Thus on one side were the Hydes and the whole body of Tory
churchmen, Powis and all the most respectable noblemen and
gentlemen of the King's own faith, the States General, the House
of Austria, and the Pope. On the other side were a few Roman
Catholic adventurers, of broken fortune and tainted reputation,
backed by France and by the Jesuits.

The chief representative of the Jesuits at Whitehall was an
English brother of the Order, who had, during some time, acted as
Viceprovincial, who had been long regarded by James with peculiar
favour, and who had lately been made Clerk of the Closet. This
man, named Edward Petre, was descended from an honourable family.
His manners were courtly: his speech was flowing and plausible;
but he was weak and vain, covetous and ambitious. Of all the evil
counsellors who had access to the royal ear, he bore, perhaps,
the largest part in the ruin of the House of Stuart.

The obstinate and imperious nature of the King gave great
advantages to those who advised him to be firm, to yield nothing,
and to make himself feared. One state maxim had taken possession
of his small understanding, and was not to be dislodged by
reason. To reason, indeed, he was not in the habit of attending.
His mode of arguing, if it is to be so called, was one not
uncommon among dull and stubborn persons, who are accustomed to
be surrounded by their inferiors. He asserted a proposition; and,
as often as wiser people ventured respectfully to show that it
was erroneous, he asserted it again, in exactly the same words,
and conceived that, by doing so, he at once disposed of all
objections.57 "I will make no concession," he often repeated; "my