on the account of those excellent principles and notions, of which they were in a particular manner communicative to me.  This set of men contributed more than can be well imagined to reform the way of preaching; which among the divines of England before them was over-run with pedantry, a great mixture of quotations from fathers and ancient writers, a long opening of a text with the concordance of every word in it, and a giving all the different expositions with the grounds of them, and the entring into some parts of controversy, and all concluding in some, but very short, practical applications, according to the subject or the occasion.  This was both long and heavy, when all was pye-balled, full of many sayings of different languages.  The common style of sermons was either very flat and low, or swelled up with rhetorick to a false pitch of a wrong sublime.  The King had little or no literature, but true and good sense; and had got a right notion of style; for he was in France at a time when they were much set on reforming their language.  It soon appear’d that he had a true taste.  So this help’d to raise the value of these men, when the King approved of the style their discourses generally ran in; which was clear, plain, and short.  They gave a short paraphrase of their text, unless where great difficulties required a more copious enlargement:  But even then they cut off unnecessary shews of learning, and applied themselves to the matter, in which they opened the nature and reasons of things so fully, and with that simplicity, that their hearers felt an instruction of another sort than had commonly been observed before.  So they became very much followed:  And a set of these men brought off the City in a great measure from the prejudices they had formerly to the Church.

75.

JAMES II.

Born 1633.  Created Duke of York.  Succeeded Charles II 1685.  Fled to France 1688.  Died 1701.

By BURNET.

I will digress a little to give an account of the Duke’s character, whom I knew for some years so particularly, that I can say much upon my own knowledge.  He was very brave in his youth, and so much magnified by Monsieur Turenne, that, till his marriage lessened him he really clouded the King, and pass’d for the superior genius.  He was naturally candid and sincere, and a firm friend, till affairs and his religion wore out all his first principles and inclinations.  He had a great desire to understand affairs:  And in order to that he kept a constant journal of all that pass’d, of which he shewed me a great deal.  The Duke of Buckingham gave me once a short but severe character of the two brothers.  It was the more severe, because it was-true:  The King (he said) could see things if he would, and the Duke would see things if he could.  He had no true judgment, and was soon determined by those whom he trusted:  But he was obstinate against all other advices.  He was bred with high notions