.. JY· ~ ·ne HIsTORy of the PuRITANS. VoL. n. C King they were kept without meat and drink till next morning when they harles !I. b _ h · h ·r. '! c h' c. ' ,6 7 o, 10ug t tn t e pn.oners not gut ty ; 10r w 1ch they were nned forty marks ~a man, and to be imprifoned till paid. The prifoners were alfo remanded to Newgate for their fines in not pulling off their hats. The jury af– ter fome time were difcbarged by habea5 corpus returnable in the common pleas, where their commitment was judged illegal. This was a noble fiand for the liberty of the fubj ect in very dangerous times, when neither law nor equity availed any thing. The conventicle act was made to en~ courage profecutions; and a narrative was publi!hed next year, of the opppreilions of many honeH people in Devonjhire, and other pam, by the informers and jullices; but the courts of jufiice out-run the law itfe lf. 'King's dcjign Hitherto the king and parliament had agreed pretty well, by means of if governing the large fuppl ies of money the parliament had given to fupport his ma– aEbfoluteJ/y. jefiy's pleafures ; but now having aifurance of !arge remittances from ac 1a1 , p. . . . 86 4 • France, lm maJefiy refolved to govern by the prerogatlve, and fiand upon Rapin, p. his own legs. His prime counfellors were lord Clilford, Anthony Afo!ey 4 2 7· Cooper, afterwards lord Shaftjbury, the duke of Buckingham, earl of Arlington, and duke Lauderdale, who from the initial letters of their names Charafler of were called the CABAL. Lord CI:fford was an open papill, and the theCABAL. earl of Arlington a concealed one. Buckinghamwas a debauchee, and re– puted a downright atheifi; he was a man of great wit and parts, and of founder principles in the interefis of humanity (fays Mr. Baxter), than the refl of the court. Shaftfbury had a vafl: genius, but according to Burnet, at befl was only a deift; he had great knowledge of men and things, but would often change fides as his intereft directed. Lau– derdale was a man of learning, and from an almofl republican was be– come a perfect tool of the prerogative, and would offer at the mofi def– perate council-s. Be had fcarce any traces of religion remaining, though he called bim'felf a prefbytererian, and had an averiion to king Charles I. to the lafl. By thefe five minillers of fiate, the king and duke of 'York drove on their defigns of introducing popery and arbitrary power; in order to which, a fecret treaty was concluded with France; the triple alliance was broken, and a new war declared with the dutch to dellroy 'their commonwealth, as will be feen prefently; by this means the king had a plaufible pretence to keep up a fianding army, which might fecure -him in the exercife of an abfolute authority over his fubjetls, to fet afide the ufe of .parliaments, and fettle the roman catholic religion in the three kingdoms. Thefe were the maxims the court purfued throughout the re– main-ing part 'Of this reign. In
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