Canterbury was therefore commanded to inform the clergy that they
must merely read the brief, and must not presume to preach on the
sufferings of the French Protestants.76 Nevertheless the
contributions were so large that, after all deductions, the sum
of forty thousand pounds was paid into the Chamber of London.
Perhaps none of the munificent subscriptions of our own age has
borne so great a proportion to the means of the nation.77

The King was bitterly mortified by the large amount of the
collection which had been made in obedience to his own call. He
knew, he said, what all this liberality meant. It was mere
Whiggish spite to himself and his religion.78 He had already
resolved that the money should be of no use to those whom the
donors wished to benefit. He had been, during some weeks, in
close communication with the French embassy on this subject, and
had, with the approbation of the court of Versailles, determined
on a course which it is not very easy to reconcile with those
principles of toleration to which he afterwards pretended to be
attached. The refugees were zealous for the Calvinistic
discipline and worship. James therefore gave orders that none
should receive a crust of bread or a basket of coals who did not
first take the sacrament according to the Anglican ritual.79 It
is strange that this inhospitable rule should have been devised
by a prince who affected to consider the Test Act as an outrage
on the rights of conscience: for, however unjustifiable it may be
to establish a sacramental test for the purpose of ascertaining
whether men are fit for civil and military office, it is surely
much more unjustifiable to establish a sacramental test for the
purpose of ascertaining whether, in their extreme distress, they
are fit objects of charity. Nor had James the plea which may be