was to unite the tory interest under his own
auspices, and expel the whigs from the advantages they possessed under
the government. His chief coadjutor in this scheme was Henry St. John,
afterwards lord Bolingbroke, a man of warm imagination and elegant
taste, penetrating, eloquent, ambitious, and enterprising, whose talents
were rather specious than solid, and whose principles were loose and
fluctuating. He was at first contented to act in an inferior capacity,
subservient to the designs of the secretary; but, when he understood
the full extent of his own parts and influence, he was fired with the
ambition of eclipsing his principal, and from the sphere of his minister
raised himself to the character of his rival These politicians, with the
assistance of sir Simon Har court, a colleague of uncommon ability and
credit, exerted their endeavours to rally and reconcile the disunited
tories, who were given to understand that the queen could no longer bear
the tyranny of the whigs: that she had been always a friend in her
heart to the tory and high-church party; and that she would now
exhibit manifest proof of her inclination. She accordingly bestowed
the bishoprics of Chester and Exeter upon sir William Dawes and Dr.
Blackall, who though otherwise of unblemished characters, had openly
condemned the revolution.

The people in general began to be sick of the whig ministry, whom they
had formerly caressed. To them they imputed the burdens under which they
groaned; burdens which they had hitherto been animated to bear by
the pomp of triumph and uninterrupted success. At present they were
discouraged by the battle of Almanza, the miscarriage of the expedition
against Toulon, the loss of sir Cloudesley Shovel, and the fate of four
ships of the line, destroyed or taken by a squadron under the command
of messieurs Forbin and Du Guai Trouin, two of the most enterprising
sea-officers in the French service. No new advantage had been obtained
in the Netherlands: France, instead of sinking under the weight of the
confederacy, seemed to rise with fresh vigour from every overthrow: the
English traders had lately sustained repeated losses for want of proper
convoys; the coin of the nation was visibly diminished, and the public
credit began to decline. The tories did not fail to inculcate and
exaggerate these causes of discontent, and the ministry were too remiss
in taking proper steps for the satisfaction of the nation. Instead of
soothing