possessed of every exterior and personal advantage, he had imbibed just and noble sentiments respecting the nature and ends of government. His capacity, which was rather below than above the common level, did not qualify him for taking the lead in the opposition to the court during the latter years of the reign of Charles II.; but he zealously concurred in all the measures adopted by the patriots of that period, and in the obstinate and reiterated efforts to carry into effect the famous bill of exclusion: after which, as there is reason to believe, he flattered himself with the hope of obtaining an act of legitimation, which would pave his way to the crown. The king however constantly denied that any contract of marriage had taken place between Lucy Walters, mother of the duke, and himself. And this marriage, the report of which gained great credit amongst all ranks of people, and which was never contradicted by clear or demonstrative evidence, still remains involved in some obscurity. The duke was uncommonly handsome in his person, and engaging in his manners; and his disposition was naturally open, affable, and generous. He had acquired the affections of the people to a very high degree; and the king his father was perceived by the duke of York and his adherents, not without the utmost chagrin, to be still passionately fond of him, notwithstanding all his politi

cal offences.* Monmouth, in his public manifesto, charged the king with the burning of the city of London, with the popish plot, the murder of Godfrey, the death of the earl of Essex, and even with the poisoning of the late king. These extravagances gave great offence to all moderate and reasonable persons; and the duke was joined by very few above the lowest rank and condition of life-the folly and temerity of this ill-concerted and ill-conducted attempt being too apparent.

of Jeffries.

The barbarity, however, as well as the number Barbarities of the executions which ensued on the suppression of this rebellion, far exceeded any severities of the kind recorded in English history. The

In the celebrated Memoirs of count Hamilton, the character of the Duke of Monmouth is thus delineated; Le duc de M. fils naturel de Charles II. parut en ce tems-là dans la cour du roi son père. Sa figure et les graces extérieures de sa personne étoient telles que la nature n'a peut-être jamais rien formé de plus accompli. Son visage étoit tout charmant, C'étoit un visage d'homme, rien de fade, rien d'effeminé; cependant chaque trait avoit son agrément, et sa délicatesse particulière; une disposition merveilleuse pour toutes sortes d'exercises, un abord attrayant, un air de grandeur,-enfin, tous les advantages du corps parloient pour lui; mais son esprit ne disoit pas un petit mot en sa faveur, Il n'avoit de sentimens que ce qu'on lui en inspiroit; et ceux qui d'abord s'insinuerent dans sa familiarité prirent soin de ne lui en inspirer que de pernicieux. Il fit les plus cheres délices du roi."

savage and infamous Jeffries was expressly selected by the king himself, at the ensuing assizes, as the judge best qualified to display the terrors and inflict the vengeance of the law upon the devoted inhabitants of the western counties. "After the defeat of Monmouth," says a late historian*, "juries were overborne, judgment was given with precipitation, and the laws themselves were opened trampled upon by a murderer in the robes of a lord chief justice." The king delighted to recount the exploits of what he affected to style "Jeffries's campaign," in which many hundreds suffered under the hands of the common executioner, after the mockery of a trial, in which the innocent and the guilty were almost indiscriminately involved in one common fate.

The earl of Argyle, who had, through the machinations of the duke of York, been convicted in the preceding reign of high treason, on the most frivolous, or, to speak more properly, the most villainous pretences--and who, on making his escape from the castle of Edinburgh, had since lived as an exile in Holland-attempted an invasion of Scotland in concert with Monmouth; and appeared, unsupported by any adequate force, in the Western Highlands, nearly at the same time that the duke landed in a state equally

* Granger, Biog. Hist. Eng.

of Argyle.

destitute on the southern coast of England. This feeble attempt was suppressed with very little difficulty; and the earl, being taken, was exe- Execution cuted, without any trial, on his former sentence. Ayloffe and Rumbold, who had been concerned in the Rye-house conspiracy, accompanied Argyle on this expedition, and suffered also with him the penalties of the law. They appear to have been men of upright intentions, and of undaunted resolution. The latter at his execution declared himself a friend to a monarchical rather than a republican form of government, but the determined enemy of tyranny in every form. Ayloffe was conveyed to London, under the idea of his being able to make some important discoveries, and was examined by the king in person, who took great pains to extort a confession from him, though to very little purpose. Irritated by the sullen obstinacy of the prisoner, the king at length said, "Do you not know that it is in my power to punish, and in my power to pardon?" To which Ayloffe replied, "I know it is in your power to pardon, but not in your nature." This magnanimous indiscretion only served to hasten the execution of his sentence.

So elated was the king with the continual flow of success which he had experienced from the commencement of his reign, that he seemed to think it scarcely necessary to keep up any ap

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pearance of regard to his most public and solemn engagements. On the re-assembling of parliament in November (1685), he told the two houses without reserve, That, having found the militia during the late disturbances of little use, he had levied an additional body of regular forces, for which he demanded an additional supply; and that he had dispensed with the test laws in favor of a great number of catholic officers employed by him, and of whose services he was determined not to be deprived." Openly insulted by this declaration, the house of commons began at length to exhibit some faint symptoms of political animation; and, after passing the vote of supply, they resolved upon presenting an humble address to the king against the dispensing power: to which the king replied in the most haughty and contemptuous terms declaring, "that he expected no opposition, after having so positively made known his will upon that subject." This cowardly and servile assembly was thrown into consternation at this reply. It was followed by a long and profound silence: and when one of the members at last rose up and said, "that he hoped they were all Englishmen, and not to be frightened by a few hard words," the house voted that he should be committed to the Tower. On their next meeting, they proceeded to establish funds for the payment of the subsidy, and prepared to