than of the flowers smiling at his feet. Averse to fashionable amusements, he dearly loved the chase. He was, according to Sir William Temple, always in bed and asleep by ten o'clock; and he preferred a "tumbler of cold ale" to a glass of the choicest wine.1

The Prince paid a second visit to England in 1678, when he married his cousin, the Princess Mary-a match which, though suggested by State policy, turned out one of pure affection. It prepared the way for the part he was to play in the Revolution, and on account of that event, which, in its ecclesiastical consequences, forms a prominent subject in this volume, a glance at his early life has been deemed essential.

What most concerns us is not his military and political character, not his career as a soldier or a statesman, but his religious opinions, sympathies, and policy, and the bearing of these upon the changes wrought during his reign in the ecclesiastical affairs of our country.

William was a staunch Calvinist. "He was much possessed with the belief of absolute decrees," and said to Burnet he adhered to them "because he did not see how the belief of Providence could be maintained upon any other supposition."2 Such convictions in such a man became elements of heroism, but it was thought, not perhaps without reason, that more care had been taken to impress his mind with the doctrine of Predestination, than to guard him against abuses incident to such an opinion. Yet there appears nothing fanatical in William's religion, and whatever might be his moral conduct, it did not seem to have been connected with

For the early life of the Prince of Orange, see The Life of William III. Svo.. Lond., 1703; The Hist. of King William III., 3 vols. 8vo.,

1703; The Life of William, Prince of Orange, 8vo., Lond., 1688.

2

Own Times, ii. 305, i. 689.

Antinomian prejudices, or with any doubt of the obligations of Christian virtue. It is remarkable, that though in Holland, at the time of the Synod of Dort, Calvinism appeared in union with intolerance, William had no sympathy in that feeling. Toleration was a ruling idea in his mind; and he blamed the English Church for alienating itself from other communions, and for claiming infallibility in practice, though eschewing it in theory.

He had been brought up a Presbyterian, but he appears to have regarded Church government of secondary importance, and, as events proved, he could conform to Episcopacy. Indeed, it is said by Burnet-who claimed to know him well-that he, on the whole, preferred the English to the Dutch type of ecclesiastical rule.1 The Prince had no reverence for antiquity, no æsthetic taste, no sensibility under the touch of elaborate ceremonies, or amidst the flow of harmonious music. He preferred an unritualistic worship, and distinctly disapproved of the surplice, the cross in baptism, and bowing to the altar; yet, again, we are assured that he highly esteemed the worship, as well as the polity, of the Church of England.2

After his marriage with the Princess Mary, he formed an acquaintance with English Divines. Dr. Hooper became chaplain to the Princess, on the recommendation of Archbishop Sancroft; and he remained in office a year and a half. The chaplain found Her Royal Highness reading works favourable to Dissenters; to counteract their tendency, he recommended works of another description. One day the Prince observed his wife with the pages of Eusebius and Hooker open on her table, when

1 Own Times, i. 691.

2 Burnet evidently wished to make William appear as much of a Churchman as possible.

he exclaimed, "I suppose Dr. Hooker persuades you to read these books ?" She had at first no chapel of her own for Divine worship; at the Doctor's request, a room was fitted up, with a communion-table elevated on steps. The Prince, as he saw them being made, rudely kicked at them, asking what they meant. Informed on the point, he answered "with a hum." After the chapel had been fitted up, he never attended Divine service there; and as this chaplain talked about the Popish Plot and the indulgence of Dissenters in terms less favourable to the latter than His Highness liked, he bluntly said, "Well, Dr. Hooper, you will never be a Bishop;" and on another occasion remarked if he had ever "anything to do with England, Dr. Hooper should be Dr. Hooper still." 1

Ken succeeded Hooper in 1679; we have no particulars of his relations with William, but those relations do not seem to have been very cordial. Each of the clergymen now mentioned belonged to the High Church party, and William could not agree with either, so that the end of Ken's connection with the Dutch Court produced satisfaction on both sides. Yet the conduct of this excellent man "gained him entire credit and high esteem with the Princess, whom to his death he distinguished by the title of his Mistress." 2

The sincerity and strength of William's Protestantism was unmistakable. Protestantism had the approval of

These anecdotes are found in a MS. Life of Hooper, by Prouse. See Life of Ken, by a Layman, 101-3.

Hawkins' Life of Ken, 7. In the Life of Ken, by a Layman, 105, we are told that William was much offended at the marriage of Count Zulestein with a lady whom he had seduced-which marriage is repre

sented as brought about by Ken, to William's displeasure. Macaulay, who examined William's correspondence with Bentinck, on the contrary, informs us of his vexation at learning that one of his household, after ruining a girl of good reputation, refused to marry her. Which is right?

his intellect, and it penetrated his soul. In him, cold as he was, it existed not merely as an opinion, but as a passion. It accompanied him into the Cabinet and the field, tincturing all his views; it pervaded all his purposes, shaped all his policy. Protestantism for Holland was his first thought, Protestantism for Europe his second; and he saw dependent upon Protestantism the political, commercial, and social prosperity of nations, scarcely less than the spiritual well-being of individuals. Roman Catholicism to his mind was identical with a violation of the law of God and an invasion of the rights of man; yet his large views of toleration embraced Roman Catholics; he would not rob any man of the liberty of conscience, but the ascendency of the Romanist system, and the tendency of its spirit, he thoroughly abhorred as one of the worst foes to the welfare of the race. France at that moment showed herself to be more violently Roman Catholic than the Pope himself, and was seeking to establish control over Europe. Therefore towards France William turned a gaze of defiance, prepared to shed the last drop of his blood in resisting her ambition. Louis XIV. stood forth as William's personal enemy, but William's history shows how much more he himself was swayed in this respect by reason than by resentment. At the same time he regarded Holland as one of the last defences of liberty, and desired to see England united with that country in the resistance of a common foe.

Mary responded to her husband's sentiments. Although nurtured in a Roman Catholic atmosphere, she proved herself entirely free from Roman Catholic predilections, and indicated a preference for Low Church principles. A woman of reading, she turned her attention to the controversies of the day, and not only resisted the attempts of her father to convert her to Popery, but,

with all her respect for Ken, kept herself free from the ecclesiastical views which that devout man resolutely upheld.

In 1686, Gilbert Burnet accepted an invitation to the Hague, and availed himself of opportunities to support the Low Church opinions of the Prince and his Consort. The historian of his Own Times has taken posterity into his confidence, and he relates, with characteristic vanity, how he advised his illustrious friends in matters of the highest importance. But whatever may be thought of Burnet's foibles, he appears to have judiciously counselled both husband and wife, especially the latter, and to have done much towards a wise settlement of the Crown at the Revolution. His counsels were in favour of constitutional

government and of toleration; and he inculcated upon Mary that whenever she might inherit her father's throne, she should use her influence to obtain for her husband real and permanent authority. Such advice laid the Prince, and the country of his adoption, under lasting obligations to the busy Whig Churchman.

As the peculiar relation in which this noble couple stood to this kingdom could not but interest them in English affairs, neither could it fail to attract towards them the attention of the English people. English Protestants sympathized with William in his continental policy. They disliked France almost as much as he did. The Huguenots driven to our shores were memorials before their eyes of Roman Catholic intolerance; and besides this, they knew that their own fellow countrymen naturalized in France had to suffer from the repeal of the Edict of Nantes, and that the wives and children of those so naturalized had to suffer in the same way. Moreover, they learned that dragoons were quartered upon English merchants residing in France, to prevent their