ing them. The letters contained in this vo

more probable, according to Warwick's account, that he only corrected them; and therefore they ought not to have been attributed to him. What then may we certainly affirm to be his majesty's works in this collection? If we set aside the Icon Basilike, of which I shall speak more at large soon, we shall be forced to acknowledge they are very inconsiderable. For they consist only of his letters to several persons, passages of which I have frequently quoted; papers concerning church-government, and a few prayers. For his speeches, I reckoned them as the speeches of his ministers, though they doubtless were conformable to his own sentiments. The collection of letters were taken at Naseby, June 14, 1645, " when his majesty was compelled to quit the field, and to leave Fairfax master of all his foot, cannon, and baggage, amongst which was his own cabinet, where his most secret papers. were, and letters between the queen and him: of which they shortly after made that barbarous use as was agreeable to their natures, and published them in print; that is, so much of them as they thought would asperse either of their majesties, and improve the prejudices they had raised against them, and concealed other parts, which would have vindicated them from many particulars with which they had aspersed them b It is very surprising lord Clarendon would talk after this manner. Charles himself complains of no barbarity in his letter to secretary Nicholas, which I have elsewhere quoted: he does not pretend to say that they had published them partially, or that they concealed other parts which would have vindicated him and his queen from many particulars with which they had aspersed them: yea, he was so far from

• See note 17.

Clarendon, vol. IV. p. 658.

lume, to the several persons to whom they

thinking the publication of them an aspersion, "that as a good protestant, or an honest man, he would not blush for any of those papers."-But his lordship loved to asperse his enemies, and therefore would sometimes invent, in order to blacken! What further proves the charge of concealing those parts which would have vindicated their majesties, to be false, is, that those parts were never produced to the world, when his letters were reprinted among his works after the restoration, and therefore may well be supposed never to have existed.-Ludlow, speaking of these letters, gives a very just account of some of their contents; but adds, " many more letters there were relating to the public, which were printed with observations, by order of the parliament; and others of no less consequence suppressed, as I have been credibly informed by some of those that were intrusted with them, who, since the king's return, have been rewarded for it." This does not appear to me very probable. -Let us now hear Mr. Hume. "Among the other spoils, was seized the king's cabinet, with the copies of his letters to the queen, which the parliament afterwards ordered to be published. They chose, no doubt, such of them as they thought would reflect most dishonour upon him: yet upon the whole, the letters are wrote with great delicacy and tenderness, and give a very advantageous idea both of the king's genius and morals. A mighty fondness, and attachment, it is true, he expresses to his consort, and often professes that he never would embrace measures disagreeable to her. But such declarations of civility and confidence are not always to be taken in a literal sense: and so legitimate

are addressed; the quare concerning Eas

an affection, avowed by the laws of God and man, may, perhaps, be excusable towards a woman of beauty and spirit, even though she was a papist. The Athenians having intercepted a letter wrote by their enemy, Philip of Macedon, to his wife Olympia, so far from being moved by curiosity of prying into the secrets of that alliance, immediately sent the letter to the queen unopened. Philip was not their sovereign, nor were they inflamed with that violent animosity against him, which attends all civil commotions." The charge of lord Clarendon against the editors of these letters is here passed over in silence: what was thought by friends and foes to reflect highly on Charles, is now said to give a very advantageous idea both of the king's genius and morals, and an inexcusable attachment to the councils, and submission to the rule, of a violent unskilful woman, is glossed over with the title of a legitimate affection towards a woman of beauty and spirit! Surely Mr. Hume did not consider that these letters were in every one's hands!-Milton, I believe, in the judgment of the unprejudiced, will be thought to talk not unreasonably on the publication of these letters. "The king's letters, taken at the battle of Naseby, being of the greatest importance to let the people see what faith there was in all his promises and solemn protestations, were transmitted to public view. by special order of the parliament. They discovered his good affection to the papists and Irish rebels, the strict intelligence he held, the pernicious and dishonourable peace he made with them, not solicited, but rather soliciting, which, by all invocations that were holy, he had in public abjured. They revealed his endeavours to bring in foreign forces, Irish, French,

ter, of which I have before spoken, as well

Dutch, Lorrainers, and our old invaders the Danes, upon us; besides his subtilties and mysterious arts in treating. To sum up all, they shewed him governed by a woman. All which, though suspected vehemently before, and from good grounds believed, yet by him and his adherents peremptorily denied, were by the opening of that cabinet visible to all men, under his own hand. The parliament therefore, to clear themselves of aspersing him without cause, and that the people might no longer be abused and cajoled, as they call it, by falsities and court-impudence, in matters of so high concernment, to let them know on what terms their duty stood, and the kingdom's peace, conceived it most expedient and necessary that those letters should be made publick." These letters left deep impressions on the minds of men in that age, as we may learn from the following passage of Mr. Symmons, in the address to the reader, prefixed to his large answer to them." I was solicited by some friends from the farthest part of the kingdom to put it [his answer] to the press, now I was in a place where the same might be done; who also informed me, that (in their apprehensions) vulgar hearts wanted satisfaction in nothing concerning the king's integrity, but only in the matter of those letters, which did still scruple many of them." And the editor of Ludlow's memoirs was so sensible of their importance, in order to justify the transactions of the opponents of Charles, that he reprinted them, with some other letters, at the end of that work: and they continue to make a part of the last edition of those memoirs, printed in folio at London, and the Scotch edition in three volumes in

2 Milton's Prose Works, vol. I. p. 465. Charles, 4to. 1648.

Vindication of King

as the papers concerning church-govern

twelves; and are likewise inserted in the seventh vo lume of the Harleian Miscellany.

I had almost forgot to inform the reader, that some of the most important instructions contained in the genuine edition of the King's Cabinet Opened, published by order of the parliament, are omitted in the collection of his majesty's works, printed after the restoration, as will be seen in the note 26.

As for the papers concerning church-government, they are said to be very well drawn, and procured the king no small reputation; and, if we may believe some writers, those against Mr. Henderson were so very efficacious as to occasion his death.-" At the king's first coming to Newcastle," says bishop Kennet," Mr. Henderson, a Scotch presbyter, came as an agent from the Kirk, and much importuned his majesty to pass the propositions. His majesty affirmed to him, that he could not in conscience consent to several things therein contained; especially as to the change of church-government from the primitive order of episcopacy; and condescended to have several conferences with him, and to let several papers pass between them upon this subject; which being faithfully printed, do demonstrate the king's great abilities, and his incomTM parable knowledge in these controversies; being at a time when he had few or no books, and could not have the assistance of any chaplain. Mr. Henderson returned from Newcastle to Edinburgh, with a serious conviction of his majesty's integrity and learning, and died about the end of August, much lamented by those of his party, who themselves suspected that his death was owing to his dissatisfaction in his late trial of skill with his majesty." The lord Clarendon expresses it thus: "The king was so much too hard for Mr. Henderson in the argumentation, that the old man