Thus came to a period a parliament which had sitten during the whole
course of this reign, one year excepted. Its conclusion was very
different from its commencement. Being elected during the joy and
festivity of the restoration, it consisted almost entirely of royalists;
who were disposed to support the crown by all the liberality which the
habits of that age would permit. Alarmed by the alliance with France,
they gradually withdrew their confidence from the king; and finding him
still to persevere in a foreign interest, they proceeded to discover
symptoms of the most refractory and most jealous disposition. The Popish
plot pushed them beyond all bounds of moderation; and before their
dissolution, they seemed to be treading fast in the footsteps of the
last long parliament, on whose conduct they threw at first such violent
blame. In all their variations, they had still followed the opinions and
prejudices of the nation; and ever seemed to be more governed by humor
and party views than by public interest, and more by public interest
than by any corrupt or private influence.
During the sitting of the parliament, and after its prorogation and
dissolution, the trials of the pretended criminals were carried on; and
the courts of judicature, places which, if possible, ought to be kept
more pure from injustice than even national assemblies themselves,
were strongly infected with the same party rage and bigoted prejudices.
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