side, had boldly set his enemies at defiance. No
parliament, they knew, would be summoned for some years; and during
that long interval, the court, though perhaps at the head of an inferior
party, yet being possessed of all authority, would have every advantage
over a body dispersed and disunited. These reflections crowded upon
every one; and all the exclusionists were terrified, lest Charles
should follow the blow by some action more violent, and immediately
take vengeance on them for their long and obstinate opposition to his
measures. The king on his part was no less apprehensive, lest despair
might prompt them to have recourse to force, and make some sudden
attempt upon his person. Both parties therefore hurried from Oxford;
and in an instant that city, so crowded and busy, was left in its usual
emptiness and tranquillity.

The court party gathered force from the dispersion and astonishment
of their antagonists, and adhered more firmly to the king, whose
resolutions, they now saw, could be entirely depended on. The violences
of the exclusionists were every where exclaimed against and aggravated;
and even the reality of the plot, that great engine of their authority,
was openly called in question*[**missing period] The clergy especially
were busy in this great revolution; and being moved, partly by their
own fears partly by the insinuations of the court, they represented all
their antagonists as sectaries and republicans, and rejoiced in escaping
those perils which they believed to have been hanging over them.
Principles the most opposite to civil liberty were every where enforced
from the pulpit, and adopted in numerous addresses; where the king was
flattered in his present measures, and congratulated on his escape from
parliaments. Could words have been depended on, the nation appeared to
be running fast into voluntary servitude, and seemed even ambitious of
resigning into the king's hands all the privileges transmitted to them,
through so many ages, by their gallant ancestors.

But Charles had sagacity enough to distinguish between men's real
internal sentiments, and the language which zeal and opposition to a
contrary faction may sometimes extort from them. Notwithstanding all
these professions of duty and obedience, he was resolved not to trust,
for a long time, the people with a new election, but to depend entirely
on his own economy for alleviating those necessities under which he
labored. Great retrenchments