[233] A very few days after this despatch had been written, James made his first hesitating and ungracious advances towards the Puritans.

He had determined to begin with Scotland, where his power to dispense with acts of parliament had been admitted by the obsequious Estates.

On the twelfth of February, accordingly, was published at Edinburgh a proclamation granting relief to scrupulous consciences.

[234] This proclamation fully proves the correctness of Barillon's judgment.

Even in the very act of making concessions to the Presbyterians, James could not conceal the loathing with which he regarded them.