battle-grounds on
which Whigs and Tories, Hanoverians and Jacobites, fought out their
quarrel. Men carried turnips in their hats in mockery of the German
elector who had threatened to make St. James's Park a turnip-field, and
were prepared to fight lustily for their bucolic emblem. Women fanned
the strife, wore white roses for the King {136} over the water, or Sweet
William in compliment to the "immortal memory" of William of Nassau.
Sometimes even women were roughly treated. On one occasion we read of a
serving-girl, who had made known the hiding-place of a Jacobite, being
attacked and nearly murdered by a Jacobite mob, and rescued by some Whig
gentlemen. On another occasion a Whig gentleman seeing a young lady in
the street with a white rose in her bosom, jumped from his coach, tore
out the disloyal blossom, lashed the young lady with his whip, and handed
her over to a gang of Whigs, who would have stripped and scourged her but
for the timely appearance of some Jacobite gentry, by whom she was
carried home in safety. The "Flying Post" warns all "he-Jacobites" and
"she-Jacobites" that if they are not careful they will meet with more
severe treatment than hitherto, and then alludes to some pretty severe
treatment the poor "she-Jacobites" had already received.

[Sidenote: 1715--"All for our rightful King"]

To do the King and his family justice, they behaved with courage and
composure through this long season of popular excitement. They went
everywhere as they pleased, braving the dangers that certainly existed.
Once a man named Moor spat in the face of the Princess of Wales as she
was going through the streets, and he was scourged till he cried "God
bless King George!" In 1718 a youth named Sheppard was hanged for
planning King George's death. This led a Hanoverian fanatic named Bowes
to suggest to the ministry that in return he should go to Italy and kill
King James. His proffer of political retaliation only resulted in his
being shut up as a madman. At last the temper of the times and the
frequent threats of assassination compelled the King to take more care of
himself. Though he walked in Kensington Gardens every day, the gardens
were first searched, and then carefully watched by soldiers.

When the rebellion was over, the Government found they had a large number
of prisoners on their hands, many of them of high rank. Several officers
taken on {137} the field had already been treated as deserters and sh