4oS HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN.

CHAP.I, XVIII.ies(.

Victory ofthe royalists,

fide, had boldly set his enemies at defiance. Noparliament, they knew, would be summoned forsome years ; and during that long interval, thecourt, though perhaps at the head of an inferiorparty, yet being pofl'cssed of all authority, wouldhave every advantage over a body , dispersedand disunited. These reflections crowded uponevery one ; and all the exclufionists were ter-rified , lest Charles should follow the blow bysome action more violent, and immediately takevengeance on them for their long and obstinateopposition to his measures. The king on his part■was no less apprehensive , lest despair mightprompt them to have recourse to force, andmake some sudden attempt upon his person.Both parties therefore hurried from Oxford ; andin an instant, that city , so crowded and busy,was left in its usual emptiness and tranquillity.

The court-party gathered force from thedispersion and astonishment of their antagonists ,and adhered more firmly to the king, whose re-solutions, they now saw , could be entirely de-pended on. The violences of the exclufionistswere every where exclaimed against and aggra-vated ; and even the reality of the plot, thatgreat engine of their authority, was openly calledin question. The clergy especially were busyin this great revolution; and being moved, partlyby their own fears, partly by the insinuations ofthe court, they represented all their antagonistsas sectaries and republicans, and rejoiced in es-caping those penis, which they believed to have