James would never be restored unless he could bring himself to make large concessions to his subjects.  It was therefore intimated to him, kindly and courteously, but seriously, that he would do well to change his counsels and his counsellors.  France could not continue the war for the purpose of forcing a Sovereign on an unwilling nation.  She was crushed by public burdens.  Her trade and industry languished.  Her harvest and her vintage had failed.  The peasantry were starving.  The faint murmurs of the provincial Estates began to be heard.  There was a limit to the amount of the sacrifices which the most absolute prince could demand from those whom he ruled.  However desirous the Most Christian King might be to uphold the cause of hereditary monarchy and of pure religion all over the world, his first duty was to his own kingdom; and, unless a counterrevolution speedily took place in England, his duty to his own kingdom might impose on him the painful necessity of treating with the Prince of Orange.  It would therefore be wise in James to do without delay whatever he could honourably and conscientiously do to win back the hearts of his people.

Thus pressed, James unwillingly yielded.  He consented to give a share in the management of his affairs to one of the most distinguished of the Compounders, Charles Earl of Middleton.

Middleton’s family and his peerage were Scotch.  But he was closely connected with some of the noblest houses of England; he had resided long in England; he had been appointed by Charles the Second one of the English Secretaries of State, and had been entrusted by James with the lead of the English House of Commons.  His abilities and acquirements were considerable; his temper was easy and generous; his manners were popular; and his conduct had generally been consistent and honourable.  He had, when Popery was in the ascendant, resolutely refused to purchase the royal favour by apostasy.  Roman Catholic ecclesiastics had been sent to convert him; and the town had been much amused by the dexterity with which the layman baffled the divines.  A priest undertook to demonstrate the doctrine of transubstantiation, and made the approaches in the usual form.  “Your Lordship believes in the Trinity.”  “Who told you so?” said Middleton.  “Not believe in the Trinity!” cried the priest in amazement.  “Nay,” said Middleton; “prove your religion to be true if you can; but do not catechize me about mine.”  As it was plain that the Secretary was not a disputant whom it was easy to take at an advantage, the controversy ended almost as soon as it began.429 When fortune changed, Middleton adhered to the cause of hereditary monarchy with a stedfastness which was the more respectable because he would have had no difficulty in making his peace with the new government.  His sentiments were so well known that, when the kingdom was agitated by apprehensions of an invasion and an insurrection, he was arrested and sent to the Tower; but no evidence