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While Burnet was William's secretary for English affairs in Holland, Dykvelt had been not less usefully employed in London. Dykvelt was one of a remarkable class of public men, who, having been bred to politics in the noble school of John De Witt, had, after the fall of that great minister, thought that they should best discharge their duty to the Commonwealth by rallying round the Prince of Orange. Of the diplomatists in the service of the United Provinces none was, in dexterity, temper, and manners, superior to Dykvelt. In knowledge of English affairs none seems to have been his equal. A pretense was found for dispatching him, early in the year 1687, to England, on a special mission, with credentials. from the States-General. But, in truth, his embassy was not to the government, but to the Opposition; and his conduct was guided by private instructions which had been drawn by Burnet, and approved by William.*

Dykvelt reported that James was bitterly mortified by the conduct of the prince and princess. "My nephew's duty," said the king, "is to strengthen my hands; but he has always taken a pleasure in crossing me." Dykvelt answered that in matters of private concern his highness had shown, and was ready to show, the greatest deference to the king's wishes; but that it was scarcely reasonable to expect the aid of a Protestant prince against the Protestant religion. The king was silenced, but not appeased. He saw, with ill humor which he could faire conduire surement ce scélérat en Angleterre.” field (Burnet) is certainly true," says Johnstone. here, and some concerned do not deny it. His friends say they hear he takes no care of himself, but out of vanity, to show his courage, shows his folly; so that, if ill happen on it, all people will laugh at it. Pray tell him so much from Jones (Johnstone). If some could be catched making their coup d'essai on him, it will do much to frighten them from making any attempt on Ogle (the Prince)."

"The business of Bam"No man doubts of it

* Burnet, i., 708; Avaux Neg., Jan., Feb. 1687; Van Kamper, Karakterkunde der Vaderlandsche Geschiedenis.

+ Burnet, i., 711. Dykvelt's dispatches to the States-General contain, as far as I have seen or can learn, not a word about the real object of his mission. His correspondence with the Prince of Orange was strictly private.

not disguise, that Dykvelt was mustering and drilling all the various divisions of the Opposition with a skill which would have been creditable to the ablest English statesman, and which was marvelous in a foreigner. The clergy were told that they would find the prince a friend to episcopacy and to the Book of Common Prayer. The Nonconformists were encouraged to expect from him, not only toleration, but also comprehension. Even the Roman Catholics were conciliated; and some of the most respectable among them declared, even to the king's face, that they were satisfied with what Dykvelt proposed, and that they would rather have a toleration secured by statute, than an illegal and precarious ascendency.* The chiefs of all the great sections of the nation had frequent conferences in the presence of the dexterous envoy. At these meetings the sense of the Tory party was chiefly spoken by the Earls of Danby and Nottingham. Though more than eight years had elapsed since Danby had fallen from power, his name was still great among the old Cavaliers of England, and many even of those who had formerly persecuted him were now disposed to admit that he had suffered for faults not his own, and that his zeal for the prerogative, though it had often misled him, had been tempered by two feelings which did him honor, zeal for the established religion, and zeal for the dignity and independence of his country. He was also highly esteemed at the Hague, where it was never forgotten that he was the person who, in spite of the influence of France and of the papists, had induced Charles to bestow the hand of the Lady Mary on her cousin.

Daniel Finch, earl of Nottingham, a nobleman whose name will frequently recur in the history of three eventful reigns, sprang from a family of unrivaled forensic eminence. His great uncle had borne the seal of Charles the First, had prostituted eminent parts and learning to evil purposes, and had been pursued by the vengeance of the Commons of England with Falkland at their head. Bonrepaux, Sept. 1, 1687.

A more honorable renown had in the succeeding generation been obtained by Heneage Finch. He had, immediately after the Restoration, been appointed solicitor general. He had subsequently risen to be attorney general, lord keeper, lord chancellor, Baron Finch, and Earl of Nottingham. Through this prosperous career he had always held the prerogative as high as he honestly or decently could, but he had never been concerned in any machinations against the fundamental laws of the realm. In the midst of a corrupt court he had kept his personal integrity unsullied. He had enjoyed high fame as an orator, though his diction, formed on models anterior to the civil wars, was, toward the close of his life, pronounced stiff and pedantic by the wits of the rising generation. In Westminster Hall he is still mentioned with respect as the man who first educed out of the chaos anciently called by the name of equity a new system of jurisprudence, as regular and complete as that which is administered by the judges of the common law.* A considerable part of the moral and intellectual character of this great magistrate had descended with the title of Nottingham to his eldest son. This son, Earl Daniel, was an honorable and virtuous man. Though enslaved by some absurd prejudices, and though liable to strange fits of caprice, he can not be accused of having deviated from the path of right in search either of unlawful gain or of unlawful pleasure. Like his father, he was a distinguished speaker, impressive, but prolix, and too monotonously solemn. The person of the orator was in perfect harmony with his oratory. His attitude was rigidly erect, his complexion so dark that he might have passed for a native of a warmer climate than ours, and his harsh features were composed to an expression resembling that of a chief mourner at a funeral. It was commonly said that he looked rather like a Spanish grandee than like an English gentleman. The nicknames of Dismal, Don Dismallo, and Don Diego, were fastened on him by jesters, and are not yet forgotten. He

* See Lord Campbell's Life of him.

had paid much attention to the science by which his family had been raised to greatness, and was, for a man born to rank and wealth, wonderfully well read in the laws of his country. He was a devoted son of the Church, and showed his respect for her in two ways not usual among those lords who in his time boasted that they were her especial friends, by writing tracts in defense of her dogmas, and by shaping his private life according to her precepts. Like other zealous Churchmen, he had, till recently, been a strenuous supporter of monarchical authority; but to the policy which had been pursued since the suppression of the western insurrection he was bitterly hostile, and not the less so because his younger brother Heneage had been turned out of the office of solicitor general for refusing to defend the king's dispensing power.*

With these two great Tory earls was now united Halifax, the accomplished chief of the Trimmers. Over the mind of Nottingham, indeed, Halifax appears to have had, at this time, a great ascendency. Between Halifax and Danby there was an enmity which began in the court of Charles, and which, at a later period, disturbed the court of William, but which, like many other enmities, remained suspended during the tyranny of James. The foes frequently met in the councils held by Dykvelt, and agreed in expressing dislike of the measures of the government and reverence for the Prince of Orange. The different characters of the two statesmen appeared strongly in their dealings with the Dutch envoy. Halifax showed an admirable talent for disquisition, but shrank from coming to any bold and irrevocable decision. Danby, far less acute and eloquent, displayed more energy, resolution, and practical sagacity.

Several eminent Whigs were in constant communication with Dykvelt, but the heads of the great houses of Cavendish and Russell could not take quite so active and

* Johnstone's Correspondence; Mackay's Memoirs; Arbuthnot's John Bull; Swift's writings from 1710 to 1714, passim; Whiston's Letter to the Earl of Nottingham, and the Earl's answer.

prominent a part as might have been expected from their station and their opinions. The fame and fortunes of Devonshire were at that moment under a cloud. He had an unfortunate quarrel with the court, arising, not from a public and honorable cause, but from a private brawl, in which even his warmest friends could not pronounce him altogether blameless. He had gone to Whitehall to pay his duty, and had there been insulted by a man named Colepepper, one of a set of bravoes who infested the purlieus of the court, and who attempted to curry favor with the government by affronting members of the Opposition. The king himself expressed great indignation at the unseemly manner in which one of his most distinguished peers had been treated under the royal roof, and Devonshire was pacified by an intimation that the offender should never again be admitted into the palace. The interdict, however, was soon taken off. The earl's resentment revived. His servants took up his cause. Hostilities such as seemed to belong to a ruder age disturbed the streets of Westminster. The time of the Privy Council was occupied by the criminations and recriminations of the adverse parties. Colepepper's wife declared that she and her husband went in danger of their lives, and that their house had been assaulted by ruffians in the Cavendish livery. Devonshire replied that he had been fired at from Colepepper's windows. This was vehemently denied. A pistol, it was owned, loaded with gunpowder, had been discharged; but this had been done in a moment of terror, merely for the purpose of alarming the guards. While this feud was at the height, the earl met Colepepper in the drawing-room at Whitehall, and fancied that he saw triumph and defiance in the bully's countenance. Nothing unseemly passed in the royal sight; but, as soon as the enemies had left the presence chamber, Devonshire proposed that they should instantly decide their disputes with their swords. This challenge was refused. Then the high-spirited peer forgot the respect which he owed to the place where he stood and to his own character, and struck

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