they had gained over the French since the Battle of Agincourt, and the first great defeat Louis XIV. had ever met with.

22. King William was abroad at this time, but Mary was in England, and did all she could in honour of the conquerors, and to succour and comfort the wounded. Feeling all she could do was not enough, she promised to devote one of the finest of the royal palaces for the reception of disabled seamen in all future times. The palace she chose for this purpose was at Greenwich ; but it was not till after she died that the plan was carried into effect. Not many years ago the old Greenwich pensioners might still be seen with their wooden legs and wooden arms, enjoying their palace and beautiful park, but perhaps not often thinking of the kind and gentle queen who had given them that honourable home.

1694. Death of the

queen.

23. With all his cold manners and rough ways, William and Mary were devotedly attached to each other, and it was a most terrible sorrow to him when she died, which was not long after Russell's great victory. After the plague disappeared, the most formidable disease to which the English were subject was smail-pox, which is now held at bay and half conquered by vaccination, but was then a most common and fatal disease. When Mary was but thirty-two years old she died from it, leaving no children. William continued to reign for some years longer.

1695. Liberty of the press.

24. One very important thing which took place during those years, and of which we feel the benefit to this day, was what is called the emancipation of the press. Up till this period no one could print a book or a pamphlet without permission. There was an official called a licenser or censor, whose business it was to read any book that an author wished to publish, and give permission if he approved, or forbid if he disapproved, the contents. Sometimes he would forbid very good books and allow very foolish ones. No one was allowed to publish any political news without permission, and the government only sanctioned just what they wanted the nation to know. It had been particularly remarked in the reign of James II., that when the French king did away with the Edict of Nantes, and persecuted the Protestants in the barbarous manner mentioned before, the gazettes which were printed twice a week, and professed to give information of all that was going on in Europe, took no notice of these events, nor would the English people have known anything about them but for private letters and the tales told by the refugees.

No one dared publish one word of what was said in parliament; so that it must have been very difficult for the people to know how the members they had elected were behaving, and whether they were worthy of confidence.

25. Any book may now be published which bears the name of the printer or publisher. If it is thought to be wicked or injurious, the publisher or the author is prosecuted; but that is the only limit to freedom of publication. And this liberty began in 1695. The first notable result was the quantity of newspapers which began at once to be published. There had Newspapers. been but one or two before, and those very small, very dull, and often obliged to omit the exact things which it would have been most interesting to know. Some of the very early ones consisted of only three or four pages, about five or six inches square. Pepys, however, gives us rather a good account of a newspaper published in his time. "It is pretty, full of news, and no folly in it." Perhaps he could hardly say as much of all our newspapers to-day.

26. It was not quite yet that speeches in parliament were allowed to be published, and when printers and editors began to do so they ran a chance of being severely punished for infringing the "Privileges of Parliament." That, however, was authorized after a time, and now every word spoken in parliament is printed and flying all over the country almost as soon as uttered, and every one may know what the members of the government and parliament think and say about any subject on which the nation is interested. The wisest and cleverest men of both or all parties say the best and wisest things they can on all subjects, either in parliament or at public meetings; a few hundreds or thousands only can hear them, but millions can and do read them. They learn to take an interest in great matters, to look on both sides, and more or less wisely to form their own opinions. If there is a If there is a good deal of chaff mingled with the wheat, that is the fate unhappily of almost every human work. 27. Though there was no more fighting in Ireland or England, the war with the French was still continued on the Continent. At last William had the satisfaction of humbling his 1697. great enemy, and making him sign a peace, the Treaty of Ryswick, giving up a great part of his unjust gains, acknowledging William to be King of England, and promising to do nothing farther to disturb him in his possession of the crown, though he still protected James as his guest in France.

28. This peace did not last long. In 1701 the unfortunate

1701. Death of

James II.

and unwise King James died, and, to the great indignation and astonishment of the English, Louis seemed to forget his recognition of William, and declared the young son of James to be King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. This great insult roused the English spirit to defiance; they crowded round William urging him to war. He wished for nothing better, but he never went to war again. His health had always been very bad, and now, though he was but fifty-one years old, he was visibly dying. He was riding on the turf at Hampton Court, when his horse stumbled over a mole-hill and threw him; though it was but a slight accident, the shock was william III. too much for him, and in a few weeks he died.

1702. Death of

Long afterwards the Jacobites used to drink a toast "to the little gentleman in black velvet, who did such good service in 1702," as though they thought the Great Revolution was all undone when King William died.

LECTURE LII.-WHIGS AND TORIES.

Queen Anne and the Churchills. War with France. Battle of Blenheim. Peace of Utrecht. Negro slaves. Scotland. George of Hanover. Whigs and Tories. Attempts of the Stuart princes.

1702. Anne.

1. As William and Mary left no children, the Princess Anne, sister to Mary, and a Protestant like her, succeeded to the throne. She was not an interesting character. Macaulay says that "when in good humour she was meekly stupid, and when in bad humour was sulkily stupid." She was, however, beloved by the people, for she was simple, affectionate, and good. She was, like most of her subjects, warmly attached to the Church of England, and above all, she was a true Englishwoman. The English nation, who have always been noted for their hatred of foreigners, and who had never loved William, though they could not fail to respect him, were heartily sick of the Dutch, and glad to be under a sovereign of their own blood again. Her husband, Prince

of Denmark.

Prince George George, was even less interesting than herself. A description of his character, written while he was still living, ends with telling us, "He is very fat, loves news, his bottle, and the queen ; " and that "he has neither many friends nor enemies in England." It seems he was too dull to make either. No one thought of making or even calling him king, and for a long time the real governors of both queen and country were two very clever people, the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough. They had not vet reached the high titles of duke and duchess, though they are best known under them. Churchill was still on his road of preferment from a simple page to the highest subject in the land, and was now an earl. The duchess had been for many years the queen's greatest friend. She was as clever as her mistress was stupid, and as overbearing as her mistress was meek. "The loyalty, the patience, the self-devo

The Churchills.

tion were on the side of the mistress; the whims, the haughty airs, the fits of ill-temper were on the side of the waiting-woman."

2. The queen and her friend were so intimate that they dropped their titles, and gave each other the names of Mrs. Morley and Mrs. Freeman. The Duchess of Marlborough said that she chose to be called Mrs. Freeman to show how frank and bold she was. The two husbands, Prince George and the duke, were Mr. Morley and Mr. Freeman. The duke was a most remarkable man ; he was wonderfully handsome and fascinating in his manners. His education had not been much attended to; he never found writing an easy task, and he said himself that all he knew of English history he had learnt from Shakespeare's plays; but by his own genius he rose to be the greatest soldier and commander of his age. He was noted for sweet temper and for humanity far greater than was common among soldiers and generals of those times. But he was not honourable. He had betrayed King James in the most base and ungrateful manner when his need was the sorest, and had been quite as ready to betray his new master, William, when he thought it for his own interest. Both he and his wife were avaricious, and even miserly. All the world knew of this weakness of his, and a story is told how at one time, when he was unpopular with the people, they mobbed another nobleman in mistake for the duke. "I will easily convince you," said this nobleman, "that I am not my Lord Marlborough. In the first place, I have only two guineas about me, and in the second place they are very much at your service." Everybody in England and abroad knew how completely Anne was under the dominion of the Churchills; and on the Continent it was believed that the handsome earl was her lover; but that was entirely wrong. Anne was always faithful to her husband, and the person she really loved was the duchess.

War with

France.

3. As soon as King William was dead, leaving a great war with France just beginning, Marlborough becaine the principal man in the country, and one of the principal men in Europe. The war went on for many years, and was very glorious to England. The object of it still was to prevent France, and the ever-encroaching Louis, from becoming too powerful. He was now attempting to add Spain to his other dominions by making his grandson king of that country. When he dismissed him to take possession of his crown he was reported to have said, "There are no more Pyrenees." The other nations of Europe, including England,

M M