James II ascended the throne in 1685. By various intrigues and underhand means he tried to establish Catholicism in the country.

By his misrule he made himself entirely unpopular within four years. The nation as a whole rose against him. The Bloodless Revolution of 1688, which called the Protestant William and Mary of Orange to the throne, indicates that the country was restored once again to health and sanity, after the fever of immorality and corruption from which it had suffered since the Restoration.