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the finest ballad writer in any language."* Sir James Mackintosh, like most Scotchmen, had an imperfect education in Greek. He must, however, have known enough of Greek and of Homer, as well as of epic poetry and of ballads, to avoid an absurdity so outrageous. The reported conversations, on the whole, would grievously let down Sir James Mackintosh. They are not those of a man whose success was unquestionable in the most fastidious and intellectual society of the British capital.

But what are these fugitive successes of society and conversation to the sacrifices of time and thought which he must have made to them? It was a melancholy weakness to have frittered away those precious hours which might be devoted in solitude to the proper labours of a man of letters, who was capable of leaving imperishable monuments of his capacity behind him. If any thing could compensate this abuse of his faculties, it is the impression, far beyond the circles in which he moved, of his engaging social character, joined with his eminent talents, and many virtues.

Sir James Mackintosh died at his house in London, on the 30th of May, and was buried in the parish church of Hampstead, on the 4th of June, 1832.

* The person who thus chose to make Homer a ballad writer had, doubtless, heard something of the foolish paradox that the several books of the Homeric poems were unconnected rhapsodies, recited through the cities of Greece.

HISTORY

OF

THE REVOLUTION

IN 1688.

CHAPTER I.

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General State of Affairs at Home.-Abroad.-Characters of the Ministry.-Sunderland. Rochester.Halifax. - Godolphin. - Jeffrey. Feversham, His Conduct after the Victory of Sedgemoor.-Kirke.-Judicial Proceedings in the West. Trials of Mrs. Lisle.-Behaviour of the King.-Trial of Mrs. Gaunt and others,-Case of Hampden.-Prideaux.-Lord Brandon.-Delamere.

THOUGH a struggle with calamity strengthens and elevates the mind, the necessity of passive submission to long adversity is rather likely to weaken and subdue it: great misfortunes disturb the understanding perhaps as much as great success; and extraordinary vicissitudes often produce the opposite vices of rashness and fearfulness by inspiring a disposition to trust too much to fortune, and to yield to it too soon. Few men experienced more sudden changes of fortune than James II.; but it was unfortunate for his character that he never owed his prosperity, and not always his adversity, to himself. The affairs of his family seemed to be at the lowest ebb a few months before triumphant restoration. Four years before the death of his brother, it appeared probable that he would be excluded from the succession to the crown; and his friends seemed to have no other means of averting that doom, than by proposing such limitations of the royal prerogative as would have reduced the government to a merely nominal monarchy,

But the dissolutions by which Charles had safely and successfully punished the independence of his last parliament, the destruction of some of his most formidable opponents, and the general discouragement of their adherents, paved the way for his peaceable, and even popular, succession; the defeat of the revolts of Monmouth and Argyle appeared to have fixed his throne on immoveable foundations; and he was then placed in circumstances 'more favourable than those of any of his predecessors to the extension of his power, or, if such had been his purpose, to the undisturbed exercise of his constitutional authority. The friends of liberty, dispirited by events which all, in a greater or less degree, brought discredit upon their cause, were confounded with unsuccessful conspirators and defeated rebels: they seemed to be at the mercy of a prince, who, with reason, considered them as the irreconcilable enemies of his designs. The zealous partisans of monarchy believed themselves on the eve of reaping the fruits of a contest of fifty years' duration, under a monarch of mature experience, of tried personal courage, who possessed a knowledge of men, and a capacity as well as an inclination for business; whose constancy, intrepidity, and sternness were likely to establish their political principles; and from whose prudence, as well as gratitude and good faith, they were willing to hope that he would not disturb the security of their religion. The turbulence of the preceding times had more than usually disposed men of pacific temper to support an established government. The multitude, pleased with a new reign, generally disposed to admire vigour and to look with complacency on success, showed many symptoms of that propensity which is natural to them, or rather to mankind,-to carry their applauses to the side of fortune, and to imbibe the warmest passions of a victorious party. The strength of the Tories in a parliament assembled in such a temper of the nation, was aided by a numerous reinforcement of members of low condition and subservient character, whom the forfeiture of the charters of towns enabled the court to pour into the House of Commons. In Scotland the prevalent party had ruled with such barbarity, that the absolute power of the king seemed to be their only shield against

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"Clerks and gentlemen's servants." Evelyn, i. 558. The Earl of Bath carried fifteen of the new charters with him into Cornwall, from which he was called the Prince" Elector. " "There are not 135 in this House who sat in the last," 562. By the lists in the Parliamentary History they appear to be only 128.

the resentment of their countrymen. The Irish nation, devotedly attached to a sovereign of their own oppressed religion, offered inexhaustible means of forming a brave and enthusiastic army, ready to quell revolts in every part of his dominions.

His revenue was ampler than that of any former king of England; a disciplined army of about twenty thousand men was, for the first time, established during peace in this island, and a formidable fleet was a more than ordinarily powerful weapon in the hands of a prince whose skill and valour in maritime war had endeared him to the seamen, and recommended him to the people.

The condition of foreign affairs was equally favourable to the king. Louis XIV. had, at that moment, reached the zenith of his greatness; his army was larger and better than any which had been known in Europe since the vigorous age of the Roman empire; his marine enabled him soon after to cope with the combined forces of the two maritime powers; he had enlarged his dominions, strengthened his frontiers, and daily meditated new conquests: men of genius applauded his munificence, and even some men of virtue contributed to the glory of his reign. This potent monarch was bound to James by closer ties than those of treaty, by kindred, by religion, by similar principles of government, by the importance of each to the success of the designs of the other; and he was ready to supply the pecuniary aid required by the English monarch, on condition that James should not subject himself to the control of his parliament; but should acquiesce in the schemes of France against her neighbours. On the other hand, the feeble government of Spain was no longer able to defend her unwieldy empire; while the German branch of the Austrian family had, by their intolerance, driven Hungary into revolt, and thus opened the way for the Ottoman armies twice to besiege Vienna. Venice, the last of the Italian states which retained a national character, took no longer any part in the contests of Europe, content with the feeble lustre which conquests from Turkey shed over the evening of her greatness. The kingdoms of the north were confined within their own subordinate system; Russia was not numbered among civilised nations; the Germanic states were still divided between their fears from the ambition of France, and their attachment to her for having preserved them from the yoke of Austria. Though a powerful party in Holland were still attached to France, there remained, on the Continent, no security against the ambition of

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