But they soon saw reason to believe that he was in earnest.

That he was in earnest, indeed, can hardly be doubted.

For, in a confidential letter to Heinsius, whom he could have no motive for deceiving, he intimated his intention very clearly.

"I foresee," he writes, "that I shall be driven to take an extreme course, and that I shall see you again in Holland sooner than I had imagined." [16] In fact he had resolved to go down to the Lords, to send for the Commons, and to make his last speech from the throne.

That speech he actually prepared and had it translated.