"He read it, and
was never seen to smile more." With late repentance for his vanity,
which prompted him to excite such furious opposition, he pushed from him
the crown he had courted, when offered by his creatures; but he did it
with an affectation of disdain and self-command, that ill accorded with
his former intrigues to obtain it. All his anxiety was now directed to
the preservation of his joyless life. He had long worn light armour
under his clothes, and carried pistols in his pockets. He seldom lay
twice in the same chamber, or informed any one which apartment he meant
to select. He travelled with extreme rapidity, attended by numerous
guards, and never returned by the way he went. Yet no sooner was one
conspiracy detected, than another was formed; the fanatics were
irreconcileable, and the most worthy and eminent among the dissenters
determined on his overthrow. His old military comrades, Fairfax and
Waller, were bent to destroy him. His treasury was drained by the
rapacity of his numerous spies; and as fines and exactions had been
strained to the utmost, he had no means of replenishing it but by a
recourse to measures similar to those which had overthrown the monarchy;
for his fanatical puppet-shows had brought the name of Parliament into
contempt, and he durst not appeal to the free voice of the nation.
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