224 THE CECILS
to recommend him as Lord Treasurer. Shortly afterwards he incurred their displeasure by joining the King at York, and " at that distance," says Clarendon, " seemed to have recovered some courage, and concurred in all councils which were taken to undeceive the people and to make the proceedings of the Parliament odious to all the world."
He was one of those who signed the declaration that the King had no intention of making war on Parliament, in June, 1642 ; but having done so, he suddenly became frightened and fled back to London, " and never after denied to do any- thing that was required of him." He became an obedient servant of Parliament, and was prominent in its councils. He was one of the commissioners sent to treat with the King at Oxford in 1643, at Uxbridge in 1645, and at Newport in 1648 ; he was a member of the Assembly of Divines, and in 1645 he was voted a marquessate. From July to October, 1646, he was a Commissioner of the Great Seal, and in 1649, after the King's death, a member of the Council of State.
Clarendon's character of Lord Salisbury has often been quoted, but it must be remembered that the fact that the Earl adopted the popular side was enough to prejudice the Royalist historian against him.
" The Earl of Salisbury," he says, " had been born and bred in Court and had the advantage of a descent from a father and grandfather who had been very wise men, and
�� �
