been summoned. The scene has been
most sympathetically described by Gardiner.

"At four o'clock in the grey winter evening, the noblemen, the Earl of
Sutherland leading the way began to sign. Then came the gentlemen, one
after the other until nearly eight. The next day the ministers were
called on to testify their approval, and nearly three hundred signatures
were obtained before night. The Commissioners of the boroughs signed at
the same time.

"On the third day the people of Edinburgh were called on to attest their
devotion to the cause which was represented by the Covenant. Tradition
long loved to tell how the honored parchment, carried back to the Grey
Friars, was laid out on a tombstone in the churchyard, whilst weeping
multitudes pressed round in numbers too great to be contained in any
building. There are moments when the stern Scottish nature breaks out
into an enthusiasm less passionate, but more enduring, than the frenzy
of a Southern race. As each man and woman stepped forward in turn, with
the right hand raised to heaven before the pen was grasped, every one
there present knew that there would be no flinching amongst that band of
brothers till their religion was safe from intrusive violence.

"Modern narrators may well turn their attention to the picturesqueness
of the scene, to the dark rocks of the Castle crag over against the
churchyard, and to the earnest faces around. The men of the seventeenth
century had no thought to spare for the earth beneath or for the sky
above. What they saw was their country's faith trodden under foot, what
they felt was the joy of those who had been long led astray, and had now
returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls."

Such were the conditions that brought on the Scotch war, neither Charles
nor Wentworth being wise enough to make concessions to the Covenanters.

The grievances against the King's Minister Wentworth are in this opening
scene shown as being aggravated by the fact that the men of the
"Faction" regard him as a deserter from their cause, Pym, himself being
one of the number who is loth to think Wentworth stands for the King's
policy.

The historical ground for the assumption lies in the fact that Wentworth
was one of the leaders of the opposition in the Parliament of 1628.

The reason for this was largely personal, because of Buckingham's
treatment of him. Wentworth had refused to take part in the collection
of the forced loan of 1626, and was di