exclamations of "this is the ftandard of rebellion." He was prompted by his fears to adopt the advice of the Bishops in feveral particulars, and thanked them for it but as to the meeting of Parliament, which was the turning point of his fafety, he ftoutly refolved against it. Ken remained in London for fome days after this, and joined the other Bishops in feveral interviews with the King. On the 7th of October, Sancroft oa. 7. received the following fummons :— "My Lord, "Whitehall, 7th October, 1688. "The King commands me to acquaint your Grace, that he defires you and the reft of the Bishops who have been lately with him, to attend him to-morrow, at four in the afternoon. "I am, my Lord, "Your Grace's moft faithfull, &c. "Lord Archbishop of Canterbury." "SUNDERLAND.* The Diary of the Earl of Clarendon affords precise information of what passed at that and other interviews: "Oct. 8, 1688. Monday.-In the afternoon the Bishops were with the King, having been sent for: his Majesty spoke to them about a fast to be appointed, and of preparing some prayers to be used in this time of danger of an invasion; which he directed them to bring to him. His Majefty then told them, he had confidered their paper; at which he seemed displeased. "Oct. 9. Tuesday.-The Bishops of Ely, and Bath and Wells were with me. "Oct. 10. Wednesday. In the afternoon the Bishops were with the King, and gave him the Collects they had prepared according to his commands; which he bid them leave with *Tanner MSS., xxviii. fol. 190. Oct. 11. him, and attend him again to-morrow in the afternoon. In the evening I was with the Princess: fhe told me the King was much troubled, and not well pleased with the Bishops. "Oct. 11. Thursday.—In the afternoon the Bishops were with the King his Majefty returned the prayers to them, and ordered they should be used in all churches. The Bishops thought themselves no longer under fecrecy; and resolving to go to their refpective homes, they gave their friends an account of all that had passed between the King and them."* This was the last time that James and Ken ever met. The Bishop, having fulfilled the duty for which he was fummoned to London, returned at once to Wells, and to his pastoral duties. The King, fpellbound, as it were, by the influence of Jefuits, and other falfe advifers, could not be made to fee the certain, but fatal result of this obftinacy; though it was already known that many, who were most loud in their hollow profeffions of loyalty, would be the first to defert him. Ken felt himself unfitted for fuch fcenes: he could neither flatter the King, nor take further part in the hopeless task of bringing him to reafon. In this moft difficult conjuncture his fagacity guided him into the plain path he was to pursue. He was neither cold, nor indifferent in any cause he undertook; ready for action,—but averse to state affairs. When others erred, his charitable nature made him lenient in his judgment of their motives; but no ties or claims of friendship, could move his fixed refolution as to his own line of duty. Whilft other men were zealously engaged amidst the turmoil, * The State Letters and Diary of Henry Earl of Clarendon, edit. 1763, vol. ii. pp. 72, 73. and confufion which prevailed at Court, he would endeavour, by all the influence he poffeffed, to maintain the King's interests within the sphere of his own diocese, to encourage the ftedfaft, confirm the wavering, and, if poffible, to bring back those who were lending themselves to the cause of rebellion. His paftoral care was the loved refuge and folace to him in every trial; his people were his only family; in keeping them true to their allegiance he could not err. Within a week he received the Form of Prayers, in which he had probably affifted the Archbishop to draw up whilst he was in town. They were three Collects, "to be used throughout the kingdom during this time of public danger," and breathing a calm, but earnest, and devotional spirit,-"For Repentance," "For the King," and "For Peace and Unitie." If composed by Sancroft,* they were, no doubt, revised alfo by Sprat, Bishop of Rochester, an accomplished penman. The prayer for the King befought God to give His holy Angels charge over him, to preserve his royal perfon in health and fafetie: "Infpire him with wisdom and justice in all his Counsells; and fill his princely heart with a fatherly care of all his People." That for Peace and Unitie prayed against the effufion of Chriftian blood in the land: "Reconcile all our * A copy of the Prayers will be found in the Archbishop's own hand in the Tanner MSS., vol. xxviii. fol. 139; copied in Gutch's Collectanea Curiosa, vol. i. p. 416, under the title of "Prayers to be ufed in all Cathedral, Collegiate and Parochial Churches, and Chapells within this Kingdom, during this time of public danger; and to be added to the daily Office both Morning, and Evening, immediately after the Prayers for the King, and for the Royal Family. By his Majesty's special command.” diffenfions; and heal our breaches. Preferve and establish that Holy Religion we profefs, together with our Laws, and ancient Government. Unite us all in unfeigned and univerfal Charity one towards another, and in one and the fame holy Worship and Communion.”* After this, Sancroft and fuch of the other Bishops as remained in London, had feveral interviews with the King; all which proved the correctnefs of Ken's judgment. James urgently preffed them to join in a public Declaration of Abhorrence of the defigns of the Prince of Orange; which they fteadily refused:-he called upon them to publish a denial of their having invited him over to England:-this alfo they declined. They stated that fo few of the Bishops were in London, that they could not do any public act in the name of the whole: for themselves individually, they affured him that they had not inftigated the invasion. The King was greatly incenfed at finding them so resolved against committing themselves by any public expreffion of diflike to the defigns of the Prince; and turned a deaf ear to their repeated advice, that he would call a Parliament. This, my Lords (he faid), is the last time: I will urge you no farther. If you will not affift me as I defire, I must stand upon my own legs, and truft to myself, and my own arms.”+ Whilft William was hurrying on his enterprize, encouraged by fresh promises from England, James did not neglect the means for his defence. Yet they were not proportioned to the dangers that furrounded Gutch's Collectanea Curiofa, vol. i. p. 416. + Ibid. p. 439. him, or rather they were ill directed. Inftead of concentrating all his energies to bring his army into the field, and at once to put himself at their head, he loft much valuable time in collecting detailed, and irrefragable evidence to prove before the Privy Council the reality of the Prince of Wales's birth. As if to provoke still further the public diftruft, he chofe to have the child folemnly baptized into the Romish communion, the Pope, by his Nuncio, ftanding Godfather. The fact of the Queen's giving birth to a fon is now undisputed: but great pains were taken at the time to perfuade the people that it was an impofture, managed by the Jefuits. William, in the public Declaration which he had put forth, explaining the motives and objects of his coming over to England, laid great stress on a fuppofititious birth, as a topic well fuited to inflame the prejudices of the nation. If he really believed the calumny, it was not creditable to his judgment; if he disbelieved it (as fubfequent facts would seem to prove), fo foul an imputation on the honour of his father in law, and of the Queen, compromises at once his veracity and manliness. Having completed all his measures, he fet fail from Holland with a fleet of above fifty men of war, accompanied by a number of English Lords and gentlemen,* the flag of England, with the motto, "The Proteftant Religion and Liberties of England," flying at the masthead of his own fhip, and on the 5th of November Nov. 5. he effected his landing in Torbay. But he met with a cold and timid reception, which damped the ardour Memoirs of James II., 12mo, 1821, vol. ii. p. 106. |