Soon it was known all over London that a plot had been detected, that the messengers whom the adherents of James had sent to solicit the help of an invading army from France had been arrested by the agents of the vigilant and energetic Lord President, and that documentary evidence, which might affect the lives of some great men, was in the possession of the government. The Jacobites were terrorstricken; the clamour of the Whigs against Caermarthen was suddenly hushed; and the Session ended in perfect harmony. On the fifth of January the King thanked the Houses for their support, and assured them that he would not grant away any forfeited property in Ireland till they should reassemble. He alluded to the plot which had just been discovered, and expressed a hope that the friends of England would not, at such a moment, be less active or less firmly united than her enemies. He then signified his pleasure that the Parliament should adjourn. On the following day he set out, attended by a splendid train of nobles, for the Congress at the Hague.812FN 1 Letter from Lady Cavendish to Sylvia. Lady Cavendish, like most of the clever girls of that generation, had Scudery's romances always in her head. She is Dorinda: her correspondent, supposed to be her cousin Jane Allington, is Sylvia: William is Ormanzor, and Mary Phenixana. London Gazette, Feb. 14 1688/9;Narcissus Luttrell's Diary. Luttrell's Diary, which I shall very often quote, is in the library of All Souls' College. I am greatly obliged to the Warden for the kindness with which he allowed me access to this valuable manuscript.
FN 2 See the London Gazettes of February and March 1688/9, and Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, FN 3 Wagenaar, lxi. He quotes the proceedings of the States of the 2nd of March, 1689. London Gazette, April 11, 1689; Monthly Mercury for April, 1689.
FN 4 "I may be positive," says a writer who had been educated at Westminster School, "where I heard one sermon of repentance, faith, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, I heard three of the other; and 'tis hard to say whether Jesus Christ or King Charles the First were oftener mentioned and magnified." Bisset's Modern Fanatick, 1710.
FN 5 Paris Gazette, Jan 26/Feb 5 1689. Orange Gazette, London, Jan. 10. 1688/9FN 6 Grey's Debates; Howe's speech; Feb. 26. 1688/9; Boscawen's speech, March 1; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, Feb. 23-27.
FN 7 Grey's Debates; Feb. 26. 1688/9.
FN 8 This illustration is repeated to satiety in sermons and pamphlets of the time of William the Third. There is a poor imitation of Absalom and Ahitophel entitled the Murmurers.
William is Moses; Corah, Dathan and Abiram, nonjuring Bishops;Balaam, I think, Dryden; and Phinchas Shrewsbury, FN 9 Reresby's Memoirs.
FN 10 Here, and in many other places, I abstain from citing authorities, because my authorities are too numerous to cite. My notions of the temper and relative position of political and religious parties in the reign of William the Third, have been derived, not from any single work, but from thousands of forgotten tracts, sermons, and satires; in fact, from a whole literature which is mouldering in old libraries.
FN 11 The following passage in a tract of that time expresses the general opinion. "He has better knowledge of foreign affairs than we have; but in English business it is no dishonour to him to be told his relation to us, the nature of it, and what is fit for him to do."--An Honest Commoner's Speech.
FN 12 London Gazette, Feb. 18. 1688/9.
FN 13 London Gazette, Feb. 18. 1688/9; Sir J. Reresby's Memoirs.
FN 14 London Gazette, Feb. 18. 1688/9; Lords' Journals.
FN 15 Burnet, ii. 4.
FN 16 These memoirs will be found in a manuscript volume, which is part of the Harleian Collection, and is numbered 6584. They are in fact, the first outlines of a great part of Burnet's History of His Own Times. The dates at which the different portions of this most curious and interesting book were composed are marked. Almost the whole was written before the death of Mary. Burnet did not begin to prepare his History of William's reign for the press till ten years later. By that time his opinions both of men and of things, had undergone great changes.
The value of the rough draught is therefore very great: for it contains some facts which he afterwards thought it advisable to suppress, and some judgments which he afterwards saw cause to alter. I must own that I generally like his first thoughts best.
Whenever his History is reprinted, it ought to be carefully collated with this volume.
When I refer to the Burnet MS. Harl. 6584, I wish the reader to understand that the MS. contains something which is not to be found in the History.
As to Nottingham's appointment, see Burnet, ii. 8; the London Gazette of March 7. 1688/9; and Clarendon's Diary of Feb. 15.
FN 17 London Gazette, Feb. 18. 1688/9.
FN 18 Don Pedro de Ronquillo makes this objection.
FN 19 London Gazette, March 11 1688/9.
FN 20 Ibid.
FN 21 I have followed what seems to me the most probable story.
But it has been doubted whether Nottingham was invited to be Chancellor, or only to be First Commissioner of the Great Seal.
Compare Burnet ii. 3., and Boyer's History of William, 1702.
Narcissus Luttrell repeatedly, and even as late as the close of 1692, speaks of Nottingham as likely to be Chancellor.
FN 22 Roger North relates an amusing story about Shaftesbury's embarrassments.
FN 23 London Gazette March 4. 1688/9.
FN 24 Burnet ii. 5.
FN 25 The Protestant Mask taken off from the Jesuited Englishman, 1692.
FN 26 These appointments were not announced in the Gazette till the 6th of May; but some of them were made earlier.
FN 27 Kennet's Funeral Sermon on the first Duke of Devonshire, and Memoirs of the Family of Cavendish, 1708.
FN 28 See a poem entitled, A Votive Tablet to the King and Queen.
