mice, &c. all of which had failed before the arrival of the British ships!

The siege being raised, King James drew off his forces, and was finally met by the English army, commanded by King William, on the banks of the river Boyne, near Drogheda, on the morning of July 1, 1690. After a short conflict, the Irish army was totally routed :-All Ireland was soon after reduced; and James, who was the first to leave the field, effected his escape to France.

So infatuated was this man, notwithstanding he had been driven from the throne on account of his endeavours to subvert Protestantism, that when he held a parliament in Dublin, he there renewed the most violent measures against the Protestants; which demonstrated, that neither his disposition, nor the principles upon which he meant to govern, had undergone any radical change. All his other attempts to recover the English crown miserably failed; and he spent the latter years of his life in the devotional practices of the Romish church, at St. Germain's; dying there in 1701, aged 68 years.

His son James, commonly called the Pretender, died at Rome in 1766: Charles-Edward, who invaded Scotland in 1745, and who was routed by the Duke of Cumberland, in the famous battle on Culloden Moor, died in 1788; while Henry-Benedict, cardinal of York, who was for some years supported by the munificence of this country, died in 1806, and was the last surviving branch of the ancient and celebrated Stuart family.

In the eleventh year of William III. and Mary II. eldest daughter of King James II. the House of Commons, (as no hope of the king's having issue to succeed remained, and in order to prevent the Roman Catholic branches of the house of Stuart from inheriting the crown,) came, notwithstanding the protest of the Duchess of Savoy, that she was next in the order of succession to the Princess Anne, to the

following resolution: "That, for the preserving the peace and happiness of this kingdom, and the security of the Protestant religion, by law established, it is absolutely necessary, a further declaration be made of the limitation and succession of the crown, in the Protestant line, after His Majesty, and the Princess, and the heirs of their bodies respectively. And, that further provision be first made for security of the rights and liberties of the people."There is little doubt that William's great friendship for Ernest-Augustus, the Elector of Hanover, husband of Sophia, Countess Palatine, grand-daughter of James I. of which we have already treated in our notice of that prince, led to that happy measure, which has, in all probability, for ever precluded a Papist from swaying the sceptre of these realms.

The resolution of the Commons led to the Act of Settlement; for an abstract of which the reader is referred to the following chapter.

Anne, the second daughter of James II. ascended the throne, at the death of William III. in 1702. The splendour and importance of her reign were more owing to the circumstances of the times, and to her ministers and favourites, than to any talents or exertion of her own; as she was of a meek and timid disposition, and surrendered herself chiefly to the direction of others. The brilliant victories of the celebrated Duke of Marlborough, and the important union with Scotland, were greatly overcast by the disgraceful peace of Utrecht, and the violent contention of parties. The deceitfulness of grandeur, as a criterion of happiness, was remarkably verified in her person. While signal success attended her arms abroad, agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and literature, advanced at home; every thing concurred to distinguish her reign as the most propitious and brilliant in our annals. But when we follow this princess into private life, we are struck with the distinction between external

grandeur and personal felicity. She was the last sovereign of the house of Stuart; and her latter days were imbittered by the jealousies of her people, the turbulence of faction, and the contentions and outrage of a distracted cabinet.

She survived a family of eighteen children; among whom was the Duke of Gloucester, who was destined by the act of settlement to succeed her, and who exhibited, like our late lamented Princess, every accomplishment that could elevate the hopes of the nation, and delight the heart of a parent; but he was cut off in the twelfth year of his age, leaving the Royal Family and the Empire overwhelmed with the same grief for the irreparable loss they had sustained, and the same anxiety concerning the succession to the crown, which has universally prevailed since the death of her late Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte of Wales.

CHAP. II.

History of the House of Brunswick resumed, from the Accession of King George I. to the Birth of Her Royal Highness the late Princess Charlotte. IN the preceding chapter we have inserted the

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resolution to which the House of Commons came in the fifth parliament of King William, in obedience to that part of the speech from the throne in which his majesty thus addressed them: My Lords and Gentlemen, our great misfortune in the loss of the Duke of Gloucester, hath made it absolutely necessary, that there should be a further provision for the succession of the Protestant line, after ME and the Princess.* The happiness of the

* Anne of Denmark, afterwards Queen Anne.

nation, and the security of our religion, which is our chiefest concern, seem so much to depend upon this, that I cannot doubt that it will meet with a general concurrence: and I earnestly recommend it to your early and effectual consideration."

The resolution which this important declaration of the king produced, was immediately followed by an act of parliament, entitled, "An Act for the further limitation of the crown, and better securing the rights and liberties of the subject." This was the famous ACT OF SETTLEMENT, the grand barrier erected by our renowned forefathers, against the civil and political usurpations of the Romish See. This Act, cap. 3. sec. 1. enacted, "That the most excellent Princess, Sophia, Electress and Duchess Dowager of Hanover, daughter of the most excellent Princess Elizabeth, late Queen of Bohemia, daughter of our Sovereign Lord King James the First, of happy memory, be, and is hereby declared to be, the next in succession, in the Protestant line, to the imperial crown and dignity of the said realms of England, France, and Ireland, with the dominions and territories thereunto belonging, after His Majesty, and the Princess Anne of Denmark; and in default of issue of the said Princess Anne, and of his Majesty, respectively: And that from and after the deceases of His said Majesty our now sovereign lord, and of Her Royal Highness the Princess Anne of Denmark; and in default of issue of the said Princess Anne, and of His Majesty, respectively, the crown and regal government of the said kingdoms of England, France, and Ireland, and of the dominions thereunto belonging and appertaining, shall be, remain, and continue to the said most excellent Princess Sophia, and the heirs of her body, being Protestants: And thereunto the said Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, shall, and will, in the name of all the People of this realm, most humbly and faithfully

submit themselves, their heirs and posterities; and do faithfully promise, That after the deceases of His Majesty, and Her Royal Highness, and the failure of the heirs of their respective bodies, to stand to, maintain, and defend, the said Princess Sophia, and the heirs of her body, being Protestants, according to the limitation and succession to the crown in this Act specified and contained, to the utmost of their powers, with their lives and estates, against all persons whatsoever that shall attempt any thing to the contrary.'

After this Act was passed, the king ordered it to be finally engrossed, and sealed with the great seal of England. His Majesty next appointed the Earl of Macclesfield to go over to the court of Hanover, and present the copy of this Act to Her Royal Highness the Princess Sophia. The Earl was also commissioned by his sovereign, to invest the Elector George-Lewis, son of the Electress Sophia, and afterwards King George 1. with all the insignia of the most noble Order of the Garter; and was most splendidly entertained by Her Serene Highness, upon his arrival at Hanover. In commemoration of this great honour, the Princess Sophia caused a noble medal to be struck, the face bearing the head of Her Royal Highness, and the reverse that of Matilda, or Maud, daughter of Henry II. king of England, who, we have already stated, was married to Henry, surnamed the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria; from whom the Lunenburgh and Palatine families are both lineally descended.

In the same spirit of affection and veneration, Queen Anne, soon after her accession, ordered the Princess Sophia to be prayed for, in the Prayer for the Royal Family, contained in the liturgy of our church; and, in the fourth year of her reign, gave the royal assent to "an Act for naturalizing the Princess Sophia, and the issue of her body;" and also to "an Act for the greater security of Her