into a low fever. Bentinck, who made a last effort
to persuade him to retain office, found him in bed and too ill for
conversation, [650] The resignation so often tendered was at length
accepted; and during some months Nottingham was the only Secretary of
State.

It was no small addition to William's troubles that, at such a moment,
his government should be weakened by this defection. He tried, however,
to do his best with the materials which remained to him, and finally
selected nine privy councillors, by whose advice he enjoined Mary to be
guided. Four of these, Devonshire, Dorset, Monmouth, and Edward
Russell, were Whigs. The other five, Caermarthen, Pembroke, Nottingham,
Marlborough, and Lowther, were Tories, [651]

William ordered the Nine to attend him at the office of the Secretary of
State. When they were assembled, he came leading in the Queen, desired
them to be seated, and addressed to them a few earnest and weighty
words. "She wants experience," he said; "but I hope that, by choosing
you to be her counsellors, I have supplied that defect. I put my kingdom
into your hands. Nothing foreign or domestic shall be kept secret from
you. I implore you to be diligent and to be united." [652] In private
he told his wife what he thought of the characters of the Nine; and it
should seem, from her letters to him, that there were few of the number
for whom he expressed any high esteem. Marlborough was to be her guide
in military affairs, and was to command the troops in England. Russell,
who was Admiral of the Blue, and had been rewarded for the service which
he had done at the time of the Revolution with the lucrative place
of Treasurer of the Navy, was well fitted to be her adviser on all
questions relating to the fleet. But Caermarthen was designated as the
person on whom, in case of any difference of opinion in the council,
she ought chiefly to rely. Caermarthen's sagacity and experience were
unquestionable; his principles, indeed, were lax; but, if there was any
person in existence to whom he was likely to be true, that person was
Mary. He had long been in a peculiar manner her friend and servant: he
had gained a high place in her favour by bringing about her marriage;
and he had, in the Convention, carried his zeal for her interests to a
length which she had herself blamed as excessive. There was, therefore,
every reason to hope that he would serve her at this critical
conjuncture with sincere good will, [653]