The work, he said, was heavy; but it must be done; for everything depended on it, [577] In general, the government was still a government by independent departments; and in almost every department Whigs and Tories were still mingled, though not exactly in the old proportions.

The Whig element had decidedly predominated, in 1689.

The Tory element predominated, though not very decidedly, in 1690.
Halifax had laid down the Privy Seal.

It was offered to Chesterfield, a Tory who had voted in the Convention for a Regency.

But Chesterfield refused to quit his country house and gardens in Derbyshire for the Court and the Council Chamber; and the Privy Seal was put into Commission, [578] Caermarthen was now the chief adviser of the Crown on all matters relating to the internal administration and to the management of the two Houses of Parliament.