Thirty, resolved to prorogue the new Parliament before it entered
on business. At the same time the Duke of York, who had returned from
Brussels, was ordered to retire to Scotland, and was placed at the head
of the administration of that kingdom.

Temple's plan of government was now avowedly abandoned and very soon
forgotten. The Privy Council again became what it had been. Shaftesbury,
and those who were connected with him in politics resigned their seats.
Temple himself, as was his wont in unquiet times, retired to his garden
and his library. Essex quitted the board of Treasury, and cast in his
lot with the opposition. But Halifax, disgusted and alarmed by the
violence of his old associates, and Sunderland, who never quitted place
while he could hold it, remained in the King's service.

In consequence of the resignations which took place at this conjuncture,
the way to greatness was left clear to a new set of aspirants. Two
statesmen, who subsequently rose to the highest eminence which a British
subject can reach, soon began to attract a large share of the public
attention. These were Lawrence Hyde and Sidney Godolphin.

Lawrence Hyde was the second son of the Chancellor Clarendon, and was
brother of the first Duchess of York. He had excellent parts, which
had been improved by parliamentary and diplomatic experience; but the
infirmities of his temper detracted much from the effective strength of
his abilities. Negotiator and courtier as he was, he never learned the
art of governing or of concealing his emotions. When prosperous, he
was insolent and boastful: when he sustained a check, his undisguised
mortification doubled the triumph of his enemies: very slight
provocations sufficed to kindle his anger; and when he was angry he
said bitter things which he forgot as soon as he was pacified, but which
others remembered many years. His quickness and penetration would have
made him a consummate man of business but for his selfsufficiency and
impatience. His writings proved that he had many of the qualities of an
orator: but his irritability prevented him from doing himself justice
in debate; for nothing was easier than to goad him into a passion; and,
from the moment when he went into a passion, he was at the mercy of
opponents far inferior to him in capacity.

Unlike most of the leading politicians of that generation he was a
consistent, dogged, and rancorous party man, a Cavalier of the old
school, a zealous champion