Note 116 — Chapter XIV · THE REIGN OF JAMES II.

London Gazette of 1687 and 1688, passim; Ralph, 946, 368. These addresses grew more ardent after the queen's pregnancy became known. They were renewed of course, after the birth of the Prince of Wales. But scarce any appear after the expected invasion was announced. The Tories (to whom add the dissenters) seem to have thrown off the mask at once, and deserted the king whom they had so grossly flattered, as instantaneously as parasites on the stage desert their patron on the first tidings of his ruin.

The dissenters have been a little ashamed of their compliance with the declaration, and of their silence in the popish controversy during this reign. Neal, 755, 768; and see Biogr. Brit. art. Alsop. The best excuses are, that they had been so harassed that it was not in human nature to refuse a mitigation of suffering on almost any terms; that they were by no means unanimous in their transitory support of the court; and that they gladly embraced the first offers of an equal indulgence held out to them by the church.