The History of England from the Accession of James II, Vol. 2
by
Thomas Babington Macaulay
Part 11 out of 12
to the spirit of its own mild laws, were solemnly affirmed. All
these things the Convention claimed, in the name of the whole
nation, as the undoubted inheritance of Englishmen. Having thus
vindicated the principles of the constitution, the Lords and
Commons, in the entire confidence that the deliverer would hold
sacred the laws and liberties which he had saved, resolved that
William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, should be
declared King and Queen of England for their joint and separate
lives, and that, during their joint lives, the administration of
the government should be in the Prince alone. After them the
crown was settled on the posterity of Mary, then on Anne and her
posterity, and then on the posterity of William.
By this time the wind had ceased to blow from the west. The ship
in which the Princess of Orange had embarked lay off Margate on
the eleventh of February, and, on the following morning, anchored
at Greenwich.672 She was received with many signs of joy and
affection: but her demeanour shocked the Tories, and was not
thought faultless even by the Whigs. A young woman, placed, by a
destiny as mournful and awful as that which brooded over the
fabled houses of Labdacus and Pelops, in such a situation that
she could not, without violating her duty to her God, her
husband, and her country, refuse to take her seat on the throne
from which her father had just been hurled, should have been sad,
or at least serious. Mary was not merely in high, but in
extravagant, spirits. She entered Whitehall, it was asserted,
with a girlish delight at being mistress of so fine a house, ran
about the rooms, peeped into the closets, and examined the quilt
of the state bed, without seeming to remember by whom those
magnificent apartments had last been occupied. Burnet, who had,
till then, thought her an angel in human form, could not, on this
occasion, refrain from blaming her. He was the more astonished
because, when he took leave of her at the Hague, she had, though
fully convinced that she was in the path of duty, been deeply
dejected. To him, as to her spiritual guide, she afterwards
explained her conduct. William had written to inform her that
some of those who had tried to separate her interest from his
still continued their machinations: they gave it out that she
thought herself wronged; and, if she wore a gloomy countenance,
the report would be confirmed. He therefore intreated her to make
her first appearance with an air of cheerfulness. Her heart, she
said, was far indeed from cheerful; but she had done her best;
and, as she was afraid of not sustaining well a part which was
uncongenial to her feelings, she had overacted it. Her deportment
was the subject of reams of scurrility in prose and verse: it
lowered her in the opinion of some whose esteem she valued; nor
did the world know, till she was beyond the reach of praise and
censure, that the conduct which had brought on her the reproach
of levity and insensibility was really a signal instance of that
perfect disinterestedness and selfdevotion of which man seems to
be incapable, but which is sometimes found in woman.673
On the morning of Wednesday, the thirteenth of February, the
court of Whitehall and all the neighbouring streets were filled
with gazers. The magnificent Banqueting House, the masterpiece of
Inigo, embellished by masterpieces of Rubens, had been prepared
for a great ceremony. The walls were lined by the yeomen of the
guard. Near the northern door, on the right hand, a large number
of Peers had assembled. On the left were the Commons with their
Speaker, attended by the mace. The southern door opened: and the
Prince and Princess of Orange, side by side, entered, and took
their place under the canopy of state.
Both Houses approached bowing low. William and Mary advanced a
few steps. Halifax on the right, and Powle on the left, stood
forth; and Halifax spoke. The Convention, he said, had agreed to
a resolution which he prayed Their Highnesses to hear. They
signified their assent; and the clerk of the House of Lords read,
in a loud voice, the Declaration of Right. When he had concluded,
Halifax, in the name of all the Estates of the Realm, requested
the Prince and Princess to accept the crown.
William, in his own name and in that of his wife, answered that
the crown was, in their estimation, the more valuable because it
was presented to them as a token of the confidence of the nation.
"We thankfully accept," he said, "what you have offered us."
Then, for himself, he assured them that the laws of England,
which he had once already vindicated, should be the rules of his
conduct, that it should be his study to promote the welfare of
the kingdom, and that, as to the means of doing so, he should
constantly recur to the advice of the Houses, and should be
disposed to trust their judgment rather than his own.674 These
words were received with a shout of joy which was heard in the
streets below, and was instantly answered by huzzas from many
thousands of voices. The Lords and Commons then reverently
retired from the Banqueting House and went in procession to the
great gate of Whitehall, where the heralds and pursuivants were
waiting in their gorgeous tabards. All the space as far as
Charing Cross was one sea of heads. The kettle drums struck up;
the trumpets pealed: and Garter King at arms, in a loud voice,
proclaimed the Prince and Princess of Orange King and Queen of
England, charged all Englishmen to pay, from that moment, faith
and true allegiance to the new sovereigns, and besought God, who
had already wrought so signal a deliverance for our Church and
nation, to bless William and Mary with a long and happy reign.675
Thus was consummated the English Revolution. When we compare it
with those revolutions which have, during the last sixty years,
overthrown so many ancient governments, we cannot but be struck
by its peculiar character. Why that character was so peculiar is
sufficiently obvious, and yet seems not to have been always
understood either by eulogists or by censors.
The continental revolutions of the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries took place in countries where all trace of the limited
monarchy of the middle ages had long been effaced. The right of
the prince to make laws and to levy money had, during many
generations, been undisputed. His throne was guarded by a great
regular army. His administration could not, without extreme
peril, be blamed even in the mildest terms. His subjects held
their personal liberty by no other tenure than his pleasure. Not
a single institution was left which had, within the memory of the
oldest man, afforded efficient protection to the subject against
the utmost excess of tyranny. Those great councils which had once
curbed the regal power had sunk into oblivion. Their composition
and their privileges were known only to antiquaries. We cannot
wonder, therefore, that, when men who had been thus ruled
succeeded in wresting supreme power from a government which they
had long in secret hated, they should have been impatient to
demolish and unable to construct, that they should have been
fascinated by every specious novelty, that they should have
proscribed every title, ceremony, and phrase associated with the
old system, and that, turning away with disgust from their own
national precedents and traditions, they should have sought for
principles of government in the writings of theorists, or aped,
with ignorant and ungraceful affectation, the patriots of Athens
and Rome. As little can we wonder that the violent action of the
revolutionary spirit should have been followed by reaction
equally violent, and that confusion should speedily have
engendered despotism sterner than that from which it had sprung.
Had we been in the same situation; had Strafford succeeded in his
favourite scheme of Thorough; had he formed an army as numerous
and as well disciplined as that which, a few years later, was
formed by Cromwell; had a series of judicial decisions, similar
to that which was pronounced by the Exchequer Chamber in the case
of shipmoney, transferred to the crown the right of taxing the
people; had the Star Chamber and the High Commission continued to
fine, mutilate, and imprison every man who dared to raise his
voice against the government; had the press been as completely
enslaved here as at Vienna or at Naples; had our Kings gradually
drawn to themselves the whole legislative power; had six
generations of Englishmen passed away without a single session of
parliament; and had we then at length risen up in some moment of
wild excitement against our masters, what an outbreak would that
have been! With what a crash, heard and felt to the farthest ends
of the world, would the whole vast fabric of society have fallen!
How many thousands of exiles, once the most prosperous and the
most refined members of this great community, would have begged
their bread in continental cities, or have sheltered their heads
under huts of bark in the uncleared forests of America! How often
should we have seen the pavement of London piled up in
barricades, the houses dinted with bullets, the gutters foaming
with blood! How many times should we have rushed wildly from
extreme to extreme, sought refuge from anarchy in despotism, and
been again driven by despotism into anarchy! How many years of
blood and confusion would it have cost us to learn the very
rudiments of political science! How many childish theories would
have duped us! How many rude and ill poised constitutions should
we have set up, only to see them tumble down! Happy would it have
been for us if a sharp discipline of half a century had sufficed
to educate us into a capacity of enjoying true freedom.
These calamities our Revolution averted. It was a revolution
strictly defensive, and had prescription and legitimacy on its
side. Here, and here only, a limited monarchy of the thirteenth
century had come down unimpaired to the seventeenth century. Our
parliamentary institutions were in full vigour. The main
principles of our government were excellent. They were not,
indeed, formally and exactly set forth in a single written
instrument; but they were to be found scattered over our ancient
and noble statutes; and, what was of far greater moment, they had
been engraven on the hearts of Englishmen during four hundred
years. That, without the consent of the representatives of the
nation, no legislative act could be passed, no tax imposed, no
regular soldiery kept up, that no man could be imprisoned, even
for a day, by the arbitrary will of the sovereign, that no tool
of power could plead the royal command as a justification for
violating any right of the humblest subject, were held, both by
Whigs and Tories, to be fundamental laws of the realm. A realm of
which these were the fundamental laws stood in no need of a new
constitution.
But, though a new constitution was not needed, it was plain that
changes were required. The misgovernment of the Stuarts, and the
troubles which that misgovernment had produced, sufficiently
proved that there was somewhere a defect in our polity; and that
defect it was the duty of the Convention to discover and to
supply.
Some questions of great moment were still open to dispute. Our
constitution had begun to exist in times when statesmen were not
much accustomed to frame exact definitions. Anomalies, therefore,
inconsistent with its principles and dangerous to its very
existence, had sprung up almost imperceptibly, and, not having,
during many years, caused any serious inconvenience, had
gradually acquired the force of prescription. The remedy for
these evils was to assert the rights of the people in such
language as should terminate all controversy, and to declare that
no precedent could justify any violation of those rights.
When this had been done it would be impossible for our rulers to
misunderstand the law: but, unless something more were done, it
was by no means improbable that they might violate it. Unhappily
the Church had long taught the nation that hereditary monarchy,
alone among our institutions, was divine and inviolable; that the
right of the House of Commons to a share in the legislative power
was a right merely human, but that the right of the King to the
obedience of his people was from above; that the Great Charter
was a statute which might be repealed by those who had made it,
but that the rule which called the princes of the blood royal to
the throne in order of succession was of celestial origin, and
that any Act of Parliament inconsistent with that rule was a
nullity. It is evident that, in a society in which such
superstitions prevail, constitutional freedom must ever be
insecure. A power which is regarded merely as the ordinance of
man cannot be an efficient check on a power which is regarded as
the ordinance of God. It is vain to hope that laws, however
excellent, will permanently restrain a King who, in his own
opinion, and in that of a great part of his people, has an
authority infinitely higher in kind than the authority which
belongs to those laws. To deprive royalty of these mysterious
attributes, and to establish the principle that Kings reigned by
a right in no respect differing from the right by which
freeholders chose knights of the shire, or from the right by
which judges granted writs of Habeas Corpus, was absolutely
necessary to the security of our liberties.
Thus the Convention had two great duties to perform. The first
was to clear the fundamental laws of the realm from ambiguity.
The second was to eradicate from the minds, both of the governors
and of the governed, the false and pernicious notion that the
royal prerogative was something more sublime and holy than those
fundamental laws. The former object was attained by the solemn
recital and claim with which the Declaration of Right commences;
the latter by the resolution which pronounced the throne vacant,
and invited William and Mary to fill it.
The change seems small. Not a single flower of the crown was
touched. Not a single new right was given to the people. The
whole English law, substantive and adjective, was, in the
judgment of all the greatest lawyers, of Holt and Treby, of
Maynard and Somers, exactly the same after the Revolution as
before it. Some controverted points had been decided according to
the sense of the best jurists; and there had been a slight
deviation from the ordinary course of succession. This was all;
and this was enough.
As our Revolution was a vindication of ancient rights, so it was
conducted with strict attention to ancient formalities. In almost
every word and act may be discerned a profound reverence for the
past. The Estates of the Realm deliberated in the old halls and
according to the old rules. Powle was conducted to his chair
between his mover and his seconder with the accustomed forms. The
Serjeant with his mace brought up the messengers of the Lords to
the table of the Commons; and the three obeisances were duly
made. The conference was held with all the antique ceremonial. On
one side of the table, in the Painted Chamber, the managers of
the Lords sate covered and robed in ermine and gold. The managers
of the Commons stood bareheaded on the other side. The speeches
present an almost ludicrous contrast to the revolutionary oratory
of every other country. Both the English parties agreed in
treating with solemn respect the ancient constitutional
traditions of the state. The only question was, in what sense
those traditions were to be understood. The assertors of liberty
said not a word about the natural equality of men and the
inalienable sovereignty of the people, about Harmodius or
Timoleon, Brutus the elder or Brutus the younger. When they were
told that, by the English law, the crown, at the moment of a
demise, must descend to the next heir, they answered that, by the
English law, a living man could have no heir. When they were told
that there was no precedent for declaring the throne vacant, they
produced from among the records in the Tower a roll of parchment,
near three hundred years old, on which, in quaint characters and
barbarous Latin, it was recorded that the Estates of the Realm
had declared vacant the throne of a perfidious and tyrannical
Plantagenet. When at length the dispute had been accommodated,
the new sovereigns were proclaimed with the old pageantry. All
the fantastic pomp of heraldry was there, Clarencieux and Norroy,
Portcullis and Rouge Dragon, the trumpets, the banners, the
grotesque coats embroidered with lions and lilies. The title of
King of France, assumed by the conqueror of Cressy, was not
omitted in the royal style. To us, who have lived in the year
1848, it may seem almost an abuse of terms to call a proceeding,
conducted with so much deliberation, with so much sobriety, and
with such minute attention to prescriptive etiquette, by the
terrible name of Revolution.
And yet this revolution, of all revolutions the least violent,
has been of all revolutions the most beneficent. It finally
decided the great question whether the popular element which had,
ever since the age of Fitzwalter and De Montfort, been found in
the English polity, should be destroyed by the monarchical
element, or should be suffered to develope itself freely, and to
become dominant. The strife between the two principles had been
long, fierce, and doubtful. It had lasted through four reigns. It
had produced seditions, impeachments, rebellions, battles,
sieges, proscriptions, judicial massacres. Sometimes liberty,
sometimes royalty, had seemed to be on the point of perishing.
During many years one half of the energy of England had been
employed in counteracting the other half. The executive power and
the legislative power had so effectually impeded each other that
the state had been of no account in Europe. The King at Arms, who
proclaimed William and Mary before Whitehall Gate, did in truth
announce that this great struggle was over; that there was entire
union between the throne and the Parliament; that England, long
dependent and degraded, was again a power of the first rank; that
the ancient laws by which the prerogative was bounded would
henceforth be held as sacred as the prerogative itself, and would
be followed out to all their consequences; that the executive
administration would be conducted in conformity with the sense of
the representatives of the nation; and that no reform, which the
two Houses should, after mature deliberation, propose, would be
obstinately withstood by the sovereign. The Declaration of Right,
though it made nothing law which had not been law before,
contained the germ of the law which gave religious freedom to the
Dissenter, of the law which secured the independence of the
judges, of the law which limited the duration of Parliaments, of
the law which placed the liberty of the press under the
protection of juries, of the law which prohibited the slave
trade, of the law which abolished the sacramental test, of the
law which relieved the Roman Catholics from civil disabilities,
of the law which reformed the representative system, of every
good law which has been passed during a hundred and sixty years,
of every good law which may hereafter, in the course of ages, be
found necessary to promote the public weal, and to satisfy the
demands of public opinion.
The highest eulogy which can be pronounced on the revolution of
1688 is this, that it was our last revolution. Several
generations have now passed away since any wise and patriotic
Englishman has meditated resistance to the established
government. In all honest and reflecting minds there is a
conviction, daily strengthened by experience, that the means of
effecting every improvement which the constitution requires may
be found within the constitution itself.
Now, if ever, we ought to be able to appreciate the whole
importance of the stand which was made by our forefathers against
the House of Stuart. All around us the world is convulsed by the
agonies of great nations. Governments which lately seemed likely
to stand during ages have been on a sudden shaken and overthrown.
The proudest capitals of Western Europe have streamed with civil
blood. All evil passions, the thirst of gain and the thirst of
vengeance, the antipathy of class to class, the antipathy of race
to race, have broken loose from the control of divine and human
laws. Fear and anxiety have clouded the faces and depressed the
hearts of millions. Trade has been suspended, and industry
paralysed. The rich have become poor; and the poor have become
poorer. Doctrines hostile to all sciences, to all arts, to all
industry, to all domestic charities, doctrines which, if carried
into effect, would, in thirty years, undo all that thirty
centuries have done for mankind, and would make the fairest
provinces of France and Germany as savage as Congo or Patagonia,
have been avowed from the tribune and defended by the sword.
Europe has been threatened with subjugation by barbarians,
compared with whom the barbarians who marched under Attila and
Alboin were enlightened and humane. The truest friends of the
people have with deep sorrow owned that interests more precious
than any political privileges were in jeopardy, and that it might
be necessary to sacrifice even liberty in order to save
civilisation. Meanwhile in our island the regular course of
government has never been for a day interrupted. The few bad men
who longed for license and plunder have not had the courage to
confront for one moment the strength of a loyal nation, rallied
in firm array round a parental throne. And, if it be asked what
has made us to differ from others, the answer is that we never
lost what others are wildly and blindly seeking to regain. It is
because we had a preserving revolution in the seventeenth century
that we have not had a destroying revolution in the nineteenth.
It is because we had freedom in the midst of servitude that we
have order in the midst of anarchy. For the authority of law, for
the security of property, for the peace of our streets, for the
happiness of our houses, our gratitude is due, under Him who
raises and pulls down nations at his pleasure, to the Long
Parliament, to the Convention, and to William of Orange.
FN 1 Avaux Neg., Aug. 6/16 1685; Despatch of Citters and his
colleagues, enclosing the treaty, Aug. Lewis to Barillon, Aug.
14/24.
FN 2 Instructions headed, "For my son the Prince of Wales, 1692,"
in the Stuart Papers.
FN 3 "The Habeas Corpus," said Johnson, the most bigoted of
Tories, to Boswell, "is the single advantage which our government
has over that of other countries;" and T. B. Macaulay is the most
bigoted of Whigs in his own country, but left his whiggism at
home when he went to India.
FN 4 See the Historical Records of Regiments, published under the
supervision of the Adjutant General.
FN 5 Barillon, Dec. 3/13 1685. He had studied the subject much.
"C'est un detail," he says, "dont j'ai connoissance." it appears
from the Treasury Warrant Book that the charge of the army for
the year 1687 was first of January at 623,104l. 9s. 11d.
FN 6 Burnet, i. 447.
FN 7 Tillotson's Sermon, preached before the House of Commons,
Nov. 5. 1678.
FN 8 Locke, First Letter on Toleration.
FN 9 Council Book. The erasure is dated Oct. 21. 1685. Halifax to
Chesterfield; Barillon, Oct. 19/29.
FN 10 Barillon, Oct. 26/Nov. 5. 1685; Lewis to Barillon, Oct. 27
/ Nov. 6. Nov. 6/16.
FN 11 There is a remarkable account of the first appearance of
the symptoms of discontent among the Tories in a letter of
Halifax to Chesterfield, written in October, 1685. Burnet, i.
684.
FN 12 The contemporary tracts in various languages on the subject
of this persecution are innumerable. An eminently clear, terse,
and spirited summary will be found in Voltaire's Siecle de Louis
XIV.
FN 13 "Misionarios embotados," says Ronquillo. "Apostoli armati,"
says Innocent. There is, in the Mackintosh Collection, a
remarkable letter on this subject from Ronquillo, dated March
26./April 5. 1686 See Venier, Relatione di Francia, 1689, quoted
by Professor Ranke in his Romische Papste, book viii.
FN 14 "Mi dicono che tutti questi parlamentarii no hanno voluto
copia, il che assolutamente avra causate pessime impressioni."--
Adda, Nov. 9/13. 1685. See Evelyn's Diary, Nov. 3.
FN 15 Lords' Journals, Nov. 9. 1685. "Vengo assicurato," says
Adda, "che S. M. stessa abbia composto il discorso."--Despatch of
Nov. 16/26 1685.
FN 16 Commons' Journals; Bramston's Memoirs; James von Leeuwen to
the States General, Nov. 10/20 1685. Leeuwen was secretary of the
Dutch embassy, and conducted the correspondence in the absence of
Citters. As to Clarges, see Burnet, i. 98.
FN 17 Barillon, Nov. 16/26. 1685.
FN 18 Dodd's Church History, Leeuwen, Nov. 17/27 1685; Barillon,
Dec. 24. 1685. Barillon says of Adda, "On l'avoit fait prevenir
que la surete et l'avantage des Catholiques consistoient dans une
reunion entiere de sa Majeste Britannique et de son parlement."
Letters of Innocent to James, dated July 27/Aug. 8 and Sept. 23 /
Oct. 3. 1685; Despatches of Adda, Nov. 9/19. and Nov. 1685. The
very interesting correspondence of Adda, copied from the Papal
archives, is in the British Museum; Additional MSS. No. 15395.
FN 19 The most remarkable despatch bears date the 9/19th of
November 1685, and will be found in the Appendix to Mr. Fox's
History.
FN 20 Commons' Journals, Nov. 12. 1685; Leeuwen, Nov.; Barillon,
Nov. 16/26.; Sir John Bramston's Memoirs. The best report of the
debates of the Commons in November, 1685, is one of which the
history is somewhat curious. There are two manuscript copies of
it in the British Museum, Harl. 7187.; Lans. 253. In these copies
the names of the speakers are given at length. The author of the
Life of James published in 1702 transcribed this report, but gave
only the initials, of the speakers. The editors of Chandler's
Debates and of the Parliamentary History guessed from these
initials at the names, and sometimes guessed wrong. They ascribe
to Wailer a very remarkable speech, which will hereafter be
mentioned, and which was really made by Windham, member for
Salisbury. It was with some concern that I found myself forced to
give up the belief that the last words uttered in public by
Waller were so honourable to him.
FN 21 Commons' Journals, Nov. 13. 1685; Bramston's Memoirs;
Reresby's Memoirs; Barillon, Nov. 16/26.; Leeuwen, Nov. 13/23.;
Memoirs of Sir Stephen Fox, 1717; The Case of the Church of
England fairly stated; Burnet, i. 666. and Speaker Onslow's note.
FN 22 Commons' Journals, Nov. 1685; Harl. MS. 7187.; Lans. MS.
FN 23 The conflict of testimony on this subject is most
extraordinary; and, after long consideration, I must own that the
balance seems to me to be exactly poised. In the Life of James
(1702), the motion is represented as a court motion. This account
is confirmed by a remarkable passage in the Stuart Papers, which
was corrected by the Pretender himself. (Clarke's Life of James
the Second, ii. 55.) On the other hand, Reresby, who was present,
and Barillon, who ought to have been well informed, represent the
motion as an opposition motion. The Harleian and Lansdowne
manuscripts differ in the single word on which the whole depends.
Unfortunately Bramston was not at the House that day. James Van
Leeuwen mentions the motion and the division, but does not add a
word which can throw the smallest light on the state of parties.
I must own myself unable to draw with confidence any inference
from the names of the tellers, Sir Joseph Williamson and Sir
Francis Russell for the majority, and Lord Ancram and Sir Henry
Goodricke for the minority. I should have thought Lord Ancram
likely to go with the court, and Sir Henry Goodricke likely to go
with the opposition.
FN 24 Commons' Journals, Nov. 16. 1685 Harl. MS. 7187.; Lans. MS.
235.
FN 25 Commons' Journals, Nov. 17, 18. 1685.
FN 26 Commons' Journals, Nov. 18. 1685; Harl. MS. 7187.; Lans.
MS. 253.; Burnet, i. 667.
FN 27 Lonsdale's Memoirs. Burnet tells us (i. 667.) that a sharp
debate about elections took place in the House of Commons after
Coke's committal. It must therefore have been on the 19th of
November; for Coke was committed late on the 18th, and the
Parliament was prorogued on the 20th. Burnet's narrative is
confirmed by the Journals, from which it appears that several
elections were under discussion on the 19th.
FN 28 Burnet, i. 560.; Funeral Sermon of the Duke of Devonshire,
preached by Kennet, 1708; Travels of Cosmo III. in England.
FN 29 Bramston's Memoirs. Burnet is incorrect both as to the time
when the remark was made and as to the person who made it. In
Halifax's Letter to a Dissenter will be found a remarkable
allusion to this discussion.
FN 30 Wood, Ath. Ox.; Gooch's Funeral Sermon on Bishop Compton.
FN 31 Teonge's Diary.
FN 32 Barillon has given the best account of this debate. I will
extract his report of Mordaunt's speech. "Milord Mordaunt,
quoique jeune, parla avec eloquence et force. Il dit que la
question n'etoit pas reduite, comme la Chambre des Communes le
pretendoit, a guerir des jalousies et defiances, qui avoient lieu
dans les choses incertaines; mais que ce qui ce passoit ne
l'etoit pas, qu'il y avoit une armee sur pied qui subsistoit, et
qui etoit remplie d'officiers Catholiques, qui ne pouvoit etre
conservee que pour le renversement des loix, et que la
subsistance de l'armee, quand il n'y a aucune guerre ni au dedans
ni au dehors, etoit l'etablissement du gouvernement arbitraire,
pour lequel les Anglois ont une aversion si bien fondee."
FN 33 He was very easily moved to tears. "He could not," says the
author of the Panegyric, "refrain from weeping on bold affronts."
And again "They talk of his hectoring and proud carriage; what
could be more humble than for a man in his great post to cry and
sob?" In the answer to the Panegyric it is said that "his having
no command of his tears spoiled him for a hypocrite."
FN 34 Lords' Journals, Nov. 19. 1685; Barillon, Nov. 23 / Dec. 3.
Dutch Despatch, Nov. 20/30.; Luttrell's Diary, Nov. 19.; Burnet,
i. 665. The closing speeds of Halifax is mentioned by the Nuncio
in his despatch of Nov. 16/26. Adda, about a month later, hears
strong testimony to Halifax's powers,
"Da questo uomo che ha gran credito nel parlamento, e grande
eloquenza, non si possono attendere che fiere contradizioni, e
nel parlito Regio non vi e un uomo da contrapporsi." Dec. 21/31.
FN 35 Lords' and Commons' Journals, Nov. 20. 1685.
FN 36 Lords' Journals, Nov. 11. 17, 18. 1685.
FN 37 Burnet i, 646.
FN 38 Bramston's Memoirs; Luttrell's Diary.
FN 39 The trial in the Collection of State Trials; Bramston's
Memoirs Burnet, 1. 647.; Lords' Journals, Dec. 20. 1689.
FN 40 Lords' Journals, Nov. 9, to. 16. 1685.
FN 41 Speech on the Corruption of the Judges in Lord Delamere's
works, 1694.
FN 42 Fu una funzione piena di gravita, di ordine, e di gran
speciosita. Adda, Jan. 15/25. 1686.
FN 43 The Trial is in the Collection of State Trials. Leeuwen,
Jan. 15/25. 19/29. 1686.
FN 44 Lady Russell to Dr. Fitzwilliam, Jan. 15. 1686.
FN 45 Lewis to Barillon, Feb. 10/20 1685/6.
FN 46 Evelyn's Diary, Oct. 2. 1685.
FN 47 Clarke's Life of James the Second, ii. 9., Orig. Mem.
FN 48 Leeuwen, Jan. 1/11 and 12/22 1686. Her letter, though very
long and very absurd, was thought worth sending to the States
General as a sign of the times.
FN 49 See his trial in the Collection of State Trials, and his
curious manifesto, printed in 1681.
FN 50 Memoires de Grammont; Pepys's Diary, Aug. 19. 1662.
Bonrepaux to Seignelay, Feb. 1/11 1686.
FN 51 Bonrepaux to Seignelay, Feb. 1/11. 1686.
FN 52 Memoires de Grammont; Life of Edward, Earl of Clarendon;
Correspondence of Henry, Earl of Clarendon, passim, particularly
the letter dated Dec. 29. 1685; Sheridan MS. among the Stuart
Papers; Ellis Correspondence, Jan. 12. 1686.
FN 53 See his later correspondence, passim; St. Evremond, passim;
Madame de Sevigne's Letters in the beginning of 1689. See also
the instructions to Tallard after the peace of Ryswick, in the
French Archives.
FN 54 St. Simon, Memoires, 1697, 1719; St. Evremond; La Fontaine;
Bonrepaux to Seignelay, Jan. 28/Feb. 6, Feb. 8/18. 1686.
FN 55 Adda, Nov. 16/26, Dec. 7/17. and Dec. 21/31. 1685. In these
despatches Adda gives strong reasons for compromising matters by
abolishing the penal laws and leaving the test. He calls the
quarrel with the Parliament a "gran disgrazia." He repeatedly
hints that the King might, by a constitutional policy, have
obtained much for the Roman Catholics, and that the attempt to
relieve them illegally is likely to bring great calamities on
them.
FN 56 Fra Paulo, tib. vii.; Pallavicino, lib. xviii. cap. 15.
FN 57 This was the practice of his daughter Anne; and Marlborough
said that she had learned it from her father--Vindication of the
Duchess of Marlborough.
FN 58 Down to the time of the trial of the Bishops, James went on
telling Adda that all the calamities of Charles the First were
"per la troppa indulgenza."--Despatch of 1688.
FN 59 Barillon, Nov. 16/26. 1685; Lewis to Barillon, Nov. 28/Dec.
6. 26. In a highly curious paper which was written in 1687,
almost certainly by Bonrepaux, and which is now in the French
archives, Sunderland is described thus-"La passion qu'il a pour
le jeu, et les pertes considerables quil y fait, incommodent fort
ses affaires. Il n'aime pas le vin; et il hait les femmes."
FN 60 It appears from the Council Book that he took his place as
president on the 4th of December, 1685.
FN 61 Bonrepaux was not so easily deceived as James. "En son
particulier il (Sunderland) n'en professe aucune (religion), et
en parle fort librement. Ces sortes de discours seroient en
execration en France. Ici ils sont ordinaires parmi un certain
nombre de gens du pais."--Bonrepaux to Seignelay, May 25/June 4
1687.
FN 62 Clarke's Life of James the Second, ii, 74. 77. Orig. Mem.;
Sheridan MS.; Barillon, March 19/29 1686.
FN 63 Reresby's Memoirs; Luttrell's Diary, Feb. 2. 1685/6
Barillon, Feb. Jan. 25/Feb 4.
FN 64 Dartmouth's note on Burnet, i. 621. In a contemporary
satire it is remarked that Godolphin
"Beats time with politic head, and all approves,
Pleased with the charge of the Queen's muff and gloves."
FN 65 Pepys, Oct. 4. 1664.
FN 66 Pepys, July 1. 1663.
FN 67 See Dorset's satirical lines on her.
FN 68 The chief materials for the history of this intrigue are
the despatches of Barillon and Bonrepaux at the beginning of the
year 1686. See Barillon, Jan 25./Feb 4. Feb. 1/11. Feb. 8/18.
Feb. 19/29. and Bonrepaux under the first four Dates; Evelyn's
Diary, Jan. 29.; Reresby's Memoirs; Burnet, i. 682.; Sheridan
MS.; Chaillot MS.; Adda's Despatches, Jan 22/Feb 1. and Jan
29/Feb 8 1686. Adda writes like a pious, but weak and ignorant
man. He appears to have known nothing of James's past life.
FN 69 The meditation hears date 1685/6. Bonrepaux, in his
despatch of the same day, says, "L'intrigue avoit ete conduite
par Milord Rochester et sa femme. . . . Leur projet etoit de
faire gouverner le Roy d'Angleterre par la nouvelle comtesse. Ils
s'etoient assures d'elle." While Bonrepaux was writing thus,
Rochester was writing as follows: "Oh God, teach me so to number
my days that I may apply my heart unto wisdom. Teach me to number
the days that I have spent in vanity and idleness, and teach me
to number those that I have spent in sin and wickedness. Oh God,
teach me to number the days of my affliction too, and to give
thanks for all that is come to me from thy hand. Teach me
likewise to number the days of this world's greatness, of which I
have so great a share; and teach me to look upon them as vanity
and vexation of spirit."
FN 70 "Je vis Milord Rochester comme il sortoit de conseil fort
chagrin; et, sur la fin du souper, il lui en echappe quelque
chose." Bonrepaux, Feb. 18/28. 1656. See also Barillon, March
1/11, 4/14.
FN 71 Barillon March 22/April 1, April 12.22 1686.
FN 72 London Gazette, Feb. 11. 1685/6; Luttrell's Diary, Feb. 8;
Leeuwen, Feb. 9/19.; Clarke's Life of James the Second, ii. 75.
Orig. Mem.
FN 73 Leeuwen, Feb 23/Mar 5. 1686.
FN 74 Barillon, April 26/May 6. May 3/13. i686; Citters, May
7/17; Evelyn's Diary, May 5.; Luttrell's Diary of the same date;
Privy Council Book, May 2.
FN 75 Lady Russell to Dr. Fitzwilliam, Jan. 22. 1686; Barillon,
Feb 22/Mar 4 1686. "Ce prince temoigne," says Barillon, "une
grande aversion pour eux, et aurait bien voulu se dispenser de la
collecte, qui est ordonnee en leur faveur: mais il n'a pas cru
que cela fut possible."
FN 76 Barillon, Feb 22/ Mar 4. 1686.
FN 77 Account of the commissioners, dated March 15. 1688.
FN 78 "Le Roi d'Angleterre connait bien que les gens mal
intentionnes pour lui sont les plus prompts et les plus disposes
a donner considerablement. . . . Sa Majeste Britannique connoit
bien qu'il auroit a propos de ne point ordonner de collecte, et
que les gens mal intentionnes contre la religion Catholique et
contre lui se servent de cette occasion pour temoigner leur
zele."--Barillon, April 19/29 1686.
FN 79 Barillon, Feb 15/25 Feb 22/Mar 4. April 19/29, Lewis to
Barillon Mar 5/15.
FN 80 Barillon, April 19/29. 1686; Lady Russell to Dr.
Fitzwilliam, April 14. "He sent away many," she says "with sad
hearts."
FN 81 London Gazette of May 13. 1686.
FN 82 Reresby's Memoirs; Eachard, iii. 797.; Kennet, iii. 451.
FN 83 London Gazette, April 22. and 29. i686; Barillon, April
19/29.; Evelyn's Diary, June 2.; Luttrell, June 8.; Dodd's Church
History.
FN 84 North's Life of Guildford, 288.
FN 85 Reresby's Memoirs.
FN 86 See the account of the case in the Collection of State
Trials; Citters, May 4/14., June 22/July 2 1686; Evelyn's Diary,
June 27.; Luttrell's Diary, June 25. As to Street, see
Clarendon's Diary, Dec. 27. 1688.
FN 87 London Gazette, July 19. 1686.
FN 88 See the letters patent in Gutch's Collectanca Curiosa. The
date is the 3d of May, 1686. Sclater's Consensus Veterum; Gee's
reply, entitled Veteres Vindicati; Dr. Anthony Horneck's account
of Mr. Sclater's recantation of the errors of Popery on the 5th
of May, 1689; Dodd's Church History, part viii. book ii. art. 3.
FN 89 Gutch's Collectanea Curiosa; Dodd, viii. ii. 3.; Wood, Ath.
Ox.; Ellis Correspondence, Feb. 27. 1686; Commons' Journals, Oct.
26. 1689.
FN 90 Gutch's Collectanea Curiosa; Wood's Athenae Oxonienses;
Dialogue between a Churchman and a Dissenter, 1689.
FN 91 Adda, July 9/19 1686.
FN 92 Adda, July 30/Aug 9 1686.
FN 93 "Ce prince m'a dit que Dieu avoit permie que toutes les
loix qui ont ete faites pour etablir la religion Protestante, et
detruire la religion Catholique, servent presentement de
fondement ce qu'il veut faire pour l'etablissement de la vraie
religion, et le mettent en droit d'exercer un pouvoir encore plus
grand que celui qu'ont les role Catholiques sur les affaires
ecclesiastiques dans les autres pays."--Barillon, July 12/22.
1686. To Adda His Majesty said, a few days later, "Che l'autorita
concessale dal parlamento sopra l'Ecclesiastico senza alcun
limite con fine contrario fosse adesso per servire al vantaggio
de' medesimi Cattolici." July 23/Aug 2.
FN 94 The whole question is lucidly and unanswerably argued in a
little contemporary tract, entitled "The King's Power in Matters
Ecclesiastical fairly stated." See also a concise but forcible
argument by Archbishop Sancroft. Doyly's Life of Sancroft, i.
229.
FN 95 Letter from James to Clarendon, Feb. 18. 1685/6.
FN 96 The best account of these transactions is in the Life of
Sharp, by his son. Citters, June 29/July 9 1686.
FN 97 Barillon, July 21/Aug 1 1686. Citters, July 16/26; Privy
Council Book, July 17. ; Ellis Correspondence, July 17.; Evelyn's
Diary, July 14.; Luttrell's Diary, Aug. 5, 6.
FN 98 The device was a rose and crown. Before the device was the
initial letter of the Sovereign's name; after it the letter R.
Round the seal was this inscription, "Sigillum commissariorum
regiae majestatis ad causas ecclesiasticas."
FN 99 Appendix to Clarendon's Diary; Citters, Oct. 8/18 1686;
Barillon, Oct. 11/21; Doyly's Life of Sancroft.
FN 100 Burnet, i. 676.
FN 101 Burnet, i. 675. ii. 629.; Sprat's Letters to Dorset.
FN 102 Burnet, i. 677.; Barillon, Sept. 6/16. 1686. The public
proceedings are in the Collection of State Trials.
FN 103 27 Eliz. c. 2.; 2 Jac. I. c. 4; 3 Jac. I. c. 5.
FN 104 Clarke's Life of James the Second, ii. 79, 80. Orig. Mem,
FN 105 De Augmentis i. vi. 4.
FN 106 Citters, May 14/24 1686.
FN 107 Citters. May 18/28 1686. Adda, May 19/29
FN 108 Ellis Correspondence, April 27. 1686; Barillon, April
19/29 Citters, April 20/30; Privy Council Book, March 26;
Luttrell's Diary; Adda Feb 26/Mar 8 March 26/April 5, April 2/12
April 23/May 3
FN 109 Burnet's Travels.
FN 110 Barillon, May 27/June 6 1686.
FN 111 Citters, May 23/June 1 1686.
FN 112 Ellis Correspondence, June 26. 1686; Citters, July 2/12
Luttrell's Diary, July 19.
FN 113 See the contemporary poems, entitled Hounslow Heath and
Caesar's Ghost; Evelyn's Diary, June 2. 1686. A ballad in the
Pepysian collection contains the following lines
"I liked the place beyond expressing,
I ne'er saw a camp so fine,
Not a maid in a plain dressing,
But might taste a glass of wine."
FN 114 Luttrell's Diary, June 18. 1686.
FN 115 See the memoirs of Johnson, prefixed to the folio edition
of his life, his Julian, and his answers to his opponents. See
also Hickes's Jovian.
FN 116 Life of Johnson, prefixed to his works; Secret History of
the happy Revolution, by Hugh Speke; State Trials; Citters, Nov
23/Dec 3 1686. Citters gives the best account of the trial. I
have seen a broadside which confirms his narrative.
FN 117 See the preface to Henry Wharton's Posthumous Sermons.
FN 118 This I can attest from my own researches. There is an
excellent collection in the British Museum. Birch tells us, in
his Life of Tillotson, that Archbishop Wake had not been able to
form even a perfect catalogue of all the tracts published in this
controversy.
FN 119 Cardinal Howard spoke strongly to Burnet at Rome on this
subject Burnet, i. 662. There is a curious passage to the same
effect in a despatch of Barillon but I have mislaid the
reference.
One of the Roman Catholic divines who engaged in this
controversy, a Jesuit named Andrew Patton, whom Mr. Oliver, in
his biography of the Order, pronounces to have been a man of
distinguished ability, very frankly owns his deficiencies. "A. P.
having been eighteen years out of his own country, pretends not
yet to any perfection of the English expression or orthography."
His orthography is indeed deplorable. In one of his letters
wright is put for write, woed for would. He challenged Tenison to
dispute with him in Latin, that they might be on equal terms. In
a contemporary satire, entitled The Advice, is the following
couplet
"Send Pulton to be lashed at Bushy's school,
That he in print no longer play the fool."
Another Roman Catholic, named William Clench, wrote a treatise on
the Pope's supremacy, and dedicated it to the Queen in Italian.
The following specimen of his style may suffice. "O del sagro
marito fortunata consorte! O dolce alleviamento d' affari alti! O
grato ristoro di pensieri noiosi, nel cui petto latteo, lucente
specchio d'illibata matronal pudicizia, nel cui seno odorato,
come in porto damor, si ritira il Giacomo! O beata regia coppia!
O felice inserto tra l'invincibil leoni e le candide aquile!"
Clench's English is of a piece with his Tuscan. For example,
"Peter signifies an inexpugnable rock, able to evacuate all the
plots of hell's divan, and naufragate all the lurid designs of
empoisoned heretics."
Another Roman Catholic treatise, entitled "The Church of England
truly represented," begins by informing us that "the ignis fatuus
of reformation, which had grown to a comet by many acts of spoil
and rapine, had been ushered into England, purified of the filth
which it had contracted among the lakes of the Alps."
FN 120 Barillon, July 19/29 1686.
FN 121 Act Parl. Aug. 24. 1560; Dec. 15. 1567.
FN 122 Act Parl. May 8. 1685.
FN 123 Act Parl. Aug. 31 1681.
FN 124 Burnet, i. 584.
FN 125 Ibid. i. 652, 653.
FN 126 Ibid. i. 678.
FN 127 Burnet, i. 653.
FN 128 Fountainhall, Jan. 28. 1685/6.
FN 129 Ibid. Jan. 11 1685/6.
FN 130 Fountainhall, Jan. 31. and Feb. 1. 1685/6.; Burnet, i.
678,; Trials of David Mowbray and Alexander Keith, in the
Collection of State Trials; Bonrepaux, Feb. 11/21
FN 131 Lewis to Barillon, Feb. 18/28 1686.
FN 132 Fountainhall, Feb. 16.; Wodrow, book iii. chap. x. sec. 3.
"We require," His Majesty graciously wrote, "that you spare no
legal trial by torture or otherwise."
FN 133 Bonrepaux, Feb. 18/28 1686.
FN 134 Fountainhall, March 11. 1686; Adda, March 1/11
FN 135 This letter is dated March 4. 1686.
FN 136 Barillon, April 19/29 1686; Burnet, i. 370.
FN 137 The words are in a letter of Johnstone of Waristoun.
FN 138 Some words of Barillon deserve to be transcribed. They
would alone suffice to decide a question which ignorance and
party spirit have done much to perplex. "Cette liberte accordee
aux nonconformistes a faite une grande difficulte, et a ete
debattue pendant plusieurs jours. Le Roy d'Angleterre avoit fort
envie que les Catholiques eussent seuls la liberte de l'exercice
de leur religion." April 19/29 1686.
FN 139 Barillon, April 19/29 1686 Citters, April 18/28 20/30 May
9/19
FN 140 Fountainhall, May 6. 1686.
FN 141 Ibid. June 15. 1686.
FN 142 Citters, May 11/21 1686. Citters informed the States that
he had his intelligence from a sure hand. I will transcribe part
of his narrative. It is an amusing specimen of the pyebald
dialect in which the Dutch diplomatists of that age corresponded.
"Des konigs missive, boven en behalven den Hoog Commissaris
aensprake, aen het parlement afgesonden, gelyck dat altoos
gebruyckelyck is, waerby Syne Majesteyt ny in genere versocht
hieft de mitigatie der rigoureuse ofte sanglante wetten von het
Ryck jegens het Pausdom, in het Generale Comitee des Articles
(soo men het daer naemt) na ordre gestelt en gelesen synde, in 't
voteren, den Hertog van Hamilton onder anderen klaer uyt seyde
dat hy daertoe niet soude verstaen, dat by anders genegen was den
konig in allen voorval getrouw te dienen volgens het dictamen
syner conscientie: 't gene reden gaf aen de Lord Cancelier de
Grave Perts te seggen dat het woort conscientie niets en beduyde,
en alleen een individuum vagum was, waerop der Chevalier Locqnard
dan verder gingh; wil man niet verstaen de betyckenis van het
woordt conscientie, soo sal ik in fortioribus seggen dat wy
meynen volgens de fondamentale wetten van het ryck."
There is, in the Hind Let Loose, a curious passage to which I
should have given no credit, but for this despatch of Citters.
"They cannot endure so much as to hear of the name of conscience.
One that was well acquaint with the Council's humour in this
point told a gentleman that was going before them, `I beseech
you, whatever you do, speak nothing of conscience before the
Lords, for they cannot abide to hear that word.'"
FN 143 Fountainhall, May 17. 1686.
FN 144 Wodrow, III. x. 3.
FN 145 Citters, May 28/June 7, June 1/11 June 4/14 1686
Fountainhall June 15;
FN Luttrell's Diary, June 2. 16
FN 146 Fountainhall, June 21 1686.
FN 147 Ibid. September 16. 1686.
FN 148 Fountainhall, Sept. 16; Wodrow, III. x. 3.
FN 149 The provisions of the Irish Act of Supremacy, 2 Eliz.
chap. I., are substantially the same with those of the English
Act of Supremacy, I Eliz. chap. I. hut the English act was soon
found to he defective and the defect was supplied by a more
stringent act, 5 Eliz. chap. I No such supplementary law was made
in Ireland. That the construction mentioned in the text was put
on the Irish Act of Supremacy, we are told by Archbishop King:
State of Ireland, chap. ii. sec. 9. He calls this construction
Jesuitical but I cannot see it in that light.
FN 150 Political Anatomy of Ireland.
FN 151 Political Anatomy of Ireland, 1672; Irish Hudibras, 1689;
John Dunton's Account of Ireland, 1699.
FN 152 Clarendon to Rochester, May 4. 1686.
FN 153 Bishop Malony's Letter to Bishop Tyrrel, March 5. 1689.
FN 154 Statute 10 & 11 Charles I. chap. 16; King's State of the
Protestants of Ireland, chap. ii. sec. 8.
FN 155 King, chap. ii. sec. 8. Miss Edgeworth's King Corny
belongs to a later and much more civilised generation; but
whoever has studied that admirable portrait can form some notion
of what King Corny's great grandfather must have been.
FN 156 King, chap. iii. sec. 2.
FN 157 Sheridan MS.; Preface to the first volume of the Hibernia
Anglicana, 1690; Secret Consults of the Romish Party in Ireland,
1689.
FN 158 "There was a free liberty of conscience by connivance,
though not by the law."--King, chap. iii. sec. i.
FN 159 In a letter to James found among Bishop Tyrrel's papers,
and dated Aug. 14. 1686, are some remarkable expressions. "There
are few or none Protestants in that country but such as are
joined with the Whigs against the common enemy." And again:
"Those that passed for Tories here (that is in England) "publicly
espouse the Whig quarrel on the other side the water." Swift said
the same thing to King William a few years later "I remember when
I was last in England, I told the King that the highest Tories we
had with us would make tolerable Whigs there."--Letters
concerning the Sacramental Test.
FN 160 The wealth and negligence of the established clergy of
Ireland are mentioned in the strongest terms by the Lord
Lieutenant Clarendon, a most unexceptionable witness.
FN 161 Clarendon reminds the King of this in a letter dated March
14. "It certainly is," Clarendon adds, "a most true notion."
FN 162 Clarendon strongly recommended this course, and was of
opinion that the Irish Parliament would do its part. See his
letter to Ormond, Aug. 28. 1686.
FN 163 It was an O'Neill of great eminence who said that it did
not become him to writhe his mouth to chatter English. Preface to
the first volume of the Hibernia Anglicana.
FN 164 Sheridan MS. among the Stuart Papers. I ought to
acknowledge the courtesy with which Mr. Glover assisted me in my
search for this valuable manuscript. James appears, from the
instructions which he drew up for his son in 1692, to have
retained to the last the notion that Ireland could not without
danger be entrusted to an Irish Lord Lieutenant.
FN 165 Sheridan MS.
FN 166 Clarendon to Rochester, Jan. 19. 1685/6; Secret Consults
of the Romish Party in Ireland, 1690.
FN 167 Clarendon to Rochester, Feb. 27. 1685/6.
FN 168 Clarendon to Rochester and Sunderland, March 2. 1685/6;
and to Rochester, March 14.
FN 169 Clarendon to Sunderland, Feb. 26. 1685/6.
FN 170 Sunderland to Clarendon, March 11. 1685/6.
FN 171 Clarendon to Rochester, March 14. 1685/6.
FN 172 Clarendon to James, March 4. 1685/6.
FN 173 James to Clarendon, April 6. 1686.
FN 174 Sunderland to Clarendon, May 22. 1686; Clarendon to
Ormond, May 30.; Clarendon to Sunderland, July 6. 11.
FN 175 Clarendon to Rochester and Sunderland, June 1. 1686; to
Rochester, June 12. King's State of the Protestants of Ireland,
chap. ii. sec. 6, 7. Apology for the Protestants of Ireland,
1689.
FN 176 Clarendon to Rochester, May 15 1686.
FN 177 Ibid. May 11. 1686.
FN 178 Ibid. June 8. 1686.
FN 179 Secret Consults of the Romish Party in Ireland.
FN 180 Clarendon to Rochester, June 26. and July 4. 1686; Apology
for the Protestants of Ireland, 1689.
FN 181 Clarendon to Rochester, July 4. 22. 1686; to Sunderland,
July 6; to the King, Aug. 14.
FN 182 Clarendon to Rochester, June 19. 1686.
FN 183 Ibid. June 22. 1686.
FN 184 Sheridan MS. King's State of the Protestants of Ireland,
chap. iii. sec. 3. sec. 8. There is a most striking instance of
Tyrconnel's impudent mendacity in Clarendon's letter to
Rochester, July 22. 1686.
FN 185 Clarendon to Rochester, June 8. 1686.
FN 186 Clarendon to Rochester, Sept. 23. and Oct. 2. 1686 Secret
Consults of the Romish Party in Ireland, 1690.
FN 187 Clarendon to Rochester, Oct. 6. 1686.
FN 188 Clarendon to the King and to Rochester, Oct. 23. 1686.
FN 189 Clarendon to Rochester, Oct. 29, 30. 1686.
FN 190 Ibid. Nov. 27. 1686.
FN 191 Barillon, Sept. 13/23 1686; Clarke's Life of James the
Second, ii. 99.
FN 192 Sheridan MS.
FN 193 Clarke's Life of James the Second, ii. 100.
FN 194 Barillon, Sept. 13/23 i686; Bonrepaux, June 4. I687.
FN 195 Barillon, Dec. 2/12 1686; Burnet, i. 684.; Clarke's Life
of James the Second, ii. 100.; Dodd's Church History. I have
tried to frame a fair narrative out of these conflicting
materials. It seems clear to me, from Rochester's own papers that
he was on this occasion by no means so stubborn as he has been
represented by Burnet and by the biographer of James.
FN 196 From Rochester's Minutes, dated Dec. 3. 1686.
FN 197 From Rochester's Minutes, Dec. 4. 1686.
FN 198 Barillon, Dec. 20/30 1686.
FN 199 Burnet, i. 684.
FN 200 Bonrepaux, Mar 25/June 4 1687.
FN 201 Rochester's Minutes, Dec. 19 1686; Barillon, Dec 30 / Jan
9 1686/7; Burnet, i. 685. Clarke's Life of James the Second, ii.
102.; Treasury Warrant Book, Dec. 29. 1686.
FN 202 Bishop Malony in a letter to Bishop Tyrrel says, "Never a
Catholic or other English will ever think or make a step, nor
suffer the King to make a step for your restauration, but leave
you as you were hitherto, and leave your enemies over your heads:
nor is there any Englishman, Catholic or other, of what quality
or degree soever alive, that will stick to sacrifice all Ireland
for to save the least interest of his own in England, and would
as willingly see all Ireland over inhabited by English of
whatsoever religion as by the Irish."
FN 203 The best account of these transactions is in the Sheridan
MS.
FN 204 Sheridan MS.; Oldmixon's Memoirs of Ireland; King's State
of the Protestants of Ireland, particularly chapter iii.; Apology
for the Protestants of Ireland, 1689.
FN 205 Secret Consults of the Romish Party in Ireland, 1690.
FN 206 London Gazette, Jan. 6. and March 14. 1686/7; Evelyn's
Diary, March 10 Etherege's letter to Dover is in the British
Museum.
FN 207 "Pare che gli animi sono inaspriti della voce che corre
per il popolo, desser cacciato il detto ministro per non essere
Cattolico, percio tirarsi al esterminio de' Protestanti."--Adda,
1687.
FN 208 The chief materials from which I have taken my description
of the Prince of Orange will be found in Burnet's History, in
Temple's and Gourville's Memoirs, in the Negotiations of the
Counts of Estrades and Avaux, in Sir George Downing's Letters to
Lord Chancellor Clarendon, in Wagenaar's voluminous History, in
Van Kamper's Karakterkunde der Vaderlandsche Geschiedenis, and,
above all, in William's own confidential correspondence, of which
the Duke of Portland permitted Sir James Mackintosh to take a
copy.
FN 209 William was earnestly intreated by his friends, after the
peace of Ryswick, to speak seriously to the French ambassador
about the schemes of assassination which the Jacobites of St.
Germains were constantly contriving. The cold magnanimity with
which these intimations of danger were received is singularly
characteristic. To Bentinck, who had sent from Paris very
alarming intelligence, William merely replied at the end of a
long letter of business,--"Pour les assasins je ne luy en ay pas
voulu parler, croiant que c'etoit au desous de moy." May 2/12
1698. I keep the original orthography, if it is to be so called.
FN 210 From Windsor he wrote to Bentinck, then ambassador at
Paris. "Jay pris avant hier un cerf dans la forest avec les
chains du Pr. de Denm. et ay fait on assez jolie chasse, autant
que ce vilain paiis le permest. March 20/April 1 1698. The
spelling is bad, but not worse than Napoleon's. William wrote in
better humour from Loo. "Nous avons pris deux gros cerfs, le
premier dans Dorewaert, qui est un des plus gros que je sache
avoir jamais pris. Il porte seize." Oct 25/Nov 4 1697.
FN 211 March 3. 1679.
FN 212 "Voila en peu de mot le detail de nostre St. Hubert. Et
j'ay eu soin que M. Woodstoc" (Bentinck's eldest son) "n'a point
este a la chasse, bien moin au soupe, quoyqu'il fut icy. Vous
pouvez pourtant croire que de n'avoir pas chasse l'a on peu
mortifie, mais je ne l'ay pas ause prendre sur moy, puisque vous
m'aviez dit que vous ne le souhaitiez pas." From Loo, Nov. 4.
1697.
FN 213 On the 15th of June, 1688.
FN 214 Sept. 6. 1679.
FN 215 See Swift's account of her in the Journal to Stella.
FN 216 Henry Sidney's Journal of March 31. 1680, in Mr.
Blencowe's interesting collection.
FN 217 Speaker Onslow's note on Burnet, i. 596.; Johnson's Life
of Sprat.
FN 218 No person has contradicted Burnet more frequently or with
more asperity than Dartmouth. Yet Dartmouth wrote, "I do not
think he designedly published anything he believed to he false."
At a later period Dartmouth, provoked by some remarks on himself
in the second volume of the Bishop's history, retracted this
praise but to such a retraction little importance can be
attached. Even Swift has the justice to say, "After all, he was a
man of generosity and good nature."--Short Remarks on Bishop
Burnet's History.
It is usual to censure Burnet as a singularly inaccurate
historian; hut I believe the charge to be altogether unjust. He
appears to be singularly inaccurate only because his narrative
has been subjected to a scrutiny singularly severe and
unfriendly. If any Whig thought it worth while to subject
Reresby's Memoirs, North's Examen, Mulgrave's Account of the
Revolution, or the Life of James the Second, edited by Clarke, to
a similar scrutiny, it would soon appear that Burnet was far
indeed from being the most inexact writer of his time.
FN 219 Dr. Hooper's MS. narrative, published in the Appendix to
Lord Dungannon's Life of William.
FN 220 Avaux Negotiations, Aug. 10/20 Sept. 14/24 Sept 28/Oct 8
Dec. 7/17 1682.
FN 221 I cannot deny myself the pleasure of quoting Massillon's
unfriendly, yet discriminating and noble, character of William.
"Un prince profond dans ses vues; habile a former des ligues et a
reunir les esprits; plus heureux a exciter les guerres qu'a
combatire; plus a craindre encore dans le secret du cabinet, qu'a
la tete des armees; un ennemi que la haine du nom Francais avoit
rendu capable d'imaginer de grandes choses et de les executer; un
de ces genies qui semblent etre nes pour mouvoir a leur gre les
peuples et les souverains; un grand homme, s'il n'avoit jamais
voulu etre roi."--Oraison funebre de M. le Dauphin.
FN 222 For example, "Je crois M. Feversham un tres brave et
honeste homme. Mais je doute s'il a assez d'experience diriger
une si grande affaire qu'il a sur le bras. Dieu lui donne un
succes prompt et heureux. Mais je ne suis pas hors d'inquietude."
July 7/17 1685. Again, after he had received the news of the
battle of Sedgemoor, "Dieu soit loue du bon succes que les
troupes du Roy ont eu contre les rebelles. Je ne doute pas que
cette affaire ne soit entierement assoupie, et que le regne du
Roy sera heureux, Ce que Dieu veuille." July 10/20
FN 223 The treaty will be found in the Recueil des Traites, iv.
No. 209.
FN 224 Burnet, i. 762.
FN 225 Temple's Memoirs.
FN 226 See the poems entitled The Converts and The Delusion.
FN 227 The lines are in the Collection of State Poems.
FN 228 Our information about Wycherly is very scanty; but two
things are certain, that in his later years he called himself a
Papist, and that he received money from James. I have very little
doubt that he was a hired convert.
FN 229 See the article on him in the Biographia Britannica.
FN 230 See James Quin's account of Haines in Davies's
Miscellanies; Tom Brown's Works; Lives of Sharpers; Dryden's
Epilogue to the Secular Masque.
FN 231 This fact, which escaped the minute researches of Malone,
appears from the Treasury Letter Book of 1685.
FN 232 Leeuwen, Dec 25/Jan 4 1685/6
FN 233 Barillon, - Jan 31/Feb 10 1686/7. "Je crois que, dans le
fond, si on ne pouvoit laisser que la religion Anglicane et la
Catholique etablies par les loix, le Roy d'Angleterre en seroit
bien plus content."
FN 234 It will be round in Wodrow, Appendix, vol. ii. No. 129.
FN 235 Wodrow, Appendix, vol. ii. No. 128. 129. 132.
FN 236 Barillon Feb 20/March 10 1686/7; Citters, Feb. 16/23;
Reresby's Memoirs Bonrepaux, May 25/June 4 1687.
FN 237 Barillon, March 14/24 1687; Lady Russell to Dr.
Fitzwilliam, April 1.; Burnet, i. 671. 762. The conversation is
somewhat differently related in Clarke's Life of James, ii. 204.
But that passage is not part of the King's own memoirs.
FN 238 London Gazette, March 21. 1686/7.
FN 239 Ibid. April 7. 1687.
FN 240 Warrant Book of the Treasury. See particularly the
instructions dated March 8, 1687/8 Burnet, i. 715. Reflections on
his Majesty's Proclamation for a Toleration in Scotland; Letters
containing some Reflections on his Majesty's Declaration for
Liberty of Conscience; Apology for the Church of England with a
relation to the spirit of Persecution for which she is accused,
1687/8. But it is impossible for me to cite all the pamphlets
from which I have formed my notion of the state of parties at
this time.
FN 241 Letter to a Dissenter.
FN 242 Wodrow, Appendix, vol. ii. Nos. 132. 134.
FN 243 London Gazette, April 21. 1687 Animadversions on a late
paper entituled A Letter to a Dissenter, by H C. (Henry Care),
1687.
FN 244 Lestrange's Answer to a Letter to a Dissenter; Care's
Animadversions on A letter to a Dissenter; Dialogue between Harry
and Roger; that is to say, Harry Care and Roger Lestrange.
FN 245 The letter was signed T. W. Care says, in his
Animadversions, "This Sir Politic T. W., or W. T. for some
critics think that the truer reading."
FN 246 Ellis Correspondence, March 15. July 27. 1686 Barillon,
Feb 28/Mar 10; March 3/13. March 6/16. 1687 Ronquillo, March
9/19. 1687, in the Mackintosh Collection.
FN 247 Wood's Athenae Oxonienses; Observator; Heraclitus Ridens,
passim. But Care's own writings furnish the best materials for an
estimate of his character.
FN 248 Calamy's Account of the Ministers ejected or silenced
after the Restoration, Northamptonshire; Wood's Athenae
Oxonienses; Biographia Britannica.
FN 249 State Trials; Samuel Rosewell's Life of Thomas Rosewell,
1718; Calamy's Account.
FN 250 London Gazette, March 15 1685/6; Nichols's Defence of the
Church of England; Pierce's Vindication of the Dissenters.
FN 251 The Addresses will be found in the London Gazettes.
FN 252 Calamy's Life of Baxter.
FN 253 Calamy's Life of Howe. The share which the Hampden family
had in the matter I learned from a letter of Johnstone of
Waristoun, dated June 13 1688.
FN 254 Bunyan's Grace Abounding.
FN 255 Young classes Bunyan's prose with Durfey's poetry. The
people of fashion in the Spiritual Quixote rank the Pilgrim's
Progress with Jack the Giantkiller. Late in the eighteenth
century Cowper did not venture to do more than allude to the
great allegorist
"I name thee not, lest so despis'd a name
Should move a sneer at thy deserved fame."
FN 256 The continuation of Bunyan's life appended to his Grace
Abounding.
FN 257 Kiffin's Memoirs; Luson's Letter to Brooke, May 11. 1773,
in the Hughes Correspondence.
FN 258 See, among other contemporary pamphlets, one entitled a
Representation of the threatening Dangers impending over
Protestants.
FN 259 Burnet, i. 694.
FN 260 Le Prince d'Orange, qui avoit elude jusqu'alors de faire
une reponse positive, dit qu'il ne consentira jamais a la
suppression du ces loix qui avoient ete etablies pour le maintien
et la surete de la religion Protestante, et que sa conscience ne
le lui permettoit point non seulement pour la succession du
royaume d'Angleterre, mais meme pour l'empire du monde; en sorte
que le roi d'Angleterre est plus aigri contre lui qu'il n'a
jamais ete"--Bonrepaux, June 11/21 1687.
FN 261 Burnet, i. 710. Bonrepaux, May 24/June 4. 1687
FN 262 Johnstone, Jan. 13. 1688; Halifax's Anatomy of an
Equivalent.
FN 263 Burnet, i. 726-73 1.; Answer to the Criminal Letters
issued out against Dr. Burnet; Avaux Neg., July 7/17 14/24, July
28/Aug 7 Jan 19/29 1688; Lewis to Barillon, Dec 30 1687/Jan 9
1688; Johnstone of Waristoun, Feb. 21. 1688; Lady Russell to Dr.
Fitzwilliam, Oct. 5, 1687. As it has been suspected that Burnet,
who certainly was not in the habit of underrating his own
importance, exaggerated the danger to which he was exposed, I
will give the words of Lewis and of Johnstone. "Qui que ce soit,"
says Lewis, "qui entreprenne de l'enlever en Hollande trouvera
non seulement une retraite assuree et une entiere protection dans
mes etats, mais aussi toute l'assistance qu'il pourra desirer
pour faire conduire surement ce scelerat en Angleterre." "The
business of Bamfield (Burnet) is certainly true," says Johnstone.
"No man doubts of it here, and some concerned do not deny it. His
friends say they hear he takes no care of himself, but out of
vanity, to show his courage, shows his folly; so that, if ill
happen on it, all people will laugh at it. Pray tell him so much
from Jones (Johnstone). If some could be catched making their
coup d'essai on him, it will do much to frighten them from making
any attempt on Ogle (the Prince)."
FN 264 Burnet, a. 708.; Avaux Neg., Jan. 3/13 Feb. 6/16. 1687;
Van Kampen, Karakterkunde der Vaderlandsche Geschiedenis.
FN 265 Burnet, i 711. Dykvelt's despatches to the States General
contain, as far as I have seen or can learn, not a word about the
real object of his mission. His correspondence with the Prince of
Orange was strictly private.
FN 266 Bonrepaux, Sept. 12/22 1687.
FN 267 See Lord Campbell's Life of him.
FN 268 Johnstone's Correspondence; Mackay's Memoirs; Arbuthnot's
John Bull; Swift's writings from 1710 to 1714, passim; Whiston's
Letter to the Earl of Nottingham, and the Earl's answer.
FN 269 Kennet's funeral sermon on the Duke of Devonshire, and
Memoirs of the family of Cavendish; State Trials; Privy Council
Book, March 5. 1685/6; Barillon, June 30/July 10 1687; Johnstone,
Dec. 8/18. 1687; Lords' journals, May 6. 1689. "Ses amis et ses
proches," says Barillon, "lui conseillent de prendre le bon
parti, mais il persiste jusqu'a prasent a ne se point soumettre.
S'il vouloit se bien conduire et renoncer a etre populaire, il ne
payeroit pas l'amende, mais s'il opiniatre, il lui en coutera
trente mille pieces et il demeurera prisonnier jusqu'a l'actuel
payement."
FN 270 The motive which determined the conduct of the Churchills
is shortly and plainly set forth in the Duchess of Marlborough's
Vindication. "It was," she says, "evident to all the world that,
as things were carried on by King James, everybody sooner or
later must be ruined, who would not become a Roman Catholic. This
consideration made me very well pleased at the Prince of Orange's
undertaking to rescue us from such slavery."
FN 271 Grammont's Memoirs; Pepys's Diary, Feb. 21. 1684/5.
FN 272 It would be endless to recount all the books from which I
have formed my estimate of the duchess's character. Her own
letters, her own vindication, and the replies which it called
forth, have been my chief materials.
FN 273 The formal epistle which Dykvelt carried back to the
States is in the Archives at the Hague. The other letters
mentioned in this paragraph are given by Dalrymple. App. to Book
V.
FN 274 Sunderland to William, Aug. 24. 1686; William to
Sunderland, Sept. 2/12 1686; Barillon, May 6/16 May 26/June 5
Oct. 3/13 Nov 28/Dec 8. 1687; Lewis to Barillon, Oct. 14/24 1687:
Memorial of Albeville, Dec. 15/25. 1687; James to William, Jan.
17. Feb. 16. March 2. 13. 1688; Avaux Neg., March 1/11 6/16 8/18
March 22/April 1 1688.
FN 275 Adda, Nov. 9/19. 1685.
FN 276 The Professor of Greek in the College De Propaganda Fide
expressed his admiration in some detestable hexameters and
pentameters, of which the following specimen may suffice:
Rogerion de akepsomenos lamproio thriambon,
oka mal eissen kai theen ochlos apas
thaumazousa de ten pompen pagkhrusea t' auton
armata tous thippous toiade Rome ethe.
The Latin verses are a little better. Nahum Tate responded in
English
"His glorious train and passing pomp to view,
A pomp that even to Rome itself was new,
Each age, each sex, the Latian turrets filled,
Each age and sex in tears of joy distilled."
FN 277 Correspondence of James and Innocent, in the British
Museum; Burnet, i 703- 705.; Welwood's Memoirs; Commons'
Journals, Oct. 28. 1689; An Account of his Excellency Roger Earl
of Castelmaine's Embassy, by Michael Wright, chief steward of his
Excellency's house at Rome, 1688.
FN 278 Barillon, May 2/12 1687.
FN 279 Memoirs of the Duke of Somerset; Citters, July 5/15. 1687;
Eachard's History of the Revolution; Clarke's Life of James the
Second, ii. 116, 117, 118.; Lord Lonsdale's Memoirs.
FN 280 London Gazette, July 7. 1687; Citters, July 7/17 Account
of the ceremony reprinted among the Somers Tracts.
FN 281 London Gazette, July 4. 1687.
FN 282 See the statutes 18 Henry 6. C. 19.; 2 & 3 Ed. 6. C. 2.;
Eachard's History of the Revolution; Kennet, iii. 468.; North's
Life of Guildford, 247.; London Gazette, April 18. May 23. 1687;
Vindication of the E. of R, (Earl of Rochester).
FN 283 Dryden's Prologues and Cibber's Memoirs contain abundant
proofs of the estimation in which the taste of the Oxonians was
held by the most admired poets and actors.
FN 284 See the poem called Advice to the Painter upon the Defeat
of the Rebels in the West. See also another poem, a most
detestable one, on the same subject, by Stepney, who was then
studying at Trinity College.
FN 285 Mackay's character of Sheffield, with Swift's note; the
Satire on the Deponents, 1688; Life of John, Duke of
Buckinghamshire, 1729; Barillon, Aug. 30. 1687. I have a
manuscript lampoon on Mulgrave, dated 1690. It is not destitute
of spirit. The most remarkable lines are these:
Peters (Petre) today and Burnet tomorrow,
Knaves of all sides and religions he'll woo.
FN 286 See the proceedings against the University of Cambridge in
the collection of State Trials.
FN 287 Wood's Athenae Oxonienses; Apology for the Life of Colley
Cibber; Citters,
FN March 2/12 1686.
FN 288 Burnet, i. 697.; Letter of Lord Ailesbury printed in the
European Magazine for April 1795.
FN 289 This gateway is now closed.
FN 290 Wood's Athenae Oxonienses; Walker's Sufferings of the
Clergy.
FN 291 Burnet, i. 697.; Tanner's Notitia Monastica. At the
visitation in the twenty-sixth year of Henry the Eighth it
appeared that the annual revenue of King's College was 751l.; of
New College, 487l.; of Magdalene, 1076l.
FN 292 A Relation of the Proceedings at the Charterhouse, 1689.
FN 293 See the London Gazette, from August 18 to September 1.
1687 Barillon, September 19/29
FN 294 "Penn, chef des Quakers, qu'on sait etre dans les interets
du Roi d'Angleterre, est si fort decrie parmi ceux de son parti
qu'ils n'ont plus aucune confiance en lui."--Bonrepaux to
Seignelay, Sept. 12/22 1687. The evidence of Gerard Croese is to
the same effect. "Etiam Quakeri Pennum iron amplius, ut ante, ita
amabant ac magnifaciebant, quidam aversabantur ac fugiebant."--
Historia Quakeriana, lib, ii. 1695.
FN 295 Cartwright's Diary, August 30. 1687. Clarkson's Life of
William Penn.
FN 296 London Gazette, Sept. 5.; Sheridan MS.; Barillon, Sept.
1687. "Le Roi son maitre," says Barillon, "a temoigne une grande
satisfaction des mesures qu'il a prises, et a autorise ce qu'il a
fait en faveur des Catholiques. Il les etablit dans les emplois
et les charges, en sorte que l'autorite se trouvera bientot entre
leurs mains. Il reste encore beaucoup de choses a faire en ce
pays la pour retirer les biens injustement otes aux Catholiques.
Mais cela ne peut s'executer qu'avec le tems et dans l'assemblee
d'un parlement en Irlande."
FN 297 London Gazette of Sept. 5. and Sept. 8. 1687
FN 298 Proceedings against Magdalene College, in Oxon, for not
electing Anthony Farmer president of the said College, in the
Collection of State Trials, Howell's edition; Luttrell's Diary,
June 15. 17., Oct. 24., Dec. 10. 1687; Smith's Narrative; Letter
of Dr. Richard Rawlinson, dated Oct. 31. 1687; Reresby's Memoirs;
Burnet, i. 699.; Cartwright's Diary; Citters, Oct 25/Nov 4, Oct
28/Nov 7 Nov 8/18 Nov 18/28 1687.
FN 299 "Quand on connoit le dedans de cette cour aussi intimement
que je la connois, on peut croire que sa Majeste Britannique
donnera volontiers dans ces sortes de projets."--Bonrepaux to
Seignelay, March 18/28 1686.
FN 300 "Que, quand pour etablir la religion Catholique et pour la
confirmer icy, il (James) devroit se rendre en quelque facon
dependant de la France, et mettre la decision de la succession a
la couronne entre les mains de ce monarque la, qu'il seroit
oblige de le faire, parcequ'il vaudroit mieux pour ses sujets
qu'ils devinssent vassaux du Roy de France, etant Catholiques,
que de demeurer comme esclaves du Diable." This paper is in the
archives of both France and Holland.
FN 301 Citters, Aug. 6/16 17/27 1686. Barillon, Aug. 19/29
FN 302 Barillon, Sept. 13/23 1686. "La succession est une matiere
fort delicate a traiter. Je sais pourtant qu'on en parle au Roy
d'Angleterre, et qu'on ne desespere pas avec le temps de trouver
des moyens pour faire passer la couronne sur la tete d'un
heritier Catholique."
FN 303 Bonrepaux, July 11/21. 1687.
FN 304 Bonrepaux to Seignelay, Aug 25/Sept 4 1687. I will quote a
few words from this most remarkable despatch: "je scay bien
certainement que l'intention du Roy d'Angleterre est de faire
perdre ce royaume (Ireland) a son successeur, et de le fortifier
en sorte que tous ses sujets Catholiques y puissent avoir un
asile assure. Son projet est de mettre les choses en cet estat
dans le cours de cinq annees." In the Secret Consults of the
Romish Party in Ireland, printed in 1690, there is a passage
which shows that this negotiation had not been kept strictly
secret. "Though the King kept it private from most of his
council, yet certain it is that he had promised the French King
the disposal of that government and kingdom when things had
attained to that growth as to be fit to bear it."
FN 305 Citters, Oct 28/Nov 7, Nov 22/Dec 2 1687; the Princess
Anne to the Princess of Orange, March 14. and 20. 1687/8;
Barillon, Dec. 1/11 1687; Revolution
Politics; the song "Two Toms and a Nat;" Johnstone, April 4.
1688; Secret Consults of the Romish Party in Ireland, 1690.
FN 306 The king's uneasiness on this subject is strongly
described by Ronquillo, Dec. 12/22 1687 "Un Principe de Vales y
un Duque de York y otro di
Lochaosterna (Lancaster, I suppose,) no bastan a reducir la
gente; porque el Rey tiene 54 anos, y vendra a morir, dejando los
hijos pequenos, y que entonces el reyno se apoderara dellos, y
los nombrara tutor, y los educara en la religion protestante,
contra la disposicion que dejare el Rey, y la autoridad de la
Reyna."
FN 307 Three lists framed at this time are extant; one in the
French archives, the other two in the archives of the Portland
family. In these lists every peer is entered under one of three
heads, For the Repeal of the Test, Against the Repeal, and
Doubtful. According to one list the numbers were, 31 for, 86
against, and 20 doubtful; according to another, 33 for, 87
against, and 19 doubtful; according to the third, 35 for, 92
against, and 10 doubtful. Copies of the three lists are in the
Mackintosh MSS.
FN 308 There is in the British Museum a letter of Dryden to
Etherege, dated Feb. 1688. I do not remember to have seen it in
print. "Oh," says Dryden, "that our monarch would encourage noble
idleness by his own example, as he of blessed memory did before
him. For my mind misgives me that he will not much advance his
affairs by stirring."
FN 309 Barillon, Aug 29/Sep 8 1687.
FN 310 Told by Lord Bradford, who was present, to Dartmouth; note
on Burnet, i. 755.
FN 311 London Gazette, Dec. 12. 1687.
FN 312 Bonrepaux to Seignelay, Nov. 14/24.; Citters, Nov. 15/25.;
Lords' Journals,
FN Dec. 20. 1689.
FN 313 Citters, Oct 28/Nov 7 1687.
FN 314 Halstead's Succinct Genealogy of the Family of Vere, 1685;
Collins's Historical Collections. See in the Lords' Journals, and
in Jones's Reports, the proceedings respecting the earldom of
Oxford, in March and April 1625/6. The exordium of the speech of
Lord Chief Justice Crew is among the finest specimens of the
ancient English eloquence. Citters, Feb. 7/17 1688.
FN 315 Coxe's Shrewsbury Correspondence; Mackay's Memoirs; Life
of Charles Duke of Shrewsbury, 1718; Burnet, i. 762.; Birch's
Life of Tillotson, where the reader will find a letter from
Tillotson to Shrewsbury, which seems to me a model of serious,
friendly, and gentlemanlike reproof.
FN 316 The King was only Nell's Charles III. Whether Dorset or
Major Hart had the honour of being her Charles I is a point open
to dispute. But the evidence in favour of Dorset's claim seems to
me to preponderate. See the suppressed passage of Burnet, i.
263.; and Pepys's Diary, Oct. 26. 1667.
FN 317 Pepys's Diary; Prior's dedication of his poems to the Duke
of Dorset; Johnson's Life of Dorset; Dryden's Essay on Satire,
and Dedication of the Essay on Dramatic Poesy. The affection of
Dorset for his wife and his strict fidelity to her are mentioned
with great contempt by that profligate coxcomb Sir George
Etherege in his letters from Ratisbon, Dec. 9/19 1687, and Jan.
16/26 1688; Shadwell's Dedication of the Squire of Alsatia;
Burnet, i. 264.; Mackay's Characters. Some parts of Dorset's
character are well touched in his epitaph, written by Pope:
"Yet soft his nature, though severe his lay"
and again:
"Blest courtier, who could king and country please,
Yet sacred keep his friendships and his ease."
FN 318 Barillon, Jan. 9/19 1688; Citters, Jan 31/Feb 10
FN 319 Adda, Feb. 3/13 10/20 1688.
FN 320 Barillon,. Dec. 5/15 8/18. 12/22 1687; Citters, Nov 29/Dec
9 Dec 2/12
FN 321 Citters, Oct 28/Nov 7 1687; Lonsdale's Memoirs.
FN 322 Citters, Nov 22/Dec 2 1687.
FN 323 Ibid. Dec 27/Jan 6 1687/8.
FN 324 Ibid,
FN 325 Rochester's offensive warmth on this occasion is twice
noticed by Johnstone, Nov. 25. and Dec. 8. 1687. His failure is
mentioned by Citters, Dec. 6/16.
FN 326 Citters, Dec. 6/16. 1687
FN 327 Ibid. Dec. 20/30. 1687.
FN 328 Ibid March 30/April 9 1687.
FN 329 Ibid Nov 22/Dec 2 1687.
FN 330 Ibid. Nov. 15/25. 1687.
FN 331 Citters, April 10/20 1688.
FN 332 The anxiety about Lancashire is mentioned by Citters, in a
despatch dated Nov. 18/28. 1687; the result in a despatch dated
four days later.
FN 333 Bonrepaux, July 11/21 1687.
FN 334 Citters, Feb. 3/13 1688.
FN 335 Ibid. April 5/15 1688.
FN 336 London Gazette, Dec. 5. 1687; Citters, Dec. 6/16
FN 337 About twenty years before this time a Jesuit had noticed
the retiring character of the Roman Catholic country gentlemen of
England. "La nobilta Inglese, senon se legata in servigio, di
Corte, o in opera di maestrato, vive, e gode il piu dell' anno
alla campagna, ne' suoi palagi e poderi, dove son liberi e
padroni; e cio tanto piu sollecitamente I Cattolici quanto piu
utilmente, si come meno osservati cola."--L'lnghilterra descritta
dal P. Daniello Bartoli. Roma, 1667.
"Many of the Popish Sheriffs," Johnstone wrote, "have estates,
and declare that whoever expects false returns from them will be
disappointed. The Popish gentry that live at their houses in the
country are much different from those that live here in town.
Several of them have refused to be Sheriffs or Deputy
Lieutenants." Dec. 8. 1687.
Ronquillo says the same. "Algunos Catolicos que fueron nombrados
per sherifes se han excusado," Jan. 9/19. 1688. He some months
later assured his court that the Catholic country gentlemen would
willingly consent to a compromise of which the terms should be
that the penal laws should be abolished and the test retained.
"Estoy informado," he says, "que los Catolicos de las provincias
no lo reprueban, pues no pretendiendo oficios, y siendo solo
algunos de la Corte los provechosos, les parece que mejoran su
estado, quedando seguros ellos y sus descendientes en la
religion, en la quietud, y en la seguridad de sus haciendas."
July 23/Aug 2 1688.
FN 338 Privy Council Book, Sept. 25. 1687; Feb. 21. 1687/8
FN 339 Records of the Corporation, quoted in Brand's History of
Newcastle. Johnstone, Feb. 21. 1687/8
FN 340 Johnstone, Feb. 21 1687/8
FN 341 Citters, Feb. 14/24 1688.
FN 342 Ibid. May 1/11. 1688.
FN 343 In the margin of the Privy Council Book may be observed
the words "Second regulation," and "Third regulation," when a
corporation had been remodelled more than once.
FN 344 Johnstone, May 23. 1688.
FN 345 Ibid. Feb. 21. 1688.
FN 346 Johnstone, Feb. 21. 1688.
FN 347 Citters, March 20/30 1688.
FN 348 Ibid. May 1/11 1688.
FN 349 Citters, May 22/June 1 1688.
FN 350 Ibid. May 1/11 1688.
FN 351 Ibid. May 18/28 1688.
FN 352 Ibid. April 6 1688; Treasury Letter Book, March 14. 1687;
Ronquillo, April 16/26.
FN 353 Citters, May 18/28 1688.
FN 354 Citters, May 18/28 1688.
FN 355 London Gazette, Dec. 15. 1687. See the proceedings against
Williams in the Collection of State Trials. "Ha hecho," says
Ronquillo, "grande susto el haber nombrado el abogado Williams,
que fue el orador y el mas arrabiado de toda la casa de los
comunes en los ultimos terribles parlamentos del Rey difunto. Nov
27/Dec 7 1687.
FN 356 London Gazette, April 30. 1688; Barillon, April 26/May 6
FN 357 Citters, May 1/11. 1688.
FN 358 London Gazette, May 7. 1688.
FN 359 Johnstone May 27. 1688.
FN 360 That very remarkable man, the late Alexander Knox, whose
eloquent conversation and elaborate letters had a great influence
on the minds of his contemporaries, learned, I suspect, much of
his theological system from Fowler's writings. Fowler's book on
the Design of Christianity was assailed by John Bunyan with a
ferocity which nothing can justify, but which the birth and
breeding of the honest tinker in some degree excuse.
FN 361 Johnstone, May 23. 1688. There is a satirical poem on this
meeting entitled the Clerical Cabal.
FN 362 Clarendon's Diary, May 22. 1688.
FN 363 Extracts from Tanner MS. in Howell's State Trials; Life of
Prideaux; Clarendon's Diary, May 16. 1688.
FN 364 Clarendon's Diary, May 16 and 17. 1688.
FN 365 Sancroft's Narrative printed from the Tanner MS.; Citters,
May 22/June 1 1688.
FN 366 Burnet, i. 741; Revolution Politics; Higgins's Short View.
FN 367 Clarke's Life of James the Second, ii. 155.
FN 368 Citters, May 22/June 1688 . Burnet, i. 740.; and Lord
Dartmouth's note; Southey's Life of Wesley.
FN 369 Citters, May 22/June 1 1688
FN 370 Ibid. May 29/June 8 1688.
FN 371 Ibid.
FN 372 Barillon, May 24/June 3 May 31/June 10 1688; Citters,
July, 1/11 Adda, May 25/June 4, May 30/June 9, June 1/11 Clarke s
Life of James the Second, ii. 158.
FN 373 Burnet, i. 740.; Life of Prideaux; Citters, June 12/22
15/25 1688. Tanner MS.; Life and Correspondence of Pepys.
FN 374 Sancroft's Narrative, printed from the Tanner MS.
FN 375 Burnet, i. 741.; Citters, June 8/18 12/22. 1688;
Luttrell's Diary, June 8.; Evelyn's Diary; Letter of Dr. Nalson
to his wife, dated June 14., and printed from the Tanner MS.;
Reresby's Memoirs.
FN 376 Reresby's Memoirs.
FN 377 Correspondence between Anne and Mary, in Dalrymple;
Clarendon's Diary, Oct. 31. 1688.
FN 378 This is clear from Clarendon's Diary, Oct. 31. 1688.
FN 379 Clarke's Life of James the Second, ii. 159, 160.
FN 380 Clarendon's Diary, June 10. 1688.
FN 381 Johnstone gives in a very few words an excellent summary
of the case against the King. "The generality of people conclude
all is a trick; because they say the reckoning is changed, the
Princess sent away, none of the Clarendon family nor the Dutch
Ambassador sent for, the suddenness of the thing, the sermons,
the confidence of the priests, the hurry." June 13. 1688.
FN 382 Ronquillo, July 26/Aug 5. Ronquillo adds, that what
Zulestein said of the state of public opinion was strictly true.
FN 383 Citters, June 12/22 1688; Luttrell's Diary, June 18.
FN 384 For the events of this day see the State Trials;
Clarendon's Diary Luttrell's Diary; Citters. June 15/25
Johnstone, June 18; Revolution Politics.
FN 385 Johnstone, June 18. 1688; Evelyn's Diary, June 29.
FN 386 Tanner MS.
FN 387 This fact was communicated to me in the most obliging
manner by the Reverend R. S. Hawker of Morwenstow in Cornwall.
FN 388 Johnstone, June 18. 1688.
FN 389 Adda, June 29/July 9 1688
FN 390 Sunderland's own narrative is, of course, not to be
implicitly trusted, but he vouched Godolphin as a witness of what
took place respecting the Irish Act of Settlement.
FN 391 Barillon June 21/June 28 June 28/July 8 1688; Adda, June
29/July 9 Citters June 26/July 6; Johnstone, July 2. 1688; The
Converts, a poem.
FN 392 Clarendon's Diary, June 21. 1688.
FN 393 Citters, June 26/ July 6. 1688.
FN 394 Johnstone, July 2. 1688.
FN 395 Ibid.
FN 396 Johnstone, July 2. 1688. The editor of Levinz's reports
expresses great wonder that, after the Revolution, Levinz was not
replaced on the bench. The facts related by Johnstone may perhaps
explain the seeming injustice.
FN 397 I draw this inference from a letter of Compton to
Sancroft, dated the 12th of June.
FN 398 Revolution Politics.
FN 399 This is the expression of an eye witness. It is in a
newsletter in the Mackintosh Collection.
FN 400 See the proceedings in the Collection of State Trials. I
have taken some touches from Johnstone, and some from Van
Citters.
FN 401 Johnstone, July 2. 1688; Letter from Mr. Ince to the
Archbishop, dated at six o'clock in the morning; Tanner MS.;
Revolution Politics.
FN 402 Johnstone, July 2. 1688.
FN 403 State Trials; Oldmixon, 739.; Clarendon's Diary, June 25,
1688; Johnstone, July 2.; Citters, July 3/13 Adda, July 6/16;
Luttrell's Diary; Barillon, July 2/12
FN 404 Citters, July 3/13 The gravity with which he tells the
story has a comic effect. "Den Bisschop van Chester, wie seer de
partie van het hof houdt, om te voldoen aan syne gewoone
nieusgierigheyt, hem op dien tyt in Westminster Hall mede
hebbende laten vinden, in het uytgaan doorgaans was uytgekreten
voor een grypende wolf in schaaps kleederen; en by synde een beer
van hooge stature en vollyvig, spotsgewyse alomme geroepen was
dat men voor hem plaats moeste maken, om te laten passen, gelyck
ook geschiede, om dat soo sy uytschreeuwden en hem in het aansigt
seyden, by den Paus in syn buyck hadde."
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