cessively ruled, Anne had, perhaps, been the only one who had treated them with consideration. But in 1746 and 1748, Acts were passed which rendered the very profession of their creed, and much more the public exercise of divine worship in their chapels, dangerous and penal. Orders conferred by their Bishops were disallowed by the latter of these Acts. It is scarcely possible to imagine at the present day that such a Statute could have passed the British Legislature. But such was the political animosity then prevalent, that it was carried in the House of Commons with but little opposition. In the House of Lords it was carried also, but only by a majority of five. Not one of the English Bishops would support it; and some of them, as Sherlock, Secker, and Maddox', spoke strenuously against it. Thenceforth for forty-two years, the worshippers belong. ing to this persecuted body were obliged to celebrate their offices of religion with fear and trembling. Lofts of ruined stables, approachable only by trapdoors and moveable ladders, garrets and antiquated apartments, nay, even "dens and caves of the earth," were used as their places of assembling. In the words of the historian of their church, "the fact that their communion was not utterly extinguished before forty-two years of such darkness passed away, can only be ascribed to the power of principle cooperating with the sense of duty "."

A general peace was concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, and continued for some years. In 1756, however, a war broke out, which is known as the Seven Years' war, from the period of its duration. It arose from the ambitious designs of France in America.

The importance of the colonial possessions of France and England in the vast continent of North America had long been silently increasing; and the French, who were then masters of Canada to the north of the British colonies, as well as of Louisiana to the south, attempted to encroach on the intermediate states, which were then the territory of the British crown. Various acts of hostility had occurred in America before the war broke out in Europe,

2 Sherlock was then Bishop of London, Secker, Bishop of Oxford, and Maddox, Bishop of Worcester.

3 Bishop Russell, "History of the Church in Scotland," vol. ii. p. 406.

where England acted with Prussia in alliance against France, which was supported by Austria, as well as by Russia and Sweden.

An expedition, under Admiral Byng, was sent to the Mediterranean, where the island of Minorca (which had belonged to England since the reign of Anne) was attacked by a French fleet. Byng acted with less spirit than might have been expected from a British admiral, and Minorca was wrested from the English. The admiral was brought to a court-martial, which was so much influenced by the public indignation against this unfortunate officer, that he was condemned and shot on the quarter-deck of the St. George at Portsmouth; a victim to the want of moral courage on the part of the king's advisers, who seem to have sacrificed him to the vindictive temper which had seized the public mind.

At this time Mr. Pitt (afterwards Earl of Chatham) was the most influential person in the ministry, in whose character the want of moral courage was certainly not an habitual defect. The Duke of Newcastle and his brother Henry Pelham had been ministers since the year 1744; but on the death of the latter (an upright and useful servant of the crown) the affairs of the country had been conducted with little energy or spirit till Mr. Pitt acquired the chief control in the government. The Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Fox (the secretary) had opposed the appointment of Pitt, but continued to hold office with him; and under his able direction, the year 1759 was remarkable for the success which was granted by Divine Providence to the British arms by land and sea.

In Germany, where the French had overrun the Hanoverian dominions, their army was routed by the English at the battle of Minden. In the Mediterranean, advantage was gained over the French fleet by Admiral Boscawen : and their naval forces in the Channel were defeated by Sir Edward Hawke. In India also the British arms were at this time successful.

It was in America, however, that the greatest triumph was gained. Quebec, the capital of Canada, was taken from the French under Montcalm, by General Wolfe, who fell in the very moment of victory. As he lay expiring, he heard the cry, "They fly," and asked, "Who fly?" On being

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told, "The French," he said, "Then I die content." the following year Montreal surrendered to General Amherst, and Canada has ever since been annexed to the British dominions.

On the 25th of October, 1760, the king died suddenly in his palace at Kensington, of an apoplectic attack. He had survived his eldest son, and was succeeded by his grandson, who now became George III., in the twenty-third year of his age.

Of the private character of George II., little that is favourable can be said. His manners are described as having been coarse, and his conversation sensual. His morals are known to have been most corrupt. Whatever was decent about his court for a part of his reign was attributable to his queen.

The Church did not exhibit many symptoms of amendment during so unpropitious a reign. Her preaching was without warmth; her services without order; her richer Clergy were frequently non-resident; and her Bishops were too much inclined to be politicians. Archbishop Secker, Bishop Butler, and the apostolical Bishop Wilson were glorious exceptions; but we speak of what things were generally. The result was, that dissenters multiplied, and earnest-minded men were tempted to seek in irregularly-constituted societies for that religious encouragement and that field for exertion which they could not find in the Church. This was the origin of the sects which owned Wesley and Whitfield as their leaders, and probably of many others besides; but, as we shall see in the next reign, the Church was thus urged to exertion, to the exercise of her powers, and to a sense of her high commission. Pope, who lived till A.D. 1744, Thomson, Gray, Akenside, the two Wartons, and Collins, are the chief poets of the era of George II. Hume and Robertson should be mentioned among its historians; Fielding and Richardson among its novelists. Painting could boast of Hogarth, Reynolds, and others; sculpture, of Rysbrach, Roubiliac*, and Willis; engraving, of Strange and Bacon: and music attained, perhaps, its highest perfection under Handel'.

4 Rysbrach, Roubiliac, and Handel were foreigners by birth, but the fabric of their reputation was raised in England

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Architecture had not recovered the check it had received at the Reformation, and the vitiated Græco-Italian style, which had been sanctioned by Sir Christopher Wren. had even degenerated since his day, as the construction of public buildings of that date too plainly proves. The greatest literary name of the period is that of Dr. Samuel Johnson he lived till the 25th year of George III.

Blackfriars bridge was built during this reign, and various improvements were made in the arrangement of the streets of London.

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The historical student should be apprised, that in the year 1751 an important alteration was sanctioned by Act of Parliament for regulating the commencement of the year, and for correcting the calendar as it was then in use. had been usual up to that time in England for the year to begin on the 25th of March; but this practice was attended with various inconveniences, one of which was the uncertainty which it introduced into chronology. Part of each year was thus made to belong to its predecessor; for instance, the death of Charles I., which took place Jan. 30th, 1649, was made to have occurred on Jan. 30th, 1648. Hence the date of that occurrence had to be expressed thus, Jan. 30th, 1648.

Besides this, England had hitherto adhered with great tenacity to what is generally called the Old Style of the calendar; that is, to the arrangement of the year as fixed by Julius Cæsar, and explained by Augustus. The greater part of the continent had adopted the New or Gregorian Style; and thus merchants and others experienced great difficulty in adjusting their commercial transactions to those of other nations. The difference in reckoning between the two Styles had now amounted to eleven days, so that the same day was at Rome or Paris the 13th of September, and at London the 2nd of that month, and so on. The cause of this variation was as follows. The Julian year was supposed to consist of 365 days 6 hours, and a day was thus formed every fourth year, which was inserted much in the same way as our 29th of February. In fact, however, six hours exceeded the real amount of surplus each year by 11′ 12′′, the accumulation of which excess was found by Pope Gregory XIII., in 1582, to have caused ten more days to have been inserted than were necessary,

He recommended, therefore, that, in future, every first, second, and third hundredth year, should have no intercalated day (i. e. no 29th of February), and that to balance ten days, which had been wrongly inserted in times past, ten days should be omitted between the 4th and the 15th of October, 1582. Thus the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not to be leap-years, but the years 1600 and 2000 were to be leap-years, as before, and the 5th of October, 1582, was to be the 15th of October. These amendments were adopted at once in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and very soon afterwards in France, and the parts of Switzerland, Germany, and the Low Countries which were connected with the Church of Rome. Other parts of Europe affected for some time to consider them as Romish innovations, and were slower in adopting them. England delayed doing so until 1751, when the difference amounted, as we have said, to eleven days. It now, 1851, amounts to twelve. Russia, and the parts of Europe connected with the Greek Church, still adhere to the Old Style.

To illustrate the difference at this moment, let us take a date. March 21st, 1851, New Style (N. S.), is, according to the Russian notation, March 9, 1850, Old Style (O. S). It seems, at first sight, curious that prejudice should have run so strongly against a mere astronomical arrangement, as if it involved submission to Rome. In England people fancied they were deprived of eleven days of life, or eleven days' profits of business; and it was not unfrequent for King George's ministers to be saluted on public occasions with the cry, "Give us back our eleven days!" For this, however, they cared very little. They carried a reform through, which in Queen Elizabeth's time could not be effected. In 1751 it was enacted that the eleven days should be struck out between the 2nd and the 14th of September of the year 1752, and that the year 1753 should commence on the 1st of January. The other Gregorian arrangements were sanctioned at the same time.

5 A Bill was read the first time in the House of Lords on the 16th of March, 158, and a second time on the 18th of that month, to "give Her Majesty authority to alter or new-make a Calendar according to the Calendar used in other countries." But no more was heard of it. On this and other curious points connected with the Calendar, the student is referred to Sir Harris Nicolas's "Chronology of History."