two august and venerable powers, which
had hitherto seemed to be so closely connected that those who were true
to one could not be false to the other, should be divided by a deadly
enmity, what course was the orthodox Royalist to take? What situation
could be more trying than that in which he would be placed, distracted
between two duties equally sacred, between two affections equally
ardent? How was he to give to Caesar all that was Caesar's, and yet to
withhold from God no part of what was God's? None who felt thus could
have watched, without deep concern and gloomy forebodings, the dispute
between the King and the Parliament on the subject of the test. If James
could even now be induced to reconsider his course, to let the Houses
reassemble, and to comply with their wishes, all might yet be well.

Such were the sentiments of the King's two kinsmen, the Earls of
Clarendon and Rochester. The power and favour of these noblemen seemed
to be great indeed. The younger brother was Lord Treasurer and prime
minister; and the elder, after holding the Privy Seal during some
months, had been appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The venerable
Ormond took the same side. Middleton and Preston, who, as managers
of the House of Commons, had recently learned by proof how dear the
established religion was to the loyal gentry of England, were also for
moderate counsels.

At the very beginning of the new year these statesmen and the great
party which they represented had to suffer a cruel mortification. That
the late King had been at heart a Roman Catholic had been, during
some months, suspected and whispered, but not formally announced. The
disclosure, indeed, could not be made without great scandal. Charles
had, times without number, declared himself a Protestant, and had
been in the habit of receiving the Eucharist from the Bishops of the
Established Church. Those Protestants who had stood by him in his
difficulties, and who still cherished an affectionate remembrance of
him, must be filled with shame and indignation by learning that his
whole life had been a lie, that, while he professed to belong to
their communion, he had really regarded them as heretics, and that the
demagogues who had represented him as a concealed Papist had been the
only people who had formed a correct judgment of his character. Even
Lewis understood enough of the state of public feeling in England to be
aware that the divulging of the truth might do harm, a