to prevent the spread of the fire. About 13,000 houses and 89 churches were destroyed. The strong party-feeling of the times attributed this sad calamity to the malice of Roman Catholics; and to proclaim this to posterity, London Monument was erected near the spot where the fire broke out. But as the fire was purely accidental, the inscription has since been erased,

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In 1668, in consequence of the French king trying to extend his dominions in Europe, a treaty known as The Triple Alliance" was entered into between England, Holland, 1668 and Sweden, to preserve the balance of power; that is,

to prevent any European state from acquiring such power as might be dangerous to the other nations. Charles professed to enter warmly into this arrangement, but all the while played into the hands of the French king, who gave him a pension of £200,000 a year for doing so. The Earl of Clarendon (Hyde), a warm friend of Charles, tried to dissuade him from this baseness; but was shamefully dismissed and driven into exile. Charles's principal advisers were Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale: and from this circumstance a new word, namely Cabal, was added to our language to denote any base scheme, or party of schemers. This word is composed of the initial letters of the names of these five ministers. This cabinet, known as the "Cabal Ministry," lasted four years; and with its overthrow, a parliament was dissolved which had sat for 17 years, and a new one was summoned. This new parliament passed a "Bill of Exclusion," by which the king's brother James (Duke of York) was excluded from being successor to the throne, because he was a Roman Catholic. Those who were anxious to exclude James sent petitions to the king. But as the king did not like the petitions, those who were in favour of James then sent addresses to Charles, in which they expressed abhorrence of the petitions. Hence arose two political parties, who got the names of PETITIONERS and ABHORRERS-terms which soon after became changed into whig and tory; the former being a Scotch word meaning sour whey, and the latter an Irish term applied to wild or savage men who infested the woods and bogs. Some Roman Catholics then formed a plot to secure James's accession. It was revealed by Titus Oates, who received a pension of £1,200 a year for the discovery. It is known as "The Popish Plot." The success of Oates, led a person of the name of Dangerfield to pretend that he had also discovered a plot; but this villain's scheme was found in the bottom of a meal-tub, and ended in receiving the name of the "Meal-tub Plot." Another and far more important conspiracy

I

was the "Rye House Plot." On the way from London to Newmarket is a roadside farm called the Rye House. At 1683 this spot it was intended to overturn a cart as if by acci

dent, at the time the king and his brother James were expected to return from Newmarket races, and then to murder them in the confusion; but the plot was discovered, and Lord William Russell, Algernon Sidney, and others were executed. Its object was to set upon the throne an illegitimate son of the king, the Duke of Monmouth, who professed warm attachment to the Church of

England, and in 1679, had routed the Covenanters at the battle of Bothwell Bridge (in Lanarkshire). In this reign was passed the famous "Habeas Corpus Act" (1679) second, in importance only to Magna Charta itself. It provides that no one shall be kept in prison before trial, beyond a reasonable time; and thus prevents the recurrence of such cases as those of Mary Queen of Scots, and Sir Walter Raleigh, who spent years in prison before they were tried.

In 1685, the king was seized with apoplexy, and died

in a few days, in the 55th year of his age and 25th of his 1685 reign. He refused the sacrament at the hand of the bis

hops; and received instead, extreme unction from a Romish priest whom his brother James secretly introduced. II. was buried at Westminster.

Charles

JAMES II. 1685 to 1688.

GENTLEMEN OF CHARLES THE SECOND'S Court.

As the House of Lords refused to pass the Exclusion Bill, and as Charles II. left no legitimate issue, his brother James, a Roman Catholic, now became king. Monmouth, who had fled to the continent, at once returned to lay claim to the crown; and Argyle, who supported that claim in Scotland, was soon after captured and executed. At the battle of Sedgemoor (in Dorsetshire),—THE LAST BATTLE EVER FOUGHT IN ENGLAND-Monmouth's army was defeated; and he himself fled into the fields, where he was captured two days after. 1685 In his pocket were found raw peas, which he had gathered to assuage his hunger. When brought before the king, his manhood seemed to forsake him he wept like a child, and begged piteously for life. He was executed on Tower-hill.

In this reign the Church of England, and Protestant Dissenters, were left to the mercy of the Court of High Commission, presided over by Chief-Justice Jeffreys, the greatest villain that ever disgraced the legal profession in England. The laws against Roman Catholics were suspended, and James issued an illegal "Declara

tion of Indulgence," which he ordered the clergy to read in the churches. But the bishops, nobly asserting the ancient independence of the Church of England, forbade this being done; and seven of them were committed to the Tower. Their trial lasted a whole day, and the jury was locked up at night. Next morning (June 30th) when the verdict of not guilty' was 1688 given, the joy of the people was unbounded. In every window in London that night were placed seven candles, with a tall one in the middle to represent the archbishop. On that same day too, the Bishop of London with six of the leading nobles, disgusted at these arbitrary proceedings, sent for James's son-inlaw William-who was Prince of Orange (in France), and of Nassau (in Germany); a native of the Hague (in Holland); and a staunch Protestant-to come over and help them. He arrived in England on the 5th of November, and soon won the heart of the nation to his cause. On the 11th of 1688 December the king took flight, and when crossing the

JAMES II.

This

Thames threw the Great Seal into the water. He was arrested by some boatmen who mistook him for a Jesuit. attempt to flee is called his ABDICATION. On the 22nd of December, he made a second attempt; and succeeded in escaping to France; where, till 1701, when he died, (with the exception of a brief sojourn in Ireland) he remained as a pensioner on the bounty of the French king, James II. was in his 68th year when he died and

WILLIAM III. AND MARY II.

1689 to 1702.

A GENTLEMAN AND RUSTIC OF WILLIAM THE THIRD'S TIME.

William, the Prince of Orange, had married James II.'s daughter Mary, and was at once his nephew and his son-in-law. Now the claim of James's daughter to the vacant throne was justly greater than that of his nephew; but William said, that rather than take a position inferior to his wife, he would go back to Holland again. So a document was drawn up, called "The Declaration of Rights," appointing both to the vacant monarchy; and on the 11th of April, 1689, William and Mary were crowned at Westminster. The accession of this prince 1689 completed THE REVOLUTION. The interval between the abdication and this accession is called THE INTER-REGNUM (Dec. 11th, 1688, to April 11th, 1689). By the Declaration of Rights, James (afterwards known as the Pretender; a reputed son of James II., but about whose souship great doubts existed) was cut off from succeeding to the crown: which was settled, first of all, upon the children of Mary; then, upon those of her sister Anne (another daughter of James II.); and finally, should these all fail upon William's children by any other wife.