July, sailed to the coast of France, with a small squadron ; and in the neighbourhood of Granville, took or destroyed about forty ships and their convoy. Yet this damage was inconsiderable, when compared to that which the English navy sustained from the dreadful tempest that began to blow on the twenty-seventh day of November, accompanied with such flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, as overwhelmed the whole kingdom with consternation. The houses in London shook from their foundations, and some of them falling, buried the inhabitants in their ruins. The water overflowed several streets, and rose to a considerable height in Westminster hall. London bridge was almost choked up with the wrecks of vessels that perished in the river. The loss sustained by the capital was computed at a million sterling; and the city of Bristol suffered to a prodigious amount; but the chief national damage fell upon the navy. Thirteen ships of war were lost, together with fifteen hundred seamen, including rear-admiral Beaumont, who had been employed in observing the Dunkirk squadron, and was then at anchor in the Downs, where his ship foundered. This great loss, however, was repaired with incredible diligence, to the astonishment of all Europe. The queen immediately issued orders for building a greater number of ships than that which had been destroyed, and she exercised her bounty for the relief of the shipwrecked seamen, and the widows of those who were drowned, in such a manner as endeared her to all her subjects.

In

§ XLIII. The emperor having declared his second son Charles, king of Spain, that young prince set out from Vienna to Holland, and at Dusseldorp was visited by the duke of Marlborough, who in the name of his mistress, congratulated him upon his accession to the crown of Spain. Charles received him with the most obliging courtesy. the course of their conversation, taking off his sword, he presented it to the English general, with a very gracious aspect, saying, in the French language, "I am not ashamed to "own myself a poor prince. I possess nothing but my cloak "and sword; the latter may be of use to your grace; and "I hope you will not think it the worse for my wearing "it one day." "On the contrary (replied the duke) it

"will always put me in mind of your majesty's just right "and title, and of the obligations I lie under to hazard my "life in making you the greatest prince in christendom." This noblemen returned to England in October; and king Charles embarking for the same kingdom, under convoy of an English and Dutch squadron, arrived at Spithead on the twenty-sixth day of September. There he was received. by the dukes of Somerset and Marlborough, who conducted him to Windsor; and on the road he was met by prince George of Denmark. The queen's deportment towards him was equally noble and obliging; and he expressed the most profound respect and veneration for this illustrious princess. He spoke but little; yet what he said was judicious; and he behaved with such politeness and affability as conciliated the affection of the English nobility. After having been magnificently entertained for three days, he returned to Portsmouth, from whence, on the fourth of January, he sailed for Portugal, with a great fleet, commanded by sir George Rooke, having on board a body of land forces under the duke of Schomberg. When the admiral had almost reached Cape Finisterre, he was driven back by a storm to Spithead, where he was obliged to remain till the middle of February. Then being favoured with a fair wind, he happily performed the voyage to Lisbon, where king Charles was received with great splendour, though the court of Portugal was overspread with sorrow, excited by the death of the infanta, whom the king of Spain intended to espouse. In Poland, all hope of peace seemed to vanish. The cardinal primate, by the instigation of the Swedish king, whose army lay encamped in the neighbourhood of Dantzick, assembled a diet at Warsaw which solemnly deposed Augustus, and declared the throne vacant. Their intention was to elect young Sobieski, son of their late monarch, who resided at Breslau, in Silesia: but their scheme was anticipated by Augustus, who retired hastily into his Saxon dominions, and seizing Sobieski, with his brother, secured them as prisoners at Dresden.

BOOK I.

CHAP. VIII.

I. The Commons revive the bill against occasional conformity. II. Conspiracy trumped up by Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat. III. The Lords present a remonstrance to the Queen. § IV. The Commons pass a vote in favour of the earl of Nottingham. § V. Second remon strance of the Lords. VI. Further disputes between the two houses. VII. The Queen grants the first fruits and the tenths to the poor clergy. § VIII. Inquiry into naval affairs. § IX. Trial of Lindsay. § X. Meeting of the Scottish Parliament. § XI. Violent opposition to the Ministry in that kingdom. XII. Their Parliament pass the Act of Security. § XIII. Melancholy situation of the Emperor's affairs. § XIV. The Duke of Martborough marches at the head of the allied army into Germany. § XV. He defeats the Bavarians at Schellenberg. XVI. Fruitless negotiation with the Elector of Bavaria. § XVII. The Confederates obtain a complete victory at Hochstadt. § XVIII. Siege of Landau. § XIX. The Duke of Marlborough returns to England. § XX. State of the war in different parts of Europe. § XXI. Campaign in Portugal. § XXII. Sir George Rooke takes Gibraltar. § XXIII. And worsts the French fleet in a battle off Malaga. § XXIV. Session of Parliament in England. § XXV. An act of Alienation passed against the Scots. XXVI. Manor of Woodstock granted to the Duke of Marlborough. XXVII. Disputes between the two Houses on the subject of the Aylesbury constables. § XXVIII. The Parliament dis solved. XXIX. Proceedings in the Parliament of Scotland. XXX. They pass an act for a treaty of union with England. § XXXI. Difference between the Parliament and Convocation in Ireland. § XXXII.

Fruitless compaign on the Moselle. XXXIII. The Duke of Marlborough forces the French lines in Brabant. § XXXIV. He is prevented by the deputies of the States from attacking the French army. XXXV. He visits the Imperial court of Vienna. § XXXVI. State of the war on the Upper Rhine, in Hungary, Piedmont, Portugal, and Poland. § XXXVII. Sir Thomas Dilkes destroys part of the French fleet, and relieves Gibraltar. § XXXVIII. The Earl of Petersborough and Sir Cloudesley Shovel reduce Barcelona. § XXXIX. The Earl's surprising progress in Spain. § XL. New Parliament in England. § XLI. Bill for a Regency in case of the Queen's decease. § XLII. Debates in the House of Lords upon the supposed danger to which the church was exposed. § XLIII. The Parliament prorogued. Disputes in the Convocation. § XLIV. Conferences opened for a treaty of union with Scotland. § XLV. Substance of the treaty.

§ I. WHEN the parliament met in October, the queen in her speech took notice of the declaration by the duke of Savoy, and the treaty with Portugal, as circumstances advantageous to the alliance. She told them, that although no provision was made for the expedition to Lisbon, and the augmentation of the land forces, the funds had answered so well, and the produce of prizes been so considerable, that the public had not run in debt by those additional services; that she had contributed out of her own revenue to the support of the circle of Suabia, whose firm adherence to the interest of the allies deserved her seasonable assistance. She said, she would not engage in any unnecessary expense of her own, that she might have the more to spare towards the ease of her subjects. She recommended despatch and union, and earnestly exhorted them to avoid any heats or divisions that might give encouragement to the common enemies of the church and state. Notwithstanding this admonition, and the addresses of both houses, in which they promised to avoid all divisions, a motion was made in the house of commons for renewing the bill against occasional conformity, and carried by a great majority. In the new draft, however, the penalties were lowered, and the severest clauses VOL. I. Kk k

mitigated. As the court no longer interested itself in the success of this measure, the house was pretty equally divided with respect to the speakers, and the debates on each side were maintained with equal spirit and ability at length it passed, and was sent up to the lords, who handled it still more severely. It was opposed by a small majority of the bishops, and particularly by Burnet of Sarum, who declaimed against it, as a scheme of the papists to set the church and protestants at variance. It was successively attacked by the duke of Devonshire, the earl of Pembroke, the lords Haversham, Mohun, Ferrars, and Wharton. Prince George of Denmark absented himself from the house; and the question being put for a second reading, it was carried in the negative; yet the duke of Marlborough and lord Godolphin entered their dissent against its being rejected, though the former had positively declared, that he thought the bill unseasonable. The commons having perused a copy of the treaty with Portugal, voted forty thousand men, including five thousand marines, for the sea service of the ensuing year; and a like number of land forces, to act in conjunction with the allies, besides the additional ten thousand they likewise resolved, that the proportion to be employed in Portugal should amount to eight thousand. Sums were granted for the maintenance of these great armaments, as well as for the subsidies payable to her majesty's allies; and funds appointed equal to the occasion. Then they assured the queen, in an address, that they would provide for the support of such alliances as she had made, or should make, with the duke of Savoy.

§ II. At this period the nation was alarmed by the detection of a conspiracy said to be hatched by the jacobites of Scotland. Simon Fraser lord Lovat, a man of desperate enterprise, profound dissimulation, abandoned morals, and ruined fortune, who had been outlawed for having ravished a sister of the marquis of Athol, was the person to whom the plot seems to have owed its origin. He repaired to the court of St. Germains, where he undertook to assemble a body of twelve thousand highlanders to act in favour of the pretender, if the court of France would assist them with a small reinforcement of troops, together with officers, arms, ammunition, and money. The French king seemed to listen