neral election, the change in the Commissions
of Peace and Lieutenancy, and finally the debates on the two Abjuration
Bills, threw Shrewsbury into a state bordering on distraction. He was
angry with the Whigs for using the King ill, and yet was still more
angry with the King for showing favour to the Tories. At what moment and
by what influence, the unhappy man was induced to commit a treason, the
consciousness of which threw a dark shade over all his remaining years,
is not accurately known. But it is highly probable that his mother, who,
though the most abandoned of women, had great power over him, took a
fatal advantage of some unguarded hour when he was irritated by finding
his advice slighted, and that of Danby and Nottingham preferred. She was
still a member of that Church which her son had quitted, and may have
thought that, by reclaiming him from rebellion, she might make some
atonement for the violation of her marriage vow and the murder of her
lord, [647] What is certain is that, before the end of the spring of
1690, Shrewsbury had offered his services to James, and that James had
accepted them. One proof of the sincerity of the convert was demanded.
He must resign the seals which he had taken from the hand of the
usurper, [648] It is probable that Shrewsbury had scarcely committed his
fault when he began to repent of it. But he had not strength of mind to
stop short in the path of evil. Loathing his own baseness, dreading
a detection which must be fatal to his honour, afraid to go forward,
afraid to go back, he underwent tortures of which it is impossible to
think without commiseration. The true cause of his distress was as yet
a profound secret; but his mental struggles and changes of purpose were
generally known, and furnished the town, during some weeks, with topics
of conversation. One night, when he was actually setting out in a state
of great excitement for the palace, with the seals in his hand, he was
induced by Burnet to defer his resignation for a few hours. Some days
later, the eloquence of Tillotson was employed for the same purpose,
[649] Three or four times the Earl laid the ensigns of his office on the
table of the royal closet, and was three or four times induced, by
the kind expostulations of the master whom he was conscious of having
wronged, to take them up and carry them away. Thus the resignation was
deferred till the eve of the King's departure. By that time agitation
had thrown Shrewsbury