A HISTORY OF LONDON being Timothy Hall, rector of Allhallows Staining, who thereby earned the bishopric of Oxford/^" At Westminster Abbey it was read either by Bishop Sprat, the Dean, or by a minor canon, but the congregation left the reader at his task ; at Whitehall chapel it was read by a choirman.'^^ The Ecclesiastical Commission expressed great wrath at the disobedience of the clergy, and ordered a return of all who had neglected the royal order.^^^ This was not made, but the demand gave Bishop Sprat an excuse for leaving the Commission,^ saying that in spite of his authority in the diocese of London he had not urged any man to read, or reproved any for not reading the Declaration.^'* A second return was ordered, but was equally unsuccessful.^'^ In the meantime the bishops had been summoned before the Council and committed to the Tower on a charge of seditious libel. ^'^ Popular enthusiasm for the Church ran high ; the bishops were taken to the Tower by water to prevent a riot ; their progress was a triumph, thousands begging their blessing as they passed for trial. ^'^ On 30 June, the day of their acquittal, the streets about Westminster Hall were so crowded that it might have been a little rebellion,^ and all London was illuminated with bonfires that night.^'^ In the midst of the excitement an heir had been born to James II, news unwelcome to the City in spite of conduits running claret in the Stocks Market and at Cheapside."" A crisis was evidently approaching, and even a court chaplain preached against Popery.'" An invitation to William of Orange, signed by Bishop Compton among others,'*" left England, but though this was known to at least two of the London clergymen,'*' it was not till September that James was alarmed. The London rabble felt the weakness of the court,'** and in October began to attack the Roman Catholic chapels in the City. On 29 October the chapel in Lime Street was wrecked, and the altar furniture burnt ; on 1 1 and 12 November attempts were made on the chapels at Bucklersbury and St. John's Clerkenwell, but the rioters were dispersed by the militia. '*° The seats and wainscot of Lincoln's Inn Fields Chapel were burnt on 10 December, and a search was made through Roman Catholic houses in the City for arms and ammunition.'** The chapels at St. John's Clerkenwell and Lime Street were again despoiled in this month,'*^ and the Spanish Embassy, where many of the Roman Catholic gentry had deposited their valuables,'*' was raided and pillaged, the library being burnt. It has been pointed out that any popularity the Revolution enjoyed was due to the people's attachment to the Crown and the Church and their hatred of the Roman Catholics.'*^ In the popular mind the Church of England stood in direct opposition to that of Rome,'"" and was as inevitably a supporter of the Crown ; her two distinctive doctrines were said to be the power of the "" Ellis Corresp. ii, no. 155, 156. "' Patrick, op. cit. 135 ; Evelyn, Diary, 20 May. "* Kennett, op. cit. iii, 486. '" Ibid. ; Evelyn, Diary, 23 Aug. '" The Bishop of Rochester's Second Letter to the Ear! of Dorset and Midd., 24. "^ Kennett, loc. cit. "' Evelyn, Diary, 8 June. '" Reresby, Mem. 10 June ; Hyde Corresp. ii, 175-7. "* Reresby, Mem. 29 June. '^ Hyde Corresp. ii, 179 ; Ellis Corresp. ii, no. 141. "" Rec. Corp. Repert. xciii, fol. I 5 7, 164^, 167;^. '*' Evelyn, Diary, 8 July. "- H. C. Foxcroft, Life ofHalifa.x, i, 508 n. '" Patrick, op. cit. 137. "' Ellis Corresp. ii, no. 201. '" Ibid. no. 212, 221 ; Evelyn, Diary, 28 Oct. » "^ Rec. Corp. Journ. 1, fol. 358 ; ElFis Corresp. ii, no. 234. '*' Ibid. no. 235. '*' Reresby, Mem. 3 Dec. ; Evelyn, Diary, 9 Dec. "' Leckv, Hist, of Engl, in 18M Cent. (3rd ed.), i, 10. '" Overton, Nonjurors, 3. 348
