688 ENG 
height between the two houfes, that the king thought it 
advifeable to diffolve them. 
The want of money compelled Charles to fumraon a 
new parliament, A.D. 1679; but being foon alarmed at 
their refractory difpofition, in order to appeafe his people, 
he defired the duke of York to withdraw beyond fea, that 
no further fufpicion of popifh counfels. might remain. 
The duke readily complied, on obtaining an order for 
this purpofe from the king, left it fiiould be fuppofed he 
fled from fear, and a promife that he would fatisfy him, 
as well as the public, in regard to the illegitimacy of the 
duke of Monmouth, a natural fon of the king’s by Lucy 
Walters, and born about ten years before the reftoration. 
This nobleman poffefTed all the qualities that could en¬ 
gage the afFeClions of the people ; and in proportion as 
the duke of York was the objeft of hatred on account of 
his religion, his nephew became more and more beloved; 
nor were there wanting officious friends, who encouraged 
him to hope that a contract of marriage had paffed be¬ 
tween the king and his mother, and that, in confequence, 
lie had ftrong pretenfions to the crown. Charles, how¬ 
ever, to put an end to all intrigues of this kind, as well 
as to remove the duke of York’s apprehenfions, in full 
council made a declaration of Monmouth’s illegitimacy, 
on which the duke of York cheerfully complied with the 
king’s defire, and retired to Bruffels. 
Parliament, however, ftill chofe to be jealous and dif- 
fatisfied. The impeachment of Danby was revived, and 
the king, in order to 1'creen his minifter, granted him a 
full pardon ; but it was pretended that no pardon of the 
crown could be pleaded in bar of an impeachment, and 
fo refolute was the parliament in fupport of its preten¬ 
fions, that Danby was committed a clofe prifoner to the 
Tower. To prevent a bill of exclufion againft the duke 
his brother, which was projected, Charles concerted fome 
limitations, which deprived the fuccelTor, if a papift, of 
the chief branches of royalty ; but thefe conceffions were 
rejected by the influence of Shaftefbury, who had united 
himfelf to the popular party ; and a bill was brought in, 
declaring that the fovereignty of thefe kingdoms, upon 
the king’s death or refignation, fiiould devolve to the 
perfon next in fuccefiion after the duke ; and that all who 
fupported his title fiiould be deemed rebels and traitors. 
This important bill palled the lower houfe by a majority 
of feventy-nine votes. At the fame time the Handing 
army, and the king’s guards, were voted by the commons 
to be illegal ; and that bulwark of perfonal and national 
liberty, the habeas corpus act, which provided againft 
arbitrary imprifonment, palled into a law the fame fefiion. 
Meanwhile the impeachment of the five catholic lords, 
and the earl of Danby, was carried on with vigour; but 
a difpute arifing between the two houfes about allowing 
the bifhops to vote on the trial of Danby, furnifhed the 
king with a pretext of dilTolving the parliament. This 
vigorous meafure difappointed all the projects of the mal¬ 
contents ; but even the recefs of parliament afforded no 
interruption to the profecution of the catholics accufed 
of the plot. On the molt incoherent and doubtful evi¬ 
dence, Whitebread, provincial of the jefuits, Fenwic, 
Gavan, Turner, and Harcourt, were condemned and exe¬ 
cuted ; and it was not till the trial of fir George Wake- 
man, the queen’s phyfician, that the informers received 
a check. This gentleman was acquitted ; and an inde¬ 
lible (lain was fixed on Oates, Bedloe, and their abettors. 
The difcontents in England were communicated to Scot¬ 
land ; and an incident there roufed the Scottifli cove¬ 
nanters from their inactivity. A company of the latter 
had waylaid, with an intention to kill, one Carmichael, 
an officer of the archbifhop of St. Andrew’s, who had 
rendered himfelf obnoxious by his feverity. At the in- 
flant they were looking for their prey, the archbilhop 
himfelf paffed by in his coach ; and, interpreting this inci¬ 
dent as a declaration of the fecret purpofe of Providence 
again!! him, without further deliberation they dragged 
him from his coach, and piercing him with many wounds, 
LAN D. 
left him dead on the fpot, and difperfed. This atrocious 
aCtion gave rife to a violent perfecution againft the cove, 
nanters; who now, inflamed by oppreffion, met to cele¬ 
brate their worfhip with arms in their hands ; and having 
gained fome partial fucceffes, they made themfelves mat¬ 
ters of Glafgow, difpofleffed the eftablifhed clergy, and 
iflued proclamations, declaring that they fought againft; 
the king’s fupremacy, againft popery and prelacy, and 
againft a popifii fucceflor. The king, apprehenfive of 
the confequences of this infurreCtion, difpatched Mon¬ 
mouth into Scotland, with a fmall body of Englifh ca¬ 
valry. That nobleman being joined by fome native 
troops, marched with celerity againft the enemy, who 
had taken poft near Bothwell-caftle. Their numbers 
never exceeded eight thoufand, and being without offi¬ 
cers and experience, they were fpeedily routed, with the 
lofs of feven hundred killed, and twelve hundred taken 
prifoners. Monmouth treated thefe with great humanity, 
and an aCt of indemnity was foon after paifed. 
When thefe popular difcontents had fpent themfelves, 
Charles, by his amiable manners and addrefs, found means 
to ftrengthen his party ; and happening to fall ill at Wind- 
for, fuch an affectionate regard was (hewn him, that, to 
life an expreflion of fir William Temple, “ the king’s 
death was regarded as the end of the world.” The duke 
of York had been privately fent for ; but when he arrived, 
the king was out of danger. The journey, however, was 
attended with important confequences. He prevailed on 
the king to difgrace Monmouth, whofe machinations were 
now known and avowed ; and he obtained leave himfelf 
to retire into Scotland, on pretence of quieting the appre¬ 
henfions of the Englifh, but in reality with a view of fe- 
cu ring his intereft in that kingdom. About this time, 
alfo, feveral new changes took place in the cabinet; for 
the king was equally unfteady with regard to men and 
meafures. Hyde, Sunderland, and Godolphin, feemed at 
prefent to poflefs his chief confidence. 
From the encouragement which had been given to in¬ 
formers, the nation had got into a vein of credulity; and 
one Dangerfield, a fellow of infamous character, was the 
author of a new plot, called the meal-tub plot , from the 
place in which fome papers relative to it were found. 
This affair is equally as myfterious as thofe which pre¬ 
ceded it. It only appears, that Dangerfield, under pre¬ 
tence of betraying the confpiracies of the prefbyterians, 
had been countenanced by iome catholics of condition, 
and had even gained admiflion to the duke of York. 
Which fide he originally intended to cheat is uncertain ; 
but, finding the nation more inclined to believe in a popifh 
than a prefbyterian plot, he fell in with the prevailing 
humour. The duke of Monmouth, juft then returning 
without leave, ferved to renew the fermentation. The 
crown was now, A.D. 1680, attacked by tumultuous peti¬ 
tions : thofe who fupported the throne were called abhor, 
rers, from expreffing their deepeft abhorrence of popular 
encroachments ; and the oppofite party was denominated 
petitioners. This is the epoch too of the epithets, whig 
and tory. The court party reproached their antagonifts 
witli refembling the fanatical conventiclers in Scotland, 
who had obtained the appellation of wkigs ; and the 
country party, on the other hand, found a refemblance 
between the courtiers and the popifii banditti in Ireland, 
to whom the term of tory was affixed. Hence the origin 
of thofe two proftituted words. 
Charles finding the nation inveterate againft popery, 
affefled great zeal the fame way ; but his artifice did not 
wholly fucceed. The city of London took the lead, in 
oppofition to the court; and Shaftefbury, who by turns 
was a whig and a tory, as it bed fuited his views, ap¬ 
pearing in Weftminfter hall, attended by feveral perfons 
of diftinftion, prefented to the grand jury of Middlefex 
reafons for indithing the duke of York as a popifh recu- 
fant. This bufinefs, however, was quafhed ; but Shaftef¬ 
bury obtained the end for which he had undertaken this 
bold meafure : he proved to his followers that there 
2 could 
