Page 24 - Hampdens Monument Unveiled

a general loan, which he refused, and was in consequence
imprisoned for a time in the Gate House, and then sent still
under restraint to reside in Hampshire. The order for his
release, with many others, is dated March 1627-8. On this
occasion, he made the remarkable reply to the demand, why he
would not contribute to the king's necessities, that "he could
be content to lend as well as others, but feared to draw upon
himself that curse in Magna Charta, which should be read twice
a year against those who infringe it."

In the new Parliament which met in March 1628, Hampden again
sat for Wendover, and having become more generally known by the
part which he had taken in resisting the demands of the crown,
from this time forward, says Lord Nugent, "scarcely was a bill
prepared, or an inquiry begun, upon any subject, however
remotely affecting any one of the three great matters at issue
-privilege, religion, or the supplies -but he was thought fit
to be associated with St. John, Selden, Coke, and Pym, on the
committee."

That Parliament, after framing the Petition of Right, voting
supplies, and taking resolute steps towards procuring a redress
of grievances, was hastily and angrily dissolved in May 1629.
Previous to this, Hampden, "although retaining his seat for
Wendover, had retired to his estate in Buckinghamshire, to live
in entire privacy, without display, but not inactive;
contemplating from a distance, the madness of the Government,
the luxury and insolence of the courtiers, and the portentous
apathy of the people, who amazed by the late measures, and by
the prospect of uninterruptedly increasing violence, saw no
hope from petition or complaint, and watched, in confusion and
silence, the inevitable advance of an open rupture between the
King and the Parliament. The literary acquirements of his youth
he now carefully improved; increasing that stock of general
knowledge which had already gained him the reputation of being
one of the most learned and accomplished men of his age : and
directing his attention chiefly to writers on history and
politics. Davila's History of the Civil Wars of France became
his favourite study, his vade mecum, as Sir Philip Warwick
styles it; as if forecasting from afar the course of the storm
which hung over his own country, he already saw the sad
parallel it was likely to afford to the story of that work. In
his retirement, he bent the whole force of his capacious mind
to the most effectual means by which the abuses of
ecclesiastical authority were to be corrected, and the tide of
headlong prerogative checked, whenever the slumbering spirit of
the country should be roused to deal with those duties to which
he was preparing to devote himself" (Memorials of Hampden, p
175.) It may here be added, that Hampden's religious opinions
were those of the independent party, who were honourably
distinguished, no less from the Presbyterians than the
Episcopalians, by granting to all persons that freedom of
conscience and full toleration which they claimed for