UNDER CHARLES THE SECOND.

257

might be overpowered, the palace forced, the King a prisonerin the hands ofhis mutinous subjects. At Oxford there was nosuch danger. The University was devoted to the crown; andthe gentry of the neighbourhood were generally Tories. Here,therefore, the opposition had more reason than the King toapprehend violence.

The elections were sharply contested. The Whigs stillcomposed a majority of the House of Commons: but it wasplain that the Tory spirit was fast rising throughout thecountry. It should seem that the sagacious and versatileShaftesbury ought to have foreseen the coming change, and tohave consented to the compromise which the court offered:but he appears to have utterly forgotten his old tactics. Insteadof making dispositions which, in the worst event, would havesecured his retreat, he took up a position in which it was ne-cessary that he should either conquer or perish. Perhaps hishead, strong as it was, had been turned by popularity, by suc-cess, and by the excitement of conflict. Perhaps he hadspurred his party till he could no longer curb it, and was reallyhurried on headlong by those whom he seemed to guide.

The eventful day arrived. The meeting at Oxford re-sembled rather that of a Polish Diet than that of an EnglishParliament. The Whig members were escorted by greatnumbers of their armed and mounted tenants and serving men,who exchanged looks of defiance with the royal Guards. Theslightest provocation might, under such circumstances, haveproduced a civil war; but neither side dared to strike the firstblow. The King again offered to consent to any thing but theExclusion Bill. The Commons were -determined to acceptnothing but the Exclusion Bill. In a few days the Parliamentwas again dissolved.

The King had triumphed. The reaction, which had begunsome months before the meeting of the Houses at Oxford, nowwent rapidly on. The nation, indeed, was still hostile toMacaulay, History. I. |7

CHAP.

II.

Parlia-menlheldatOxfnrd,and dis-solved.

Tory

reaction.