eans alone they could expect to obtain so
considerable a reenforcement as the accession of the Scottish nation,
was received without opposition. The parliament, therefore, having first
subscribed it themselves, ordered it to be received by all who lived
under their authority.

Great were the rejoicings among the Scots, that they should be the happy
instruments of extending their mode of religion, and dissipating that
profound darkness in which the neighboring nations were involved.
The general assembly applauded this glorious imitation of the piety
displayed by their ancestors who, they said, in three different
applications, during the reign of Elizabeth, had endeavored to engage
the English, by persuasion, to lay aside the use of the surplice,
tippet, and corner-cap.[*] The convention, too, in the height of their
zeal, ordered every one to swear to this covenant, under the penalty
of confiscation; besides what further punishment it should please the
ensuing parliament to inflict on the refusers, as enemies to God, to
the king, and to the kingdom. And being determined that the sword should
carry conviction to all refractory minds, they prepared themselves, with
great vigilance and activity, for their military enterprises. By means
of a hundred thousand pounds, which they received from England; by the
hopes of good pay and warm quarters; not to mention men's favorable
disposition towards the cause; they soon completed their levies. And
having added to their other forces the troops which they had recalled
from Ireland, they were ready, about the end of the year, to enter
England, under the command of their old general, the earl of Leven, with
an army of above twenty thousand men.[**]

* Rush., vol. vi. p 388.

** Clarendon, vol. iii. p 383.

The king, foreseeing this tempest which was gathering upon him,
endeavored to secure himself by every expedient; and he cast his eye
towards Ireland, in hopes that this kingdom, from which his cause had
already received so much prejudice, might at length contribute somewhat
towards his protection and security.

After the commencement of the Irish insurrection, the English
parliament, though they undertook the suppression of it, had ever been
too much engaged, either in military projects or expeditions at home,
to take any effectual step towards finishing that enterprise. They had
entered, indeed, into a contract with the Scots, for sending over an
army of ten thousand