Source.—Rushworth, Historical Collections. Vol. i., p. 609.

Mr. Alured to Mr. Chamberlain.

Sir,
Yesterday was a day of desolation among us in Parliament, and this day we fear will be the day of our dissolution: Upon Tuesday Sir John Eliot moved, that as we intended to furnish his Majesty with money, we should also supply him with Counsel, which was one part of the occasion why we were sent by the Country, and called for by his Majesty; And since that House was the greatest Council of the Kingdom, where, or when should His Majesty have better Council than from thence? So he desired there might be a Declaration made to the King of the danger wherein the Kingdom stood by the decay and contempt of Religion, the insufficiency of his Generals, the unfaithfulness of his Officers, the weakness of his Councils, the exhausting of his Treasure, the death of his Men, the decay of Trade, the loss of Shipping, the many and powerful Enemies, the few and the poor Friends we had abroad.

In the enumerating of which, the Chancellor of the Duchy said it was a strange language, yet the House commanded Sir John Eliot to go on. Then the Chancellor desired if he went on, that himself might go out, whereupon they all bade him be gone, yet he stayed and heard him out, and the House generally inclined to such a Declaration to be presented in an humble and modest manner, not prescribing the King the way, but leaving it to his Judgment for reformation. So the next day, being Wednesday, we had a Message from his Majesty by the Speaker that the Session should end on Wednesday, and that therefore we should husband the time, and despatch the old businesses without entertaining new.... The House was much affected to be so restrained, since the House in former times had proceeded by finding and committing John of Gaunt the King's Son and others, and of late have meddled with, and sentenced the Lord Chancellor Bacon, and the Lord Treasurer Cranfield. Then Sir Robert Philips spake, and mingled his words with weeping. Mr. Prynne did the like, and Sir Edward Coke, overcome with passion, seeing the desolation likely to ensue, was forced to sit down when he began to speak, through the abundance of tears, yea, the Speaker in his Speech could not refrain from weeping and shedding of tears; besides a great many whose great griefs made them dumb and silent, yet some bore up in that storm and encouraged others. In the end they desired the Speaker to leave the Chair, and Mr. Whitby was to come into it, that they might speak the freer and the frequenter, and commanded that no man go out of the House upon pain of going to the Tower. Then the Speaker humbly and earnestly besought the House to give him leave to absent himself for half an hour, presuming they did not think he did it for any ill intention; which was instantly granted him; then upon many Debates about their Liberties hereby infringed, and the imminent danger wherein the Kingdom stood, Sir Edward Coke told them, he now saw God had not accepted of their humble and moderate carriages and fair proceedings, and the rather, because he thought they dealt not sincerely with the King, and with the Country in making a true Representation of the causes of all these miseries, which now he repented himself since things were come to this pass, that he did it not sooner, and therefore he not knowing whether ever he should speak in this House again, would now do it freely, and there protested that the author and cause of all those miseries was the Duke of Buckingham, which was entertained and answered with a cheerful acclamation of the House, as when one good Hound recovers the scent, the rest come in with a full cry: so they pursued it, and every one came on home, and laid the blame where they thought the fault was, and as they were Voting it to the question whether they should name him in their intended Remonstrance, the sole or the Principal cause of all their Miseries at home and abroad: The Speaker having been three hours absent, and with the King, returned with this Message; That the House should then rise (being about eleven a clock, and no Committees should sit in the afternoon) till to-morrow morning; What we shall expect this morning God of Heaven knows. We shall meet timely this morning, partly for the business sake, and partly because two days since we made an Order, that whosoever comes in after prayers, pays twelve pence to the poor. Sir, excuse my haste, and let us have your prayers, whereof both you and we have here need: So in scribbling haste I rest,

Affectionately at your service,
Thomas Alured.

This 6 of June, 1628.