CHAPTER VIII.
Charles returned from the North improved in spirits, fancying he had made a favourable impression upon his Scottish subjects, and pondering sanguine schemes for crushing the power of Pym, and of all the patriots. The reaction towards the close of the summer of 1641, which we have already described, was decidedly in his favour—and there seemed room to expect that Parliament, after the course which the King now seemed disposed to pursue, might, in its eagerness for victory, place itself altogether in a false position.
During his stay in Edinburgh, he had been anxious to fill up certain vacant bishoprics, but delayed doing so at the request of Parliament. Soon after his return, he made Williams,—then Bishop of Lincoln,—Archbishop of York; and appointed Dr. Winniffe to succeed Williams. Dr. Duppa was translated from Chichester to Salisbury; King, Dean of Rochester, was promoted to Chichester; Hall had the See of Norwich presented to him in the room of Exeter; where he was followed by Brownrigg, who had been Master of Catherine Hall, Cambridge; Skinner went from Bristol to Oxford; Westfield had the former See conferred on him, and Ussher received the Bishopric of Carlisle in commendam. A conciliatory temper appeared in the episcopal arrangements thus made by His Majesty, inasmuch as all the prelates whom he now appointed and advanced were popular men, and were well esteemed by the Puritan party.
The King's Reception.
Charles, on his arrival in town on the 25th of November, received a welcome which vied in splendour with the renowned receptions given to our Edwards and Henries. The Lord Mayor and Aldermen in their robes; citizens in velvet coats; and noblemen richly apparelled, with a goodly array of trumpeters, pursuivants, equerries, and sheriffs' men, wearing scarlet coats, and silver-laced hats crowned with feathers, marched to meet the Royal party at Moorgate, whence they proceeded—the King on horseback, the Queen in her richly embroidered coach,—by way of Bishopsgate, Cornhill, and Cheapside, to Guildhall; the streets being lined by the livery companies, and adorned with banners, ensigns, and pendants of arms. The conduits in Cheapside ran with claret, and along the line of procession the people shouted "God bless, and long live King Charles, and Queen Mary."[231] A grand banquet followed on the hustings of the Old City Hall; the floor being covered with Turkey carpets, and the walls hung with rich tapestry. Their majesties sat in chairs of state, under a grand canopy, and the royal table was covered with "all sorts of fish, fowl, and flesh, to the number of 120 dishes, of the choicest kinds," with "sweetmeats and confections, wet and dry." After a short repose, at about four o'clock, the Royal party advanced towards Whitehall; and as the evening shadows fell upon the spectacle, the footmen exchanged their truncheons for flambeaux, "which gave so great a light, as that the night seemed to be turned into day." Trumpets, bands of music, and the acclamations of the people,—according to the chroniclers—made the streets ring again.[232]
1641, November.
This exhibition so artistically contrived, which had been a subject of much correspondence with the King, as well as of deliberation on the part of the citizens, had a no less religious than political significancy. A year before, Presbyterians and Sectaries had made themselves conspicuous by "Root and Branch petitions," and since then, their activity had not declined, or their numbers diminished. On the contrary, the sectaries had increased, and had given alarming signs of zeal, in purifying certain Churches from the abominations of idolatry, and in organizing ecclesiastical societies of their own quite apart from the establishment.
In this state of things, the conservative portion of the corporation, and the citizens who sympathized with them, had, for the purpose of a party demonstration, elected a Lord Mayor who was a decided Royalist and a High Churchman. "The factious persons," remarks Sir Edward Nicholas, writing on this subject to the King, "were making a noise, and would not proceed to the election, when the sheriff proposed Alderman Gourney (who I hear is very well-affected and stout) and carried it; and the schismatics who cried 'no election,' were silenced with hisses, and thereupon the Sheriff dismissed the Court."[233] This victory equally gratified Sir Edward and his master, and placed at the head of the costly civic reception, a gentleman in whom the King had the fullest confidence. More indeed was intended, both of loyal and religious demonstration, by the party who now took the lead in the City, than they were able to accomplish. A present of money and an address in favour of Episcopacy had been proposed, but without success.[234] Notwithstanding, the King took care, in answer to the address of the recorder and corporation—as they stood by Moorgate, bare-headed,—to assure them of his determination, at the hazard of his life and of all that was dear to him, to maintain and protect the Protestant religion, as it had been established by his two famous predecessors, Queen Elizabeth and his father King James.