this passage. It concerns you." Preston then read the sentence in which the spiritual peers were mentioned. The king proceeded: "I do not believe one word of this: I am satisfied of your innocence; but I think it fit to let you know of what you are accused."

The primate, with many dutiful expressions, protested that the king did him no more than justice. "I was born in your majesty's allegiance. I have repeatedly confirmed that allegiance by my oath. I can have but one king at one time. I have not invited the prince over; and I do not believe that a single one of my brethren has done so." "I am sure I have not," said Crewe of Durham. "Nor I," said Cartwright of Chester. Crewe and Cartwright

might well be believed, for both had sat in the Ecclesiastical Commission. When Compton's turn came, he parried the question with an adroitness which a Jesuit might have envied. "I gave your majesty my answer yesterday."

James repeated again and again that he fully acquitted them all. Nevertheless, it would, in his judgment, be for his service and for their own honor that they should publicly vindicate themselves. He therefore required them to draw up a paper setting forth their abhorrence of the prince's design. They remained silent; their silence was supposed to imply consent; and they were suffered to withdraw.*

Meanwhile the fleet of William was on the German Ocean. It was on the evening of Thursday, the first of November, that he put to sea the second time. The wind blew fresh from the east. The armament, during twelve hours, held a course toward the northwest. The light vessels sent out by the English admiral for the purpose of obtaining intelligence brought back news which confirmed the prevailing opinion that the enemy would try to land in Yorkshire. All at once, on a signal from the prince's ship, the whole fleet tacked, and made sail for the British Channel. The same breeze which favored the voyage of the invaders prevented Dartmouth from coming out of the

* Tanner MSS.

Thames. His ships were forced to strike yards and topmasts; and two of his frigates, which had gained the open sea, were shattered by the violence of the weather and driven back into the river.*

The

Meanwhile the Dutch fleet ran fast before the gale, and reached the Straits at about ten in the morning of Saturday, the third of November. William himself, in the Brill, led the way. More than six hundred vessels, with canvas spread to a favorable wind, followed in his train. The transports were in the center. The men of war, more than fifty in number, formed an outer rampart. squadron which guarded the rear, and which, if Dartmouth had given chase, would have been the first to engage, was commanded by Herbert; and many English sailors, inflamed against popery, and attracted by high pay, were under Herbert's command. No arrangement could be more prudent. There was, in the king's fleet, much discontent and an ardent zeal for the Protestant faith. But within the memory of old mariners the Dutch and English navies had thrice, with heroic spirit and various fortune, contended for the empire of the sea. Our sailors had not forgotten the broom with which Van Tromp had threatened to sweep the Channel, or the fire which De Ruyter had lighted in the dock-yards of the Medway. Had the rival nations been once more brought face to face on the element of which both claimed the sovereignty, all other thoughts might have given place to mutual animosity. A bloody and obstinate battle might have been fought. Defeat would have been fatal to William's enterprise. Even victory would have deranged all his deeply-meditated schemes of policy. He therefore wisely determined that the pursuers, if they overtook him, should be hailed in their own mother tongue, and adjured, by an admiral under whom they had served and whom they esteemed, not to fight against old messmates for popish tyr

* Burnet, i., 787; Rapin; Whittie's Exact Diary; Expedition of the Prince of Orange to England, 1688; History of the Desertion, 1688; Dartmouth to James, Nov. 5, 1688, in Dalrymple.

anny.

Such an appeal might possibly avert a conflict. If a conflict took place, one English commander would be opposed to another; nor would the pride of the islanders be wounded by learning that Dartmouth had been compelled to strike to Herbert.*

Happily, William's precautions were not necessary. Soon after midday he passed over the Straits. His fleet spread to within a league of Dover on the north and of Calais on the south. The men of war on the extreme right and left saluted both fortresses at once. The troops appeared under arms on the decks. The flourish of trumpets, the clash of cymbals, and the rolling of drums were distinctly heard at once on the English and French shores. An innumerable company of gazers blackened the white beach of Kent. Another mighty multitude covered the coast of Picardy. Rapin de Thoyras, who, driven by persecution from his country, had taken service in the Dutch army and accompanied the prince to England, described the spectacle, many years later, as the most magnificent and affecting that was ever seen by human eyes. At sunset the armament was off Beachy Head. Then the lights were kindled. The sea was in a blaze for many miles. But the eyes of all the steersmen were fixed throughout the night on three huge lanterns which flamed on the stern of the Brill.†

Meanwhile a courier had been riding post from Dover Castle to Whitehall with news that the Dutch had passed the Straits and were steering westward. It was necessary to make an immediate change in all the military arrangements. Messengers were dispatched in every direction. Officers were roused from their beds at dead of

Avaux, July 12, Aug. 4, 1688. In a letter to Bentinck, dated Sept. 18, 1688, William insists strongly on the importance of avoiding an action, and begs Bentinck to represent this to Herbert. "Ce n'est pas le tems de faire voir sa bravoure, ni de se battre si l'on le peut éviter. Je luy l'ai déjà dit: mais il sera nécessaire que vous le répétiez, et que vous le luy fassiez bien comprendre."

Rapin's History; Whittie's Exact Diary. I have seen a cotemporary Dutch chart of the order in which the fleet sailed.

night. At three on the Sunday morning there was a great muster by torchlight in Hyde Park. The king had sent several regiments northward in the expectation that William would land in Yorkshire. Expresses were dispatched to recall them. All the forces except those which were necessary to keep the peace of the capital were ordered to move to the west. Salisbury was appointed as the place of rendezvous; but, as it was thought possible that Portsmouth might be the first point of attack, three battalions of guards and a strong body of cavalry set out for that fortress. In a few hours it was known that Portsmouth was safe; and these troops received orders to change their route and to hasten to Salisbury.*

When Sunday, the fourth of November, dawned, the cliffs of the Isle of Wight were in full view of the Dutch armament. That day was the anniversary both of William's birth and of his marriage. Sail was slackened during part of the morning, and Divine service was performed on board of the ships. In the afternoon and through the night the fleet held on its course. Torbay was the place where the prince intended to land. But the morning of Monday, the fifth of November, was hazy. The pilot of the Brill could not discern the sea-marks, and carried the fleet too far to the west. The danger was great. To return in the face of the wind was impossible. Plymouth was the next port; but at Plymouth a garrison had been posted under the command of Lord Bath. The landing might be opposed; and a check might produce serious consequences. There could be little doubt, moreover, that by this time the royal fleet had got out of the Thames, and was hastening full sail down the Channel. Russell saw the whole extent of the peril, and exclaimed to Burnet, "You may go to prayers, doctor: all is over." At that moment the wind changed; a soft breeze sprang up from the south; the mist dispersed; the sun shone forth; and under the mild light of an autumnal

* Adda, Nov., 1688; News-letter in the Mackintosh Collection; Citters, Nov.

noon, the fleet turned back, passed round the lofty cape of Berry Head, and rode safe in the harbor of Torbay.*

Since William looked on that harbor its aspect has greatly changed. The amphitheater which surrounds the spacious basin now exhibits every where the signs of prosperity and civilization. At the northwestern extremity has sprung up a great watering-place, to which strangers are attracted from the most remote parts of our island by the Italian softness of the air; for in that climate the myrtle flourishes unsheltered; and even the winter is milder than the Northumbrian April. The inhabitants are about ten thousand in number. The newly-built churches and chapels, the baths and libraries, the hotels and public gardens, the infirmary and the museum, the white streets, rising terrace above terrace, the gay villas peeping from the midst of shrubberies and flower-beds, present a spectacle widely different from any that in the seventeenth century England could show. At the oppo

site end of the bay lies, sheltered by Berry Head, the stirring market-town of Brixham, the wealthiest seat of our fishing trade. A pier and a haven were formed there at the beginning of the present century, but have been found insufficient for the increasing traffic. The population is about six thousand souls. The shipping amounts to more than two hundred sail. The tonnage exceeds many times the tonnage of the port of Liverpool under the kings of the house of Stuart. But Torbay, when the Dutch fleet cast anchor there, was known only as a haven where ships sometimes took refuge from the tempests of the Atlantic. Its quiet shores were undisturbed by the bustle either of commerce or of pleasure, and the huts of plowmen and fishermen were thinly scattered over what is now the site of crowded marts and of luxurious pavilions.

The peasantry of the coast of Devonshire remembered the name of Monmouth with affection, and held popery in detestation. They therefore crowded down to the seaside

Burnet, i., 788; Extracts from the Legge Papers in the Mackintosh Collection.