give us a model of this at St. Germaine's, by preferring the protestants that were with him above the catholics."—And from the general tenor of this paper, and of the declaration annexed, it is plain that the whigs concerned in this political intrigue for with regard to them the business had not advanced, and in all probability never would have advanced farther-insisted upon nothing less, on the part of the king, than an entire surrender of himself into their hands. Among a great number of letters, were two by Dr. Turner, bishop of Ely, to the king and queen, under the names of Mr. and Mrs. Redding, full of expressions of high-flown loyalty, and assuring them "that he spoke the sentiments of his elder brother and the rest of his relations." In a paper of memorandums in the hand-writing of lord Preston were found the names of the lords Dorset, Cornwallis, Montague, Stamford, Shrewsbury, Macclesfield, Monmouth, Devonshire-immediately after which follow the words " In February the king come to Scotland-endeavour to unite the episcopal and presbyterian partics-land at Leith-the Scots army, not a French one-5000 good Swedish foot-the reputation of a protestant ally two months to settle Scotland-leave all to free parliament, &c. &c."-From these dark and doubtful hints men were left to draw their own variable conclusions.

BOOK I

1691.

of Ashton.

BOOK I. Elliot found means to make his peace with 1691. government: but the other delinquents were brought to their trials before lord chief justice Execution Holt; and both lord Preston and Mr. Ashton were pronounced guilty. The latter, a blind and honest bigot, suffered with great resolution; but the former, who was supposed to have communicated the whole secret of the intrigue or conspiracy to the government, was ultimately pardoned. Shortly after, a proclamation was issued for the apprehending the bishop of Ely, Mr. James Graham, and Penn the famous quaker, noted for his attachment to the Stuarts. But they had previously absconded, as it was, apparently, the intention of government they should. The earl of Clarendon, uncle to the queen, who had refused the oaths, was committed to the Tower but after a confinement of some months, though his guilt was indubitably ascertained by the intercepted letters, he was released by the king's order, out of tenderness to the queen, and merely confined to his house in the country. Lord Dartmouth was also sent to the Tower, where he soon after died, and was buried with funeral honours. Upon the whole, the wisdom and discretion of the government were conspicuous in the whole of this transaction: no one of the whig lords, supposed privy to it, being questioned; but on the contrary the evidence against them was

assiduously suppressed; and all things reverted BOOK I. to their former state, without any farther or more 1691. valuable sacrifice than the life of the unfortunate

Ashton.

tion of the

Bishops.

At this period it was, however, judiciously de- Deprivatermined to bring matters to a crisis with respect Non-juring to the non-juring bishops and clergy, who were now deprived of their sees and preferments, to the general satisfaction of the nation. Even those of the prelates who had acquired such unbounded popularity by their opposition to royal despotism, in the late reign, experienced little sympathy in their present sufferings in consequence of what was now called their obstinate and factious defiance of the national will. The vacancies were supplied with men of such known candor and moderation, that it was plain the present tory ministers were either too wise to attempt, or had too little influence to effect, the revival of the high church maxims usually associated with the political principles of their party. Amongst these promotions we find the eminent and venerable names of Tillotson, Sharp, More, Cumberland, and Patrick. Nothing more provoked the resentment and chagrin of the non-juring party at this juncture, than the defection of the famous Sherlock, master of the Temple, after a long and pertinacious refusal to submit to the oaths, and his public justification of his conduct in so doing. This was a great triumph to the court; and he was immediately reo o

BOOK I. warded, for what one party styled his happy 1691. conversion, and the other his faithless apostacy, by the acquisition of the rich deanery of St. Paul's.

in Flanders.

of the Em

pold.

Campaign Early in the month of May (1691) the king, in pursuance of his resolution to command in person the grand confederate army, embarked for Holland, and after a speedy and prosperous voyage arrived safely at the Hague. The affairs of the continent were at this period in a truly critical Character state. Leopold, emperor of Germany, nominal peror Leo- chief of the league of Augsburg, was not one of those princes whose characters are calculated to adorn the page of history. Weak, haughty, superstitious, and exercising a cruel despotism over his own subjects, he was ill qualified or entitled to stand forward as the champion of the liberties of Europe. Vain and insolent in prosperity, mean and pusillanimous in adversity, he possessed neither the esteem nor affection of his co-estates of the empire: from his want of capacity only he was not the object of their fears*. It

When the capital of this empire was besieged by the Turks, the emperor retired for safety to Lintz, without making any effort for averting the impending ruin. After the ever memorable defeat of the Ottoman army under the walls of Vienna, by the famous John Sobieski, this imperial ingrate sought to decline an interview with his deliverer-and, finding it unavoidable, he conducted himself with the most disgusting coldness and affectation of superiority. The king of Poland, per

was the power of France which excited the universal dread and the empire had never, since the æra of the rivalship of the two great houses of Bourbon and Austria, been so entirely united in interest, design, and desire. But averting their eyes with disdain from their immediate chief, as altogether incompetent to the accomplishment of so great an object, the Germanic princes fixed their attention exclusively on the king of England, even previous to his elevation to the royal dignity, and while merely prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, as the real and efficient head of the grand confederacy formed for the purpose of humbling the pride, and of opposing an insuperable barrier to the encroachments of France. They saw in him all the qualities of a patriot and a hero; and the influence of prejudice and calumny operating feebly beyond a certain sphere, his character appeared in a higher and truer light to the surrounding nations than to the majority of persons in England itself, where, in his situation, every word and action of

ceiving and despising his meanness, only said in return to his reluctant acknowledgments: "I am glad, brother, that I have been able to do your majesty this little service." By a popular and felicitous allusion the cardinal archbishop of Vienna preached on this great occasion a thanksgiving sermon, in the cathedral of St. Stephen, on the text of scripture, "There was a man sent from God, whose name was JOHN.”

BOOK I.
1691.