f opinion had not Somers been one of the contributors. About the other
patrons of Kidd the chiefs of the opposition cared little. Bellamont was
far removed from the political scene. Romney could not, and Shrewsbury
would not, play a first part. Orford had resigned his employments. But
Somers still held the Great Seal, still presided in the House of Lords,
still had constant access to the closet. The retreat of his friends had
left him the sole and undisputed head of that party which had, in
the late Parliament, been a majority, and which was, in the present
Parliament, outnumbered indeed, disorganised and disheartened, but still
numerous and respectable. His placid courage rose higher and higher
to meet the dangers which threatened him. He provided for himself
no refuge. He made no move towards flight; and, without uttering one
boastful word, gave his enemies to understand, by the mild firmness of
his demeanour, that he dared them to do their worst.

In their eagerness to displace and destroy him they overreached
themselves. Had they been content to accuse him of lending his
countenance, with a rashness unbecoming his high place, to an
illconcerted scheme, that large part of mankind which judges of a plan
simply by the event would probably have thought the accusation well
founded. But the malice which they bore to him was not to be so
satisfied. They affected to believe that he had from the first been
aware of Kidd's character and designs. The Great Seal had been employed
to sanction a piratical expedition. The head of the law had laid down
a thousand pounds in the hope of receiving tens of thousands when his
accomplices should return, laden with the spoils of ruined merchants. It
was fortunate for the Chancellor that the calumnies of which he was the
object were too atrocious to be mischievous.

And now the time had come at which the hoarded illhumour of six months
was at liberty to explode. On the sixteenth of November the Houses
met. The King, in his speech, assured them in gracious and affectionate
language that he was determined to do his best to merit their love by
constant care to preserve their liberty and their religion, by a pure
administration of justice, by countenancing virtue, by discouraging
vice, by shrinking from no difficulty or danger when the welfare of the
nation was at stake. "These," he said, "are my resolutions; and I am
persuaded that you are come together with purposes on your part suitable
to