“His Majesty’s intimation to me, that he thought my presence would, if occasion required, very much influence his army, I could not take it for less than a command, and accordingly posted to Sarum, where I pressed him, with all imaginable arguments, to call a Parliament, as the most visible way to put a stop to those confusions which threatened the Government; and I left him in a far more inclinable disposition to it than I found him, and engaged several persons near him to second what I had attempted. The next day, which was Friday, I found that several of the troops were commanded towards London, and, waiting upon His Majesty, he told me he would be with me as to-morrow; so that, in order to his reception, I came yesterday from Sarum, which is a long journey of above forty miles, and I now understand that His Majesty comes not this way. This account of myself I thought proper to give your Grace, that I may receive the commands, which shall, with all duty, be obeyed by your son and servant.”[59] [Sidenote: 1688.] A spirit of disaffection soon showed itself in the upper ranks. Lord Lovelace had been deeply involved in intrigues preparatory to the Revolution; and in a crypt under his Elizabethan mansion, called Lady-place, at Hurley, so well known to all pilgrims to picturesque spots, on the banks of the Thames, he had held midnight conferences whilst all the Whigs were longing for a Protestant wind. He now quitted his home, at the head of seventy followers, and galloped westward to join the Prince. Colchester, Wharton, Russel, and Abingdon proceeded in the same direction; but, what foreboded more mischief, defection broke out in the ranks of Royalism. Cornbury, eldest son of Lord Clarendon, and nephew of James’ first wife, at the head of three regiments, deserted the camp at Salisbury, and joined the Prince--most of his soldiers, more faithful than himself, deserting him, when they discovered his treachery. Still worse defections followed. Prince George of Denmark--the husband of the Princess Anne, James’ daughter, a person who, with all her weakness of mind, had acquired a reputation for Protestant zeal--went next. In company with the Duke of Ormond, he rode off from Andover, having the previous night supped at his father-in-law’s table. The Churchills--great favourites with James, great supporters of his cause--soon fell into the stream. The destined hero of Blenheim, accompanied by Grafton, pushed on his way to worship the rising sun. A story is told, I do not know on what authority, that William, on seeing these unexpected visitors, exclaimed, “If ye be come peaceably to me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you, but if ye be come to betray me to mine enemies (seeing that there is no wrong in my hands), the God of your fathers rebuke it.” One of them replied, “Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse. Peace, peace