lain. "It is very hard," she exclaimed, "to be so "treated;-after all, I was invited: "-and burst into tears. They were noticed by queen Caroline; and, when her majesty learnt the cause, there was not a kind, a generous, or a soothing excuse, which she did not make to her. While this compassionate gentleness showed the amiable mind of the queen, the unfeeling rudeness of the chamberlain as strongly showed the temper of the times. A Norfolk gentleman took a young catholic friend to his seat in that county, and told him he should make it a point to introduce him to all his friends; "but," said he, "you must permit me to inform "them that you are a catholic, for I do not think it “fair to introduce a catholic to any one, without "first mentioning his religion."-Yet, this gentleman possessed a cultivated understanding, and had travelled.—The writer doubts, whether, during the first years of the late reign, any catholic permitted his son to travel in a stage-coach, without previously cautioning him against saying any thing that might discover his religion.-Such was the general fear of abuse and contumely, in which the catholics then lived.

Two circumstances particularly contributed both to preserve and increase the national prejudice against the roman-catholics. From the time of the revolution, the state had been divided into a whig and a tory, the church, into a high and a low church, party; and each had its subdivisions. Agreeing in nothing else, all united in professing an abhorrence of popery; and each strove to outdo the

other in its crimination. The passage, which we have cited from bishop Burnet, shows the effect of this rivalry, while the penal enactment of the 10th and 11th of William the third, was in its passage through the parliament.-Mr. Burke's description of it is as accurate as it is eloquent."A party," said this eloquent senator, in his speech to the electors of Bristol,-" in this nation, "enemies to the system of revolution, were in opposition to the government of king William. They knew, that our glorious deliverer was an enemy to all persecution. They knew, that he "came to free us from slavery and popery, out of

a country, where a third of the people are con"tented catholics, under a protestant government. "He came, with a part of his army, composed of those very catholics, to overset the power of a "popish prince. Such is the effect of a tolerating spirit: and so much is liberty served, in every way, "and by all persons, by a manly adherence to its "own principles. Whilst freedom is true to itself, every thing becomes subject to it; and its very "adversaries are an instrument in its hands.

66

66

"The party I speak of," continues Mr. Burke, (like some among us, who would disparage the "best friends of their country), resolved to make "the king either violate his principles of tolera

tion, or incur the odium of protecting papists. "They, therefore, brought in this bill; and made

it, purposely, wicked and absurd, that it might "be rejected. The then court party, discovering "their game, turned the tables on them; and re

"turned their bill to them, stuffed with still greater "absurdities, that its loss might lie upon its ori

66

ginal authors. They, finding their own ball "thrown back to them, kicked it back again to "their adversaries. And thus this act, loaded "with the double injustice of two parties, neither "of whom intended to pass, what they hoped the "other would be persuaded to reject, went through "the legislature, contrary to the real wish of all "parts of it, and of all the parties that composed "it. In this manner, these insolent and profligate "factions, as if they were playing with balls and

counters, made a sport of the fortunes and the "liberties of their fellow creatures. Other acts of "persecution have been acts of malice; this was "a subversion of justice, from wantonness and pe"tulance. Look into the history of bishop Burnet. "He is a witness without exception.

"The effects of the act have been as mischievous, "as its origin was ludicrous and shameful. From "that time, every person of that communion, lay "and ecclesiastic, has been obliged to fly from "the face of day. The clergy, concealed in gar"rets of private houses, or obliged to take a shelter, -(hardly safe to themselves, but infinitely dangerous to their country),-under the privileges "of foreign ministers, officiated as their servants, " and under their protection. The whole body of "the catholics, condemned to beggary, and to

ignorance, in their native land, have been obliged "to learn the principles of letters, at the hazard of "all their other principles, from the charity of

፡፡

66

your enemies. They have been taxed, to their ruin, at the pleasure of necessitous and profligate relations; and according to the measure of "their necessity and profligacy."

The other circumstance, particularly serving to preserve and increase the popular odium against the catholics, was their estranging themselves from general society: but this was their misfortune, not their fault. We have noticed the constructive recusancy, to which the catholics were liable by the statute of George the first, and the dreadful proscription to which it exposed them. We shall not repeat what we have said on this subject,-we shall only transcribe Mr. Burke's description of its effects: "Such," says that great man, 66 was the "situation of the catholics at this time, that they "not only shrunk from the frowns of a stern magistrate, but were obliged to fly from their very "species;—a kind of universal subserviency, that "made the very servant behind their chairs the "arbiter of their lives and fortunes."

66

LXXVI. 2.

The gradual Amelioration in the situation of Catholics.

THE first approximation of catholics to the notice of their sovereign, took place in consequence of some attentions, which Edward duke of Norfolk, (to whom the present duke is third in succession), and Mary, the wife of duke Edward, had an opportunity of showing to Frederick prince of Wales, during the variance between his royal

highness and George the second, his father. The late king was born at Norfolk House. It is known that, at this time, George the second and the prince were at variance. The duke and duchess conducted themselves, on this occasion, in a manner highly pleasing both to the parent and the son, and to the consorts of each. It was signified to them, that their frequent attendance at court was expected; and queen Caroline often invited the duchess to her private parties. The duchess was gifted with great talents: was easy, dignified, and, when she pleased, singularly insinuating. Her grace, lady Clifford, and the lady of Mr. Philip Howard, were daughters and co-heiresses of Mr. Edward Blount, the early patron and correspondent of Pope. Through Pope, she became acquainted with Mr. Murray, afterwards lord Mansfield-in his early life,—while he yet lived at No. 5, in King's Bench Walks,-where he is so well described by the bard

"To number five direct your doves :

"There, spread round Murray all your blooming loves; "Noble and young, who strikes the heart,

"With every sprightly, every decent part:

66

Equal, the injured to defend,

"To charm the mistress, or to fix the friend."

She loved business. Her talents for it, and her high rank, made her the refuge of the catholics in all their vexations; and she availed herself of her intimacy with lord Mansfield to render them every service in her power. Her house was the centre of whatever was great and elegant, in either com