CHARLES II.

339

conspiracy against the king, the state, and theprotestant religion.

It must be owned, that this extreme violence,in prosecution of so absurd an imposture , disgracesthe noble cause of liberty , in which the parlia-ment was engaged. We may even conclude fromsuch impatience of contradiction, that the pro-secutors themselves retained a secret suspicion,that the general belief was but ill grounded.The politicians among them were afraid to let inlight, lest it might put an end to so useful a de-lusion : The weaker and less dishonest party tookcare, by turning their eyes aside, not to fee atruth, so opposite to those furious passions, bywhich they were actuated, and in which theywere determined obstinately to persevere.

Sir William Temple had lately been recalledfrom his foreign employments ; and the king,who, after the removal of Danby, had no onewith whom he could so much as discourse withfreedom of public affairs , was resolved , uponCoventry’s dismisiion, to make him one of hissecretaries of state. But that philosophical patriot,too little interested for the intrigues of a court,too full of spleen and delicacy for the noisy tur-bulence of popular assemblies , was alarmed atthe universal discontents and jealousies, whichprevailed , and was determined to make his re-treat, as soon as possible, from a scene whichthreatened such confusion. Meanwhile, he couldnot refuse the confidence , with which his masterhonored him ; aud he resolved to employ it to

Z 2

HAPLX VII.1679 .