a man as Penn, wishing to find Jacobites every where, and prone to believe whatever he wished, might easily put an erroneous construction on invectives such as the haughty and irritable Devonshire was but too ready to utter, and on sarcasms such as, in moments of spleen, dropped but too easily from the lips of the keenwitted Dorset.  Caermarthen, a Tory, and a Tory who had been mercilessly persecuted by the Whigs, was disposed to make the most of this idle hearsay.  But he received no encouragement from his master, who, of all the great politicians mentioned in history, was the least prone to suspicion.  When William returned to England, Preston was brought before him, and was commanded to repeat the confession which had already been made to the ministers.  The King stood behind the Lord President’s chair and listened gravely while Clarendon, Dartmouth, Turner and Penn were named.  But as soon as the prisoner, passing from what he could himself testify, began to repeat the stories which Penn had told him, William touched Caermarthen on the shoulder and said, “My Lord, we have had too much of this."17 This judicious magnanimity had its proper reward.  Devonshire and Dorset became from that day more zealous than ever in the cause of the master who, in spite of calumny for which their own indiscretion had perhaps furnished some ground, had continued to repose confidence in their loyalty.18

Even those who were undoubtedly criminal were generally treated with great lenity.  Clarendon lay in the Tower about six months.  His guilt was fully established; and a party among the Whigs called loudly and importunately for his head.  But he was saved by the pathetic entreaties of his brother Rochester, by the good offices of the humane and generous Burnet, and by Mary’s respect for the memory of her mother.  The prisoner’s confinement was not strict.  He was allowed to entertain his friends at dinner.  When at length his health began to suffer from restraint, he was permitted to go into the country under the care of a warder; the warder was soon removed; and Clarendon was informed that, while he led a quiet rural life, he should not be molested.19

The treason of Dartmouth was of no common dye.  He was an English seaman; and he had laid a plan for betraying Portsmouth to the French, and had offered to take the command of a French squadron against his country.  It was a serious aggravation of his guilt that he had been one of the very first persons who took the oaths to William and Mary.  He was arrested and brought to the Council Chamber.  A narrative of what passed there, written by himself, has been preserved.  In that narrative he admits that he was treated with great courtesy and delicacy.  He vehemently asserted his innocence.  He declared that he had never corresponded with Saint Germains, that he was no favourite there, and that Mary of Modena in particular owed him a grudge.  “My Lords,” he said, “I am an Englishman.  I always, when the interest of the House of Bourbon was strongest