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HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

chap, could with singular dexterity assume. The Princess Anne,——— he said, had commanded him to assure her illustrious relativesat the Hague that she was fully resolved by God’s help ratherto lose her life than to be guilty of apostasy. As for himself,his places and the royal favour were as nothing to him in com-parison with his religion. He concluded by declaring in loftylanguage that, though he could not pretend to have lived thelife of a saint, he should be found ready, on occasion, to diethe death of a martyr. *

zuie- Dykvelt’s mission had succeeded so well that a pretence

mission, ■whs soon found for sending another agent to continue thework which had been so auspiciously commenced. The newEnvoy, afterwards the founder of a noble English house whichbecame extinct in our own time, was an illegitimate cousingerman of William; and bore a title taken from the lordshipof Zulestein. Zulestein’s relationship to the House of Orangegave him importance in the public eye. His bearing was thatof a gallant soldier. He was indeed in diplomatic talents andknowledge far inferior to Dykvelt: but even this inferiorityhad its advantages. A military man, who had never appearedto trouble himself about political affairs, could, without ex-citing any suspicion, hold with the English aristocracy anintercourse which, if he had been a noted master of statecraft, would have been jealously watched. Zulestein, aftera short absence, returned to his country charged with lettersand verbal messages not less important than those which hadbeen entrusted to his predecessor. A regular correspondencewas from this time established between the Prince and theopposition. Agents of various ranks passed and repassedbetween the Thames and the Hague. Among these a Scotch-man, of some parts and great activity, named Johnstone,was the most useful. He was cousin of Burnet, and son of aneminent covenanter who had, soon after the Restoration,been put to death for treason, and who was honoured by hisparty as a martyr.

* The formal epistle which Dykvelt carried back to the Stales is inthe Archives at the Hague. The other letters mentioned in this para-graph are given by Dalrymple. App. to Book V.