berg was newly made a marshal, and had got great honour the year before against the prince of Orange, in raising the siege of Maestricht. He commanded in a quarter at some distance. The king said he would come to no resolation till he heard his opinion. Louvoy sent for him by a confident person, whom he ordered to tell him what had happened; and that, in any opinion he was to give, he must consider the king's person. So when he came to the king's tent a council of war was called, and Schomberg was ordered to deliver his opinion first. He said, the king was there on design to cover the siege of Bouchain; a young general was come up on a desperate humour to offer him battle; he did not doubt but it would be a glorious decision of the war; but the king ought to consider his own designs, and not to be led out of these by any bravado, or even by the great hope of success; the king ought to remain in his post till the place was taken; otherwise he suffered another man to be the master of his counsels and actions. When the place was taken, then he was to come to new counsels; but till then he thought he was to pursue his first design. The king said Schomberg was in the right; and he was applauded that day, as a better courtier than a general. I had all this from his own mouth.

To this I will add a pleasant passage, that the prince of Condé told young Rouvigny, now earl of Galloway. The king of France has never yet fought a battle, and has a mighty notion of that matter; and, it seems, he apprehends the danger of it too much. Once he was chiding the prince of Conti for his being about to fight a combat with a man of quality. The king told him he ought to consider the dignity of his blood, and not put himself on the level with other subjects; and that his uncle had declined fighting on that very account. The prince of Conti answered, my uncle might well have done so after he had won two battles; but I, who have yet done nothing, must pretend to no such distinction." The king told this answer to the prince of Condé, who saw he was nettled with it. So he said to him that his nephew had in that spoken like a young man; for winning of a battle was no great matter, since though he who commanded had the glory of it, yet it was the subalterns that did the business. In which he thought he pleased the king; and for which he laughed heartily at him when he told the story. The late king told me, that in these campaigns the Spaniards were both so ignorant and so backward, so proud and yet so weak, that they would never own their feebleness, or their wants, to him. They pretended they had stores, when they had none: and thousands, when they scarcely had hundreds. He had in their counsels often desired that they would give him only a true state of their garrisons and magazines. But they always gave it false. So that for some campaigns all was lost, merely because they deceived him in the strength they pretended they had. At last he believed nothing they said, but sent his own officers to examine everything. Monterey was a wise man and a good governor, but was a coward. Villa Hermosa was a brave man, but ignorant and weak. Thus the prince had a sad time of it every campaign. But none was so unhappy as this, in which, upon the loss of Valenciennes, he looking on St. Omer as more important than Cambray, went thither, and ventured a battle too rashly. Luxembourg, with a great body of horse, came into the duke of Orleans' army just as they were engaging. Some regiments of marines, on whom the prince depended much, did basely run away. Yet the other bodies fought so well, that he lost not much besides the honour of the day. But upon that St. Omer did immediately capitulate, as Cambray did some days after. It was thought, that the king was jealous of the honour his brother had got in that action; for he never had the command of an army after that time; and, courage being the chief good quality that he had, it was thought his having no occasion given him to show it flowed from some particular reason.

These things happening during this session of parliament made great impression on all people's minds. Sir W. Coventry opened the business in the house of commons, and shewed the danger of all these provinces falling under the power of France, which must end in the ruin of the United Provinces, if a timely stop was not put to the progress the French were making. He demonstrated that the interest of England made it necessary for the king to withdraw his mediation, and enter into the alliance against France: and the whole house went into this. There were great complaints made of the regiments that the king kept in the French army, and of the great service that was done by them. It is true, the king

suffered the Dutch to make levies. But there was another sort of encouragement given to the levies for France, particularly in Scotland, where it looked more like a press than a levy. They had not only the public jails given them to keep their men in, but, when these were full, they had the castle of Edinburgh assigned them, till ships were ready for their transport. Some that were put in prison for conventicles were, by order of council, delivered to their officers. The Spanish ambassador heard of this, and made great complaints upon it. So a proclamation was ordered, prohibiting any more levies. But duke Lauderdale kept it up some days, and wrote down to hasten the levies away, for a proclamation was coming down against them. They were all shipped off, but had not sailed, when the proclamation came down; yet it was kept up till they sailed away. One of the ships was driven back by stress of weather; but no care was taken to execute the proclamation. So apparently was that kingdom in a French management.

The house of commons pressed the king, by repeated addresses, to fall into the interest of Europe, as well as into his own. The king was uneasy at this, and sent them several angry messages. Peace and war, he said, were undoubtedly matters within his prerogative, in which they ought not to meddle. And the king in common discourse remembered often the parliament's engaging his father and grandfather in the affairs of Germany, and to break the match with Spain, which proved fatal to them; and he resolved not to be served in such a manner. Upon this occasion lord Danby saw his error, of neglecting the leading men, and reckoning upon a majority, such as could be made for these leading men did so entangle the debates, and overreached those on whom he had practised, that they, working on the aversion that the English nation naturally has to a French interest, spoiled the most hopeful session the court had had of a great while, before the court was well aware of it. The king, who was yet firmly united with France, dismissed them with a very angry speech, checking them for going so far in matters that were above them, and that belonged only to him though they brought to him many precedents in the reigns of the highest spirited of all our kings, in which parliaments had not only offered general advices, about the entering into wars, but even special ones, as to the conduct that was to be held in them. The whole nation thought it a great happiness to see a session that lord Shaftesbury's wilfulness had, as it were, driven in to the court, end with doing so little mischief, far contrary to all men's expectations.

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When the session was over, lord Danby saw his ruin was inevitable, if he could not bring the king off from a French interest; upon which he set himself much to it: and, as he talked with an extraordinary zeal against France on all occasions, so he pressed the king much to follow the advices of his parliament. The king seemed to insist upon this, that he would once have a peace made upon the grounds that he had concerted with France; and, when that was done, he would enter next day into the alliance. But he stood much upon this; that having once engaged with France in the war, he could not with honour turn against France, till it was at an end. This was such a refining in a point of honour, which that king had not on all other occasions considered so much, that all men believed there was somewhat else at the bottom. The earl of Danby continued to give, by sir William Temple, all possible assurances to the prince of Orange, pressing him likewise to make some compliances on his side. And he gave him great hopes of bringing about a marriage with the duke's daughter, which was universally desired by all the protestant party, both at home and abroad. Great offers were made to the duke to draw him into the alliance. He was offered the command of the whole force of the allies: and he seemed to be wrought on by the prospect of so great an authority. There was a party that was still very jealous of lord Danby in all this matter: some thought all this was artifice; that a war would be offered to the next session, only to draw money from the parliament, and thereby to raise an army, and that, when the army was raised, and much money given to support it, all would be sold to France for another great sum; and that the parliament would be brought to give the money to pay an army for some years, till the nation should be subdued to an entire compliance with the court. It was given out that this must be the scheme by which he maintained himself in the king and the duke's confidence, even when he declared himself an open enemy to that which they were still supporting. This he did with so little decency, that at Sancroft's con

secration dinner, he began a health, to the confusion of all that were not for a war with France. He got the prince of Orange to ask the king's leave to come over at the end of the campaign with which the court of France was not pleased; for they suspected a design for the marriage. But the king assured Barillon *, who was lately sent over ambassador in Courtin's place, that there was not a thought of that; and that the prince of Orange had only a mind to talk with him; and he hoped he should bring him into such measures as should produce a speedy peace.

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The campaign ended unsuccessfully to the prince; for he sat down before Charleroi, but was forced to raise the siege t. When that was over, he came to England, and stayed some time in it, talking with his two uncles about a peace. But they could not bring him up to their terms. After a fruitless stay for some weeks, he intended to go back without proposing marriage. He had no mind to be denied; and he saw no hope of succeeding, unless he would enter more entirely into his uncle's measures. Lord Danby pressed his staying a few days longer, and that the management of that matter might be left to him. So next Monday morning, after he had taken care, by all his creatures about the king, to put him in a very good humour, he came to the king, and told him he had received letters from all the best friends his majesty had in England, and shewed a bundle of them; (which he was pretty sure the king would not trouble himself to read: probably they were written as he had directed.) They all agreed, he said, in the same advice, that the king should make a marriage between the prince of Orange and the duke's daughter; for they all believed he came over on that account: and, if he went away without it, no body would doubt, but that he had proposed it, and had been denied. Upon which the parliament would certainly make addresses to the king for it. And if the marriage was made upon that, the king would lose the grace and thanks of it but if it was still denied, even after the addresses of both houses, it would raise jealousies that might have very ill consequences. Whereas, if the king did it of his own motion, he would have the honour of it; and, by so doing, he would bring the prince into a greater dependence on himself, and beget in the nation such a good opinion of him, as would lay a foundation for a mutual confidence. This he enforced with all the topics he could think on. The king said the prince had not so much as proposed it. Lord Danby owned he had spoken of it to himself, and said that his not moving it to the king was only because he apprehended he was not likely to succeed in it. The king said next, "My brother will never consent to it." Lord Danby answered, perhaps not, unless the king took it upon him to command it. And he thought it was the duke's interest to have it done, even more than the king's. All people were now possessed of his being a papist, and were very apprehensive of it; but if they saw his daughter given to one that was at the head of the protestant interest, it would very much soften those apprehensions, when it did appear that his religion was only a personal thing, not to be derived to his children after him. With all this the king was convinced. So he sent for the duke, lord Danby staying still with him. When the duke came, the king told him he had sent for him, to desire he would consent to a thing that he was sure was as much for his interest, as it was for his own quiet and satisfaction. The duke, without asking what it was, said he would be ready always to comply with the king's pleasure in every thing. So the king left it to the lord Danby to say over all he had said on that head to himself. The duke seemed much concerned. But the king said to him, "Brother, I desire it of you for my sake, as well as your own." And upon that the duke consented to it. So lord Danby sent immediately for the prince, and in the king's name ordered a council to be presently summoned. Upon the prince's coming, the king, in a very obliging way, said to him, "Nephew, it is not good for man to be alone, I will give you a help meet for you." And so he told him he would bestow his niece on him. And the duke, with a seeming heartiness, gave his consent in very obliging terms: the king adding, "Nephew, remember that love and war do not agree well together." In the meanwhile the news of the intended

• The letters of M. Barillon, throwing great light upon the proceedings of our court at this time, are given in Fox's Hist. of James the Second.

This enabled the earl of Mulgrave to discharge upon the prince a very severe witticism. The prince, rather

uncourteously gave him an audience without moving, upon which the earl observed, that it appeared he could not rise before any thing less than a town.-E. of DartmouthOxford ed. of this work.

marriage went over the court and town. All, except the French and the popish party, were much pleased with it. Barillon was amazed. He went to the duchess of Portsmouth, and got her to send all her creatures to desire to speak to the king: she wrote him likewise several billets to the same purpose. But lord Danby had ordered the council to be called; and he took care that neither the king nor the duke should be spoken to, till the matter was declared in council. And when that was done, the king presented the prince to the young lady, as the person he designed should be her husband. When Barillon saw it was gone so far, he sent a courier to the court of France with the news; upon whose arrival Montague, that was then our ambassador there, was sent for. When he came to Versailles, he saw the king the most moved that he had ever observed him to be. He asked him when was the marriage to be made? Montague understood not what he meant. So he explained all to him. Montague protested to him that he knew nothing of the whole matter. That king said, he always believed the journey would end in this; and he seemed to think that our court had now forsaken him. He spoke of the king's part in it more decently; but expostulated severely on the duke's part, who had now given his daughter to the greatest enemy he had in the world. To all this Montague had no answer to make. But next night he had a courier with letters from the king, the duke, and the prince, to the king of France. The prince had no mind to this piece of courtship, but his uncle obliged him to it, as a civility due to kindred and blood. The king assured the king of France that he had made the match on design to engage the prince to be more tractable in the treaty that was now going on at Nimeguen. The king of France received these letters civilly; but did not seem much satisfied with them. Montague was called over soon after this to get new instructions. And lord Danby asked him how the king of France received the news of the marriage. He answered, as he would have done the loss of an army; and that he had spoken very hardly of the duke, for consenting to it, and not at least acquainting him with it. Lord Danby answered, he wronged him; for he did not know of it an hour before it was published, and the king himself not above two hours. All this relation I had from Montague himself. It was a masterpiece indeed, and the chief thing in the earl of Danby's ministry, for which the duke never forgave him*.

Upon the general satisfaction that this marriage gave the whole nation, a new session of parliament was called in the beginning of the year 78: to which the king declared the sense he had of the dangerous state their neighbours were in, and that it was necessary he should be put in a posture to bring things to a balance. So the house was pressed to supply the king in so plentiful a manner as the occasion did require. The court asked money both for an army and a fleet. Sir William Coventry showed the great inconvenience of raising a land army, the danger that might follow on it, the little use could be made of it, and the great charge it must put the nation to; he was for hiring bodies from the German princes, and for assisting the Dutch with money; and he moved to recall our troops from France, and to employ them in the Dutch service; he thought that which did more properly

• Burnet is very erroneous in his statements respecting the marriage of the prince of Orange with the princess Mary. It had long been designed between lord Danby and sir W. Temple, then ambassador at the Hague. The prince often talked with the latter upon the subject; and having his proposed wife described in favourable colours, and seeing the advantage that would accrue to him and the protestant cause from the alliance, he positively sent proposals over to the king and duke of York, by the hand of lady Temple, and lord Danby said the king directed him to invite over the prince. Some time after, namely, in September, 1677, he came to England. Charles was much amused at the prince's nicety in refusing to enter upon any treaty of marriage until he nad seen his intended wife. The prince, being satisfied with her appearance, then entered upon the treaty. There is no doubt but that the duke of York was opposed to the match, and when the prince arrived, he told Danby, in a great passion, that he discerned the intrigue, and that he was its manager, but that the design should fail; the king had promised never

to dispose of his, the duke's, daughter without his consent, and that consent should never be given to the proposed match. Lord Danby communicated this to Charles, but the king, after acknowledging the promise, added with his usual oath, "God's fish! he must consent." The duko eventually yielded, and then they wanted to treat of the terms of peace with France first, but the prince would have his marriage previously settled. A rupture nearly occurred upon this, but by the instrumentality of sir W. Temple, the king was persuaded to yield, saying, "If I am not deceived in the prince's face, he is the honestest man in the world, and I will trust him, and he shall have his wife, and you shall go immediately and tell my brother so." It was declared the same evening to the privy council, and within three days the marriage was consummated. -(Temple's Memoirs, &c., i. 454, &c.; Oxford ed. of this work, &c.) The prince arrived in England on the 9th of October, and was married on the 4th of November.- Ralph's Hist. of England.

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belong to England was to set out a great fleet, and to cut off the French trade everywhere; for they were then very high in their manufactures and trade: their people were ingenious as well as industrious: they wrought hard and lived low, so they sold cheaper than others could do; and it was found that we sent very nearly a million of our money in specie every year for the balance of our trade with them. But the king had promised so many commissions to men of quality in both houses, that this carried it for a land army. It was said, what hazard could there be from an army commanded by men of estates, as this was to be? A severe act passed, prohibiting all importation of the French manufactures or growth for three years, and to the next session of parliament after that. This was made as strict as was possible; and for a year after it was well looked to. But the merchants found ways to evade it, and the court was too much French not to connive at the breach of it. In the preamble of this act it was set forth, that we were in an actual war with France. This was excepted to, as not true in fact. But the ministry affirmed we were already engaged so far with the allies, that it was really a war, and that our troops were already called from France. Coventry in some heat said the king was engaged, and he would rather be guilty of the murder of forty men, than to do anything to retard the progress of the war. The oddness of the expression made it to be often objected afterwards to him. A poll bill was granted, together with the continuance of the additional customs that were near falling off. Six hundred thousand pounds were also given for a land army and for a fleet. All the court party magnified the design of raising an army. They said the employing hired troops was neither honourable nor safe. The Spaniards were willing to put Ostend and Nieuport in our hands; and we could not be answerable for these places if they were not kept by our own people.

At this time the king of France made a step that struck terror into the Dutch, and inflamed the English out of measure. Louvoy till then was rather his father's assistant than a minister upon his own foot. He at this time gained the credit with the king, which he maintained so long afterwards. He proposed to him the taking of Ghent; and thought that the king's getting into such a place, so near the Dutch, would immediately dispose them to a peace. But it was not easy to bring their army so soon about it, without being observed, so the execution seemed impossible. He therefore laid such a scheme of marches and countermarches as did amuse all the allies. Sometimes the design seemed to be on the Rhine, sometimes on Luxemburgh. And while their forces were sent to defend those places where they apprehended the design was laid, and that none of the French generals themselves did apprehend what the true design was, all on the sudden Ghent was invested; and both town and citadel were quickly taken. This was Louvoy's masterpiece. And it had the intended effect. It brought the Dutch to resolve on a peace. The French king might have taken Bruges, Ostend, and Nieuport. But he only took Ypres; for he had no mind to provoke the English. He was sure of his point by the fright this put the Dutch in. We were much alarmed at it. And the duke of Monmouth was immediately sent over with some of the Guards.

But the parliament grew jealous, as they had great cause given them, both by what was then doing in Scotland, and by the management they observed at court. And now I must look northward to a very extraordinary scene that opened there. Duke Lauderdale and his duchess went to Scotland the former year. Her design was to marry her daughters into two of the great families of Scotland, Argyle and Murray, which she did. But things being then in great disorder, by reason of the numbers and desperate tempers of those who were intercommoned, Sharp pretended he was in great danger of his life; and that the rather because the person that had made the attempt on him was let live still. Upon this, I must tell what had passed three years before this. Sharp had observed a man that kept a shop at his door, who looked very narrowly at him always as he passed by, and he fancied he was the man that shot at him six years before. So he ordered him to be taken up and examined. It was found he had two pistols by him that were deeply charged, which increased the suspicion. Yet the man denied all. But Sharp got a friend of his to go to him, and deal with him to make a full confession; and he made solemn promises that he would procure his pardon. His friend answered, he hoped he did not intend to make use of him to trepan