id not know till yesterday," said Mary, "that there was such a
difference between the laws of England and the laws of God. But I now
promise you that you shall always bear rule: and, in return, I ask only
this, that, as I shall observe the precept which enjoins wives to obey
their husbands, you will observe that which enjoins husbands to love
their wives." Her generous affection completely gained the heart of
William. From that time till the sad day when he was carried away in
fits from her dying bed, there was entire friendship and confidence
between them. Many of her letters to him are extant; and they contain
abundant evidence that this man, unamiable as he was in the eyes of the
multitude, had succeeded in inspiring a beautiful and virtuous woman,
born his superior, with a passion fond even to idolatry.

The service which Burnet had rendered to his country was of high moment.
A time had arrived at which it was important to the public safety that
there should be entire concord between the Prince and Princess.

Till after the suppression of the Western insurrection grave causes of
dissension had separated William both from Whigs and Tories. He had
seen with displeasure the attempts of the Whigs to strip the executive
government of some powers which he thought necessary to its efficiency
and dignity. He had seen with still deeper displeasure the countenance
given by a large section of that party to the pretensions of Monmouth.
The opposition, it seemed, wished first to make the crown of England
not worth the wearing, and then to place it on the head of a bastard and
impostor. At the same time the Prince's religious system differed widely
from that which was the badge of the Tories. They were Arminians
and Prelatists. They looked down on the Protestant Churches of the
Continent, and regarded every line of their own liturgy and rubric
as scarcely less sacred than the gospels. His opinions touching the
metaphysics of theology were Calvinistic. His opinions respecting
ecclesiastical polity and modes of worship were latitudinarian. He owned
that episcopacy was a lawful and convenient form of church government;
but he spoke with sharpness and scorn of the bigotry of those who
thought episcopal ordination essential to a Christian society. He had
no scruple about the vestments and gestures prescribed by the Book of
Common Prayer. But he avowed that he should like the rites of the Church
of England better if they reminded him l