in the Fourth Year of King Charles the First. 241 Valentine, on the other side, stepped forward and forced him back into his official seat. He appealed to the House with abundance of tears. Selden argued and remonstrated with him. Sir Peter Heyman disavowed him, we are told, " as a kinsman," and denounced him as a disgrace to a noble family. Again he endea- voured to quit the chair. Sir Thomas Edmondes, who was old enough to have been ambassador from Queen Elizabeth to Henry IV. of France, a man of small stature, but of great courage, with other privy councillors, pressed forward to the Speaker's help ; but Holies violently held him in his chair, and swore, by what is termed Queen Elizabeth's oath, " God's wounds ! " that he should sit still until it pleased the House to rise. In the midst of this uproar, Coriton and Winterton, two of the members, arc said to have fallen to blows, numbers of the more timid fled out of the House, and the King, hearing of the tumult, sent to Edward Grimstone, the Serjeant-at- Arms, who was then within the House in attendance upon the Speaker, to bring away the mace, without which it was supposed that no legal meeting could be held. To defeat this object, the key of the door was taken from the Serjcant- at-Arms, and delivered to Sir Miles Hobart. Sir Miles stopped the egress of the Serjeant-at-Arms, and, having taken from him the mace, quietly put him out of the House and locked the door. The mace was then replaced upon the table, and Holies, standing by the side of the Speaker, put to the House three resolutions, which were deemed to be voted by acclamation. The King is said to have sent, in the meantime, Mr. Maxwell, the Usher of the Black Hod, to summon the House to attend in the House of Lords, but Maxwell could gain neither hearing nor admission. Grown now, as is stated in Lord Verulam's manuscript, " into much rage and passion," the King sent for " the Captain of the pensioners and guard to force the door." Ere this officer could muster his stately band, the House had done its work. The resolutions had been passed, the Speaker had been released from the strong grasp of Denzil Holies, Sir Miles Hobart had unlocked the door, the excited members had been set free, and, for a period of eleven years, parliamentary discussion in England had come to an end. The circumstances of such a sitting are clearly worthy of the critical attention of historical writers. The very order in which the several incidents occurred is of no little moment, and the most minute attention should be given to the verbal accuracy of the speeches. In all these things there is great discrepancy among the authorities. Eliot's speech is, in many of them, divided in two, and the relative time of its being spoken is uncertain ; the conduct of the Speaker is variously represented, and no mention is made of Strode, who was subsequently VOL. XXXVIII. 2 I
