London, in which Shaftesbury's popularity had now
risen to its greatest height, was ready with an address to the two
Houses in favour of the bill. All Charles could do was to gain time by a
sudden prorogation of the Parliament and by its dissolution at the end
of May. But delay would have been useless had the Country party remained
at one. The temper of the nation and of the House of Commons was so
hotly pronounced in favour of the Exclusion of the Duke that but for the
disunion among the ministers it must in the end have been secured.
England would then have been spared the necessity for the Revolution of
1688. Though the disunion grew greater and hotter indeed the wiser
leaders of the Country party were already leaning to the very change
which the Revolution brought about. If James were passed over his
daughter Mary, the wife of the Prince of Orange, stood next in the order
of succession; and the plan devised by Temple, Lord Essex, and Lord
Halifax after the failure of their Bill of Securities was to bring the
Prince over to England during the prorogation, to introduce him into
the Council, and to pave his way to the throne.

[Sidenote: Shaftesbury and Monmouth.]

Unhappily Shaftesbury was contemplating a very different course. Ever
since William had set aside his proposals in 1674, and above all since
his marriage with the Duke's daughter, Shaftesbury had looked on the
Prince of Orange as a mere adherent of the royal house and a supporter
of the royal plans. He saw, too, that firm as was William's
Protestantism he was as jealous as Charles himself of any weakening of
the royal power or invasion of the royal prerogative. Shaftesbury's keen
wit was already looking forward to the changes which a few years were to
bring about; and his motive for setting aside William's claims is
probably to be found in the maxim ascribed to him, that "a bad title
makes a good king." Whatever were his motives however he had resolved
not only to set aside the claims of the Duke and the Duke's children,
Mary and Anne, as well as William's own claim as grandson of Charles I.,
but to place the Duke of Monmouth on the throne. Monmouth, reputed to be
the eldest of the king's bastards, a weak and worthless profligate in
temper, was popular through his personal beauty and his reputation for
bravery. The tale was set about of a secret marriage between the king
and his mother which would have made him lawful heir to the throne, and
Shaftesbury br