The executions under this system amounted to as many as forty a month in the city of London alone. Another evil which exists to this very day is to be traced to William and Mary's reign; it is the establishment of gin-shops. William gave encouragement to the manufactories of spirituous liquors, the imbibing of which is the source of most of the crime and sorrow of the world, and any one who has noticed the number of gin-shops in London, and the drinking saloons in other cities, can scarcely be blind to the evil they tend to promote. {395}Before King William returned to England again much blood had been shed, and the wealth of both France and Great Britain was nearly exhausted. When Louis XIV. was discussing the probable termination of the war he said: "Ah, the last guinea will carry the victory." He was right, for the people of both countries were heavily taxed, and it was only a question who should hold out longer with their guineas. Whenever the king was with her, Mary abandoned all government cares, and took to needlework, in which she was imitated by her ladies. Her favorite occupation in this line was the making of knotted fringe of white flax-thread, that no doubt closely resembled the macramé lace of the present day. The Dutch ladies knitted, and even took their work to church, and kept their fingers employed while listening to a sermon. [[A.D. 1693.]] King William's return from Flanders was celebrated by a grand thanksgiving dinner at Guildhall, and another at the armory of the Tower, where their majesties dined in state, and were waited on by the master architects and workmen in masonic aprons and regalia. It was the king's policy to gain favor with his English subjects, because he had only come among them for more supplies, and was off again within four months, to remain until towards the end of the year. During that interval Queen Mary's navy met with two disastrous defeats, and the king had lost the hard-fought, bloody battle of Landen in Flanders. The people of England were groaning under the weight of heavy taxation, and general dissatisfaction with the government was openly expressed. There had been several dishonest prime ministers; but previous to his departure the king appointed Charles Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, to that important position. We have not said anything about the little Duke of {396}Gloucester for a long time; but it must not, therefore, be supposed that he was forgotten either by his mother or his royal aunt. He lived at Campden House, and was taken daily to visit the queen whenever she was at Kensington.