In 1700 the young Duke of Gloucester, the only surviving child of the nineteen children whom Anne had borne, died in the eleventh year of his age, and the Jacobites exulted that the succession of the Pretender was all but secured. But unpopular though William was, there was no party in the kingdom of any consequence that had a desire that the whole work of the Revolution should be undone, and a Roman Catholic King be placed upon the throne, so that when a new Bill of Succession was submitted to Parliament not a single voice was raised on behalf of James or of his son. The Duchess of Savoy, granddaughter of Charles I., was, by the ordinary rule of inheritance, next after the Princess Anne in succession to the throne; but she was a Roman Catholic, so her claims were set aside. By the new Act of Settlement it was resolved that whoever afterwards should come to the throne should be in communion with the Church of England as by Law established, and the Crown was vested in Sophia, widow of the late, and mother of the actual, Elector of Hanover, and the heirs of her body being Protestants.

On September 17, 1701, James II. died at St. Ger

the Rebellion of 1715, Parliament thought to strengthen the Protestant interest by enforcing the laws (1 George I. c. 55). In 1722 the estates of Roman Catholics and Nonjurors were subjected to a tax which was not charged upon other property (9 George I. c. 55), and after the Rebellion of 1745 a reward of £100 was offered for the discovery of Jesuits and Popish priests, and calling upon the magistrates to enforce the law.

mains. During the later years of his life he had given up all idea of wordly grandeur; he subjected himself to severe penance and mortification, and frequently visited the poor monks of La Trappe. To the last he conjured his son to prefer religion to every worldly advantage, to be faithful to his Church, and to renounce all thoughts of the Crown, if it involved a change of Faith.

The greatest indignation was felt throughout the country when it became known that his son was recognised by the King of France and also by the Pope as King of England under the title of James III. William summoned Parliament with all possible speed, and implored them to lay aside all party spirit and divisions on the matter. "Let there be no other distinction heard among us for the future but of those who are for the Protestant Religion and the present establishment, and of those who mean a Popish Prince and French Government." Parliament accordingly passed two Acts, the one for Attainting the pretending Prince; holding any communication with him was declared to be High Treason. The second Bill, for abjuring him, was introduced under the specious title of "An Act for the further security of his Majesty's person, and the succession of the Crown in the Protestant line;" but here the unanimity which had marked the passing of the first Act ceased. The Bill not only required an oath for abjuring James and his descendants, but also recog

nised William and his successors, not only as de facto but as rightful and lawful King. Warm debates arose as to whether the oath should be imposed or voluntary; at length the imposition of the oath was carried by a majority of one in the House of Commons. The Bill was strenuously opposed in the House of Lords, and when it passed on February 24, 1702, ten Lords entered a protest against it as an unnecessary and severe imposition.

The Bill was still pending when, on February 20, the King was thrown from his horse. After the accident he was in so weak a state that he could not write his name, but was only able to affix a stamp, prepared for the purpose, to the Bill of Abjuration, and died on the eighth of March, 1702.

CHAPTER VII.

THE HIGH CHURCH REACTION.

HE reign of Queen Anne, who succeeded to

THE

the throne on the death of William, forms an interregnum between the Presbyterian-Calvinist who preceded, and the Lutheran Defender of the Faith who succeeded, her. She was a devout, if a somewhat narrow-minded, daughter of the Church. She had married in 1683 a Lutheran, Prince George of Denmark, who had a seat in the House of Lords as Duke of Cumberland. He is described as "being very fat, loving news, his bottle, and his wife," qualities good, bad, and indifferent; he was created Generalissimo of the Forces and High Admiral; but in religious matters he was a nonentity.

The new Queen was said indeed to be the stupidest person in the kingdom except her husband; "She was ignorant of everything except what the Parsons taught her," wrote the Duchess of Marlborough; but she had two qualifications which suited well a Defender of the Faith,- she was religious and a Churchwoman. Although a daughter of James II., and notwithstanding that attempts had been made to draw her over to the Church of Rome, she was un

tainted by Romanism on the one hand, as she was uninfluenced by the Latitudinarianism of William's Bishops on the other. She received, we are told (as a mark, we may suppose, of advanced Churchmanship of the time), the Holy Communion once a month, and she rebuked her Chaplain at Windsor for administering the Sacrament to her before the Clergy. The Duchess of Marlborough, a woman whom Swift describes as showing her wit "by the usual mode of the times, in arguing against religion, and endeavouring to prove the doctrines of Christianity impossible," had at one time in all other matters a complete ascendancy over her, but failed to taint her with the prevailing scepticism of the day. Nothing could deflect her from her religion, and she chose as her spiritual adviser Dr. Sharp, Archbishop of York, who preached the Coronation Sermon on April 23, 1702.

No scandalous voice was ever raised against her character, as to which even Lord Chesterfield was obliged to bear a grudging testimony: "Queen Anne has always been devout, chaste, and formal, in short a prude. Her Drawing-rooms were more respectable than agreeable, and had more the air of solemn places of worship than the gaiety of a Court."

In April, 1688, she wrote to her sister Mary, "I abhor the principles of the Church of Rome as much as it is possible for any to do, and I as much value the doctrine of the Church of England."