though the hour was somewhat unseasonable, Ila lost not a moment in requesting the servants of the queen to attend him by eight o'clock in the morning, which they did, and, along with his lordship, waited upon his grace, the duke of Montrose, whom they found attended by the marquis of Tweedale, the earls of Rothes, Morton, Buchan, Lauderdale, Haddington, Leven, Hyndford, Hopetoun, and Roseberry, with the lords Belhaven, Elibank, Torphichen, Polworth, and Balgony, general Wightman, and a considerable number of the principal gentry, officers of the army, and chief inhabitants of the city.

Every thing being in readiness, and the streets lined with the city trainbands, his grace of Montrose, with the above mentioned retinue of nobility and gentry, proceeded to the town-house, where the lord provost, magistrates, and town council, the lord president, and lords of session, the lord chief baron, and other barons of exchequer, the commissioners of the revenue, and many other gentlemen, waited to receive them, and having in readiness a proclamation of the same tenor with that we have already mentioned as issued in London, it was signed by all present to the number of one hundred and twelve. The city trainbands now formed a double line from the townhouse to the cross, below which there was a theatre erected for the accommodation of the nobility, and Mr. Henry Maule, depute lord lyon king at arms, ushered by six trumpets, the heralds and pursuivants in their coats, by two and two, mounted the cross. These were followed by the lord provost, magistrates, and town council, in their robes, ushered by sixteen city officers in their liveries, with the sword and mace borne by the proper officers, all bareheaded. The lord provost with the sword and mace mounted the cross, but the town council proceeded to the theatre erected for them, where they received his grace the duke of Montrose, and his attendant nobility and gentry. The depute lyon king at arms now, with solemn sound of trumpet, the lord provost reading to him the words of the proclamation, proclaimed the high and mighty prince George, elector of Brunswick Lunenburg, king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, &c. &c. This was followed by a discharge of the great guns from the castle, three vollies from the city guard, answered

by the artillery and small arms in St. Ann's Yard, hard by the palace of Holyrood-house, where the regular troops had encamped, to prevent any disturbance on account of the queen's illness. In the meantime, acclamations of joy burst from the cross, the theatre, and the streets, which, with the windows overlooking them, were crowded with innumerable spectators. The duke of Montrose, with the nobility and gentry, the lord provost, magistrates, and town council, now returned to the townhouse, where they drank the health of his majesty, and other toasts of loyal import, after which they went down to the camp in St. Ann's Yard, where they were received at the head of his troops by general Wightman, who conducted them to his tent, where an elegant entertainment was prepared for them, and where they drank to the health of his majesty, with other loyal and appropriate toasts, under discharges of cannon and small arms. The day was concluded with ringing of bells, illuminations, discharges of great guns, and all the other demonstrations of extraordinary joy.

This sudden change of affairs, so unexpected and so complete, struck the Jacobites dumb with astonishment, and, for the moment, they scarcely ventured a whisper of disapprobation. However, for the greater security, the wooden bridge before the castle gate was cut, and a part of it made to draw up. An intrenchment was also cast up betwixt that and the castle wall, behind which, soldiers were placed with small arms. The general also called in from Dundee, and other places of the kingdom, such of his majesty's troops as were quartered there, who all arrived in the camp within a day or two, and every precaution was taken which the occasion seemed to demand.

His majesty was also proclaimed with all due solemnity, and every possible demonstration of joy in Dublin, and in all the other cities, towns corporate, burghs of regality, &c. &c. throughout the three kingdoms, and the dominions thereto belonging, more universally than any of our kings had been before him, and without a shadow of opposition, the mass of the people every where regarding his accession as a surprising deliverance from a great and impending calamity. The lords justices, however, into whose hands the care of the kingdom for the time had fallen, took all prudent precautions for securing

the public tranquillity at home, and for being respected abroad. Their first care was to select and to appoint officers in whom they could confide to take charge of the more important stations. Portsmouth they found totally unprovided for resisting an enemy, having neither men nor military stores: thither they despatched, on the instant, a re-enforcement, under colonel Pococke, to which they added five hundred out-pensioners of Chelsea college, under the command of captain Jones. A battalion of the earl of Orkney's regiment of fusileers, on its arrival from Flanders, was also appointed to that important place, which, as one of the principal keys of the nation, had been purposely thus dismantled by the late ministry, that it might be surprised by the French, and made a place of arms for the chevalier and his party.*

Moreover, the lords justices, though they had received repeated assurances from his most christian majesty," that he would inviolably maintain the treaty of peace concluded at Utrecht, with relation to the settlement of the British crown in the house of Hanover, and do all in his power to maintain a good intelligence and amity between the crowns of France and Britain;" and though he had ordered the chevalier, who, immediately upon the queen's death, had come to Versailles, to quit his territories, did not think it prudent, under all the circumstances of the case, to trust entirely to these professions, but despatched vessels to examine the French harbours, to observe accurately what was going on in them, and to report accordingly. That they might not be imposed upon by any of those who had been the tools of France in the late reign, they also made choice of the since so much celebrated Joseph Addison, at that time member of parliament for Malmsbury, to be their secretary, to whom all despatches directed to the secretary of state were to be sent. They, at the same time, directed the justices of the peace for London and Westminster, to take up exact lists of the popish recusants in these two cities, and to seize their horses and arms, according to the statute provided in that case; and, to prevent insurrections in places where the disaffected were known to be numerous, their excellencies re

Rae's History of the Rebellion, p. 65.

moved the lords lieutenants, and appointed others in whom they could place more confidence; and thus, under providence, kept, for a time, every thing in a state of calm and peaceful tranquillity.*

The parliament, pursuant to an act of the fifth of the late queen, convened on the afternoon of the day she died, and, the speaker being in Wales, it was moved by secretary Bromley, that the house should adjourn till the Wednesday following; but it was answered by the friends of his majesty, that time was too precious for any of it to be lost at so critical a juncture; and they adjourned only till the next day. In the meantime, such members of both houses as were present qualified themselves by taking the oaths appointed by law. The members who came to town did the like in their respective houses, on the second and third-the speaker, being come to town, did the same on the fourth, and on the fifth of August, the lords justices issued a proclamation, according to the act of the sixth of queen Anne, "requiring all persons, being in office of authority or government, at her deceasc, to proceed in the execu tion of their offices, and to take the oaths mentioned in that act, and to do all other acts required by the laws and statutes of this realm, to qualify them for continuing in their respective places." Their excellencies came afterwards to the house of peers, when the lord chancellor, in their name, made a speech to both houses of parliament, stating what had been done in consequence of the queen's death, and what remained yet to be done in the necessary absence of his majesty, and to prepare every thing for his comfortable reception-concluding, " My lords and gentlemen, We forbear laying before you any thing that does not require your immediate consideration, not having received his majesty's pleasure. We shall only exhort you to a perfect unanimity, and a firm adherence to our sovereign's interest, as being the only means to continue amongst us our present happy tranquillity."

The commons being returned to their own house, it was resolved nemine contradicente that an humble address should be presented to his majesty, the heads of which, after some

• Rae's History of the Rebellion, pp. 65 66.

reasoning, were agreed upon, and a committee appointed to draw up the same, and report to the house next day. The peers agreed upon an address the same day, and requested the lords justices to transmit the same to his majesty with all convenient speed. The parliament proceeded on the sixth to make provision for his majesty's household, and other necessary matters, which having arranged, on the twenty-first both houses adjourned till Wednesday the twenty-fifth.

This adjournment took place in consequence of letters from the king respecting the late queen's funeral, which was intended for Sunday the twenty-second, but, his majesty desiring that it might be as splendid as was consistent with privacy, it was put off to the twenty-fourth, when she was interred with great solemnity in king Henry the seventh's chapel, in the same vault with Charles II., king William, queen Mary, and George, prince of Denmark.

On the twenty-fifth, the parliament being again met, the lords justices went to the house of peers, and the commons being sent for, the lord chancellor, in name of their excellencies, made the following speech to both houses:-" My lords and gentlemen, Having, since your late adjournment, received his majesty's most gracious answer, under his sign manual, to your several addresses, and, by his majesty's command, ordered them to be delivered to you respectively; we do now, in his majesty's name, prorogue this present parliament to Thursday the twentythird day of September next," &c. Thus ended the second and last session of the fourth parliament of Great Britain, and the last of queen Anne; for, upon the twenty-third of September, it was prorogued to the twenty-first of October, then to the thirteenth of January, and thereafter dissolved, and writs issued for calling another.*

While the lords justices were thus careful of the public tranquillity at home, they were no less careful of the national honour abroad. The Swedes, at this time a warlike people, were daily making prizes of British vessels in the Baltic, to put an end to which, the most prompt measures were adopted. The king of Spain also, though he had so lately signed a treaty with

Rae's History of the Rebellion, pp. 72, 73.