JAMES THE SECONDi

that the Lord Treasurer had consented to be instructed in thedoctrines of Popery had spread fast through London. 'Patrick and Jane had been seen going in at that mysteriousdoor ■which led to Chiffinch’s apartments. Some Roman Ca-tholics about the court had, indiscreetly or artfully, told all,and more than all, that they knew. The Tory churchmenwaited anxiously for fuller information. They were mor-tified to think that their leader should even have pretended towaver in his opinion; but they could not believe that he wouldstoop to be a renegade. The unfortunate minister, torturedat once by his fierce passions and his low desires, annoyedby the censures of the public, annoyed by the hints which hehad received from Barillon, afraid of losing character, afraidof losing office, repaired to the royal closet. He was de-termined to keep his place, if it could be kept by any villanybut one. He would pretend to be shaken in his religiousopinions, and to be half a convert: he would promise to givestrenuous support to that policy which he had hitherto op-posed: but, if he were driven to extremity, he would refuseto change his religion. He began, therefore, by telling theKing that the business in which His Majesty took so muchinterest was not sleeping, that Jane and Giflard were engagedin consulting books on the points in dispute between theChurches, and that, when these researches were over, it wouldbe desirable to have another conference. Then he complainedbitterly that all the town was apprised of what ought to havebeen carefully concealed, and that some persons, who, fromtheir station, might be supposed to be well informed, reportedstrange things as to the royal intentions. “It is whispered.”he said, “that, if I do not do as your Majesty would have me,I shall not be suffered to continue in my present station.”The King said, with some general expressions of kindness,that it was difficult to prevent people from talking, and thatloose reports were not to be regarded. These vague phrasesMacanluy, History. II. 25

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