafter to be made by the subscribers, and anticipations do not appear on these books. Wentworth's money, for instance, was secured out of the Northern recusancy fines, of which he was the collector, and which he would keep in his own hands till the 20,000l. had been paid off. There is, however, a complete list of the payments in S. P. Dom. ccccliii. 75.

Parliament, that if they still wished to send a deputation to the King they were at liberty to do so.

Reception of
England.

In England the unexpected announcement of a Parliament was received with joyful surprise. The surprise was not accompanied with any feeling of gratitude to the King. the news in The very precautions which had been taken were certain to arouse suspicion. It might reasonably be argued that if Charles had purposed a thorough reconciliation with his people, he would not have thought it necessary to fortify himself with the Privy Councillors' loan. Graver rumours

Suspicions of the King's intentions.

too were floating in the air. It was whispered that the army was to be raised, not to fight the Scots, but to intimidate Parliament. The members would be called on to deliberate amidst the clash of arms, and would be called upon to vote away under durance the ancient liberties of Englishmen. Anyone who ventured to raise his voice against the Court would pay for his audacity with his head.1 It is easy to say that such suspicions were unfounded and unreasonable, but it is impossible to deny that it was natural that they should be entertained.

Both Charles and Wentworth under-estimated the strength of the opposition against their policy too much, to make them The Opposi- even think of recurring to violence. Nor is it at all tionscious of likely that even those who felt most bitterly against its strength. the Government were aware how strong was their position in the country. In the seventeenth century, when Parliament was not sitting, our ancestors were a divided people. Each county formed a separate community, in which the gentry discussed politics and compared grievances when they met at quarter sessions and assizes. Between county and county there was no such bond. No easy and rapid means of communication united York with London, and London with Exeter. No newspapers sped over the land, forming and echoing a national opinion from the Cheviots to the Land's End. The men who grudged the payment of ship-money in Buckinghamshire could only learn from uncertain rumour that it was equally unpopular

1 Bellievre to Chavigny, Dec.

ΙΟ 20'

Arch. des Aff. Étr. xlvii. 650.

1639

LAUD'S UNPOPULARITY.
ULARIT

79

in Essex or in Shropshire. There was therefore little of that mutual confidence which distinguishes an army of veterans from an army of recruits, none of that sense of dependence upon trusted leaders which gives unity of purpose and calm reliance to an eager and expectant nation.

The ecclesiastical opposition.

If the sense of union was wanting to the opponents of the existing political system, it was still more wanting to the opponents of the existing ecclesiastical system. Disinclination to pay money which is not regarded as legally due is a very simple feeling. The dislike felt for Laud's ecclesiastical policy was by no means so simple. Many persons wished to see the Prayer Book replaced by the unceremonial worship of New England or Geneva. A larger number wished to retain the Prayer Book with certain alterations. Others again would leave the Prayer Book itself untouched, but would interpret the rubrics as they had been interpreted in the days of their boyhood, when the communiontable stood in the centre of the church. Behind all these there was a body of resistance not called forth by any ecclesiastical or religious feeling whatever, but simply rising from the dissatisfaction of the gentry with the interference of the clergy.

Laud's report.

How widely spread the latter feeling was, neither Charles nor Laud had any notion. Laud's certificate of the condition of the Church during the past year was written in a cheerful tone. The Bishop of Peterborough had stated that few of the laity were factious, excepting where they were misled by the clergy. "This," noted Laud, "is too true in most parts of the kingdom." If Laud had been right in this, his task would not have been as hopeless as it was. A little more care in weeding out clergymen of the wrong stamp, and a steady persistence in scrutinising the character of candidates for ordination, would have reduced England to the proper ecclesiastical pattern.

Nor was evidence wanting which might seem to encourage a hopeful view. During the last months of 1639 and the first months of 1640, the Act Book of the High Commission Court

1 Works, v. 361,

The Ecclesiastical courts.

only records the deprivation of one clergyman, and that for open and unblushing drunkenness. The books of the Official's Court of the Archdeaconry of Colchester tell much the same tale. The time of the court was mainly occupied with those cases of immorality which would have been even more severely visited by the Puritan clergy than by the Laudian courts. Amongst the charges of another description were complaints against persons who behaved indecently in church, who refused to bow at the name of Jesus, who worked in the fields on saints' days, and even on one occasion on the day of Gunpowder Plot. Women were reprimanded for chattering or sewing in church, and more frequently for refusing to appear veiled when returning thanks after childbirth: a practice on which Laud insisted with unusual vehemence, and to which they objected strongly, apparently from the imaginary resemblance of the required veil to the linen sheet worn in penance by the unchaste. Many persons, too, were summoned for absenting themselves from church; but their excuses and promises of amendment were readily admitted. The fines imposed were small, and penalties infrequent; though they undoubtedly caused considerable irritation whenever they were inflicted.2

The dissatisfaction called forth amongst the Puritan clergy was suppressed rather than overcome. Hundreds unwillingly administered the Communion at the rails. In one part of England the ill-feeling of the clergy was peculiarly strong. Wren had lately been removed from Norwich to Ely, and the Puritan diocese of Norwich was handed over to of Norwich. Montague, the chief mover in the scheme for the reconciliation of the Churches of Rome and England. Yet

The diocese

1 Sentence on Rawson, Feb. 6. High Commission Book, S. P. Dom. ccccxxxiv. fol. 92.

2 The Act Books are kept in a room over the porch of the parish church at Chelmsford, and are in the charge of the registrar. I have to thank the Rev. Sir J. Hawkins, Bart., and F. T. Veley, Esq., for their kind assistance in helping me to see these books at a time when the illness of the late registrar made it difficult for me to procure access to them in the ordinary way. Extracts from the books are given by Archdeacon Hales, in his Series of Precedents and Proceedings.