254

HISTORY OF ENGLAND,

chap. The rage of the hostile factions would have been suf---— ficiently violent, if it had been left to itself. But it was stu-diously exasperated by the common enemy of both. Lewisstill continued to bribe and flatter both court and opposition.He exhorted Charles to be firm: he exhorted James to raisea civil war in Scotland: he exhorted the Whigs not to flinch,and to rely with confidence on the protection of Prance.

Through all this agitation a discerning eye might haveperceived that the public opinion was gradually changing.The persecution of the lloman Catholics went on; but con-victions were no longer matters of course. A new brood offalse witnesses, among whom a villain named Dangerfieldwas the most conspicuous, infested the courts: but the storiesof these men, though better constructed than that of Oates,found less credit. Juries were no longer so easy of belief asduring the panic which had followed the murder of Godfrey;and Judges who, while the popular frenzy was at the height,had been its most obsequious instruments, now ventured toexpress some part of what they had from the first thought.Meeting At length, in October 1680, the Parliament met. Themcnifthe Whigs had so great a majority in the Commons that tlieEx-Eiciusion c i us ; on pj;u we nt through all its stages there without difficulty,■conf- th ° The King scarcely knew on what members of his own cabinetmons. pc could reckon. Hyde had been true to his Tory opinions,and had steadily supported the cause of hereditary monarchy.But Godolpliin, anxious for quiet, and believing that quietcould be restored only by concession, wished the bill to pass.Sunderland, ever false and ever short-sighted, unable todiscern the signs of approaching reaction, and anxious toconciliate the party which he believed to be irresistible,determined to vote against the court. The Duchess of Ports-mouth implored her royal lover not to rush headlong todestruction. If there were any point on which he had ascruple of conscience or of honour, it was the question of