[Footnote 1:  Clar.  Pap. iii. 514, 517, 518, 520, 524, 526, 529, 531, 535, 536.  Willis maintained his innocence, and found many to believe him.  Echard (p. 729) has published a letter with Morland’s signature, in which he is made to say that he never sent any of the letters of Willis to the king, nor even so much as knew his name; whence Harris (ii. 215) infers that the whole charge is false.  That, however, it was true, no one can doubt who will examine the proofs in the Clarendon Papers (iii. 518, 526, 529, 533, 535, 536, 542, 549, 556, 558, 562, 563, 574, 583, 585), and in Carte’s Collection of Letters (ii. 220, 256, 284).  Indeed, the letter from Willis of the 9th of May, 1660, soliciting the king’s pardon, leaves no room for doubt.—­Clar.  Pap. 643.  That Morland was the informer, and, consequently, the letter in Echard is a forgery, is also evident from the reward which he received at the restoration, and from his own admission to Pepys.—­See Pepys, i. 79, 82, 133, 8vo.  See also “Life of James II.” 370.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1659.  July 18.] [Sidenote b:  A.D. 1659.  August 7.]

which he thus obtained, was enabled to purchase the forbearance of his former opponents.  At an early period in July, the council was in possession of the plan of the royalists.  Reinforcements were immediately demanded from the armies in Flanders and Ireland; directions were issued for a levy of fourteen regiments of one thousand men each;[a] measures were taken for calling out the militia; numerous arrests were made in the city and every part of the country; and the known Cavaliers were compelled to leave the metropolis, and to produce security for their peaceable behaviour.  These proceedings seemed to justify Willis in representing the attempt as hopeless; and, at his persuasion, “the Knot” by circular letters forbade the rising, two days before the appointed time.[b] The royalists were thus thrown into irremediable confusion.  Many remained quiet at their homes; many assembled in arms, and dispersed on account of the absence of their associates; in some counties the leaders were intercepted in their way to the place of rendezvous; in others as soon as they met, they were surrounded or charged by a superior force.  In Cheshire alone was the royal standard successfully unfurled by Sir George Booth, a person of considerable influence in the county, and a recent convert to the cause of the Stuarts.  In the letter which he circulated, he was careful to make no mention of the king, but called on the people to defend their rights against the tyranny of an insolent soldiery and a pretended parliament.[c] “Let the nation freely choose its representatives, and those representatives as freely sit without awe or force of soldiery.”  This was all that he sought:  in the determination of such an assembly, whatever that determination might be, both he and

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1659.  August 13.] [Sidenote b:  A.D. 1659.  August 29.] [Sidenote c:  A.D. 1659.  August 2.]