JAMES THE SECOND.

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And here, if James had not been infatuated, the matter c ^j'might have stopped. The Fellows in general were not in- —^3,7dined to carry their resistance further. They were of opinionthat, by refusing to assist in the admission of the intruder,they had sufficiently proved their respect for their statutesand oaths, and that, since he was now in actual possession,they might justifiably submit to him as their head, till heshould be removed by sentence of a competent court. Onlyone Fellow, Doctor Fairfax, refused to yield even to thisextent. The Commissioners would gladly have compromisedthe dispute on these terms; and during a few hours there wasa truce which many thought likely to end in an amicablearrangement: but soon all was again in confusion. The Fel-lows found that the popular voice loudly accused them ofpusillanimity. The townsmen already talked ironically of aMagdalene conscience, and exclaimed that the brave Houghand the honest Fairfax had been betrayed and abandoned.

Still more annoying were the sneers of Obadiah Walker andhis brother renegades. This then, said those apostates, wasthe end of all the big words in which the society had declareditself resolved to stand by its lawful President and by its Pro-testant faith. While the Fellows, bitterly annoyed by thepublic censure, were regretting the modified submission whichthey had consented to make, they learned that this submissionwas by no means satisfactory to the King. It was not enough,he said, that they offered to obey the Bishop of Oxford asPresident in fact. They must distinctly admit the Commis-sion and all that had been done under it to be legal. Theymust acknowledge that they had acted undutifully; they mustdeclare themselves penitent; they must promise to behavebetter in future, must implore His Majesty’s pardon, and laythemselves at his feet. Two Fellows of whom the King hadno complaint to make, Charnock and Smith, were excusedfrom the obligation of making these degrading apologies.

Even James never committed a grosser error. The Fel-lows, already angry with themselves for having conceded somuch, and galled by the censure of the world, eagerly caughtat the opportunity which was now offered them of regaining