Disregarding the Test Act, he appointed Catholic officers in the army, and when Parliament complained, he got the judges to declare that he had a right to 3" dispense" with the Act in certain cases. After that he issued a Declaration of Indulgence, granting all his subjects permission to worship as they pleased. The Protestant Dissenters, however, jealous of the

power which he claimed of over-riding the laws, joined in resisting him.

Next year James put forth another Declaration of Indulgence, and commanded that it should be read in all churches on two successive Sundays. The clergy considered that to obey would be to assist in their own 5 abasement, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, with

six of the bishops, drew up a respectful petition, asking the king to excuse them for doing what they believed to be an unlawful deed. Finding that the Declaration was not read James determined to frighten the clergy into obedience by punishing the seven bishops. He therefore ordered them to be tried for libel.

The nation was by this time roused to a full sense of the danger threatening its religion and its liberties, and the popular feeling was so strong that, in spite of servile judges and a 7packed jury, the king could not obtain a verdict. The bishops were found "Not Guilty," and then,

*

A shout, from long-expectant thousands sent, Shatters the air, and troubles tower and spire! Even the soldiers whom James had assembled on 8 Hounslow Heath to awe the Londoners cheered when the news reached them.

The same day a few of the leading noblemen and gentlemen sent a letter to Holland, asking William, Prince of Orange (James's nephew and son-in-law), to aid them in saving their religion and liberties. He came with a small force, and landed at Torbay. When the Duke of Monmouth landed in the same part of the country the nation as a whole was on the side of James, but the three years of obstinate folly which had gone by had lost him the love of his people, and now no one was found to strike a blow for him. Deserted by those on whose help he counted, he fled to France.

The throne was declared vacant, William and his 10 wife were made king and queen, toleration was granted to all Protestants, and a Bill of Rights, re-affirming the

* Wordsworth.

11 prerogatives of Englishmen, was passed. Then the "glorious Revolution" was complete.

6

1 Exact, require, demand. 2 Test Act. See page 188. 3 dispense, do away with, set aside. 4 successive, coming one after another. 5 abasement, lowering, humiliation. servile, slavish. 7 packed, unfairly selected. 8 Hounslow Heath, near Brentford, in Middlesex. For a full account of the trial of the bishops, see Moffatt's History Readers, Book I. vacant, empty. wife, Mary, the daughter

9

10

The first warbler, whose sweet breath

2 Preluded those 3 melodious bursts that fill The spacious times of 4 great Elizabeth

With sounds that echo still,*

died in 1400. The author of "Piers the Plowman is also lost to sight in that year. Thus their light did not shine even across the threshold of the fifteenth century, and it remains the darkest in our literature. During the greater part of the century the English were engaged either in fighting the French or in fighting one another, and good books are not often written when a country is in a disturbed state. For anything really important we must pass from Chaucer to 5 Sir Thomas More. He wrote in English a "History of Edward V. and Richard III.," and in Latin what his translator calls "A fruitful, pleasant, and witty work of the best state of a 7 public weal, and of the new isle called Utopia." That famous book describes a model community having its seat in the imaginary island named in the title.

8

More says that when he was in Antwerp on the

* Tennyson.

king's business he fell in with a great traveller, as remarkable for his wisdom and learning as for his acquaintance with strange lands. They talked together for some time on the condition of England, and then the traveller gave a long account of Utopia, its people and government.

9

SIR THOMAS MORE.

In that happy land everybody was obliged to follow some occupation, "and yet for all that, not to be wearied from early in the morning to late in the evening, with continual work like

beasts." Where there were no idlers, six hours a day 10 sufficed for labour; the rest of the time was given up to study and to innocent enjoyment.

The people possessed everything in common, so that there was no greed for wealth on the part of 11 individuals, and no grinding down of the poor by the rich. What we count the precious metals they reckoned of far less value than iron, because far less useful. Of gold and silver they made the "vessels that serve for most vile uses; furthermore, of the same metals they make great chains, fetters, and gyves, wherein they tie their bondmen."

The most common punishment was bondage.

that they suppose to be to the offenders no less grief, and to the commonwealth more profit, than if they should hastily put them to death, and so make them quite out of the way. For there cometh more profit of their labour than of their death; and the continual sight of their misery was a more lasting warning.

"War or battle, as a thing very 12 beastly, and yet to no kind of beasts in so much use as to man, they do detest and abhor. And contrary to the custom almost of all other nations, they count nothing so much against glory as glory gotten in war."

There was the most perfect religious liberty. It was "lawful for every man to favour and to follow what religion he wished."

When one remembers that in the famous island of Utopia there was no poverty and no ignorance, that intolerance was quite, and war almost, unknown, it is easy to understand how the adjective "utopian" came to be applied to anything desirable but 13 unattainable; and to conclude with More, "that many things be in the Utopian weal public, which in our cities" we "may rather wish for than hope after."

1 Warbler, singer. 2 prelude, to sing or play something as an introduction to the principal part of the performance. melodious,