should have struck for King James, he faltered and coquetted with the
Whigs; and having committed himself by the most monstrous professions of
devotion, which the Elector rightly scorned, he proved the justness of
their contempt for him by flying and taking renegado service with St.
Germains, just when he should have kept aloof: and that Court despised
him, as the manly and resolute men who established the Elector in England
had before done. He signed his own name to every accusation of insincerity
his enemies made against him; and the king and the pretender alike could
show proofs of St. John's treachery under his own hand and seal.

Our friends kept a pretty close watch upon his motions, as on those of the
brave and hearty Whig party, that made little concealment of theirs. They
would have in the Elector, and used every means in their power to effect
their end. My Lord Marlborough was now with them. His expulsion from power
by the Tories had thrown that great captain at once on the Whig side. We
heard he was coming from Antwerp; and in fact, on the day of the queen's
death, he once more landed on English shore. A great part of the army was
always with their illustrious leader; even the Tories in it were indignant
at the injustice of the persecution which the Whig officers were made to
undergo. The chiefs of these were in London, and at the head of them one
of the most intrepid men in the world, the Scots Duke of Argyle, whose
conduct, on the second day after that to which I have now brought down my
history, ended, as such honesty and bravery deserved to end, by
establishing the present royal race on the English throne.

Meanwhile there was no slight difference of opinion amongst the
councillors surrounding the prince, as to the plan his highness should
pursue. His female minister at Court, fancying she saw some amelioration
in the queen, was for waiting a few days, or hours it might be, until he
could be brought to her bedside, and acknowledged as her heir. Mr. Esmond
was for having him march thither, escorted by a couple of troops of Horse
Guards, and openly presenting himself to the Council. During the whole of
the night of the 29th-30th July, the colonel was engaged with gentlemen of
the military profession, whom 'tis needless here to name; suffice it to
say that several of them had exceeding high rank in the army, and one of
them in especial was a general, who, when he heard the Duke of Marlborough
was coming on t