a political party in Britain, opposed to that of the Whigs. The name of Tories was given to a sort of banditti in Ireland, and was thence transferred to the adherents of Charles I. by his enemies, under the pretence that he favoured the rebels in Ireland. His partisans, to be even with the republicans, gave them the name of Whigs, from a word which signifies whey, in derision of their poor fare. The Tories, or cavaliers, as they were also called, had then principally in view the political inc... rest of the king, and the church of England; and the round-heads, or Whigs, proposed chiefly the maintaining of the rights and interests of the people, and of Protestantism. This is the most popular account; and yet it is certain the names Whig and Tory were but little known till about the middle of the reign of King Charles I. M. de Cize relates, that it was in the year 1678 that the whole nation was first observed to be divided into Whigs and Tories; and that on occasion of the famous deposition of Titus Oates, who accused the Catholics of having conspired against the king and the state, the appellation of Whig was given to such as believed the plot real, and Tory to those who held it fictitious. It would, at the present day, be very difficult, if not impossible, to assign to these terms meanings at once precise and correct, and to which both parties would subscribe. The only general abstract description that can be fairly given would seem to be this, that the Tories hold the power and prerogatives of the crown in most favour, and incline to strengthen and enlarge them; while the Whigs are jealous of and desirous to define and circumscribe both, and proportionally strengthen and enlarge the liberties and rights of the people.