ous,) James naturally deemed his meaning to be
sufficiently explained, and feared not any reproach of falsehood or
duplicity, on account of this asseveration.

* Clarendon, vol. i. p. 23.

** Parl. Hist. vol. vi. p. 19.

*** Franklyn, p. 101, 102.

**** See, further, Franklyn, p. 87.

v Parl. Hist. vol. vi. p. 37.

After all these transactions, the parliament was prorogued by the king,
who let fall some hints, though in gentle terms, of the sense which he
entertained of their unkindness in not supplying his necessities.[*]

* Franklyn, p. 103.

James, unable to resist so strong a combination as that of his people,
his parliament, his son, and his favorite, had been compelled to
embrace measures for which, from temper as well as judgment, he had
ever entertained a most settled aversion. Though he dissembled his
resentment, he began to estrange himself from Buckingham, to whom he
ascribed all those violent counsels, and whom he considered as the
author, both of the prince's journey to Spain, and of the breach of the
marriage treaty. The arrival of Bristol he impatiently longed for; and
it was by the assistance of that minister, whose wisdom he respected,
and whose views he approved, that he hoped in time to extricate himself
from his present difficulties.

During the prince's abode in Spain, that able negotiator had ever
opposed, though unsuccessfully, to the impetuous measures suggested by
Buckingham, his own wise and well-tempered counsels. After Charles's
departure, he still, upon the first appearance of a change of
resolution, interposed his advice, and strenuously insisted on the
sincerity of the Spaniards in the conduct of the treaty, as well as the
advantages which England must reap from the completion of it. Enraged
to find that his successful labors should be rendered abortive by the
levities and caprices of an insolent minion, he would understand no
hints; and nothing but express orders from his master could engage him
to make that demand which, he was sensible, must put a final period to
the treaty. He was not, therefore, surprised to hear that Buckingham had
declared himself his open enemy, and, on all occasions, had thrown out
many violent reflections against him.

Nothing could be of greater consequence to Buckingham than to keep
Bristol at a distance both from the king and the parliament; lest the
power of truth, enforced by so well-informed a speaker, should ope