Lives of the Poets | Page 6

"with great
sharpness and freedom, which, now there was no danger of being
out-voted, was not restrained; and therefore used as an argument
against those who were gone upon pretence that they were not suffered
to deliver their opinion freely in the House, which could not be
believed, when all men knew what liberty Mr. Waller took, and spoke
every day with impunity against the sense and proceedings of the
House."
Waller, as he continued to sit, was one of the commissioners nominated
by the Parliament to treat with the king at Oxford; and when they were
presented, the king said to him, "Though you are the last, you are not
the lowest nor the least in my favour."
Whitelock, who, being another
of the commissioners, was witness of this kindness, imputes it to the
king's knowledge of the plot, in which Waller appeared afterwards to
have been engaged against the Parliament. Fenton, with equal
probability, believes that his attempt to promote the royal cause arose
from his sensibility of the king's tenderness. Whitelock says nothing of
his behaviour at Oxford: he was sent with several others to add pomp to
the commission, but was not one of those to whom the trust of treating
was imparted.
The engagement, known by the name of Waller's plot, was soon
afterwards discovered. Waller had a brother-in-law, Tomkyns, who was

clerk of the queen's council, and at the same time had a very numerous
acquaintance, and great influence, in the city. Waller and he,
conversing with great confidence, told both their own secrets and those
of their friends; and, surveying the wide extent of their conversation,
imagined that they found in the majority of all ranks great
disapprobation of the violence of the Commons, and
unwillingness to
continue the war. They knew that many favoured the king, whose fear
concealed their loyalty; and many desired peace, though they durst not
oppose the clamour for war; and they imagined that, if those who had
these good intentions should be informed of their own strength, and
enabled by intelligence to act together, they might overpower the fury
of sedition, by refusing to comply with the ordinance for the twentieth
part, and the other taxes levied for the support of the rebel army, and by
uniting great numbers in a petition for peace. They proceeded with
great caution. Three only met in one place, and no man was allowed to
impart the plot to more than two others; so that, if any should be
suspected or seized, more than three could not be endangered.
Lord Conway joined in the design, and, Clarendon imagines,

incidentally mingled, as he was a soldier, some martial hopes or
projects, which however were only mentioned, the main design being
to bring the loyal inhabitants to the knowledge of each other; for which
purpose there was to be appointed one in every district, to distinguish
the friends of the king, the adherents to the
Parliament, and the
neutrals. How far they proceeded does not appear; the result of their
inquiry, as Pym declared, was, that within the walls, for one that was
for the Royalists, there were three against them; but that without the
walls, for one that was against them, there were five for them. Whether
this was said from knowledge or guess, was perhaps never inquired.
It is the opinion of Clarendon, that in Waller's plan no violence or
sanguinary resistance was comprised; that he intended only to abate the
confidence of the rebels by public declarations, and to weaken their
powers by an opposition to new supplies. This, in calmer times, and
more than this, is done without fear; but such was the acrimony of the
Commons, that no method of obstructing them was safe.

About this time another design was formed by Sir Nicholas Crispe, a
man of loyalty, that deserves perpetual remembrance; when he was a
merchant in the city, he gave and procured the king, in his exigencies, a
hundred thousand pounds; and, when he was driven from the Exchange,
raised a regiment, and commanded it.
Sir Nicholas flattered himself with an opinion, that some
provocation
would so much exasperate, or some opportunity so much encourage,
the king's friends in the city, that they would break out in open
resistance, and would then want only a lawful standard, and an
authorised commander; and extorted from the king, whose judgment
too frequently yielded to importunity, a commission of array, directed
to such as he thought proper to nominate, which was sent to London by
the Lady Aubigny. She knew not what she carried, but was to deliver it
on the communication of a certain token which Sir Nicholas imparted.
This commission could be only intended to lie ready till the time should
require it. To have attempted to raise any forces would have been