The parliament met after a long adjournment, and the king promised
himself every thing from the attachment of the commons. All his late
measures had been calculated to acquire the good will of his people;
and, above all, the triple league, it was hoped, would be able to efface
all the disagreeable impressions left by the unhappy conclusion of the
Dutch war. But a new attempt made by the court, and a laudable one, too,
lost him for a time the effect of all these endeavors. Buckingham, who
was in great favor with the king, and carried on many intrigues among
the commons, had also endeavored to support connections with the
nonconformists; and he now formed a scheme, in concert with the lord
keeper, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, and the chief justice, Sir Matthew Hale,
two worthy patriots, to put an end to those severities under which
these religionists had so long labored. It was proposed to reconcile
the Presbyterians by a comprehension, and to grant a toleration to the
Independents and other sectaries Favor seems not, by this scheme, as
by others embraced during the present reign, to have been intended the
Catholics: yet were the zealous commons so disgusted, that they could
not be prevailed on even to give the king thanks for the triple
league, however laudable that measure was then, and has ever since been
esteemed.
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