Descendants of the Stuarts

18 THE DESCENDANTS
Keightley, as an historian, is more explicit than
Goldsmith; he, after narrating the death of the
Duke of Gloucester, thus writes: — "The next heir
to the crown was the Duchess of Savoy, daughter of
Henrietta, youngest child of Charles I. ; hut her
religion excluding her, the nearest Protestant to the
throne was Sophia, Dowager Electress of Hanover,
daughter of the queen of Bohemia, the sister of that
monarch. In the speech from the throne the sub-
ject was pressed on the attention of Parliament, and
no time was lost in preparing a Bill for that pur-
pose. The Act of Settlement, which was now passed,
limited the succession of the crown to the Princess
Sophia,and the heirs of her body being Protestants."*
The only mention we have found as to who first
prompted the bestowal of the crown on the Elec-
tress Sophia of Hanover, is contained in an old
work, published so far back as 1720, entitled a
"History of the Ducal House of Hanover."t It
is there stated, with what truth we will not vouch,
that it was Burnet who first entertained the idea.
The writer goes on to say that that prelate, being
on a visit to the Elector of Hanover, and finding
him disposed to espouse the side of Erance in pre-
ference to that of England, in the war then impend-
ing (this was towards the middle of the reign of
William III.), held out as a bait to him the pos-
sible reversion of the crown of England. He pointed
* Keightley's History of England, vol. ii. p. 425.
t It is dedicated to George I.