The History of England, from the Accession of James the Second - Volume 4 by Thomas Babington Macaulay (well read books txt) 📕

Jan. 4. 1692/3.

FN 354 Colt Papers in Tindal; Commons' Journals, Dec. 16. 1692, Jan. 11 1692; Burnet ii. 104.

FN 355 The peculiar antipathy of the English nobles to the Dutch favourites is mentioned in a highly interesting note written by Renaudot in 1698, and preserved among the Archives of the French Foreign Office.

FN 356 Colt Papers in Tindal; Lords' Journals, Nov. 28. and 29. 1692, Feb. 18. and 24. 1692/3.

FN 357 Grey's Debates, Nov 18. 1692; Commons' Journals, Nov. 18., Dec. 1. 1692.

FN 358 See Cibber's Apology, and Mountford's Greenwich Park.

FN 359 See Cibber's Apology, Tom Brown's Works, and indeed the works of every man of wit and pleasure about town.

FN 360 The chief source of information about this case is the report of the trial, which will be found in Howell's Collection. See Evelyn's Diary, February 4. 1692/3. I have taken some circumstances from Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, from a letter to Sancroft which is among the Tanner MSS in the Bodleian Library, and from two letters addressed by Brewer to Wharton, which are also in the Bodleian Library.

FN 361 Commons' Journals, Nov. 14. 1692.

FN 362 Commons' Journals of the Session, particularly of Nov. 17., Dec. 10., Feb. 25., March 3.; Colt Papers in Tindal.

FN 363 Commons' Journals, Dec. 10.; Tindal, Colt Papers.

FN 364 See Coke's Institutes, part iv. chapter 1. In 1566 a subsidy was 120,000L.; in 1598, 78,000L.; when Coke wrote his Institutes, about the end of the reign of James I. 70,000L. Clarendon tells us that, in 1640, twelve subsidies were estimated at about 600,000L.

FN 365 See the old Land Tax Acts, and the debates on the Land Tax Redemption Bill of 1798.

FN 366 Lords' Journals Jan. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.; Commons' Journals, Jan. 17, 18. 20. 1692; Tindal, from the Colt Papers; Burnet, ii. 104, 105. Burnet has used an incorrect expression, which Tindal, Ralph and others have copied. He says that the question was whether the Lords should tax themselves. The Lords did not claim any right to alter the amount of taxation laid on them by the bill as it came up to them. They only demanded that their estates should be valued, not by the ordinary commissioners, but by special commissioners of higher rank.

FN 367 Commons' Journals, Dec. 2/12. 1692,

FN 368 For this account of the origin of stockjobbing in the City of London I am chiefly indebted to a most curious periodical paper, entitled, "Collection for the Improvement of Husbandry and Trade, by J. Houghton, F.R.S." It is in fact a weekly history of the commercial speculations of that time. I have looked through the files of several years. In No. 33., March 17. 1693, Houghton says: "The buying and selling of Actions is one of the great trades now on foot. I find a great many do not understand the affair." On June 13. and June 22. 1694, he traces the whole progress of stockjobbing. On July 13. of the same year he makes the first mention of time bargains. Whoever is desirous to know more about the companies mentioned in the text may consult Houghton's Collection and a pamphlet entitled Anglia Tutamen, published in 1695.

FN 369 Commons' Journals; Stat. 4 W. & M. c. 3.

FN 370 See a very remarkable note in Hume's History of England, Appendix III.

FN 371 Wealth of Nations, book v. chap. iii.

FN 372 Wesley was struck with this anomaly in 1745. See his Journal.

FN 373 Pepys, June 10. 1668.

FN 374 See the Politics, iv. 13.

FN 375 The bill will be found among the archives of the House of Lords.

FN 376 Lords' Journals, Jan. 3. 1692/3.

FN 377 Introduction to the Copies and Extracts of some Letters written to and from the Earl of Danby, now Duke of Leeds, published by His Grace's Direction, 1710.

FN 378 Commons' Journals; Grey's Debates. The bill itself is among the archives of the House of Lords.

FN 379 Dunton's Life and Errors; Autobiography of Edmund Bohun, privately printed in 1853. This autobiography is, in the highest degree, curious and interesting.

FN 380 Vox Cleri, 1689.

FN 381 Bohun was the author of the History of the Desertion, published immediately after the Revolution. In that work he propounded his favourite theory. "For my part," he says, "I am amazed to see men scruple the submitting to the present King; for, if ever man had a just cause of war, he had; and that creates a right to the thing gained by it. The King by withdrawing and disbanding his army yielded him the throne; and if he had, without any more ceremony, ascended it, he had done no more than all other princes do on the like occasions."

FN 382 Character of Edmund Bohun, 1692.

FN 383 Dryden, in his Life of Lucian, speaks in too high terms of Blount's abilities. But Dryden's judgment was biassed; for Blount's first work was a pamphlet in defence of the Conquest of Granada.

FN 384 See his Appeal from the Country to the City for the Preservation of His Majesty's Person, Liberty, Property, and the Protestant Religion.

FN 385 See the article on Apollonius in Bayle's Dictionary. I say that Blount made his translation from the Latin; for his works contain abundant proofs that he was not competent to translate from the Greek.

FN 386 See Gildon's edition of Blount's Works, 1695.

FN 387 Wood's Athenae Oxonienses under the name Henry Blount (Charles Blount's father); Lestrange's Observator, No. 290.

FN 388 This piece was reprinted by Gildon in 1695 among Blount's Works.

FN 389 That the plagiarism of Blount should have been detected by few of his contemporaries is not wonderful. But it is wonderful that in the Biographia Britannica his just Vindication should be warmly extolled, without the slightest hint that every thing good in it is stolen. The Areopagitica is not the only work which he pillaged on this occasion. He took a noble passage from Bacon without acknowledgment.

FN 390 I unhesitatingly attribute this pamphlet to Blount, though it was not reprinted among his works by Gildon. If Blount did not actually write it he must certainly have superintended the writing. That two men of letters, acting without concert, should bring out within a very short time two treatises, one made out of one half of the Areopagitica and the other made out of the other half, is incredible. Why Gildon did not choose to reprint the second pamphlet will appear hereafter.

FN 391 Bohun's Autobiography.

FN 392 Bohun's Autobiography; Commons' Journals, Jan. 20. 1692/3.

FN 393 Ibid. Jan. 20, 21. 1692/3

FN 394 Oldmixon; Narcissus Luttrell's Diary, Nov. and Dec. 1692; Burnet, ii. 334; Bohun's Autobiography.

FN 395 Grey's Debates; Commons' Journals Jan. 21. 23. 1692/3.; Bohun's Autobiography; Kennet's Life and Reign of King William and Queen Mary.

FN 396 "Most men pitying the Bishop."-Bohun's Autobiography.

FN 397 The vote of the Commons is mentioned, with much feeling in the memoirs which Burnet wrote at the time. "It look'd," he says, "somewhat extraordinary that I, who perhaps was the greatest assertor of publick liberty, from my first setting out, of any writer of the age, should be so severely treated as an enemy to it. But the truth was the Toryes never liked me, and the Whiggs hated me because I went not into their notions and passions. But even this, and worse things that may happen to me shall not, I hope, be able to make me depart from moderate principles and the just asserting the liberty of mankind."-Burnet MS. Harl. 6584.

FN 398 Commons' Journals, Feb. 27. 1692/3; Lords' Journals, Mar. 4.

FN 399 Lords' Journals, March 8. 1692/3.

FN 400 In the article on Blount in the Biographia Britannica he is extolled as having borne a principal share in the emancipation of the press. But the writer was very imperfectly informed as to the facts.

It is strange that the circumstances of Blount's death should be so uncertain. That he died of a wound inflicted by his own hand, and that he languished long, are undisputed facts. The common story was that he shot himself; and Narcissus Luttrell at the time, made an entry to this effect in his Diary. On the other hand, Pope, who had the very best opportunities of obtaining accurate information, asserts that Blount, "being in love with a near kinswoman of his, and rejected, gave himself a stab in the arm, as pretending to kill himself, of the consequence of which he really died."-Note on the Epilogue to the Satires, Dialogue I. Warburton, who had lived first with the heroes of the Dunciad, and then with the most eminent men of letters of his time ought to have known the truth; and Warburton, by his silence, confirms Pope's assertion. Gildon's rhapsody about the death of his friend will suit either story equally.

FN 401 The charges brought against Coningsby will be found in the journals of the two Houses of the English Parliament. Those charges were, after the lapse of a quarter of a century, versified by Prior, whom Coningsby had treated with great insolence and harshness. I will quote a few stanzas.

It will be seen that the poet condescended to imitate the style of the street ballads.

"Of Nero tyrant, petty king, Who heretofore did reign In famed Hibernia, I will sing, And in a ditty plain.

"The articles recorded stand Against this peerless peer; Search but the archives of the land, You'll find them written there."

The story of Gaffney is then related. Coningsby's speculations are described thus:

"Vast quantities of stores did he Embezzle and purloin Of the King's stores he kept a key, Converting them to coin.

"The forfeited estates also, Both real and personal, Did with the stores together go. Fierce Cerberas swallow'd all."

The last charge is the favour shown the Roman Catholics:

"Nero, without the least disguise, The Papists at all times Still favour'd, and their robberies Look'd on as trivial crimes.

"The Protestants whom they did rob During his government, Were forced with patience, like good Job, To rest themselves content.

"For he did basely them refuse All legal remedy; The Romans still he well did use, Still screen'd their roguery."

FN 402 An Account of the Sessions of Parliament in Ireland, 1692, London, 1693.

FN 403 The Poynings Act is 10 H. 7. c. 4. It was explained by another Act, 3&4P.and M.c.4.

FN 404 The history of this session I have taken from the journals of the Irish Lords and Commons, from the narratives laid in writing before the English Lords and Commons by members of the Parliament of Ireland and from a pamphlet entitled a Short Account of the Sessions of Parliament in Ireland, 1692, London, 1693. Burnet seems to me to have taken a correct view of the dispute, ii. 118. "The English in Ireland thought the government favoured the Irish too much; some said this was the effect of bribery, whereas others thought it was necessary to keep them safe from the prosecutions of the English, who hated them, and were much sharpened against them . . . . There were also great complaints of an ill administration, chiefly in the revenue, in the pay of the army, and in the embezzling of stores."

FN 405 As to Swift's extraction and early life, see the Anecdotes written by himself.

FN 406 Journal to Stella, Letter liii.

FN 407 See Swift's Letter to Temple of Oct. 6. 1694.

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