One of the circumstances which filled James, at this time, with vain hopes, was that his wife was pregnant and near her delivery.  He flattered himself that malice itself would be ashamed to repeat any longer the story of the warming pan, and that multitudes whom that story had deceived would instantly return to their allegiance.  He took, on this occasion, all those precautions which, four years before, he had foolishly and perversely forborne to take.  He contrived to transmit to England letters summoning many Protestant women of quality to assist at the expected birth; and he promised, in the name of his dear brother the Most Christian King, that they should be free to come and go in safety.  Had some of these witnesses been invited to Saint James’s on the morning of the tenth of June 1688, the House of Stuart might, perhaps, now be reigning in our island.  But it is easier to keep a crown than to regain one.  It might be true that a calumnious fable had done much to bring about the Revolution.  But it by no means followed that the most complete refutation of that fable would bring about a Restoration.  Not a single lady crossed the sea in obedience to James’s call.  His Queen was safely delivered of a daughter; but this event produced no perceptible effect on the state of public feeling in England.253

Meanwhile the preparations for his expedition were going on fast.  He was on the point of setting out for the place of embarkation before the English government was at all aware of the danger which was impending.  It had been long known indeed that many thousands of Irish were assembled in Normandy; but it was supposed that they had been assembled merely that they might be mustered and drilled before they were sent to Flanders, Piedmont, and Catalonia.254 Now, however, intelligence, arriving from many quarters, left no doubt that an invasion would be almost immediately attempted.  Vigorous preparations for defence were made.  The equipping and manning of the ships was urged forward with vigour.  The regular troops were drawn together between London and the sea.  A great camp was formed on the down which overlooks Portsmouth.  The militia all over the kingdom was called out.  Two Westminster regiments and six City regiments, making up a force of thirteen thousand fighting men, were arrayed in Hyde Park, and passed in review before the Queen.  The trainbands of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey marched down to the coast.  Watchmen were posted by the beacons.  Some nonjurors were imprisoned, some disarmed, some held to bail.  The house of the Earl of Huntingdon, a noted Jacobite, was searched.  He had had time to burn his papers and to hide his arms; but his stables presented a most suspicious appearance.  Horses enough to mount a whole troop of cavalry were at the mangers; and this evidence, though not legally sufficient to support a charge of treason, was thought sufficient, at such a conjuncture, to justify the Privy Council in sending him to the Tower.255 Meanwhile James had gone down