the faction of the Duke of York, to whom he was odious for having
officiously introduced the famous Popish plot to the consideration
of parliament, as by the popular party, who hated him as a
favourite minister. Accordingly, in 1678, he was impeached by a
vote of the House of Commons, and in consequence, notwithstanding
the countenance of the King, was deprived of all his offices, and
finally committed to the tower, where he remained for four years.
Sir John Reresby has these reflections on Lord Danby's greatness
and sudden fall: "It was but a few months before, that few things
were transacted at court, but with the privity or consent of this
great man; the King's brother, and favourite mistress, were glad to
be fair with him, and the general address of all men of business
was to him, who was not only treasurer, but prime minister also,
who not only kept the purse, but was the first, and greatest
confident in all affairs of state. But now he is neglected of
all, forced to hide his head as a criminal, and in danger of losing
all he has got, and his life therewith: His family, raised from
privacy to the degree of Marquis, (a patent was then actually
passing to invest him with that dignity) is now on the brink of
falling below the humble stand of a yeoman; nor would almost the
meanest subject change conditions with him now, whom so very lately
the greatest beheld with envy." _Memoirs_, p. 85.

As he was obnoxious to all parties, Lord Danby would probably have
been made a sacrifice, had not the disturbances, which arose from
the various plots of the time, turned the attention of his enemies
to other subjects. He was liberated in 1683-4, survived the
Revolution, was created Duke of Leeds, and died in 1712. His
character was of the most decided kind; he was fertile in
expedients and had always something new to substitute for those
which failed; a faculty highly acceptable to Charles, who loved to
be relieved even were it but in idea, from the labour of business,
and the pressure of difficulty. In other points, he was probably
not very scrupulous, since even Dryden found cause to say at
length, that

Danby's matchless impudence
Helped to support the knave.

2. This alludes to the stop of payments in exchequer, in 1671-2; a
desperate measure recommended by Clifford, to secure money for the
war against Holl