charmed with it, and flattered themselves that at length they saw a prospect of ending all troubles; but they were quickly undeceived, and struck down in dumb astonishment by Charles rejecting them.
Carisbrook Castle, Isle of Wight.
Charles was still the same man; he was at the same moment secretly listening to the overtures of the Scotch commissioners, who were jealous of the army, and instead of seizing the opportunity to be once more a king, and a powerful and beloved king, he was flattering himself with the old idea that he would bring the two great factions "to extirpate each other." Sir John Berkeley, his earnest adviser, says, "What with having so concurring a second as Mr. Ashburnham, and what with the encouraging messages of lord Lauderdale and others from the presbyterian party and the city of London, who pretended to despise the army, and to oppose them to death, his majesty seemed very much elated; inasmuch that when the proposals were solemnly sent to him, and his concurrence most humbly and earnestly desired, his majesty, not only to the astonishment of Ireton and the rest, but even to mine, entertained them with very tart and bitter discourses, saying sometimes that he would have no man suffer for his sake, and that he repented of nothing so much as the bill against the lord Strafford—which, though most true, was unpleasant for them to hear; that he would have the church established according to law, by the proposals. They replied it was none of their work to do it; that it was enough for them to waive the point, and they hoped enough for his majesty, since he had waived the government of the church in Scotland. His majesty said that he hoped God had forgiven him that sin, and repeated often, 'You cannot be without me; you will fall to ruin if I do not sustain you!'"
It was still the old man! the old intolerable, incorrigible talk. He could not give up a single proposition to save all the rest, his life, his family, his crown, and kingdom. The officers looked at one another in amazement; the king's friends in consternation. Sir John Berkeley whispered in his ear, that his majesty seemed to have some secret strength that they did not know of; on which Charles seemed to recollect himself, and spoke more softly; but it was too late, for colonel Rainsborough, who was least inclined for the pacification, rode to the army, and made known the king's obstinacy. The agitators rushed together in crowds, and, excessively chagrined at the rejection of such terms, burst into the bed-chamber of lord Lauderdale, whom they suspected of having thus perverted the king's mind, and compelled him, spite of his standing in his position as commissioner from the states of Scotland, to rise, and get off back again to the capital.
At this crisis, the alarm at the proceedings in London,
