98

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

CHAP.

xix.

16927 "

the less dangerous. Indeed a flighty and half witted man is thevery instrument generally preferred by cunning politicians whenvery hazardous work is to be done. No shrewd calculator would,for any bribe, however enormous, have exposed himself to thefate of Chatel, of Ravaillac, or of Gerarts.*

Grandval secured, as he conceived, the assistance of twoadventurers, Dumont, a "Walloon, andLeefdale, a Dutchman.In April, soon after William had arrived in the Low Countries,the murderers were directed to repair to their post. Dumontwas then in Westphalia. Grandval and Leefdale were at Paris.Uden in North Brabant was fixed as the place where the threewere to meet and whence they were to proceed together to theheadquarters of the allies. Before Grandval left Paris he paida visit to Saint Germains, and was presented to James and toMary of Modena. “I have been informed,” said James, “ofthe business. If you and your companions do me this service,you shall never want.”

After this audience Grandval set out on his journey. Hehad not the faintest suspicion that he had been betrayed bothby the accomplice who accompanied him and by the accomplicexvhom he xvas going to meet. Dumont and Leefdale xvere notenthusiasts. They cared nothing for the restoration of James,the grandeur of Lewis, or the ascendency of the Church ofPome. It was plain to every man of common sense that, whetherthe design succeeded or failed, the reward of the assassinswould probably be to he disowned, with affected abhorrence,by the Courts of Versailles and Saint Germains, and to be tornwith redhot pincers, smeared with melted lead, and dismem-bered by four horses. To vulgar natures the prospect of such amartyrdom was not alluring. Both these men, therefore, had,almost at the same time, though, as far as appears, without

* Langhorne, the chief lay agent of the Jesuits in England, always,as he owned to Tillotson, selected tools on this principle. Burnet, i. 230.