James was already in London.

He had hesitated about the journey, and had, at one time, determined to make another attempt to reach the Continent.

But at length he yielded to the urgency of friends who were wiser than himself, and set out for Whitehall.

He arrived there on the afternoon of Sunday, the sixteenth of December.

He had been apprehensive that the common people, who, during his absence, had given so many proofs of their aversion to Popery, would offer him some affront.