ABSENCE OF JOURNALISM..

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offices of state which they formerly filled being now occupied by laymen. Classical learning was less cultivated than in the days of ecclesiastical splendour. It had been superseded by the more urgent claims of Biblical criticism and doctrinal divinity, which the religious controversies of the period had rendered indispensable acquirements.

In almost every direction, it may be concluded that the age was still deficient in the chief aids which tend to enlarge, refine, and edify the mind. Comparatively, the book of knowledge had not been opened; nor hardly that of rational instruction or amusement. In poetry and works of imagination the past had been most richly productive, and the names of Shakspeare and Milton must live imperishably, like those of Virgil and Homer in the ancient world. The great Bacon had opened the way in natural philosophy, and Hobbes in metaphysical inquiries; but they lived prior to the extraordinary discoveries since made in the unknown regions of astronomy, chemistry, geology, and mechanical agencies. The age of native historians had not begun, nor that of native artists. The sole representative of modern journalism, now almost as potent in mental as steam in physical force, was the dull and meagre "Gazette." Lastly, the periodical essayists, who, by their sprightly and apt effusions, contributed to improve the manners and morals of a later period, had not commenced their useful career.

There was, however, one description of diffusive literature that had commenced, at least in London. This was circulating libraries. At the end of the play of the "Thracian Wonder," printed in 1661, and sold at the sign of John Fletcher's Head, is an announcement that books may be "read for reasonable consideration." *

Pict. Hist. of England, vol. iii. p. 904.

These were fixed libraries; but upwards of a century earlier a beginning seems to have been made in itinerant libraries. In the time of Cardinal Wolsey, there dwelt on the fertile banks of the Humber and the Trent, and on the slopes of the beautiful hills in this part of the county of Lincoln, a select body of reformed Christians artificers, shepherds, and labourers who sought to edify their leisure in reading such portions of the English version of the Scriptures as had reached them. As some of them dwelt wide apart, they employed, says D'Aubigné *, one John Scrivener continually in stealthily conveying these and other precious documents from one to another. This of course was before the act of Henry VIII. permitting the Bible to be read in private houses.

Next to theology, politics had become, from recent civil agitations, the chief aliment in every-day life. Coffee-houses were the favourite resort of all who wished either to learn or retail the news of the day. Political clubs had become numerous in London, and the citizens met to discuss questions of public interest, to the great surprise of the Lords and Commons of the realm. The parliamentary debates had already become so protracted that many members adjourned to renovate themselves at taverns, from which they returned like giants refreshed to finish the discussion.

*History of the Reformation, book xviii. chap. vii.

CHAPTER XVII.

REIGN OF WILLIAM III.

Public Opinion on the Accession of William III.— Settlement of the Constitution. - Contrasted Results of the First and Second Revolutions of the Seventeenth Century.— Commencement of Continental Alliances; Peace of Ryswick, and the Grand Alliance.- Protestant Interest, and the Balance of Power; Advantages and Drawbacks of their Maintenance. -Connexions of the Revolutionists with the Stuart Family; its Influence on the English Court. — Dutch Favourites of William III.- Irish Forfeitures.- Character of the King.-Characteristics of the Revolution Parliament.- Bounty on the Export of Corn. - General Corruption from the War. - Treason Laws and Property Offences.· Seven Years' Dearth.- Rise of the Monied Interest. Men of Letters.

THE most progressive aspect presented by the Revolution is in the settlement of the chief questions by which the nation had been long agitated. From the commencement of the Reformation in the sixteenth century, religion had formed the principal pivot upon which the politics and diplomacy of the European states had turned; from which their wars and alliances abroad and their internal dissensions at home had originated; but the protracted feud between Catholicism and Protestantism was closed in England by the accession of the Prince of Orange. After this epoch the reformed worship became a condition of the regal succession, and was further guaranteed by the vast numerical superiority attained by the Anglican church, and which now comprehended within its pale almost the

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entire English community.* But though national from the number of its members, and united in the repudiation of papal authority, the church was not agreed on the limits that ought to be set to the Revolution.

Cherishing the dogma of the divine right of kings, and the great majority of the clergy having strenuously preached the indefeasible doctrine under the later Stuarts, they could not consistently acquiesce in the elevation to a hereditary throne of a new dynasty. All they appeared to contemplate in seeking the aid of the Prince of Orange was, the establishment of a regency in his person, either until the abdicated king had recovered from his delusion, or his son, the infant Prince of Wales, if a Protestant, became of age to assume the regal functions. This limited purpose, it has been seen, was happily frustrated, partly from the obvious dangers of a delay, and partly from the reasonable declaration of the prince not to submit to any limitation or division of the kingly office. But of the antagonist sentiment abroad, there can be no doubt from what happened immediately before and after the settlement of the crown.

In the narrow majority of fifty-one against forty-nine, by which it was carried that the vacant throne should be filled by a king, not a regent, only two bishops voted, while thirteen voted in the minority. It is remarkable that of the bishops who refused to concur in the transfer of the crown to a new head, five were of the seven prelates who had refused to read the Declaration of Indulgence of James II., and whose famous trial had given the first impulse to the Revolution. The subordinate

* Sir John Dalrymple, in his Memoirs, gives the following estimate of religious denominations in William III.'s reign: - Conformists, 2,477,254; Nonconformists, 108,676; Papists, 13,856.

PUBLIC OPINION ON HIS ACCESSION.

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clergy concurred almost universally in the sentiment of the heads of the church, and also a large proportion of the patrician classes of the laity. In the House of Lords a majority of the members were avowedly hostile to the final deposition of James, though not to the suspension of his power. As to the great body of the people, they were rather spectators than actors in the Revolution, but in sentiment they doubtless followed their religious teachers, if they did not acquiesce, from the popular impression usually being more tenacious in adherence to customary rights among the masses than their superiors.

It is manifest from this representation, that though the nation was almost unanimously bent on arresting the career of James towards the see of Rome, the sense of hereditary right was so prominent, as to preclude the wish of his perpetual exclusion or that of his family from the throne. Lord Danby remarked, three months after the abdication, that, "If King James would only quit his priests, he might retrieve his affairs." But James was not so supple in his politics or religion as the ministry, nor as the first Bourbon. A mass at St. Denis won Henry IV. a kingdom, but the unbending English monarch lost his rather than forego its celebration. But it is not improbable that the reckless sincerity of James was one reason why so many of his subjects remained obdurate in their allegiance to him. In other divisions of the United Kingdom the ties that bound the king to the inhabitants were stronger than in England. In Scotland, the small party of the Whigs alone favoured William; while, in Ireland, the majority being Catholics, both parliament and people adhered to the banished prince. These explanations of the state of public opinion in 1688 are essential to a correct appreciation of the present and subsequent history of the country, since a