lieutenant-general Stanhope, Sir Peter King, but, above all, Sir Thomas Parker, diftinguished themfelves in a very particular manner. They copioufly juftified both the revolution and the prefent government. There was no need of witneffes; for, the fermon being owned by the doctor, all the evidence was brought from it by laying the words toge-. ther, and by fhewing his intent and meaning in them, which appeared from comparing one place with another. When his council, Sir Simon Harcourt, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Phipps, Mr. Dee, and Dr. Henchman, came to plead for him, they very freely acknowledged the lawfulnefs of refiftance in extreme cafes, and plainly juftified the revolution and our deliverance by king William. But they faid, it was not fit in a fermon to name fuch an exception. That the duties of morality ought to be delivered in their full extent, without fuppofing an extraordinary cafe. And therefore the doctor had followed precedents fet by our, greateft divines, ever fince the reformation, and ever fince the revolution. Upon this they opened a great field; they began with the declarations made in king Henry the Eighth's time; they infifted next upon the homilies; and from thence inftanced, in a large feries of bifhops and divines, who had preached the duty of fubmiffion and non-refiftance in very full terms, without fuppofing any exception; fome excluding all exceptions in as positive a manner as the doctor had done. They explained the word Revolution, as belonging to the new fettlement upon king James's withdrawing; though, in the common acceptation, it was understood of the whole tranfaction, from the landing of the Dutch army, till the fettlement made by the convention. So that, they underftanding the revolution in that fenfe, there was indeed no refiftance there. That if the paffage quoted from the declaration of king William, while he was prince of Orange, did not come up to that, for which the doctor quoted it, he ought not to be cenfured, because his quotation did not fully prove his point. As for his invective against the diffenters and toleration, they laboured to turn that off, by faying, that he did not reflect on what was allowed by law, but on the permiffion of, or the not punishing many, who published impious and blafphemous books. And a collection was made of paffages in books, full of crude impiety and bold opinions. This gave great offence to many, who thought that this was a folemn publishing of fo much impiety to the nation, by which more mifchief would be done than by the books themfelves for most of them had been neglected, P 3 1709 10. 1709-10. neglected, and known only to a small number of those who encouraged them; and the authors of many of thofe books had been profecuted and punished for them. As to those parts of the fermon, which fet out the danger the church was in, though both houfes had fome years ago voted it a great offence to fay it was in danger; the doctor's council faid it might have been in none four years ago, when these votes paffed, and yet be now in danger: the greatest of all dangers was to be apprehended from the wrath of God for fuch impieties. They faid, the reflections on the administration were not meant of those employed immediately by the queen, but of men in inferior pofts. If the doctor's words feemed capable of a bad fenfe, they were alfo capable of a more innocent one; and every man was allowed to put any construction on his words, that they could bear. When the doctor's council had ended their defence, he concluded it himself with a speech, which he read with much bold heat; in which, with many folemn affeverations, he juftified his intentions towards the queen and her government. He spoke with refpect both of the revolution and the proteftant fucceffion. He infifted moft on condemning all refistance under any pretence whatsoever, without mentioning the exception of extreme neceffity, as his council had done. He faid, it was a doctrine of the church, in which he was educated; and added many pathetical expreffions, to move the audience to compaffion. This had a great effect on the weaker fort, while it poffeffed thofe, who knew the man and his ordinary difcourfes, with horror, when they heard him affirm fo many falfhoods with fuch folemn appeals to God. It was very plain, that the speech was made for him by others, for the ftyle was more correct, and far different from his own; and it was thought to be the joint work of Dr. Atterbury, Dr. Smalridge, and Dr. Friend, fupervised and corrected by Sir Simon Harcourt and Mr. Phipps (1). (1) Mr. Maynwaring, in his letters to a friend in North-Britain, thus remarks on the doctor's fpeech: But now comes the great scope of the doctor's performance, his own harangue at the bar of the house of lords: and here, without entering into 4. a particular examination of the i During whole piece, I cannot help profeffing, with fome forrow, that I think he was too hardly dealt with by thofe that made it for him, when they obliged him to aver, in the face of God and the queen, That he had neither fuggested, nor did in his confcience believe, that the During the trial, the multitudes that followed him all the 1709.10. way as he came, and as he went back, fhewed a great con cern • wonderful effect on the weak part of his audience: the rest • were amazed, continues Mr. Maynwaring, they trembled at his oaths, when he called the fearcher of hearts to witness, in the moft folemn and religious manner, as he expected to be acquitted before God and his holy angels, at that dreadful tribunal, before which, not only he, but even their lordfhips must appear, that he was far from defigning to defame her majesty's adminiftration. Good God! And is this the. 'man for whom the people have made an infurrection? Is this the man for whom their zeal has flamed out in all manner of appearance? Is this the man, whofe effigies is fold • about, curiously done in met• zotinto; whose health is drank before the queen's, and next in the fame glass with that of the church? What can he have to do with any church, who is a fhame to christianity itself? And is this the man for whom tears were fhed, when, by his infolent behaviour, he had made that compaffion ridiculous, which would otherwise have been due to one in his ⚫ circumstances? How offenfive was his affurance? how naufeous his prefumption? and • how atheistical was his purpofe, in wickedly perverting divers texts of fcripture, inftead of preaching the truths. He faid, he had no intention to afperfe the memory of his late majefty; and he has been P 4 ⚫ often order at the trial. 1709-10. cern for him, preffing about him, and ftriving to kifs his hand. And when the queen went, in the afternoon of the A great dif- day, on which the trial began, to the house of lords, to give the royal affent to fome bills, a great multitude of people gathered about her fedan, crying out, God bless your majefty and the church: we hope your majefty is for Dr. Sacheverel.' The next day the mob was still more numerous and louder about Dr. Sacheverel's coach, and obliged all perfons they met to pull off their hats to him, and abused thofe who refused to comply; among whom were fome members of both houfes of parliament. The fame evening, the rioters went to Mr. Daniel Burgess's meeting-house, in a court near Lincoln's-inn-fields, of which they broke the windows, and committed feveral other outrages and diforders. Their fury increafing with their numbers, they advanced to greater enormities, and even to overt-acts of rebellion. For, after they had attended upon Dr. Sacheverel, as usual, they repaired to that meeting-house again, broke it open, pulled down the pulpit, pews, benches, in fhort, all that was combuftible; and, having carried these materials into Lincoln's-inn-fields, made a bonefire of them, with repeated cries of High Church and Sacheverel. About the fame time, other parties of the mob demolished and deftroyed feveral other meeting-houses (m). They also battered and plundered the houses of several diffenters; threatened to pull down the houses of the lord chancellor, earl of Wharton, bishop of Sarum, Mr. Dolben, and other managers for the commons, against Dr. Sacheverel; and talked of deftroying Mr. Hoadly's church and house, Salters-hall, Mr. Shower's, and other meeting-houfes in the city; and even of attacking the bank of England, of which the directors being apprehenfive, they took the neceffary precautions for its fecurity, and fent to Whitehall for assistance. Thefe diforders were directed by fome of better fashion, who followed the mob in hackney-coaches, and were feen fending meffages to them. Upon the firft notice of these tumults, the earl of Sunderland made his report to the queen, who commanded him to fend her horfe and foot ga guards to disperse the mob; and the earl reprefenting the 1709-10. danger of leaving her perfon unguarded at that time (it being between ten and eleven o'clock at night) she answered, God would be her guard.' The earl being returned to his office at the Cockpit, where were alfo the lord chancellor, the duke of Newcastle, and fome other noblemen, he sent for captain Horfey, an exempt, who then commanded the guard, and ordered him to mount immediately, and disperse the mob. And, as the captain was going out, the earl whispered him, and bid him fend a party to the bank. Before the horse and foot-guards could reach Lincoln's-innfields, the officers had notice, that the mob, which had thered there, was returned to Drury-lane, where they were making another bonefire with the furniture of Mr. Earle's meeting-house; whereupon the guards bent their march that way. At their approach most of the mob fled before them; and only one of their ring-leaders, George Purchafe, a bailiff (who had before been a life-guard-man, but was difmiffed for fome misdemeanor) offered to make a stand, with a few of the most resolute of his followers, crying out for High Church and Dr. Sacheverel. From Drurylane the guards marched towards the city, and met with some opposition, near Fleet-ditch, from the mob that were rifling the meeting-house in Black-Fryars; but having wounded fome of the moft daring, and fecured others, the reft were foon fcattered; and the guards, patrolling all night, prevented any farther mischief. On the 2d of March, the horse and foot-guards at Whitehall and St. James's were doubled; and the trained-bands at Westminster under arms, in divers pofts, where they continued as long as Dr. Sacheverel's trial was depending; which both leffened the number of the mutineers (many of the trained-band being men of low circumftances, hired by fubftantial housekeepers) and kept the rest in awe. The fame day, the commons refolved to address the queen, to take effectual measures to fupprefs the present tumults, fet on foot and fomented by papists, nonjurors, and other enemies to her title and government; and to iffue out a proclamation, promising a reward to fuch as fhould difcover and feize thofe incendiaries, who had been the occafions of the late tumults and diforders. To this addrefs the queen answered, "That fhe was extremely fenfible of the great care and concern of "the house of commons for the public peace upon this oc“cafion; and, as she had a just resentment at these tumul tuous and violent proceedings, fo fhe would take imme ❝diate |