The reign of James II. is held to have terminated on the 11th of December, when he secretly departed from Whitehall, with the intention of leaving the kingdom. The reign of William and Mary is determined by Statute to have commenced on the 13th of February, 1689, "the day on which their majesties accepted the crown and royal dignity of king and queen of England." The interval of about two months is called by historians

THE INTERREGNUM.

On the 19th of December the prince of Orange held a court at St. James's. Thither came the Corporation of London in state. All the prelates were there, with the exception of the archbishop of Canterbury. The London Clergy were not wanting in their tribute of respect. Nonconformist divines also attended in a body. "Old Sergeant Maynard came with the men of the law. He was then near ninety, and yet he said the liveliest thing that was heard of on that occasion. The prince took notice of his great age, and said, that he had outlived all the men of the law of his time: he answered, he had like to have outlived the law itself, if his highness had not come over." Amidst this throng William stood "stately, serious, and reserved." + His position was one of exceeding difficulty. He was urged to take the crown, as Henry VII. had taken it, by right of conquest. He rejected the advice. Such a claim would have been a violation of his own promises. It would have justly irritated a proud and sensitive people, who already looked with suspicion upon the orange uniform of his guards. He resolved to assemble, provisionally, two bodies that should represent the Lords and Commons of England. He invited the Peers to attend him; he invited also those who had sat in the House of Commons during the reign of

Burnet, vol. iii. p. 341. Swift has a characteristic note on this passage, "He was an old rogue, for all that." + Evelyn.