144

HISTOltY OP ENGLAND.

CHAP,

XII.

1689 .

remodelled. The magistrates were men of low station and cha-racter. Among them was only one person of Anglosaxon cx.traction; and he had turned Papist. In such rulers the in-habitants could place no confidence.* The Bishop, EzekielHopkins, resolutely adhered to the doctrine of nonresistancewhich he had preached during manyyears, andexhorted his flockto go patiently to the slaughter rather than incur the guilt ofdisobeying the Lord’s Anointed.** Antrim was meanwhile draw-ing nearer and nearer. At length the citizens saw from thewalls his troops arrayed on the opposite shore of the Foyle.There was then no bridge: but there was a ferry which kept upa constant communication between the two banks of the river;and by this ferry a detachment from Antrim’s regiment crossed.The officers presented themselves at the gate, produced a war-rant directed to the Mayor and Sheriffs, and demanded ad-mittance and quarters for his Majesty’s soldiers.

Just at this moment thirteen young apprentices, most ofwhom appear, from their names, to have been of Scottish birthor descent, flew to the guard room, armed themselves, seizedthe keys of the city, rushed to the Ferry Gate, closed it in theface of the King’s officers, and let down the portcullis. James

* My authority for this unfavourable account of the corporation is anepic poem entitled the Londeriad. This extraordinary work must havebeen written very soon after the events to which it relates; for it is dedi-cated to Robert Rochfort, Speaker of the House of Commons; and Kochfortwas Speaker from 1095 to 1609. The poet had no invention; he hadevidently a minute knowledge of the city which lie celebrated; and hisdoggerel is consequently not without historical value. lie says:

“For burgesses and freemen they had choseBroguenmkers, butchers, raps, and such as those:

In all the corporation not a manOf British parents, except Buchanan.”

This Buchanan is afterwards described as

“A knave all o’er.

For he had learned to tell his beads before.”

** See a sermon preached by him at Dublin on Jan. 31. 3669. The textis “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.”