vouchsafing to his English courtiers. The lower ranks of both the
great factions were violently agitated. The Whigs, lately
vanquished and dispirited, were full of hope and ardour. The
Tories, lately triumphant and secure, were exasperated and
alarmed. Both Whigs and Tories waited with intense anxiety for
the decision of one momentous and pressing question. Would there
be a dissolution? On the seventh of November the King propounded
that question to his Privy Council. It was rumoured, and is
highly probable, that Jersey, Wright and Hedges advised him to
keep the existing Parliament. But they were not men whose opinion
was likely to have much weight with him; and Rochester, whose
opinion might have had some weight, had set out to take
possession of his Viceroyalty just before the death of James,
and was still at Dublin. William, however, had, as he owned to
Heinsius, some difficulty in making up his mind. He had no doubt
that a general election would give him a better House of Commons;
but a general election would cause delay; and delay might cause
much mischief. After balancing these considerations, during some
hours, he determined to dissolve.

The writs were sent out with all expedition; and in three days
the whole kingdom was up. Never--such was the intelligence sent
from the Dutch Embassy to the Hague--had there been more
intriguing, more canvassing, more virulence of party feeling. It
was in the capital that the first great contests took place. The
decisions of the Metropolitan constituent bodies were impatiently
expected as auguries of the general result. All the pens of Grub
Street, all the presses of Little Britain, were hard at work.
Handbills for and against every candidate were sent to every
voter. The popular slogans on both sides were indefatigably