DOWNFALL OF ROYAL PRESTIGE 191

Charles could never make up his mind. Elizabeth, im- perious, wayward, yet sensible, had maintained the royal prerogative of monopolies by surrendering its abuses. Under James I, a genuine although foolish person, that prerogative had received a rude shock; under Charles I it became a discredited legend. His high pretensions and low expedients wearied out the Company, as they had wearied out the nation; and the Company's appeal to Parliament was the commer- cial counterpart of the nation's appeal to the sword.