to the Earl of Essex and other commanders of the army, and to all
governors of towns, &c., to the intent that it might be sworn to by every
man in the army; also that copies should be sent into all the counties,
so that they should punctually reach every parish and every parish-
minister--the instructions being that every minister should, the next
Lord's day after the certified copy of the Covenant reached him, read it
aloud to his congregation, discourse and exhort upon it, and then tender
it to all present, who should swear to it with uplifted hands, and
afterwards sign it with their names or marks. All men over eighteen years
of age, whether householders or lodgers, were to take it in the parishes
in which they were resident; and the names of all refusing, whether
ministers or laymen, were to be reported. [Footnote: See Ordinance in
Lords Journals, Feb. 5, 1643-4.] Nay, by an arrangement about the same
time, the action of the Covenant was made to extend to English subjects
abroad. Notwithstanding all this stringency, there is reason to believe
that not a few soldiers in the army, and not a few ministers and others,
contrived, in one way or another, to avoid the Covenant, without being
called to account for the neglect. Where a minister otherwise
unexceptionable, or an officer or soldier of known zeal and efficiency,
had scruples of conscience against signing, the authorities, both civil
and military, appear in many places to have exercised a discretion and
winked at disobedience or procrastination.--The case of the Earl of
Bridgewater may here be of some interest, on its own account, and as
illustrating what went on generally. The Earl, known to us so long as
"the Earl of Milton's _Comus_" had been living in retirement as an
invalid during the war, his wishes on the whole being doubtless with the
King, but his circumstances obliging him to keep on fair terms with the
Parliament. The test of the Covenant seems to have sorely perplexed the
poor Peer. "He says some things in the Covenant his heart goes along with
them, and other things are doubtful to him; and therefore desires some