Upon the dissolution of this Parliament in May, 1629, Hampden retired to his estate in Buckinghamshire, to entire privacy, but not to inactivity. He was diligently engaged in preparing himself for further efficient action in the struggle which he foresaw must soon recommence. History and politics claimed his chief attention. Davila's History of the Civil Wars of France was his favourite, "as though in the study of that sad story of strife and bloodshed, he already saw the parallel which England was to afford so soon." There was, however, one thing remaining which might have unfitted him for the desperate display of determination, which the crisis now rapidly demanded the strength of his domestic ties. But God, in his wisdom, saw fit at this time to break them. On the 20th of August, 1634, died "the patriot's" wife.

In the latter part of 1635, the celebrated ship-money writs were sent into Buckinghamshire. The English kings of the olden times, had claimed the right of requiring the maritime towns to furnish the royal navy with a certain number of ships for the defence of the coast. Charles I. endeavoured to make this antiquated and obsolete claim, the foundation of a right in the King to raise, without the authority of Parliament, a tax in money from all parts of the kingdom, inland as well as maritime. Had he succeeded he would have been entirely independent of Parliament, and have had power to tax the people at will. England owes a great debt of gratitude to the noble spirits of the time, that he did not succeed. The next year the sheriffs were required to proceed by distress, in case

prison was built in the reign of Edward III., and was originally the principal approach to the enclosure of the monastery of Westminster. It obtained much celebrity during the civil wars in England, on account of the incarceration of so many eminent men within its walls. From the Gate House he was sent into private detention in Hampshire.

Hampden had now suffered persecution; it had its usual effect. He no longer stood in the ranks of the patriots. He placed himself at

money. Here Hampden planted himself immovably in opposition. The terrors even of the merciless Star Chamber (Fig. 7) disturbed him not.

The amount of his tax was only thirtyone shillings and sixpence. But it was, to the principle of the exaction that he objected. He reasoned as did the fathers of the American Revolution. "The right to take one penny implied the right to take a thousand." He denied the right. He refused to pay. Proceedings against him were immediately instituted in the Exchequer. The case was solemnly argued before the twelve judges. They decided

in favour of the Crown by a majority of eight to four. But Hampden, though condemned by venal judges, was in reality triumphant. He had attained his object; he had aroused the people. Even Lord Clarendon was constrained to testify, that "the judgment infinitely more advanced him, Mr. Hampden, than the service for which it was given. He was rather of reputation in his own county, than of public discourse or fame in the kingdom, before the business of the ship-money; but then he grew the argument of all tongues, every man inquiring who or what he was, that durst, at his own charge, support the liberty and property of the country, as he thought, from being made

a prey to the court." The same writer notices his manner during the trial. "His carriage, throughout this agitation, was with that rare temper and modesty, that they who watched him narrowly to find some advantage against him, to make him less resolute in his cause, were compelled to give him a just testimony."

Hampden had hitherto, though firm, been gentle and moderate; he now became stern and impetuous. He had hitherto been merely for reform and protection; he now became, in the language of the times, "a root and branch man." Instead of seeking to lop off rotten boughs, he now aimed to destroy entirely the corrupt tree. At the opening of the Long

Parliament in November, 1640, "the eyes of all men were fixed upon him as their Pater Patriæ, and the pilot that must steer the vessel through the tempest and rocks which threatened it." The persecutions which he had endured, and the universal belief in his honesty of purpose, and devotion to the public good, made him the most powerful man in the kingdom. The first use to which he applied this power was in zealous support of the impeachment of Lord Stafford; but when the Commons changed the course of proceeding, by introducing a bill of attainder, he ceased to take part either way. He has been censured for this. Why, it has been asked, did he not, if he disapproved the attainder, oppose it as resolutely as he supported the impeachment? Lord Nugent has well answered the question. "In a case doubtful to him only as a matter of precedent, but clear to him in respect to the guilt of the accused person; in a case in which the accused, in his estimation, deserved death, and in which all law, except that of the sceptre and the sword, was at an end if he had escaped it; when all the ordinary protection of law to the subject, throughout the country, was suspended, and suspended mainly by the councils of Stafford himself, Hampden was not prepared to heroically immolate the liberties of England, in order to save the life of him who who would have destroyed them."

Through all the important scenes and acts which followed, Hampden took a leading part. He was one of the five members accused of treason, whom Charles undertook to seize in the House of Commons, January 6, 1642; but instead of being intimidated, from this time "his nature and carriage" became fiercer. When, finally, the power of the sword was asserted for Parliament by the Ordinance of Militia, and the Committee of Public Safety was formed, he became a member of the Committee; the King issuing his Commission of Array, raised his standard at Nottingham, and thus the struggle was made to be hereafter one of arms.

Hampden was one of the first of the patriots to take the field. He hastened to Buckinghamshire, and tradition says, on Hampden Common (Fig. 8), he mustered and marshalled the militia of his native county. Other, and perhaps better authority, designates the field of Charlgrove as the place of muster. He devoted both purse and person to the cause. Besides raising a regiment at his own expense, he subscribed £2000 to assist the Parliament, and accepted the commission of Colonel. He joined the army of the Earl of Essex, over whom his powerful mind soon obtained such an ascendency, that the enemies of both, charged that he was really the commander,

placed by Parliament as superintendent over the Earl. Well would it have been for the cause, if this really had been the case. But with all his influence he could not make that individual an energetic general. At the battle of Brentford, during the first campaign, after his troops and those of Lord Brooke, in support of the London regiment under Hollis, had borne the brunt of the day, he vainly urged Essex to convert, by a decisive forward movement, a doubtful issue into a victory. Had his advice been followed, it would probably have much shortened the war.

It is not, however, our province to give a history of the contest. It is sufficient to say that Hampden became as distinguished for energy in the field, as he had been for decision in Parliament. Failing in his efforts to arouse his superior to some great enterprise, he was, nevertheless, exceedingly active in a smaller way; and it was in the line of such duty that he received his death-wound. On the evening of the 17th of June, Prince Rupert, with about two thousand men, surprised and burned two villages occupied by parliamentary troops. As soon as Hampden heard of this, he set out with a body of cavalry which volunteered to

A CARBINEER OF HAMPDEN'S TIME.

follow him, to endeavour to delay the royalists until Essex could occupy the passes of Cherwell, and cut them off from Oxford. Rupert drew up on the field of Charlgrove to receive the attack. The action had not fairly commenced, when Hampden received two bullets