280 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN.

chat. tlie king, that he would impower his commis-i.xvi sioner, in the next session of parliament, to give» si 7 S. his assent for repealing them. hor this presumption,as it was called, several of the members were finedand imprisoned. One More, a member of par-liament, having moved in the house, that, inimitation of the English parliament, no bill shouldpass except after three readings, he was, for thispretended offence, immediately sent to prison bythe commissioner.

The private deportment of Lauderdale was asinsolent and provoking as his public administra-tion was violent and tyrannical. Justice likewisewas universally perverted by faction and interest:And from the great rapacity of that duke, andstill more of his dutchess, all offices and savorswere openly put to sale. No-one was allowedto approach the throne who was not dependenton him; and no remedy could be hoped for, orobtained against, his manifold opprelfions. Thecafe of Mitchel ssows , that this minister was asmuch destitute of truth and honor as of lenityand justice.

Mitchel was a desperate fanatic, and hadentertained a resolution of assassinating Sharpe ,archbishop of St. Andrews, who, by his formerapostasy and subsequent rigor , had renderedhimself extremely odious to the covenanters. Jpthe year 1668 , Mitchel fired a pistol at theprimate, as he was fitting, in his coach ; but thebishop of Orkney, stepping into the coach, hap-pened to stretch out his arm, which intercepted