who came in such strong force that they amounted to seven thousand horse and foot. This pacified the inhabitants, until in the middle of the night there rose a cry, “Horse and arms! horse and arms!--the enemy are upon us! Beeston is actually burnt, and only some escaped to bring the doleful tidings!” The bells were rung backwards, women shrieked, candles were placed in the windows, armed horsemen rode in the direction where the destroyers were expected; and men with their wives and children, leaving all behind, even money and plate upon the tables, ran for shelter to barns and haystacks. The terror was so great that nothing like it had occurred since the Civil Wars; but the immediate cause of it all turned out to be the shouting of a few drunken people. Again came the cry of “Fire! fire! Horse and arms! for God’s sake!”--simply because beacons were burning over the town of Halifax. Whether deluded, or wishing to keep up an excitement for political purposes, military expresses brought pretended advice “that the Irish were broken into parties and dispersed.” The whole was managed so artfully, that one who inquired into the matter could not learn who contrived it.[72] Hatred against the Roman Catholics, kindled by atrocious falsehoods, contributed to strengthen a desire for the expatriation of all priests; but other causes, according to the confession of Jesuits themselves, helped to bring on the downfall of Popery. Father Con, an active Jesuit in London, wrote a letter to the provincial of his order at Rome, telling a story, in which he ascribes a considerable share in the catastrophe, to his own party, and especially to D’Adda, the Papal Nuncio. The mischief, he said, came from their own avarice and ambition. The King had “made use of fools, knaves, and blockheads,” and the favoured agent, instead of being a “moderate, discreet, and sagacious minister,” was a “mere boy, a fine, showy fop, to make love to the ladies.”[73] [Sidenote: 1688.] James, after a short detention at Sheerness, returned to London. Lord Middleton heard of his coming, and hurriedly scrawled a note in these words: “The King will be at Rochester this night, and intends to be at Whitehall to-morrow; has ordered his coaches to meet him at his lodgings.” Immediately from Westminster, under date “Dec. 15, 1688, 7 at night,” the Bishop of Winchester wrote to Sancroft, “May it please your Grace--and I am sure it will--His Majesty will be here to-morrow, and his coaches and guard are to meet him at Dartford. This account and orders came from my Lord Middleton.”[74] [Sidenote: THE CRISIS.]