Live then, great JAMES, our mighty King,

live, brave and noble Soul!

above the Starry Pole !

May mighty Jove's protecting care
preserve thee from thy Foes,

And make thy Subjects evermore
obedient to thy Laws.

Soar up on Fame's ascending wing,

80

A New Song

[On the Coronation of king James and Queen Mary.]

Hark! Hark! what noise is this that doth rebound,
And fills the busie Air with pleasing sound?
What Glorious Object's this that feasts our Eyes,
And strikes our hearts with wonder and surprise?
This is the happiest day that e're was seen;
Long live and flourish both our King and Queen!

TO THE TUNE OF, State and Ambition. [See p. 561.]
JAMES our Great Monarch is Crown'd with all glory,

And ours the blest Nation that's under the Sun,
All the whole World is fill'd up with his Story;

Th' applause he has gain'd, and the Honour h' has won.
On the rough Seas our Foes he oppos'd,

And purchas'd our freedom with the hazard of his life;
His Prudence preserv'd us, and wisely dispos'd

Our hearts to unite, without danger, or strife.

Neighbouring Nations our Amity courteth,

So brave and so war-like is James our great King;
The French, Dutch, and Spaniard here daily resorteth,
And all other nations their complements bring,

For to congratulate Great Cæsar's glory,

Which spreads its clear splendour o're all the vast Globe;
Distractions are vanish'd of Whig and of Tory,

And [each] seems contented, from Rags to the Robe.

8

16

Then the Hats they flie off, and the Healths they go round us,
To James our Just Monarch and his Beauteous Queen,
The excess of our Joy, doth almost confound us,
A day of such Glory was never yet seen.

I' th' midst of our bliss, 'tis a sin to be sober,

We'll forfeit our freedom, if we do not drink fair:
He's not a good Subject, nor yet a true Toper,
That puzzles his Senses with politick care.

The Bells and the Bonefires cannot interrupt us,
Our frollicks goe round, and ascend to the Skies,

The poyson of Policy ne're shall corrupt us;
The sullen Phanaticks our company flies.

Let us not consume then our Brains with dull thinking,
But kill the long hours with Pleasure and Mirth :

24

We'd rather expire with overmuch drinking,

Than Plotting and Sotting should have a new birth.

32

550

Coronation of King James and Queen Mary.

To all the King's Enemies we'd drink confusion,
To politick Plotters destruction and shame;
We hope to convert them all in the conclusion,
And by our example to play a sure game:

[No doubt!

Whilst their Foppish folly consumes them with dullness, [Monh.
And brings them at last to wry-mouth'd grimace,

Our hearts are enlighten'd with joy and with fulness,
When th' unpity'd Plotter doth die like an Ass.

40

'Tis we're the bold Heroes that guard the Nation,
And raise its glory more high than the skie;
Our voices exalt now this great Coronation,

And with acclamations ill-wishers defie:
Their charms are too weak our Joys for to hinder,
Which in our full cups we cheerfully send,

There's not in our Station so bold an Offender
That dare but refuse us to drink to the end.

48

The bounty of Heaven show'r down all its blessings

Upon our good King and his amiable Queen!

May no true Felicity ever be missing,

But in their full splendour be presently seen.
And may all their Subjects, with firm loyal Duty,
Obey with content their easy command;
Like hearts that are sacrific'd all to her Beauty,
May their Royal Precepts at no time withstand.

[In White-letter. No Woodcut. Date, April, 1685.]

56

The tune to which this ballad was appointed to be sung had been known by the title of State and Ambition, from the first line of Tom D'Urfey's song, beginning "State and ambition, alas! will deceive ye." The music is given in Pills to Purge Melancholy, ii. p. 34, 1719 edition, and earlier; Several New Songs by Thomas D'Urfey, Gent., 1684; and in One Hundred and Eighty Loyal Songs, 1685, p. 92. We give the words complete on our pp. 561, 562.

Another Loyal Song to the same tune of State and Ambition had appeared in May, 1684, entitled "The Royal Admiral;" in honour of James Duke of York being restored to power as High-Admiral of England. It began with a declaration that "Faction and Folly, alas! will deceive you; The Loyal man still the best Subject does prove." Seven stanzas in all.

Monmouth allured to make the Last Struggle.

"Whither d'ye hurry Phaeton? Is 't not enough that he's undone,
By your perfidious treachery, the source of all his Infamy,
But, to promote his wretched ends, ye make the Lorden a stop-gap?
Like crocodiles, ye fawning Friends, pretendedly mourn his mishap."
-The Whigs' Lamentable Condition.

WHATEVER discontent may have been lurking within the mind

of gloomy men, at the Accession and Coronation of KING JAMES II., no one dared avow his rebellious hatred publicly. Almost universally appeared acquiescence, but, except among a limited class, with little enthusiasm, there was a willingness to make the best of the inevitable; to accept accomplished facts; and to avoid drawing on worse troubles by wrestling with a force which had plainly grown more powerful in popularity than it had hitherto been reckoned. Thus it happened that there was a fair field for a good beginning to the new King. His first steps seemed to promise a successful progress. His attachment to the Romish faith and ritual had been well known, and he made no offer of surrendering his right of private judgement in hope of winning favour. Had he done so, it would have been of evil augury; for no one could have believed such an abandonment of his creed to have been sincere. On the contrary, even the most determined opposers of his claim, the "Exclusionists," had been forced to acknowledge that James was no time-server, no hypocrite, like most of themselves. He had consistently refused to yield concession of "occasional conformity" at his late brother's importunity: that is, to accept the Holy Communion once and again, ostensibly as a member of the Church of England, thereby to qualify himself for holding his official station, and thus defeat the attempts of those bigoted enemies who dared to present him as a Popish Recusant. Having paid the penalty so long for his stubbornness, he would never have won praise by abandoning his views of religion. He would have lost the respect of every honest man.

The whole situation was changed. He could be excluded no longer, for the Rye-House plot had revealed the weakness and wickedness of his enemies. There were at present no trustworthy leaders for the disaffected. No rallying standard was visible. Some childish natures still clung to the idea of Monmouth as a "Protestant Hero"; but, except in the West (and there chiefly among silly women and ignorant peasants), all sensible men had recently seen enough to convince them of his utter weakness. He was such a king as a gaudily-attired Circus-rider might represent; spangled armour and a dagger of lath were suitable equipments.

552

Remonstrance against Orange harbouring Monmouth.

He was a conceited "Fop-Monarch," who might well have won a trifling success over undisciplined Covenanters at such a place as Bothwell-Bridge, but whose vacillation and effieminacy would inevitably ruin any cause in which he adventured as leader, and whosoever joined with him might share the destruction.

King James made open declaration of the respect which he felt for the Church of England, and his intention of supporting its claims and authority. So far well. When he showed willingness to be lenient, tolerant, and even helpful to the political Dissenters or Nonconformists, there began to be murmurs among them. Offers of concession have always encouraged them to claim aggressively fresh advantages. They wanted no countenance to be shown to the Church, and they could scarcely persuade themselves that James loved them for their own sake, after they had done their utmost for years against him; while the Church of England had maintained a dignified reserve. No favour that James was willing to bestow on the Nonconformists would be gratefully received, if the Romanists were to share in the advantage. Spite and jealousy were even stronger than greed or the vaunted love of liberty. Such was the situation in England: quiet, but not without signs of coming troubles. Abroad, were unmistakeable tokens of disturbance.

On April the 14th, 1685, Laurence Hyde at Whitehall wrote strongly but courteously to William of Orange, remonstrating on his harbouring Monmouth at the Hague, privily or unopenly :

I beg leave to say this to you, as a thing that I cannot but think the King would take well, though I have not his orders to say so much; and it is in relation to the Duke of Monmouth, who is said to be always very near the Hague, if not in it. Upon which I would offer you this, in short, that as it cannot be for your Highness's service that it should be imagined he is there with your privity, so it may be presumed that considering the authority your Highness hath, and the good intelligence you cannot be supposed to want, that he can be there, and your Highness not know it. I hope your Highness will not be offended with me for stating the matter in this manner, which I may do the better, because I do not suspect that your Highness is privy to his being there; but then methinks your Highness might let every body see that, if you knew he were so near you, it would be very disagreeable to you: the consequence of which would be, that he could not stay long there. I do not believe the King hath the intention of driving him from country to country, and to make all places uneasy to him; but, on the other hand, it is not at all necessary, nor in truth decent, considering the circumstance he hath put himself in, that he should be hovering just over against England, as it were always in a readiness to transport himself.

Monmouth was vacillating, as usual. Cast down from the height of his recent hopes, when he had expected to be restored to all his lucrative offices in England, he was still possessed of property that in Holland meant comparative affluence. He drew his wife's money, and he enjoyed all the wealth of his mistress Lady Henrietta Wentworth, who was now his constant companion. A song of this very date may here be usefully introduced.