is credit soon declined;
and however he might disapprove of some measures, he found it vain to
oppose them; that his repugnance to the Dutch war, the source of all
the public grievances, was always generally known, as well as his
disapprobation of many unhappy steps taken in conducting it: and that,
whatever pretence might be made of public offences, his real crime, that
which had exasperated his powerful enemies, was his frequent opposition
to exorbitant grants, which the importunity of suitors had extorted from
his majesty.

The lords transmitted this paper to the commons, under the appellation
of a libel; and by a vote of both houses it was condemned to be burned
by the hands of the hangman. The parliament next proceeded to exert
their legislative power against Clarendon, and passed a bill of
banishment and incapacity, which received the royal assent. He retired
into France, where he lived in a private manner. He survived his
banishment six years; and he employed his leisure chiefly in reducing
into order the History of the Civil Wars, for which he had before
collected materials. The performance does honor to his memory; and,
except Whitlocke's Memorials, is the most candid account of those times
composed by any contemporary author.

Clarendon was always a friend to the liberty and constitution of his
country. At the commencement of the civil wars, he had entered into the
late king's service, and was honored with a great share in the esteem
and friendship of that monarch: he was pursued with unrelenting
animosity by the long parliament: he had shared all the fortunes and
directed all the counsels of the present king during his exile: he had
been advanced to the highest trust and offices after the restoration:
yet all these circumstances, which might naturally operate with such
force, either on resentment, gratitude, or ambition, had no influence
on his uncorrupted mind. It is said, that when he first engaged in the
study of the law, his father exhorted him with great earnestness to shun
the practice, too common in that profession, of straining every point
in favor of prerogative, and perverting so useful a science to the
oppression of liberty; and in the midst of these rational and virtuous
counsels, which he reiterated, he was suddenly seized with an apoplexy,
and expired in his son's presence. This circumstance gave additional
weight to the principles which he inculcated.

The combination of king and subject to