people asked, as they had
asked from the first, why, if all was right, the King, knowing, as he
knew, that many doubted the reality of his wife's pregnancy, had not
taken care that the birth should be more satisfactorily proved. Was
there nothing suspicious in the false reckoning, in the sudden change
of abode, in the absence of the Princess Anne and of the Archbishop of
Canterbury? Why was no prelate of the Established Church in attendance?
Why was not the Dutch Ambassador summoned? Why, above all, were not the
Hydes, loyal servants of the crown, faithful sons of the Church, and
natural guardians of the interest of their nieces, suffered to mingle
with the crowd of Papists which was assembled in and near the royal
bedchamber? Why, in short, was there, in the long list of assistants,
not a single name which commanded public confidence and respect? The
true answer to these questions was that the King's understanding was
weak, that his temper was despotic, and that he had willingly seized an
opportunity of manifesting his contempt for the opinion of his subjects.
But the multitude, not contented with this explanation, attributed to
deep laid villany what was really the effect of folly and perverseness.
Nor was this opinion confined to the multitude. The Lady Anne, at her
toilette, on the morning after the Council, spoke of the investigation
with such scorn as emboldened the very tirewomen who were dressing her
to put in their jests. Some of the Lords who had heard the examination,
and had appeared to be satisfied, were really unconvinced. Lloyd,
Bishop of St. Asaph, whose piety and learning commanded general respect,
continued to the end of his life to believe that a fraud had been
practised.

The depositions taken before the Council had not been many hours in the
hands of the public when it was noised abroad that Sunderland had been
dismissed from all his places. The news of his disgrace seems to have
taken the politicians of the coffeehouses by surprise, but did not
astonish those who had observed what was passing in the palace. Treason
had not been brought home to him by legal, or even by tangible, evidence
but there was a strong suspicion among those who watched him closely
that, through some channel or other, he was in communication with the
enemies of that government in which he occupied so high a place. He,
with unabashed forehead, imprecated on his own head all evil here and
hereafter if he was guilty. His only fa