n
scenes which were but suspected by the former, and of which the latter
had as yet entertained no manner of jealousy. He applied therefore to
James, whose weakness, disguised to himself under the appearance of
finesse and dissimulation, was now become absolutely incurable. A
warrant for sending Bristol to the Tower was issued immediately upon his
arrival in England;[*] and though he was soon released from confinement,
yet orders were carried him from the king, to retire to his country
seat, and to abstain from all attendance in parliament He obeyed; but
loudly demanded an opportunity of justifying himself, and of laying
his whole conduct before his master. On all occasions, he protested
his innocence, and threw on his enemy the blame of every miscarriage.
Buckingham, and, at his instigation, the prince, declared that they
would be reconciled to Bristol, if he would but acknowledge his errors
and ill conduct: but the spirited nobleman, jealous of his honor,
refused to buy favor at so high a price. James had the equity to say,
that the insisting on that condition was a strain of unexampled tyranny:
but Buckingham scrupled not to assert, with his usual presumption, that
neither the king, the prince, nor himself, were as yet satisfied of
Bristol's innocence.[**]

While the attachment of the prince to Buckingham, while the timidity
of James or the shame of changing his favorite, kept the whole court
in awe, the Spanish ambassador, Inoiosa, endeavored to open the king's
eyes, and to cure his fears by instilling greater fears into him. He
privately slipped into his hand a paper, and gave him a signal to read
it alone. He there told him, that he was as much a prisoner at London
as ever Francis I. was at Madrid; that the prince and Buckingham had
conspired together, and had the whole court at their devotion; that
cabals among the popular leaders in parliament were carrying on, to the
extreme prejudice of his authority; that the project was to confine him
to some of his hunting seats, and to commit the whole administration to
Charles; and that it was necessary for him, by one vigorous effort, to
vindicate his authority, and to punish those who had so long and so much
abused his friendship and beneficence.[***]

* Rushworth, vol. i. p. 145.

** Rushworth, vol. i. p. 259.

*** Rushworth, vol. i. p. 144. Hacket's Life of Williams.
Coke p. 107.

What credit James gave to this representation does not appear.