so
formidable an influence. The one question of the Exclusion occupied the
public mind. All the presses and pulpits of the realm took part in
the conflict. On one side it was maintained that the constitution and
religion of the state could never be secure under a Popish King; on the
other, that the right of James to wear the crown in his turn was derived
from God, and could not be annulled, even by the consent of all the
branches of the legislature. Every county, every town, every family,
was in agitation. The civilities and hospitalities of neighbourhood were
interrupted. The dearest ties of friendship and of blood were sundered.
Even schoolboys were divided into angry parties; and the Duke of York
and the Earl of Shaftesbury had zealous adherents on all the forms of
Westminster and Eton. The theatres shook with the roar of the contending
factions. Pope Joan was brought on the stage by the zealous Protestants.
Pensioned poets filled their prologues and epilogues with eulogies
on the King and the Duke. The malecontents besieged the throne with
petitions, demanding that Parliament might be forthwith convened. The
royalists sent up addresses, expressing the utmost abhorrence of all who
presumed to dictate to the sovereign. The citizens of London assembled
by tens of thousands to burn the Pope in effigy. The government posted
cavalry at Temple Bar, and placed ordnance round Whitehall. In that
year our tongue was enriched with two words, Mob and Sham, remarkable
memorials of a season of tumult and imposture. [21] Opponents of the
court were called Birminghams, Petitioners, and Exclusionists. Those
who took the King's side were Antibirminghams, Abhorrers, and Tantivies.
These appellations soon become obsolete: but at this time were first
heard two nicknames which, though originally given in insult, were soon
assumed with pride, which are still in daily use, which have spread as
widely as the English race, and which will last as long as the English
literature. It is a curious circumstance that one of these nicknames
was of Scotch, and the other of Irish, origin. Both in Scotland and in
Ireland, misgovernment had called into existence bands of desperate men
whose ferocity was heightened by religions enthusiasm. In Scotland some
of the persecuted Covenanters, driven mad by oppression, had lately
murdered the Primate, had taken arms against the government, had
obtained some advantages against the King's forces, and had not been pu