bishops, you may be prefented with a thou "fand inftances of poor men that have re"ceived hard measure from their landlords; "and of worldly goods abufed, to the injury "of others, and difadvantage of the owners.

"And therefore, Mr. Speaker, my humble

"motion is, That we may fettle men's minds herein; and, by a queftion, declare our "refolution, to reform, that is, not to abolish, Epifcopacy."

It cannot but be wished that he, who could fpeak in this manner, had been able to act with fpirit and uniformity.

When the Commons began to fet the royal authority at open defiance, Waller is faid to have withdrawn from the house, and to have returned with the king's permiffion; and, when the king fet up his standard, he fent him a thousand broad-pieces. He continued, however, to fit in the rebellious conventicle; but " .66 fpoke," fays Clarendon, "with great sharpness and freedom, which, "now there was no danger of being outvoted, "was not restrained; and therefore used as

66

an argument against those who were gone upon pretence that they were not suffered "to deliver their opinion freely in the house,

which could not be believed, when all "men knew what liberty Mr. Waller took,

and fpoke every day with impunity against the fenfe and proceedings of the house."

Waller, as he continued to fit, was one of the commiffioners nominated by the parlia ment to treat with the king at Oxford; and when they were prefented, the King faid to him, " Though you are the laft, you are not "the lowest nor the leaft in my favour." Whitlock, who, being another of the commiffioners, was witness of this kindness, imputes it to the king's knowledge of the plot, in which Waller appeared afterwards to have been engaged against the parliament. Fenton, with equal probability, believes that this attempt to promote the royal caufe arose from his fenfibility of the king's tenderness. Whitlock fays nothing of his behaviour at Oxford: he was fent with feveral others to add pomp to the commiffion, but was not one of those to whom the truft of treating was imparted. A a 3

The

The engagement, known by the name of Waller's plot, was foon afterwards difcovered. Waller had a brother-in-law, Tomkyns, who was clerk of the Queen's council, and at the fame time had a very numerous acquaintance, and great influence, in the city. Waller and he, converfing with great confidence, told both their own fecrets and those of their friends; and, furveying the wide extent of their converfation, imagined that they found in the majority of all ranks great disapprobation of the violence of the Commons, and unwillingness to continue the war. They knew that many favoured the king, whofe fear concealed their loyalty; and many defired peace, though they durft not oppofe the clamour for war; and they imagined that if those who had these good intentions could be informed of their own ftrength, and enabled by intelligence to act together, they might overpower the fury of fedition, by refufing to comply with the ordinance for the twentieth part, and the other taxes levied for the fupport of the rebel army, and by uniting great numbers in a petition for peace. They proceeded with great caution. Three

only

only met in one place, and no man was allowed to impart the plot to more than two others; fo that, if any fhould be fufpected or feized, more than three could not be endangered.

Lord Conway joined in the defign, and, Clarendon imagines, incidentally mingled, as he was a foldier, fome martial hopes or projects, which however were only mentioned, the main defign being to bring the loyal inhabitants to the knowledge of each other; for which purpose there was to be appointed one in every district, to distinguish the friends of the king, the adherents to the parliament, and the neutrals. How far they proceeded does not appear; the refult of their enquiry, as Pym declared *, was, that within the walls, for one that was for the Royalifts, there were three against them; but that without the walls, for one that was against them, there were five for them. Whether this was faid from knowledge or guefs, was perhaps never enquired.

* Parliamentary Hiftory, Vol. II. Dr. J.

It is the opinion of Clarendon, that in Waller's plan no violence or fanguinary re-. fiftance was comprised; that he intended only to abate the confidence of the rebels by pub lick declarations, and to weaken their powers by an oppofition to new fupplies, This, in calmer times, and more than this, is done. without fear; but fuch was the acrimony of the commons, that no method of obftructing them was fafe.

About this time another defign was formed by Sir Nicholas Crifpe, a man of loyalty that deferves perpetual remembrance: when he was a merchant in the city, he gave and procured the king, in his exigences, an hundred thousand pounds; and, when he was driven from the Exchange, raised a regiment, and commanded it.

Sir Nicholas flattered himself with an opi nion, that fome provocation would fo much exafperate, or fome opportunity fo much encourage, the King's friends in the city, that they would break out in open refistance, and then would want only a lawful standard, and

an