Charles’s authority had disappeared with his dignity, and the parsimony of successive Parliaments had impoverished the royal family to so great an extent that the want of money was not the least of their troubles.  At one time they were reduced to such straits that hunger would have stared them in the face but for the alternative of pawning their jewels.  In these circumstances it is scarcely surprising that Charles should have turned to the Pope for help.

The following letter from Rosetti to the Cardinal, if somewhat discursive, is interesting as the record of a kind of sommation respectueuse which he now made to the King:—­

“Oatlands, August 10/25, 1640.

“Your Eminence’s letters of the 30th June and the 7th July having reached me, I did not omit to speak to Mr. Windebank on the subject of his Majesty’s conversion, and of the succour in the shape of men and money that will be sent to him from Rome in the event of its taking place.  After some talk about the present state of the King’s affairs, Mr. Windebank asked me whether I had received letters from Rome relating to the proposal he had already made me.  I replied that I had, and that your Eminence was extremely well-disposed towards this country, sympathising deeply with his Majesty in his troubles, caused by the disobedience and faithlessness of the Puritans.  This led to my saying that a State could not possibly be either happy or secure unless united, and that unity was impossible without one uniform religion.  I then put forward the indisputable fact, that a prince whose subjects profess one faith alone is beyond compare more powerful than a sovereign whose people are split up into various religions, and that the many sects in this realm, opposed to every form of political government, ought to make his Majesty pause, and reflect on the remedy.

“I added that in reality there was no other remedy than for the King, with all his Protestants, to embrace our holy religion, when forming one body with the Catholic party, they would be strong enough to keep the Puritans in check.

“On the other hand, it was, I said, only too evident, that if measures were not taken to repress them, they would grow so powerful as to imperil one day the very existence of monarchy in England.  Every hour it became, I held, more apparent how little they were in touch with the King, and how determined they were never to rest till they had introduced popular government in some form or other.

“Here I digressed, in order to point out how often King James, his Majesty’s father, had found himself in danger of losing his life by the machinations of the Puritans, having been menaced by them even before he saw the light of day.  I then went on to point out that King Charles was placed in the very same danger, and his kingdom reduced to such a state of discord and weakness, that he must fear daily to find himself and his crown the prey of his worst enemies.