n; but it was far from meeting the wishes of the
general body of the Commons. The part which the higher clergy had taken
in lending themselves to do political work for the Crown was fresh in
the minds of all; and in addition to the changes which Williams
proposed, Pym and Lord Falkland demanded a severance of the clergy from
all secular or state offices, and an expulsion of the bishops from the
House of Lords. Such a measure seemed needful to restore the independent
action of the Peers; for the number and servility of the bishops were
commonly strong enough to prevent the Upper House from taking any part
which was disagreeable to the Crown.

[Sidenote: The Bishops and Parliament.]

Further the bulk of the Commons had no will to go. There were others
indeed who were pressing hard to go further. A growing party demanded
the abolition of Episcopacy altogether. The doctrines of Cartwright had
risen into popularity under the persecution of Laud, and Presbyterianism
was now a formidable force among the middle classes. Its chief strength
lay in the eastern counties and in London, where a few clergymen such as
Calamy and Marshall formed a committee for its diffusion; while in
Parliament it was represented by Lord Brooke, Lord Mandeville, and Lord
Saye and Sele. In the Commons Sir Harry Vane represented a more extreme
party of reformers, the Independents of the future, whose sentiments
were little less hostile to Presbyterianism than to Episcopacy, but who
acted with the Presbyterians for the present, and formed a part of what
became known as the "root and branch" party, from its demand for the
utter extirpation of prelacy. The attitude of Scotland in the struggle
against tyranny, and the political advantages of a religious union
between the two kingdoms, gave force to the Presbyterian party; and the
agitation which it set on foot found a vigorous support in the Scotch
Commissioners who had been sent to treat of peace with the Parliament.
Thoughtful men, too, were moved by a desire to knit the English Church
more closely to the general body of Protestantism. Milton, who after the
composition of his "Lycidas" had spent a year in foreign travel,
returned to throw himself on this ground into the theological strife. He
held it "an unjust thing that the English should differ from all
churches as many as be reformed." In spite of this pressure however, and
of a Presbyterian petition from London with fifteen thousand signatures
which