his son would have otherwise succeeded
(Stadtholder, it was called) and placed the
chief power in the hands of JOHN DE WITT,
who educated this young prince. Now, the
Prince became very popular, and John De
Witt's brother CORNELIUS was sentenced to
banishment on a false accusation of conspiring
to kill him. John went to the prison
where he was, to take him away to exile, in
his coach; and a great mob who collected
on the occasion, then and there cruelly
murdered both the brothers. This left the
government in the hands of the Prince, who
was really the choice of the nation; and from
this time he exercised it with the greatest
vigour, against the whole power of France
under its famous generals CONDÉ and
TURENNE, and in support of the Protestant
religion. It was full seven years before this
war ended in a treaty of peace made at
Nimeguen, and its details would occupy a
very considerable space. It is enough to say
that William of Orange established a famous
character with the whole world; and that
the Merry Monarch, adding to and improving
on his former baseness, bound himself to
do everything the King of France liked, and
nothing the King of France did not like, for
a pension of one hundred thousand pounds a
year, which was afterwards doubled. Besides
this, the King of France, by means of his
corrupt ambassador— who wrote accounts of
his proceedings in England, which are not
always to be believed, I think — bought our
English members of Parliament as he wanted
them. So, in point of fact, during a
considerable portion of this merry reign, the
King of France was the real King of this
country.

But there was a better time to come, and
it was to come (though his royal uncle
little thought so) through that very
William, Prince of Orange. He came over
to England, saw Mary the elder daughter
of the Duke of York, and married her.
We shall see by and bye what came of that
marriage, and why it is never to be
forgotten.

This daughter was a Protestant, but her
mother died a Catholic. She and her sister
ANNE, also a Protestant, were the only
survivors of eight children. Anne afterwards
married GEORGE, PRINCE OF DENMARK,
brother to the King of that country.

Lest you should do the Merry Monarch
the injustice of supposing that he was even
good-humoured (except when he had
everything his own way), or that he was high-
spirited and honourable, I will mention here
what was done to a Member of the House of
Commons, SIR JOHN COVENTRY. He made a
remark in a debate about taxing the theatres,
which gave the King offence. He agreed
with his illegitimate son, who had been born
abroad, and whom he had made DUKE OF
MONMOUTH, to take the following merry
vengeance. To waylay him at night, fifteen
armed men to one, and to slit his nose with
a penknife. Like master, like man. The
King's favourite, the Duke of Buckingham,
was strongly suspected of setting on an
assassin to murder the DUKE OF ORMOND as
he was returning home from a dinner; and
that Duke's spirited son. LORD OSSORY, was
so persuaded of his guilt, that he said to him
at Court, even as he stood beside the King,
"My Lord, I know very well that you are
at the bottom of this late attempt upon my
father. But I give you warning! If he
ever come to a violent end, his blood shall
be upon you, and, wherever I meet you I
will pistol you! I will do so, though I find
you standing behind the King's chair, and
I tell you this in His Majesty's presence
that you may be quite sure of my doing
what I threaten." Those were merry times
indeed.

There was a fellow named BLOOD, who was
seized for making, with two companions, an
audacious attempt to steal the crown, the
globe, and sceptre, from the place where the
jewels were kept, in the Tower. This robber,
who was a swaggering ruffian, being taken,
declared that he was the man who had
endeavoured to kill the Duke of Ormond, and
that he had meant to kill the King too, but
was overawed by the majesty of his appearance,
when he might otherwise have done
it, as he was bathing at Battersea. The
King being but an ill-looking fellow, I don't
believe a word of this. Whether he was
flattered, or whether he knew that Buckingham
had really set Blood on to murder the
Duke, is uncertain. But it is quite certain
that he pardoned this thief, gave him an
estate of five hundred a year in Ireland
(which had had the honour of giving him
birth), and presented him at Court to the
debauched lords and the shameless ladies,
who made a great deal of him — as I have
no doubt they would have made of the
Devil himself, if the King had introduced
him.

Infamously pensioned as he was, the King
still wanted money, and consequently was
obliged to call Parliaments. In these, the
great object of the Protestants was to thwart
the Catholic Duke of York, who married a
second time; his new wife being a young
lady only fifteen years old, the Catholic
sister of the DUKE OF MODENA. In this they
were seconded by the Protestant Dissenters,
though to their own disadvantage, since, to
exclude Catholics from power, they were even
willing to exclude themselves. The King's
object was to pretend to be a Protestant,
while he was really a Catholic; to swear to
the bishops that he was devotedly attached
to the English Church, while he knew he had
bargained it away to the King of France;
and, by cheating and deceiving them, and all
who were attached to royalty, to become,
despotic and be powerful enough to confess
what a rascal he was. Meantime, the King