oung prince for
complying with conditions which necessity had extorted from him: that
even the rigor of those principles professed by his father, though with
some it had exalted his character, had been extremely prejudicial to his
interests; nor could any thing be more serviceable to the royal cause,
than to give all parties room to hope for more equal and more indulgent
maxims of government; and that where affairs were reduced to so
desperate a situation, dangers ought little to be regarded; and the
king's honor lay rather in showing some early symptoms of courage
and activity, than in choosing strictly a party among theological
controversies, with which, it might be supposed, he was as yet very
little acquainted.

These arguments, seconded by the advice of the queen mother and of the
prince of Orange, the king's brother-in-law, who both of them thought
it ridiculous to refuse a kingdom merely from regard to Episcopacy, had
great influence on Charles. But what chiefly determined him to comply,
was the account brought him of the fate of Montrose, who, with all
the circumstances of rage and contumely, had been put to death by his
zealous countrymen. Though in this instance the king saw more evidently
the furious spirit by which the Scots were actuated, he had now no
further resource, and was obliged to grant whatever was demanded of him.

Montrose, having laid down his arms at the command of the late king, had
retired into France, and, contrary to his natural disposition, had lived
for some time inactive at Paris. He there became acquainted with the
famous Cardinal de Retz, and that penetrating judge celebrates him in
his memoirs as one of those heroes, of whom there are no longer any
remains in the world, and who are only to be met with in Plutarch.
Desirous of improving his martial genius, he took a journey to Germany,
was caressed by the emperor, received the rank of mareschal, and
proposed to levy a regiment for the imperial service. While employed for
that purpose in the Low Countries, he heard of the tragical death of the
king; and at the same time received from his young master a renewal of
his commission of captain-general in Scotland.[*] His ardent and daring
spirit needed but this authority to put him in action. He gathered
followers in Holland and the north of Germany whom his great reputation
allured to him. The king of Denmark and duke of Holstein sent him some
small supply of money; the queen of Sweden fur