niality of mental endowments and moral qualities soon rendered Johnston and Henderson almost inseparable companions and fellow-counsellors. The great National Covenant was framed by their conjoint powers of knowledge and thought; they were the leading men of the Commissioners appointed to treat for peace with the King; by them the Solemn League and Covenant between England and Scotland was written; and their labours were again conjoined when they were sent together to the Westminster Assembly.

Two years before that period, the King having come to Scotland with a view of conciliating or deceiving the Covenanters, showed great favour to Mr Johnston, raised him to the order of knighthood, and made him one of the judges in the Court of Session, by the title of Lord Warriston. But these preferments and honours did not induce him to swerve a hair's breadth from his fidelity to the Covenanted Church of Scotland, which was dearer to him than rank and wealth, and the smiles of a monarch.

In the Westminster Assembly Warriston attended very constantly, and frequently engaged in the discussions and debates of that grave and learned body, fully maintaining his high reputation. Even the English Parliament requested him to sit among them and aid in their deliberations, although he was not, and could not become, a member of that high court.

After the decapitation of Charles I. by the English Parliament, against the strong and earnest protestations of both State and Church in Scotland, the outraged and indignant feeling of the community enabled the Scottish Royalists to gain the ascendency in public affairs, and they determined to place his son on the throne of Scotland, and framed an engagement with the English Royalists to aid them in the attempt to recover that of England also. Warriston did his utmost to prevent the nation from entering upon a course which could only lead to ruin: and when he could not prevail, he joined the Protesters, and aided their counsels. Cromwell easily triumphed over the divided power of Scotland; but Warriston, though he strove to avert a war

with England, refused to hold office under the Protector, whom he regarded as a usurper of regal power. Some years afterwards he was induced to accept the office of clerk register under the administration of Cromwell.

On the restoration of Charles II. the Marquis of Argyle was thrown into prison, and orders were issued for the seizure of others, including Warriston, but he escaped and fled to the continent. While there, he was attacked by a severe illness, and reduced almost to death by that and the unskilfulness-some say the treachery-of a physician. From the prostration of all bodily and even mental power, caused by this illness and treatment, he never wholly recovered. The cold, revengeful eye of Charles was still upon him; and in 1663 he was seized in France, brought to Scotland, tried, condemned, and executed, when so enfeebled by age and disease that he could scarcely either stand or speak. Yet with the calm tranquillity and spiritual elevation of a martyr, he gave the relics of his wasted life to the cause in which he had strenuously expended his strength.

6.-LAUDERDALE.

JOHN MAITLAND, afterwards Earl and Duke of Lauderdale, was descended from the Maitlands of Lethington, a family which was first raised to distinction by the great abilities of that very acute and unscrupulous statesman, the secretary of Queen Mary, and political antagonist of John Knox. Lethington, the family seat, was the birth-place of John Maitland, in the year 1616. In his youth he manifested considerable ability, and became distinguished for his classical acquirements. His first public appearance was at the period of the conflict between the Prelatic party and the Covenanters, when he keenly espoused the cause of Covenanted Reformation. He was at that time known as Lord Maitland, his father, the Earl of Lauderdale, being still alive. His rank and talents caused him to be regarded as a valuable acquisition, and his apparent zeal made him to

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be trusted and employed by the Scottish Church and Parliament. After having been engaged in various important negotiations, in some of which his violent temper and language injured the cause which he advocated so harshly, he was nominated one of the Commissioners to the Westminster Assembly; but his attendance was neither very regular nor of much importance, and before its deliberations closed, the death of his father caused his return to Scotland.

Not long after this period the Earl of Lauderdale became a decided Royalist, was one of the framers of the Engagement, or secret treaty with the King, and after the decapitation of that unhappy monarch, attached himself to the fortunes of his son. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Worcester, and remained in confinement till the overthrow of the Commonwealth by Monk. He then hastened to the Hague, where the young King was residing, and was received with open arms, and trusted with almost unlimited power in regard to Scottish affairs. His influence was exerted for a time through the medium of the Earl of Middleton and the Privy Council at Edinburgh; and its first manifestation was the overthrow of the Presbyterian Church, the establishment of Prelacy, and the commencement of remorseless persecution. But Middleton, proving unmanageable, was set aside in '1662; Rothes, who succeeded him, was also set aside in 1667; and from that time Lauderdale resided in Scotland, and conducted the persecution himself with grim and horrible delight.

Nothing more savagely ferocious,-more base, brutal, and bloody,-than the conduct of Lauderdale was ever recorded, to stain the annals of history and disgrace human nature. On this point we have neither space nor inclination to dwell, but must leave him to the unutterable infamy which will for ever blacken his name and memory. But a time of retribution came at last. In 1672 the King degraded the title of a duke by bestowing it on Lauderdale, and the English peerage by elevating him into its rank. But his treachery had made him universally distrusted, and his arrogance had become intolerable. In the begin

ning of 1682 he was deprived of all his offices and pensions, and cast aside as a worn-out political tool. He did not long survive his disgrace, but died in the summer of the same year, leaving behind him no son to inherit either his titles or his shame; and without one friend to lament his fall.

VI.

PHILIP NYE AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY,

REFERENCE has been so frequently made to the conduct of Philip Nye, in the Westminster Assembly, and his suspected intercourse with Cromwell, that it seems necessary to investigate these topics somewhat more fully than could be done in the limits of a footnote. Mr Nye was one of those Puritan divines who fled to Holland to escape from the severe and tyrannical proceedings of Laud. During his residence in Holland, at Arnheim, he adopted the views of the Independents. About the beginning of the Long Parliament he returned to England, and obtained a charge at Kimbolton, in Huntingdonshire, through the influence of Lord Kimbolton, also called Lord Mandeville, and afterwards Earl of Manchester. That nobleman was an intimate friend of Oliver Cromwell, and by his means Nye and Cromwell became also friends.

When the Parliament summoned the Assembly of Divines to meet at Westminster, Philip Nye was one of those so summoned; and the rectory of Acton near London was conferred upon him, as conveniently securing his constant attendance. No man was more urgent in recommending the signing of the Solemn League and Covenant than Nye; and for a time it seemed as though he would have been one of the most earnest in procuring the desired uniformity in religion between the two kingdoms. But there is reason to believe that Nye and Cromwell had, at a very

early period, resolved that the Independent, or Congregational system, should be the only one to which they would consent. This became apparent early in 1644, by the publication of the "Apologetical Narrative," written by Nye.

The state of public affairs must be carefully marked, in order to perceive the bearing of events upon each other. From some time after the commencement of the war the King appeared likely to be successful. Neither Essex nor Waller displayed any military skill. There appeared more energy in the Earl of Manchester; but that energy may be fairly attributed to Cromwell, who was now his lieutenantgeneral, and had already begun to raise and train that body of troops who were afterwards known as Cromwell's "Ironsides," and who were never beaten. The Parliament had urged the approach of the Scottish army. They had rapidly advanced towards York, and being joined by Fair fax, Manchester, and Cromwell, laid siege to that city. Prince Rupert hastened to its relief; and the battle of Marston was fought on the 2d July 1644, in which the Royalists were totally defeated. But in the autumn of the same year, the two armies of Waller and Essex were lost in the west counties, and the success of the war continued doubtful. In October, Manchester and Cromwell encountered and worsted the King at Newbury; but Manchester refused to prosecute their success, and an open rupture ensued between him and Cromwell. In the latter part of November, Cromwell complained in his place in Parliament of this dilatory and ineffectual prosecution of the war, and moved that members of Parliament should cease to remain also commanders in the army. This proposal, called the Self-denying Ordinance, passed in the Commons on the 19th December 1644, but was not accepted by the Lords. The treaty of Uxbridge engaged the attention of all parties during the month of January and the early part of February 1645. But this treaty was broken off on the 20th or 21st of February, and the Self-denying Ordinance was soon afterwards re-introduced, and finally passed on the 3d of April 1645. By this ordinance Cromwell also, as a member of Parliament, should have laid down his

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