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Charles II. was not without sentiments of humanity. In the great fire of London, the people at first seemed to lose their senses in the greatness of the calamity. The king was the first to regain his recollection. He himself attended late and early to encourage and reward the workmen, and showed great presence of mind and activity.

Charles possessed talents, but made no good use of them. There was a lively epigram made on him by one of the wits of his court :

Here lies our sovereign lord the king,
Whose word no man relies on;
Who never said a foolish thing,
And never did a wise one.

This was shown to Charles, and he said, in his pleasant way, that it was very true; for his words were his own, but his actions were his ministers'.

CHAP. XXXIII.

JAMES II.

[Years after Christ, 1685-1688.]

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James was in the fifty-third year of his age when he succeeded to the throne of England. He had not his brother's talent and brilliancy, but he was a man of much severence and steady application to business. He had been by his mother brought up a Papist, and had acquired from his religion a harshness and bigotry which does not appear to have belonged naturally to his character. He meant to act rightly, and to be, according to his own ideas, a good king. But he mistook, or to speak more properly, he did not regard the feelings, opinion, or character of the people he had to govern.

Was Charles II. naturally humane?
What epigram was made upon Charles?
What was the character of James II.?

As he had been very young when the civil war broke out, he received no regular education. When James was about fourteen years of age, he was secretly removed from the charge of the parliament, and conveyed by one of the royalists into Holland and afterwards to Brussels.

James was always glad to be with his brother, but to wards the end of the year 1659, Charles was reduced to the utmost distress; and James was on the point of accepting an offer made to him by the king of Spain to take the command of the Spanish fleet, when his brother's restoration placed him at the head of the English navy; a situation that suited him well, for he was a man of great personal courage, and naturally inclined to an enterprising and active life.

James, as soon as he came to the throne, professed an intention to maintain the laws of the country both in church and state; and this declaration served greatly to tranquillize the minds of the populace, who were well disposed to rely on it, because James, notwithstanding his known bigotry, had hitherto preserved a high character for sincerity. Yet he soon after despatched a Catholic priest to Rome to negotiate a re-union with the papal see. The pope, Innocent XI., had more prudence than the king, and advised him to attempt nothing rashly.

The duke of Monmouth had found it necessary to leave England during the ferment of the real or pretended plots in the late king's time; but now, encouraged by the dread the people had of popery, and relying on his own popularity, he returned and landed at Lyme, in Dorsetshire, June 11, 1685, with only a hundred followers. He pretended that his mother had been privately married to Charles, and that he was the legitimate heir to the crown.

Monmouth soon assembled 6000 men, and was prevented only by want of arms, from raising a much greater number. Had he marched immediately to London, he might,

What was James's education?

Who placed the duke of York at the head of the English navy?
Did James favor the Catholic religion?

Upon what pretence did the duke of Monmouth claim the crown of England?

Was Monmouth successful?

perhaps, have had some chance of succeeding; but, instead of doing so, he wasted his time by staying to be proclaimed in the different towns he passed through. On July 5, he encountered the king's army at Sedgemoor, near Bridgewater, and was totally defeated.

Monmouth himself fled from the field of battle without stopping, till his horse dropped from fatigue. He then changed clothes with a peasant, and endeavored to conceal himself in the most sequestered places. At last he was found lying down in a wet ditch, hiding himself under the fern leaves that grew on the bank. Monmouth was taken to London, and besought an interview with the king, that he might try to move him to pity the favorite son of a brother whom he had tenderly loved.

But Monmouth's crime was too dangerous to be forgiven; and he either had had no abettors, or was too honorable to betray them. He was beheaded in the 36th year of his age. Though this execution was seen by crowds of people, they could not bring themselves to believe that their favorite was actually dead. They fondly imagined that some other person had, from friendship, suffered in his stead, and that they should see him emerge from some concealment.

The punishment of those who had taken part in Mon. mouth's rebellion was very severe; and the cruelties perpetrated in the king's name by judge Jeffereys and colonel Kirk, in the west of England, have left a stain on their memories, and on that of James II., that can never be wiped away. In the same year, 1685, the duke of Argyle was executed in Scotland for heading a rebellion in that coun try.

James, having now, as he supposed, suppressed the dis contents of the people, thought that he had sufficiently cleared the way for the restoration of popery. Being led on by the vehemence of the queen, and the rash counsels of his confessor, father Peters, he introduced Papists into the army and navy, suspended the bishop of London, and

Did Monmonth receive pardon?

Did the witnesses of Monmouth's execution doubt that he was liv

ing?

Were Monmouth's adherents punished?

Did James attempt the restoration of popery?

issued a declaration of indulgence to the Roman Catholics, and even to the other dissenters. He also committed many other acts oppressive to the Protestants, and unwisely favorable to the Papists.

The measures now taken in favor of the Catholics induced the primate and six of the bishops to present a remonstrance. For this presumption they were committed to the Tower; but on being brought to trial they were acquitted, to the great satisfaction of the people at large, though to the bitter mortification of the king.

One great check on the king's ardent zeal for the restoration of popery, was the knowledge that should his eldest daughter, the wife of the prince of Orange, succeed him on the throne, the whole work would be undone, both the princess and her husband being Protestants, and the prince being universally looked up to as the great support of the reformed religion in Europe. James, therefore, ardently desired a son: and when, on June 10, 1688, a son was born to him, he thought every thing would prosper to his wishes.

That event, however, in fact, hastened James's expulsion from the throne. For the people, who had been cheered by the hope of a Protestant sovereign after James's death, now seeing themselves cut off, according to the ordinary course of events, from any further indulgence of that hope, became anxious for the king's dethronement; and many persons of rank and consideration entered into secret negotiations with the prince of Orange.

Meanwhile James's conduct seemed nothing but a course of blind infatuation. He looked but at one object, the restoration of popery, and saw neither the rising discontents of the people, nor the increased intercourse which was held with the prince of Orange. At last his minister at the Hague sent to warn him that he might soon expect an invasion from Holland.

On receiving this information James was completely

Did the English clergy take alarm at these proceedings?

For what did James desire a son ?

What was the effect of the birth of a prince of Wales?

Was James blind to the consequences of his own actions?

Was James alarmed at the determination of the prince of Orange?

stunned; the letter fell from his hands, and it was some time before he recovered the power of thinking and acting. When at last he roused himself from this state of consternation and surprise, the only means that occurred to him of averting the coming storm, was to retract some of his late obnoxious measures. But these concessions gained him no credit, and were attributed rather to fear than repentance.

At this time a declaration from the prince

A. D. 1688. of Orange, assuring the people of Eng

land that he was coming over to redress their grievances, was gladly received throughout the kingdom. On October 31, he sailed from Helvoetsluys with a numerous army and fleet, and landed in Torbay November 5.

The disastrous issue of Monmouth's invasion was still so fresh in the memories of the inhabitants of the west of England, that at first they dared not join the prince of Orange. In a few days, however, the gentry of Devonshire and Somersetshire flocked to his standard. All England was presently in commotion, and the people combined almost universally against their misjudging and ill-advised monarch.

James's dismay and perplexity were at this time very great. The Jesuits who were about him were unable to give him any assistance, and only advised him to abandon the country. The same advice was also strongly urged by the queen and thus, overruled by the fears and clamor of those around him, he forbore to make even a single effort to preserve his throne.

He sent the queen and her infant son secretly away, and on December 12th, he himself left London in the middle of the night, attended only by sir Edward Hales. His intention was to get on board a ship at Sheerness, and to escape to France.

When it was known that the king was gone, and had left no one in charge of the administration, the mob of London rose, and seemed to consider themselves as masters,

When did the prince of Orange sail for England?

Were the English rejoiced at the coming of the prince of Orange?
How did James meet the prince, &c. ?

How did the king and his family escape?

What was the first effect of the abdication?

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