82 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

cuap. Of the five hundred and thirteen knights and burgesses only ajusa. hundred and thirty-five had ever sate in that place before.It is evident that a body of men so raw and inexperiencedmust have been, in some important qualities, far below theavex’age of our representative assemblies. *

The management of the House was confided by James totwo peers of the kingdom of Scotland. One of them, CharlesMiddleton, Earl of Middleton, after holding high office atEdinburgh, had, shortly before the death of the late King,been sworn of the English Privy Council, and appointed oneof the Secretaries of State. With him was joined RichardGraham, Viscount Preston, who had long held the post ofEnvoy at V ersailles.

Trevor The first business of the Commons was to elect a Speaker,speaker. Who should be the man., was a question which had been muchdebated in the cabinet. Guildford had recommended SirThomas Meres, who, like himself, ranked among the Trim-mers. Jeffreys, who missed no opportunity of crossing theLord Keeper, had pressed the claims of Sir John Trevor.Trevor had been bred half a pettifogger and half a gambler,had brought to political life sentiments and principles worthyof both his callings, had become a parasite of the ChiefJustice, and could, on occasion, imitate, not unsuccessfully,the vituperative style of his patron. The minion of Jeffreyswas, as might have been expected, preferred by James,was proposed by Middleton, and, was cliosen without oppo-sition.**

character Thus far all went smoothly. But an adversary of no com-mour y " mon prowess was watching his time. This was EdwardSeymour of Berry PomerOy Castle, member for the city ofExeter. Seymour’s birth put him on a level with the noblestsubjects in Europe. He was the right heir male of the body of

* Burnet, i. 626.; Evelyn’s Diary, Hay 22.1685.

** Roger North’s Life of Guildford, 218.; Bramston’s Memoirs.