o tell the
lords, "That they themselves were the representative body of the whole
kingdom, and that the peers were nothing but individuals who held their
seats in a particular capacity; and therefore, if their lordships will
not consent to the passing of acts necessary for the preservation of
the people, the commons, together with such of the lords as are more
sensible of the danger, must join together, and represent the matter
to his majesty."[*] So violent was the democratical, enthusiastic spirit
diffused throughout the nation, that a total confusion of all rank and
order was justly to be apprehended; and the wonder was, not that the
majority of the nobles should seek shelter under the throne, but that
any of them should venture to desert it. But the tide of popularity
seized many, and carried them wide of the most established maxims of
civil policy. Among the opponents of the king are ranked the earl of
Northumberland, lord admiral, a man of the first family and fortune,
and endowed with that dignified pride which so well became his rank and
station: the earl of Essex, who inherited all his father's popularity,
and having from his early youth sought renown in arms, united to a
middling capacity that rigid inflexibility of honor which forms the
proper ornament of a nobleman and a soldier: Lord Kimbolton, soon after
earl of Manchester, a person distinguished by humanity, generosity,
affability, and every amiable virtue. These men, finding that their
credit ran high with the nation, ventured to encourage those popular
disorders, which, they vainly imagined, they possessed authority
sufficient to regulate and control.

In order to obtain a majority in the upper house, the commons had
recourse to the populace, who on other occasions had done them such
important service. Amidst the greatest security, they affected continual
fears of destruction to themselves and the nation, and seemed to quake
at every breath or rumor of danger. They again excited the people by
never-ceasing inquiries after conspiracies, by reports of insurrections,
by feigned intelligence of invasions from abroad, by discoveries of
dangerous combinations at home among Papists and their adherents. When
Charles dismissed the guard which they had ordered during his absence,
they complained; and upon his promising them a new guard, under the
command of the earl of Lindesey, they absolutely refused the offer, an
were well pleased to insinuate, by this instanc