The king, meanwhile, was sinking fast. Albemarle had arrived at Kensington from the Hague, exhausted by rapid travelling. His master kindly bade him go to rest for some hours, and then summoned him to make his report. That report was in all respects satisfactory. The States-General were in the best temper; the troops, the provisions, and the magazines were in the best order. Everything was in readiness for an early campaign. William received the intelligence with the calmness of a man whose work was done. He was under no illusion as to his danger. "I am fast drawing," he said, "to my end." His end was worthy of his life. His intellect was not for a moment clouded. His fortitude was the more admirable because he was not willing to die. He had very lately said to one of those whom he most loved, "You know that I never feared death; there have been times when I should have wished it; but, now that this great new prospect is opening before me, I do wish to stay here a little longer." Yet no weakness, no querulousness, disgraced the noble close of that noble career. To the physicians the king returned his thanks graciously and gently. "I know that you have done all that skill and learning could do for me; but the case is beyond your art, and I submit." From the words which escaped him he seemed to be frequently engaged in mental prayer. Burnet and Tenison remained many hours in the sick-room. He professed to them his firm belief in the truth of the Christian religion, and received the sacrament from their hands with great seriousness. The antechambers were crowded all night with lords and privy councillors. He ordered several of them to be called in, and exerted himself to take leave of them with a few kind and cheerful words. Among the English who were admitted to his bedside were Devonshire and Ormond. But there were in the crowd those

who felt as no Englishman could feel friends of his youth who had been true to him, and to whom he had been true, through all vicissitudes of fortune; who had served him with unalterable fidelity when his secretaries of State, his Treasury, and his Admiralty had betrayed him; who had never, on any field of battle, or in an atmosphere tainted with loathsome and deadly disease, shrunk from placing their own lives in jeop ardy to save his, and whose truth he had at the cost of his own popularity rewarded with bounteous munificence. He strained his feeble voice to thank Auverquerque for the affectionate and loyal services of thirty years. To Albemarle he

"You

gave the keys of his closet and of his private drawers. know," he said, "what to do with them." By this time he could scarcely respire. "Can this," he said to the physicians, "last long? He was told that the end was approaching. He swallowed a cordial, and asked for Bentinck. Those were his last articulate words. Bentinck instantly came to the bedside, bent down, and placed his ear close to the king's mouth. The lips of the dying man moved, but nothing could be heard. The king took the hand of his earliest friend, and pressed it tenderly to his heart. In that moment, no doubt, all that had cast a slight passing cloud over their long and pure friendship was forgotten. It was now between seven and eight in the morning. He closed his eyes and gasped for breath. The bishops knelt down and read the commendatory prayer. When it ended William was no more.

When his remains were laid out, it was found that he wore next to his skin a small piece of black silk ribbon. The lords in waiting ordered it to be taken off. It contained a gold ring and a lock of the hair of Mary.

ADDITIONAL NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

NOTES TO VOLUME I.

Page 59, line 6, note.

On this subject, Bishop Cooper's language is remarkably clear and strong. He maintains, in his Answer to Martin Marprelate, printed in 1589, that no form of church government is divinely ordained; that Protestant communities, in establishing different forms, have only made a legitimate use of their Christian liberty; and that episcopacy is peculiarly suited to England, because the English constitution is monarchical. "All those Churches," says the Bishop," in which the Gospell, in these daies, after great darknesse, was first renewed, and the learned men whom God sent to instruct them, I doubt not but have been directed by the Spirite of God to retaine this liberty, that, in external government and other outward orders, they might choose such as they thought in wisedonie and godlinesse to be most convenient for the state of their countrey and disposition of their people. Why then should this liberty that other countreys have used under anie colour be wrested from us? I think it therefore great presumption and boldnesse that some of our nation, and those, whatever they may think of themselves, not of the greatest wisedome and skill, should take upon them to controlle the whole realme, and to binde both prince and people in respect of conscience to alter the present state, and tie themselves to a certain platforme devised by some of our neighbours, which, in the judgment of many wise and godly persons, is most unfit for the state of a Kingdome."

Page 59, line 29, note.

It was by the Act of Uniformity, passed after the Restoration, that persons not episcopally ordained were, for the first time, made incapable of holding benefices. No man was more zealous for this law than Clarendon. Yet he says; "This was new: for there had been many, and at present there were some, who possessed benefices with cure of souls and other ecclesiastical promotions, who had never received orders but in France or Holland; and these men must now receive new ordination, which had been always held unlawful in the Church, or by this act of parliament must be

deprived of their livelihood which they enjoyed in the most flourishing and peaceable time of the Church."

Page 160, line 9, note.

I am happy to say, that since this passage was written, the territories of both the Rajah of Nagpore and of the King of Oude have been added to the British dominions. (1857.)

Page 219, line 10, note.

During the interval which has elapsed since this chapter was written, England has continued to advance rapidly in material prosperity. I have left my text nearly as it originally stood; but I have added a few notes which may enable the reader to form some notion of the progress which has been made during the last nine years; and, in general, I would desire him to remember that there is scarcely a district which is not more populous, or a source of wealth which is not more productive, at present than in 1848. (1857.)

Page 241, note *.

See also Commons' Journals, April 27, 1689.

Page 248, note *.

See also M'Culloch's Statistical Account of the Part III. chap. ii. (edition of 1847). In 1854 the brought into London amounted to 4,378,000 tons.

Page 254, line 42, note.

British Empire, quantity of coal (1857.)

In the eighteenth century the great increase in the value of benefices produced a change. The younger sons of the nobility were allured back to the clerical profession. Warburton in a letter to Hurd, dated the 5th of July 1752, mentions this change, which was then recent. "Our grandees have at last found their way back into the Church. I only wonder they have been so long about it. But be assured that nothing but a new religious revolution, to sweep away the fragments that Henry the Eighth left after banqueting his courtiers, will drive them out again."

Page 257, note †.

In Swift's Remarks on the Clerical Residence Bill, he describes the family of an English vicar thus: "His wife is little better than a Goody, in her birth, education, or dress. His daughters shall go to service, or be sent apprentice to the sempstress of

the next town."

Page 257, line 22, note.

Even in Tom Jones, published two generations later, Mrs. Sea

grim, the wife of a game-keeper, and Mrs. Honour, a waitingwoman, boast of their descent from clergymen. "It is to be hoped," says Fielding, "such instances will in future ages, when some provision is made for the families of the inferior clergy, appear stranger than they can be thought at present."

Page 258, note*.

As to the extreme difficulty which the country clergy found in procuring books, see the Life of Thomas Bray, the founder of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

Page 266, note t.

In 1851 Leeds had 172,000 inhabitants. (1857.)

Page 267, note *.

In 1851 the population of Sheffield had increased to 135,000. (1857.)

Page 268, note *.

In 1851 the population of Nottingham had increased to 232,000. (1857.)

Page 268, note t.

In 1851 Liverpool contained 375,000 inhabitants. (1857.)

Page 272, note *.

In 1851 the population of London exceeded 2,300,000. (1857.)

Page 272, note t

In 1854 the tonnage of the steamers of the port of London amounted to 138,000 tons, without reckoning vessels of less than fifty tons. (1857.)

Page 277, note *.

See also The Duke of B.'s Litany.

Page 303, line 33, note.

I have left the text as it stood in 1848. In the year 1856 the gross receipt of the Post Office was more than £2,800,000; and the net receipt was about £1,200,000. The number of letters conveyed by post was 478,000,000. (1857.)

Page 330, note*, line 10.

It ought also to be observed that, in those returns, a pauper must very often be reckoned more than once.