Next day the ceremony of recognition of William and Mary as sovereigns of England took place. They proceeded in state robes to the banqueting hall of the palace, and placed themselves in chairs of state under the royal canopy, their attendants taking their respective places near by. Then Lord Halifax made a short speech, desiring their majesties to accept the crown. The prince answered, and the princess curtsied, but showed no reluctance at assuming her father's crown. After affixing their names to the Bill of Rights, which promised enjoyment of religious liberty to every Protestant Englishman, William III. and Mary II. were proclaimed king and queen. Lord Clarendon was so disgusted with the turn of affairs that he retired to his country seat, but he sent a letter to his niece, which must have contained some unflattering {373}remarks, for his wife, to whom he intrusted it, was afraid to deliver it. His brother Laurence had been civilly received by William; but Mary had refused to see him or his children, little girls of seven and eight years, respectively. After a few weeks of London life King William hurried his wife away with him to Hampton Court, and only went to town on business. He pleaded ill-health as an excuse; but his conduct gave great dissatisfaction, because diversions that had attended previous courts disappeared, and the king was so surly that people feared to approach him. The queen was vivacious and affable, but as she took little or no interest in state affairs, nothing was to be gained by special attention to her, so few gathered about her. There were many loyal citizens who positively refused to take an oath of allegiance to the new sovereigns. Among these were Lord Clarendon, four of the bishops who had been sent to the Tower by James II., and several hundred members of the English clergy, besides Archbishop San-croft, who it was fondly hoped would perform the coronation ceremony. That important event next occupied the attention of everybody at court. A new globe, sceptre, and sword of state were made for Mary II., but she was to wear the beautiful crown that her father had provided for his queen. The eleventh of April was the day appointed; it was fraught with anxiety and care, for just as the king and queen were ready to set out for Westminster Hall news was brought to them of the successful landing of James II. in Ireland. Added to that, a letter was handed to Queen Mary by her lord chamberlain, which proved to be from her father,--the first he had written her since her arrival in England. He wrote: "That hitherto he had made all fatherly excuses for what had been done, and had attributed her part in the revolution to obedience to her husband; {374}but the act of being crowned was in her own power, and if she were crowned while he and the Prince of Wales were living, the curses of an outraged father would light upon her as well as of that God who has commanded duty to parents."