CHARLES I. 253

for some days , ordered a committee to sit in cmerchant-taylors-hall in the city. The committeemade an exact inquiry into all circumstances at-tending the king’s entry into the house : Everypassionate speech , every menacing gesture ofany , even the meanest, of his attendants , wasrecorded and aggravated. An intention of offeringviolence to the parliament, of seizing the accusedmembers in the very house, and of murdering allwho should make resistance, was inferred. Andthat unparalleled breach of privilege , so it wascalled , was still ascribed to the counsel of papistsand their adherents. This expression, which thenrecurred every moment in speeches and memorials,and which , at present, is so apt to excite laughterin the reader. begat at that time the deepest andmost real consternation throughout the kingdom.

A letter was pretended to be intercepted,and was communicated to the committee, whopretended to lay great stress upon it. One catholicthere congratulates another on the accusation okthe members ; and represents that incident as abranch of the same pious contrivance, which hadexcited the Irish insurrection , and by which theprofane heretics would soon be exterminated inEngland

The house again met; and, after confirmingthe votes of their committee, instantly adjourned,as if exposed to the most imminent perils from theviolence of their enemies. This practice they con-

' Nelson, vol. ii. p. 8)6. ,>

HAP.

I.V.

1642 .