sadly insignificant in the time of Charles.
May that party therefore never become less, but constantly grow
larger!

Montagu, at the time of the proclamation of his book, had been
appointed Bishop of Chichester, having been raised to that see in
spite or because of his quarrel with Parliament. He was
consecrated by Laud in August of the same year, and Heylin admits
that his promotion was more magnanimous than safe on the part of
Charles, being clearly calculated to exasperate the House. Ten
years later (1638) he was preferred to the see of Norwich. All
his life he remained a prominent member of the Romanising party.

These books of Manwaring and Montagu are important as proving
clearly two historical points, viz.:--(1) The early date at which
the Court party alienated even the House of Lords. (2) The fact
that the original exciting cause of all the subsequent discord
between Puritan and Prelatist came from a prominent member of the
Laudian or Romanising faction.

The rising temper of the people, and its justification, is shown
even in these literary disputes. But the popular temper was
destined to be more seriously roused by those atrocious sentences
against the authors of certain books which were passed within a
few years by the Star Chamber and High Commission. The heavy
fines and cruel mutilations imposed by these courts were not new
in the reign of Charles, but they became far more frequent, and
were directed less against wrong conduct than disagreeable
opinions. They are intimately connected with the memory of Laud,
first as Bishop of London, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury,
whose letters show that the severities in question were to him
and Strafford (to use Hallam's expression) "the feebleness of
excessive lenity." To the last Charles was not despotic enough to
please Laud, who complains petulantly in his Diary of a prince
"who knew not how to be, or be made great."

As the first illustration of Laud's method for attaining this end
must be mentioned the case of a book which enjoys the distinction
of having brought its author to a more severe punishment than
any other book in the English language. Our literature has had
many a martyr, but Alexander Leighton is the foremost of the
rank.

He was a Scotch divine; nor can it be denied that his _Syon's
Plea against the Prelacy_ (1628) contained, indeed, some bitter
things against the bishops; he said they were of no use in God's
house, and called them cat