had been plundered and burned, their lands wasted, and their cattle driven away; so that they were reduced to extreme poverty. Notwithstanding this address of the Scottish parliament, by which the king was so solemnly exculpated, his memory is still loaded with the suspicion of having concerted, countenanced, and enforced this barbarous execution, especially as the master of Stair escaped with impunity, and the other actors of the tragedy, far from being punished, were preferred in the service. While the commissioners were employed in the inquiry, they made such discoveries concerning the conduct of the earl of Breadalbane, as amounted to a charge of high treason: and he was committed prisoner to the castle of Edinburgh; but it seems he had dissembled with the Highlanders, by the king's permission, and now sheltered himself under the shadow of a royal pardon.

IX. The committee of trade, in pursuance of the powers granted by the king to his commissioner, prepared an act for establishing a company trading to Africa and the Indies, empowering them to plant colonies, hold cities, towns, or forts, in places, uninhabited, or in others, with the consent of the natives; vesting them with an exclusive right, and an exemption for one-and-twenty years from all duties and impositions. This act was likewise confirmed by letters patent under the great seal, directed by the parliament, without any further warrant from the crown. Patterson, the projector, had contrived the scheme of a settlement upon the Isthmus of Darien in such a manner as to carry on a trade in the South Sea, as well as in the Atlantic; nay, even to extend it as far as the East Indies: a great number of London merchants, allured by the prospect of gain, were eager to engage in such a company, exempted from all manner of imposition and restriction. The Scottish parliament likewise passed an act in favour of the episcopal clergy, decreeing, that those who should enter into such engagements to the king, as were by law required, might continue in their benefices under his majesty's protection, without being subject to the power of presbytery. Seventy of the most noted ministers of that persuasion took the benefit of this indulgence. Another law was enacted, for raising nine thousand men early, to recruit the Scottish

regiments abroad; and an act for erecting a public bank : then the parliament was adjourned to the seventh day of November.

§ X. Ireland began to be infected with the same factions, which had broke out in England since the revolution: lord Capel, the lord deputy, governed in a very partial manner, oppressing the Irish papists, without any regard to equity or decorum. He undertook to model a parliament in such a manner, that they should comply with all the demands of the ministry; and he succeeded in his endeavours, by making such arbitrary changes in offices as best suited his purpose. These precautions being taken, he convoked a parliament for the twenty seventh day of August, when he opened the session with a speech, expatiating upon their obligations to king William, and exhorting them to make suitable returns to such a gracious sovereign. He observed, that the revenue had fallen short of the establishment; so that both the civil and military lists were greatly in debt that his majesty had sent over a bill for an additional excise, and expected they would find ways and means to answer the demands of the service. They forthwith voted an address of thanks, and resolved to assist his majesty to the utmost of their power, against all his enemies foreign and domestic. They passed the bill for an additional excise, together with an act for taking away the writ "De heretico cumburendo ;" another annulling all attainders and acts passed in the late pretended parliament of king James: a third to prevent foreign education: a fourth for disarming papists; and a fifth for settling the estates of intestates. Then they resolved, that a sum not exceeding one hundred and sixty-three thousand three hundred and twenty-five pounds, should be granted to his majesty, to be raised by a poll bill, additional customs, and a continuation of the additional excise. Sir Charles Porter, the chancellor, finding his importance diminished, if not entirely destroyed, by the assuming disposition and power of the lord deputy, began to court popularity by espousing the cause of the Irish, against the severity of the administration; and actually formed a kind of tory interest, which thwarted lord Capel in all his measures. A motion was made in parliament to impeach the chancellor, for sowing discord and

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division among his majesty's subjects; but, being indulged with a hearing by the house of commons, he justified himself so much to their satisfaction, that he was voted clear of all imputation by a great majority. Nevertheless, they, at the end of the session, sent over an address, in which they bore testimony to the mild and just administration of their lord deputy.

§ XI. King William having taken such steps as were deemed necessary for preserving the peace of England in his absence, crossed the sea to Holland in the middle of May, fully determined to make some great effort in the Netherlands, that might aggrandize his military character, and humble the power of France, which was already on the decline. That kingdom was actually exhausted in such a manner, that the haughty Lewis found himself obliged to stand upon the defensive against enemies over whom he had been used to triumph with uninterrupted success. He heard the clamours of his people, which he could not quiet; he saw his advances to peace rejected; and to crown his misfortunes, he sustained an irreparable loss in the death of Francis de Montmorency, duke of Luxembourg, to whose military talents he owed the greatest part of his glory and success. That great officer died in January at Versailles, in the sixty-seventh year of his age; and Lewis lamented his death the more deeply, as he had not another general left, in whose understanding he could confide. The conduct of the army in Flanders was intrusted to mareschal Villeroy; and Boufflers commanded a separate army, though subject to the other's orders. As the French king took it for granted, that the confederates would have a superiority of numbers in the field, and was well acquainted with the enterprising genius of their chief, he ordered a new line to be drawn between the Lys and the Scheldt; he caused a disposition to be made for covering Dunkirk, Ypres, Tournay, and Namur; and laid injunctions on his general to act solely on the defensive. Meanwhile, the confederates formed two armies in the Netherlands. The first consisted of seventy battalions of infantry, and eighty-two squadrons of horse and dragoons, chiefly English and Scots, encamped at Aerseele, Caneghem, and Wouterghem, between Thieldt and Deynse, to be commanded by the king

in person, assisted by the old prince of Vaudemont. The other army, composed of sixteen battalions of foot, and one hundred and thirty squadrons of horse, encamped at Zellech and Hamme, on the road from Brussels to Dendermonde, under the command of the elector of Bavaria, seconded by the duke of Holstein Ploen. Major general Ellemberg was posted near Dixmuyde with twenty battalions and ten squadrons, and another body of Brandenburgh and Dutch troops, with a reinforcement from Liege, lay encamped on the Mehaigne, under the conduct of the baron de Heyden, lieutenant general of Brandenburgh, and the count de Berlo, general of the Liege cavalry. King William arrived in the camp on the fifth day of July; and remained eight days at Aerseele. Then he marched to Bekelar, while Villeroy retired behind his lines between Menin and Ypres, after having detached ten thousand men to reinforce Boufflers, who had advanced to Point d'Espieres: but he too retreating within his lines, the elector of Bavaria passed the Scheldt, and took post at Kirkhoven: at the same time the body under Heyden advanced towards Namur.

§ XII. The king of England, having by his motions. drawn the forces of the enemy on the side of Flanders, directed the baron de Heyden and the earl of Athlone, who commanded forty squadrons from the camp of the elector of Bavaria, to invest Namur; and this service was performed on the third day of July: but, as the place was not entirely surrounded, mareschal Boufflers threw himself into it, with such a reinforcement of dragoons as augmented the garrison to the number of fifteen thousand chosen men. King William and the elector brought up the rest of the forces, which encamped on both sides of the Sambre and the Maese; and the lines of circumvallation were begun. on the sixth day of July, under the direction of the celebrated engineer, general Coehorn. The place was formerly very strong, both by situation and art; but the French since its last reduction, had made such additional works, that both the town and citadel seemed impregnable. Considering the number of the garrison, and the quality of the troops, commanded by a mareschal of France, distinguished by his valour and conduct, the enterprise was deemed an undeniable proof of William's temerity. On the eleventh

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the trenches were opened, and next day the batteries began to play with incredible fury. The king receiving intelligence of a motion made by a body of French troops, with a view to intercept the convoys, detached twenty squadrons of horse and dragoons to observe the enemy.

§ XIII. Prince Vaudemont, who was left at Roselaer with fifty battalions, and the like number of squadrons, understanding that Villeroy had passed the Lys, in order to attack him, took post with his left near Grammen, his -right by Aerseele and Caneghem, and began to fortify his camp, with a view to expect the enemy. Their vanguard appearing on the evening of the thirteenth at Dentreghem, he changed the disposition of his camp, and intrenched himself on both sides. Next day, however, perceiving Villeroy's design was to surround him, by means of another body of troops commanded by M. Montal, who had already passed the Thieldt for that purpose, he resolved to avoid an engagement, and effected a retreat to Ghent, which is celebrated as one of the most capital efforts of military conduct. He forthwith detached twelve battalions and twelve pieces of cannon, to secure Newport, which Villeroy had intended to invest: but that general now changed his resolution, and undertook the siege of Dixmuyde, garrisoned by eight battalions of foot, and a regiment of dragoons, commanded by major general Ellemberg, who, in six-and-thirty hours after the trenches were opened, surrendered himself and his soldiers prisoners of war. This scandalous example was followed by colonel Ofarrel, who yielded up Deynse on the same shameful conditions, even before a battery was opened by the besiegers. In the sequel they were both tried for their misbehaviour: Ellemberg suffered death, and Ofarrel was broke with infamy. The prince of Vaudemont sent a message to the French general, demanding the garrisons of those two places, according to a cartel which had been settled between the powers at war; but no regard was paid to this remonstrance. Villeroy, after several marches and countermarches, appeared before Brussels on the thirteenth day of August, and sent a letter to the prince of Berghem, governor of that city, importing that the king his master had ordered him to bombard the town, by way of making