to one with a weak king. She was, however, obliged to announce that she was no longer in danger of falling into a consumption, and that she was therefore able to endure the English climate.' Annoying as this rebuff was, she was soon afterwards subjected to a still greater annoyance. Rossetti informed her that an answer to her application for

The Pope

will not help money had been received from Rome, and that the Pope would no nothing for her unless her husband

her unless

the King changes his religion.

He need not avow his It would be enough if

declared himself a Catholic. conversion openly at first. the Papal authorities were left in no doubt of the fact. The Queen knew that the Pope might as well have refused her request in distinct terms. She told Rossetti that she wished much that it might be with her husband as His Holiness desired, but that everything depended on God. Why should not offers liberty the Pope content himself with that which was really of worship practicable? If victory were gained with papal aid Catholics. the Catholics should be permitted to keep open churches in England, and should be entirely freed from all impediments to the exercise of their religion.

The Queen

for the

Father Philips adjured Rossetti to counsel the acceptance of this offer. He urged that the King was now in want only of money. He had men enough at his disposal. Irish Catholics were ready to serve him, and there were Protestants whose devotion could also be counted on. Whatever stipulations were made, the King's victory would turn to the advantage of the Catholics. Without their aid Charles would find it impossible to maintain his authority. The chief difficulty unfortunately lay with Charles himself. He was timid, and slow in coming to a resolution. Rossetti recommended that the Queen should be urged to employ herself on the good work of his conversion. She knew how the royal authority in France had been strengthened by her father's acknowledgment of the true faith."

If no help was to be had from abroad, the eager, restless

Richelieu's Memoir for Chavigny, Avenel, vi. 756. Montreuil's despatch, March 4, Bibl. Nat. Fr. 15,995, fol. 203.

2 Rossetti to Barberini, March. R. O. Transcripts.

1641

SUCKLING'S ADVICE.

311

woman must turn elsewhere for relief from the intolerable dis

Sir John

She looks for grace and burden of her life. The quarter from other help. which the suggestion of assistance now reached her was not one which would have commended itself to anyone versed in the realities of the world. Sir John Suckling was a gay courtier, much addicted to gambling, like many Suckling. others who, by the side of the grave decorum of Charles's domestic life, anticipated the loose profligacies of the Whitehall of Charles II. As a writer of sparkling verses he secured the admiration of his contemporaries, and has retained the admiration of later generations. His conversation was as easy and brilliant as his verse, and he readily made himself acceptable to the ladies of the Court, who thought it no shame to listen to the airy doctrine that constancy in married life was a fit object of scorn, and that modesty was but an empty name. Amongst men he was not much respected. Once in his life he had thought of marrying a lady whose attractions were to be found in the weight of her purse. A rival, strong of arm, cudgelled him till he agreed to renounce all claims upon the golden prize. When Charles marched to the Border in 1639, Suckling raised, at his own expense, a hundred troopers decked in such gorgeous array as to expose him on his return to the laughter of rhymesters, who charged him with cowardice in the field, of which there is no reason to suppose that he had been specially guilty.'

Such was the man who had already taken upon himself to give advice which was to save the falling throne. The counsel

Suckling advises the King to act.

which he offered showed that at least he had eyes to see something of the cause of the King's misfortunes. Charles, he said was being ruined because he remained merely passive. If he wished to recover the affections of his people he must show that he was capable of acting. He must make it clearly understood that he had cut

The verses on Suckling and his troop are in Musarum Delicia, i. 81. Probably his horse was under Holland's command, and shared in the retreat from Kelso. We have such detailed information on that campaign that if Suckling had performed any special act of cowardice it would have been heard of.

adrift for ever those unpopular counsellors who had brought him nothing but odium. The Queen, too, must sacrifice her personal preferences for the sake of her husband. It was no hard matter for a king to be popular if he chose to give himself the trouble. The English people had no formed habit of reverence for the persons of the Parliamentary leaders, whilst loyalty to the King was a traditional feeling, which might easily be re-awakened. So far Suckling's advice was excellent. It was utterly disappointing at its close. The King was recommended to outbid the Parliamentary leaders by granting all, and more than all, that was desired. What concessions this indefinite recommendation covered, Suckling did not say. He had no knowledge of the real conditions of the political problem, or of any solution by which they could be satisfied. His advice to act ended in the vaguest suggestions as to the thing to be done. Political wisdom was not to be expected from a fribble.1

Henry

The letter in which Suckling gave the measure of his value as a politician was addressed to Henry Jermyn, and Jermyn was the trusted counsellor of the Queen, though even Jermyn. he had been kept completely in the dark on the negotiations with Rome. So far as he had any religion at all, he was a Protestant, and his imperturbable self-reliance attracted the respect of the spirited and excitable lady whom he served. He was not too wise to think it possible to support the monarchy upon an armed soldiery, and did not trouble himself to develop a policy which night command respect. Somewhere about the middle of March, just at the time when Percy and his associates were preparing their scheme for a petition from the army, Jermyn and Suckling were consulting together as to the possibility of drawing the army to a more direct intervention in the strife between Charles and his Parliament. Suckling, like Percy, looked to the discontent caused by the vote which, on March 6, had transferred 10,000l. from the English to the Scottish army, as offering a basis for his operations.

Suckling's Works, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 233.

6

2 Rossetti to Barberini, Nov. R. O. Transcripts.

1641

THE ARMY PLOT.

313

Percy and his friends had intended to clothe the action of the army in Parliamentary form. The sword was not to be

The command of the army to be changed.

succeed Northum

to

drawn, but it was to be understood that it was ready to be drawn in case of necessity. Suckling and Jermyn knew that if the sword was to be appealed to it must strike sharply and without wavering. Their first object, therefore, was to secure the command of the army Northumberland, whose health was not completely re-estab Newcastle lished, and who was by nature unfitted to take a decided part in time of danger, was known to be berland. anxious to surrender his authority as general. The Earl of Newcastle was selected as his successor. It was arranged that, if the King and the Parliament fell out, Newcastle should bring the army to the support of the King. As it was not to be expected that a splendid nobleman would give himself the trouble of attending to the details of military discipline, it was necessary to choose a new lieutenant-general to succeed Conyers, who was not likely to lend himself to the scheme. It would be the work of that successor to win over George the officers and the men to the design. The choice Goring to be of the conspirators fell upon George Goring, the General. eldest son of Lord Goring, and a colonel of one of the regiments in the Northern army.

Lieutenant

His understanding

with the Queen.

He

Goring was a man born to be the ruin of any cause which availed itself of his services. Dissolute and unprincipled, he had yet to show himself in his worst colours. Before long, men of all parties recognised in him a consummate hypocrite, who had the power of covering the most audacious falsehoods with a look of modest innocence. had already been taken into Henrietta Maria's confidence. He had been appointed Governor of Portsmouth, and, though no direct evidence is at hand, there can be little doubt that he had given the Queen reason to believe that he was ready to hold Portsmouth at her disposal. In other words, he would offer her the use of its fortifications as a place of refuge, from which she could freely communicate with the Continent, and in which she might perhaps even receive from the Continent that military support on which she had, at

one time, counted. That the Queen was now informed of the The King is plan for gaining over the army is beyond all doubt, and either now or not long afterwards the knowledge was communicated to the King.1

informed.

March 20.

Even without instigation the army was disposed to resent the neglect of the House of Commons. On March 20 the officers in Yorkshire despatched a letter to NorthumLetter from berland detailing their grievances, and giving assurance of their readiness to fight the Scots, the favourites of the Commons. The letter was placed in the King's hands, who at once sent it to the peers.3

the officers.

March 22.

It is laid before the

He

The bearer of this letter was Captain Chudleigh. remained in town for eight or nine days. During that time he was in constant communication with Jermyn and Suckling. He was informed by Suckling that the peers were much displeased at the conduct of the Employment officers in writing the letter, and that Essex and leigh. Newport had expressed an opinion that they had risked their necks by what they had done. Suckling suggested that the best course for the officers to take was to accept Goring

pee.s.

of Chud

The evidence on which this narrative is founded is mostly in print, and will be referred to farther on. There are also examinations before l'arliament scattered over D'Ewes's Diary. The Queen's statement in Madame de Motteville's Memoirs, ch. ix., is vague, and dwells far too exclusively on the personal dispute between Goring and Wilmot; but she, as well as Percy, is clear about the King's knowledge, at least at a subsequent time.

2

"I believe you are busied in the Parliament, and yet neglect the main business of supplying the army, the effect of which, with the terrible threatening musters, may very well produce strange things, even not to be named. The horse have sent their peremptory answer that they will not muster till they are paid. If the foot do the like. . . . believe me, it can tend to no less than a general mutiny. A worm will turn again if it be trod on. Soldiers are now used as though it would be sure there should never be further use of them. . . . If we hold thus but a fortnight longer, I believe you will receive a letter in way of petition, either to redress our grievances or to cashier us, for now is the time when we might seek our fortunes elsewhere."-E. Verney to R. Verney, March 8, Verney

MSS.

...

The officers to Northumberland, March 20, S. P. Dom.