forces. The King had already
outraged and insulted the gallant noblemen and gentlemen who had
heretofore been the bulwark of his throne. He had imprisoned the
bishops, dismissed Protestant clergymen from their livings, refused to
summon a Parliament, and caused terror and dismay throughout England
and Scotland. He had created discontent throughout the army by his
dismissal of Protestant officers, and the King now began to fear that
the common soldiers themselves would fail to serve him in his time of
need.

His fears proved prophetic. When the army of the Prince of Orange
advanced from Brixton (where it had landed) to Exeter, and afterwards
to Salisbury and London, it was joined by noblemen, gentlemen,
officers, and soldiers. Lord Churchill, afterwards Duke of
Marlborough, Lord Cornbury, with four regiments of dragoons, passed
over to the Prince of Orange. The Prince of Denmark, the King's
son-in-law, deserted him. His councillors abandoned him. His
mistresses left him. The country was up against him. At length the
King saw no remedy before him but a precipitate flight.

The account given by Rapin of James's departure from England is
somewhat ludicrous. The Queen went first. On the night between the 9th
and 10th of December she crossed the Thames in disguise. She waited
under the walls of a church at Lambeth until a coach could be got
ready for her at the nearest inn. She went from thence to Gravesend,
where she embarked with the Prince of Wales on a small vessel, which
conveyed them safely to France. The King set out on the following
night. He entered a small boat at Whitehall, dressed in a plain suit
and a bob wig, accompanied by a few friends. He threw the Great Seal
into the water, from whence it was afterwards dragged up by a
fisherman's net. Before he left, he gave the Earl of Feversham orders
to disband the army without pay, in order, probably, to create anarchy
after his flight.

James reached the south shore of the Thames. He travelled, with relays
of horses, to Emley Ferry, near the Island of Sheppey. He went on
board the little vessel that was to convey him to a French frigate
lying in the mouth of the Thames ready to transport him to France. The
wind blew strong, and the vessel was unable to sail.

The fishermen of the neighbourhood boarded the vessel in which the
King was. They took him for the chaplain of Sir Edward Hales, one of
his attendants. They searched the King, and found upon him four
hundred