JAMES THE SECOND.

317

Prince George and Ormond were invited to sup with the C, I , * P -King at Andover. The meal must have been a sad one. The I688 ,King was overwhelmed by his misfortunes. His son-in-law Desertionwas the dullest of companions. “ I have tried Prince George g e l^ cesober,” said Charles the Second; “and I have tried him «nddrunk; and, drunk or sober, there is nothing in him.

Ormond, who was through life taciturn and bashful, was notlikely to be in high spirits at such a moment. At length therepast terminated. The King retired to rest. Horses werein waiting for the Prince and Ormond, who, as soon as theyleft the table, mounted and rode off. They were accompaniedby the Earl of Drumlanrig, eldest son of the Duke of Queens-berry. The defection of this young nobleman was no in-significant event. For Qucensberry was the head of theProtestant Episcopalians of Scotland, a class compared withwhom the bitterest English Tories might be called Whiggish;and Drumlanrig himself was Lieutenant Colonel of Dundee’sregiment, a band more detested by the Whigs than evenKirke’s lambs. This fresh calamity was announced to theKing on the following morning. He was less disturbed bythe news than might have been expected. The shock whichhe had undergone twenty-four hours before had prepared himfor almost any disaster; and it was impossible to be seriouslyangry with Prince George, who was hardly an accountablebeing, for having yielded to the arts of such a tempter asChurchill. “WhatI” said James, “Is Est-il-possible gonetoo? After all, a good trooper would have been a greaterloss.”** In truth the King’s whole anger seems, at this time,to have been concentrated, and not without cause, on oneobject. He set off for London, breathing vengeance againstChurchill, and learned, on arriving, a new crime of thearch deceiver, The Princess Anne had been some hoursmissing.

Anne, who had no will but that of the Churchills, had ofbeen induced by them to notify under her own hand to cessAnne.

* Dartmouth's note on Burnet, i. 643.

** Clarendon’s Diary, Nov. 20.; Clarke’s Life of James, ii. 224.;

Prince George’s letter to the King has often been printed.