of fire, and disappear again and leave the paper white, as soon as it is
cool; a hundred names of men, high in repute and favoring the Prince's
cause, that were writ in our private lists, would have been visible
enough on the great roll of the conspiracy, had it ever been laid open
under the sun. What crowds would have pressed forward, and subscribed
their names and protested their loyalty, when the danger was over! What
a number of Whigs, now high in place and creatures of the all-powerful
Minister, scorned Mr. Walpole then! If ever a match was gained by the
manliness and decision of a few at a moment of danger; if ever one was
lost by the treachery and imbecility of those that had the cards in
their hands, and might have played them, it was in that momentous game
which was enacted in the next three days, and of which the noblest crown
in the world was the stake.

From the conduct of my Lord Bolingbroke, those who were interested
in the scheme we had in hand, saw pretty well that he was not to be
trusted. Should the Prince prevail, it was his lordship's gracious
intention to declare for him: should the Hanoverian party bring in their
sovereign, who more ready to go on his knee, and cry, "God Save King
George?" And he betrayed the one Prince and the other; but exactly at
the wrong time. When he should have struck for King James, he faltered
and coquetted with the Whigs; and having committed himself by the most
monstrous professions of devotion, which the Elector rightly scorned,
he proved the justness of their contempt for him by flying and taking
renegade service with St. Germains, just when he should have kept
aloof: and that Court despised him, as the manly and resolute men who
established the Elector in England had before done. He signed his own
name to every accusation of insincerity his enemies made against him;
and the King and the Pretender alike could show proofs of St. John's
treachery under his own hand and seal.

Our friends kept a pretty close watch upon his motions, as on those of
the brave and hearty Whig party, that made little concealment of theirs.
They would have in the Elector, and used every means in their power to
effect their end. My Lord Marlborough was now with them. His expulsion
from power by the Tories had thrown that great captain at once on the
Whig side. We heard he was coming from Antwerp; and, in fact, on the day
of the Queen's death, he once more landed on English shore. A great part