if 



and gave occasion to a reaction which was infinitely im- 

 moral and has been most inconveniently enduring. 



Among the other merits of Laud, often lost sight of in 

 the invidious position which he chose to occupy, was his 

 judicious patronage of letters. The higher learning of the 

 :iteenth century owes more to Laud than it knew, more 

 than, if it knew, it would have cared to confess. Laud's resig- 

 nation of the office of Chancellor in Oxford is a most pathetic 

 document. He had seen his power in Church and State 

 overturned. He saw his usefulness to the University of 

 Oxford marred (I am only speaking of its learning), and, 

 sadly patient, he resigned an office which he could not hold 

 to its profit. The Long Parliament, before it was purged 

 by Pride, put him to death. 



One cannot, as I have more than once shown in my 

 earlier volumes, when I have dealt with the action of Wiklif 

 and the Lollards, neglect to notice the economical effect of 

 religious movements. I shall have occasion to point out 

 how the great movement of the seventeenth century affected 

 the position of the labourer and of the capitalist. 



In the struggle between Charles and his Parliament, some 

 of the causes of which I do not discuss till I come to deal 

 with the taxation of the seventeenth century, a line drawn 

 from Scarborough to Southampton would give a fair indi- 

 cation of the locality in which the opposing forces were 

 ranged. The Eastern district, of course including London, 

 on the side of the Parliament, the Western, with the 

 exception of some important towns, such as Bristol and 

 Gloucester, was for the king. The resources of the Parlia- 

 mentary division were incomparably greater than those of 

 the Royal region. The military resources of the king were 

 superior to those of his rivals, except in one important 

 particular, the means for paying his troops. Cromwell by 

 tlu: new model soon trained his soldiers, and the resources 

 of Kastern Kin; land enabled him to pay them regularly. 



Charles \\ as perfidious and selfish, and thoroughly convinced 



