ist, and
were not abandoned till vulgar prejudice had maintained a contest of
many years against reason. But in the time of James reason and vulgar
prejudice were on the same side. The fanatical and ignorant wished to
exclude the Roman Catholic from office because he worshipped stocks and
stones, because he had the mark of the Beast, because he had burned down
London, because he had strangled Sir Edmondsbury Godfrey; and the most
judicious and tolerant statesman, while smiling at the delusions which
imposed on the populace, was led, by a very different road, to the same
conclusion.

The great object of William now was to unite in one body the numerous
sections of the community which regarded him as their common head. In
this work he had several able and trusty coadjutors, among whom two were
preeminently useful, Burnet and Dykvelt.

The services of Burnet indeed it was necessary to employ with some
caution. The kindness with which he had been welcomed at the Hague had
excited the rage of James. Mary received from her father two letters
filled with invectives against the insolent and seditious divine whom
she protected. But these accusations had so little effect on her that
she sent back answers dictated by Burnet himself. At length, in January
1687, the King had recourse to stronger measures. Skelton, who had
represented the English government in the United Provinces, was removed
to Paris, and was succeeded by Albeville, the weakest and basest of all
the members of the Jesuitical cabal. Money was Albeville's one object;
and he took it from all who offered it. He was paid at once by France
and by Holland. Nay, he stooped below even the miserable dignity of
corruption, and accepted bribes so small that they seemed better suited
to a porter or a lacquey than to an Envoy who had been honoured with an
English baronetcy and a foreign marquisate. On one occasion he pocketed
very complacently a gratuity of fifty pistoles as the price of a service
which he had rendered to the States General. This man had it in charge
to demand that Burnet should no longer be countenanced at the Hague.
William, who was not inclined to part with a valuable friend, answered
at first with his usual coldness; "I am not aware, sir, that, since the
Doctor has been here, he has done or said anything of which His Majesty
can justly complain." But James was peremptory; the time for an open
rupture had not arrived; and it was necessary to give way. During