“Again, it may be very improper to stir the point, till we see in what temper the gentlemen are that meet at St. Stephen’s Chapel. The giving of a recognizance for the good behaving, or quiet peaceable living, is a point that deserves to be well weighed, especially since the interpretation of it depends much on the mercy of the gentlemen that sit in Westminster Hall. On the other hand, the circumstances of our poor noncomplying brethren in our respective dioceses, must be considered, for (if I mistake not) the benefit of the protest concerns them more than us. [Sidenote: 1690.] “My Lord, upon the whole matter, I designed this day to have waited upon your Grace and my Lord of Ely, but, in good truth, I am not able to stir abroad. I took physic last Monday, and I have been feverish ever since; but as soon as it shall please God to enable me, I shall wait upon your Grace and my Lord of Ely. In the meantime, with the tender of my humble duty and service, “I remain, “Your Grace’s most obedient servant to command, “WILLIAM NORWICH.”[185] This secession from the Church on a question touching the Crown could not but be a trouble to William; at the same time he had other troubles. The intrigues and trials between Whigs and Tories were the plague of his reign. He wished he were a thousand miles away, and that he had never become King of England. He thought he could not trust the Tories--he resolved he would not trust the Whigs; and once he was on the point of going back to Holland, leaving the Government here in the hands of the Queen. He and his Ministers had warm debates, and it is said that amongst them tears were shed. At last William made up his mind to go to Ireland, and there put an end to the war.[186]