The Revolution.
The Revolution of 1688 brought over to England William III.; and his reign was followed by that of “good Queen Anne.” Her reign has been termed the Augustan era of English literature, as it was graced with the polished writings of Sir Isaac Newton, Addison, Steele, Farquar (who laid the scene of his comedy, “The Recruiting Officer,” in Shrewsbury, and who, in his epistle dedicatory, first used the lively sentiment, “To all friends round the Wrekin,” now one of the social laws of Salop), of Vanbrugh, Prior, Pope, Parnell, Garth, Gay, cum multis aliis. Instructed as the nation was by these and other eminent men, still bigotry and enthusiasm were evidenced by many in matters of religion and politics. In the year 1709 the nation was thrown into a gentle ferment by the indiscreet conduct of the government towards an obscure clergyman named Sacheverell (who had long been starving on a poor curacy in London), in consequence of his having preached and published two scurrilous and intemperate sermons, of which red-hot politics were the staple. He was summoned to the bar of the House of Lords, and impeached. The Whig ministry viewed his attacks with alarm, and he was sentenced not to preach for three years. This persecution, as the proceedings of the government were called at once martyrised Sacheverell, who suddenly found himself famous. A gentleman residing in the neighbourhood of Oswestry, Robert Lloyd, Esq., of Aston, sympathized with the suffering Sacheverell, and became his friend. Mr. Lloyd had been the doctor’s pupil at Magdalen College, Oxford; and as the rectory of Sylattyn, in his gift, became vacant at this juncture, he presented it to the high-church meteor. This was doubtless a god-send to the doctor, who set off from London, to take possession of his new living, with all the state which a corrupt popularity could give to him. A Tory writer of Queen Anne’s reign tells us that “he entered upon his triumphant progress to Shropshire. He was magnificently entertained at Oxford by the University, and received in the other great towns he passed through (Shrewsbury and Oswestry included) with the loud acclamations and joyful congratulations of the people, upon his deliverance from whig persecution.” In Shrewsbury the crier was sent about to proclaim his arrival, and the bells were rung in honour of the event. As he passed through Oswestry, it is related, the crowd assembled to witness his arrival was so great, that an enthusiastic old woman, a great dabbler in politics and religion, no doubt, was so excited in her endeavours to obtain a sight of the distinguished bigot, that she succeeded only in catching a passing glance at his figure and periwig. “I could see only part of the holy man,” she exclaimed, “but I console myself with having had a sight of his ever-blessed wig as he rode along.” This sort of mummery was not confined to Oswestry. In many towns people were desirous to have their new-born infants christened with a name so revered; which, having been transmitted through succeeding generations, is not yet extinct in this county. On his return to London he met with nothing but laudations, except at Worcester, where, by the direction of Bishop Lloyd, a suitable rebuff was administered to him. Of Dr. Sacheverell nothing more was heard worthy of transcription. Like most other men whose popularity is created by intolerant doctrines in religion or politics, he speedily found that his sudden greatness was as mutable as it was undeserved.
The death of Queen Anne, in 1714, secured to the kingdom the Brunswick Dynasty. The Act of Settlement, passed in the reign of William III., provided that the crown of Great Britain should henceforth be held only by Protestant Princes. James Stuart, Queen Anne’s brother, known more popularly as the Pretender, could not reign in England because he was a Roman Catholic, and George, Duke of Brunswick, and Elector of Hanover, a Protestant Prince, whose mother was grand-daughter of James I., became King of Great Britain. The Brunswick succession has continued till the present time, the united kingdom deriving especial benefits from the reigns of the three Georges, of William IV., and of Queen Victoria. Under the sway of George III. enlarged freedom, civil and religious, was extended to his subjects; arts, science, and commerce flourished, and the people made rapid advancement in religious and moral improvement. The memorable wish of the venerable monarch George III., “That every one of his subjects should read and possess the Bible”—a far more generous sentiment than that of the French King who desired to see the day when every one of his subjects should be able to put a fowl into the pot once a week—was largely realized through the instrumentality of Robert Raikes, Dr. Bell, and Joseph Lancaster, the great promoters of education in the land, and by, also, the foundation of the British and Foreign Bible Society, whose distribution of the Scriptures gave an impulse to religious and benevolent efforts which have been increasing in usefulness and efficiency to the present day. Under the auspices of George IV. the nation derived numerous blessings, deficient as he was of many of the bright qualities that ought to shine in the moral diadem of a British King. The reign of William IV.—the Sailor King, as he has been familiarly but appropriately called—was rendered illustrious by his intense regard for the interests of the people, and his sanction to the Second Great Charter of British rights. Under the mild and gracious rule of our beloved Sovereign Queen Victoria, the rights and privileges of Britons are held sacred; literature, arts, and science have acquired “a more than double sway;” commerce and manufactures, in a multiplicity of forms, for the comfort and luxury of mankind, have careered onwards with giant steps, that have astonished and delighted the wisest and the best; the social comforts of all classes of the British community are rendered almost boundless by the progress of invention, the ingenuity of mechanical skill, and the unceasing activity of all industrial pursuits; the unrighteous laws that prohibited the importation of corn have been abolished; free trade in bread has been established with all the nations of the earth; ancient grinding monopolies have been destroyed; national imposts reduced; the just demands of the people speedily granted; harsh feudal laws, carrying with them inhuman punishments, have been blotted out of the Statute-book; “man’s inhumanity to man,” under the sanction of Acts of Parliament, has been softened if not wholly subdued; the just principle of national brotherhood, inculcated by divine precept, has gained vital force; religion has become less sectarian, and more thoroughly Christian in profession and practice; the helping hand of man to his brother man, in the hour of necessity, is seen now more actively at work than ever; the people at large are united as one man, in all great designs of philanthropy and benevolence, and in all puissant combinations against injustice and oppression; our Queen and her enlightened and virtuous Consort are ever watchful for the country’s weal. The reign of Victoria is thus far the brightest page of regal history, because it has been pre-eminently the best. We may sum up in the eloquent language of Dr. Southwood Smith:—“We live in a glorious age. The rapidity of the progress of liberal opinion, and I will add, of liberal feeling, within these few years has been unexampled in the history of our race. Sometimes indeed the tide of improvement like the tide of the ocean may appear to have receded; but soon, as if deriving strength from its momentary retreat, slow, majestic, irresistible, it has rolled beyond its former limit; but, unlike its type, it has not returned, and it will not return, to the boundary it has passed.”