A.D.1687. obey them: And the King being fully ap3 Fac. II. prized of Farmer's vicious Life, fent another Mandate to Magdalen College, commanding Another them to elect Doctor Parker, Bishop of Oxford, Mandate their President; on which I fhall enlarge herethe Bishop after, and proceed, at prefent, to give an of Oxford. Account of fome Tranfactions that happen'd in the mean Time. to elect More Proteftants their rooms. The King ftill proceeded to Clofet the Officers of his Court, and the Members of Parliament; and befides his Brothers-in-Law, turn'd out, the Earls of Clarendon and Rochefter, the Earl and Papitts of Shrewsbury was now turn'd out of Comput in miffion, on his refufing to be reconciled to the Church of Rome, of which he had once been a Member. The Proteftant Lord Lieutenants, Deputy-Lieutenants, and Juftices of Peace, were many of them removed alfo to make room for Catholicks; only the Earl of Sunderland, who was pleafed to profefs himfelf of the King's Religion, preferved his Poft and Intereft at Court; and whether he did not play the Hypocrite with his Mafter, and push him upon thofe defperate and arbitrary Councils, that proved his Ruin, is much queftion'd. Certain it is, no Man had that Influence over King James that Sunderland had, and no Man appear'd more in the Interest of his Enemies afterwards. The noble made by bers of Parliament. But whatever Progrefs his Majefty made in the Converfion of his Officers and Minifters the Mem- of State, and bringing them over to his Meafures, he found, after near two Years Closetting, that neither Threats nor Promises could induce the Commons to betray their Country, and fall into his Measures. No Gentlemen ever fhew'd greater Loyalty and Affection for their Prince, fo long as he kept within any Bounds; 3 Fac. II. traduced Bounds; but when they found that he ftruck 4.D.1687. at the whole Conftitution in Church and State, and that nothing lefs would fatisfy him, than the Subverfion of their Religion and Liberties, they discover'd a true English Spirit, and refufed to come into his Measures: And yet Who are, furely no Gentlemen were ever fo abufed and however, traduced, as this Houfe of Commons, both by Bifhop as to their being elected, and their Conduct Burnet. in the House, by that Proteftant Prelate, Bishop Burnet, who, in his Pofthumous Hiftory, has the Affurance to affirm, That in all Parts of England, fuch Injustice and Violence was used to procure Perfons to be elected, who were in the Intereft of the Court, as had never been known before; when the Truth is, there never was, fince the Time that Parliaments began, a freer and more unanimous Election, as Hundreds that are now living can teftify: And tho' he has the Affurance to tell us, they were all Beggars and Blockheads, not one of the Five Hundred excepted, I fhall take the Liberty of reciting a Paragraph out of Mr. Echard, which fufficiently confutes both thefe Calumnies, and muft make our Author's Friends blush for him, if they are not, like him, Proof against all Shame or Conviction. The Paffage is in Mr. Echard's Hiftory of England, Page 1056, where he fays, "The Elections were generally carried on and compleated with the most uncommon Coolness, Difcretion, " and Unanimity; and notwithstanding the unjuftifiable modelling fo many Corporations fince the laft Parliament, there never was a Houfe of Commons more able and more industrious in preferving the Happinefs of the King, the Nation, and the efta A.D.1687.“ establish'd Religion: It confifted for the moft part, of the late prevailing Party, but 3 Fac. II. " of the richest and wifeft Men of the Kingdom, among whom there were Fifty Five of Noble Families, Ninety Five Baronets, "and Ninety Six Knights, and the reft were commonly Gentlemen of the best Intereft, "Credit, and Knowledge in their Countries; efpecially thofe that were elected for Counties: Thofe for the City of London, and "the two Univerfities, were all of the fame Party; the former were Sir John Moor, Sir "William Pritchard, Sir Samuel Dashwood, and Sir Peter Rich; the Cantabrigians were Sir Thomas Exton, and Dr. Robert Brady; the Oxonians were Sir Leoline Jenkins, and Dr. <c Charles Perrot, Kt. And further to fatisfy the Reader's Curiofity, I fhall name Forty or Fifty, who seem to have had the greatest "Influence in the Houfe, without confidering any Party at all, as Sir Richard Temple, Sir William Edgerton, Mr. Hampden, Sir Levinus Bennet, Sir John Cotton, Sir Robert Southwell, Mr. Sidney Godolphin, Mr. Edmund "Waller, Sir William Trumball, Lord Prefton, "Sir John Lowther, Sir Chriftopher Mufgrave, Sir Edward Seymour, Serjeant Maynard, Sir r Winston Churchill, Mr. Ralph Freeman, the Honourable John Verney, Sir Thomas Meers, Lord Caftleton, Sir Henry Munson, the Honourable Charles Bertie, Sir Jacob Ashley, "Sir Nevil Catiline, Sir William Cook, Sir "Nicholas L'Eftrange, Sir John Fenwick, Sir Roger L'Eftrange, Sir William Blacket, Mr. Theophilus Oglethorp, Sir Robert Holmes, Sir "Thomas Clarges, Mr. Henry Wallop, Sir John Trevor, Mr. Thomas Glenham, Lord Huntington, Sir Henry Beddingfield, Sir John Bruce, " the "the Honourable Heneage Finch, Sir Thomas A.D.1687 Bludworth, Mr. William Garraway, Sir Ro2 Fac. II. ger Cave, the Honourable Thomas Coventry, "Sir Stephen Fox, Lord Cornbury, Sir John "Packington, Sir John Talbot, Sir Willoughby "Hickman, Sir Thomas Jenour, Mr. William "Williams, Sir Chriftopher Wren, Mr. Robert Foley, Sir Michael Wentworth, Sir Thomas Barnardifton, Sir John Nicholas, &c." These are some of the Gentlemen the ingenuous Dr. Burnet reprefents as having neither Senfe or Subftance; but shall fuch a Body of Men, of the greatest Quality and Figure among the Commons of England, be thus vilely afperfed, without raifing a fuitable Indignation in every Man that reads him? Muft not the Credit of this Writer fink, and his Authority be for ever blasted, who has related fuch notorious Falfehoods, and attempted to deftroy the Characters of Five Hundred Gentlemen at once, fo well known to the prefent Generation? It is obfervable alfo, that he calls them The Face and Name of a Parliament; whereas if they were no Parliament, they were an illegal Affembly, and all their Acts, publick and private, void; and yet we do not find one of them declared fo by any Act fince the Revolution. What mad Work would he make, if his Infinuations were attended to? Whenever any Elections are not fuitable to our Humours, we are, according to him, to look upon ourselves as under no manner of Obligation to fubmit to the Parliament, or obey any Laws they shall make. But methinks, the Addreffes that came from all Parts of the Kingdom, congratulating the King's Acceffion, and that extravagant Loyalty and Zeal, which this Writer tells us, all People AD.1687. People exprefs'd towards his Majefty, at the 3 Fac. II. Beginning of his Reign, muft render all indirect Practices, in the Election of Members, perfectly needlefs; and indeed, according to his accuftom'd Method, he chufes to keep in Generals, and does not vouchfafe to give us one Inftance of that Violence and Injustice, which he fo loudly exclaims against, or fo much as fuggefts there was any Bribery practifed. The Continuers of Rapin con tradict Doctor Burnet's Character Even the Continuers of Rapin, who appear to have fuch an uncommon Veneration for Bishop Burnet, on other Occafions, are compell'd, by the Force of Truth, to contradict him in this Particular: Their Words are of this Par- thefe; "When one compares the Firmness of liament. the Members of this Parliament, when they believed the Interefts of Religion were at Stake, with their extream Zeal for the King, in the Beginning of their Seffion, it muft be inferr'd, that their Condefcendence was owing purely to their mistaken good Opinion of him; and that their Firmness now was owing to their Recovery from that Miftake: It is therefore without Foundation, "that they are charged with a Defign of facrifi"c cing to the King the Intereft of Religion, and their Country. The contrary manifeftly appear'd in the Refiftance made by them to the Temptations which the King laid be66 fore them, and this even in his Prefence, "and Face to Face. This, in my Opinion, is the higheft Degree to which Refolution can be carried: They were all, or the far greatest Number of them, Members of the Church of England; nay, for the most part, High-Church Men. I have before given the 66 Reafon of their exceffive Zeal for, and Con |