setting up the notions of persecution and violence, which he had so much promoted in king Charles's time, and professed himself an enemy to the present bishops, and to the methods they were taking, of preaching and visiting their dioceses, of obliging the clergy to attend more carefully to their functions, and of endeavouring to gain the dissenters by gentle and calm methods.

The king had left the matters of the church wholly in the queen's hands. He found he could not resist importunities which were not only vexatious to him, but had drawn preferments from him, which he came soon to see were ill bestowed; so he devolved that care upon the queen, which she managed with strict and religious prudence. She declared openly against the preferring of those who put in for themselves, and took care to inform herself particularly of the merits of such of the clergy as were not so much as known at court, nor using any methods to get themselves recommended; so that we had reason to hope, that, if this course should be long continued, it would produce a great change in the church, and in the temper of the clergy. She consulted chiefly with the archbishop of Canterbury, whom she favoured and supported in a most particular manner. She saw what need there was of

it; for a party was formed against him, who set themselves to censure every thing he did. It was a melancholy thing to consider that, though we never saw an archbishop before him apply himself so entirely, without partiality or bias, to all the concerns of the church and religion, as he did; and that the queen's heart was set on promoting them, yet such an evil spirit should seem to be let loose upon the clergy. They complained of every thing that was done, if it was not in their own way; and the archbishop bore the blame of all. He did not enter into any close correspondence, or the concerting measures with the ministry, but lived much abstracted from them; so they studied to depress him all they could. This made a great impression upon him. He grew very uneasy in his great post: we were all soon convinced, that there was a sort of clergymen among us that would never be satisfied, as long as the toleration was continued; and they seemed resolved to give it out, that

under God, may in their great wisdom and goodness judge, that it may prove as much to their honour and safety too, to pass over this particular, as if they should pursue the strictest measures of justice in it. Though I am a brother, if I did not, upon the greatest reflection I can make, think I should be of the same opinion, if I were none, I would not press this matter upon you. For I cannot but think, that the queen would do, and would be glad to avow it too, a very great thing for the memory of that gentleman, so long in his grave. It is upon this account I am begging of your lordship to do all that's possible, to preserve every part and branch and member of his family, from the least transient stain of infamy and reproach. And if God was prevailed with by Abraham, to have saved a whole city for the sake of ten righteous men, I hope there may be as charitable an inclination to spare the débris of our broken family, for the sake of him who was the raiser of it.

"I ask your lordship's pardon for being thus importunate; for I have great need of your help, and I hope I shall have it from you. Losses of many and good friends I have borne, and submitted with patience to the pleasure of Almighty God; but a calamity of this nature, that I now deprecate, has in it something so frightful, and on some accounts so unnatural, that I beg you for God's sake, from an angry man yourself, grow an advocate for me and for the family on this account. I am ever, "My lord, "Your lordship's most faithful humble servant, "ROCHESTER.

"New Park, March 21st, 1690-91."

66 My lord,

"I was warm, I confess, in the last letter I gave your lordship the trouble of, and I thank you for reproving the vehemence of my style, in your last of the twenty-eighth; I am grown cooler, and acknowledge my fault; neither

did I commit it with an apprehension that your lordship
was inexorable, or that it would be so much as needful to
desire your assistance in that matter.
But you may
remember, you had used a word to me, when you were
here, an attainder, that I acknowledge sounded very
harsh to me, and when I had reflected a little more upon
it, as likewise that your lordship did not use to speak by
chance, and consequently that you had good ground for
what you said, I own it heated me all over, which made
me express my thoughts to you with more transport than
was fit, and I will say no more of them, for fear of run-
ning into new excesses. What your lordship proposes for
my lord Clarendon to desire, is perfectly agreeable to my
mind; but I know not, whether it be not a little too
early, and that such a petition might be presented with a
better grace, if he were once out of the Tower upon bail,
than it would be while he is under this close confinement.
But as your lordship says, the affair of Mons must for the
present put a stop to every man's private thoughts, for
that is a matter of such vast importance to the public,
that it is but very fit, that all particular considerations
should give way to it, and wait the determination of that
great point: I cannot but believe the French are masters
of it before now, because all the letters that came by the
last post, that I could hear of, looked upon it as a thing
impracticable to relieve it, but we have had no letters
since Saturday. What the French will do next, whether
send their men into quarters for two months, or try to
follow their blow, is what men are now most anxious
about. One of my old friends, with whom of late I have
renewed my acquaintance, says upon all these mighty
occasions, Prudens futuri temporis exitum Caliginosa
nocte premit Deus Ridetque si mortalis ultra Fas trepidat.'
But I confess to you I cannot be quite so overcome with
philosophy, as not to be concerned beforehand, at what
this dark night is to bring forth."

o o o

the church was in danger, till a prosecution of dissenters should be again set on foot; nor could they look at a man with patience, or speak of him with temper, who did not agree with them in these things. The bishops fell under the displeasure of the whigs by the methods they took, not only of protecting, but of preferring some of these men, hoping by that means both to have softened them and their friends; but they took their preferments as the rewards that they supposed were due to their merit; and they employed the credit and authority which their preferments brought them, wholly against those to whom they owed them. The whigs were much turned against the king; and were not pleased with those who had left them, when they were so violent in the beginning of this reign; and it was a hard thing, in such a divided time, to resolve to be of no party, since men of that temper are pushed at by many, an 1 protected by no side. Of this we had many instances at that time; and I myself had so ne very sensible ones; but they are too inconsiderable to be mentioned. In this bad state we were, when a session of parliament came on with great apprehensions, occasioned by our ill success, and by the king's temper, which he could no way constrain, or render more complaisant, but chiefly from the disposition of men's minds, which was practised on with great industry by the enemies of the government, who were driving on jealousies daily.

A parliament had been summoned in Ireland by the lord Sidney; but they met full of discontent, and were disposed to find fault with every thing: and there was too much matter to work upon; for the lord lieutenant was apt to excuse or justify those who had the address to insinuate themselves into his favour; so that they were dismissed before they brought their bills to perfection. The English in Ireland thought the government favoured the Irish too much; some said this was the effect of bribery, whereas others thought it was necessary to keep them safe from the prosecutions of the English, who hated them, and were much sharpened against them. The protecting the Irish was indeed in some sort necessary, to keep them from breaking out, or from running over to the French: but it was very plain that the Irish were Irish still, enemies to the English nation, and to the present government; so that all kindness shewed them beyond what was due in strict justice, was the cherishing an inveterate enemy. There were also great complaints of an ill administration, chiefly in the revenue, in the pay of the army, and in the embezzling of stores. Of these much noise was made in England, which drew addresses from both houses of parliament to the king, which were very invidiously penned; every particular being severely aggravated. So the king called back the lord Sidney, and put the government of Ireland into three lords justices; lord Capel, brother to the earl of Essex, sir Cyril Wyche, and Mr. Duncomb. When they were sent from court, the queen did very earnestly recommend to their care, the reforming of many disorders that were prevailing in that kingdom; for, neither had the late destructive war, out of which they were but beginning to recover themselves, nor their poverty, produced those effects, that might have been well expected.

see.

The state of Ireland leads me to insert here a very particular instance of the queen's pious care in the disposing of bishoprics: lord Sidney was so far engaged in the interest of a great family of Ireland, that he was too easily wrought on to recommend a branch of it to a vacant The representation was made with an undue character of the person: so the queen granted it. But when she understood that he lay under a very bad character, she wrote a letter, in her own hand, to lord Sidney, letting him know what she had heard, and ordered him to call for six Irish bishops, whom she named to him, and to require them to certify to her their opinion of that person: they all agreed that he laboured under an ill fame; and, till that was examined into, they did not think it proper to promote him; so that matter was let fall. I do not name the person; for I intend not to leave a blemish on him; but set this down as an example, fit to be imitated by Christian princes.

Another effect of the queen's pious care of the souls of her people was finished this year, after it had been much opposed, and long stopped. Mr. Blair, a very worthy man, came over from Virginia, with a proposition for erecting a college there. In order to which, he had set on foot a voluntary subscription, which arose to a great sum; and he found out some branches of the revenue there that went all into private hands, without being brought into any public account, with which a free-school and college might be well endowed. The English

born there were, as he said, capable of every thing, if they were provided with the means of a good education; and a foundation of this kind in Virginia, that lay in the middle, between our southern and northern plantations, might be a common nursery to them all; and put the people born there in a way of further improvement. Those concerned in the management of the plantations had made such advantages of those particulars, out of which the endowment was to be raised, that all possible objections were made to the project, as a design that would take our planters off from their mechanical employments, and make them grow too knowing to be obedient and submissive. The queen was so well pleased with the design, as apprehending the very good effects it might have, that no objection against it could move her: she hoped it might be a means of improving her own people, and of preparing some to propagate the gospel among the natives; and therefore, as she espoused the matter with a particular zeal, so the king did very readily concur with her in it. The endowment was fixed, and the patent was passed for the college called, from the founders, the William and Mary College.

Affairs in Scotland grew more and more out of joint. Many whom the king had trusted in the ministry there, were thought enemies to him and his government; and some took so little care to conceal their inclinations, that, when an invasion was looked for, they scemed resolved to join in it. They were taken out of a plot, which was managed by persuading many to take oaths to the government, on design to betray it; and were now trusted with the most important posts. The presbyterians began to see their error, in driving matters so far, and in provoking the king so much; and they seemed desirous to recover his favour, and to manage their matters with more temper. The king came likewise to see that he had been a little too sudden in trusting some who did not deserve his confidence. Duke Hamilton had for some years withdrawn from business; but he was now prevailed with to return to council; many letters were intercepted between France and Scotland; in those from Scotland, the easiness of engaging that nation was often repeated, if no time were lost; it seemed therefore necessary to bring that kingdom into a better state.

A session of parliament was held there, to which duke Hamilton was sent as the king's commissioner; the supplies that were asked were granted; and now the whole presbyterian party was again entire in the king's interest; the matters of the church were brought to more temper than was expected: the episcopal clergy had more moderate terms offered them; they were only required to make an address to the general assembly, offering to subscribe to a confession of faith, and to acknowledge presbytery to be the only government of that church, with a promise to submit to it; upon which, within a fortnight after they did that, if no matter of scandal was objected to them, the assembly was either to receive them into the government of the church, or, if they could not be brought to that, the king was to take them into his protection, and maintain them in their churches, without any dependence on the presbytery. This was a strain of moderation that the presbyterians were not easily brought to; a subscription that owned presbytery to be the only legal government of that church, without owning any divine right in it, was far below their usual pretensions. And this act vested the king with an authority, very like that which they were wont to condemn as Erastianism. Another act was also passed, requiring all in any office in church or state, to take, besides the oath of allegiance, a declaration called the assurance, owning the king and queen to be their rightful and lawful sovereigns, and promising fidelity to them against king James, and all his adherents. The council was also empowered to tender these, as they should see cause for it, and to fine and imprison such as should refuse them. When the session was near an end, Nevil Payne was brought before the parliament, to be examined, upon the many letters that had been intercepted. There was a full evidence against him in many of his own letters; but he sent word to several of the lords, in particular to duke Hamilton, that as long as his life was his own, he would accuse none; but he was resolved he would not die; and he could discover enough to deserve his pardon. This struck such terror into many of them, whose sons or near relations had been concerned with him, that he moving for a delay, on a pretence of some witnesses that were not then at hand, a time was given him beyond the continuance of the session; so he escaped, and that enquiry was stifled. The session ended calmly; but the king seemed to have forgotten Scotland so entirely, that

he let three months go over before he took notice of any of their petitions; and, though he had asked, and had supplies for an augmentation of forces, and many had been gained to consent to the tax, by the hope of commissions in the troops that were to be levied; yet the king did not raise any new ones, but raised the supply, and applied it to other uses: this began again to raise an ill humour, that had been almost quite laid down, in the whole course of this session, which was thought a reconciling one. The clergy let the day prefixed, for making their submission to the assembly, slip, and did not take the oaths; so they could claim no benefit by the act that had been carried in their favour, not without some difficulty. And the law, that was intended to save them, did now expose them to ruin; since by it, they, not taking the oaths, had lost their legal rights to their benefices. Yet they were suffered to continue in them, and were put in hope, that the king would protect them, though it was now against law. They were also made to believe, that the king did not desire that they should take the oaths, or make any submission to presbytery: and it is certain, that no public signification of the king's mind was made to them; so they were easily imposed on by surmises and whispers; upon this the distractions grew up afresh. Many concluded there, as well as in England, that the king's heart led him still to court his enemies, even after all the manifest reasons he had to conclude, that the steps they made towards him were only feigned submissions, to gain such a confidence as might put it in their power to deliver him up.

The earl of Middleton went over to France in the beginning of this year; and it was believed he was sent by a great body among us, with a proposition, which, had he had the assurance to have made, and they the wisdom to have accepted, might have much increased our factions and jealousies. It was, that king James should offer to resign his title in favour of his son, and likewise to send him to be bred in England, under the direction of a parliament, till he should be of age; but I could never hear that he ventured on this advice; in another he succeeded better. When king James thought the invasion from Normandy, the former year, was so well laid, that he seemed not to apprehend it could miscarry, he had prepared a declaration, of which some copies came over. He promised nothing in it, and pardoned nobody by it; but he spoke in the style of a conqueror, who thought he was master, and therefore would limit himself by no promises, but such as were conceived in general words, which might be afterwards expounded at pleasure. This was much blamed, even by his own party, who thought that they themselves were not enough secured by so loose a declaration so the earl of Middleton, upon his going over, procured one of another strain, which, as far as words could go, gave all content; for he promised every thing, and pardoned all persons. His party got this into their hands. I saw a copy of it, and they waited for a fit occasion to publish it to the nation.

We were also at this time alarmed with a negotiation, that the court of France was setting on foot at Madrid; they offered to restore to the crown of Spain all that had been taken from it, since the peace of Munster, on condition that the duke of Anjou should be declared the heir of that crown, in default of issue by the king: the grandees of Spain, who are bred up to a disregard and contempt of all the world besides themselves, were inclinable to entertain this proposition; though they saw that by so doing they must lose the house of Austria, the elector of Bavaria, and many of their other allies. But the king himself, weak as he was, stood firm and intractable; and seemed to be as much set on watching their conduct, as a man of his low genius could possibly be. He resolved to adhere to the alliance, and to carry on the war, though he could do little more than barely resolve on it. The Spaniards thought of nothing but their intrigues at Madrid; and for the management of the war, and all their affairs, they left the care of that to their stars, and to their allies.

The king came over to England in November; he saw the necessity of changing both his measures and his ministers; he expressed his dislike of the whole conduct at sea; and named Russel for the command of the fleet next year; he dismissed the earl of Nottingham, and would immediately have brought the earl of Shrewsbury again into the ministry: but when that lord came to him, he thought the king's inclinations were still the same that they had been for some years, and that the turn which he was now making was not from choice, but force; so that went off, and the earl of Shrewsbury went into the country; yet the king soon after sent for

him, and gave him such assurances, that he was again made secretary of state, to the general satisfaction of the whigs*. But the person that had the king's confidence to the highest degree, was the earl of Sunderland, who, by his long experience and his knowledge of men and things, had gained an ascendant over him, and had more credit with him than any Englishman ever had: he had brought the king to this change of councils by the prospect he gave him of the ill condition his affairs were in, if he did not entirely both trust and satisfy those, who, in the present conjuncture, were the only party that both could and would support him. It was said, that the true secret of this change of measures was, that the tories signified to the king plainly, that they could carry on the war no longer, and that therefore he must accept of such a peace as could be had: this was the most pernicious thing that could be thought on, and the most contrary to the king's notions and designs; but they being positive, he was forced to change hands, and to turn to the other party; so the whigs were now in favour again, and every thing was done that was likely to put them in good humour. The commission of the lieutenancy for the city of London, on which they had set their hearts, much more perhaps than it deserved, was so altered, that the whigs were the superior number; and all other commissions over England were much changed. They were also brought into many places of trust and profit; so that the king put his affairs chiefly into their hands; yet so, that no tory who had expressed zeal or affection for the government was turned out. Upon this the whigs expressed new zeal and confidence in the king. All the money that was asked for the next year's expense was granted very readily.

Among other funds that were created, one was for constituting a bank, which occasioned great debates: some thought a bank would grow to be a monopoly. All the money of England would come into their hands, and they would in a few years become the masters of the stock and wealth of the nation. Others argued for it; that the credit it would have, must increase trade and the circulation of money, at least in bank notes. It was visible that all the enemies of the government set themselves against it, with such a vehemence of zeal, that this alone convinced all people, that they saw the strength that our affairs would receive from it. I had heard the Dutch often reckon up the great advantages they had from their banks; and they concluded that, as long as England continued jealous of the government, a bank could never be settled among us, nor gain credit enough to support itself: and upon that they judged that the superiority in trade must still lie on their side. This, with all the other remote funds that were created, had another good effect; it engaged all those who were concerned in them, to be, upon the account of their own interest, zealous for maintaining the government; since it was not to be doubted, but that a revolution would have swept all these away. The advantages that the king, and all concerned in tallies, had from the bank, were soon so sensibly felt, that all people saw into the secret reasons that made the enemies of the constitution set themselves with so much earnestness against it †.

The enquiry into the conduct at sea, particularly with relation to the Smyrna fleet, took up much time, and held long: great exceptions were taken to the many delays, by which it seemed a train was laid, that they should not get out of our ports till the French were ready to lie in their way, and intercept them. Our want of intelligence was much complained of: the instructions that the admirals, who commanded the fleet, had received from the cabinet council, were thought ill given, and yet worse executed; their orders seemed weakly drawn, ambiguous, and defective: nor had they shewn any zeal in doing more than strictly to obey

It seems that, at their first interview, the earl of Shrewsbury was so dissatisfied with the king, that after an angry altercation, he left London for his seat in Oxfordshire. William, in his cooler moments, saw the import ance of obtaining the earl's services, and employed the blandishments of the royal concubine, Elizabeth Villiers, afterwards countess of Orkney, and of the earl's favourite, Mrs. Lundee. Even these failed, and it was not until he saw that the king intended really to confide in the whig party, by appointing them to some of the chief offices, that he was persuaded to accept the secretary's seals.—See the Correspondence in Coxe's Shrewsbury Papers.

The Bank of England was projected by Mr. W.

The

Paterson, a merchant. It was with extreme difficulty that he and his friends obtained a charter, which is dated July 27, 1694, and was granted only for twelve years, the corporation to be determinable on a year's notice. original capital subscribed was 1,200,000l., which they lent to the government at eight per cent. interest, and an allowance of 4,000l. annually for managing expenses. The difficulties this corporation has had to encounter, the important assistance it has afforded to our various adminis trations, and the great influence it has over our moneyed interests, are subjects of important and interesting consideration.