publish to the nation, that they were sure of a very great and unexpected assistance, which, though it was to be kept secret, 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 these subscriptions.

came into

The Scots marched with a very sorry equipage: The Scots every soldier carried a week's provision of oatmeal; England. and they had a drove of cattle with them for their food. They had also an invention of guns of white 29 iron, tinned and done about with leather, and corded so that they could serve for two or three discharges. These were light, and were carried on horses: and when they came to Newburn, the English army that defended the ford was surprised with a discharge of artillery: some thought it magic; and all were put in such disorder, that the whole army did run with so great precipitation, that sir Thomas Fairfax, who had a command in it, did not stick to own, that till he passed the Tees his legs trembled under him. This struck many of the enthusiasts of the king's side, as much as it exalted the Scots; who were next day possessed of Newcastle, and so were masters, not only of Northumberland and the bishopric of Duresme, but of the coalries; by which, if they had not been in a good understanding with the city of London, they could have distressed them extremely but all the use the city made of this was, to raise a great outcry, and to complain of the war, since it was now in the power of the Scots to starve them. Upon that, petitions were sent from the city Great disand from some counties to the king, praying a treaty England. with the Scots. The lord Wharton and the lord

contents in

30

Howard of Escrick undertook to deliver some of these; which they did, and were clapt up upon ita. A council of war was held; and it was resolved on, as the lord Wharton told me, to shoot them at the head of the army, as movers of sedition. This was chiefly pressed by the earl of Strafford. Duke Hamilton spoke nothing till the council rose; and then he asked Strafford, if he was sure of the army, who seemed surprised at the question: but he upon inquiry understood that very probably a general mutiny, if not a total revolt, would have followed, if any such execution had been attempted. This success of the Scots ruined the king's affairs. And by it the necessity of the union of the two kingdoms may appear very evident: for nothing but a superior army, able to beat the Scots, can hinder their doing this at any time: and the seizing the coalries must immediately bring the city of London into great distress. Two armies were now in the north as a load on the king, besides all the other grievThe lord Saville's forgery came to be discovered. The king knew it; and yet he was brought afterwards to trust him, and to advance him to be earl of Sussex. The king pressed my uncle to deliver him the letter, who excused himself upon his oath; and not knowing what use might be made of it, he cut out every subscription, and sent it to the person for whom it was forged. The imitation was so exact, that every man, as soon as he saw his hand simply by itself, acknowledged that he could not have denied it.

ances.

The king was now in great straits: he had laid a Dignity of expression. S.

See my note as aforesaid with regard to this letter. O.

state of the

fairs.

up seven hundred thousand pounds, before the trou-The ill bles in Scotland began; and yet had raised no guards king's afnor force in England, but trusted a very illegal administration to a legal execution. His treasure was now exhausted; his subjects were highly irritated; the ministry were all frighted, being exposed to the anger and justice of the parliament: so that he had brought himself into great distress, but had not the dexterity to 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 counsels: he thought it flowed from a meanness of spirit, and a care to preserve themselves by sacrificing his authority, or from republican principles and even when he saw it was necessary to follow such 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 greatest state of any in that age: he also gained the earl of Montrose, who was a young man well learned, who had travelled, but had taken upon him the port of a hero too much, [and lived as in a romance; for his whole manner was stately to affectation.] When he was beyond sea, he travelled with the earl of Denbigh; and they consulted all the astrologers they could hear of. I plainly saw the earl of Denbigh relied on what had been told him to his dying day; and the rather because the earl of Montrose

was promised a glorious fortune for some time, but all was to be overthrown in conclusion. When the earl of Montrose returned from his travels, he was not considered by the king as he thought he deserved: so he studied to render himself popular in Scotland; and [being vain and forward,] he was the first [and fiercest] man in the opposition they made during the first war. He both advised and drew the letter to the king of France, for which the lord Lowdun, who signed it, was imprisoned in the tower of London. But the earl of Lauderdale, as he himself told me, when it came to his turn to sign that letter, found false French in it; for instead of rayons de soleil, he had writ raye de soleil, which in French signifies a sort of fish; and so the matter went no farther at that time; and the treaty came on so soon after, that it was never again taken up. The earl of Montrose was gained by the king at Berwick, and undertook to do great services. 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 correspondence with the king when he lay at Newcastle; and was pre31 tending he had a great interest among the covenanters, whereas at that time he had none at all. All these little plottings came to be either known, or at least suspected. The queen was a woman of great vivacity in conversation, and loved all her life long to be in intrigues of all sorts", but was not so secret in them as such times and such affairs required. She was a woman of no manner of judgment: she

d Not of love, I hope. S.

was bad at contrivance, but much worse in the execution: but by the liveliness of her discourse she made always a great impression on the king: and to her little practices, as well as to the king's own temper, the sequel of all his misfortunes was owing. I know it was a maxim infused into his sons, which I have often heard from king James, that he was undone by his concessions. This is true in some respect for his passing the act that the parliament should sit during pleasure, was indeed his ruin, to which he was drawn by the queen. But if he had not made great concessions, he had sunk without being able to make a struggle for it; and could not have divided the nation, or engaged so many to have stood by him: since by the concessions that he made, especially that of the triennial parliament, the honest and quiet part of the nation was satisfied, and thought their religion and liberties were secured so they broke off from those violenter propositions that occasioned the war.

The truth was, the king did not come into those concessions seasonably, nor with a good grace: all appeared to be extorted from him. There were also grounds, whether true or plausible, to make it to be believed, that he intended not to stand to them any longer than he lay under that force that visibly drew them from him contrary to his own inclinations 5.