202. The Second Dutch War, 1664-1667 (See p. 49, s. 193).Began well, but ended ingloriously. In 1667 the Dutch, under De Ruyter, sailed up the Medway, and destroyed Sheerness. Peace was concluded by the Treaty of Breda, under which New York and other colonies were ceded to this country by Holland.

203. The Great Plague, 1665.-Broke out in St. Giles's, and raged from April to September. More than 100,000 persons are supposed to have fallen victims to this fearful scourge, which made a desert of the metropolis while it prevailed.

204. The Five Mile Act, 1665.-By this the Nonconformist teachers were forbidden, except when travelling, to come within five miles of any corporate town or place where they had formerly preached.

205. The Great Fire, 1666.-Followed the plague, and burned 89 churches and 13,000 houses. It was attributed, without reason, to the popish faction, and an inscription which formerly stood on the Monument was to this effect.

206. The Cabal, 1667.-Took its name from the initial letters of the names of the members of the Administration after the fall of the king's chief minister, Clarendon. (See p. 122.) The names were Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley (afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury), and Lauderdale. They abetted the king in his worst proceedings.

207. The Triple Alliance, 1668.-Between England, Sweden, and Holland, to check the advances of Louis XIV. upon the Spanish Netherlands, which he claimed in right of his wife, Maria Theresa. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle effected this object.

208. The Secret Treaty of Dover, 1670.-Between Louis XIV. and Charles. By this Louis agreed to give Charles a pension, and assist him with armed force in danger, upon the condition that Charles would aid him against Spain and Holland, and profess the Roman Catholic religion.

209. The Third Dutch War, 1672-1674 (See p. 51, s. 202).— Resulted from the Treaty of Dover. Peace was again concluded in 1674, by a second Treaty of Westminster. (See p. 49, s. 193.)

210. The Test Act, 1673.-Chiefly levelled at the Papists, though it also applied to Dissenters. By it, no one could hold any office without abjuring transubstantiation, taking the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and receiving the sacrament according to the rites of the Church of England.

211. Titus Oates' Plot, 1678.-A pretended plot of the Roman Catholics to murder the king and place the Duke of York (after

wards James II.) on the throne, invented by one Titus Oates, a man of infamous character. The mysterious death of Sir Edmondsbury Godfrey, the Protestant magistrate who took the depositions, and other circumstances, tended to support the alleged discovery of Oates, and many innocent persons, among whom was Lord Stafford, were condemned and executed.

212. The Papists' Disabling Bill, 1678.-Excluded Catholics from Parliament. It originated in the popular apprehensions of danger from papists.

213. Habeas Corpus Act, 1679.-Provided, among other things, that (1) prisoners should be produced on trial; (2) that they should not, when once delivered, be recommitted for the same offence; (3) that they should be tried, at latest, the second term after commitment; and (4) that they should not be imprisoned beyond seas.

214. Battle of Bothwell Bridge, 1679.-The Duke of Monmouth defeated the Scotch Covenanters, who had risen and murdered one of their oppressors, Archbishop Sharp.

215. The Exclusion Bill, 1679.-To exclude the Catholic Duke of York from the succession on account of his religion.

216. Whigs and Tories, 1680.-These epithets now came into use. The former were the country party, whom their adversaries compared to the Scotch Presbyterians (Whigs); the latter were the Church and court party, whom the others christened Tories, after the Papal banditti in Ireland. The first endeavoured to prevent the ascendency of Popery; the second opposed their efforts.

217. The Rye House Plot, 1683.-A plot for an insurrection, and for the assassination of the king near the Rye House, in Hertfordshire, on his return from Newmarket. Lord William Russell and Algernon Sidney, who were implicated in the affair, but not to the extent of conniving at assassination, were condemned and executed.

218. JAMES II., 1685-1688.-Second son of Charles I. by Henrietta Maria of France; married (1) Anne Hyde, in 1660, and (2) Mary d'Este, of Modena, in 1673. He was ignorant and bigoted, and sacrificed everything to the exaltation of his prerogative and the dream of reconstructing a Popish despotism.

219. Monmouth's Rebellion, 1685.-James, Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of Charles II., landed from Holland, at Lyme, in Dorset, with a few followers, and, declaring himself legitimate, laid claim to the crown. He was defeated by the Earl of Faversham, at the Battle of Sedgemoor, made prisoner and

executed. A descent from Holland upon Scotland was made at the same time by the Duke of Argyll, but it also was unsuccessful, and Argyll was executed.

220. The Bloody Assize, 1685.-The Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys, who tried the prisoners after Monmouth's rebellion, behaved with such unexampled severity that his progress in the western counties received this name. More than 300 of the insurgents were executed and nearly 1,000 transported by his sentences.

221. Trial of the Seven Bishops, 1688.-In 1687, with a view of serving the interests of Romanism, James had issued a Declaration of Indulgence, permitting to Catholics and Dissenters the free exercise of their religion. In 1688 he re-issued it with additions, and ordered it to be read from the pulpit in every church in the United Kingdom. Sancroft, the primate, with six bishops (viz., Ken of Bath and Wells, Lloyd of St. Asaph, Turner of Ely, Lake of Chichester, White of Peterborough, and Trelawny of Bristol), petitioned against this. They were tried for libel, but acquitted. These proceedings, and the birth of the 'Old Pretender,' brought about

222. The Revolution, 1688.-William, Prince of Orange, sonin-law of James, was now invited to England by the Whigs, and landed with a Dutch army at Torbay. James fled the kingdom. After a short interregnum, William and Mary were crowned in June 1689. Those clergymen who would not take the oath of allegiance were termed Non-jurors.

223. WILLIAM III. and MARY II., 1689-1702.-William was Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of the Netherlands. He was the son of William II. of Holland, and of Mary, daughter of Charles I. His wife, whom he had married in 1677, was James II.'s eldest daughter, by his first wife, Anne Hyde. Though he established the liberties of England on a firm basis, his rare qualities as a ruler could never wholly reconcile his English subjects to his cold and ungenial manners. Mary was more popular, but had very little share in the power. Her position as the daughter of James II. and the wife of William III. was perplexing, and she appears to have been a better wife than child. She died in 1694, from which date William reigned alone.

224. The Toleration Act, 1689.-Relieved Dissenters who took the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and made a declaration against transubstantiation, from all penal statutes affecting the exercise and profession of their religion.

225. Battle of Xilliecrankie, 1689.—William's troops, under Mackay, were here defeated by the famous Viscount Dundee (Graham of Claverhouse), who took the field in James's favour. But the leader fell in the fight, and Scotland submitted to the king.

226. Siege of Londonderry, 1689.-James, supplied with arms and money by Louis XIV., had landed in Ireland. He besieged Londonderry, which braved a painful siege, and was at last relieved by William's troops.

227. Bill of Rights, 1689.—This has been styled the 'third great Charter of English liberties.' It embodied the conditions on which the crown was offered to and accepted by William and Mary. It declared that, without the consent of Parliament, the suspending of or dispensing with laws, the levy of taxes, and the maintenance of a standing army in time of peace, were illegal. It insisted, among other things, upon the right of subjects to petition the king, upon free elections of members of Parliament, freedom of debate, and frequent sessions, and upon the impartial impanelment and returning of jurors.

228. Battle of the Boyne, 1690.-William defeated James, and lost his general, Schomberg. James escaped to France, where he died in 1701.

229. Battle of Aughrim, 1691.—Won by Ginkel, William's general, over the French troops, under St. Ruth. This was the last battle fought for James in Ireland. The capitulation of Limerick, two months after, closed hostilities, and completed the expulsion of the Jacobite standard from that country.

230. The Jacobites. By this name the adherents of James were now known. They must not be confounded with the Jacobins, who were advanced republicans during the great French Revolution.

231. Massacre of Glencoe, 1692.-With a view of inducing the Highlanders to lay down their arms, an indemnity was offered to those who took the oaths of allegiance by a certain date. Mc Ian, of Glencoe, who, by an accident, did not arrive in time, fell a victim to the hatred of the Master of Stair, Secretary of State, and was massacred with his clan. This act, for which William was not wholly to blame, made him very unpopular.

232. Battle of La Hogue, 1692.-War had been declared against Louis, chiefly on account of the support given by him to the Jacobite cause. In 1690 the English and Dutch fleets had been defeated by the French off Beachy Head. In this battle the French fleet, under Tourville, was defeated by Admiral Russell.

233. The Triennial Act, 1694.-Limited the duration of a Parliament to three years. It remained law till the reign of George I., when the Septennial Act was substituted for it. (See p. 59, s. 251.) 234. Peace of Ryswick, 1697.-Suspended hostilities with France. Spain, Holland, and Germany were also parties to it. Louis agreed to acknowledge William, and to refrain from intriguing against him. The war had not been a fortunate one, the English troops having been defeated at Steinkirk in 1692, and at Landen in 1693.

235. The First Partition Treaty, 1698.-Charles II. of Spain was supposed to be at the point of death. A treaty was accordingly entered into between William and Louis, for dividing the Spanish dominions between the Dauphin of France, the Archduke Charles (afterwards Charles III. of Spain), and the Electoral Prince of Bavaria.

236. The Second Partition Treaty, 1700.-The Electoral Prince of Bavaria died suddenly, and a second Partition Treaty was entered into to divide the Spanish territories between the other two.

237.-The Grand Alliance, 1701.-After the Partition Treaties, the King of Spain left his entire dominions to Philip, Duke of Anjou, second son of the Dauphin. This brought France to the side of Spain, and led to an alliance between England, Austria, and Holland, to support the claim of the Archduke Charles of Austria to the Spanish throne.

238. The Act of Settlement, 1701.-By the death of the Duke of Gloucester, the only surviving child of the Princess Anne (afterwards Queen Anne), it became necessary to provide for the succession at her death. An Act was accordingly passed to exclude the Catholic Stuart line from the throne, settling the crown upon the Electress Sophia of Hanover, the Protestant granddaughter of James I., through his eldest daughter Elizabeth, who had married the Elector Palatine. Several important additions to the Bill of Rights (See p. 54, s. 227) were included in this Act. The commissions of judges, for example, were to run during good behaviour (quamdiu se bene gesserint); but they might be removed upon an address of both Houses.

239. The National Debt.-Is generally considered to date from the reign of William III. It was a little more than a million at the time of the Revolution. In 1697 it had risen to several millions. It originated, however, in the mismanagement of the two preceding reigns, and has been increased by all the wars in