CHARLES I.

i95

nomination ; and the prince, besides one negative chap.after the bills had passed through parliament, iv.possessed indirectly another before their introduc- isqi.tion ; a prerogative of much greater consequencethan the former. The bench of bishops beingnow abolished, the parliament laid hold of theopportunity, and totally set aside the lordsof articles: And till this important point wasobtained , the nation, properly speaking, couldnot be said to enjoy any regular freedom

It is remarkable, that notwithstanding thisinstitution, to which there was no parallel inEngland, the royal authority was always deemedmuch lower in Scotland than in the formerkingdom. Bacon represents it as one advantageto be expected from the union, that the tooextensive prerogative of England would be ab-ridged by the example of Scotland, and the toonarrow prerogative of Scotland be enlarged fromthe imitation of England. The English were ,at that time, a civilized people and obedientto the laws: But among the Scots, it wasof little consequence how the laws were framed,or by whom voted, while the exorbitant aristo-cracy had it* so much in their power to preventtheir regular execution.

Thii peers and commons formed only onehouse in the Scottish parliament: And as it hadbeen the practice of James , continued byCharles, to grace English gentlemen with Scottish

O 2

5 Burnet, Mem.