siness with perfect temper and decorum. They considered that the king,
disgusted at these popular assemblies, and little prepossessed in favor
of their privileges, wanted but a fair pretence for breaking with them,
and would seize the first opportunity offered by any incident, or any
undutiful behavior of the members. He fairly told them in his first
speech, that, "If they should not do their duties in contributing to the
necessities of the state, he must, in discharge of his conscience, use
those other means which God had put into his hands, in order to save
that which the follies of some particular men may otherwise put in
danger. Take not this for a threatening," added the king, "for I scorn
to threaten any but my equals; but as an admonition from him who,
by nature and duty, has most care of your preservation and
prosperity."[***] The lord keeper, by the king's direction, subjoined,
"This way of parliamentary supplies as his majesty told you, he hath
chosen, not as the only way, but as the fittest; not because he is
destitute of others, but because it is most agreeable to the goodness
of his own most gracious disposition, and to the desire and weal of his
people. If this be deferred, necessity and the sword of the enemy make
way for the others. Remember his majesty's admonition. I say, remember
it."[****]

* Franklyn, p. 230.

** Sanderson, p. 106. Walker, p. 339

*** Rushworth, vol. i. p. 477. Franklyn, p. 233.

**** Rushworth, vol. i. p. 479. Franklyn, p. 234

From these avowed maxims, the commons foresaw that, if the least handle
were afforded, the king would immediately dissolve them, and would
thenceforward deem himself justified for violating, in a manner still
more open, all the ancient forms of the constitution. No remedy could
then be looked for but from insurrections and civil war, of which the
issue would be extremely uncertain, and which must, in all events,
prove calamitous to the nation. To correct the late disorders in the
administration required some new laws, which would, no doubt, appear
harsh to a prince so enamored of his prerogative; and it was requisite
to temper, by the decency and moderation of their debates, the rigor
which must necessarily attend their determinations. Nothing can give us
a higher idea of the capacity of those men who now guided the commons,
and of the great authority which they had acquired, than the forming and
executing of so judicious and so diff