supporters of the Church of England, should unite, in the latter part of this reign, with the Tories. The administration of the last four years indeed was composed of the two parties united: but whatever may have been the errors of the Tories during the reign of Queen Anne, nothing could have been more inconsistent and selfish than the conduct of the Whigs.
A very acute observer remarks, "What the wishes of many of the Tories were, was little attempted to be concealed: and that some of the Whigs were not acting on a fixed principle of attachment to the Protestant succession, is now clear from their correspondence with the Court of St. Germain's in the reigns of King William and Queen Anne, especially the latter."[1] In short, the Whigs were ready to sacrifice any thing and every thing to place: and could they have seen it their interest to restore the family of King James, they would not have hesitated for a moment. They had differences with King William at an early period respecting the succession to the throne. Men appeared to have changed. The Tories, who once wished to preserve the rights of James's family, were now opposed to their pretensions: while the Whigs interposed to prevent their hopes from being extinguished. Thus it was remarked, "The Whigs were quite as troublesome to King William as the Tories."[2]
Kidder, the successor of Ken, was killed in his bed with his wife, by the falling of a stack of chimneys, in the palace at Wells, on the night of the great storm the 26th and 27th November 1703. On the Queen's accession an offer was made to restore Ken
