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HISTORY OY ENGLAND.

chap. One of the circumstances which filled James, at this time,~ Ja ~~ va ™ h°P es > was that his wife was pregnant and near hera dough- delivery. He flattered himself that malice itself would betojamiu. ashamed to repeat any longer the story of the warming pan,and that multitudes whom that story had deceived would in-stantly return to their allegiance. He took, on this occasion,all those precautions which, four years before, he had foolishlyand perversely forborne to take. He contrived to transmit toEngland letters summoning many Protestant women of qualityto assist at the expected birth; and he promised, in the nameof his dear brother the Most Christian King, that they shouldbe free to come and go in safety. Had some of these witnessesbeen invited to Saint James’s on the morning of the tenth ofJune 1688 , the House of Stuart might, perhaps, now bereigning in our island. But it is easier to keep a crown than toregain one. It might be true that a calumnious fable had donemuch to bring about the Revolution. But it by no meansfollowed that the most complete refutation of that fable wouldbring about a Restoration. Not a single lady crossed the seain obedience to James’s call. His Queen was safely deliveredof a daughter; but this event produced no perceptible effect onthe state of public feeling in England. *tons’"" Meanwhile the preparations for his expedition were goingmade in on fast. He was on the point of setting out for the place ofti> repel embarkation before the English government w'as at all aware ofinvasion. <j an g er which was impending. It had been long knownindeed that many thousands of Irish were assembled inNormandy; but it was supposed that they had beenassembled merely that they might be mustered and drilledbefore they were sent to Flanders, Piedmont, and Cata-lonia.** Now, however, intelligence, arriving from many

* Life of James, ii.474.

** See the Monthly Mercuries of the spring of 1692.