Preface

PREFACE.

The papers calendared in the present volume show the conclusion of the fruitless warfare entered upon by Charles I. with Spain. The expenses of the expeditions to Cadiz, Rhé, and Rochelle, had thrown the finances of the country into the deepest embarrassment. Supplies could not be obtained from Parliament without concessions, to which the King would not submit; the proceeds of the unusual levies, to which the Government had had recourse—"lawful," as Sec. Dorchester contended, in an explanatory letter to the English Ambassadors abroad, "but extraordinary," (fn. 1) —were insufficient to discharge even the arrears due for past services; and coming receipts had already been largely anticipated. Such was the want of money that present offensive operations had ceased to be possible. It was with the greatest difficulty that a few ships, not worthy to be called a fleet, could be kept afloat for the guard of the Narrow Seas; and even partial defence of the coast and the coasting trade was not accomplished, in the cases of the fishermen of the eastern coast, and the foreign trade of the ports in the west, except at the cost of the sea-towns principally benefited. Under such circumstances, the idea of peace naturally presented itself. To abandon the cause of the Palatinate was equally repugnant to both King and people; but after a little decent hesitation, Charles submitted to what he deemed a hard necessity, and the officers of the outports were warned, that however unpopular a Spanish Ambassador might be in England, it was their duty to protect him from insult. (fn. 2)

The treaty was rendered more palatable to the King by the character of the Ambassador who was employed in the preliminary negotiation. In a subsequent eminent instance, which will be in the recollection of every one, national humiliation was brought about by the fascination of a female emissary. Charles I. was altogether unsusceptible to such seductions. With him Art led the way instead of Beauty, and the gorgeous pencil of Rubens consecrated a peace which, to the Queen of Bohemia, seemed to be a personal desertion, and to the people of England, an abandonment of the cause of Protestantism, at the very time when, under the leadership of Gustavus Adolphus, it appeared likely to achieve success. (fn. 3) Elizabeth's feeling is thus cautiously expressed, in a private letter to "Honest Thom," as she was in the habit of terming Sir Thomas Roe, calendared in the present volume. "Our Ambassador, (fn. 4) is now here, and hath brought a message I looked not for, which doth not a little trouble both the King (fn. 5) and me. You know I was very confident [in] my dear brother's promises; yet, though I see he hath altered his mind in that, I hope his good nature will not suffer him quite to abandon us, though a peace with Spain be very dangerous to us and all the public. The King of Sweden doth still prosper, which I hope God will continue. If he may have the least encouragement, you know my mind in all this." (fn. 6)

From the time when peace became inevitable, the place which was occupied in the collection of State Papers by details full of the stirring interest which is attendant upon naval and military expeditions, is mainly given up to legal proceedings against the restless and dissatisfied. Many valuable documents in connexion with this portion of our public history will be found in the present volume. The state prosecutions against Sir John Eliot and the other members of the House of Commons, who took the lead in opposition to the Court in the last session of Parliament, receive very important illustration. The points aimed at in these proceedings, as stated by Sec. Dorchester, in the letter to the Ambassadors before referred to, (fn. 7) was "to let the world see that Parliament-men must be responsible for their words and actions in other courts, and so they will be more moderate and circumspect hereafter, and the King, when he finds good, may meet his people with so much the more assurance that they will never transgress in the point of due respect and obedience." Another series of cases here treated of, and of scarcely less public importance, are the prosecutions against the merchants, who, in obedience to a resolution of the House of Commons, refused to pay tonnage and poundage. Another curious case is that against the Earl of Bedford, Sir Robert Cotton, and others, for circulating from hand to hand, among themselves, a copy of a manuscript tract, said to have been derived from Sir Robert Cotton's library, which professed to teach the King how he might bridle the impertinence of his Parliament by measures of undisguised absolutism. The case of Alexander Leighton, in the Star Chamber, for a libel upon the Bishops, and many cases in the High Commission Court, or personally before Bishop Laud, for the repression of non-conformity in doctrine or practice, constitute another important branch of the contents of this volume.

Among legal proceedings may be classed a case of considerable interest, from the subsequent fortunes of the remarkable man to whom it relates. One of the measures which were had recourse to, for the repression of popular feeling, was the alteration, whenever possible, of the municipal constitution of parliamentary boroughs. Instead of a governing body of bailiffs and burgesses, or town council, elected annually by the residents, the change now introduced vested the municipal government in a mayor, aldermen, and recorder, all elected for life. This change, of course utterly destructive of popular self-government, had recently been effected in the borough of Huntingdon, mainly by the exertions of Mr. Robert Barnard, a practising barrister who resided in that town, held the office of feodary for the county, and had lately acquired an estate at Brampton, in the immediate neighbourhood. He was supported, we may well believe, by all the old influence of Sir Oliver Cromwell, son of the Golden Knight, who, until very lately, had possessed Hinchinbrook, and not less so, by that of the new made Earl of Manchester, the Lord Privy Seal, who had succeeded the splendid but unthrifty Sir Oliver in the possession of his princely seat. But this abandonment of popular rights in Huntingdon had not been effected without much contention, and the adverse party was headed by no less a person than "Mr. Oliver Cromwell," nephew of Sir Oliver, who had been born and bred in the town, had resided there up to that time, and had been one of its representatives in the last Parliament.

The reception given by a part of the people of Huntingdon to the new charter and the officers whom it created was anything but cordial. Strong expressions were hurled by Oliver Cromwell against Mr. Lionel Walden the new mayor, and Mr. Barnard who had been elected recorder, and ultimately the Council was appealed to on behalf of the new made dignities. Ever anxious to support constituted authorities, the Council gave a ready ear to the complaint, and despatched a messenger to Huntingdon, with a warrant for the apprehension of "Oliver Cromwell, Esq.," and another person described as "William Kilborne, gent." The warrant was duly executed, and on the 26th November 1630, Oliver Cromwell made his appearance in custody before the Lords of the Council. His presence was entered on the Council Register, and he was remanded to the custody of the messenger.

After five days detention the case was gone into. "Both sides," in the words of the entry on the Council Register, "had a long hearing." There was "much contrariety and difference" in the allegations of the adverse parties, and ultimately the Council got rid of the troublesome matter by referring it to—of all persons in the world—the Earl of Manchester, the owner of Hinchinbrook.

Here, up to the present moment, our information upon this subject has come to an end. (fn. 8) What were the proceedings of the Earl of Manchester, or his recommendations; what award he made between his contending neighbours, and probably tenants; how far he inculpated or excused the rough energetic man whose participation in this incident gives it almost all its interest, has been hitherto unknown. One of the papers calendared in the present volume gives the sequel of the story. It is the report or award of the Earl of Manchester, and tells us far more of the matter than we knew before. It explains what were some of the fears or grievances of the people, and what the uncourtly conduct of their fiery advocate, whilst it exhibits also the ease with which his hot temper was appeased, and the willingness with which his hand was extended to one whom he had recently opposed with might and main. The paper runs as follows:—

"Whereas it pleased your Lordships to refer unto me the differences in the town of Huntingdon, about the renovation of their charter, and some wrongs done to Mr. Mayor of Huntingdon, and Mr. Barnard, a counsellor-at-law, by disgraceful and unseemly speeches, used of them by Mr. Cromwell, of Huntingdon, as also the considerations [sic] of divers abuses and oppressions complained of against one Kilborne, post-master of Huntingdon, and Brookes, his man; I have heard the said differences, and do find those supposed fears of prejudice that might be to the said town, by their late altered charter, from bailiffs and burgesses to mayor and aldermen, are causeless and ill-grounded, and the endeavour used to gain many of the burgesses against this new corporation was very indirect and unfit, and such as I could not but much blame them that stirred in it. For Mr. Barnard's carriage of the business in advising and obtaining the said charter, it was fair and orderly done, being authorized by common consent of the town to do the same, and the thing effected by him tends much to the good and grace of the town.

"Some doubts were propounded, especially three:—As that the mayor and aldermen might now alter the rate of their cattle in the commons; secondly, that the mayor and aldermen alone, without the burgesses, might dispose of the inheritances of their town lands: thirdly, that it was in the power of the mayor and aldermen to fine men that might be poor at 20l. for refusing to be aldermen. These things, though they cannot be warranted by the new charter, yet, to satisfy fears, I have directed that there shall be amongst their constitutions for the good government of the town three constitutions made to these purposes. First, that the number of men's cattle of all sorts which they now keep, according to order and usage, upon their commons, shall not be abridged or altered, but to common as they have anciently done, both for number and kind. Secondly, for disposing the inheritance of any their lands; no inheritance of houses or lands to be disposed of but by consent of the burgesses, as hath anciently been used and accustomed. Thirdly, for the fining of refusers to be mayor or aldermen; the fine of him that refuses to be mayor not to exceed 20 marks, the fine of him that refuses to be alderman not to exceed 20 nobles, if he be a burgess resident that is chosen.

"For the words spoken of Mr. Mayor and Mr. Barnard by Mr. Cromwell, as they were ill, so they are acknowledged to be spoken in heat and passion, and desired to be forgotten; and I found Mr. Cromwell very willing to hold friendship with Mr. Barnard, who, with a good will, remitting the unkind passages past, entertained the same. So I left all parties reconciled, and wished them to join hereafter in things that may be for the common good and peace of the town.

"For the particulars concerning Kilborne and Brookes, his man, for their oppressing the country by colour of his office as postmaster, (fn. 9) though some particulars were affirmed by two or three, yet because it so much concerneth the country in general, and the abuse so great, if it prove true that is affirmed, I have thought best to write my letters to some justices of peace of the county, to make precise inquisition, and certify me how this office of postmaster is used for the service of the King, and how abused to the injury of the country, and of all other points contained in the petition exhibited.

"H. Manchester." (fn. 10)

"December 6th, 1630."

The conclusion of this little history may be shortly stated. Within a few months after the Earl's award, Cromwell sold his property at Huntingdon and removed to St. Ives, with such feelings towards the constituted authorities as would be engendered in such a mind by his arrest under a warrant addressed to a King's messenger, by his imprisonment and the payment of his fees, and by the consciousness that, under the new municipal constitution of Huntingdon, there was little probability that, when another Parliament should be called, he would again be returned as a representative for his native town. Of Mr. Barnard it may be noted that he received during the civil war two very peremptory letters from his old opponent, which are printed by Mr. Carlyle; that he lived to see the man whom he had contended with before the Council at the height of his power; and to receive the degree of serjeant at law, and finally, on the 1st July 1662, a baronetcy, from the restored Sovereign. Sir Richard Barnard's eldest son, and successor in the baronetcy, became a connexion of Oliver Cromwell, by marrying a daughter of the celebrated Oliver St. John.

Whilst the name of Cromwell is before us it may be mentioned, although the document is not comprised in the present volume, that in the Domestic series of papers in the State Paper Office, under the date of 28th April 1631, there occurs a letter which presents another fact hitherto unnoticed in the biography of the same memorable man.

Among the measures "lawful, but extraordinary" which were had recourse to at this time for raising money, one was that of enforcing the payment of a composition from all persons who, having 40l. per annum in freehold lands, did not attend at the coronation to receive the degree of knighthood. The levy of this composition was turned over to Commissioners whose head quarters were in London. But persons resident at a distance from the metropolis were inclined to disregard the monitions of a body of Commissioners with whom they never came into personal contact. To stimulate their activity commissions were issued into all the counties of England. (fn. 11) The principal gentry were appointed Commissioners, and the ordinary county machinery was put in motion, both to ascertain who possessed 40l. per annum in land, and to bring such persons before the Commissioners. It appears, from the paper to which allusion has already been made, that the Cromwells of the county of Huntingdon were not forgotten on this occasion. Henry Cromwell, senior, of Upwood, son of the Golden Knight, and uncle of the future Protector, attended the Commissioners in London and entered into a composition with them, taking back into the country the tally of his payment into the Exchequer, which he subsequently exhibited to the local Commissioners as his discharge. Henry Cromwell, junior, of Ramsey, son of Sir Philip Cromwell, and a cousin of the Protector, compounded with the local Commissioners at the sum of 10l. The third person of the family whose name occurs in these papers is "Oliver Cromwell of Huntingdon." Equally disregarding the London and the local Commissioners, Cromwell was returned with various other persons of his own county to the Council as a defaulter. Two measures were taken by the Government almost contemporaneously against these Huntingdonshire defaulters. Writs were sent to the Sheriff of the county for summoning 33 or 35 (fn. 12) of them to appear in the Court of Exchequer, in the succeeding Easter term, to answer for their default. At the same time a fresh commission was addressed to the former local Commissioners, and whilst the terror of the Exchequer summons was still recent and its penalties were hanging over the defaulters, they were again summoned to appear at Huntingdon. The Commissioners enlarged to them upon his Majesty's grace and favour in renewing the commission once more for their ease and benefit, and also upon the inconvenience which would ensue to them if they were left to the law. Meetings were held by the Commissioners at Huntingdon on the 20th and 28th April 1631, and finally, 11 of the defaulters are reported as not having appeared at all, 15 as having appeared and made excuses, principally that they had not an estate in freehold of the required value, and seven others as having paid their composition money to the Commissioners. Among them, at the head of the list, stands "Oliver Cromwell of Huntingdon, Esq., 10l." The name stands as I have remarked, at the head of the list, but it does so with a peculiarity. It is obvious that it did not form part of the list as it was originally framed and added up. The intention was to have returned the list without it. It was clearly added afterwards, and was apparently inserted at the top of the list because in that place there was the largest vacant space, where it could be most easily written in. Does this indicate a yielding at the last moment to the friendly persuasions of his aged uncle and godfather Sir Oliver Cromwell, who was the chief Commissioner present at both the final sittings? Or did the uncle, as has been suggested, shield the unyielding nephew, by paying the amount, and directing the insertion of his name? The other Commissioners were the Earl of Manchester, who was not present, Sir Sydney Montague, brother of the Earl, Robert Bevill, probably the eldest son of the K.B. of that name, and Robert Osberne. The sums paid for composition money varied, it may be remarked, from 10l. to 20l., the former being the lowest sum paid by any one.

It is from similar incidental notices of celebrated persons, to be picked out with studious care from the great mass of papers here brought before the reader, that much of the information contained in them is to be gleaned. The Compiler of the Calendar has done what he could to bring prominently forward all the information that he deems important, but they who know the most of the actions or persons of any particular period are painfully aware that, even in relation to that period, no one's knowledge is sufficiently extensive or sufficiently minute to embrace all objects of research. Inquirers must be encouraged, therefore, to search for themselves. It is frequently by the light which is thrown upon these papers from a searcher's own mind that their great value is made apparent.

In the preface to our last volume, some remarks were made on the troubles of Alexander Gill, schoolmaster of St. Paul's, and a friend of Milton from his boyhood. In a youthful frolic in a college cellar, and under the influence of college ale, Gill uttered some audacious speeches which, but for their folly, would have been treasonable. Wonderstruck at his daring sauciness, his hearers heard the silly fellow with contemptuous laughter; all but Chillingworth, who drew wide inferences from the words spoken, and forgot that they were really the utterances of excitement and folly. Chillingworth communicated the facts to Bishop Laud, who saw nothing in them but awful treason. The young man's rifled pockets, and those of his college companions, furnished matter sufficient not only to condemn him, but also to implicate one of his friends named Grinkin. The terrors of the Star Chamber were invoked against them both. All that we have hitherto known of the result has been derived from the tittle-tattle of a news-writer. (fn. 13) The sentence was one of degradation, fine, pillory, imprisonment, and all the then customary excess of judicial vengeance in political cases, but the particulars have not been known with any certainty as to Gill, and scarcely at all as to Grinkin. The superabundance of these vindictive sentences rendered it almost impossible to carry them out. The resolute generally escaped some portion of the intended infliction, but in the case of a weak, cowardly spirit, such terrifying denunciations crushed the wretch who was the subject of them, and drove him to sue for mercy with the abject submissiveness of terror. Gill had several powerful intercessors. His aged father, the influential Earl of Dorset, and even Laud's feeling in favour of the immunities of the clerical order, were all enlisted in his behalf. It appears, by a letter from the King to Attorney General Heath, calendared in the present volume, (fn. 14) that before the writing of that letter, directions had been given to prepare a pardon for Grinkin, but, "forasmuch," the letter proceeds, "as we are graciously inclined to extend our mercy to them both, their cases not much differing," the Attorney General is directed to prepare a pardon for them both. This was on the 18th October 1630. On the 30th November following (p. 393), we find the sign manual for the pardon, which has peculiar value, as setting forth authoritatively the actual sentence of the Star Chamber. Gill was committed to the Fleet during the King's pleasure, and was to pay a fine of 3,000l. If at any time he were released, he was to be bound for good behaviour during the remainder of his life. He was remitted to the High Commission for degradation from the ministry, and to the ViceChancellor of Oxford for similar deprival of his academical degrees; after which he was to stand in the pillory one day at Westminster, with a paper on his head indicative of his offence, one of his ears being fixed to the pillory and there cut off; on another day he was to stand in the pillory in a similar manner at Oxford, and there to lose his other ear. From Oxford he was to be remanded to the Fleet. Grinkin was in like manner committed to the Fleet during pleasure, and fined 1,000l. He was also, at a time and in a manner to be fixed by the Court, to make a humble confession of his offence, and, if ever released from prison, was to find a surety for his good behaviour for life. (fn. 15) Of these sentences, the pillory and the fines were escaped, the degradations and imprisonment for about two years, were the only parts that were carried into execution.

Gill had enjoyed his pardon about two years, when, with his accustomed folly, he attacked Ben Jonson on the failure of his play of the Magnetic Lady. The memory of the great poet's former efforts ought to have restrained a bitter pen, but restraint was the last thing that Gill ever dreamt of. In Jonson's scornful reply, he alluded to Gill's pardon in terms which would have been overwhelming, if Gill's punishment had been just:—
"Shall the prosperity of a pardon still
Secure thy railing rhymes, infamous Gill,
At libelling ? Shall no Star Chamber peers,
Pillory, nor whip, nor cart, nor want of ears,—
All which thou hast incurred deservedly,—
No degradation from the ministry,
To be the Denis of thy father's school,
Keep in thy bawling wit ?" (fn. 16)

Recent disclosures seem at the present time to make the character of Ben Jonson to hang, as it were, in the balance. Every atom of information respecting him is, therefore, of moment, and it may be worth noting that the present volume contains a notice of the first quarterly payment of his annuity of 100l., kindly granted to him by Charles I., in lieu of his father's gift of 100 marks (fn. 17), and a contemporary copy of Carew's poem addressed to Jonson, in reply to his "Come, quit the loathéd stage." (fn. 18) This copy exhibits several important variations from the text printed in Carew's Poems. (fn. 19)

Of Thomas Randolph, another poet, who addressed Jonson on the same occasion, we catch a glimpse just at the outset of his brilliant but brief career. The wit which attracted Jonson shone as conspicuously at Cambridge as at the Mermaid. He was in his 24th year when Bishop Mawe, the Master of Trinity, thus writes of him to Lord Holland, the Chancellor of the University:—

"Before I leave that place (fn. 20) I humbly crave leave to move one suit more unto you. As I have had a care to set the College out of debt, so I have had desire to furnish it with the best and choicest wits, amongst whom I presume to commend this bearer, Thomas Randolph, a Bachelor of Arts, as one of those extraordinary parts of wit and learning, and so approved by the whole University, that scarce an age doth bring forth a better or the like. If he had been capable of a fellowship, by reason of his degree, at the last election, I had certainly provided for him then in the first place; but being not a Bachelor of Arts at that time, and fearing to have him left to future uncertainties and so the University and College deprived of one that may prove so singular an ornament to both, I humbly desire your Lordship to procure for him his Majesty's mandatory letter for his admission into a place which shall be void next after them that are now elected. He hath no friends to solicit for him but my Lord Bishop of Lincoln, under whom he was bred at Westminster, and myself, under whom he hath lived now these four years in Trinity College. I understand my Lord of Lincoln hath already begun to move your Lordship to this purpose in his behalf, and I pray give me leave to join my best wishes and desires for the effecting and perfecting of it. So shall your Honor cherish a toward wit, add a light to a flourishing College, and do an acceptable act to the whole University, and for myself, who seek nothing herein but the gaining of an ornament to the College, you shall ever bind me (which already you have done) to be your Honor's true and faithful servant." (fn. 21)

The accounts of Randolph's college life given by his biographers are scarcely consistent with the preceding letter, but they state that he obtained the desired fellowship. His genius, however, led him to London, and its excitements hurried him to an early doom. He died in 1634.

Herrick, another contemporary poetical genius, and author of some of our sweetest lyrical poems, appears in this volume as having been chaplain to the Duke of Buckingham in the Isle of Rhé, a character in which he has not been known to his biographers. (fn. 22)

One letter of Bishop Corbet has stamped upon it the true mint-mark of the witty Dean. The conclusion is noticeable. What was the particular mode in which he designed to make apparent his gratitude to Sec. Dorchester ?

"My honoured Lord,—I have now a suit on foot which needs a patron near to his Majesty in place, and not far distant from myself in love. In the first I am not mistaken in writing to your Lordship, and in the other not disheartened, but have many reasons to encourage me.

"Sir, the Bishop of Oxford hath been twice an humble suitor to his Majesty for release of his first-fruits, and is not yet so gracious as all his predecessors, all preceding kings having granted so much favor to all preceding bishops of that see. The reasons are the same as ever they were for the continuance of the like grace, only that mine are stronger, because my fortunes are weaker (having less in my commendam than ever any bishop had), and the Act of Parliament is the same as it was at first, exempting universities and all ecclesiastical livings within the verge from any such payment. It stands of force for the dean and canons of Christ Church. It is yet so charitable to all the vicars in the town. The bishopric of Oxford is no less founded in Christ Church than the deanery, and hath more need of that privilege than the poorest vicar in the town.

"My noble Lord, I humbly beseech you to move his Majesty once more in my behalf, that I may not complain as that old Roman did, Duas res diversissimas conjunxi, invidiam et egestatem; the envy of a bishop and the wants of a poor curate. If your Lordship shall effect this for me (which I had rather receive from his Majesty out of favor than equity, and lay aside all reason or precedent that makes for me), though the conscience of so good a deed would pay you liberally, yet your Lordship shall see that I shall find a truer way of gratitude than by truly subscribing myself your Lordship's poor friend and servant,

"Rich. Oxon." (fn. 23)

Notices of other literary persons are not unfrequent. Herbert Thorndike appears as the travelling companion and tutor of the eldest son of Lord Treasurer Weston, (fn. 24) a connexion which may explain his subsequent preferment and his ejection during the puritan ascendancy from the mastership of Sidney Sussex College. There are letters of Du Moulin, Biondi, Vossius, and a curious notice of Gervase Markham. In August 1629 he was described as a "weak bed-rid gentleman, not able to take any journey." Papistry had been imputed to him, and the question arose whether on that account he should be deprived of his arms. It is satisfactorily shown that he was a communicant in the Church of England, and for his own part he protested "that he was no more a papist than an atheist or cannibal." Can this weak bed-rid man be the person who is said to have assumed his armour in the Civil War on the part of the King.

Many others of the persons whose works constitute our literature, and their lives its history, will be found referred to throughout the volume. The few now named are selected merely as examples to stimulate inquiry. Equally numerous are papers of importance referring to persons of other classes.

One of the problems of our legal history has been the disgrace of Lord Chief Baron Walter. A servant of the King before his accession, and intimately connected with the administration of the revenues derived from the Principality of Wales and the Duchy of Cornwall, Sir John Walter was deemed a favourite, or rather a personal friend, of King Charles, and was selected for legal promotion immediately upon his accession to the throne. After a short period he was suddenly dismissed, or rather commanded by the King no longer to execute the functions of his office. Why was this ? The most diligent and accurate of our legal biographers (fn. 25) could obtain no precise information upon the point, and even among the Chief Baron's descendants it would seem that all tradition upon the subject has died out. The papers before us show the manner of his dismission and its formal or assigned cause. The Lord Chief Baron had in the summer of 1629 gone the Western Circuit. It was usual in those days for the Government to give directions to the judges to enforce on their circuits, in their charges to grand juries, or otherwise as might seem expedient, any particular subject or measure which the Government was desirous to have attended to. On the present occasion "the business of arms" had been commended to the care of the judges, which probably meant that they should announce and enforce the propriety of a meditated appointment, by Royal Commission, of certain persons to survey and maintain in order the arms kept in every county for the use of its trained bands. Information seems to have reached the ears of the King that the Lord Chief Baron had been slack in the performance of what was required of him on this point. His Majesty deemed his conduct so reprehensible that he directed the Lord Keeper to suggest to the erring functionary that he should resign. The result appears in the following letter:—

"May it please your most excellent Majesty, According to your commandment I have this evening spoken with the Lord Chief Baron of your Exchequer, and propounded to him that he should become a petitioner to your Majesty to be disburthened of that place. I found him much troubled with the sense of your displeasure towards him, protesting that it afflicted him more than the loss of any place could do. But to the particular propounded he could not so suddenly answer it, depending not only upon the leaving of the place, but on the manner thereof, and upon what ground to petition your Majesty. But he promised to consider of it, and to return me his answer, which I required to be speedy, and I will present the same to your Majesty as soon as I shall receive it. I did of myself, and not as from your Majesty, ask him how he carried the business of arms in his circuit. His answer was that in all places of the circuit he had conference with the gentlemen about it, and did put it forward by such ways as he found most expedient; and in Somersetshire and Cornwall, where only he found some doubt of opposition, he gave it publicly in charge. This is the sum of that which I received from him, whereof, according to my duty, I held it fit to give you a present account, as also that this afternoon I have had with me all the rest of the judges about settling the government of the Inns of Court, in which I find them forward, and do not doubt but they will satisfy your Majesty's expectation therein. And so I humbly rest,

"Your Majesty's most bounden servant,

"Thomas Coventry, C. S." (fn. 26)

"Durham House,

"12 October 1629."

This report was not satisfactory to the King. The Lord Keeper had been more sensitive and considerate towards his legal brother than his Majesty deemed appropriate, and Sec. Dorchester, by the King's command, immediately admonished the Lord Keeper that it was the King's pleasure that he "should speak more plainly and clearly" to the Lord Chief Baron, and understand his purpose whether he would "submit himself to his Majesty, or stand to his trial; in which case his Majesty's resolution is to call him to it." The letter concludes, "And this his Majesty's requiring your Lordship to make known unto him, and to understand thereupon his categorical answer [being stated], there rests no more than that your Lordship please to govern yourself accordingly, and that you make known with the soonest to his Majesty my Lord Chief Baron's purpose." (fn. 27)

The Lord Keeper, thus tutored, hastened to obey the royal mandate, and reported to Sec. Dorchester that all that his letter required had been performed "to the full." "In the end," he stated, he had pressed upon the Lord Chief Baron the required "categorical answer," and, to avoid mistake, had required that it should be in writing. The result appeared in an inclosed paper, from the contents of which his Majesty would "perceive upon what resolutions the Lord Chief Baron standeth." (fn. 28) The paper, wholly written by the Lord Chief Baron, runs as follows:—

"Being required by the Lord Keeper to make a categorical answer whether I will submit myself to his Majesty or stand to my trial, my humble answer is, that I trust his Majesty will hold it sufficient for me, to show my obedience and humility, to submit myself to whatsoever his Majesty shall do concerning me. But I desire to be pardoned for making a surrender of my patent, for that were to punish myself. I do with confidence stand upon my innocency and faithful service to his Majesty, and thereof will abide any trial. Nevertheless, I humbly beseech his Majesty's gracious favour towards me, and that he will turn his heavy displeasure from me.

"Jo. Walter." (fn. 29)

Within a few days the Lord Chief Baron was suspended from the exercise of his functions by royal command. He abstained from taking his seat, but remained Lord Chief Baron until his death, which occurred on the 18th November, in the following year. Sir John Walter is remembered, both in his profession and in our history, for a saying which seems to point to his possession of some of those qualities which were not unlikely to bring him into trouble at Court. When a brief was sent to him against Sir Edward Coke, he instantly declined it. "Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth," was his exclamation, "when I open it against Sir Edward Coke!"

The King's personal attention to public business, and the watchful care which at this time he exercised over the movements of professional and official persons, is exemplified in a letter in the present volume, which contains an important allusion to Sir Edward Coke. Dorchester was at this time, 24th January 1631, unwell, and therefore not in attendance upon the King, who was at Newmarket. The Earl of Holland was occasionally employed to convey the King's commands by letter to the absent Secretary, and in one of the letters written by him in that character, he thus expresses himself:—

"I am commanded by his Majesty to tell you that you must send to my Lord Keeper about a book that Sir Edward Coke is setting forth, in the which the King fears somewhat may be to the prejudice of his prerogative, for he is held too great an oracle amongst the people, and they may be misled by anything that carries such an authority as all things doth that he either speaks or writes, for the prevention of which the King thinks it fit it should not come forth. His Majesty hears that Sir Edward Coke, though he be in no present danger, yet, they say, through a late indisposition he is not likely to last long. He would have you choose some person that you may trust to inquire after his health, and, if he be in any present danger, that care may be taken to seal up his study, if he dies, where such papers are as use may be made of them (having passed through so many great places in the State), for his Majesty's service, and some suppressed that may disserve him. His Majesty is resolved likewise that the papers and despatches that my Lord Conway hath left should be recovered, but he leaves the manner of it to your Lordship, to do it in what fair form or way you please, but have them he will; they are his own words." (fn. 30)

The information which Dorchester obtained respecting Sir Edward Coke convinced him that, although the great lawyer was, in his own words, afflicted with a disease which "all the drugs of Asia, the gold of Africa, the silver of America, nor all the doctors of Europe could cure—old age," (fn. 31) there was no immediate expectation of his death. The King's purpose remained therefore at this time unexecuted. But it was not forgotten. In September 1634 the inevitable hour approached, and the Council, within a few hours of Coke's death, granted a warrant to Sir Francis Windebank to take possession of all his papers. The authority was executed in the very spirit of the above letter. His house, probably even his very dying chamber, was entered, and his last will and above fifty manuscript volumes, with his title deeds, and a multitude of private papers of every kind, were carried off. Among the articles taken away was a trunk locked, which Windebank did not think himself authorized to break open. The King directed it to be sent to him, and himself opened it. Besides marriage settlements, it contained a few articles of jewellery, relics perhaps of her whom he termed his "first and best wife," some old gold and silver coins, and among a variety of private papers "one paper of poetry to his children." All the papers seized were retained for many years. Upon a motion made respecting them by one of Coke's sons in the Long Parliament, the King directed them to be given up. "Such as could be found" were delivered, but his will and many others were never recovered. A copy of Littleton's Tenures which Coke used to call his Vade Mecum, and in which he inserted a variety of autobiographical and genealogical memoranda, which was one of the books seized, is now in the British Museum. (fn. 32)

What Dorchester did with reference to Lord Conway's official papers does not appear. They were not recovered at that time, but it is worthy of remark, that a large portion of them was ultimately, in the year 1858, restored to the Crown in the way mentioned in the preface to the first volume of this series of Calendars of Charles I., and is now preserved in the State Paper Office.

The whole volume might be gone through in this manner, and would furnish the subject of an illustrative comment, not less interesting than instructive. The King's laudable encouragement of the national anxiety for discovery and colonization; the curious insolence of the saltpetremen, who, in abuse of their authority to search for the natural salt, used in the manufacture of gunpowder, carried on their operations in all places without distinction, as "in parlours," according to the report of referees appointed to inquire into the facts, "bed chambers, threshing floors, malting floors, and shops, yea, God's own house they have not forborne, but have digged in churches, hallowed chapels, and churchyards, tearing men's bones and ashes out of their graves, to make gunpowder of, and placing their tubs as well in the bodies of churches as in churchyards, divers weeks together;" (fn. 33) the royal and other patronage given to those great works of drainage in the fens in the eastern counties, which have so wonderfully increased the productiveness of that part of the kingdom; the provision made by the Government against an anticipated period of alarming scarcity; the views of men of medical science, respecting the treatment of the plague; the mission of the Earl of Denbigh to the East; the endeavour to establish a fishing company, whose principal station should be in the Isle of Lewis, with the view of opposition to the encroachments of the Dutch; the ceremonies attendant upon the birth and baptism of Prince Charles, the future Charles II.; these and innumerable other subjects, treated of from page to page, offer themes for almost inexhaustible note and comment. But enough has been done, it is hoped, to effect the object aimed at in these prefatory remarks, which is merely to stimulate inquiry, and to give some faint idea of the value of this addition to the materials for English history.

Since the publication of the last volume, the Editor has been deprived of the valuable assistance of Mr. Impey, who has been promoted to another branch of the public service. The Editor has still the advantage of the co-operation of Mr. William Douglas Hamilton; and other arrangements have been made, in lieu of Mr. Impey's services, which it is hoped will tend to expedite the publication of the volumes which remain.

John Bruce.

5, Upper Gloucester Street, Dorset Square.
10th December 1860.