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446 preachments about the profligacy of his life and court, and allowed the old chancellor to drift before the storm; he was suspected more than all of sacrificing him to his resentment against Clarendon for having brought about the marriage of Miss Stewart with the duke of Richmond, though Clarendon, in a letter to Charles, denied it.

Clarendon, with his characteristic pride, refused at first to resign. He waited on the king and reminded him of his long and faithful services, and told him that he would not consent to appear guilty by surrendering the seals. The king talked of the power of the parliament. Clarendon replied he did not fear parliament, and told the king that parliament could do nothing against him without his consent. But unfortunately the spirit of the censor came over him, and, entreating the king not to allow the cabal of the courtiers to prevail against him, he broke out into some severe strictures on "the lady" and her abettors. The king rose and quitted the room without saying a word, and "the lady," quickly informed of the chancellor's disgrace, rushed to a window to watch, with Arlington and May, the fallen minister retire in confusion. Charles sent Sir Orlando Bridgman for the seals, and on the assembling of parliament on the 10th of October, Buckingham and Bristol, who again came out of his hiding-place, urged his impeachment. Accordingly the commons presented seriatim articles of impeachment at the bar of the lords, charging the chancellor with cruelty and venality in his office, an unlawful accumulation of wealth, the sale of Dunkirk, the disclosure of the king's secrets, and the design of ruling by a military force. Still Clarendon stood his ground; but the king let foil an expression in the hearing of one of his friends, that he wondered what Clarendon was still doing in England, and the old man took the hint and got across the channel, though the proposal to imprison him till his trial had been overruled. He did not go, however, without leaving a written vindication of his public conduct, which so offended parliament, that it ordered the paper to be burnt by the common hangman. In this vindication he declared that he had only retired for awhile, and should return at a proper time to prove his innocence, "uncontrolled by the power and malice of men who had sworn his destruction." This caused the commons to pass a bill ordering his trial on the 1st of February, and declaring him, in default of appearance, banished for life, incapable of ever after holding office, and liable to al the penalties of high treason. Clarendon boldly prepared to face his enemies, but illness stopped him at Calais till it was too late, and he was thus doomed to exile for life. He lost his life about the time of his foil, which was a great blow to him, for they had lived in great affection. He continued to live chiefly at Montpelier and Moulines, engaged in writing his history of the rebellion and of his own life, as well as a reply to Hobbes' "Leviathan" and other works; but sighing for recall, and importuning the king to allow him to return to his native country and the society of his children. Charles, however, paid no attention to his prayers, and he died at Rouen in 1674.

Clarendon being removed, the whole of the ministry established at the restoration was broken up. Ormond was absent on his government in Ireland, Southampton was dead. Monk was grown incapacitated from drink and years, and Nicholas had retired. The new ministry acquired the notorious and appropriate name of the {{sc|cabal}], from the initials of their names. Sir Thomas Clifford, first commissioner of the treasury, afterwards lord Clifford; the earl of Arlington, secretary of state; the duke of Buckingham, master of the horse, which office he purchased from Monk; lord Ashley, chancellor of the exchequer, afterwards earl of Shaftesbury and lord chancellor; and the duke of Lauderdale. Secretary Morrice, the creature of Monk, gave way to Sir John Trevor, a creature of Buckingham's. Sir Orlando Bridgman was lord keeper, and therefore the word properly would have two B's, but Bridgman was only consulted according to convenience. Before this time the word cabal merely meant a cabinet. It is so used by Whitelock, Pepys, and Evelyn, from the year 1650. The present cabinet was styled by D'Estrades, "la cabal d'Espagne." The word became infamous from the conduct of these men, who were soon concerned in the king's sale of himself to Louis of France, and most of them received large sums from France for their most treasonable and unpatriotic services. Clifford was the most honest and honourable, but he had the knack of quarrelling with his colleagues, being of a hot and overbearing temper. Bennet, lord Arlington, was a mere courtier, had spent much time on the continent, and picked up its frivolity and vices. He could divert the king by his lively sallies in conversation, please the ladies, and assume an imposing gravity in public debate that deceived the public. He was at heart a Romanist, but took care to conceal it. As for Buckingham, he was a most thoroughly debauched and unprincipled character, not without certain talents and literary tastes. He had written farces, and was a connoisseur in music and architecture. But he was a jaded man of pleasure, and having been out of favour with the king, was now all the more bent on complying with his humour to win his favour. He and Arlington were bitter enemies, but put on an appearance of friendship now they were in office together. Ashley was a man who could change sides, but always with an eye to the main chance. He had been a zealous republican, and now was as zealous a royalist; and as for Lauderdale, he, too, had been an out and out covenanter, but was now a coarse, brutal persecutor of those of his old faith, and by his diabolical cruelties has acquired a name in history amongst the most odious of inquisitors.

One of the earliest acts of the cabal gave fairer promise of sound and good policy than their after proceedings. They sent Sir William Temple to the Hague to endeavour to heal the difference with Holland, which had inflicted such incalculable evils on both countries. Not the least of those evils was the opportunity which was afforded Louis of pushing his ambitious designs on Flanders, and ultimately on Holland and Spain. Both England and Holland saw so clearly the gross folly which they had displayed, that Sir William soon was enabled to effect terms with the States, and by the 25th of April, 1668, he had got definite treaties signed betwixt Holland and England, and of these countries with Sweden, to make common cause for checking the further advance of the French, and to induce France to make peace with Spain. There was also a secret treaty, binding each other