An amusing circumstance occurred during the debate. Dr. John Williams, Hector of St. Mildred’s, Poultry, accepted the Bishopric of Chichester, and was consecrated at Lambeth, by Tenison and others, the day before the third reading of the Bill. Rushing into the Bishops’ chamber to robe himself, he was accosted by the Archbishop, “Brother, brother! you’ll overheat yourself; what’s the reason of all this pother?” “Nothing, may it please your Grace,” said he; “but I was fearful lest the Bill against Sir John Fenwick should be read before I could take my place in the House.” “Fye, my Lord,” said Tenison; “you might have spared yourself that labour, since you had not an opportunity of hearing the merits of the cause at the first and second reading; but since, as I perceive, you are come to give your vote, pray, brother, come in along with me, that you may hear it once read, before you do it.”[296] After the Bill had passed, efforts were continued on the culprit’s behalf. His Lady petitioned the House of Lords and the House of Commons; also she threw herself as a suppliant at William’s feet in vain. Fenwick delivered a paper, supposed to have been drawn up by White, the deprived Bishop of Peterborough, in which he did not deny the facts sworn, but only complained of his attainder as unjust; at the same time declaring his loyalty to King James and to the Prince of Wales, but denouncing, with horror, the idea of assassinating William.[297] [Sidenote: JACOBITES.] Fenwick suffered upon Tower Hill the 20th of January, 1697. That wintry morning, cold with storms, White appeared with him on the scaffold, not to pronounce absolution or lay on hands, but simply to pray with a dying man.[298] Commending the King to the Divine protection--meaning James, but not using his name--Fenwick, as he laid his neck on the block, cried, “Lord Jesus, receive my soul.” His corpse was buried by torch-light in St. Martin’s Church. Others were hanged for treasonable practices, including Cranburne, who professed himself a member of the Church of England; and Rookwood and Lowick, Roman Catholics, whose _Jesu Maria_ and _Paternosters_ are particularly mentioned by the Protestant narrator of their last end.[299] CHAPTER XI. The peace of Ryswick, which put an end to the war between William and Louis, and detached the latter from the cause of James, dispelled for awhile the visions which had tantalized and disappointed the nonjuring party; for the treaty, sanctioned by France, Spain, and the United Provinces, recognized the constitution of England, and William as a constitutional King. Some Clergymen, wearied by the bootless resistance of eight long years, now came to terms, and swore allegiance to the reigning Sovereign, adopting at last the principle which they had denounced, that a settled Government, though illegitimate in its origin, is binding in its authority. [Sidenote: PEACE OF RYSWICK.]