JAMES THE SECOND.

The French government offered a reward of five hundredpistoles to any who would seize him. Nor was it easy for himto escape notice; for his broad Scotch accent, his tall andlean figure, his lantern jaws, the gleam of his sharp eyeswhich were always overhung by his wig, his cheeks inflamedby an eruption, his shoulders deformed by a stoop, and hisgait distinguished from that of other men by a peculiar shuffle,made him remarkable wherever he appeared. But, thoughhe was, asitseemed, pursued with peculiar animosity, it waswhispered that this animosity was feigned, and that the of-ficers of justice had secret orders not to see him. That hewas really a bitter malecontent can scarcely be doubted. Butthere is strong reason to believe that he provided for his ownsafety by pretending at Whitehall to be a spy on the Whigs,and by furnishing the government with just so much informa-tion as sufficed to keep up his credit. This hypothesisfurnishes a simple explanation of what seemed to his as-sociates to be his unnatural recklessness and audacity. Beinghimself out of danger, he always gave his vote for the mostviolent and perilous course, and sneered very complacentlyat the pusillanimity of men who, not having taken the in-famous precautions on which he relied, were disposed tothink twice before they placed life, and objects dearer thanlife, on a single hazard.*

As soon as he was in the Low Countries he began to formnew projects against the English government, and foundamong his fellow emigrants men ready to listen to his evilcounsels. Monmouth, however, stood obstinately aloof;and, without the help of Monmouth’s immense popularity, itwas impossible to effect anything. Yet such was the im-patience and rashness of the exiles that they tried to find

* Burnet, i. 542.; Wood. Atb. Ox. under the name of Owen; Absalomand Achitophel, part. ii.; Eachard, iii. 682. 691.; Sprat’s True Account,passim; Nonconformist’s Memorial; North’s Examen, 399.