■WILLIAM AND MANY.

63

by whom, in 1GG0, the royal family wag brought back, wereHollis, who had in the days of the tyranny of Charles the Firstheld down the Speaker in the chair by main force, while BlackRod knocked for admission in vain; Ingoldsby, whose namewas subscribed to the memorable death warrant; and Prynne,whose ears Laud had cut off, and who, in return, had bornethe chief part in cutting off Laud’s head. Among the sevenwho, in 1G88, signed the invitation to William, were Compton,who had long enforced the duty of obeying Nero; Danby, wdiohad been impeached for endeavouring to establish militarydespotism; and Lumley, whose bloodhounds had trackedMonmouth to that sad last hiding place among the fern. Bothin 1660 and in 1G88, "while the fate of the nation still hung inthe balance, forgiveness was exchanged between the hostilefactions. On both occasions the reconciliation, which hadseemed to be cordial in the hour of danger, proved false andhollow in the hour of triumph. As soon as Charles the Secondwas at Whitehall, the Cavalier forgot the good service recentlydone by the Presbyterians, and remembered only their oldoffences. As soon as William was King, too many of theWhigs began to demand vengeance for all that they had, in thedays of the Rye House Plot, suffered at the hands of the Tories.On both occasions the Sovereign found it difficult to save thevanquished party from the fury of his triumphant supporters;and on both occasions those w'hom he had disappointed of theirrevenge murmured bitterly against the government which hadbeen so weak and ungrateful as to protect its foes against itsfriends.

So early as the twenty fifth of March, William called theattention of the Commons to the expediency of quieting thepublic mind by an amnesty. He expressed his hope that a billof general pardon and oblivion would be as speedily as possiblepresented for his sanction, and that no exceptions would be

CHAP.

XIV.

1689 .