t to
England letters summoning many Protestant women of quality to assist at
the expected birth; and he promised, in the name of his dear brother the
Most Christian King, that they should be free to come and go in safety.
Had some of these witnesses been invited to Saint James's on the morning
of the tenth of June 1688, the House of Stuart might, perhaps, now be
reigning in our island. But it is easier to keep a crown than to regain
one. It might be true that a calumnious fable had done much to bring
about the Revolution. But it by no means followed that the most complete
refutation of that fable would bring about a Restoration. Not a single
lady crossed the sea in obedience to James's call. His Queen was safely
delivered of a daughter; but this event produced no perceptible effect
on the state of public feeling in England. [253]

Meanwhile the preparations for his expedition were going on fast. He
was on the point of setting out for the place of embarkation before the
English government was at all aware of the danger which was impending.
It had been long known indeed that many thousands of Irish were
assembled in Normandy; but it was supposed that they had been assembled
merely that they might be mustered and drilled before they were sent
to Flanders, Piedmont, and Catalonia. [254] Now, however, intelligence,
arriving from many quarters, left no doubt that an invasion would be
almost immediately attempted. Vigorous preparations for defence were
made. The equipping and manning of the ships was urged forward with
vigour. The regular troops were drawn together between London and the
sea. A great camp was formed on the down which overlooks Portsmouth. The
militia all over the kingdom was called out. Two Westminster regiments
and six City regiments, making up a force of thirteen thousand fighting
men, were arrayed in Hyde Park, and passed in review before the Queen.
The trainbands of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey marched down to the coast.
Watchmen were posted by the beacons. Some nonjurors were imprisoned,
some disarmed, some held to bail. The house of the Earl of Huntingdon, a
noted Jacobite, was searched. He had had time to burn his papers and to
hide his arms; but his stables presented a most suspicious appearance.
Horses enough to mount a whole troop of cavalry were at the mangers;
and this evidence, though not legally sufficient to support a charge of
treason, was thought sufficient, at such a conjuncture, to justify the
P