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HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

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chap, tone had been that of a man who remembered that a day of" 7 63ai reckoning might come. He had indeed strong claims to in-dulgence: for it was hardly to be expected that any humanimpudence would hold out without flagging through such atask in the presence of such a bar and of such an auditory.The members of the Jesuitical cabal, however, blamed hiswant of spirit; the Chancellor pronounced him a beast; andit was generally believed that a new Chief Justice would beappointed.* But no change was made. It would indeedhave been no easy matter to supply Wright’s place. Themany lawyers who were far superior to him in parts andlearning were, with scarcely an exception, hostile to thedesigns of the government; and the very few lawyers whosurpassed him in turpitude and effrontery were, with scarcelyan exception, to be found only in the lowest ranks of the pro-fession, and would have been incompetent to conduct theordinary business of the Court of King’s Bench. Williams,it is true, united all the qualities which James required in amagistrate. But the services of Williams were needed at thebar; and, had he been moved thence, the crown would havebeen left without the help of any advocate even of thethird rate.

Nothing had amazed or mortified the King more than theenthusiasm which the Dissenters had shown in the cause ofthe Bishops. Penn, who, though he had himself sacrificedwealth and honours to his conscientious scruples, seems tohave imagined that nobody but himself had a conscience,imputed the discontent of the Puritans to envy and dissatis-fied ambition. They had not had their share of the benefitspromised by the Declaration of Indulgence: none of themhad been admitted to any high and honourable post; andtherefore it was not strange that they were jealous of theRoman Catholics. Accordingly, within a week after the greatverdict had been pronounced in Westminster Hall, Sila3Titus, a noted Presbyterian, a vehement Exclusionist, anda manager of Stafford’s impeachment, was invited to occupy

* Ellis Correspondence, July 10. 1G88; Clarendon’s Diary, Aug. 3,

1688.