erroneous. On one subject, he escaped the delusion, which prevailed so very generally throughout the nation, and particularly the party to which he was attached. He has the honour

of having been one among the very few, who denied the existence of the Popish plot; and at a time, when it was dangerous to express any doubts of its reality, he had the courage to attempt to save one of its victims, and to expose the falsehood of the evidence. His narrative of English affairs he owns to be imperfect, and, in some parts, out of order; but he thinks, that, considering the sources from which he derived it, he could not be misled especially when he made allowance for the different accounts, which diversity of parties lead men to give-too easily believing some things, and as easily rejecting others.

The concluding sentence of the reign of Charles II., in which he speaks with a becoming confidence, contains a solemn asseveration of the truth and fairness of his history :-"How ungrateful soever this labour has proved to myself, and how unacceptable soever it may be to some, who, by the engagement of parties and interests are under other biases, yet I have gone through all that I knew relating to his life and reign, with that regard to truth, which became an impartial writer of history, and one who believes that he must give an account to God of what he writes, as well as of what he says and does."