701 
ENGLAND. 
Dutch, now determined to feek occafion to quarrel with 
France. To effedt his purpofes, he filled the vacant of¬ 
fices of the Hate with feveral of the high-church party, 
and affedfing opennefs and fondefcenfion to the parlia¬ 
ment, informed them that his foreign negociations for 
the prefervation of peace and fecurity, were likely to 
prove ineffectual. 
Parliament, however, obferving that the protection of 
the feven united provinces was the principal object Wil¬ 
liam had in view, requefted his majefty to continue his 
negociations ; and, to evince their refentment at the clan- 
defline partition treaty he had entered into, ordered an 
impeachment againft the marquis of Halifax, the earl of 
Portland, and lord Somers, for the’part they had taken 
in this meaftrre. Meanwhile, a petition favourable to 
the king’s views was prefented by the freeholders of 
Kent; and the clamours of the people, reinforced by a 
powerful party William had formed in the houfe of 
lords, foon taught him that he had nothing to fear from 
the averfion of the commons, to enter into any treaties 
he might judge expedient. Accordingly, after pro¬ 
roguing parliament, he again’retired to Loo, and there 
entered into a league with the emperor and the ftates- 
general, the principal objedts of which were the recovery 
of Flanders as a barrier for Holland, and of Milan as a 
fecurity for the emperor. 
Moll fortunately and opportunely for William, about 
this time died the royal exile James II. to whom, on his 
death-bed, Louis had promised that his fon fhould be ac¬ 
knowledged heir to all the Britifh dominions. In his 
laft agonies, James lifted himfelf up in his bed to thank 
his benefactor, and died, it is laid, in a tranfport of joy 
for fuch an unexpected affurance. The younr prince 
James accordingly was proclaimed, by order of Louis, 
king of Great Britain and Ireland ; but, inftead of for¬ 
warding his caufe, it only united the nation in oppofition 
to his claims, and in indignation againft France. In the 
new parliament the whig intereft was found to prepon¬ 
derate ; and William, availing himfelf of all thefe fa¬ 
vourable circumftances, eafily obtained a large fupply, 
which was followed by a vote, that no peace fhould be 
concluded with France, till reparation fhould be made to 
the king and nation for owning and declaring the pretended 
prince of Wales king of England ; and it was refolved, 
that the proportion of land forces, to adt in conjunction 
with the allies, fhould be forty thoufand effective men ; 
and forty thoufand feinten were voted for the fervice of 
the enfuing year. 
Thus every thing went on according to the king’s ut- 
moft wifhes ; and he now feerned to have obtained a com¬ 
plete triumph over the weaknefs of faction, when he was 
fnatched away by the unrelenting arm of death. His 
health had been declining for above a year, which, inftead 
of abating his refolution, urged him on Jo redouble his 
efforts to engage England in the fchentes he had pro¬ 
jected. This objeCt made him conceal the inroads which 
he felt were making in his conftitution ; and, though in 
a _w ea k and languifhing ftate, he ftill continued the exer- 
cife of hunting. But while engaged in the fport, his 
collar bone was broken by a fall from his horfe, and this 
haftened his diffblution. He died at Kenlington, without 
ilFue, on Sunday the 8th of March, 1702, of an afthma 
and fever, in the thirteenth year of his reign. His ami¬ 
able confort, Mary, had fallen a viCtim to the fmall pox 
a few years before. 
I he character of William III. having been either dif- 
torted by prejudice, or too highly exalted by partiality, 
becomes the more difficult to appreciate. He was in his 
perfon of middle ftze, ill (haped in his limbs, fomewhat 
round in his fhoulders, light-brown in the colour of his 
hair, and in his complexion. The lines of his face were 
hard, and his note aquiline ; but a fine penetrating eye 
threw a gj.ow on his countenance, which tempered its fe- 
verity, and rendered his features in fome meafure agree¬ 
able. 1 hough his conftitution was weak, delicate, and 
Vol. VI. No. 384. - 
infirm, he loved the manly exercifes, and often indulged 
himfelf in the pleafures, and even fometimes in the ex- 
cefles, of the table. In his private character he was 
frequently fevere with regard to trifles ; but when the 
fubjeCt rofe equal to his mind, and in the tumult of bat¬ 
tle, he was dignified, cool, and collected. Though he 
was apt to form bad impreflions, which were not eafily 
removed, he was neither vindictive in his difpofition, nor 
obftinate in his refentment. NegleCted in his education, 
and perhaps deftitute by nature of an elegance of mind, 
he had no tafte for literature, none for the fciences, none 
for the beautiful arts. He paid no attention to mufic, he 
underftood no poetry ; he difregarded learning ; he en¬ 
couraged no men of letters, no artifts of any kind. In 
fortification and the mathematics he had a confiderable 
degree of knowledge. He thoroughly underftood mili¬ 
tary operations by land ; but he neither poffefled nor pre¬ 
tended to any fkill in mari ime affairs. In the diftribu- 
tion of favours he was cold and injudicious. I11 the pu- 
niftiment of crimes, often too eafy, and fometimes too fe¬ 
vere. He was parfimonious where he fhould have been 
liberal ; where he ought to be fparing, frequently pro. 
fufe. In his temper he was filent and referved, in his 
addrefs ungraceful; and though not deftitute of diftimu- 
lation, and qualified for intrigue, lefs apt to conceal his 
paffions than hisdefigns: thefe defeCts, rather than vices, 
of the mind, combining with an indifference about hu¬ 
mouring mankind through their ruling pallions, rendered 
him extremely unfit for gaining the aff'edtions of the 
Englifh nation. His reign, therefore, was crowded with 
mortifications of various kinds ; the difcontented parties 
among his fubjeCts found no difficulty in eftranging the 
minds of the people from a piince pofteffed of fo few ta¬ 
lents to, make him popular. He was trufted, perhaps, 
lefs than he deferved, by the moft obfequious of his par¬ 
liaments ; but it feems upon the whole apparent, that 
the nation adhered to his government, more from a fear of 
the return of his p.redeceffor, than from any attachment 
to his own perfon, or refpeCt for his right to the throne. 
Mary, his confort, was in her perfon tall and well pro¬ 
portioned, with an oval vifage, lively eyes, agreeable fea¬ 
tures, a mild afpeCr, and an air of dignity. Her appre- 
henfion was clear, her memory tenacious, and her judg¬ 
ment fblid. She was a zealous proteftant, fcrupuloufly 
exaCf in all the duties of devotion, of an even temper, of 
a calm and mild converfation ; Ihe was ruffled by no paf- 
fion, and feems to have been a ftranger to the emotions of 
natural affedtion ; for flie afcended the throne from which 
her father had been depofed, and treated her lifter as an 
alien to her blood. In a word, Mary feems to have im¬ 
bibed the cold difpofition of her hufband, and to have 
centered all her ambition in deferving the epithet of an 
humble and obedient wife. She died on the 2Sth of De. 
cember, 1694, aged 33. 
Anne, princefs of Denmark, filler to queen Mary, and 
daughter of James II. afcended the throne on the deatli 
of William III. A. D. 1702, with the general approba¬ 
tion of all parties. She was now in the thirty-eighth, 
year of her age, and by Iter hulband, George prince of 
Denmark, had brought a numerous offspring ; but they 
all died in infancy, except the duke of Gloucefter, who 
reached the age of eleven, and was juft beginning to give 
high promifes of future worth, when he alfo died a pre¬ 
mature death. 
The late king, whofe whole life had been fpent in one 
continued oppofition to the king of France, and to all 
whofe politics conlifted in forming alliances againft him, 
died at the eve of a war with that monarch. The pre- 
fent queen, who generally took the advice of her mi- 
niftry in every important tfanfadtion, was upon this occa¬ 
fion urged by oppofing counfels ; a part of her miniffry 
were for war, while another part as earneftly declared for 
peace. The counfel and opinion of the former, how¬ 
ever, preponderated; the queen refolved to follow their 
advice, and communicated her intention to the houfe of 
8 commons, 
