The Scots

nished with expedients. To these three only this paper was to be fhewed upon an oath of fecrecy: And it was to be depofited in Wariftoun's hands. They were only allowed to publish to the Nation, that they were fure of a very great and unexpected affiftance, which tho' it was to be kept fecret would appear in due time. This they published: And it was looked on as an artifice to draw in the Nation: But it was afterwards found to be a cheat indeed, but a cheat of Lord Saville's who had forged all thefe fubfcriptions.

The Scots marched with a very forry equipage: came into Every foldier carried a week's provifion of oatEngland. meals and they had a drove of cattel with them

for their food. They had alfo an invention of guns of white iron tinned and done about with leather, and chorded fo that they could ferve for two or three difcharges. Thefe were light, and were carried on horfes: And when they came to Newburn, the English army that defended the Ford was furprized with a discharge of artillery: Some thought it magick; and all were putin fuch diforder that the whole army' did run with fo great precipitation, that Sir Thomas Fairfax, who had a command in it, did not ftick to own that till he pafs'd the Tees his legs trembled under him. This ftruck many of the enthusiasts of the King's fide, as much as it exalted the Scots; who were next day poffeffed of Newcaftle, and fo were mafters not only of Northumberland and the Bifhoprick of Durefme, but of the Collierys; by which, if they had not been in a good understanding with the City of London, they could have diftreffed them extremely: But all the ufe the City made of this was, to raise a great outcry, and to complain of the war, fince it was now in the power of the Scots to ftarve them. Upon that petitions were fent from the City and from fome Counties to the King, praying a treaty with Great dif- the Scots. The Lord Wharton and the Lord Howard of Efcrick undertook to deliver fome of

contents

in England.

thefe;

thefe; which they did, and were clapt up upon it. A council of war was held; and it was refolved on, as the Lord Wharton told me, to fhoot them at the head of the army, as movers of fedition. This was chiefly prefs'd by the Earl of Strafford. Duke Hamilton fpoke nothing till the Council rofe; and then he afked Strafford, if he was fure of the army, who feemed furprised at the queftion: But he upon enquiry understood that very probably a general mutiny, if not a total revolt, would have followed, if any fuch execution had been attempted.

This fuccefs of the Scots ruined the King's affairs. And by it the neceffity of the union of the two Kingdoms may appear very evident: For nothing but a fuperiour army able to beat the Scots can hinder their doing this at any time: And the feifing the Collierys muft immediately bring the City of London into great diftrefs. Two armies were now in the north as a load on the King, befides all the other grievances. The Lord Saville's forgery came to be difcovered. The King knew it; and yet he was brought afterwards to trust him, and to advance him to be Earl of Suffex. The King preffed my uncle to deliver him the letter, who excufed himfelf upon his oath, and not knowing what ufe might be made of it, he cut out every fubfcription, and fent it to the perfon for whom it was forged. The imitation was fo exact, that every man, as foon as he faw his hand fimply by itself, acknowledged that he could not have denied it.

ftate of the

fairs.

The King was now in great ftraits: He had laid The ill up 700000 I. before the troubles in Scotland began; and yet had raised no guards nor force in England, King's afbut trusted a very illegal adminiftration to a legal execution. His treasure was now exhausted; his fubjects were highly irritated; the miniftry were all frighted, being expofed to the anger and juftice of the Parliament: So that he had brought himfelf into great diftrefs, but had not the dexterity to D 4 extricate

extricate himself out of it. He loved high and rough methods, but had neither the skill to conduct them, nor the height of genius to manage them. He hated all that offered prudent and moderate counfels: He thought it flowed from a meanness of fpirit, and a care to preserve themfelves by facrificing his authority, or from republican principles: And even when he faw it was neceffary to follow fuch advices, yet he hated those that gave them. His heart was wholly turned to the gaining the two armies. In order to that he gained the Earl of Rothes entirely, who hoped by the King's mediation to have married the Countess of Devonshire, a rich and magnificent lady that lived long in the greateft ftate of any in that age: He alfo gained the Earl of Montrofe, who was a young man well learned, who had travelled, but had taken upon him the port of a hero too much. When he was beyond fea he travelled with the Earl of Denbigh; and they confulted all the aftrologers they could hear of. I plainly faw the Earl of Denbigh relied on what had been told him to his dying day; and the rather because the Earl of Montrofe was promifed a glorious fortune for fome time, but all was to be overthrown in conclufion. When the Earl of Montrofe returned from his travels, he was not confidered by the King as he thought he deferved: So he ftudied to render himfelf popular in Scotland; and he was the first man in the oppofition they made during the firft war. He both advifed and drew the letter to the King of France, for which the Lord Lowdun who figned it was imprifoned in the Tower of London. But the Earl of Lauderdale, as he himself told me, when it came to his turn to fign that letter, found falfe French in it; for inftead of rayons de foleil he had writ raye de foleil, which in French fignifies a fort of fish; and fo the matter went no farther at that time; and the treaty came on fo foon after, that it was never again taken up. The Earl of Montrose

was

was gained by the King at Berwick, and undertook to do great fervices. He either fancied, or at least he made the King fancy, that he could turn the whole Kingdom: Yet indeed he could do nothing. He was again trying to make a new party; And he kept a correfpondence with the King when he lay at Newcastle; and was pretending he had a great intereft among the covenanters, whereas at that time he had none at all. All these little plotings came to be either known, or at least suspected. The Queen was a woman of great vivacity in converfation, and loved all her life long to be in intrigues of all forts, but was not fo fecret in them as fuch times and fuch affairs required. She was a woman of no manner of judgment: She was bad at contrivance, but much worfe in the execution: But by the liveliness of her difcourfe fhe made al ways a great impreffion on the King: And to her little practices, as well as to the King's own temper, the fequel of all his misfortunes was owing. I know it was a maxim infused into his fons, which I have often heard from King James, that he was undone by his conceffions. This is true in fome refpect: For his paffing the act that the Parliament should fit during pleasure was indeed his ruin, to which he was drawn by the Queen. But if he had not made great conceffions, he had funk without being able to make a struggle for it; and could not have divided the Nation, or engaged fo many to have stood by him: Since by the conceffions that he made, especially that of the triennial Parliament, the honeft and quiet part of the Nation was fatisfied, and thought their religion and liberties were fecured: So they broke off from those violenter propofitions that occafioned the war.

The truth was, the King did not come into thofe conceffions feasonably, nor with a good grace: All appeared to be extorted from him. There were It seems clearer, if instead of broke off from, the fentence ran would not 8° into.

alfo

An ac

count of the Earl

alfo grounds, whether true or plaufible, to make it to be believed, that he intended not to stand to them any longer than he lay under that force, that vifibly drew them from him contrary to his own inclinations. The proofs that appeared of fome particulars, that made this feem true, made other things that were whispered to be more readily believed: For in all critical times there are deceitful people of both fides, that pretend to merit by making difcoveries, on condition that no use shall be made of them as witneffes; which is one of the most peftiferous ways of calumny poffible. Almost the whole Court had been concerned in one illegal grant or another: So thefe Courtiers, to get their faults pafs'd over, were as fo many fpies upon the King and Queen: They told all they heard, and perhaps not without large additions, to the leading men of the Houfe of Commons. This inflamed the jealoufy, and pufh'd them on to the making ftill new demands. One eminent paffage was told me by the Lord Hollis :

The Earl of Strafford had married his fifter: So, tho' in that Parliament he was one of the hotteft men of the party, yet when that matter of Strafwas before them he always withdrew. When the ford's being given bill of attainder was pafs'd, the King fent for him up by the to know what he could do to fave the Earl of King. Strafford. Hollis anfwered, that if the King pleafed, fince the execution of the law was in him, he might legally grant him a reprieve, which muft be good in law; but he would not advife it. That which he propofed was, that Lord Strafford should fend him a petition for a fhort refpite, to fettle his affairs and to prepare for death; upon which he advifed the King to come next day with the petition in his hands, and lay it before the two houfes with a fpeech which he drew for the King; and Hollis faid to him, he would try his intereft among his friends to get them to confent to it. He prepared a great many by affuring them, that if they would