PAGE They hesitate; Patriotism of the Protestant Nonconformists Consultation of the London Clergy Consultation at Lambeth Palace; Petition of the Seven Bishops It is determined to prosecute the Bishops for a Libel They are examined by the Privy Council They are committed to the Tower Birth of the Pretender; He is generally believed to be suppo- He professes himself a Roman Catholic; Trial of the Bishops The Verdict; Joy of the People Peculiar State of Public Feeling at this time CHAPTER IX. PAGE Debate on the State of the Nation Resolution declaring the Throne vacant It is sent up to the Lords; Debate in the Lords on the Plan Schism between the Whigs and the Followers of Danby Meeting at the Earl of Devonshire's Debate in the Lords on the Question whether the Throne was vacant; Majority for the Negative; Agitation in London Letter of James to the Convention Debates; Negotiations; Letter of the Princess of Orange to The Coalition against France; The Devastation of the Pala- War declared against France The Military Power in the hands of the Roman Catholics Assistance furnished by Lewis to James Choice of a French Ambassador to accompany James. James lands at Kinsale; James enters Cork HISTORY OF ENGLAND. CHAPTER VII. THE place which William Henry, Prince of Orange Nassau, occupies in the history of England and of mankind is so great that it may be desirable to portray with some minuteness the strong lineaments of his character.* CHAP. 1687. William, Prince of He was now in his thirty-seventh year. But both in body Orange. and in mind he was older than other men of the same age. His apIndeed it might be said that he had never been young. His pearance. external appearance is almost as well known to us as to his own captains and counsellors. Sculptors, painters, and medallists exerted their utmost skill in the work of transmitting his features to posterity; and his features were such as no artist could fail to seize, and such as, once seen, could never be forgotten. His name at once calls up before us a slender and feeble frame, a lofty and ample forehead, a nose curved like the beak of an eagle, an eye rivalling that of an eagle in brightness and keenness, a thoughtful and somewhat sullen brow, a firm and somewhat peevish mouth, a cheek pale, thin, and deeply furrowed by sickness and by care. That pensive, severe, and solemn aspect could scarcely have belonged to a happy or a goodhumoured man. But it indicates in a manner not to be mistaken capacity equal to the most arduous enterprises, and fortitude not to be shaken by reverses or dangers. Nature had largely endowed William with the qualities of The chief materials from which I have taken my description of the Prince of Orange will be found in Burnet's History, in Temple's and Gourville's Memoirs, in the Negotiations of the Counts of Estrades and Avaux, in Sir George Downing's Letters to Lord Chancellor VOL. II. B Clarendon, in Wagenaar's voluminous |