f the House of Commons. Meanwhile on the 8th of
February he had made an important speech in the Commons advocating the
reformation and opposing the abolition of episcopacy. On the 8th of June,
during the angry discussion on the army plot, he narrowly escaped assault
in the House; and the following day, in order to save him from further
attacks, the king called him up to the Lords in his father's barony of
Digby.

He now became the evil genius of Charles, who had the incredible folly to
follow his advice in preference to such men as Hyde and Falkland. In
November he is recorded as performing "singular good service," and "doing
beyond admiration," in speaking in the Lords against the instruction
concerning evil counsellors. He suggested to Charles the impeachment of the
five members, and urged upon him the fatal attempt to arrest them on the
4th of January 1642; but he failed to play his part in the Lords in
securing the arrest of Lord Mandeville, to whom on the contrary he declared
that "the king was very mischievously advised"; and according to Clarendon
his imprudence was responsible for the betrayal of the king's plan. Next
day he advised the attempt to seize them in the city by force. The same
month he was ordered to appear in the Lords to answer a charge of high
treason for a supposed armed attempt at Kingston, but fled to Holland,
where he joined the queen, and on the 26th of February was impeached.
Subsequently he visited Charles at York disguised as a Frenchman, but on
the return voyage to Holland he was captured and taken to Hull, where he
for some time escaped detection; and at last he cajoled Sir John Hotham,
after discovering himself, into permitting his escape. Later he ventured on
a second visit to Hull to persuade Hotham to surrender the place to
Charles, but this project failed. He was present at Edgehill, and greatly
distinguished himself at Lichfield, where he was wounded while leading the
assault. He soon, however, threw down his commission in consequence of a
quarrel with Prince Rupert, and returned to the king at Oxford, over whom
he obtained more influence as the prospect became more gloomy. On the 28th
of September 1643 he was appointed secretary of state and a privy
councillor, and on the 31st of October high steward of Oxford University.
He now supported the queen's disastrous policy of foreign alliances and
help from Ireland, and engaged in a series of imprudent and ill-conducted
negotiations whi