62 James Muilenburg 



ure. 291 As the great scheme was progressing, Burnet relates that 

 Sidney was "the man in whose hands the conduct of the whole 

 design was chiefly deposited by the prince's own order." 292 



Lord Lumley, unwilling to yield to James's demands during the 

 "closeting," resigned his commission as colonel of a regiment of 

 cavalry. 293 There is no letter in Dalrymple's collection of Dykvelt 

 letters from Lumley, but the latter was one of the chiefs in the 

 great series of conferences. Burnet mentions him as a member of 

 the Shrewsbury party. 294 In September, when Shrewsbury was 

 leaving for Holland, Lumley together with Devonshire "undertook 

 for the north" to prepare that part of the country for the schemes 

 worked out by the cabal. 295 Evelyn gives an account of a dinner 

 given by Dykvelt at which Lumley was present. 296 There is a 

 letter dated May 31 farther on in Dalrymple's collection. 297 The 

 year is not given. There is nothing in the letter which might not 

 have been written a year before. Moreover, May 31, 1687 was 

 just about the time that Dykvelt was leaving for Holland. In this 

 letter Lumley offers his services to the Prince of Orange quite as 

 effusively as the others of his party. 



The last seven characters we have mentioned here — Shrewsbury, 

 Devonshire, Danby, Compton, Russell, Sidney, and Lumley — 

 these are the men who sent the invitation to William on that 

 memorable day of June 30, 1688. 298 Their activity during the Dyk- 

 velt embassy and their receptivity to the proposals of the Prince 

 of Orange through Dykvelt deserve especial recognition, for, as 

 Klopp says, it was from this time that the great offensive was 



291 Burnet, p. 485. 



292 Ibid, idem. 



293 Luttrell, Brief Relation of State Affairs, 1678-1714, vol. i, p. 393, February, 

 1687. 



294 Burnet, p. 452. 



295 Ibid, p. 487. 



296 Evelyn, Diary, May 2, 1687, vol. iii, p. 37. 



297 Dalrymple, Letter of Lord Lumley to the Prince of Orange, May 31, p. 226. 



298 Ibid, p. 227. The signatures were given in a code of numbers. In the 

 cabinet the key to these numbers and others was written in the handwriting of 

 Sidney. Until the very end, it was uncertain just who would be willing to sign 



146 



