LAUD. 
4o the Tower; all his rich goods and chattels, to an im- 
menfe value, were plundered and fold to pay the fine; his 
library feized, and all his papers and letters examined. 
Among thefe were found two or three letters written to 
him by Mr, Ofbaldefton, chief mailer of Weltminfter- 
fchool, containing fome dark and obfcure exprefiions, 
which the jealous archbilhop interpreted again!! himfelf 
and the lord-treafurer Wefton. Upon the ground of thefe 
letters, a new bill was exhibited againft the bilhop, for 
divulging fcandalous libels againll the king’s privy-coun- 
fellors. His lord Hi ip replied, that he did not remember 
having received the letters, and was fure that he had never 
divulged them, becaufe they were Hill among his private 
papers ; but, notwithllanding all that he could lay, he 
was condemned in a fine of eight thoufand pounds ; five 
thoufand to the king, and three thoufand to the archbi¬ 
lhop; for the non-payment of which he was kept clofe 
prifoner in the Tower till the meeting of the long parlia¬ 
ment. Upon the ground of the fame letters, Mr. Olbal- 
dellon was charged with plotting with the biihop of Lin¬ 
coln to divulge falfe news, and to breed a difference be¬ 
tween the lord-treafurer Wefton and the archbilhop of 
Canterbury, as long ago as the year 1633. And, though 
the council for the defendant abfolutely denied any refer¬ 
ence to the archbilhop, and named the perfons meant in 
the letter, yet the court fined him five thoufand pounds 
to the king, and the fame fum to the archbilhop ; and 
condemned him to be deprived of all his fpiritual digni¬ 
ties and promotions; to be imprifoned during the king’s 
pleafure ; and to Hand in the pillory in the dean’s yard 
before his own fchool, and to have his ears nailed to it. 
Mr. Olbaldefton was enabled to efcape to a place of con¬ 
cealment, where he remained undifcovered till the meet¬ 
ing of the long parliament; however, all his goods and 
chattels were feized and confifcated. In his remarks on 
thefe profecurions, particularly that againft Dr. Williams, 
bilhop Warburton fays, “This profecution mult needs 
give every one a bad idea of Laud’s heart and temper. 
You might refolve his high aids of power in the Hate into 
reverence and gratitude to his mailer; his tyranny in the 
church, to his zeal and love of what he called religion ; 
but the outrageous profecution of thefe two men can be 
refolved into nothing but envy and revenge ; and aflions 
like thefe they were which occafioned all that bitter, but in¬ 
deed juft, exclamation againft the bilhops, in the fpeeches 
of lord Falkland and lord Digby.” 
Archbilhop Laud was an enemy to the liberty of the 
prefs, by means of which his own proceedings and cha¬ 
racter, and the arbitrary meafures of the court, were ex- 
pofed. He therefore procured a decree to be made in the 
ftar-'chamber, in 1637, which ordained, that the number 
of printers lliould be limited; and that thole who were 
allowed lliould not from that time print any book or 
books of divinity, law, phyfic, philofophy, or poetry, till 
the faid books lliould be licenfed, either by the archbilhop 
of Canterbury or the bilhop of London for the time be¬ 
ing, or by their appointment, or otherwife by the chan¬ 
cellors or vice-chancellors of the universities ; upon pain 
of the printer’s being difabled from following his profef- 
fion, and profecuted in the liar-chamber, or high-commif- 
lion court. Every merchant alfo, or bookfeller, who 
Ihould import any books from abroad, w'as to deliver a 
catalogue of them to the archbilhop or bilhop of London ; 
and none were to be delivered, or expofed to fale, till 
thefe prelates, or their chaplains, had read and approved 
them, &c. This arbitrary and illegal reftraint of the prefs 
greatly increafed the number of Laud’s enemies among 
perfons of all parties. Wearied out, at length, by his op- 
preffive proceedings, and particularly by the extreme ri¬ 
gour with which a conformity to the rites and ceremonies 
of the church was now enforced, great numbers, both of 
clergy and laity, quitted the kingdom, and many of them 
went to New England. An attempt, however, was loon 
made, to prevent their thus withdrawing beyond the reach 
of ecclefialhcal authority, by a royal proclamation, com- 
Vol. XII. No. 830. 
289 
manding the officers of the feveral ports to fuffer none to 
pafs without licence from the commiliioners of the plan¬ 
tations, and a teftimonial from their minifter of their con¬ 
formity to the orders and difcipline of the church. The 
officers were at the fame time exprefsly enjoined to fuffer 
no clergyman to tranfport himfelf without a teftimonial 
from the archbilhop of Canterbury and bilhop of London. 
“This,” fays Mr. Neale, “ was a degree of feverity hardly 
to be parallelled in the Chriftian wmild. When the ediffc 
of Nantz was revoked, the French king allowed hisprotelt- 
ant fubjefts a convenient time to dilpole of their effeffs, 
and depart the kingdom ; but our proteftant archbilhop 
wili neither let the puritans live peaceably at home, nor 
take fanftuary in foreign countries; a conduct hardly 
confident with the laws of humanity, much lefs with the 
chara&er of a Chriftian bilhop ; but, while his grace was 
running things to thefe extremities, the people took a ge¬ 
neral difguil, and almoft all England became puritans.” 
The meafures which by his advice were purfued with re- 
l’peft to Scotland, likewife, drew down on him the hatred 
of that kingdom ; and provoked that refiftance which led 
to the renewal of the folemn league and covenant fub- 
fcribed by king James and the whole nation in the year 
1590. The attempt, in 1637, to force on the Scotch the 
new liturgy, which had been compiled by fome of the 
Scotch bilhops, but reviled, correCled, and altered, by arch¬ 
bilhop Laud and bilhop Wren, was the firft ftep which 
called forth the open oppofition of all ranks. To the his¬ 
tories of the time we refer our readers for an account of 
the proceedings, both of the government and of the Scotch 
people, till the commencement of the year 1639, when 
the king publifiied his refolution to go in perfon with an 
army into Scotland, to reduce the covenanters to liibmif- 
fion. For this purpofe the nobility were fummoned to 
attend his majelty, and all the wheels of the prerogative 
were put in motion, to raife men and money. Archbilhop 
Laud alfo wrote a letter to his fuffragans, in which he 
exhorted them and their clergy to contribute liberally to¬ 
wards this delign ; and he wrote to his commiffary, fir John 
Lamb, for a contribution in the civil court of Doctors’ 
commons, requiring him to fend the names of Inch as re- 
fufed to himfelf at Lambeth. 
After the king had raifed a numerous army, he marched 
at its head to the borders of Scotland; but, there perceiv¬ 
ing that the Scots had made preparations to meet him in 
the field, and that his proteftant nobility and foldiers were 
not hearty in his caufe, he found himfelf under the ne- 
ceffity of coming to terms of pacification, and of difmiff- 
ing his forces. According to thefe terms, all points of 
difference were referred to a general aliembly, to be held 
at Edinburgh ; and a parliament which was to meet foon 
afterwards. But, by the king’s not ratifying any of the 
acts of thefe bodies, it was foon rendered evident that he 
had yielded to the pacification only for the fake of gain¬ 
ing time, and that the Englilh court were determined 
once more to try the fortune of war. Laud and Strafford, 
however, who were the chief advifers of this refolution, 
in order to raife the requifite fupplies, thought it expe¬ 
dient to try the temper of an Englilh parliament. Ac¬ 
cordingly, after an interval of twelve years, a parliament 
was fummoned to meet at Weflminfter, April 13, 1640; 
and, when thetwohoufes were formed, his majefty ordered 
the lord keeper Finch to acquaint them with the unduti- 
ful behaviour of the Scots, whom he was determined to 
reduce, and therefore expefled their immediate affiftance, 
after which he would give them time to conlider of any 
juft grievances to be redrefted. But the commons, inftend 
of beginning with the fuppiy, appointed committees for 
religion and grievances ; which ciifobliged the king fo 
much, that, after feveral fruitlefs attempts to begin with 
the fubfidy-bili, he dilfolved them-in anger, without pair¬ 
ing a tingle act, and when they had fat only about three 
weeks. All the engines of arbitrary power were now fet 
at work to raife money for the war, as loans, benevolences,, 
fhip-monev, coat and conduft money, knighthood, mo. 
4 E • jiopolies,. 
