f attainder against the
pretended prince of Wales, and another in favour of the quakers,
enacting, That their solemn affirmation and declaration should be
accepted instead of an oath in the usual form.

{WILLIAM, 1688-1701.}

HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER.

On the fourth day of March the king was so well recovered of his
lameness that he took several turns in the gallery at Kensington; but
sitting down on a couch where he fell asleep, he was seized with a
shivering, which terminated in a fever and diarrhoea. He was attended
by sir Thomas Millington, sir Richard Black-more, sir Theodore Colledon,
Dr. Bidloo, and other eminent physicians; but their prescriptions proved
ineffectual. On the sixth he granted another commission for passing the
bill for the malt tax, and the act of abjuration; and being so weak that
he could not write his name, he, in presence of the lord-keeper and the
clerks of parliament, applied a stamp prepared for the purpose. The earl
of Albemarle arriving from Holland, conferred with him in private on the
posture of affairs abroad; but he received his informations with great
coldness, and said, "_Je tire vers ma fin_--I approach the end of my
life." In the evening he thanked Dr. Bidloo for his care and tenderness,
saying, "I know that you and the other learned physicians have done all
that your art can do for my relief; but, finding all means ineffectual,
I submit." He received spiritual consolation from archbishop Tennison,
and Burnet bishop of Salisbury; on Sunday morning the sacrament was
administered to him. The lords of the privy-council and divers noblemen
attended in the adjoining apartments, and to some of them who were
admitted he spoke a little. He thanked lord Auverquerque for his long
and faithful services; he delivered to lord Albemarle the keys of his
closet and scrutoire, telling him he knew what to do with them. He
inquired for the earl of Portland; but being speechless before that
nobleman arrived, he grasped his hand and laid it to his heart, with
marks of the most tender affection. On the eighth day of March he
expired, in the fifty-second year of his age, after having reigned
thirteen years. The lords Lexington and Scarborough, who were in
waiting, no sooner perceived that the king was dead, than they ordered
Ronjat to untie from his left arm a black ribbon, to which was affixed a
ring containing some hair of the late queen Mary. The body being opened
and embalmed, lay in state