of the Council of York, he procured the assent of all within his jurisdiction to the odious contribution of Ship-Money. Relying upon the acceptableness of this service, he now again, with the added intercession of his friend the Primate, solicited the honour which had been before withheld; not only as a gratification of his vanity, but also as a necessary safeguard to his fame and his authority. But the causes, which had previously frustrated his ambition, had recently been much strengthened. The reply of Charles, therefore, was so decisive, as to bar all hopes of compliance. This ungracious repulse, conveyed in unqualified terms, and accompanied with poignant insinuations, inflicted a deep wound on the mind of Wentworth. He returned however to Ireland, which he continued to govern upon the same system as before.

In 1631, he had lost his second wife, who in the course of the preceding six years had brought him two sons and three daughters, in child-bed of her second boy. So violent was his anguish upon this occasion, that his confidential friends, by remaining with him continually for several days and nights, were scarcely able to overcome his despair. And several years afterward when, at the request of his mother-in-law Lady Clare, he entrusted the education of his daughters to her charge, he recalled the incomparable virtues of their mother with an enthusiasm and sensibility, which proved how deeply his heart was interested.

But the tender remembrance of Arabella Hollis did not prevent the growth of another passion in the breast of Wentworth, who was still in the prime and vigour of life. In 1632, he married Elisabeth

daughter of Sir Godfrey Rhodes, who bore her new dignities with incomparable meekness and humility; impressed with an overwhelming sense of her husband's superiority, and not even venturing to approach him with her letters.

In the earlier part of his life, he had entered freely into the social amusements usual among persons of his rank; but his short and uncertain intervals of relaxation were, now, with difficulty snatched from the pressure of public affairs. In the games of primero and marso, at which he played with uncommon skill, he indulged only during the Christmas festivities, or after supper when he found it necessary to mingle in the amusements of his company. It was in the interval between this meal and the hours devoted to sleep, that he now found his chief period of recreation. When the company proved agreeable to him, he was accustomed to retire with them to an inner room, where he would continue for some hours, smoking tobacco, and relating anecdotes with great freedom and pleasantry. Here the guests were agreeably surprised to see the Viceroy, so ceremonious and haughty amidst his official avocations, completely throw off the statesman, and engage in the amusements of a social circle with unreserved familiarity.

Temperate however, even in the most unguarded hours of hilarity; of unquestioned integrity, though not inattentive to the improvement of his private fortune, and sumptuously magnificent in the appointments of his office, he had many claims to personal respect. But his ambition involved him in exertions, which were followed by severe bodily infirmities. His gout became inveterate from neglect of exercise. Upon

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his return to Ireland the aguish complaints, which in his earlier life had reduced him to a dangerous debility, made their re-appearance: and while he laboured under severe pain accompanied with an intermittent pulse, faint sweats, and depression of spirits, he began to prognosticate that no long life awaited him here below.'

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These infirmities were exasperated by numerous vexations incurred in the discharge of his office. Appointments in the army conferred, contrary to usage, by the King upon the dependents of rival courtiers, grants on the Irish establishment made without his knowledge and against his express stipulation, indemnification granted to the young Earl of Clanrickarde for his losses in Galway, with other jealousies and calumnies circulated in England beyond his reach, to which he betrayed an aching sensibility, kept his mind in perpetual anguish. To these must be added, as not the least source of his disquietudes, the violence of his own passions, which involved him in a discreditable quarrel with the Irish Chancellor Loftus.

In 1637 however he was for the first time, notwithstanding his remembered hostility to Buckingham, and the proud determination of Charles, as the master spirit, to guide and inform the whole affairs of his realm, invited (beyond the pale of Irish counsels) to give his advice upon the subject of the Spanish war. His reply, which is extant among his Letters, is not more interesting from it's sagacity, than for the schemes which it develops for the consolidation of an independent and absolute monarchy. It, happily, saved the nation indeed from the meditated quarrel; but struggles, of a nearer and more domestic nature, were now rapidly approaching.

Scotland, which had lately given a King to the empire, prepared to set the example of resistance. Laud had resolved to introduce into that kingdom innovations, which had been resisted in England, and to adorn their worship with a ceremonial more conformable to the church of Rome; under the sole authority of the Sovereign, superseding the solemn statutes of the legislature by royal proclamations. The cause of religion became sacred even to the most indifferent, from it's connexion with that of civil liberty and a Covenant to maintain their rights was, in 1638, eagerly embraced throughout the nation. When Charles appeared at the head of an army to enforce his mandates with the sword, he was met on the borders by a force inferior indeed to his own in pomp and splendor, but in every military respect far it's superior. A hasty pacification was the result. His Majesty's increasing difficulties now led him to request the personal attendance of Wentworth, who had not in the mean while been inattentive to the Scottish proceedings, or backward in adopting measures to repress them: but he requested, at the same time, that he would find some other pretext for visiting England.'

That devoted nobleman lost no time in obeying the summons. Committing his government to Wandesford, he hastened in November 1639, under pretence of opposing an appeal of the Chancellor Loftus, to the English court. In conjunction with his principal colleagues, Laud and Hamilton,* he advised war

* These three ministers, with some others occasionally admitted, were by the enemies of the court reproachfully termed the 'Junto,' and the Cabinet-Council.' Such was the origin of a term, now attended with peculiar distinction.

with the Scots, and as a necessary preliminary to it, that a parliament should be assembled. He farther displayed his superior zeal by subscribing 20,0007., as his share of a voluntary contribution.

In reward of these services (such, fatally, they were considered) he was created Baron of Raby, and Earl of Strafford, invested with the title of Lord Lieutenant, which since the time of Essex had been withheld from the governors of Ireland; and, the following year, made Knight of the Garter. Delighted with these honours, so often implored and so tardily bestowed, he hastened back to his government; and though overtaken at Beaumaris by a severe fit of the gout, and encountered by contrary winds, he resolutely set sail. The zeal of his parliament exceeded his expectations. After a stay of fifteen days, and a most gratifying acknowledgment of the benefits derived from his sway, he set off on his return, to attend the opening of the English session. A storm which aggravated his gout, and in conjunction with his excessive fatigues superadded to it a violent flux, laid him up for several days at Chester. But, as soon as he could possibly endure the motion, he caused himself to be placed in a litter, and conveyed by slow journeys to London. There he found the parliament already met, and conducting their discussions with unexpected moderation.* They

* Clarendon, I. 131, informs us, that the court was so infatuated as to do every thing to brave and affront the parliament, even after issuing the writs. "That it might not appear that the court was at all apprehensive of what the parliament would or could do; and that it was convened by his Majesty's grace inclination, not by any motive of necessity; it proceeded in all respects in the same unpopular way it had done. Ship-Money

and