t the king shall govern according to law, now siding
with him against them, one cannot but feel how grave are the
difficulties, and how much is to be said on either side. How is one to
choose? The king is overbearing, haughty, and untrue to his word. The
Parliament is stiff-necked and bent upon acquiring power beyond what is
fair and right. There are, indeed, grievous faults on both sides. But it
seems to me that should the king now have his way and conquer the
Commons, he and his descendants will henceforth govern as absolute
monarchs, and the liberty of the people will be endangered; while on the
other hand, should the Parliament gain the upper hand, they will place
on a firm basis the liberties of Englishmen, and any excesses which they
may commit will be controlled and modified by a future parliament, for
the people of England will no more suffer tyranny on the part of the
Commons than of the king; but while they cannot change the one, it is
in their power to elect whom they will, and to send up men who will
govern things moderately and wisely."

"At any rate," Harry said, "my father thinks that there is neither
moderation nor wisdom among the zealots at Westminster; and as I hear
that many nobles and country gentlemen throughout England are of the
same opinion, methinks that though at present the Parliament have the
best of it, and have seized Portsmouth, and the Tower, and all the
depots of arms, yet that in the end the king will prevail against them."

"I trust," Herbert continued earnestly, "that there will be no fighting.
England has known no civil wars since the days of the Roses, and when we
see how France and Germany are torn by internal dissensions, we should
be happy indeed that England has so long escaped such a scourge. It is
indeed sad to think that friends should be arrayed against each other in
a quarrel in which both sides are in the wrong."

"I hope," Harry said, "that if they needs must fight, it will soon be
over, whichever way fortune may turn."

"I think not," Herbert answered. "It is a war of religion as much as a
war for power. The king and the Commons may strive who shall govern the
realm; but the people who will take up arms will do it more for the
triumph of Protestantism than for that of Pym and Hampden."

"How tiresome you both are," Lucy Rippinghall interrupted, pouting. "You
brought me out to gather flowers, and you do nothing but talk of kings
and Parliament, as if I cared for them