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HISTORY OP ENGLAND.

chap, had once justified, and which necessity alone could justify,

—“— were obstinately used long after the necessity had ceased toexist, and were not abandoned till vulgar prejudice had main-tained a contest of many years against reason. But in thetime of James reason and vulgar prejudice were on the sameside. The fanatical and ignorant wished to exclude the Ro-man Catholic from office because he worshipped stocks andstones, because he had the mark of the Beast, because he hadburned down London, because he had strangled Sir Ed-mondsbury Godfrey; and the most judicious and tolerantstatesman, while smiling at the delusions which imposed onthe populace, was led, by a very different road, to the sameconclusion.

The great object of William now was to unite in one bodythe numerous sections of the community which regarded himas their common head. In this work he had several able andtrusty coadjutors, among whom two were preeminently useful,Burnet and Dykvelt.

Enmity of The services ofBurnet indeed it was necessary to employ

Burnet' 0 w ith some caution. The kindness with which he had beenwelcomed at the Hague had excited the rage of James. Maryreceived from her father two letters filled with invectivesagainst the insolent and seditious divine whom she protected.But these accusations had so little effect on her that she sentback answers dictated by Burnet himself. At length, in Ja-nuary 1687, the King had recourse to stronger measures.Skelton, who had represented the English government in theUnited Provinces, was removed to Paris, and was succeededby Albeville, the weakest and basest of all the members of theJesuitical cabal. Money was Albeville’s one object; and hetook it from all who offered it. He was paid at once by Franceand by Holland. Nay, he stooped below even the miserabledignity of corruption, and accepted bribes so small that theyseemed better suited to a porter or a lacquey than to an Envoywho had been honoured with an English baronetcy and aforeign marquisate. On one occasion he pocketed very com-placently a gratuity of fifty pistoles as the price of a servicewhich he had rendered to the States General. This man had