"If we should be backward in this great work, we shall cancel the obligations of nature, of honour, of reason of state, of religion, which bind us to it.

"Wherefore, Mr. Whitlock, my humble motion is, That we may draw up a short and sound manifest, to wait upon and affirm the King's declaration to be still managed by advice of Parliament,' which will be safe for ourselves, and more powerful and effectual for the Prince Elector."

On the 9th of July, 1641, Mr. Denzil Holles made a speech to the Lords concerning the settling of the Queen of Bohemia and her Electoral family in their rights and inheritance with restitution for their sufferings. And on the same day Sir Benjamin Rudyerd delivered a message from his Majesty to the Commons concerning the Queen-mother, viz. "That his Majesty desired her departure, if monies could be obtained for sending her away; and that less than 10,000l. would not suffice for that purpose." Which sum the Commons granted out of the Poll-money; and accordingly, in the August following, Mary de Medicis, Queen-Dowager of France, left the country accompanied by the Earl of Arundel. She died soon after in exile. at Cologne, to the eternal disgrace of the Great Cardinal, who then governing France with an iron hand (her son, Louis XIII., being a mere cipher), owed all his rapid progress to supreme

power entirely to her early patronage. On the 12th of July, both Houses waited on the King to declare their concurrence in the manifesto in favour of the Palatinate, and recommended that it should be sent to the Scotch Parliament for its approval, to give it weight at the Diet as expressive of the unanimous feeling of the empire. From this period until the King's journey into Scotland, on the 10th of August, the impeachment of the bishops, matters of religion, the revival of old charges, long dormant, relating to the army plot, &c., the conversion of the people by the Capucin Friars belonging to the Queen at Denmark House, and the disbanding of the army, were the principal topics of debate in the Houses of Parliament. The Queen proposed going to Spa for the benefit of her health; but, yielding to the request of Parliament, she postponed her journey. For which, in thankfulness to her Majesty, "they took into consideration the bill which they had had long before them for settling the Queen's jointure." Hansard's "Parliamentary History" is silent as to the result of their deliberations upon this subject; indeed, no allusion is made to any debate beyond the preceding quotation from vol. ii. p. 890. The following speech, however, made by Sir Benjamin Rudyerd upon that occa

sion, taken from the MS. copy in the Harleian Collection, proves that the question was debated:

"Mr. Speaker,-God hath blessed the Queen's Majesty with a blessed and hopeful progeny already, whereby she hath relieved and fortified this kingdom, which may put us in mind in a fit time to provide according to their birth and interest. She is the daughter of a great and famous king; she is the wife of another king which to us includes all expressions. But in one thing, Mr. Speaker, her Majesty is singular, in that she is the mother to the greatest prince that hath been born amongst us these hundred years, which cannot but work a tenderness in us. The Queen likewise may be another instrument of happiness to us, in her good attention to Parliaments, by a good handsel in this, and I believe we shall see good effects of it, for it nearly and wisely concerns her Majesty, even in all the relations that are so dear to her, to contribute her best assistance to uphold the government and greatness of the kingdom. By which means, also, the King will be better enabled to make a further enlargement of his bounty towards her in some degree proportionable. Wherefore, Mr. Speaker, it will become this House to shew our dutifulness in passing this bill.”

On the 27th of August both Houses agreed to a recess from the 8th of September to the 20th of October in consequence of the increase of the plague in London, and the next day

the Commons "took into consideration the affair of the French and Spanish ambassadors hiring forces from the disbanded Irish army," when Sir Benjamin Rudyerd made the following speech:

"Mr. Speaker,-This is a business of great consequence, and therefore requires a well-advised resolution. I will put France and Spain together, and take them both before me; because the reasons will serve the one and the other, as they stand in relation to us. We are so bounded by the nature of our situation, that we are not so proper to extend ourselves upon the firm land as our neighbours; our aptitude is rather to balance; which, being rightly used, may make the King the great arbiter of all the affairs of Christendom, by assisting, withholding, or opposing. Henry VIII. is an example of this; he was sometimes on the side of the Emperor, other times of the French army, according as he saw either side of the scales to weigh heavier or lighter. Some might think this to be inconstancy in him; but it was certainly out of a true and peculiar understanding of his power. By the present state of Christendom it is apparent that the House of Austria begins to diminish, as in Spain, so consequently in Germany: that the French do swell and enlarge themselves; and, if they grow and hold, they will be to us only Spain nearer hand.

"Alliances do serve well to make up a present breach, or mutually to strengthen those states who have the same ends; but politick bodies have no

natural affections; they are guided by particular interests; and beyond that are not to be trusted.

"Although it may be good policy to breed a militia at the charge of other states abroad for our own use and occasions at home, yet that ought rather to be done amongst friends of the same way; and so the Low Countries have been an academy to us.

"His Majesty hath now an ambassador treating with the Emperor about the Palatinate. If we send away our men, it will so damp and discountenance the affairs of the Prince Elector, that the world will believe we never had, nor ever shall have, any intentions to assist him at all. I have observed for divers years, that England is not so well peopled but we do want workfolks to bring in the harvest: our disbanded soldiers will not dislike that kind of work: and if they be speedily dissolved, that employment will entertain them for the present, and inure them to labour hereafter.

"Upon these considerations, Mr. Speaker, I cannot give my advice to add more strength to France by weakening both ourselves and our friends.

"As for sending the Irish into Spain, truly, sir, I have been long of opinion that it was never fit to suffer the Irish to be promiscuously made soldiers abroad, because it may make them able to trouble this state when they come home. Their intelligence and practice with the princes whom they shall serve may prove dangerous to that kingdom of Ireland. They may more profitably be employed about husbandry, whereof that kingdom hath great need. Be