668 
E N C 
the method of levying money, called tonnage and pound¬ 
age, without the confent of parliament, was a palpable 
violation of the liberties of the people. All thefe griev¬ 
ances were preparing to be drawn up in a remonftrance 
to his majefty, when the king came fuddenly to the houfe, 
and ended their deliberations by a prorogation. But the 
members were not to be diverted from their claims for 
the liberty of the people. They urged their demands 
with dill more force on their next fitting; and the duty 
of tonnage and poundage was difcuffed with greater pre- 
cifion than before. This tax upon merchandize was a 
duty of very early inflitution, and had been conferred on 
Henrv V. and all fticceeding princes, during life, to ena¬ 
ble them to maintain a naval force for the protection of 
the kingdom. But the parliament had ufually granted 
it as of their fpecial favour, in the beginning of each 
reign, except to Henry VIII. who had it not conferred 
till the fixth year of his reign. He had, indeed, received 
it from the beginning, but he thought it necelfary to 
have the fanCtion of parliament to infr.re it to him, which 
clearly implied that it was not an inherent privilege of 
the crown. They refufed, therefore, to grant it now ; 
and infilled that the king could not levy it without their 
permilTion. Charles, however, perfilted; and the officers 
of the cuftom-houfe were fummoned before the commons, 
to ffiew by what authority they feized the goods of the 
merchants who had refufed to pay thefe duties. The 
barons of the exchequer were queftioned concerning their 
decrees on that head; the ffieriff of London was com¬ 
mitted to the Tower for his activity in fupporting the 
cuftom-houfe officers. Thefe were ftrong meafures; but 
the commons now went further, by a refolution to exa¬ 
mine into religious grievances ; and a new fpirit of into¬ 
lerance began to appear. The king, therefore, refolved 
to diffolve a parliament which he found himfelf unable 
to manage; and fir John Finch, the fpeaker, juft as the 
queftion on tonnage and poundage was going to be put, 
rofe up, and informed the houfe that he had a command 
from the king to adjourn. 
Nothing could exceed the indignation of the commons 
on this procedure. The houfe was in an uproar; the 
fpeaker was puftied back into his chair, and forcibly held 
in it by Hollis and Valentine, till a ffiort remonftrance 
was framed and paffed. In this hafty production, papifts 
and Arminians were declared capital enemies to the date; 
tonnage and poundage was prohibited, as contrary to law ; 
and not only thofe who railed that duty, but thofe who 
paid it, were made alike guilty of capital crimes. In 
confequence of this violent proceeding, fir Miles Hobart, 
fir Peter Hayman, Selden, Coriton, Long, and Strode, 
were, by the king’s order, committed for fedition. But 
the fame temerity that impelled Charles to imprifon them, 
induced him to grant a releafe. Sir John Elliot, Hollis, 
and Valentine, were fummoned before the king’s bench; 
but they refuting to admit the interference of an inferior 
tribunal, for faults committed in a fuperior, were con¬ 
demned to be imprifoned during the king’s pleafure, to 
pay a fine, and to enter into recognizance for their future 
good behaviour. The members triumphed in their fuf- 
ferings, while they had the whole kingdom asapplauders 
of their fortitude. 
In this conjuncture the king was feverely afflicted by 
the death of his favourite, the duke of Buckingham, who 
fell a facrifice to his unpopularity. It had been refolved 
once more to undertake the railing of the liege of Ro¬ 
chelle; and the earl of Denbigh, brother-in-law to the 
duke of Buckingham, was fent thither, but returned 
without effecting any thing. To repair this difgrace, the 
duke of Buckingham went to Portfmouth, to forward 
another expedition, and to punilh fuch as had endea¬ 
voured to defraud the crown of the legal affeffments. At 
this place was one Felton, an Irilhman, who had ferved 
under the duke as lieutenant, but had refigned on being 
refufed his rank on the death of his captain, who had 
been killed at the ifle of Rhe, In revenge for what he 
LAND. 
conceived an infult on his country and himfelf, he watched 
a favourable opportunity, and while the duke was fpeak- 
ing to one of his colonels, Felton ftruck him over that 
officer’s (houlder in the bread with a knife. The duke 
had only time to fay, “The villain has killed me,” when 
he fell at the colonel’s feet, and inftantly expired, A. D. 
1629. No one had feen the blow, nor the perfon who 
gave it; but a hat was picked up, on the infide of which 
was fewed a paper containing a Ihort ejaculation, defiling 
aid in the attempt. It was concluded that this hat mu ft 
belong to the aifhffin ; and while they were employed in 
debating whofe it could be, a man without a hat was 
feen walking very compofedly before them, and was heard 
to cry out, “ I am he.” When alked at whofe inftigu- 
tion he had committed that horrid deed ? he anfwered, 
that they need not trouble themfelves to enquire : that 
his confidence was his only prompter ; and that no man 
on earth could difpofe him to aft againft its dictates. He 
fuffered for the crime with the fame unrelenting courage 
and conftancy, exulting in the event, which he faid had 
delivered England from its greateft enemy. 
Although this event funk deep in the mind of Charles, 
who was ever awake to the feelings of humanity and 
friendftiip, and although he was now left, as it were, 
without an advifer, liis confequent meafures were judi¬ 
cious, and founded in wifdom. He made peace with the 
two crowns againft whom he had waged war, which had 
been entered into without neceffity, and conducted with¬ 
out glory. Being thus freed from his embarraffments, 
he bent his whole attention to the management of the 
internal policy of the kingdom, and took as his affo- 
ciates in this talk, fir Thomas Wentworth, afterwards 
earl of Strafford, and Laud, afterwards archbilhop of 
Canterbury. 
Strafford, by his eminent talents and abilities, merited 
all the confidence which the king repofed in him. His 
character was auftere ; more fitted to procure efteem than 
love; his fidelity to the king was unfhaken : but in ferv- 
ing the interefts of the crown, he forgot the rights of the 
people. As he now employed all his counfels to fup- 
port the prerogative, which he formerly had endeavoured 
to diminifh, his loyalty was fubjedted to the imputa¬ 
tion of felf-intereft and ambition ; but his good character 
in private life made up for that feenting duplicity of 
public conduCt. 
Laud was in the churtvi fomewhat refembling Strafford 
in the ftate, rigid, fevere, punClual, and induftrious. 
His zeal was- unremitted in the caufe of religion; and 
the forms, as eftabliffied by queen Elizabeth, feemed ef= 
feudally connected with it. 
Since the times of Elizabeth, that religious feCt had 
been gaining ground in England, which, from the pre¬ 
tended greater purity of their manners, were called pu¬ 
ritans. Of all other feCts, this was the moft obnoxious 
to monarchy ; and the tenets of it more calculated to 
fupport that imagined equality which obtains in a ftate 
of nature. The partifans of this religion, being gene¬ 
rally men of warm tempers, puffied their fentiments into 
a total oppolition to thofe of Rome ; and in the coun¬ 
tries where their opinions had taken place, not only a 
religious but a political freedom began to be eftabliffied. 
All enthufiafts, indulging more or lefs in extafies, vifions, 
and infpirations, have a natural averfion to ceremonies 
and ritual forms, which are but external means of fup- 
plying devotion. The fame unequivocal fpirit which 
accompanied them in their addreffes to the divinity, ap¬ 
peared in their political fpeculations ; and the principles 
of civil liberty, which had hitherto been almoft unknown 
in Europe, began to bud forth in this ungracious foil. 
It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that kings and bi- 
ffiops were anxious to fupprefs the growth of opinions 
fo unfavourable to their authority ; and that Laud, Who, 
of all men alive, was the moft attached to religious ce¬ 
remony, ffiould treat with rigour all men who contemned 
or oppofed his doft-rineS. And, indeed, in the hiftories 
