for discussing the king's answer, and expressed his confidence that the discussion would be conducted with the respect due from subjects to the sovereign. The members were so much cowed by the royal displeasure, and so much incensed by the rudeness of Coke, that it would not have been safe to divide.*

But many

The House adjourned, and the ministers flattered themselves that the spirit of opposition was quelled. But on the morrow, the nineteenth of November, new and alarming symptoms appeared. The time had arrived for taking into consideration the petitions which had been presented from all parts of England against the late elections. When, on the first meeting of the Parliament, Seymour had complained of the force and fraud by which the government had prevented the sense of constituent bodies from being fairly taken, he had found no seconder. who had then flinched from his side had subsequently taken heart, and, with Sir John Lowther, member for Cumberland, at their head, had, before the recess, suggested that there ought to be an inquiry into the abuses which had so much excited the public mind. The House was now in a much more angry temper, and many voices were boldly raised in menace and accusation. The ministers were told that the nation expected, and should have, signal redress. Meanwhile, it was dexterously intimated that the best atonement which a gentleman who had been brought into the House by irregular means could make to the public was to use his ill-acquired power in defense of the religion and liberties of his country. No member who, in that crisis, did his duty, had any thing to fear. It might be necessary to unseat him, but the whole influence of the Opposition should be employed to procure his re-election.†

Commons' Journals, Nov. 18, 1685; Harl. MS., 7187; Lans. MS., 253; Burnet, i., 667.

+ Lonsdale's Memoirs. Burnet tells us (i., 667) that a sharp debate about elections took place in the House of Commons after Coke's committal. It must therefore have been on the 19th of November, for Coke was committed

On the same day it became clear that the spirit of opposition had spread from the Commons to the Lords, and even to the episcopal bench. William Cavendish, earl of Devonshire, took the lead in the Upper House; and he was well qualified to do so. In wealth and influence he was second to none of the English nobles, and the general voice designated him as the finest gentleman of his time. His magnificence, his taste, his talents, his classical learning, his high spirit, the grace and urbanity of his manners, were admitted by his enemies. His eulogists, unhappily, could not pretend that his morals had escaped untainted from the wide-spread contagion of that age. Though an enemy of popery and of arbitrary power, he had been averse to extreme courses; had been willing, when the Exclusion Bill was lost, to agree to a compromise; and had never been concerned in the illegal and imprudent schemes which had brought discredit on the Whig party; but, though regretting part of the conduct of his friends, he had not, on that account, failed to perform zealously the most arduous and perilous duties of friendship. He had stood near Russell at the bar, had parted from him on the sad morning of the execution with close embraces and with many bitter tears, nay, had offered to manage an escape at the hazard of his own life.* This great nobleman now proposed that a day should be fixed for considering the royal speech. It was contended, on the other side, that the Lords, by voting thanks for the speech, had precluded themselves from complaining of it; but this objection was treated with contempt by Halifax. "Such thanks," he said, with the sarcastic pleasantry in which he excelled, "imply no approbation. We are thankful whenever our gracious sovereign deigns to speak to us. Especially thankful are we when, as on the

late on the 18th, and the Parliament was prorogued on the 20th. Burnet's narrative is confirmed by the Journals, from which it appears that several elections were under discussion on the 19th.

* Burnet, i., 560; Funeral Sermon of the Duke of Devonshire, preached by Kennet, 1708; Travels of Cosmo III. in England.

present occasion, he speaks out, and gives us fair warning of what we are to suffer."* Doctor Henry Compton, bishop of London, spoke strongly for the motion. Though not gifted with eminent abilities, nor deeply versed in the learning of his profession, he was always heard by the House with respect, for he was one of the few clergymen who could, in that age, boast of noble blood. His own loyalty, and the loyalty of his family, had been signally proved. His father, the second Earl of Northampton, had fought bravely for King Charles the First, and, surrounded by the parliamentary soldiers, had fallen, sword in hand, refusing to give or take quarter. The bishop himself, before he was ordained, had borne arms in the Life Guards; and, though he generally did his best to preserve the gravity and sobriety befitting a prelate, some flashes of his military spirit would, to the last, occasionally break forth. He had been intrusted with the religious education of the two princesses, and had acquitted himself of that important duty in a manner which had satisfied all good Protestants, and had secured to him considerable influence over the minds of his pupils, especially of the Lady Anne.† He now declared that he was empowered to speak the sense of his brethren, and that, in their opinion and in his own, the whole civil and ecclesiastical constitution of the realm was in danger.

One of the most remarkable speeches of that day was made by a young man, whose eccentric career was destined to amaze Europe. This was Charles Mordaunt, Viscount Mordaunt, widely renowned, many years later, as Earl of Peterborough. Already he had given abundant proofs of his courage, of his capacity, and of that strange unsoundness of mind which made his courage and capacity almost useless to his country. Already he had distinguished himself as a wit and a scholar, as a soldier and a sailor. He had even set his heart on rivaling Bourdaloue

* Bramston's Memoirs. Burnet is incorrect both as to the time when this remark was made and as to the person who made it.

Wood, Ath. Ox.; Gooch's Funeral Sermon on Bishop Compton.

and Bossuet. Though an avowed free-thinker, he had sat up all night at sea to compose sermons, and had with difficulty been prevented from edifying the crew of a manof-war with his pious oratory. He now addressed the House of Peers, for the first time, with characteristic eloquence, sprightliness, and audacity. He blamed the Commons for not having taken a bolder line. "They have been afraid," he said, "to speak out. They have talked of apprehensions and jealousies. What have apprehension and jealousy to do here? Apprehension and jealousy are the feelings with which we regard future and uncertain evils. The evil which we are considering is neither future nor uncertain. A standing army exists. It is officered by papists. We have no foreign enemy. There is no rebellion in the land. For what, then, is this force maintained, except for the purpose of subverting our laws, and establishing that arbitrary power which is so justly abhorred by Englishmen ?"†

Jeffreys spoke against the motion in the coarse and sav age style of which he was a master; but he soon found that it was not quite so easy to browbeat the proud and powerful barons of England in their own hall, as to intimidate barristers whose bread depended on his favor, or prisoners whose necks were at his mercy. A man whose life has been passed in attacking and domineering, whatever may be his talents and courage, generally makes a mean figure when he is vigorously assailed; for, being unaccustomed to stand on the defensive, he becomes confused;

Teonge's Diary.

+ Barillon has given the best account of this debate. I will extract his report of Mordaunt's speech. "Milord Mordaunt, quoique jeune, parla avec éloquence et force. Il dit que la question n'étoit pas réduite, comme la Chambre des Communes le prétendoit, à guérir des jalousies et défiances, qui avoient lieu dans les choses incertaines; mais que ce qui se passoit ne l'étoit pas, qu'il y avoit une armée sur pied qui subsistoit, et qui étoit remplie d'officiers Catholiques, qui ne pouvoit être conservée que pour le renversement des loix, et que la subsistance de l'armée, quand il n'y a aucune guerre ni au dedans ni au dehors, étoit l'établissement du gouvernment arbitraire, pour lequel les Anglois ont une aversion si bien fondée."

and the knowledge that all those whom he has insulted are enjoying his confusion, confuses him still more. Jeffreys was now, for the first time since he had become a great man, encountered on equal terms by adversaries who did not fear him. To the general delight, he passed at once from the extreme of insolence to the extreme of meanness, and could not refrain from weeping with rage and vexation.* Nothing, indeed, was wanting to his humiliation; for the House was crowded by about a hundred peers, a larger number than had voted even on the great day of the Exclusion Bill. The king, too, was present. His brother had been in the habit of attending the sittings of the Lords for amusement, and used often to say that a debate was as entertaining as a comedy. James came, not to be diverted, but in the hope that his presence might impose some restraint on the discussion. He was disappointed. The sense of the House was so strongly manifested, that, after a closing speech of great keenness from Halifax, the courtiers did not venture to divide. An early day was fixed for taking the royal speech into consideration; and it was ordered that every peer who was not at a distance from Westminster should be in his place.†

On the following morning the king came down, in his robes, to the House of Lords. The usher of the black rod summoned the Commons to the bar; and the chancellor announced that the Parliament was prorogued to

*He was very easily moved to tears. "He could not," says the author of the Panegyric," refrain from weeping on bold affronts." And again: "They talk of his hectoring and proud carriage; what could be more humble than for a man in his great post to cry and sob?" In the answer to the Panegyric, it is said that "his having no command of his tears spoiled him for a hypocrite."

20

; Dutch Dispatch, Nov.

The closing speech of Hali

16

38; Luttrell's Diary, Nov. 19; Burnet, i., 665. fax is mentioned by the nuncio in his dispatch of Nov. 18. Adda, about a month later, bears strong testimony to Halifax's powers.

"Da questo uomo che ha gran credito nel Parlamento, e grande eloquenza, non si possono attendere che fiere contradizioni, e nel partito Regio non vi è un uomo da contrapporsi."-Dec. 1