be pressed upon him, after all the declarations he had made on the subject, and that, far from being more timorous, he became more resolute the nearer he approached his grave. Shaftesbury expressing great horror at such an expression, the king assured him he was no less anxious for his own preservation, than those who pretended to so much concern for the security of his person; and yet, that he would rather lay down his life than alter the true succession of the crown, against both law and conscience. For that, said the earl, let us alone; we will make a law for it. To which the king replied, that, if such was his lordship's conscience, it was not his; and that he did not think even his life of sufficient value to be preserved with the forfeiture of his honour, and essential injury to the laws of the land.--_North's Examen_, p. 100. 123. Note XVI. _Then the next heir, a prince severe and wise, Already looks on you with jealous eyes._--P. 230. Before James went to Flanders, he had testified a jealousy of Monmouth. "The Duke of York, before he went abroad," says Carte, "was concerned to see that the king could observe his frequent whispers at court to the Lord Shaftesbury, without being moved or expressing his dislike of it, but was much more alarmed at hearing of their frequent and clandestine meetings, without any apparent dissatisfaction expressed by his Majesty." p. 493. vol. II. Note XVII. _The Solymæan rout---- ---- Saw with disdain an Ethnic plot begun, And scorned by Jebusites to be outdone._--P. 232. The royalists recriminated upon the popular party, the charge of plots and machinations against the government. There is no doubt that every engine was put in motion, to secure the mob of London, "the Solymean rout" of Dryden, to Shaftesbury's party. Every one has heard of the 30,000 brisk boys, who were ready to follow the wagging of his finger. The plots, and sham-plots, charged by the parties against each other, form a dismal picture of the depravity of the times. Settle thus ridicules the idea of the protestant, or fanatical plot for seizing the king at Oxford. This hellish Ethnick plot the court alarms; The traytors, seventy thousand strong, in arms, Near Endor town lay ready at a call, And garrisoned in airy castles all: These warriors, on a sort of coursers rid, Ne'er lodged in stables, or by man bestrid. What though the steel, with which the rebels fought, No forge ere felt, or anvil ever wrought; Yet this magnetick plot for black designs, Can raise cold iron from the very mines; To this, were twenty under plots contrived By malice, and by ignorance believed; Till shams met shams, and plots with plots so crost, That the true plot amongst the false was lost. _Absalom Senior._ Note XVIII. _In the first rank of these did Zimri stand; A man so various, that he seemed to be Not one, but all mankind's epitome._--P. 233.