Jersey, and, upon this lord's sudden death, was actually disposed of to the bishop of Bristol: by which he plainly saw, that the queen was determined against giving him any opportunity of directing in affairs, or displaying his eloquence in the cabinet council. He had now shaken off all remains of patience or temper; and, from the contemplation of his own disappointments, fell, as it is natural, to find fault with the publick management, and to assure his neighbours in the country, "that the nation was in imminent danger of being ruined." The discontented lords were soon apprised of this great change; and the duke of Roxburgh[1], the earl's son-in-law, was dispatched to Burleigh on the Hill to cultivate his present dispositions, and offer him whatever terms he pleased to insist on. The earl immediately agreed to fall in with any measures, for distressing or destroying the ministry: but, in order to preserve his reputation with the church party, and perhaps bring them over to his interests, he proposed that a bill should be brought into the house of lords, for preventing occasional conformity, and be unanimously agreed to by all the peers of the low-church principle; which would convince the world of their good intentions to the established religion, and that their oppositions to the court, wholly proceeded from their care of the nation, and concern for its honour and safety.
These preparations were publick enough, and the ministers had sufficient time to arm themselves; but
- ↑ John Ker, earl of Roxburgh and Kelso, created marquis of Beaumont and Cessford, and duke of Roxburgh, April 27, 1707, was one of the sixteen peers in the first two parliaments of Great Britain.
