came over with a fleet, and a considerable number of forces. What was the issue of this expedition, is very amply described by other pens, and not properly my province to relate; wherefore I think it sufficient to my purpose to say, that the prince after some difficulty at sea, came into England; where having many adherents, the king, many of whose forces deserted him, resolved to go to France, whither the queen with the young child was gone sometime before. Accordingly he went over, where he was well received by the French king, who provided him a court at St. Germains. In the meanwhile the prince of Orange came to London, and was saluted there by the great ones as the deliverer of England. The lord mayor of the said city, with the aldermen and the sheriffs, having congratulated him, the prince sent for some of the members of former parliaments to come to him, and signified to them, that he had desired them to meet to advise him in the best manner how to pursue the ends of his declaration in calling a free parliament, for the preservation of the Protestant religion, the restoring of the rights and liberties of the kingdom, and settling the same, that they might not be in danger of being again subverted.

In answer to this, thanks were given to the prince for his care and pains in defence of the

people, their religion and laws. took a favourable turn for him.

And all things

In Holland a good while before a paper was published in print, called, A Copy of a Letter written by a Quaker in London to his Friend at Rotterdam. In which forged letter were mentioned several things that were not altogether untrue, and the prince's going over to England, was also in a manner predicted. Who was the author of the said letter, I could never learn, but of this I am fully satisfied, that he was no Quaker; for it never was their way to ridicule princes, and to characterize them with rediculous denominations, as in the said letter we find mentioned, of James of Great Britain, Mary of Modena, William of Orange, and Mary of England, his wife. This was no more the language of Quakers, than the following expressions that are found in this letter. "The Spirit hath inspired me to tell thee, I should not be able to declare my opinion, before the Spirit shall have revealed it to me. If the Spirit doth dictate it to thee, go and speak with him. Dentsch hath had a revelation, and the Spirit hath assured him," &c. This foolish language betrays itself, and serves for a palpable evidence, that it never proceeded from the pen of any of the people called Quakers. But perhaps the author of that letter knew a secret of state, whereof (to remain unknown) he would

acquaint the world in a ridiculous way; that under the cloak of being a Quaker, he should best continue undiscovered, and that by this device the letter would spread the more, as indeed it did; for it had a very quick vent.

HISTORY

OF THE

RISE AND PROGRESS

OF THE

SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.

THE ELEVENTH BOOK.

I Proceed now to the year 1689, in the beginning of which the peers of the realm, &c. offered the administration of the government to the prince of Orange, which he accepted of. Not long after he called a convention of the commons; for a parliament it could not be named, since in England none but a king has power to call a parliament. In the meanwhile the prince had caused the princess his consort, to come over from Holland into England; and at length the convention, after many great debates, came to this resolution, that the throne was vacant; the consequence of which was, that the prince and princess of Orange were declared by the names of William the third, and Mary the second, king and queen of England, &c. and accordingly were