him "of a chimerical beast called by the ancients
_Stellionatus_, so blurred, so spotted, so full of foul lines that they
knew not what to make of it! In setting up himself he hath set upon the
kingdom's revenues, the fountain of supply, and the nerves of the land.
He intercepts, consumes, and exhausts the revenues of the crown; and, by
emptying the veins the blood should run in, he hath cast the kingdom
into a high consumption." He descends to criminate the duke's
magnificent tastes; he who had something of a congenial nature; for
Eliot was a man of fine literature. "Infinite sums of money, and mass of
land exceeding the value of money, contributions in parliament have been
heaped upon him; and how have they been employed? Upon costly furniture,
sumptuous feasting, and magnificent building, _the visible evidence of
the express exhausting of the state_!"

Eliot eloquently closes--

Your lordships have an _idea_ of the man, what he is in himself, what
in his affections! You have seen his power, and some, I fear, have
felt it. You have known his practice, and have heard the effects.
Being such, what is he in reference to king and state; how compatible
or incompatible with either? In reference to the king, he must be
styled the canker in his treasure; in reference to the state the moth
of all goodness. I can hardly find him a parallel; but none were so
like him as Sejanus, who is described by Tacitus, _Audax; sui
obtegens, in alios criminator; juxta adulatio et superbia_. Sejanus's
pride was so excessive, as Tacitus saith, that he neglected all
councils, mixed his business and service with the prince, seeming to
confound their actions, and was often styled _Imperatoris laborum
socius_. Doth not this man the like? Ask England, Scotland, and
Ireland--and they will tell you! How lately and how often hath this
man commixed his actions in discourses with actions of the king's! My
lords! I have done--you see the man!

The parallel of the duke with Sejanus electrified the house; and, as we
shall see, touched Charles on a convulsive nerve.

The king's conduct on this speech was the beginning of his troubles, and
the first of his more open attempts to crush the popular party. In the
House of Lords the king defended the duke, and informed them, "I have
thought fit to take order for the _punishing some insolent speeches_
lately spoken." I find a piece of secret history enclosed in a