The nation however was not satisfied; and the first cry for the immediate convocation of a Parliament arose from among the nobility themselves. The government was somewhat alarmed to find that without their previous knowledge a considerable number of peers about this time assembled in London, most of whom were [A.D. 1640.] known to be bitterly hostile to the existing régime. There were the Earls of Bedford and Hertford, whose forefathers had won their fame by the share they had taken in forwarding the thorough reformation of the Church (what had become of the bishops, if the ideas of Protector Somerset, the ancestor of Hertford, had maintained their ground?): there were Essex, Warwick, the brother of Holland, who fully agreed with them in general political sentiments, Lord Mandeville, the son of Manchester, but belonging to a totally different party from his father, Say and Brooke, who had been the first to show that their views were opposed to the King. After a short consultation they agreed on a petition, in which they repeated the general grievances of the last session of Parliament, and with special emphasis insisted on those which had first come to light since then, such as the newly imposed oath[194]. They laid great stress on the dangers arising from the military preparations. The recusants, said they, are forbidden by law even to have weapons in their houses, and now high commands in the army are entrusted to them: what misfortunes would happen if any Irish troops were brought over to England--a fear which had seized on men’s minds in consequence of the known views of Strafford, long before his expressions had been thus interpreted. The Lords declared that there was only one remedy for all these evils, namely the immediate assembly of Parliament, which was necessary in order to remove the grievances of the people, to punish the originators of them for their several offences, to end the war without bloodshed, and to unite the two kingdoms against the common enemy of religion. It [A.D. 1640.] will be seen that these Lords, who had been named to the Scots as guarantees that they would meet a favourable reception in England, now, as might be expected, urged as their own the chief demands of the Scots.