The danger to the court arising from the influx of the mob to Whitehall evoked counter demonstrations for its protection. A number of officers were assembled, who had served in the old army, or were going to Ireland. One day the court gave them a banquet at Whitehall. Even then the intrusion of the mob could only be repelled by [A.D. 1641.] violence and even bloodshed[297]. The apprentices threatened to come back and take vengeance. Hereupon guards were posted in Scotland Yard, in Westminster Abbey, in the great reception room at Whitehall. The younger members of the gentry who were completing their studies in the Inns of Court appeared at court, and offered their services. They were admitted to kiss the hands of the Queen and Prince. Never had more of the nobility been seen at court than at this juncture: all were armed, and they went about brandishing their swords, and showing the daggers with which they would defend the King. But the presence of a company of armed men aroused again in Parliament the fear of an intention to disperse the Houses by force. The Parliament on its side asked for a guard; there was even a talk of transferring the sittings into the city. A state of things had begun which must lead to some violent explosion. In the middle of December the French ambassador sent information home that the court cabal, which he also described as Spanish, which just then had hoped to triumph, was become weaker than the other[298]. At the end of December he added that affairs were in greater confusion than ever, and that Parliament was in such a position that the one cabal or the other must perish[299]. FOOTNOTES: [289] ‘And this I will do, if need be, to the hazard of my life and all that is dear unto me.’ Nalson Collection 676. [290] Cp. Forster, Arrest of the five members 48, 54. [291] Slingsby to Pennington, 16th December (St. P. O.). [292] Clarendon iv. 372: ‘By the concurrence and number of the meaner people men of the most active and pragmatical heads should be elected.’ These events in the city would be worth a searching investigation. Some information is given by the (one must admit) party pamphlet of Samuel Butler, A Letter from Mercurius Civicus, etc., in Someis’ Tracts iv. 584. [293] So he himself told the aldermen. Nalson ii. 702. [294] Journals 356. [295] Parliamentary History x. 123. [296] Giustiniani, 31 Dec/10 Jan. ‘Sciolto in freno alia licenza proruppero in parole di molto senso contra questa elettione non meno, che contra la camera alta, si lasciarono intendere che publicarebbero al popolo machinarsi a danni della libertà di lui, e lo persuaderebbero prender l’armi per defenderla.’ [297] Aerssen: ‘Les prentices firent des grandes insolences, même à Whitehall, le jour que le roi traitoit les colonels et capitaines qui devoient aller en Irlande.’ He reckons some sixty wounded; La Ferté 20-30.