mily intirely new, and ſtrangers to the royal blood: but they were too well acquainted with the benefits of hereditary ſucceſſion, and the influence which it has by cuſtom over the minds of the people, to depart any farther from the antient line than temporary neceſſity and ſelf-preſervation required. They therefore ſettled the crown, firſt on king William and queen Mary, king James’s eldeſt daughter, for their joint lives; then on the ſurvivor of them; and then on the iſſue of queen Mary: upon failure of ſuch iſſue, it was limited to the princeſs Anne, king James’s ſecond daughter, and her iſſue; and laſtly, on failure of that, to the iſſue of king William, who was the grandſon of Charles the firſt, and nephew as well as ſon in law of king James the ſecond, being the ſon of Mary his eldeſt ſiſter. This ſettlement included all the proteſtant poſterity of king Charles I, except ſuch other iſſue as king James might at any time have, which was totally omitted through fear of a popiſh ſucceſſion. And this order of ſucceſſion took effect accordingly.
These three princes therefore, king William, queen Mary, and queen Anne, did not take the crown by hereditary right or deſcent, but by way of donation or purchaſe, as the lawyers call it; by which they mean any method of acquiring an eſtate otherwiſe than by deſcent. The new ſettlement did net merely conſiſt in excluding king James, and the perſon pretended to be prince of Wales, and then ſuffering the crown to deſcend in the old hereditary chanel: for the uſual courſe of deſcent was in ſome inſtances broken through; and yet the convention ſtill kept it in their eye, and paid a great, though not total, regard to it. Let us ſee how the ſucceſſion would have ſtood, if no abdication had happened, and king James had left no other iſſue than his two daughters queen Mary and queen Anne. It would have ſtood thus: queen Mary and her iſſue; queen Anne and her iſſue; king William and his iſſue. But we may remember, that queen Mary was only nominally queen, jointly with her huſband king William, who alone had the regal power; and king William was perſonally preferred to queen Anne, though his iſſue was poſtponed to hers.
