sembled the settling of
a rushing current of waters into a frothing and bubbling pool, rather
than the calm tenour of a gently-flowing stream. Throughout the
distractions of his reign, it was the wise policy of William the Third
to balance parties; to bestow great posts upon moderate men; to employ
alternately persons of different opinions, and by frequent changes in
his Ministry, to conciliate the good-will of both factions;--and this
was all that that able Monarch could effect, until time should
extinguish political animosity.

Queen Mary, educated in Tory principles, and taught by her maternal
uncle, the Earl of Rochester, to consider every opposition to the
Sovereign's will as rebellion, was scarcely regarded in the light of an
enemy to the doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance,
notwithstanding her unfilial conduct;[2] and it is remarkable that,
during her life, great favour was shown at Court to the Highland
partisans of James the Second; distinctions were as much avoided as it
was possible; and the personal prepossessions of the Queen were supposed
to be on the side of the High Church Tories.

During the reign of Anne, notwithstanding the coalition of Godolphin,
Marlborough, and other leaders of the moderate Tories with the Whigs,
and the reputation and glory which their combined abilities and
characters obtained, a conviction was still prevalent that the heart of
the Queen was disposed to the restoration of the ancient race, and that
her days would not close before a design to secure the succession to her
nephew would be matured, and the Act of Succession, which was chiefly
the offspring of Whig policy, should be set aside. There was,
doubtless, not only in the mind of Anne, but in that of her sagacious
predecessor, an apprehension that after the death of the last of their
dynasty, the succession would again be fiercely disputed. Impressed with
this conviction, it was a favourite scheme of William to invite the
child, who afterwards, under the name of the Chevalier St. George, was
the hero, in dumb show, it must be acknowledged, of the Insurrection of
1715, to receive his education in England under his kingly care; to be
bred up a Protestant; and to make that education the earnest of his
future succession. The proposal was rejected by James the Second, to the
great prejudice of his son's interests, and to the misfortune, it may be
presumed, of the British nation. For one can scarcely suppose a more
p