330

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

chap. had promised to act as a spy upon them; that he had thus~i688. — obtained admittance to the royal closet, had vowed fidelity,had been promised large pecuniary rewards, and had pro-cured blank passes which enabled him to travel backwardsacross the hostile lines. All these things he protested thathe had done solely in order that he might, unsuspected, aima deadly blow at the government, and produce a violentoutbreak of popular feeling against the Roman Catholics.The forged proclamation he claimed as one of his contri-vances: but whether his claim were well founded may bedoubted. He delayed to make it so long that we may reason-ably suspect him of having waited for the death of those whocould confute him; and he produced no evidence but his own.*Risings.in While these things happened in London, every post from

parls^f ever y P art °f country brought tidings of some new in-thc surrection. Lumley had seized Newcastle. The inhabitantscountry. j ia( j -welcomed him with transport. The statue of the King,which stood on a lofty pedestal of marble, had been pulleddown and hurled into the Tyne. The third of December waslong remembered at Hull as the town taking day. That placehad a garrison commanded by Lord Langdale, a Roman Ca-tholic. The Protestant officers concerted with the magistracya plan of revolt: Langdale and his adherents were arrested;and soldiers and citizens united in declaring for the Protestantreligion and a free Parliament. **

The Eastern counties were up. The Duke of Norfolk,attended by three hundred gentlemen armed and mounted,appeared in the stately market-place of Norwich. The Mayorand Aldermen met him there, and engaged to stand by himagainstPopery and arbitrary power.*** Lord Herbert of Clier-bury and Sir Edward Harley took up arms in Worcestershire.f

* Sec Ihe Secret History of the Revolution, by Hugh Speke, 1715.In Ihe London Library is a copy of this rare work with a manuscript notewhich seems to be in Speke’s own hand.

** Brand's History of Newcastle; Tickell’s History of Hull.

*** An account of what passed at Norwich may still be seen in severalcollections on the original broadside. See also the Fourth Collection ofPapers, 1688.

+ Clarke’s Life of James, ii. 233.; MS. Memoir of the Harley familyin the Mackintosh Collection.