JAMES THE SECOND*

359

effects by bestowing some guineas on the zealous Protestants chap.who had, without any legal authority, assumed the office of - 16S8 ;-inquisitors. But in all this confusion, which lasted severaldays and extended over many counties, not a single RomanCatholic lost his life. The mob showed no inclination to blood,except in the case of Jeffreys; and the hatred which that badman inspired had more affinity with humanity than with ,cruelty.*

Many years later Hugh Speke affirmed that the Irish Nightwas his work, that he had prompted the rustics who raisedLondon, and that he was the author of the letters which hadspread dismay through the country. His assertion is not in-trinsically improbable: but it rests on no evidence except hisown word. He was a man quite capable of committing such avillany, and quite capable also of falsely boasting that ho hadcommitted it.**

At London William was impatiently expected: for it wasnot doubted that his vigour and ability would speedily restoreorder and security. There was however some delay for whichthe Prince cannot justly be blamed. His original intentionhad been to proceed from Hungerford to Oxford, where hewas assured of an honourable and affectionate reception: butthe arrival of the deputation from Guildhall induced himto change his intention and to hasten directly towards thecapital. On the way he learned that Feversham, in pur-suance of the King’s orders, had dismissed the royal army,and that thousands of soldiers, freed from restraint and desti-tute of necessaries, were scattered over the counties throughwhich the road to London lay. It was therefore impossiblefor William to proceed slenderly attended without greatdanger, not only to his own person, about which he was notmuch in the habit of being solicitous, but also to the great in-terests which were under his care. It was necessary that heshould regulate his own movements by the movements of histroops; and troops could then move but slowly over the high-ways of England in midwinter. He was, on this occasion, a

* Clarke’s Life of James, ii. 25 S.

" Secret History of the Revolution.