When Charles the First came to be king, all the people were in hopes that he would be a better king than his father, as they believed he was a better man, and so he really was.

He was young and pleasant-looking; he was fond of learning, and seemed inclined to show kindness to all clever men, whether they were poets or good writers in any way, or musicians, or painters, or architects.

Besides, the people hoped that he would manage his money better than James, and not waste it in clothes, and jewels, and drinking, and hunting, and giving it to favourites.

But, unhappily, Charles still allowed the Duke of Buckingham to advise him in everything; indeed, he was a greater favourite than before James’s death, for he had managed to get the French princess Henrietta Maria for a wife for Charles, who was so fond of her, that he thought he never could thank Buckingham enough for bringing her to England.

But the parliament, particularly the Commons, did not like the marriage so much. The new queen was a Roman Catholic, and she brought a number of Roman Catholic ladies and priests to be her servants, and she soon showed that she was greedy and extravagant.

Charles, who, as I told you, had been very badly taught by his father, desired the parliament to give him money in a very haughty manner. The parliament said the people should pay some taxes, but that they could not afford a great deal at that time, for James had been so extravagant that they had not much left to give. Charles, by the advice of Buckingham, sent away the parliament, and tried to get money without its leave, and sent officers about the country to beg for money in the king’s name. Most people were afraid to refuse, and so Charles and Buckingham got a good deal to do as they pleased with.

Buckingham persuaded King Charles to make war against France, because one of the great men in France had affronted him. King James had begun a war with Spain.

The people were now more and more angry, for though they might like to fight for the glory of England, or for the good of the king, they could not bear to think of fighting for a proud, cruel, and selfish man like Buckingham.

I do not know what might have happened at that very time, perhaps a civil war, if a desperate man named Felton had not killed the Duke of Buckingham at Portsmouth, when he was on the way to France to renew the war.

The people were again in hopes that the king would do what was right, and consult the parliament before he attempted to make war, or take money for his subjects, or put any man in prison, now that his bad adviser, Buckingham, was dead. But they were much mistaken. Charles found new advisers, and governed for eleven years without a parliament. The king wanted money, and tried to compel all who had land to pay a tax called Ship Money; but some gentlemen, one of whom was Mr. John Hampden, refused to pay it, and said it was unlawful for the king to take money without the consent of parliament. But the judges declared that the king could take Ship Money, and that the people must pay it. Two of them, however, felt compelled to say that Charles had broken the laws, and the promises made by the English kings in agreement with the Great Charter.

This made the people very angry. They said the worst times were come again, when the kings fancied they might rob their subjects, and put them in prison when they pleased.

Charles was a very affectionate man, and he could not help loving and trusting others instead of making use of his own sense and trusting his people, as Queen Elizabeth had done. So he allowed the queen to advise him in most things, and Laud, Bishop of London, in others; particularly in matters of religion. So he began to oppress the Puritans in England. In poor Ireland, a harsh man, the Earl of Strafford, a great friend and favourite of King Charles, governed in such a cruel manner that everybody complained.

He sent English clergymen to preach in those parts of Ireland where the poor people could only understand Irish, and punished the people for not listening: and when some of the bishops (particularly good Bishop Bedel) begged him to have mercy upon the Irish, he threatened to punish them most severely for speaking in their favour.

All this time the king and queen and their friends were going on taking money by unlawful means from the people, till he was obliged to call a parliament. Then the gentlemen of the Commons insisted on Lord Strafford and Archbishop Laud being punished. Indeed, they would not be satisfied until Charles consented that Strafford’s head should be cut off.

Now, though Strafford well deserved some punishment, he had done nothing which by law deserved death; and therefore Charles ought to have refused his consent. The king had often quarrelled with the parliament, and acted contrary to its advice when he was in the wrong; but now that it would have been right to resist he gave way, and Strafford, who loved Charles, and whose very faults were owing to the king’s own wishes and commands, was beheaded by his order.

This was a sad thing for Charles. His friends found that he could not defend them, and many went away from England. The king still wanted to take money, and govern in all things, without the parliament; he even went so far as to send some of the Commons to prison. And the parliament became so angry at last that a dreadful civil war began.

The king put himself at the head of one army, and he sent to Germany for his nephew, Prince Rupert, a cruel and harsh man, to assist him. The queen went to France and Holland, to try to get foreign soldiers to fight in the king’s army against the parliament. The king’s people were called Cavaliers.

The parliament soon gathered another army together to fight the king, and made Lord Essex general; and the navy also joined the parliament: and all the parliament people were called Roundheads.

Now we will end this chapter. And I beg you will think of what I said about James the First, that he was a mischievous king. If he had not begun to behave ill to the people and parliament, and taught his son Charles that there was no occasion for kings to keep the laws, these quarrels with the parliament need not have happened, and there would not have been a Civil War.