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by which the lovers of peace had hoped to prevent the more terrible struggle with the sword. That they failed to obtain the bloodless victory for which they laboured cannot be accounted to them as a fault. No doubt the great ability with which the controversy was conducted by the counsellors of the King, and the respect professed for the law by the leaders in Parliament, succeeded at least in delaying the recourse to arms; perhaps even finally to have averted the great evil of civil war might not have been hopeless to the counsellors of the King, but for the want of that good faith and perfect openness on the part of the King himself which was due to his responsible advisers, and for the secret promise exacted from him by the Queen on her departure for Holland "that he would receive no person "into favour without her privity and consent, and never "make any peace but by her interposition and medi"ation"-a promise which fettered his actions even against the convictions of his reason. Though Lord Clarendon repeatedly alludes to the union of opinion between himself, Lord Falkland, and Sir J. Culpepper, he has also recorded several instances of shades of difference and of individual action; so that the biographer of any one of the three is not able either to trace in the management of the King's affairs the part performed by each, or to accept every move in the King's counsels as the result of their concurrent opinion. Such glimpses of Lord Falkland's remaining career as are to be found in the writings of Lord Clarendon serve to mark his fidelity to the cause he had espoused 1 Clarendon, Life,' vol. i. p. 156.

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and his steady friendship to himself, and by these and other occasional introductions of his name by different authors we can partially track his course.

The King had accompanied the Queen to Dover, whence she was to embark with the Princess Mary for Holland; and on his return to Canterbury he was met by a deputation from both Houses of Parliament, consisting of one peer and two commoners, who were intrusted with a message from Parliament, desiring that the Prince of Wales might not remove from Richmond till the Marquis of Hertford (then suffering from indisposition) was able to accompany him. Mr. Hyde was chosen, much against his will, one of the Commissioners for this errand. The King was greatly offended at the message, and, without waiting to consult his Ministers, returned an answer the same evening, but an answer written under feelings of so much irritation that Mr. Hyde sought the King's private ear to persuade him to get back the answer, and to await the arrival of Lord Falkland and Sir John Culpepper the following day at Greenwich, in order to frame one that should be better suited to the temper of those who sent the message. In the mean time the King's orders to the Marquis of Hertford to bring the Prince to meet him at Greenwich were obeyed; this mollified the anger with which the King had received the message at Canterbury. Lord Falkland and Sir John Culpepper arrived the following day, and an answer was agreed on between the three that gave no fresh cause of disagreement. The King proceeded to Theobald's on the 2nd of February, accompanied by the Prince and the Mar

quis of Hertford, and there remained till the 3rd of March. The personal risk of being engaged in the King's service was now beginning to be sensibly felt by his Ministers in the House of Commons. Sir J. Culpepper obtained information of a plan to seize Lord Falkland, himself, and Mr. Hyde when there, and to send them to the Tower. It had been resolved when all three were present in the House that somebody should move an inquiry as to who were the persons most likely to have given the King the evil counsels he had lately followed. This was to have been answered by one of the same party naming the two Ministers and Mr. Hyde. A sufficient majority was to be secured to support the accusation, and to cause their being sent to the Tower. The timely warning received by Sir John Culpepper defeated this plan, and from this day the three were never again present at once in the House. Towards the end of March Mr. Hyde had gone into the country to his own house; his absence was commented upon, and there is a letter extant from Lord Falkland, informing him of what had passed on the subject, in order that he might hasten back to London. On the 19th of March, 1641-2, the King reached York: he was again surrounded by powerful adherents gathered round him from northern counties, and by many also from London who dared not attend him at Whitehall. The opportunity seemed to him favourable for fulfilling one of those fatal promises made to the Queen, and, notwithstanding the earnest remon

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1 See Appendix M.

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1

* Clarendon's Hist. of the Rebellion,' vol. ii. p. 301.

strances of the three wise counsellors who watched over the conduct of his affairs in London, he persevered in his resolution. He had been deeply offended by the conduct of Lord Essex and Lord Holland in refusing to attend his summons to Hampton Court. The Queen had insisted on their removal, and had gone so far as to declare that she would never live in the Court if Lord Holland kept his place. The promise given to the Queen, being no doubt in accordance with the King's own feelings, strengthened his determination to adopt this ill-judged course, and rendered him inaccessible to advice. The King commanded both these Lords to attend him at York, from which they excused themselves. An order was sent to the Lord Keeper Littleton, "to require the staff and key from the one and "the other." The Lord Keeper immediately proceeded to Lord Falkland, and begged his services to excuse him to the King; he alleged it to be a task

2

That the Queen had been offended by what she deemed Lord Essex's too great independence for some months is clearly marked in the following letter addressed to Sir E. Nicholas during the King's absence in Scotland :—

"Maistre Nicholas,-I did desire you not to acquainte mi lord of essex "of what the King commanded you touching is commin: now you may "doe it and tell him that the King will be at Tibols vendnesday and shall "lye there and upond thursday he shall dine at milord Majors and lye at "Whitthall onlye for one nitgh and upon friday will goe to hampton-court "where he maenes to stay this vinter: the King commanded me to tell "this to my lord of essex but you may doe it, for there lordsships are to great prinses now to reccaued anye direction from mee: beeng all that I "haue to say I shall rest

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"For Maistre Nicholas,

"Your assured frand,

HENRIETTE MARIE R.

"R: 26° Nobris 1641.

-Evelyn's Diary, vol. ii. p. 78, 4to.

"The Q for me to signify to Lo: Chamb'lan."

Hist. of the Rebellion, vol. ii. p. 331.

unsuitable to his office, and feared lest the House should commit him to prison. Lord Falkland conveyed the Lord Keeper's message to the King; he was displeased at this refusal, but, so far from being shaken in his resolution, he repeated his commands to the Lords Essex and Holland, requiring their immediate attendance at York, on the occasion of the feast of St. George, when the Duke of York was to be made a knight of that order, or to resign their insignia of office into the hands of Lord Falkland. He also wrote himself to Lord Falkland, and, with many gracious expressions of excuse at putting such work upon him, commanded him to require the insignia of those offices from the two Earls. This command was grating to the feelings of Lord Falkland, and highly inconsiderate on the part of the King. It was unnecessary to employ any one of higher rank than a gentleman-usher in such a task; and Lord Falkland not only disapproved of this step being taken, but had lived on terms of familiarity and friendship with both the Lords in question. The fears, however, that had withheld the Lord Keeper did not operate upon Lord Falkland. The King had undoubtedly the right to remove or appoint as he pleased the officers of his household, and Lord Falkland conceived his duty to lie in obedience to the commands of his sovereign. He immediately sought Lord Essex and Lord Holland, whom he met on their way to the House, and delivered to them the King's message. They desired, very civilly, "that he would give them leave to "confer together, and they would, within half an hour, Hist. of the Rebellion, vol. ii. p. 332.

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