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HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

CHAP.

VIII.

1687 .

employed for ends less important than the conversion of aheretical kingdom. It had got abroad that some of the King’sadvisers, and even the King himself, had meditated schemesfor defrauding the Lady Mary, either wholly or in part, ofher rightful inheritance. A suspicion, not indeed well foundedbut by no means so absurd as is commonly supposed, tookpossession of the public mind. The folly of some Roman Ca-tholics confirmed the vulgar prejudice. They spoke of theauspicious event as strange, as miraculous, as an exertion ofthe same Divine power which had made Sarah proud andhappy in Isaac, and had given Samuel to the prayers ofHannah. Mary’s mother, the Duchess of Modena, had latelydied. A short time before her death, she had, it was said,implored the Virgin of Loretto, with fervent vows and richofferings, to bestow a son on James. The King himself had,in the preceding August, turned aside from his progress tovisit the Holy Well, and had there besought Saint Winifredto obtain for him that boon without which his great designs forthe propagation of the true faith could be but imperfectlyexecuted. The imprudent zealots who dwelt on these talesforetold with confidence that the unborn infant would be aboy, and offered to back their opinion by laying twentyguineas to one. Heaven, they affirmed, would not have in-terfered but for a great end. One fanatic announced that theQueen would give birth to twins, of whom the elder wouldbe King of England, and the younger Pope of Rome. Marycould not conceal the delight whith which she heard this pro-phecy; and her ladies found that they could not gratify hermore than by talking of it. The Roman Catholics would haveacted more wisely if they had spoken of the pregnancy as of anatural event, and if they had borne with moderation their un-expected good fortune. Their insolent triumph excited thepopular indignation. Their predictions strengthened thepopular suspicions. From the Prince and Princess of Den-mark down to porters and laundresses nobody alluded to thepromised birth without a sneer. The wits of London describedthe new miracle in rhymes which, it may well be supposed,were not the most delicate. The rough country squires roared

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