vised defiance, Shaftesbury said, "his individual opinion continued unshaken in favour of the prerogative, but he would not venture to place it in the balance against the authority of so august a body as the House of Commons." While he was speaking, the Duke of York, enraged at him, whispered the King, who was standing at the fire, "What a rogue you have for a Lord Chancellor!" The King answered, "Cods-fish, what a fool have you of a Lord Treasurer!"* Clifford was outwitted, and Charles finding himself thus deserted by the Keeper of his conscience, sent for the Declaration, cancelled it at the Council Board, and forwarded a promise to the Lords and Commons that "what had been done with respect to the suspension of the penal laws should never be drawn into consequence." Bonfires illuminated the streets of the metropolis. Shaftesbury's present plan was to take advantage of the popular feeling, that he might rid himself of the Romanising ministers, and get all power into his own hands as the head of the Protestant party. He therefore greatly encouraged the Test Act, and contrived the introduction into it of the famous declaration against "Transubstantiation," which no Catholic could possibly make. The King's scruples were overcome by the observation, that, in the present temper of the House of Commons, he could on no other terms hope for a supply, and that his brother James would not be so insensate as to sacrifice the possession of office to the profession of his religion. To please the Dissenters, Shaftesbury pretended to support the bill for their relief, on the promise of which they had agreed to the Test Act; but the latter act, which he thought was to secure his supremacy in the Cabinet having passed, he grew indifferent about the other, and suffered it to be lost by a parliamentary manœuvre of the high Churchmen. As soon as parliament had adjourned, the Duke of York, now openly professing himself a Roman Catholic, resigned all his employments, and Clifford surrendering the Treasurer's staff, it was given to Sir Thomas Osborne, afterwards Earl CHAP. LXXXVII. He supTest Act. ports the March 29. 167 Duke of York and Clif 1673. ford resign. * Echard. Stat. 25 Car. 2. c. 2. CHAP. LXXXVII. of Danby. Shaftesbury was far from enjoying the undivided power he had expected, and the King was already taught to A.D. 1673. look upon him with distrust and dislike. Nothwithstanding this apparent coldness, "it was not fit to lay him aside till it should appear what service he could do them in another session of parliament," and knowing his extraordinary energy they were obliged to deliberate, whether he would be more formidable to them in office or in opposition? The recess. Shaftes bury stirs up the House of Commons Court. During the recess, which lasted above six months, never were the councils of any country in a more distracted state. The great measure in agitation was the Duke of York's marriage with the Princess of Modena,- against which Shaftesbury, holding the Great Seal, intrigued with the malcontents, joining in the popular cry, "that it was dangerous to the established religion." The two Houses being adjourned to the 20th of October, the Lord Chancellor had received orders to see that they should then adjourn to a subsequent against the day without transacting any business; but he thought fit to delay the adjournment till the Commons had, with great zeal and unanimity, agreed upon an address to the Crown against the Modenese match. The King was much exasperated, but had not yet the courage to dismiss him; and at the regular opening of the session on the 29th of October, after the King's speech, he, as Chancellor, again addressed the Lords and Commons; but as even he could hardly, on such an occasion, openly attack the government, and as he would say nothing in its praise, he was brief and tame, reminding his hearers of his former liveliness only by one sally: "There is not so lawful or commendable a jealousy in the world as an Englishman's of the growing greatness of any prince at sea. If you permit the sea, our British wife, to be ravished, an eternal mark of infamy will stick upon us." Anticipating that he should soon be in opposition, and in want of the support of the City, he put in a good word for the goldsmiths or bankers, saying, "You all know how many widows, orphans, and particular persons the public calamity hath overtaken, and * Burnet. how hard it is that so disproportionate a burthen should fall CHAP. upon them even to their utter ruin.”* LXXXVII. to dissolve Nothing was done in the Lords; but the Chancellor's A.D. 1673, associates were very active in the Commons, and at a supper Resolution on the 3d of November, at the Duchess of Portsmouth's, parliament. when the King was a good deal excited by wine, it was resolved that, to put an end to their machinations, parliament should instantly be dissolved. On cooler reflection, next morning, Charles mitigated his resolution to a prorogation, and, sending for Shaftesbury, asked him if he had brought his parliamentary robes? This led to an explanation, in which Shaftesbury, according to his own account, warned the King against the measures into which "the Popish faction " were hurrying him. Retiring from the closet, he sent a servant for his robes, and on his way to Westminster met a friend to whom he related this conversation.† mons. 1763. The King was in the House of Lords almost as soon as the Nov. 4. Chancellor, and the Black Rod was sent to summon the Com- Parliament An effort was made to keep him out till certain fac- prorogued. tious resolutions might be carried; but before the motion could be seconded, "that the Duke of Lauderdale was a grievance," he had thrice knocked, and the door was thrown open to him. When the Commons came to the bar of the House of Lords, the King ordered the Lord Chancellor to prorogue the two Houses in his name till the 7th of January. Shaftesbury obeyed, and was virtually out of office. Time and place fixed for taking the Great Seal from It was now thought that he could not be more dangerous in any position than in his present, and the Duke of York extracted a royal promise that he should be immediately dismissed. The morning of Sunday, the 9th of November, before Shafteschapel at Whitehall, was fixed for the transfer of the Great bury. Seal to Sir Heneage Finch, the Attorney General, who had been summoned then and there to receive it. We have a very amusing account of Shaftesbury's last appearance as Chancellor. As soon as he arrived at Court, he retired with the King into the closet, while the prevailing party waited in triumph to see him return without the purse. The first * 4 Parl. Hist. 586. † Stringer. СНАР. LXXXVII. A.D. 1673. His fare well inter view with Charles. Alarm of of the courtiers. Great Seal taken from Shaftesbury and delivered to Sir HENEAGE salutation being over, he said, "Sir, I know you intend to give the Seals to the Attorney General, but I am sure your Majesty never designed to dismiss me with contempt." The King, always good-humoured, replied, "Cods-fish, my Lord, I will not do it with any circumstance as may look like an affront." "Then, sir," said the Earl, "I desire your Majesty will permit me to carry the Seals before you to Chapel, and send for them afterwards to my own house." To this his Majesty readily assenting, Shaftesbury entertained him with news and diverting stories till the very minute he was to go to the chapel, purposely to amuse the courtiers and his successor, who, he knew, were upon the rack for fear he should prevail upon the King to change his mind. The King and the Chancellor still holding the purse, came out of the closet talking together and smiling, and marched together to chapel, without an opportunity being given for the King to say a word to any of them. They were all in great consternation; and some ran immediately to tell the Duke of York all their measures were broken, and others declared themselves to be inconsolable. The Attorney General nearly fainted away.* At the conclusion of the service Shaftesbury carried the Great Seal home with him to Exeter House, and in the afternoon it was fetched from him by Mr. Secretary Coventry, who said, "I desired to be excused from this office; but, being your relation and friend, they put it as an affront upon me." Shaftesbury gave up the Seal with an air of great He buckles cheerfulness, exclaiming "It is only laying down my FINCH as Lord on his sword. gown, and putting on my sword!" This emblem of hostility he actually ordered to be brought to him by his servant, and he immediately buckled it on. The same evening Sir HENEAGE FINCH's fears were all dissipated by his receiving the Great Seal from the King, with the title of Lord Keeper. * Echard. † Crown Off. Min. 1673. CHAPTER LXXXVIII. CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD SHAFTESBURY TILL THE BREAKING OUT OF THE POPISH PLOT. LXXXVIII. 1673. The Ex WHILE the ceremony of delivering the Great Seal to Sir CHAP. Heneage Finch, as Lord Keeper, was going on in the palace at Whitehall, Exeter House was crowded with Dec. 19. the leading men of the country party, and Shaftesbury was by acclamation installed as their chief. He found the chancellor name of patriot all-atoning, and the disgraced minister who at the head had been the adviser of the most arbitrary measures, pro- position. claiming himself the adversary of the Court, was hailed as the champion of the liberties of the people, of the op His in trigues in the City. Next morning, accompanied by some of the young no- Dec. 20. bility, he went to the Royal Exchange, where all the great merchants and bankers then daily congregated,-entered into familiar conversation with them, and feelingly deplored to them the depression of trade, and the miseries of the nation, arising from profligate measures, which he had in vain done his utmost to resist, till at last he had been dismissed for his integrity and boldness. They gathered round him with enthusiasm as a persecuted philanthropist, and vowed to live and die in his cause. But it was religion that gave him the great power which from this time he wielded. He was regarded as Becomes the saviour of the nation from Popery, and, though among his champion private friends it was doubtful whether or not he believed in revelation, theologians were found to proclaim him from the pulpit as the saviour of the true faith, and to foretell that his fame, like that of the woman mentioned in the gospel, should live throughout all future generations.* of the Pro testant faith. His factious con During the short session of parliament, in the spring of A. D. 1674, 1674, he carried addresses for a public fast " to implore the protection of the Almighty for the preservation of Church duct in parand State against the undermining practices of popish recu * Parker, 206. 271. Macph. Pap. i. 69. Life of James, i. 488. VOL. III. Y liament, |