victed, and sentenced to a fine of ten thousand pounds. A large part of this sum he actually paid; for the rest, he gave a bond. The Earl of Peterborough, who had been injuriously mentioned in Dangerfield's narrative, was encouraged by the success of the criminal information, to bring a civil action, and to demand large damages. Williams was driven to extremity. At this juncture a way of escape presented itself. It was, indeed, a way which, to a man of strong principles or high spirit, would have been more dreadful than beggary, imprisonment, or death. He might sell himself to that government of which he had been the enemy and the victim. He might offer to go on the forlorn hope in every assault on those liberties and on that religion for which he had professed an inordinate zeal. He might expiate his Whiggism by performing services from which bigotted Tories, stained with the blood of Russell and Sidney, shrank in horror. The bargain was struck. The debt still due to the crown was remitted. Peterborough was induced, by royal mediation, to compromise his action. Sawyer was dismissed. Powis became attorney general. Williams was made solicitor, received the honor of knighthood, and was soon a favorite. Though in rank he was only the second law officer of the crown, his abilities, learning, and energy were such that he completely threw his superior into the shade. * HENRY SIDNEY, BROTHER OF ALGERNON. Ir is remarkable that both Edward Russell and Henry Sidney had been in the household of James, that both had, partly on public and partly on private grounds, become his enemies, and they both had, to avenge the blood of near kinsmen who had, in the same year, fallen victims to his implacable severity. Here the resemblance ends. Russell, with considerable abilities, was proud, acrimonious, restless, and violent. Sidney, with a sweet temper and winning *London Gazette, Dec. 15, 1687. See the proceedings against Williams in the Collection of State Trials. "Ha hecho," says Ronquillo, grande susto el haber nombrado el abogado Williams, que fue el orador y el mas arrabiado de toda la cassa des comunes en los ultimos terribles parlamentos del Rey difunto."Nov. 27-Dec. 7, 1687. nanners, seemed to be deficient in capacity and knowledge, and to be sunk in voluptuousness and indolence. His face and form were eminently handsome. In his youth he had been the terror of husbands; and even now, at near fifty, he vas the favorite, of women and the envy of younger men. He had formerly resided at the Hague in a public character, nd had then succeeded in obtaining a large share of Wiliam's confidence. Many wondered at this; for it seemed hat between the most austere of statesmen and the most issolute of idlers there could be nothing in common. Swift, many years later, could not be convinced that one whom he ad known only as an illiterate and frivolous old rake could eally have played a great part in a great revolution. Yet less acute observer than Swift might have been aware that here is a certain tact, resembling an instinct, which is often wanting to great orators and philosophers, and which is often ound in persons who, if judged by their conversation or by heir writings, would be pronounced simpletons. Indeed, when a man possesses this tact, it is in some sense an adantage to him that he is destitute of those more showy alents which would make him an object of admiration, of nvy, and of fear. Sidney was a remarkable instance of his truth. Incapable, ignorant, and dissipated as he seemed o be, he understood, or rather felt, with whom it was necesary to be reserved, and with whom he might safely venture o be communicative. The consequence was, that he did hat Mordaunt, with all his vivacity and invention, or Buret, with all his multifarious knowledge and fluid elocution, ever could have done. * matter. SCHOMBERG. THE prince had already fixed upon a general well qualied to be second in command. This was indeed no light A random shot or the dagger of an assassin might a moment leave the expedition without a head. It was ecessary that a successor should be ready to fill the vacant lace; yet it was impossible to make choice of any English * Sidney's Diary and Correspondence, edited by Mr. Blencowe; Mackay's emoirs with Swift's Note; Burnet, i. 763. His man without giving offence either to the Whigs or to the Tories; nor had any Englishman then living shown that he possessed the military skill necessary for the conduct of a campaign. On the other hand, it was not easy to assign pre-eminence to a foreigner without wounding the national sensibility of the haughty islanders. One man there was, and only one in Europe, to whom no objection could be found, Frederic, count of Schomberg, a German, sprung from a noble house of the Palatinate. He was generally esteemed the greatest living master of the art of war. rectitude and piety, tried by strong temptations and never found wanting, commanded general respect and confidence. Though a Protestant, he had been, during many years, in the service of Louis, and had, in spite of the ill offices of the Jesuits, extorted from his employer, by a series of great actions, the staff of a marshal of France. When persecution began to rage, the brave veteran steadfastly refused to purchase the royal favor by apostasy, resigned, without one murmur, all his honors and commands, quitted his adopted country forever, and took refuge at the court of Berlin. He had passed his seventieth year; but both his mind and his body were still in full vigor. He had been in England, and was much loved and honored there. He had, indeed, a recommendation of which very few foreigners could then boast; for he spoke our language, not only intelligibly, but with grace and purity. He was, with the consent of the Elector of Brandenburg, and with the warm approbation of the chiefs of the English parties, appointed William's lieutenant.* JOHN LORD LOVELACE. MEN of higher consequence had already set out from different parts of the country for Exeter. The first of these was John Lord Lovelace, distinguished by his taste, by his magnificence, and by the audacious and intemperate vehemence of his Whiggism. He had been five or six times arrested for political offences. The last crime laid to his charge was, that he had contemptuously denied the validity * Abrégé de la Vie de Frédéric Duc de Schomberg, 1690; Sidney to William June 30, 1688; Burnet, i. 677. a warrant signed by a Roman Catholic justice of the ace. He had been brought before the Privy Council and ictly examined, but to little purpose. He resolutely resed to criminate himself; and the evidence against him as insufficient. He was dismissed; but, before he retired, mes exclaimed, in great heat, "My lord, this is not the st trick that you have played me." "Sir," answered velace, with undaunted spirit, "I never played a trick to ur majesty, or to any other person. Whoever has accused to your majesty of playing tricks, is a liar." Lovelace l subsequently been admitted into the confidence of those o planned the Revolution.* His mansion, built by his cestors out of the spoils of Spanish galleons from the lies, rose on the ruins of a house of Our Lady in that autiful valley through which the Thames, not yet defiled the precincts of a great capital, nor rising and failing th the flow and ebb of the sea, rolls under woods of beech and the gentle hills of Berkshire. Beneath the stately oon, adorned by Italian pencils, was a subterraneous lt, in which the bones of ancient monks had sometimes en found. In this dark chamber some zealous and daring ponents of the government had held many midnight conences during that anxious time when England was imiently expecting the Protestant wind. † The season for ion had now arrived. Lovelace, with seventy followers, l armed and mounted, quitted his dwelling, and directed course westward. He reached Gloucestershire without iculty. But Beaufort, who governed that county, was rting all his great authority and influence in support of The militia had been called out. A strong party I been posted at Cirencester. When Lovelace arrived re, he was informed that he could not be suffered to pass. vas necessary for him either to relinquish his undertak- or to fight his way through. He resolved to force a sage; and his friends and tenants stood gallantly by him. harp conflict took place. The militia lost an officer and or seven men; but at length the followers of Lovelace e overpowered; he was made a prisoner, and sent to ucester Castle.‡ crown. *Johnstone, Feb. 27, 1688; Citters of the same date. + London Gazette, Nov. 15, 1688; Luttrell's Diary. ANTONINE, COUNT OF LAUZUN. Ir was not very easy to find an Englishman of rank and honor who would undertake to place the heir apparent of the English crown in the hands of the king of France. In these circumstances, James bethought him of a French nobleman who then resided in London, Antonine, count of Lauzun. Of this man it has been said that his life was stranger than the dreams of other people. Early in life he had been the intimate associate of Louis, and had been encouraged to expect the highest employments under the French crown. Then his fortunes had undergone an eclipse. Louis had driven from him the friend of his youth with bitter reproaches, and had, it was said, scarcely refrained from adding blows. The fallen favorite had been sent prisoner to a fortress; but he had emerged from his confinement, had again enjoyed the smiles of his master, and had gained the heart of one of the greatest ladies in Europe, Anna Maria, daughter of Gaston, Duke of Orleans, granddaughter of King Henry the Fourth, and heiress of the immense domains of the house of Montpensier. The lovers were bent on marriage. The royal consent was obtained. During a few hours, Lauzun was regarded by the court as an adopted member of the house of Bourbon. The portion which the princess brought with her might well have been an object of competition to sovereigns: three great dukedoms, an independent principality, with its own mint and with its own tribunals, and an income greatly exceeding the whole revenue of the kingdom of Scotland. But this splendid prospect had been overcast. broken off. The aspiring suitor had been, during many years, shut up in an Alpine castle. At length Louis relented. Lauzun was forbidden to appear in the royal presence, but was allowed to enjoy liberty at a distance from the court. He visited England, and was well received at the palace of James and in the fashionable circles of London; for in that age the gentlemen of France were regarded throughout Europe as models of grace; and many chevaliers and viscounts, who had never been admitted to the interior circle at Versailles, found themselves objects of general curiosity and admiration at Whitehall. Lauzun was in every respect The match had been |