in a word, that most of the principal Tories were in a concert with
the Duke of Ormond, for I had pressed particularly to be informed
whether his Grace acted alone, or, if not, who were his council; and
that the others were so disposed that there remained no doubt of
their joining as soon as the first blow should be struck. He added
that my friends were a little surprised to observe that I lay neuter
in such a conjuncture. He represented to me the danger I ran of
being prevented by people of all sides from having the merit of
engaging early in this enterprise, and how unaccountable it would be
for a man impeached and attainted under the present Government to
take no share in bringing about a revolution so near at hand and so
certain. He entreated that I would defer no longer to join the
Chevalier, to advise and assist in carrying on his affairs, and to
solicit and negotiate at the Court of France, where my friends
imagined that I should not fail to meet with a favourable reception,
and from whence they made no doubt of receiving assistance in a
situation of affairs so critical, so unexpected, and so promising.
He concluded by giving me a letter from the Pretender, whom he had
seen in his way to me, in which I was pressed to repair without loss
of time to Commercy; and this instance was grounded on the message
which the bearer of the letter had brought me from my friends in
England. Since he was sent to me, it had been more proper to have
come directly where I was; but he was in haste to make his own
court, and to deliver the assurances which were entrusted to him.
Perhaps, too, he imagined that he should tie the knot faster on me
by acquainting me that my friends had actually engaged for
themselves and me, than by barely telling me that they desired I
would engage for myself and them.

In the progress of the conversation he related a multitude of facts