isen again with the summons of
the Houses to Westminster; and their rough dismissal after a three weeks
sitting brought all patience to an end. "So great a defection in the
kingdom," wrote Lord Northumberland, "hath not been known in the memory
of man."

[Sidenote: The Bishops' War.]

Strafford alone stood undaunted. He had provided for the resolve of the
Parliament by the decision of the Council that in such a case the king
might resort to "extraordinary means"; and he now urged that by the act
of the Commons Charles was "freed from all rule of government," and
entitled to supply himself at his will. The Irish army, he said, was at
the king's command, and Scotland could be subdued in a single summer. He
was bent, in fact, on war; and he took command of the royal army, which
again advanced to the north. But the Scots were as ready for war as
Strafford. As early as March they had reassembled their army; and their
Parliament commissioned the Committee of Estates, of which Argyle was
the most influential member, to carry on the government. Encouraged by
the refusal of the English Houses to grant supplies, they now published
a new manifesto and resolved to meet the march of Strafford's army by an
advance into England. On the twentieth of August the Scotch army crossed
the Border; Montrose being the first to set foot on English soil.
Forcing the passage of the Tyne in the face of an English detachment,
they occupied Newcastle, and despatched from that town their proposals
of peace. They prayed the king to consider their grievances, and "with
the advice and consent of the Estates of England convened in Parliament,
to settle a firm and desirable peace." The prayer was backed by
preparations for a march upon York, where Charles had abandoned himself
to despair. The warlike bluster of Strafford had broken utterly down the
moment he attempted to take the field. His troops were a mere mob; and
neither by threats nor prayers could the earl recall them to their duty.
He was forced to own that two months were needed before they could be
fit for action. Charles was driven again to open negotiations with the
Scots, and to buy a respite in their advance by a promise of pay for
their army and by leaving Northumberland and Durham in their hands as
pledges for the fulfilment of his engagements. But the truce only met
half his difficulties. Behind him England was all but in revolt. The
Treasury was empty, and London and the East India merc