WILLIAM AND MART.

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While the Declaration was the subject of general conversa- chap.tion in England, military operations recommenced on the Con—^—tinent. The preparations of France had been such as amazed Frcncheven those who estimated most highly her resources and the pycpor.-abilities of her rulers. Both her agriculture and her commerce Hie cam-were suffering. The vineyards of Burgundy, the interminable pa '° n ‘cornfields of the Beauce, had failed to yield their increase: thelooms of Lyons were silent; and the merchant ships were rottingin the harbour of Marseilles. Yet the monarchy presented toits numerous enemies a front more haughty and more menacingthan'ever. Lewis had determined not to make any advancetowards a reconciliation with the new government of Englandtill the whole strength of his realm had been put forth in onemore effort. A mighty effort in truth it was, but too exhaustingto be repeated. He made an immense display of force at onceon the Pyrenees and on the Alps, on the Rhine and on theMeuse, in the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean. That nothing institu-might be wanting which could excite the martial ardour of a ‘bordernation eminently highspirited, he instituted, a few days before Lewis" 1he left his palace for the camp, a new military order of knight-hood , and placed it under the protection of his own sainted an-cestor and patron. The new cross of Saint Lewis shone on thebreasts of the gentlemen who had been conspicuous in thetrenches before Mons and Namur, and on the fields of Fleurus

giving an equivalent to every body who suffered by the Act of Settlement,in other words, of giving an equivalent for the fee simple of half the soil ofIreland, was obviously absurd. Middleton’s fetter will be found in Mac-pherson’s collection. I will give a sample of the language held by theWhigs on this occasion. “The Roman Catholics of Ireland,” says onewriter, “although in point of interest and profession different from us, yet,to do them right, have deserved well from the late King, though ill fromns; and for the late King to lcavo them and exclude them is such an in-stance of uncommon ingratitude that Protestants have no reason to standby a Prince that deserts his own party, and a people that have been faithfulto him and his interest to the very last.” — A short and true Relation of theIntrigues, #c., 1694.

Macaulay, History . VII.

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