THE GREAT REBELLION i8i 



still .suspended here, over one of the doorways. A 

 fitting place this, then, for that gathering of the 

 King's Commissioners who came to Littlecote in 

 December, 1G88. The occasion was an historic one. 

 James the Second was tottering upon his throne, and 

 the Prince of Orange, invited to these shores to 

 protect the civil and religious liberties of the nation, 

 had marched up with his Dutchmen from his landing 

 in the West Country. No man knew what would be 

 the course of events, because not one of those con- 

 cerned in that memorable crisis knew his own mind, 

 from the King and his adherents on the one side, to 

 the Prince and his partisans on the other. 



The two j)arties met at Hungerford on December 8. 

 On the following day, Sunday, the Commissioners 

 dined at Littlecote, and then and there the fate of 

 the kingdom was settled, quite amicably. The old 

 Hall was crowded with Peers and Generals — Halifax, 

 the judicious " trimmer," whose cautious diplomacy 

 o-uided the crisis throuoh to its solution without 

 bloodshed ; Burnet, Nottingham, Shrewsbury, and 

 Oxford, all waiting upon events. Halifax, the partisan 

 of the King, seized the opportunity of extracting 

 from Burnet all he knew and thought. " Do you 

 wish to get the King into your power ? " he asked 

 the Bishop. " Not at all," replied Burnet : " we 

 would not do the least harm to his person." " And 

 if he were to go away ? " slyly insinuated Halifax. 

 " There is nothing so much to be wished," whispered 

 the Bishop, apprehending his meaning ; and so James 

 slunk away, and William of Orange reigned in his 

 stead. 



