uld longer continue to be a member of the Commission. He had
himself, in obedience to the royal command, read the Declaration: but
he could not presume to condemn thousands of pious and loyal divines who
had taken a different view of their duty; and, since it was resolved to
punish them for acting according to their conscience, he must declare
that he would rather suffer with them than be accessary to their
sufferings.

The Commissioners read and stood aghast. The very faults of their
colleague, the known laxity of his principles, the known meanness of
his spirit, made his defection peculiarly alarming. A government must
be indeed in danger when men like Sprat address it in the language of
Hampden. The tribunal, lately so insolent, became on a sudden strangely
tame. The ecclesiastical functionaries who had defied its authority were
not even reprimanded. It was not thought safe to hint any suspicion that
their disobedience had been intentional. They were merely enjoined to
have their reports ready in four months. The Commission then broke up in
confusion. It had received a death blow. [437]

While the High Commission shrank from a conflict with the Church, the
Church, conscious of its strength, and animated by a new enthusiasm,
invited, by a series of defiances, the attack of the High Commission.
Soon after the acquittal of the Bishops, the venerable Ormond, the most
illustrious of the Cavaliers of the great civil war, sank under his
infirmities. The intelligence of his death was conveyed with speed to
Oxford. Instantly the University, of which he had long been Chancellor,
met to name a successor. One party was for the eloquent and accomplished
Halifax, another for the grave and orthodox Nottingham. Some mentioned
the Earl of Abingdon, who resided near them, and had recently been
turned out of the lieutenancy of the county for refusing to join with
the King against the established religion. But the majority, consisting
of a hundred and eighty graduates, voted for the young Duke of Ormond,
grandson of their late head, and son of the gallant Ossory. The speed
with which they came to this resolution was caused by their apprehension
that, if there were a delay even of a day, the King would attempt to
force on them some chief who would betray their rights. The apprehension
was reasonable: for, only two hours after they had separated, came a
mandate from Whitehall requiring them to choose Jeffreys. Happily the
election of you