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diff --git a/old/65780-0.txt b/old/65780-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index b63b7d5..0000000 --- a/old/65780-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12854 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Memoirs of Sarah, Duchess of -Marlborough, and of the Court of Queen Anne Vol. I (of 2), by Katherine -Thomson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Memoirs of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and of the Court of - Queen Anne Vol. I (of 2) - -Author: Katherine Thomson - -Release Date: July 6, 2021 [eBook #65780] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Richard Tonsing, MWS, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS OF SARAH, DUCHESS OF -MARLBOROUGH, AND OF THE COURT OF QUEEN ANNE VOL. I (OF 2) *** - - - - - - MEMOIRS - OF - SARAH - DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH, - AND OF THE - COURT OF QUEEN ANNE. - - - BY MRS. A. T. THOMSON, - AUTHORESS OF “MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF HENRY THE EIGHTH,” “LIFE OF SIR - WALTER RALEIGH, &c.” - - - IN TWO VOLUMES - - VOL. I. - - - LONDON: - HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER, - GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. - MDCCCXXXIX. - - - - - LONDON: - PRINTED BY IBOTSON AND PALMER, - SAVOY STREET, STRAND. - - - - - INTRODUCTION. - - -Had the subject of this Memoir lived in the present day, copious -accounts of the part which she performed in public life would have -instantly been given to the world. Her domestic habits, and her merits -and demerits of every description, would have been amply discussed. With -her personal qualities we should, from a thousand channels, have been -familiarised. Every peculiarity of her resolute and singular character -would have been unveiled to the inspection of an inquisitive and amused -public: nor would there have been wanting those who would have eagerly -grasped at such an opportunity of commenting upon the politics, manners, -and events of the day, as that which the biography of the Duchess of -Marlborough affords. - -It is, nevertheless, a fact, that ninety-six years have elapsed since -the death of this celebrated woman, and, as yet, no complete account of -her singular career, no memoirs of her as a private individual, of any -length, or of any importance in other respects, have appeared; and it is -remarkable, that both the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, two persons -who acquired in their lifetime as great a share of celebrity as any -British subjects ever enjoyed, incurred a risk of not being -commemorated, after their decease, by any connected and adequate work. - -The biography of John Duke of Marlborough, undertaken by three -individuals, was completed only by Lediard, who had served under the -hero of Blenheim, and who may be supposed to have felt a sort of -personal interest in his illustrious career. The coldness of those to -whom the task was deputed, recommended as it was to their zealous -attention by the promise of a considerable sum to forward its -completion, proves how feebly the public called for such a production. -It was not until the Duchess was on her deathbed that she began to -arrange the voluminous materials of the life of her husband. It was not -until two years before her death that she published her own Vindication, -which she entitled “An Account of the Conduct of the Dowager Duchess of -Marlborough, from her first coming to Court, to the year 1510.” - -This book, published in 1742, after provoking several replies, fell into -a partial oblivion. The animadversions and discussions to which it gave -rise, and the contemptuous opinion pronounced upon it by Horace Walpole, -whose fiat in the fashionable world was decisive, have therefore -remained unanswered. Garbled as it was, it is yet a work replete with -ability, carrying a conviction of the sincerity of its authoress, and -unfolding the motives by which she was actuated, with force and -clearness. The following extract will afford the reader an opportunity -to form a judgment of the Vindication by the Preface to the Duchess’s -narrative. The just and noble sentiments which she expresses upon the -acquisition of a good name, and likewise upon posthumous reputation, -must prepossess the mind strongly in favour of that which is to follow -these sound and well-expressed motives of action. - - -“I have been often told that there is a sort of philosophy, by which -people have brought themselves to be indifferent, not only whether they -be at all remembered after death, but whether, in case their names -should survive them, they be mentioned with praise or infamy. If this be -really a point of wisdom, it is infinitely beyond my reach; and I shall -own further, that it seems to me too refined and sublimed to be attained -by anybody who has not first got rid of the prejudices of common sense -and common honesty. I will not pretend to say that the passion for fame -may not sometimes be excessive, and deservedly the subject of ridicule. -But surely, my lord, there never was a single instance of a person of -true honour, who was willing to be spoken of, either during life or -after it, as a betrayer of his country or his friend; and I am persuaded -that your lordship must have observed, that all those who, at this day, -declare themselves wholly careless about what the world, or the circle -of their acquaintance, will say of them when they are dead, are quite as -unconcerned to _deserve_ a good character while they live. - -“For my own part, I frankly confess to you, and to the world, that -whatever vanity or weakness the ambition of a good name may be thought, -either by philosophers or by ministers of state, to imply, I have ever -felt some degree of that ambition from the moment I could distinguish -between good and evil. My chief aim (if I have any acquaintance with my -own heart) has been, both in public and private life, to deserve -approbation: but I have never been without an earnest desire to _have_ -it, too, both living and dead, from the wise and virtuous. - -“My lord, this passion has led me to take more pains than you would -easily imagine. It has sometimes carried me beyond the sphere to which -the men have thought proper, and, perhaps, generally speaking, with good -reason, to confine our sex. I have been a kind of author. About forty -years ago, having understood that the wife of the late Bishop Burnet, a -lady whom I greatly esteemed, had received unfavourable impressions of -me, on account of the unhappy differences between Queen Mary and her -sister, I wrote a faithful narrative of that affair purely to satisfy -that one person. - -“And when, after my dismissal from Queen Anne’s service, I perceived how -industriously malice was employed in inventing calumnies to load me -with, I drew up an account of my conduct in the several offices I had -filled under her Majesty. This piece I intended to publish immediately, -but was dissuaded from it by a person (of great eminence at this day) -whom I thought my friend. I have since imagined that he had, by -instinct, an aversion to _accounting_. It was said, as a reason for -deferring the publication of my Account, that prejudice and passion were -grown too violent and stormy for the voice of reason to be heard, but -that those would, after some time, subside, and that the truth then -brought to light would unavoidably prevail. I followed the advice with -the less reluctance, as being conscious of the power of an easy -vindication, whenever my patience should be pushed to extremity. - -“After this I set myself another task, to which I was partly urged by -the injustice, and I may say ingratitude, of the Whigs. It was to give -an account of my conduct with regard to parties, and of the successful -artifice of Mr. Harley and Mrs. Masham, in taking advantage of the -Queen’s passion for what she called _the church_, to undermine me in her -affections. In this undertaking I had the assistance of a friend to whom -I furnished materials. Some parts of the work were of my own -composition, being such passages as nobody but myself could relate with -exactness. This was not originally intended to be published until after -my death. - -“But, my lord, as I am now drawing near my end, and very soon there will -remain nothing of me but a _name_, I am desirous, under the little -capacity which age and infirmities have left me for other enjoyments, to -have the satisfaction, before I die, of seeing that _name_ (which, from -the station I have held in the great world, must unavoidably survive -me,) in possession of what was only designed it for a legacy. From this -desire I have caused the several pieces above mentioned to be connected -together, and thrown into the form into which I now venture to address -them to your lordship. They may possibly be of some use towards -correcting the folly and injustice of those who, in order to judge of -the conduct of others, begin with forming to themselves characters of -them, upon slight and idle reports, and then make such characters the -rule by which they admit or reject whatever they afterwards hear -concerning them. If any such happy effect as this might reasonably be -hoped from the perusal of these papers, I should be far from making any -apology for offering them to your lordship; I would not call it -_troubling_ your lordship with them. No, my lord, you will not esteem it -a _trouble_ to read them, even though you should judge them useless for -the purpose I have mentioned. The friendship you favour me with will -make you find a particular satisfaction in this justification of my -injured character to the world. And I imagine that there is no honest -mind, how much soever it may chance to be prejudiced against me, but -will feel something of the same pleasure in being undeceived. - -“The original letters, of which, either in whole or in part, the copies -will be here found, I have directed to be preserved in my family as -incontestable vouchers of the truth of what I am going to relate.” - - -The works which this “Account” very soon elicited, in reply to its able -strictures upon persons and things, are enumerated in those chapters of -this work which relate particularly to the scurrilous attacks from which -the Duke and Duchess perpetually suffered. The latter, indeed, lived too -short a period after her Account of her Conduct appeared, to refute the -misstatements which were circulated in various pamphlets, and by other -works of ephemeral celebrity. It was, perhaps, for the best, that an -opportunity of acrimonious retaliation was not afforded to one who was -apt, to use her own expression, to “tumble out her mind” in a manner not -always either very decorous, nor very gratifying to her hearers. Those -who recommended the Duchess to postpone her work were doubtless well -acquainted with her peculiarities, and dreaded the violence of that -explosion which must ensue. It was, probably, the wish of her friends -and relations, as it is said to have been their expectation, that the -Vindication should be posthumous. - -The Duchess of Marlborough, in addition to her own powerful efforts, had -the good fortune also to be defended by the pen of the celebrated Henry -Fielding. It must, however, be acknowledged, that possibly the defence -of the great novelist was not disinterested. Fielding wrote, as it is -well known, many fugitive political tracts, for which he was accused of -venality, and it was generally understood that they were remunerated by -the party whom he espoused. It is extremely probable that a man disposed -to make his talents profitable may not have been ashamed to vindicate -the conduct of the wealthy and powerful Duchess, for a consideration; -and there were circumstances in the family of Fielding which confirm the -supposition. His father, Edward Fielding, served under the Duke of -Marlborough; and his sister Sarah, the accomplished friend of Bishop -Hoadly, had, through that medium, ample opportunities of introducing her -brother to the Duchess. The work which Fielding published in 1742, was -entitled “A Full Vindication of the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough, both -with regard to the Account lately published by her Grace, and to her -Character in general; against the base and malicious invectives -contained in a late scurrilous pamphlet, entitled ‘Remarks on the -Account,’ &c. In a Letter to the noble Author of those Remarks.” - -The Duchess had been dead nearly two years, when an anonymous biography, -concise and meagre, entitled “The Life of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough,” -was published in 1745. This small volume, for into one small volume in -those days was the long life of the departed Duchess compressed, has -every appearance of being written by a person amicable to the Duchess, -although not in her confidence; no original letters are introduced, and -the anecdotes of the Duchess, which are given, though favourable, are -not so voluminous as those which one might glean in an hour, in the -present day, from newspapers. The Life was, in all probability, -according to the custom of the Duchess, ordered and paid for by her; -perhaps the task was remunerated whilst she was alive; but, from the -coldness with which it is written, it was probably completed after her -death. - -This little book has hitherto constituted the sole biography of Sarah -Duchess of Marlborough. Her own Vindication commences and ends with her -court life, and its title-page distinctly states it to be “An Account of -the Conduct of the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough, from her first coming -to Court to the year 1710. In a letter from herself to my Lord ——.” The -name of this favoured nobleman, Earl Cholmondeley, has been supplied by -Sir John Dalrymple in his manuscript notes on the work entitled the -“Opinions of the Duchess of Marlborough.” - -With such scanty materials for a foundation, those who are disposed to -read the work of which this Introduction forms a portion, might -naturally dread that many of its details must be gleaned from report, -supported by questionable authority. Fortunately, however, the Duchess, -among other precise and valuable habits, had a custom, not only of -preserving every letter that she had received, but of describing its -contents in her own peculiar terms on each epistle. During her residence -abroad with the Duke, after their reverse of favour, she composed, also, -an elaborate justification of herself, in the form of a letter to Mr. -Hutchinson; a narrative which supplies ample materials for compiling -that period of her life to which it relates. She likewise prepared other -statements, which, with her letter to Mr. Hutchinson, she was persuaded, -as she says, by her friends, not to publish, until a very long time -after the events to which they related were almost forgotten by the -world. These she framed afterwards into the Account of her Conduct, -leaving out, as Horace Walpole declared upon report, and as subsequent -investigations have manifested, the most pungent, and of course the most -interesting, portion of her communications. - -A great portion of the Duchess’s narrative having been delivered in -conversation to Hooke, the historian whom she employed to make the book -intelligible, the most characteristic portion of the Account, which was -suppressed by the prudence of Hooke, is of course wholly lost. In the -materials which the Duchess collected to form the volume, many minute -particulars which were not deemed worthy of insertion in the Account, -are, however, preserved; and it has been the good fortune of the -authoress of these Memoirs to supply, in some instances, the garbled -passages from the Duchess’s papers, and to restore to the Vindication -the Duchess’s own language; those expressive and happy phrases which, as -the reader will perceive, described her own sentiments, and portrayed -the characters of others, in a manner that no dispassionate historian -could imitate. - -Of such papers as were deemed fit for publication by the Marlborough and -Spencer families, Archdeacon Coxe, in compiling his elaborate “Life of -John Duke of Marlborough,” had the free use, with the privilege of -making copies. In the able work of this indefatigable historian he -availed himself, in some measure, of most of these valuable materials; -but in the progress of his heavy task, he never forgot that he was -compiling a biography of the Duke, not the Duchess, of Marlborough; that -he was dealing with the enterprises, the treaties, the opinions, and the -projects, of men, and not with the intrigues, the foibles, the feelings, -and the quarrels of women. He has, therefore, but rarely, and -incidentally, referred to the Duchess of Marlborough: hastening from the -subject, as if he indeed feared that her formidable spirit might be -recalled by the expressions of disapproval which he cautiously bestows -upon her, by the hints which he gives of her temper, and the conclusion -to which he fails not to lead the reader, that she was the source of all -the Duke’s disappointments and reverses. This determination on the part -of the Archdeacon, and the manifest prejudice which he had imbibed -against the Duchess of Marlborough, may readily be traced, by those who -are induced to examine the manuscripts which were placed in the Museum -by the executors of Dr. Coxe. These papers, which formed, in part, the -materials for the Life of the great General, and also for the Duchess’s -“Account,” are extremely interesting, and afford a satisfactory basis -for a memoir. They contain, amongst other documents, many private -letters, from which a selection has been already published, with great -success, under the title of “Private Correspondence of the Duchess of -Marlborough.” They comprise also, not only a mass of papers relating to -the Duke’s continental and political affairs, but a discussion upon the -reasons for the dismissal of Lord Godolphin, the mode in which it was -effected by Queen Anne, some curious correspondence relative to the -building of Blenheim, the letters of Lord Coningsby to the Duchess, and -her grace’s long and reiterated remonstrances with the Treasury upon -various topics, passages of which develope more of her character than -long pages of description could unfold. - -These documents arrived at the manuscript office of the British Museum -in a state of the greatest confusion, rendering it almost surprising -that they had been preserved at all. By the industry and judgment of Mr. -Holmes, they have been carefully arranged, in a manner well adapted to -lighten the task of examining manuscripts, always, be the writing ever -so legible, more or less laborious. To them, many of the details, and -much of the interest, which the second volume of this work may perhaps -be found to possess, are to be attributed. An author may augur somewhat -confidently of interesting and pleasing a reading public, when he can -make his principal characters speak for themselves. Without the aid of -these manuscripts, the Memoirs of the Duchess would not have had the -character of originality to which, in some degree, it is presumed, they -may aspire. It is curious that in many instances the Authoress has found -it desirable to extract from these documents the very passages which Dr. -Coxe had most carefully rejected. In the few memorials of the Duchess to -which he has referred in his work, he has passed his pen across all -lively observations, as irrelevant, all detail, however illustrative of -her character, as unnecessary. Everything that could cheer the reader -during the recital of vexatious politics, and after the enumeration of -battles, was discarded, or discussed briefly. - -Such are some of the sources from which information for these Memoirs -has been gleaned. The published works which have been consulted, were -selected without any reference to their political bias. The merits of -those famous questions which agitated this country in the reigns of -James the Second, William, and Anne, have been so fully and ably treated -in the histories of Dalrymple, Macpherson, Cunningham, Somerville, -Swift, and by many other writers, that it would be presumptuous, -inadequate to the task as the Authoress considers herself, to revive -such discussions. The aim of this work is chiefly to develope private -history, connecting it, by general remarks, with the leading events of -the day. From a sense of her own incompetency, the Authoress has, -therefore, abstained as much as possible from political discussions; -conceiving also, that to the generality of readers, it is a relief to -escape from subjects which provoke controversy, and to retire into the -private sphere of life, where the contemplation of character, and the -investigation of motives, become chiefly interesting. - -These Memoirs, although they aspire not to the dignity of history, must, -however, necessarily embrace various themes, and comprise descriptions -of public men. The Authoress has endeavoured, in all that she has had to -perform, to regard justice and moderation as her guides; to draw her -portraits from the most approved sources, discarding all considerations -of party, until the outlines were traced, and the colours filled in. The -ferment of political strife which impeded important business, and -disgraced society in the reign of Anne, subsiding during the reign of -her successor and his son, is revived amongst us; and the similarity of -those great topics which then came before parliament, to those which -have, of late years, engaged our legislators, cannot but be obvious to -such persons as are conversant with our annals. - -It is singular that a degree of uncertainty prevails both with respect -to the birthplace of the Duchess of Marlborough, and with regard to the -place of her grace’s decease. Neither is there any record in the -possession of her descendants which supplies us with an account of her -last moments. Regarding this important point, the Authoress applied both -to his Grace the Duke of Marlborough and to Earl Spencer for -information. To her inquiries, a prompt, but unsatisfactory reply was -returned by the Duke of Marlborough; namely, that he had, in compliance -with the Authoress’s request, examined such documents as he possessed, -relating to the Duchess of Marlborough; but that the search had been -fruitless, as far as any account whatsoever of her death was concerned. -His Grace expressed also uncertainty respecting the spot where his -celebrated ancestor breathed her last, but stated that he believed it to -have been at Holywell. To Earl Spencer a similar application was made. -His lordship answered, almost in the same terms as the Duke of -Marlborough, that every paper relative to the Duchess which was fit for -publication had been published, and that there was nothing in such as -were not deemed proper for publication, relating in any way to her last -hours. - -It appears singular that there should have been no record preserved, -among her numerous grandchildren and relatives, of the decline and death -of one who had played so conspicuous a part in life as the Duchess of -Marlborough. Perhaps this deficiency may be accounted for by the -dissensions which divided the Duchess from her grandchildren, more -particularly Charles Duke of Marlborough, her grandson, and from his -Duchess, the daughter of her enemy, Lord Trevor. On the other hand, her -favourite and heir, the honourable John Spencer, was one of those -reckless beings who are not likely to dwell with much attention upon the -deathbed of an aged relative. With respect to the belief entertained by -the present Duke, though not, as his grace expresses it, with any -certainty, that the Duchess died at Holywell, the Authoress has only to -offer the opposing testimony of the work before alluded to, namely, the -Life of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, which states that she died at the -Friary, St. James’s, Marlborough-house. There is much presumptive -evidence in favour of this statement. Almost to her latest hour, as may -be seen in the Coxe Manuscripts, the Duchess was in correspondence with -Mr. Scrope, secretary to Mr. Pelham, who, in one of his letters, begs -the honour of an interview, and names an evening. This occurred about -four days before the Duchess’s demise. Now it is not probable that a man -in an official station could undertake a journey to St. Albans in those -days, when even the passengers by the mailcoach to Windsor rested at -Staines, and dined upon the road. It seems, therefore, probable that her -Grace’s earliest biographer was right, and that the worn-out frame and -restless spirit of this wonderful woman ceased to exist in the great -metropolis. - - * * * * * - -It is incumbent upon the Authoress to express to his Grace the present -Duke of Marlborough her thanks for his prompt and polite replies to the -inquiries with which she ventured to trouble his Grace. To the right -honourable Earl Spencer she has to make similar acknowledgments. To -several of her literary friends she also owes obligations. - -It seems scarcely necessary, where anything curious is to be -elicited, or any kind action to be performed, to mention the name of -William Upcott. That name occurs many times in the course of this -work. To Mr. Upcott the Authoress owes, besides several valuable -suggestions, two interesting manuscript letters, now for the first -time published in the Appendix of the second volume. The first of -these completes the correspondence,—on the part of the Duchess, -angry and characteristic,—between her Grace and the Duke of -Newcastle; part of which is to be found in the “Private -Correspondence.” - -The second letter, likewise in the Duchess’s handwriting, a copy of -which Mr. Upcott has allowed the Authoress to make from his valuable -collection of autographs, relates to an action with which the Duchess -was threatened in 1712. The Authoress is also indebted to Mr. Upcott for -a fac-simile of the Duchess’s handwriting, for various anecdotes -selected from the newspapers of the day, those perishable but important -records; and for a perusal of several scarce tracts and books, of which -ample use has been made in these volumes. She cannot, indeed, recal to -mind the urbanity, liberality, and intelligence of that gentleman, -without rejoicing that she has been favoured with his aid, in the -performance of a task of no inconsiderable difficulty. - -It is with the greatest pleasure and gratitude that the Authoress -acknowledges her obligations to Mr. Holmes. Upon her application to him -at the Museum, he entered with a kind and lively interest into her -researches, and facilitated them in every way. To his aid, and to his -intimate knowledge of the manuscripts, she owes that selection of -materials which he pointed out as most remarkable. - -The Authoress has expressed, in a note in the first volume of these -Memoirs, her acknowledgments to the Rev. Henry Nicholson, Rector of St. -Alban’s Abbey, for the important information which she derived from him, -regarding the birthplace of the Duchess. Had it not been for the -assistance of that gentleman, directed to the subject by the local -inquiries of friends, she must have followed Dr. Coxe in erroneously -stating that the Duchess was born at Sandridge.[1] - -The Authoress has great pleasure in acknowledging her obligations to -another gentleman of great classical and literary attainments, the Rev. -I. S. Brewer, to whom she owes so many useful suggestions, that she only -regrets she had not the benefit of referring to his superior knowledge -at an earlier period of the work than that at which it was first -obtained. - -The Authoress cannot close this introduction to the latest of four -historical and biographical works, without thus publicly expressing her -thanks to Mr. Keats, of the British Museum, for his indefatigable -attentions to her; and for the assistance which she has on many -occasions derived from his endeavours to aid her researches. - - _Hinde Street, London, - April 27, 1839._ - - - - - CONTENTS - - OF THE FIRST VOLUME. - - - CHAPTER I. - - State of the country previous to the birth of Sarah - Jennings—Her parentage—Account of her sister, La Belle - Jennings—James the Second—Characters of Anne Duchess of - York, and of her successor Maria d’Esté—The Princesses Mary - and Anne—Origin and character of John Churchill—His family - and circumstances _Page_ 1 - - - CHAPTER II. - - Marriage of the Princess Mary—Marriage of Colonel Churchill - and Miss Jennings—Characters of Anne and Mary—Friendship of - Anne for Lady Churchill—Appointment of the latter to be Lady - of the Bedchamber to the Princess—Death of Charles the - Second 37 - - - CHAPTER III. - - State of manners and morals—Of parties—Defence of - Churchill—His share in the Revolution—Progress of that event 71 - - - CHAPTER IV. - - Change of manner in James—Character of Queen Mary—Her - submission to her husband—Surrender of the crown to - William—The indecision and reluctance of Anne—Her - stipulation for a settlement—The part which Lady Churchill - is said to have taken in the affair—She asks advice from - Lady Russell and Archbishop Tillotson—The different - qualities of these two advisers 109 - - - CHAPTER V. - - State of the British Court—Character of William 136 - - - CHAPTER VI. - - Character of Godolphin—His advice respecting the pension to - the Duchess of Marlborough—Feuds of Mary and Anne—Deficiency - of respect towards Prince George—Attachment of Marlborough - to his wife—Her residence at Holywell House—Birth of her - children—Cloud lowering over the fortunes of Lord - Marlborough 161 - - - CHAPTER VII. - - State of Parties—Character of Lord Nottingham—of - Bentinck—Influence of the Villiers family—Of Lady - Orkney—Quarrel of the Queen and Princess—Marriage of Frances - Jennings to the Duke of Tyrconnel—Suspicions of the Earl and - Countess of Marlborough entertained at court—Disgrace of - Lord Marlborough 180 - - - CHAPTER VIII. - - Release of Marlborough from prison—Confession of - Young—Altercations between Anne and Mary—Illness of Anne—of - Mary—Death of the latter—Reconciliation of King William to - the Princess 234 - - - CHAPTER IX. - - Circumstances attending the Peace of Ryswick—Appointment of - Marlborough to the office of preceptor to the Duke of - Gloucester—Bishop Burnet—His appointment and character 265 - - - CHAPTER X. - - Death of the Duke of Gloucester—Its effects on the - Succession—Illness and Deathbed of William—His last actions 297 - - - CHAPTER XI. - - Accession of Anne to the throne—That event considered by the - Whigs as unpropitious—Coronation of the Queen—Dislike of - Anne to the Whigs—Efforts of Lady Marlborough—Dismissal of - Somers and Halifax 314 - - - CHAPTER XII. - - Dissatisfaction of the Countess of Marlborough—Formation of - the new Cabinet—Her efforts to convert the Queen—Quarrels - with Lord Rochester—Reports concerning the sale of - offices—The Duchess’s sentiments on the proper mode of such - appointments—Cabals within the court 357 - - - CHAPTER XIII. - - Dangers which beset Marlborough—Peculiar circumstances - attending his return to England—Order in Council forbidding - the sale of places—Lord Marlborough raised to a - Dukedom—Sentiments of the Duchess on that occasion 376 - - - CHAPTER XIV. - - Death of the Marquis of Blandford—His character 413 - - - CHAPTER XV. - - Remarks on costume and manners in the time of Anne—Literary - men, their habits and station in society—The system of - patronage—Its effects in degrading the moral character of - writers—producing not only flattery, but slander—Mrs. De la - Rivière Manley—Dr. Drake—Prior—Congreve 432 - - APPENDIX 455 - -[Illustration: - - _Fac-Simile of a Letter of the Duchess of Marlborough._ - - _J. Netherdift Lithog._ -] - - - - - MEMOIRS - - OF THE - - DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH. - - - - - CHAPTER I. - FROM 1660 TO 1678. - - State of the country previous to the birth of Sarah Jennings:—Her - parentage—Account of her sister, La Belle Jennings—James the - Second—Characters of Anne Duchess of York, and of her successor - Maria d’Esté—The Princesses Mary and Anne—Origin and character of - John Churchill—His family and circumstances. - - -The period which preceded the birth of the distinguished individual -whose singular course is traced out in these Memoirs, was one of -apparent luxury and security, but of actual and imminent peril to the -national welfare. Charles the Second, in the decline of what could -scarcely be deemed his days of prosperity, had not, indeed, experienced -the bitterness of grief, which, in the fatal events that succeeded the -rebellion of Monmouth, reduced the afflicted monarch to a state of -depression which hurried him to an unhonoured grave. That painful scene, -which in its effects upon the health and happiness of Charles recalled -to remembrance the anguish of the royal mourner for Absalom, had not -been as yet enacted: Monmouth was to appearance still loyal, at least, -still trusted; and the ascendancy of the Roman Catholic persuasion over -our Established worship was, at that time, problematical. - -The opinions of reflective men, hushed by the wise determination not to -anticipate the effect of probable events, which might accomplish all -that they secretly desired, were resolving, nevertheless, into those -famous schools of politics, which it were wrong to denominate factions, -and which were afterwards divided into the three parties interwoven with -all modern history, denominated Jacobites, Tories, and Whigs. - -It is true it was not until some years afterwards that these celebrated -appellations affixed to each combination certain characters, which have -ever since, with little variation, retained the stamp which each -originally bore; but the names only were wanting. Public opinion, in -those worthy to assert its importance, had actually arranged itself -under three different banners; although it required some signal -manifestations on the part of government, to draw forth the forces -marshalled under these, from the state of inaction in which for the -present they remained. - -Amongst the middle, or moderate party,—who, not contending, like the -Jacobites, for the indefeasible and divine right inherent in one family -under every circumstance, asserted generally the principles of arbitrary -government,—a great portion of the gentry, landed proprietors, numbers -of whom had fought and bled for the Royal cause, and yet, who were, from -the same high spirit and loyal dispositions, equally ready to defend -their country from oppression should occasion require, might at this -period be enumerated. This respectable portion of the community were, -for the greater part, of the Protestant faith; and, therefore, whilst -dreading the notion of republicanism, they were attached to the reigning -monarchs, and averse to the succession of James, or to the Yorkist -Party, as it was called—a name which, by a singular coincidence, had -already proved fatal to the peace of England. - -Upon the virtue and strength of the Tories, as they might then be -called,—though eventually they merged, as the abettors of the -Revolution, into the bolder faction, with whom from necessity they were -joined,—much of what has since been preserved to us, depended. -Notwithstanding the practice which obtained among those who had -sufficient influence, of sending their sons into the army, and their -daughters to court, it is from the royalist families that many of those -who promoted the Revolution, and who even suffered for their premature -exertions in the cause of liberty, have sprung. Individuals who would -have shuddered at the name of Revolution, whilst yet their restored -monarch ruled the country,—with a facility which, when we consider his -character and example, is incomprehensible,—became, in after times, -impatient to distinguish themselves in a resistance to the unsettled -mandates of a court, and in their eagerness to promote the dominion of -just and fixed laws. Amongst this class was the family of Churchill; -and, if we consider the Duchess as its chief representative, that of -Jennings. The origin, principles, and circumstances of the latter family -we are now about to discuss. - -Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, the subject of this Memoir, a gentlewoman -by birth, and a favourite of fortune, affords, in the narrative of her -chequered life, an instance that integrity, unless accompanied by -moderation, cannot protect from the assaults of slander, nor personal -and hereditary advantages insure happiness. - -This celebrated woman, the beautiful and intellectual offspring of -wealthy and well-descended parents; the wife of the most distinguished, -and also of the most domestic and affectionate of men; blessed as a -parent beyond the lot of most mothers; the favourite of her sovereign, -and endowed with superabundant temporal means; lived, nevertheless, in -turbulence and discontent, and died, unloved, unregretted, and -calumniated. - -Her original condition in life was fixed by Providence in a station, -neither too high to enjoy the quiet privileges of domestic comfort, nor -too low to aspire to distinction; and it was rather her misfortune than -her privilege, that she was singled out, in early life, to receive the -favours of the great. She was the daughter of a country gentleman in -good circumstances. Her family had, for many generations, possessed an -estate at Sandridge in Hertfordshire, near St. Albans, at which place, -it has been stated, the father of the Duchess could muster a tenantry -sufficient to influence considerably the election of members for the -adjacent borough of St. Albans.[2] - -The family of Jennings had been held in high estimation by the House of -Stuart, and were distinguished among the adherents to the Royal cause. -The Duchess, whatever might be her subsequent opinions of rulers and -princes, sprang from a race devoted to the hereditary monarchy. Her -grandfather, Sir John Jennings, received the order of the Bath, in -company with his unfortunate young patron, Charles the First, then -Prince of Wales; and the partiality of the Stuart family, when restored, -was successively manifested by proofs of favour to the owners of -Sandridge.[3] - -These details refute the reports which prevailed, during the sunshine of -prosperity which the Duchess enjoyed, that her parents were of mean -origin. It was also stated, by the scandalous writers of the day, that -her mother was a woman of abandoned character, rejected from society, -and of the lowest extraction. Among the various proofs which might be -adduced in contradiction of this aspersion, the most convincing is the -correspondence which Mrs. Jennings maintained, with families of -respectability in her own neighbourhood. A letter is still extant, -between Sarah Duchess of Marlborough and the daughter-in-law of Sir John -Wittewronge of Rothamsted Park, near St. Albans, in which this -calumniated lady is referred to by Mrs. Wittewronge, addressing the -Duchess, as “your noble mother.”[4] This, and the still stronger -testimony which will be presently adduced, disprove the insinuations of -party writers, who required but a slender foundation of surmise upon -which to ground their injurious attacks. - -Those who thus wrote were perhaps aware, that they could scarcely wound -a person of the Duchess’s disposition more deeply than by an aspersion -of this description. Yet, in her celebrated Vindication, written in old -age, the Duchess, with calmness, refutes in these terms those who sought -to defame her origin: “Though I am very little concerned about pedigree -or families, I know not why I should not tell you, that his (her -father’s) was reckoned a good one; and that he had in Somersetshire, -Kent, and St. Albans, about four thousand pounds a year.”[5] - -The mother of the Duchess belonged, in fact, to a family in some degree -superior to that of her husband. She was Frances Thornhurst, daughter of -Sir Giffard Thornhurst of Agnes Court in Kent, and heiress to her -father’s property. Thus, on both sides, the Duchess might regard her -origin with complacency; and the expression of the antiquary Collins, -when he describes her relatives “as a considerable family,” is -justified.[6] - -This point, of little importance had it not been obscured by malignity, -is readily ascertained: but of the dispositions, principles, and -attainments of the parents who nurtured one who played so conspicuous a -part, we have no authentic record. It is a singular fact, that until a -diligent inquiry was made, with a view to the compilation of these -Memoirs, a degree of obscurity existed, even with regard to the -birthplace of the Duchess. Archdeacon Coxe explicitly declares that she -was born at Sandridge; but, on examining the parish registers of that -place, no mention of that fact, nor indeed of the birth of any of the -Jennings family, is to be found in them; nor are there in the church, as -it now stands, any monuments inscribed with that name. Neither does -there appear to have been any house on the estate at Sandridge, of -nearly sufficient importance to have been the residence of the Jennings -family.[7] It appears, however, from indisputable testimony, that Sarah -Jennings was born on the twenty-ninth day of May,[8] in the year 1660, -at Holywell, a suburb of St. Albans, and in a small house, very near the -site of the spacious mansion afterwards erected there by her husband, -John Duke of Marlborough. - -It is to be regretted that a reference to the registers of the Abbey of -St. Albans will not assist in establishing this point: in the fire which -broke out in that noble building in 1743, a portion of those valuable -memorials was burnt. But tradition, corroborated by probability, has -satisfied the minds of those most qualified to judge, that at Holywell, -the future “viceroy,” as she was sarcastically denominated, first saw -the light.[9] - -This celebrated woman was one of five children, all of whom, excepting -Frances Duchess of Tyrconnel, she survived. Her brothers Ralph and John -died young; and one of her sisters, Barbara, who married a gentleman of -St. Albans, named Griffiths, died in London in 1678, in the -twenty-seventh year of her age.[10] - -By the early demise of these relatives, the Duchess acquired that -hereditary property which became afterwards her home. At a very early -age, however, she must have left Holywell, to enter upon the duties of a -courtier. She was preceded in the service of Anne Hyde, Duchess of York, -by her eldest sister Frances, the celebrated _La Belle_ Jennings, who -graced the halls in which the dissolute Charles and James held carousal, -and who followed the destinies of the exiled James to a foreign land. - -Resembling in some respects her sister, Frances Jennings was equally -celebrated for her talents and for her beauty. Her personal charms were, -however, of a softer and more alluring character than those of the -imperious Sarah. Her bright yet delicate complexion, her luxuriant -flaxen hair, and her attractive but not elevated features, might have -been liable to the charge of insipidity, but that a vivacity of manner -and play of countenance were combined with youthful loveliness, in -riveting the attention on a face not to be forgotten. Like her sister, -Frances possessed shrewdness, decision, penetration, and, their frequent -attendant in woman, a love of interfering. Proud rather than principled, -and a coquette, this lovely, aspiring woman had no sooner entered upon -her duties of a maid of honour, than her youth and innocence were -assailed by every art which could be devised, among men whose professed -occupation was what they termed gallantry. Frances united to her other -attractions remarkable powers of conversation; her raillery was -admirable, her imagination vivid. It was not long before her -fascinations attracted the notice of that devotee and reprobate, James -Duke of York, whose Duchess she served. But James, in directing his -attention to a Jennings, encountered all the secret contempt that a -woman could feel, and received all the avowed disdain which she dared to -show. To his compliments, the indignant and persecuted maid of honour -turned a deaf ear; and the written expressions of the Duke’s regard were -torn to pieces, and scattered to the winds. Nor was it long before -Frances Jennings found, in a sincere and honest attachment, an -additional safeguard against temptation. - -Sarah, at twelve years of age, was introduced into the same dangerous -atmosphere. Fortunately for both sisters, in Anne Duchess of York they -found a mistress whom they could respect, and in whose protection they -felt security; for she possessed—the one great error in her career set -apart—a sensible and well-conditioned mind. - -Her court was then the chief resort of the gay and the great. It was the -Duchess’s foible (in such circumstances one of injurious effect) to -pride herself upon the superior beauty of her court, and on its -consequent distinction in the world of fashion, in comparison with that -of the Queen, the homely Katharine of Braganza. But she had virtue and -delicacy sufficient to appreciate the prudence and good conduct of those -around her, and to set an example of propriety and dignity, in her own -demeanour, becoming her high station. United to a husband who, in the -midst of depravity, “had,” says Burnet, “a real sense of sin, and was -ashamed of it.”[11] Anne, had she lived, might have possessed, as a -Protestant, and as a woman of understanding, a salutary influence over -the mind of her husband;—an influence which prudent women are found to -retain, even when the affections of the heart are alienated on both -sides. But her death, which happened in 1671, deprived England of a -queen-consort who professed the national faith; and, in her, James lost -a faithful and sensible wife, and the court a guide and pattern which -might have checked the awful demoralization that prevailed. - -Anne was succeeded by the unfortunate Maria Beatrix d’Esté, Princess of -Modena, called, from her early calamities, “the Queen of Tears.”[12] -Into the service of this lovely child, for such she then was, Sarah -Jennings, in consequence of the partiality entertained by the Stuarts -for her family, who had been always Royalists, was, shortly after the -death of her first patroness, preferred. - -In the young Duchess of York Sarah found a kind mistress, an -affectionate and a liberal friend. Her subsequent desertion of this -unhappy Princess is, we are of opinion, one of the worst features of a -character abounding in faults; and proves that ambition, like the fabled -Upas tree, blights all the verdure of kindly affections which spring up -within the human heart. - -Maria Beatrix, the beloved, adopted daughter of Louis XIV., encountered, -in her marriage with James, a fate still more calamitous than that which -the ungainly Katharine of Braganza, or the lofty but neglected Anne -Hyde, bore in unappreciated submission. Beautiful beyond the common -standard, and joyous as youth and innocence usually are, this unhappy -woman came, in all the unconsciousness of childhood, to incur the -miseries of suspicion and obloquy, and to experience subsequent reverse, -even poverty. She was hurried over to England, when little more than -fourteen years of age, to become the bride of James, then no longer -young, in whom bigotry was strangely united to looseness of morals, -which habitual and prompt repentance could not restrain. In his -phlegmatic deportment, in spite of the natural grace of all the Stuarts, -vice failed to attract, yet ceased not to disgust; nor can we be -surprised that repeated and fruitless negociations were necessary to -procure him a wife, after remaining a widower for more than two -years.[13] - -In November, 1673, the ill-fated Princess of Modena landed at Dover. The -match, which had been accelerated by the promise of a portion to Maria, -his adopted daughter, from the King of France, was universally unpopular -in England. It had been, however, already concluded, the Earl of -Peterborough having, in September, married the Princess by proxy, in -Italy. He had conducted the bride to Paris, when Parliament met, and the -Commons voted an address to the King, to prevent the marriage of his -brother and the Princess, on the plea of her religion. The hopes of a -dowry prevailed, at a time when Charles was so impoverished as to -entertain an idea of recalling the ambassadors from foreign courts, from -the want of means to support them; and the Princess was married to the -Duke, at Dover, on the same evening that she landed, to prevent further -obstacles, the ceremony being performed according to the rites of the -Church of England.[14] - -The Duke and the Duchess proceeded to Whitehall, where no very cordial -welcome awaited their arrival. The Duchess was refused the use of the -private chapel, which had been stipulated by the marriage articles, and -the Duke was advised by his friends to withdraw from the country.[15] - -Such was the reception of Maria D’Esté, the mother of the Pretender, -and, as such, the innocent cause of many national disasters. In her -service, and favoured by her kindness, Sarah Jennings passed many years; -nor can the subsequent desertion of this lovely and unfortunate -Princess, which the then influential Countess of Marlborough justified -to herself, be viewed in any other light than as an act of the coldest -ingratitude. During the twelve years that Mary enjoyed a comparatively -private station as Duchess of York, she passed her time, and engaged -those around her, in innocent amusements and revels, which have been -always peculiarly agreeable in their rulers to the English people. Young -and light-hearted as she then was, Mary was herself the fairest flower -of the court, over which she presided with the gay grace of her country. -“She was,” says Macpherson, “of exquisite beauty. Her complexion was -very fair, her hair black, her eyes full of sweetness and fire. She was -tall in her person, and admirably shaped; dignified in her manner, and -graceful in her deportment.”[16] - -By the sweetness and propriety of her conduct, she, in her hours of -sunshine, made herself universally beloved, notwithstanding her -religion; and amid the storms of her subsequent career she showed a -spirit and heroism which deserved a better cause, and a clinging -attachment to James which merited a worthier object. - -There is no reason to conclude that at first Sarah Jennings lived -constantly in the household of the Duchess. “I was often at court,” is -an expression which occurs in a passage of her Vindication. She seems, -indeed, to have remained in the proximity of the Duchess, chiefly for -the purpose of being a sort of playmate, rather than attendant, of the -Princess Anne, the step-daughter of her royal mistress, whose favour she -ultimately succeeded in obtaining, and for whose dawning greatness she -relinquished her adherence to the falling fortunes of the Duchess. It is -probably to this intimacy with the juvenile branches of the court that -Sarah, in part, owed that correctness of conduct, which not even the -malice of her enemies could successfully impugn; and soon a sincere and -well-founded attachment, the great safeguard to wandering affections, -ended in an engagement which gave to the beautiful Miss Jennings an -efficient and devoted protector. - -In the year 1673, John Churchill, afterwards Duke of Marlborough, was -appointed to be a gentleman of the bedchamber to the Duke of -York,—probably on occasion of the Duke’s marriage. Churchill was at this -time a colonel in the army, and already his fame stood high as an -officer of enterprise; whilst, at the court, there were few of the young -gallants of the day who could cope with this gifted man, in the dignity -and symmetry of his person, in the graces of his manner, or in the charm -which good-breeding, and a species of benevolence in small and every-day -matters, confer upon the deportment. - -The illustrious name of Churchill requires, however, some comment, -before the disturbed course of his love-suit to his future wife, the -solace and torment of his later days, can be unfolded. - -Roger de Courselle, or Courcil, one of the Barons of Poitou, who -followed William the Conqueror to England, and settled first in -Somersetshire, and afterwards in Devonshire, under the anglicised name -of Churchill, was the direct progenitor of Colonel Churchill. It is -worthy of remark, that at different periods the ancestors of our great -warrior have been noted for valour. In the reign of Stephen, Sir -Bartholomew Churchill lost his life defending Bristol Castle, in the -cause of the king; and in the disturbed times of Edward the Fourth, -William, a lineal descendant of Sir Bartholomew, fought under the -banners of the Courtenays in Devonshire, for his sovereign. Successive -proofs of loyalty were given by the Churchill family; and Sir Winston, -the father of the hero of Blenheim, left the University of Oxford, -whilst a youth, to enlist in the army of Charles the First, in which he -served with distinction, as a captain of horse, in several battles.[17] - -It was the inevitable consequence of the political turmoils in which the -family of Colonel Churchill bore a part, that his patrimony should have -suffered. His youth was passed in privacy and restraint; and perhaps to -that circumstance may be traced that love of order in his affairs, and -that close regulation of his expenditure, which in his prosperous days -procured for him the opprobrium of penuriousness. During the civil wars, -his father had married a daughter of Sir John Drake, of Ashe in -Dorsetshire, where Sir Winston was thankful, after the execution of -Charles the First, to retire, his estates being sequestrated by -Parliament, and a fine of upwards of four thousand pounds imposed upon -him for his adherence to the Royal cause. - -In the safe seclusion of Ashe, John Churchill was nurtured; and, -although upon the restoration of Charles the Second the family estate -was recovered, his father was honoured with knighthood, and employed by -government, his valiant son never derived any pecuniary advantage from -the paternal property.[18] Sir Winston ultimately was reduced to -circumstances of difficulty, in which he died, bequeathing his estate to -his widow, with a request that she would leave it to his third son, -Charles. To his family connexion, not solely to fortune or to his own -merits, was John indebted for his elevation to distinction. His -condition therefore, in some respects, resembled that of his early and -late affection, as far as worldly and external circumstances are -concerned. - -The family of Churchill, like that of Jennings, was ancient; and young -Churchill possessed, in the power of referring to a long line of -ancestry, an incentive, to an ardent mind peculiarly attractive, to aim -at distinction, not only for self-gratification, but with the hope of -restoring to former honour those whose fortunes and fame had been -crushed, but not obliterated. Colonel Churchill, even from his -childhood, had been connected with a court, and destined to share a -courtier’s duties and rewards. From his boyhood he was honoured with the -notice of Royalty, the Duke of York being his first patron. - -To the influence of James he owed his rapid promotion in the army; and, -as in all similar cases, several causes, such as were incidental to the -Stuart family, and probably from their known looseness of principle, -were assigned for his success. But to the good-nature and discernment of -James the Second, the first opportunity afforded to Marlborough of -becoming great must be attributed. Observing the enthusiasm of the -high-minded boy, then his page, during the reviews of the regiments of -Foot Guards, James inquired of the youth “what profession he would -prefer?” Churchill, neither overpowered nor abashed by this trait of -condescension, fell upon his knees, and owned a predilection for that of -arms, venturing to beg “for a pair of colours in one of those fine -regiments.” His petition was granted, and at sixteen years of age -Churchill entered the army. - -This commencement of his fortune has been stated, but erroneously, to -have been the result of James’s passion for Arabella Churchill, the -sister of the young officer, and afterwards the acknowledged mistress of -the prince. But Arabella, who was younger than her brother, had not at -that time attracted the notice of her brother’s patron. In all -probability her transient influence over the Duke—that influence which -excited the sole pang of jealousy ever evinced by Anne Hyde—accelerated -the rise to eminence which Churchill gained with unusual rapidity, and -in consideration of which he appears, in compliance with the custom of -the day, to have witnessed, without the burning blushes of shame, his -sister’s disgrace. Arabella, indolent, easy, not beautiful,[19] and -unambitious, soon lost her royal lover’s regard. She bore him, however, -two sons, one, the celebrated James Fitz-James, Duke of Berwick; the -other, Henry, Grand Prior of France; and two daughters, Lady Waldegrave -and Mrs. Godfrey. - -At the period of his appointment in the household of the Duke of York, -Colonel Churchill was in his twenty-fourth year. Already had he -distinguished himself at the siege of Tangier during his first campaign, -and had served afterwards under the Duke of Monmouth, and nominally -under Louis the Fourteenth; but, to the especial advantage of his -military character, he had fought under the banners of Marshal Turenne. -Already had he signalised himself in the attacks on Nimeguen, where his -courage attracted the discerning eye of Turenne, who gave him the name -of the “handsome Englishman;” and a station of importance having been -abandoned by one of Turenne’s officers, Captain Churchill was appointed -to maintain it, which he effected, expelling the enemy.[20] - -At the siege of Maestricht Churchill still further advanced his fame, -and received the thanks of Louis the Fourteenth, and his fortunes seemed -to his youthful mind advancing to their climax, when he was presented to -Charles the Second by the Duke of Monmouth, with this warm-hearted -asseveration, characteristic of that gallant nobleman. “To the bravery -of this gallant officer,” said the Duke, addressing his royal father, “I -owe my life.” The last reward of Churchill’s valiant exertions had been -an appointment to the command of the English troops auxiliary to France; -a post which the Earl of Peterborough had resigned.[21] The fame of -these various services had been extolled by friends at court, and by -connexions, influential in various degrees, and for various reasons. - -Recalled, at sundry times, to the duties of a court life, the hero who -surpassed the generals under whom he served, surpassed also the -courtiers with whom he came into frequent collision. He was endowed with -personal beauty, height of stature, (being above the middle size,) -activity, and sweetness of expression: in short, the perfection of the -species, high intellect combined with perfect grace, was exhibited in -this great, and, when chastened by the course of events, subsequently -good man. His countenance was mild, thoughtful, commanding; his brow -lofty, his features regular but flexible. His deportment was dignified, -and, at the same time, winning. “No one,” said one who knew him -personally, “ever said a pert thing to the Duke of Marlborough.”[22] - -The same consummate judge even attributed the great success of the Duke -“to the Graces, who protected and promoted him.” “His manner,” Lord -Chesterfield declares, “was irresistible, either by man or woman.” - -Like most young men destined to the profession of arms, the education of -Churchill was limited. Lord Chesterfield, indeed, declares that the -great Marlborough was “eminently illiterate, wrote bad English, and -spelt it worse;” and he goes so far as to assert, that “he had no share -of what is commonly called parts; he had no brightness, nothing shining -in his genius.” - -But with this opinion, however backed by high authority, it is -impossible for those who trace the career of Marlborough to agree. That -he was not a man of extensive intellectual cultivation, as far as the -learning to be acquired from books was concerned—that he was not -calculated to harangue in the senate with peculiar distinction, nor -addicted deeply to the study of the closet—may readily be admitted. It -may even be allowed that he was deficient in the science of -orthography—in those days less carefully instilled in youth than in the -present time.[23] But that he was absolutely illiterate, or even of -mediocre parts moderately cultivated, his private letters sufficiently -disprove. They are all admirably expressed; clear, emphatic, and in -well-constructed sentences. His father was a man of letters, the author -of an historical work,[24] and by Sir Winston was the education of -Churchill superintended, until he was placed at St. Paul’s school, -London.[25] - -To the “cool head and warm heart” of Marlborough, as King William the -Third expressed it, he owed his early and progressive success. He was at -once the object of affection and of confidence. His calmness, the -suavity of his temper, until disease, most cruel in its effects on -_that_, broke down his self-command; his forbearance—his consideration -for others—the gentleness with which he refused what he could not -grant—the grace with which he conferred favours—these qualities, -combined with indefatigable industry, hardihood, and a judgment never -prejudiced by passion, were the true sources of Churchill’s greatness, -the benignant spirits which made the gifts of fortune sweeter when they -came. - -It is uncertain at what time or in what manner the first tokens of -ardent affection between Colonel Churchill and the youthful Sarah were -exchanged. The authoress of the “Life of Zarah” has given a romantic -description of their first meeting, in which, as in other ephemeral -works, we may suppose there may be some foundation of truth, but no -accuracy of detail. According to this account, the youthful fancy of -Sarah was first attracted by the grace of her valiant lover in the -dance—a recreation in which he particularly excelled. “Every step he -took carried death in it,”[26] and the applause and admiration which -Colonel Churchill obtained, sank deep into the heart of one whose -ambition was perhaps as easily stimulated as her love. Yet that her -affections were interested in the addresses of the brave Churchill, is -manifest from her rejection of another suitor of higher rank, the Earl -of Lindsay, afterwards Marquis of Ancaster, and of others, by whom she -was considered as “the star and ornament of the court.”[27] - -The correspondence between these celebrated lovers during the anxious -days of courtship was preserved by the survivor, with a care that marked -the honour which she felt she had received in being beloved by such a -man as Marlborough. They are said, by Archdeacon Coxe, to have displayed -the most ardent tenderness on the part of Churchill, with alternations -of regard and petulance on that of the lady. Her haughtiness, and the -sensibility of her future husband, fully appear in these letters. Yet, -notwithstanding the defects of character which they betrayed in the one -party, the attachment on the side of the other increased in ardour, and -continued sufficiently strong to overcome all obstacles. Amongst these, -the scanty portion of Sarah, no less than the still greater deficiency -of means on the part of her lover, formed the principal impediment. In -order to show the different circumstances of each of the families with -which they were connected, it is necessary to give some account of their -various members, and of the fortunes which they had at this time begun -to share. - -The adherence of the Churchill family to the royal House of Stuart, and -the adverse effect of that adherence upon the fortunes of Sir Winston -Churchill, have been already mentioned. Sir Winston, a man of -considerable learning and of approved bravery, had indeed so far -retrieved his circumstances, and relieved his estate of its heavy -burdens, as to be able, in 1661, to stand for the borough of Weymouth, -and to sit in the first parliament called by Charles the Second. He was -afterwards appointed a commissioner of the Court of Claims in Ireland, -and constituted, on his return from that country, one of the -comptrollers of the Board of Green Cloth,—an office from which he was -removed, but to which he was restored. But these appointments appear to -have been the sole compensation which he received for his active -services; and he seems to have devoted the latter portion of his days to -pursuits of literature rather than of ambition, being one of the first -fellows of the Royal Society, and the author of an able and elegant -historical work on the Kings of England, which composition he dedicated -to Charles the Second.[28] - -Sir Winston’s means were encumbered, however, with seven sons and four -daughters; and although seven of this numerous family died in infancy, -yet still a sufficient number remained to entail anxiety upon the owner -of an impoverished estate. George Churchill, the third surviving son, -like his brother John, owed the first gleams of royal favour to family -interest, but insured its continuance by his merit. He distinguished -himself both by sea and land; was a faithful servant, for twenty years, -as a gentleman of the bedchamber to George of Denmark, and attained, -under King William, the post of one of the commissioners of the -Admiralty. - -Charles, the fourth son, was also bred to arms, and, at an early age, -signalised himself at the time of the Revolution. To him the landed -property of Sir Winston descended, on account of some pecuniary -obligations which his father owed him, and which prove how circumscribed -were still the means of the brave and estimable Sir Winston. Like his -brothers, Charles held offices under the crown, and was appointed -governor of the Tower of London by Queen Anne.[29] Thus, whilst, by -merit and interest conjoined, the sons of Sir Winston Churchill attained -independence, and perhaps wealth, it was natural for him to desire that -his eldest surviving son should farther advance his fortunes by an -advantageous marriage; nor was it inconsistent with the notions of the -day, to look upon marriage solely as a negociation in which the -affections were not even consulted, or were at least regarded as of -secondary import. - -That such were the sentiments of Sir Winston and Lady Churchill, appears -from the strenuous opposition which they made to their son’s union with -Miss Jennings: for at present her portion was inconsiderable, and her -family interest not to be compared with that of the Churchills. It is -true that the estate at Sandridge, to which the Duchess afterwards -became co-heiress, was more productive than those lands which Sir -Winston Churchill had saved from the grasp of the parliament; but still -it was encumbered by a provision for her grandfather’s numerous issue; -nor was it until the death of her brothers, without children, that Sarah -and her sister Frances shared the patrimonial property. Thus -circumstanced, and precluded on both sides from the expectation of -parental aid, the young soldier was obliged to depend upon his own -powers of exertion, to find means to form an establishment for the lady -to whom he made his ardent suit. - -The young Duchess of York was, at this juncture, the counsellor and -confidante of Sarah, and she appears to have offered her and Colonel -Churchill some pecuniary assistance in this emergency.[30] Nor was her -bounty the only source from which a future provision for the lovers was -derived. - -It is always an ungracious task to touch upon the errors of those who, -by a subsequent career of honour, have left, as the final testament to -posterity, an example of domestic virtue. The income which Colonel -Churchill possessed,[31] is said to have been derived from a -dishonourable source.[32] Amongst the causes of his rapid rise in the -army, as well as of his success at court, his relationship to the -celebrated Barbara Villiers, afterwards Duchess of Cleveland, has been -naturally regarded as one of the most powerful explanations of the -favours which he received. This infamous woman, described by Bishop -Burnet as “a woman of great beauty, but enormously vicious and ravenous, -foolish, but imperious,”[33] governed Charles the Second, as it is well -known, by the exhibition of the most tempestuous passions, which she -ascribed in his presence to jealousy of him, whilst her intrigues with -other men were notorious. She was second cousin to Churchill by his -mother’s side, being the daughter of Villiers Lord Grandison, who was -killed at the battle of Edge Hill. Whilst Churchill was a youth, she -imbibed for him too strong a partiality, in such a mind as hers, to -appear even innocent, if it really were so. Her passion for him was as -sudden as it was disgusting; and however it may have procured him some -temporary assistance, it drew upon him the displeasure of the King, who -at one time forbade him the court.[34] The advocates of Churchill have -endeavoured to attach little importance to this disgraceful connexion, -for which his youth and the temptations of the court alone furnish an -apology; yet they cannot, whilst they excuse, entirely deny a fact which -undoubtedly sullies the fair fame of Churchill. - -Lord Chesterfield, in holding up the Duke of Marlborough as a model of -good breeding and irresistible elegance and suavity, thus touches upon -the fact of his being under pecuniary obligations to the imperious -Duchess of Cleveland. “He had,” says his lordship, “most undoubtedly an -excellent, good, plain understanding, with sound judgment. But these -alone would probably have raised him but something higher than they -found him, which was page to King James the Second’s queen. There the -graces protected and promoted him; for while he was an ensign in the -Guards, the Duchess of Cleveland, then favourite mistress of the King, -struck by those very graces, gave him five thousand pounds; with which -he immediately bought an annuity of five hundred pounds a year, of my -grandfather Halifax, which was the foundation of his subsequent -fortune.”[35] - -Upon this slender annuity, thus disreputably obtained, the hopes of -Churchill and of the young object of his affections depended. Sarah -appears to have been capricious and undecided in her conduct during the -progress of their engagement, which lasted three years.[36] The cause of -these variations of feeling has been assigned to the opposition made by -Sir Winston and Lady Churchill to their son’s forming a union so far -below their expectations; but it may be referred to various other -sources. The high-minded Sarah must have been often offended and -wounded, in the nicest feelings, by the past irregularities of -Churchill’s life. Those irregularities were renounced, it is true, upon -his engagement with her, and his honourable and well-toned mind was -recalled to a sense of that beauty which attends purity of conduct, and -its power to dignify characters even of a common stamp. But the effects -of his past conduct were found in the bitterness and jealousy of those -by whom he had been hitherto flattered,[37] and by whom doubtless the -defects of his moral character may have been grossly exaggerated. Sarah -may have intended to prove the constancy of her accomplished lover, -when, hearing that his parents destined him to become the husband of a -young lady of superior fortune to her own, though of less beauty, she -petulantly entreated him “to renounce an attachment which militated -against his worldly prospects;” and adding many reproaches, pungent as -her pen could write,—and in the vituperative style she had few -equals,—she declared that she would accompany her sister Frances, then -Countess of Hamilton, to Paris, thus finally to end their engagement. -Her address to the honour, to the heart of Churchill, was not made in -vain; he answered her by an appeal to her affection, and by earnest -remonstrances against her cruelty, and a reconciliation was the -result.[38] - -Whilst these sentiments secretly occupied the heart of Churchill, and of -her who loved him, perhaps, less for his excellencies than for the -effect which they produced upon others, several events took place at the -court of Charles, in which Colonel Churchill, during the intervals of -his military service, participated,—his office of master of the robes to -the Duke of York, an appointment granted him in 1673, retaining him near -the court; whilst Sarah, in the course of her attendance on the Princess -Anne, must have taken a considerable interest in the events which -immediately concerned the royal family. - - - - - CHAPTER II. - COURT OF CHARLES II.—1677 to 1681. - - Marriage of the Princess Mary—Marriage of Colonel Churchill and Miss - Jennings—Characters of Anne and Mary—Friendship of Anne for Lady - Churchill—Appointment of the latter to be Lady of the Bedchamber to - the Princess—Death of Charles the Second. - - -It was fortunate for the subject of this Memoir that her introduction -into the great world took place under the auspices of a young and -virtuous Princess, almost of the same age with herself. It is true, that -to the charge of Katharine, the neglected wife of Charles the Second, no -graver crime could be alleged than her subserviency to the King’s -pleasures; for in her own conduct she was irreproachable. When first she -became Queen of England, she endeavoured, with such judgment as she -possessed, to reform the manners of her adopted country, and to -introduce propriety of demeanour into the court. Unhappily Katharine was -not endowed with those graces which are likely to recommend virtue. She -is described by a contemporary as “a little ungraceful woman, so -short-legged, that when she stood upon her feet you would have thought -she was on her knees, and yet so long-waisted, that when she sat down -she appeared like a well-sized woman.”[39] - -Brought up in a monastery, the simple-minded Katharine vainly hoped to -reform her dissolute husband, whose inconstancy at first grieved and -shocked her virtuous notions. Unlike her rival, Anne Duchess of York, a -shrewd and worldly woman, who strove to fill her saloons with the young -and the fair, Katharine was surrounded by her countrywomen, old, stiff, -ungainly, repulsive Portuguese ladies, of birth and pride, who soon -became the subjects of infinite merriment to King Charles’s court. These -exemplary ladies came possessed with the notion that they should quickly -bring the English to conform to their new customs; but Charles speedily -undeceived them, and by his express order they were soon shipped off -again for Portugal.[40] - -The injured Queen was, at the time that Sarah and Colonel Churchill -became acquainted, sinking fast into the obscurity which was alone -redeemed from oblivion, after Charles’s death, by her patronage of -musical science, and by the concerts which she gave at Somerset House, -whither she retired, to reside until she returned to Portugal.[41] - -Charles, impoverished in circumstances, and governed at this time almost -wholly by the Duchess of Portsmouth, who was under the influence of -France, astonished both his subjects and the foreign courts, by the -alliance which he selected for his niece, the Princess Mary, at this -time in her fifteenth year. It was whilst Colonel Churchill and his -future wife were in all the uncertainties of suspense, that the nuptials -of William of Nassau with Mary were solemnised. This young Princess is -said to have owed the decision which gave her a husband to whom she was -entirely subservient, to a sudden prepossession of her royal uncle in -favour of the Prince. The King is reported to have said to Sir William -Temple these characteristic words:—“I never yet was deceived in judging -a man’s honesty by his looks; and if I am not deceived in the Prince’s -face, he is the honestest man in the world, and I will trust him, and he -shall have his wife; and you shall go immediately and tell my brother -so, and thus it is a thing resolved on.”[42] - -This mode of deciding an union highly agreeable to the English, although -unwelcome to the Duke of York, was adopted and carried instantly into -effect, in order to avoid the importunities of the Duchess of -Portsmouth, who was entirely an instrument in the interests of France. -Louis the Fourteenth, when informed of the marriage being declared in -council, could not help marking his resentment towards the Duke of York, -through the English ambassador, Lord Darnley,—who justified James by -saying that “he did not know of the King’s decision until an hour before -it was proclaimed, nor did the King himself above two hours previously.” -Upon which Louis uttered these prophetic words: that “James had given -his daughter to his greatest enemy.”[43] - -In the ensuing year, 1678, the marriage of Sarah Jennings and Colonel -Churchill is presumed to have taken place.[44] Secret their union -certainly was, for a letter addressed by Colonel Churchill to his wife, -from Brussels, April 12, 1678, is directed to Miss Jennings; but the -epistle was carefully preserved by his wife, who left, in her own -handwriting, these words on the back: “I believe I was married when this -was written, but it was not known to any but the Duchess” (of York.) In -the same year he writes to her, addressed to Mrs. Churchill, at Mintern, -his father’s seat, where probably the young bride had taken up her abode -in the intervals of her attendance at court; or perhaps that attendance -was discontinued, and not constantly resumed until a year or two -afterwards. The ceremony took place in the presence of Mary Duchess of -York, who bestowed presents of considerable value on the bride; and some -months afterwards the marriage was avowed.[45] - -Little of domestic comfort for several years seems to have been the -portion of Colonel Churchill in his marriage. His first absence was on -occasion of the Duke’s retiring, first to Brussels, and afterwards to -the Hague, accompanied by the Duchess of York, and by the Princess Anne; -an event which took place in the beginning of the year 1678. But -although at this time attached to the service of the Duke of York, and -ignorant of the Duke’s designs upon the religion and the liberties of -England,[46] Colonel Churchill’s interests with Charles appear not to -have suffered; for he obtained in February a regiment of foot, and was -shortly afterwards sent on a mission of importance to the Prince of -Orange. The following letter from him to his wife breathes sincere -affection. It is dated Brussels, April 12th. - - -“I writ to you from Antwerp, which I hope you have received before now, -for I should be glad you should hear from me by every post. I met with -some difficulties in my business with the Prince of Orange, so that I -was forced to write to England, which will cause me to be two or three -days longer abroad than I should have been. But because I would lose no -time, I despatch all other things in the mean time, for I do, with all -my heart and soul, long to be with you, you being dearer to me than my -own life. On Sunday morning I shall leave this place, so that on Monday -night I shall be at Breda, where the Prince and Princess of Orange are; -and from hence you shall be sure to hear from me again; till then, my -soul’s soul, farewell.”[47] - - -Colonel Churchill had, however, the enjoyment of passing the summer of -this year with his wife at Mintern, where he had the happiness of -finding her reconciled to his parents; but this transient enjoyment of -domestic quiet was not of long duration. The Colonel was obliged to -repair to London, where he received instructions to join the allied -troops in hostilities against France, and received a commission from the -Duke of Monmouth, appointing him, as British commander-in-chief in the -Netherlands, to the command of a brigade in Flanders. But, happily, -being driven back by contrary winds to Margate, Colonel Churchill -learned, in time to prevent his proceeding to the Continent, that the -Prince of Orange had signed a treaty with the French, and that a general -peace was the result.[48] - -The dissolute rule of Charles was now drawing to a close; but its last -years were disturbed by faction, and disgraced by acts of rigour, which -were with justice imputed to the influence of the heir apparent. Colonel -Churchill and his wife remained, however, attached to the service of the -Duke and Duchess of York, and accompanied their royal highnesses to the -Hague and to Brussels—a journey which was undertaken by James in -compliance with a request addressed to him from his brother, that he -would for a time absent himself from the British dominions. - -This may probably be considered as the happiest epoch in the life of -Churchill, and of the partner of his bright fortunes. Although confided -in by James in all important points, notwithstanding the difference of -their religious faith, Churchill took no share in political intrigues, -and with a calm dignity retained his own opinions, unbiassed by example, -or by what might be deemed interest. “Though I have an aversion to -popery,” thus he explained his sentiments to a confidential friend, “yet -I am no less averse to persecution for conscience sake. I deem it the -highest act of injustice to set every one aside from his inheritance -upon bare suppositions of intentional evils, when nothing that is actual -appears to preclude him from the exercise of his just rights.”[49] - -On the other hand, Mrs. Churchill had at present no important part in -life to act, no dreams of greatness to disturb her routine of duty and -service to a mistress who appears to have treated her with the utmost -kindness. The Princess Anne, indeed, accompanied her father to the -Continent, and shared with her stepmother the attentions and the society -which afterwards became so essential to the future Queen of England. But -Anne’s importance was at present overshadowed, and her chances of future -elevation were remote, even in her own anticipations. - -During the course of the summer, James was recalled to England by the -illness of his brother; but finding that Charles was likely to recover, -he returned to Flanders, in order to bring over his family to the -British Isles,[50] although he was not permitted by the King to remain -in London. Colonel Churchill, meantime, was despatched to Paris upon -diplomatic business, with an especial recommendation from James, who -designated him in his letter “master of the wardrobe.”[51] It was not, -however, considered expedient by Charles or his advisers that the Duke -of York should continue in England, and accordingly it was given out, by -authority, that the Duke having represented to his Majesty that it would -be more proper that he should remain in his Majesty’s dominions than in -those of any other Prince, the King had consented to his Royal -Highness’s removal to Scotland. - -The Duke and Duchess of York, therefore, with a numerous suite, composed -of many of the nobility and persons of distinction, departed for -Edinburgh, leaving the Princess Anne, and Isabella, her half-sister, at -St. James’s. In this tedious journey, which, performed with much parade, -lasted a month, Churchill and his wife accompanied the Duke and -Duchess,[52]—Colonel Churchill, from the desire of escaping those -contentions which then agitated public men, and occupied both Houses, -concerning the succession,[53] prudently avoiding a seat in parliament, -which he might readily have obtained. - -It was for some years the occupation of Churchill, and of his wife, to -follow the footsteps, and in some measure to share the anxieties, of the -Duke and Duchess of York. During the present year, James returned to -London; but he was again driven to Scotland by the efforts of the -adverse party, and was again accompanied by Churchill. - -After a year spent on the part of Churchill in many important missions, -he had the happiness of hearing, on his return to Scotland after one of -these embassies, that he had become a father. The infant Henrietta, -afterwards Duchess of Marlborough, was born in London, whither Mrs. -Churchill had accompanied the Duchess of York, July the tenth, 1681.[54] - -The character of the Duchess of Marlborough as a mother remains yet to -be developed; but the letters of Colonel Churchill to her, at this -period, bespeak a sense of domestic happiness, and prove that she was -still, as indeed she ever was, ardently beloved by his, the most -affectionate, as it was the bravest heart. - - -“I writ to you,” he says in one of these unpremeditated epistles, “last -night by the express, and since that I have no good news to send you. -The yachts are not yet come, nor do we know when they will, for the wind -is directly against them, so that you may believe I am not in a very -good humour, since I desire nothing so much as being with you. The only -comfort I had here was hearing from you, and now, if we should be -stopped by contrary winds, and not hear from you, you may guess with -what satisfaction I shall then pass my time; therefore, as you love me, -you will pray for fair winds, that we may not stay here, nor be long at -sea. - -“I hope all the red spots of our child will be gone against I see her, -and her nose strait; so that I may fancy it to be like the mother, for -she has your coloured hair. I would have her to be like you in all -things else. Till next post-day farewell. By that time I hope we shall -hear of the yachts, for till I do, I have no kind of patience.”[55] - - -The constant services of Churchill were at length rewarded with an -elevation to the peerage, an honour which he owed entirely to the -recommendation of James in his favour. He was created Baron Churchill of -Eyemouth in Scotland, and made also Colonel of the third troop of -Guards.[56] - -Weary, probably, of a courtier’s life, it was now Lord Churchill’s -desire to withdraw Lady Churchill from the court, and to enjoy with her -the privacy which their mutual affection might have rendered delightful. -But so peaceful a lot was not to be the portion of this remarkable pair, -who were destined to act a conspicuous part in the great sphere of -public action. - -It is not stated what were Lord Churchill’s particular motives for thus -wishing to withdraw from the greatness which was “thrust upon him,” at a -time when James, his patron, was restored to his royal brother’s favour, -and when his own influence was daily increasing. But we may look into -the history of those fearful times for a solution of this inquiry. The -feelings, upright and humane, of Churchill, and even of his less -sensitive wife, had doubtless been harrowed by the occurrences of the -preceding year. The Rye House Plot, and its melancholy termination, must -have saddened the heart even of the strictest adherent to James, and -probably opened the eyes of Churchill to the real dispositions of that -Prince, whose indifference to the value of human life gave the character -of retribution to his subsequent misfortunes. Russell sacrificed, and -the unhappy Essex, impelled by a fear of his impending fate, forced to -commit suicide, it is no wonder that Churchill was sickened by the -events of those calamitous days, and that he longed to withdraw her who -was dearest to him from a scene in which the events of tragedy were -mingled with the heartless merriment of a festive court. - -Whilst Lord Churchill was advancing his fortunes, the influence of his -young wife over the pliant mind of the Princess Anne was equally -advancing, though unseen, and establishing for Lady Churchill an -ascendency which fixed her destiny in the public walks of life. - -From childhood, Anne had been accustomed to the society of her future -favourite. A slight difference of age, Lady Churchill being the elder of -the two, aided, rather than impeded, the happy intimacy of girlhood. -Anne was accustomed to depend for amusement upon her new friend; and as -they grew up, and became severally absorbed in the cares of womanhood, -Anne, as well as Sarah, found that hopes and disappointments, on the -all-engrossing subject of wedlock, were the portion of the Princess as -well as of the subject. - -Anne, like others of her high rank, was spared the perplexity of choice. -Already, at an early age, she had been addressed, in secret, with -professions of attachment by the young Earl of Mulgrave, afterwards -Marquis of Normanby, one of the most accomplished and amiable noblemen -of his time. But these proposals were checked as soon as they were -discovered, yet not before Anne had imbibed a partiality, or, in the -cold words of the historian of her reign, an “esteem,” for the young -man, which continued in the form of a kindly regard, until party and -politics broke the charm which the recollection of an early attachment -had created.[57] - -George the First, at that time possessing very slender hopes of becoming -King of England, visited this country with the intention of marrying the -Princess Anne, but left the British shores somewhat dishonourably, -without justifying the hopes which he had excited.[58] At the period -when he married his cousin, the ill-fated Dorothea, there was indeed a -third daughter of James Duke of York living, the Princess Katharine, who -died in 1671. Anne, therefore, was by no means an object of so much -importance in the eyes of European princes as she became upon the -failure of issue to Mary, and after the abdication of her father. Her -uncle, Charles the Second, undertook, however, the disposal of her fate, -as he had already decided that of her elder sister. - -In selecting the husbands of his nieces, the profligate, well-bred -monarch seems to have searched for qualities as opposite as possible to -those displayed in the Stuart line; consigning Mary, at sixteen, to the -sickly, reserved, grave, and even austere Prince of Orange; and choosing -for Anne a worthy, staid individual, ten years older than herself, and -exactly such a man as would have filled with propriety the situation of -a country gentleman, and enjoyed the not arduous, but yet not -unimportant duties which usually fall to the lot of that respectable -class. Prince George of Denmark, recommended to the favour of Charles -chiefly by his being of the Protestant faith,[59] had, four years -previous to his marriage, visited England; and at the command of his -brother, Christian the Fifth of Denmark, he returned to make an offer of -marriage to the Princess Anne.[60] It cannot for a moment be supposed -that, even with the advantage of these renewed opportunities, there was -any great attachment on either side. Never, however, in the annals of -royal wedlock, were two characters more completely assimilated than that -of Anne and her approved lover. The Prince was brave, good-natured, and -not _too_ wise; yet sufficiently sensible to be free from ambition, and -to remain contented, in after times, with being the first royal consort -that had not shared monarchical power. His patrimony was small, but -ample enough to render him comfortable until a settlement was made, and -consisted in the revenues of some small islands belonging to the crown -of Denmark, which yielded about ten thousand pounds a year.[61] He was -inclined to those principles which had recently acquired the name of -Toryism, but never took more than a subordinate part in politics; and -was so unoffending, that he made not a personal enemy. Neither was the -good Prince George without accomplishments. He had travelled much, was a -linguist, somewhat of an antiquary, and patronized the arts. Report -asserted that an asthmatic complaint, with which he was severely -affected during the course of his life, and of which he ultimately died, -had its origin in convivial habits, in which Anne, when Queen, has been -declared not loath to join.[62] But that propensity, when not carried to -excess, was never in England an unpopular quality; and Prince George was -eminently qualified to endear himself to the English nation. - -The Princess to whom he was affianced possessed a temper almost as -replete with good-nature as his own. At the period of her marriage, the -qualities which eventually formed the subject of so much vituperation -and of so much praise, could not have been developed, even to the -scrutinizing observation of her young companion, Mrs. Churchill, who -afterwards portrayed her royal mistress with the distinctness of a -powerful and sarcastic mind. The education of the Princess had been -limited, and her capacity was inferior to that of her sister Mary; yet -the characters of both these Princesses, represented differently by -different parties, appear to have been possessed of considerable merit. -If we set apart, first, her conduct to her father, and afterwards the -undue jealousy evinced by Mary towards her sister, few individuals -appear in so amiable a point of view as that of the Princess of Orange. -Religious without bigotry, gentle yet firm, fond of domestic life, yet -coming forward, when occasion called her, into the sphere of public -duties with credit to herself and with benefit to the nation, Mary, as a -queen and a wife, was a pattern not only to persons of her own elevated -station, but to women of every sphere and in every age. This Princess -was, at the time of her sister’s marriage, in Holland, with her husband, -William of Nassau. - -Anne was a personage altogether of an inferior stamp. In many points she -resembled strongly the other members of her family who have figured in -history. Like Charles the First, she was pious, generous, and -affectionate, but obstinate, and not devoid of duplicity when it suited -her purpose. Her religion had not, however, the sublimated character of -that which consoled the unhappy Charles in adversity; but became, like -all her other dispositions, a habit, an implicit faith, a formal -observance, rather than a sentiment. Her nature was a strange compound -of warm affections and of repelling coldness. As in all weak minds, her -friendships were called into being by the gratification of her selfish -inclinations; and hence, as the Duchess of Marlborough well describes -them, “they were flames of extravagant passion, ending in indifference -or aversion.”[63] With those defects which proceeded from deficient -cultivation, Anne, however, as a lady of elevated rank, and afterwards -as a ruler, possessed some admirable qualities. Her sense of duty -supplied the place of strong sensibility. She was a kind mistress; as a -wife, incomparable; though lavish to her favourites, (an hereditary -trait,) not to be led by them into what she disapproved; just and -economical, gracious in her manners, and desirous of popularity. Her -nature was placid, her temperament phlegmatic; great designs and lofty -sentiments were not to be expected from one of so gentle and easy a -temper; but in propriety she equalled, if she could not excel, her -reflective and discreet sister. In the early part of her life she was, -like the Stuarts generally, extremely well-bred, until unnecessary and -indecorous familiarity with her inferiors broke down the effects of -early habit. - -In person Anne was comely, and of that ample conformation and stature -well adapted for royalty. Her love of etiquette, and her exactness in -trifles, were convenient and commendable qualities in the rules of a -court, in the days of the good old school; and an attention to those -forms which are much observed in the monarch of a people prone to free -discussion, rendered her a favourite with the public. Her figure, before -it became matronly, or in the words of the Duchess, (after their -quarrel,) “exceeding gross and corpulent,” was esteemed graceful; her -face was agreeable, though, from a weakness in her eyes, her countenance -had contracted somewhat of a scowl, described by the Duchess, whilst she -admits that “there was something of majesty” in the Queen’s look, “as -mixed with a sullen and constant frown, that plainly betrayed a -gloominess of soul and a cloudiness of disposition within.”[64] But this -may have been the effect of years and of care, when the complexion also -participated in the coarseness of the person, induced, as it was said, -by the use of cordials, to which the Prince her husband incessantly -invited his consort.[65] - -To complete the portrait of Anne, the beauty of her hands, and the -sweetness of her voice in speaking and reading, must not be forgotten: -they were universally allowed; whilst her graceful delivery in -addressing the Houses of Parliament met with incessant applause.[66] It -is remarkable that with such respect was Anne treated by her subjects, -that the Peers, in her presence, waived the privilege of wearing hats in -parliament, to show that they are hereditary legislators.[67] - -Such was the Princess Anne; and few contrasts could be more singular -than herself, and the friend whom she selected for her confidante, and -whom she made many sacrifices to conciliate. - -The Duchess of Marlborough, according to Swift, was the victim of “three -furies which reigned in her breast, the most mortal of all softer -passions, which were—sordid avarice, disdainful pride, ungovernable -rage.”[68] The first of these demons may be the companion of middle age: -rage and pride may have haunted the young and lovely maid of honour; but -avarice is not the vice of youth. In all lesser points of disposition -and feeling, the Princess and her favourite were dissimilar. The -Princess was a lover of propriety and etiquette, even to an inspection -of the ruffles and periwigs of her servants. Her sense of decorum was so -nice, that, on her accession to the throne, she caused the bust of -herself on the gold coin to be clothed as it was, according to ancient -custom, on the silver. Nothing offended her, as Queen, so much as a -breach of the customary observances; and Lord Bolingbroke having visited -her one day in haste, in a Ramillie tie, she remarked “that she supposed -his lordship would soon come to court in his nightcap.”[69] - -For the Duchess of Marlborough, in her old age, and probably still more -in the days of her youth, to dwell on trifles, was a burden too heavy -for one of so impetuous a nature. Though we are not authorised to -conclude from the assertion of her enemy, “that she delighted in -disputing the truth of the Christian religion, and held its doctrines to -be both impossible and absurd,”[70] yet it is certain, from her own -avowal, that she was a latitudinarian in matters of form, and detested -and set at defiance those who made “the church” a word of excuse for -intolerance and faction. - -The occupations in which these young friends delighted were also totally -dissimilar. The Duchess, all her life, delighted in conversation, in -which the Princess not only did not excel, but in which she took little -pleasure.[71] Anne was an accomplished performer on the guitar; she -loved the chase, and rode with the hounds until disabled by the gout. -Her companion found the amusements of the court very tedious, and but -little suited to her restless and energetic mind. But habit on the one -hand, and interest on the other, soon reconcile differences. From -playing together as children, the Princess learned, first, to prefer her -companion to any other child; next to endure, then to love, the -plain-spoken, fearless girl, who, according to her own account, and to -that of her friend Dr. Burnet, never flattered any one; then soon grew -up a sentimental feeling, which they called friendship, and distinctions -of rank were laid aside, and names of familiarity adopted in place of -titles of honour.[72] When the Princess became the wife of George of -Denmark, she made it her earnest request to her father that her friend -should be appointed one of the ladies of the bedchamber—a wish with -which James, an affectionate parent, readily complied. The Duchess of -Marlborough, when arranging, in hours of sickness and in old age, the -materials for her Vindication, thus simply relates the steps preparatory -to her preferment. - -“The beginning of the Princess’s favour for me,” says the Duchess, “had -a much earlier date than my entrance into her service. My promotion to -this honour was chiefly owing to impressions she had before received to -my advantage. We had used to play together when she was a child, and she -had even then expressed a particular fondness for me. This inclination -increased with our years. I was often at court, and the Princess always -distinguished me by the pleasure she took to honour me, preferably to -others, with her conversation and confidence. In all her parties for -amusement I was sure, by her choice, to be one; and so desirous she -became of having me near her, that upon her marriage with the Prince -George of Denmark, 1683, it was at her own request to her father I was -made one of the ladies of the bedchamber.”[73] - -Assisted by the force of early associations, the stronger mind quickly -asserted an influence over the weaker intellect, an influence retained -so long as prudence directed its workings. But the Duchess, in what -appears to be an impartial statement of facts, declares that she owed -this influence partly to a dislike which the Princess had imbibed -against Lady Clarendon, her relation and first lady of the bedchamber, -who, according to the Duchess, “looked like a mad woman, and talked like -a scholar.” And, indeed, she adds, “her Highness’s court was so oddly -composed, that I think it would be making myself no great compliment if -I should say, her choosing to spend more of her time with me than with -any other of her servants did no discredit to her taste.” - -The writer of the foregoing paragraph might, however, have carried away -the palm from women superior even to the Countess of Clarendon, whom she -has been accused of misrepresenting. Beautiful according to the opinion -of her contemporaries, her beauty indeed appears, in the portraits -painted in her bloom of youth, to have been commanding as well as -interesting. Her figure is asserted to have been peculiarly fine, and -her countenance was set off by a profusion of fair hair, which she is -said to have preserved, without its changing colour, even at an advanced -age, by the use of honey-water.[74] Several years after she had become a -grandmother, the freshness of her lovely complexion, and her unfaded -attractions, caused her, even in the midst of four daughters, each -distinguished for personal charms, to be deemed pre-eminent among those -celebrated and high-bred belles.[75] - -But the secret of that extraordinary influence which Sarah Duchess of -Marlborough acquired over every being with whom she came into contact, -originated not in her attributes of beauty and of grace. Mrs. Jennings, -her mother, represented as she was by the infamous Mrs. Manley, the -wretched authoress of the “New Atalantis,” as a sorceress and a depraved -creature too vile to live, was also allowed by the same authority to -have cultivated in her daughter every art that could charm. That of -conversation, in particular, the Duchess of Marlborough is said to have -possessed. Shrewd, sarcastic, fearless, so beautiful that all she said -was sure to be approved by the one sex; so much in fashion and in -favour, that nothing she did could possibly be disapproved by the other; -Sarah might readily, without any extraordinary cultivation of intellect, -figure greatly in repartee, dogmatize with the security of a youthful -beauty, and gain, perhaps, in asserting her crude opinions, knowledge -and experience from the replies which one so lively would know well how -to elicit. It appears that at this time she had never even dreamed of -politics, nor thought of cultivating that vigorous intellect so much -applauded in after times by the great ones of the earth. Education had -contributed little to extend the sphere of her inquiring mind. She knew -no language but her own, and never had the industry nor the ambition to -learn even French. - -Bishop Burnet, who knew her intimately, thus describes his own and his -wife’s friend. - -“The Duchess of Marlborough was,” says he, “a woman of little knowledge, -but of a clear apprehension and a true judgment.”[76] - -The account which the Duchess gives of the manner in which many hours of -her day, in the season when the improvement of reason ought to be -progressive, were dissipated, is, in few words, “that she never read nor -employed her time in anything but playing cards, nor had she any -ambition.”[77] Well might she declare herself to be weary of a court -life. - -Such was the friend to whom the Princess was early bound by the ties of -habit, and afterwards by something almost more ardent than common -friendship; and exactly was she adapted, from independent, -uncompromising spirit, half magnanimous and half insolent, to attain a -complete dominion over every faculty of Anne’s shallow mind. The -Princess, inured to courts, and probably sickened by the mechanical -homage which she could remember from her infancy, might have distrusted -adulation in one not much older than herself, and who had been her -playmate before the cruel distinctions of rank were recollected or -regretted. “But a friend was what she most courted.”[78] - -“Kings and princes, for the most part,” remarks the Duchess, “imagine -they have a dignity peculiar to their birth and station, which ought to -raise them above all connexions of friendship with an inferior. Their -passion is to be admired and feared, to have subjects awfully obedient, -and servants blindly obsequious to their pleasure. Friendship is an -offensive word; it imports a kind of equality between the parties; it -suggests nothing to the mind, of crowns or thrones; high titles, or -immense revenues, fountains of honour, or fountains of riches, -prerogatives which the possessors would always have uppermost in the -thoughts of those who approach them.”[79] - -Such were the notions of royalty which the Duchess entertained, and -which Hook, the historian, whom she employed in her old age to write the -famous Vindication of her career from which this quotation is borrowed, -has well expressed in his own language. Yet the decided, dauntless way -in which this clause against monarchs is struck off, is strongly -characteristic of the Duchess, and must have met with her cordial -approbation, if not solely suggested by herself. “The Princess,” she, -however, proceeds to state, “had a different taste. A friend was what -she most coveted; and, for the sake of friendship, (a relation which she -did not disdain to have with _me_,) she was fond of that _equality_ -which she thought belonged to it. She grew uneasy to be treated by me -with the form and ceremony due to her rank; nor could she bear from me -the sound of words which implied in them distance and superiority. It -was this turn of mind which made her one day propose to me, that -whenever I should happen to be absent from her, we might in our letters -write ourselves by feigned names, such as would import nothing of -distinction between us. MORLEY and FREEMAN were the names her fancy hit -upon, and she left me to choose by which of them I would be called. My -frank, open temper led me to pitch upon FREEMAN, and so the Princess -took the other; and from this time Mrs. Morley and Mrs. Freeman began to -converse together as equals, made so by affection and friendship.”[80] - -This well-meant but dangerous experiment shows at least that Anne -understood the nature of true friendship, which, like all other “perfect -love, casteth out fear;” whilst it is also obvious that the kind-hearted -Princess did not comprehend the character of the remarkable and highly -gifted being for whose sake she thus broke through the trammels of -etiquette. - -The friendly compact, unequal as it was, grew under the pressure of -those trials which Anne had to encounter during the reign of her father -and sister. When she found that James had complied with her earnest -request that Lady Churchill might be placed in her service, she -communicated the intelligence to her favourite, in terms of joy and -affection. - -“The Duke came in just as you were gone, and made no difficulties, but -has promised me that I shall have you, which I assure you is a great joy -to me. I should say a great deal for your kindness in offering it, but I -am not good at compliments. I will only say that I do take it extremely -kind, and shall be ready at any time to do you all the service that lies -in my power.”[81] - -This graceful mode of making the person on whom the favour was -conferred, appear to give, not to receive, the benefit, was met by Lady -Churchill, according to her own account, with a sincerity which was the -surest test of regard, and the proof of real gratitude. - -“I both obtained and held this place without the assistance of -flattery—a charm which, in truth, her (the Princess’s) inclination for -me, together with my unwearied application to serve and amuse her, -rendered needless; but which, had it been otherwise, my temper and turn -of mind would never have suffered me to employ. “Young as I was when I -first became this high favourite, I laid it down as a maxim, that -flattery was falsehood to my trust, and ingratitude to my dearest -friend.”[82] - -“Well would it be for society if this maxim were universal! - -“From this rule I never swerved; and though my temper and my notions in -most things were widely different from those of the Princess, yet, -during a long course of years, she was so far from being displeased with -me for openly speaking my sentiments, that she sometimes professed a -desire, and even added her command, that it should be always continued, -promising never to be offended at it, but to love me the better for my -frankness.”[83] - -Consistently with this injunction, we find the Princess thus -affectionately addressing her future “viceroy.” - -“If you will not let me have the satisfaction of hearing from you again -before I see you, let me beg of you not to call me your highness at -every word, but to be as free with me as one friend ought to be with -another; and you can never give me a greater proof of your friendship, -than in telling me your mind freely in all things, which I do beg you to -do; and if ever it were in my power to serve you, nobody would be more -ready than myself. I am all impatience for Wednesday, till when, -farewell.”[84] - -The marriage of Anne was followed immediately by the execution of Lord -Russell, which, with the trial and condemnation of Algernon Sidney, took -place during the same month, and within five days of each other; and the -populace, who had viewed with smothered indignation the sufferings of -these patriots, were ready to cheer their future Princess, the Defender -of their Faith. Subsequent events brought all thinking and disinterested -observers to regard with hope the consistent though quiet adherence of -the Princess to those principles in which her uncle Charles had from -policy caused her to be nurtured; his firmness in this respect showing -both the laxity of his own faith, and the paramount influence which -worldly considerations had over his wavering and probably sceptical -mind. - -The banishment of the Duke of Monmouth from court, the execution of -Sidney, the sentence of fine upon Hampden, the surrender of their -charters by the corporations, and lastly, the death of Charles the -Second, succeeded each other in rapid and fearful array; and a critical -period to all those connected with public affairs was now drawing near. -But the thoughtless life and pernicious example of the monarch who had -so grossly betrayed his trust, now drew to its close; and the -retribution of what are called “the pleasant vices” became more painful -to the beholder from the force of contrast. - -In the midst of a plan for subverting the liberties of his people, by -forming a military power, to be governed solely by Roman Catholic -officers, and devoted to the crown, Charles fell into despondency. His -usual vivacity forsook him; and, with it, his gaiety of spirits, his -politeness, in him the result of innate good-nature, deserted him. The -best bred man in Europe became rude and morose. He saw indeed that the -popularity which he had in the early part of his reign enjoyed, was now -no longer his; he reflected that he had no son to succeed him; that he -was, as far as the crown was concerned, childless. Monmouth, the child -of shame, whom he had recklessly raised to honour and importance, had -caballed against his father; yet that father loved him still. Monmouth -had outraged the filial duties, but Charles could not eradicate from his -own heart the parental affections. The unhappy King pined at the absence -of his son. He perceived and dreaded the designs and principles of -James, and was mortified at the court already paid to his successor. -Upon some altercation between the brothers, Charles was one day heard to -say, “Brother, I am too old to go to my travels a second time; perhaps -you will.”[85] - -Broken-spirited, but not reclaimed, Charles sought to console himself in -the dissolute conversation of those wretched women whose society had -been the chief object of his life. But even the worst of men have an -intuitive sense of what is due to domestic ties; and the mind is so -constituted, that transient pleasure only, and not daily comfort, is to -be found in those connexions which have the troubles, without the -sanctity of marriage. The Duchess of Portsmouth, who is said really to -have loved Charles, was unable to console him without sending for his -son. Monmouth came, and was admitted to an interview with his father; -but whilst measures were being concerted for sending James again into -Scotland, Charles was struck with apoplexy. He died in two days -afterwards, by his last act reconciling himself to the Church of Rome, -and belying all his previous professions. “He was regretted,” says -Dalrymple, “more on account of the hatred which many bore to his -successor, than of the love entertained to himself.”[86] - - - - - CHAPTER III. - 1684 TO 1687. - - State of manners and morals—Of parties—Defence of Churchill—His share - in the Revolution—Progress of that event. - - -The new reign brought with it early demonstrations of royal confidence -towards Lord Churchill, and consequently to his wife. Almost the first -act of James was to despatch Churchill to Paris to notify his accession, -and to establish more firmly the good faith which already subsisted -between James and the French monarch. - -Lady Churchill, meantime, continued to hold the same post near the -person of Anne, who resided at her palace in the Cockpit, Westminster. -The Duchess, in her “Conduct,” has given no insight into this period of -her life. We may suppose it to have been passed in the quiescent round -of duties more insipid than fatiguing, and in the still more irksome -society of the domestic, good-natured, but uninteresting Princess. - -The court amusements in those days were of a description perfectly in -unison with the tastes and habits of the higher classes, to whom the -satire of St. Evremond, upon a similar order of persons in France, might -have been, without even a shadow of sarcasm, applied. “You live in a -country,” says St. Evremond, writing to Mademoiselle de l’Enclos, “where -people have wonderful opportunities of saving their souls: there, vice -is almost as opposite to the mode as virtue; sinning passes for -ill-breeding, and shocks decency and good manners, almost as _much_ as -religion.”[87] The sarcasm was just,—that not what is good or what is -bad, but what was considered fashionable, or agreeable, was the rule for -those who lived in the great world to observe. Gambling was the passion, -intrigue the amusement, of those days of fearful iniquity. The female -sex, in all ages responsible for the tone given to morals and manners, -were in a state of general depravity during the whole period of Lady -Churchill’s youth; and even those who were reputed most virtuous, and -held up as patterns to their sex, overlooked, if they did not -countenance, the open exhibition of vice within their very homes. The -Duchess of Buckingham, “a most virtuous and pious lady in a vicious age -and court,”—“lived lovingly and decently with” her husband, the -arch-profligate of the time; and though she knew his delinquencies, -never noticed them, and had complaisance enough even to entertain his -mistresses, and to lodge them in her own house.[88] Queen Katharine, the -neglected and insulted wife of Charles the Second, deemed it her -conjugal duty to fall down on her knees at his deathbed, and to entreat -pardon for her offences. Whereupon the King vouchsafed to answer her, -“that she had offended in nothing.”[89] So humbled, so degraded, were -the few virtuous female members of the debased English aristocracy; and -so slight was that virtue which could bear, in the closest tie, the -constant exhibition of vice! That a woman should forgive—that her best -interests, her only chance of happiness, consist in a dignified -endurance of the worst of evils, a vicious husband—no reasonable being -can doubt; but that as a Christian, as a female, she cannot be excused -in remaining within the contamination of vice, is not to be disputed. - -Continental alliances, the exile of the restored Princes during the -greater portion of their youth, and the consequent introduction of -foreign amusements and foreign manners, to which we must add a yet -tottering and unsettled national faith, may account, in a great measure, -for this universal corruption. Nor can we suppose the lofty Lady -Churchill to have escaped wholly from the pernicious influence of what -she must have seen and heard. Masquerading was the rage; and not only in -private, or in gay halls or banquet-rooms, but in the streets and -alleys, the theatre, and other places of public resort, it was adopted -as a diversion, to pass away hours tedious to uneducated minds. - -In the reign of Charles, Frances Jennings, the eider sister of the -Duchess, was flattered, rather than ashamed, at the publicity of her -adventure in the theatre, disguised as an orange-girl, in the sight of -the Duchess of York, her patroness, and of the whole court.[90] The -frolic was, indeed, fully borne out in its extravagance and assurance by -precedent. “At this time,” says Bishop Burnet, “the court fell into much -extravagance in masquerading; both the King and the Queen and all the -court went about masked, and came into houses unknown, and danced there -with wild frolic. In all this, people were so disguised, that, without -being in the secret, none could know them. They were carried about in -hackney chairs. Once the Queen’s chairmen, not knowing who she was, went -from her. So she was quite alone, and was much disturbed, and came to -Whitehall in a hackney coach, some say in a cart.”[91] - -On another occasion, Queen Katharine thought it not unseemly to resort -to a fair at Audley, in company with the Duchesses of Buckingham and -Richmond, disguised like country lasses, all in red petticoats, -waistcoats, et cetera; Sir Bernard Gascoigne riding before the Queen on -“a cart jade,” and the two Duchesses also on double horses, one with a -stranger before her, the other with Mr. Roper. These ladies happened so -to have overdressed their parts, as to excite the attention of the -crowd; looking, as it is related, “more like antiques than country -volk.” The Queen, however, who made her way up to a booth, to buy “a -pair of yellow stockings for her sweethart,” was discovered, as well as -her attendant, Sir Bernard, “by their giberish,” to be strangers. The -result may easily be supposed; the assembled country people mounted -their horses, and, all amazement and curiosity, pursued the royal party -to the court gate.[92] - -This adventure was, however, less remarkable in those days, from the -practice which Charles the Second maintained, of pursuing his diversions -almost continually in the midst of his people, walking about the town -without guards, and with a single friend. Hyde Park, described by a -contemporary as “a field near the town,” and used as a course, was -beginning to be fashionable, and was preferred to other places of resort -by Charles, on account of its fine air, and extent of prospect. It was -at this time the private property of a publican, and the entrance was -guarded by porters with staves, by whom a sum of money was levied upon -every horseman, coach, or cart that entered.[93] Here, to give a -specimen of the manners of the day, Charles exhibited one of the first -coaches made with glass windows, presented to him by the accomplished -Grammont, and the source of a bitter contention between Lady -Castlemaine, and Miss Stewart, afterwards Duchess of Richmond, as to -which of them should succeed the Queen, and the Duchess of York, in the -distinction of driving in the new-fashioned vehicle. - -Spring Gardens, the resort of the fashionable world after driving in -Hyde Park, and the scene in which many of the plots of our old comedies -are laid, were also much in vogue at this period. “Here” says an old -writer, “were groves and warbling birds, alleys and thickets,” and in -the centre a place for selling refreshments, similar to the _cafés_ in -the Parc at Brussels, or in the Bois de Boulogne at Paris. And here, the -enclosure opening into the broad walks of St. James’s Park, were many -idle hours wiled away by both sexes. These recreations, with water -parties on the Thames, were the amusements in which the soberminded -Anne, and her high-bred and haughty attendant, Lady Churchill, might -indulge without loss of dignity, or danger to reputation. - -The Princess regulated her household concerns with the utmost order, and -maintained a decree of economy which could not have been carried on had -she mixed generally in the amusements of the court, or dipped into the -dangerous diversions of games of chance.[94] According to the Duchess of -Marlborough, she had a much less allowance for her privy purse than any -previous sovereign had before received;[95] but she managed with so much -prudence, as to pay out of that, and from the civil list, many pensions -and other matters, which had never previously been discharged from the -same source. - -“She bought no jewels,” says her friend, “nor made any foolish buildings -during the whole of her reign;”—“and in the article of robes,” continues -the Duchess, “she was saving; for it will appear by all the records in -the Exchequer, where the accounts were passed, that in nine years she -spent only 32,050_l._, including the Coronation expenses.”[96] - -In the service of this staid Princess, Lady Churchill continued an -inactive, but not an inattentive observer of all that was passing in the -busy world, in which her turn to govern, and to shine with unrivalled -splendour, had not yet arrived. Anne, meantime, was occupied with -maternal cares. Her first living child, a daughter, died when a year -old, in 1686;—another similar loss, nearly at the same age, succeeded. -Some years afterwards, the birth of William, declared at his baptism to -be Duke of Gloucester, an event which took place at Hampton Court in -1689, was regarded by the country, as well as by the royal parents of -this cherished and promising child, as a boon which might completely -establish the Protestant succession. - -During the short but eventful reign of James, little is mentioned of -Lord Churchill, or of his lady. Whatever were their sentiments, they -engaged in no public discussion on the occurrences which agitated all -men’s minds, until the revolution was ripe for execution. From the -King’s first public attendance at mass, to his secret and hurried -departure from his kingdom, all was confusion and mournful anticipation, -and, by a succession of tragical events, the public mind was prepared -for the last great result. - -At length Queen Mary became the mother of a living son, and in the -disputes to which the birth of the Prince of Wales gave rise, we find -Lady Churchill’s name mentioned in some correspondence relative to that -affair. Party differences ran high upon this subject, and Lord -Chesterfield is of opinion that the shameful fable of the Prince’s -supposititious birth effected more to secure the Protestant succession -than any other event whatsoever. The concurring testimony of successive -writers has now assigned to the unfortunate Pretender the legitimacy -which, by the singular and audacious attempts of a faction, and the -fabrication of a servant, was disputed. Happy would it have been for -that individual if the calumnies of his enemies had had foundation, and -the secure contentment of a private station had been his lot! - -Lady Churchill appears, from some expressions of the Princess Anne, to -have been a witness of the singular intrigues which, in behalf of Anne’s -interests, as well as to further those of the Protestant cause, were -carried on, to throw discredit on the birth of the Prince. Various were -the accounts of the part taken by Anne on this occasion. It is said, -that upon some quarrel on the subject between her Highness and the -Queen, touching the approaching confinement of the latter, her Majesty, -sitting at her toilet, threw her glove at the face of the Princess; upon -which Anne, indignant, withdrew from court; and upon the pretext of her -health, or perhaps in consequence of the command of the King, she -repaired to Bath, in order to drink the waters at that fashionable place -of resort.[97] From this circumstance, the Princess was absent at the -time of the birth of the infant Prince; but her letters upon the -subject, and the inferences which she draws from details gathered from -hearsay, afford a curious specimen of the coarseness of court gossip, -and the peculiar vulgarity and common-place character of Anne’s -mind.[98] - -It is a proof of the consistent firmness of Lord Churchill in adhering -to the mode of faith which he venerated, that no employment, nor any -distinction but a colonelcy of a troop of horse-guards upon the quelling -of Monmouth’s insurrection, was assigned to him during the short reign -of James, for he was not of that material which James wanted to turn to -active purposes. - -Whilst the King’s designs were not developed, and the liberties of his -country were not openly threatened, Lord Churchill remained inactive, if -not neutral: but, after the declaration of Indulgences in 1686, he was -roused into exertion by apprehensions from past events, perfectly -justifiable. That he had also private intelligence of James’s endeavours -to gain the Princess over to his religious persuasion, appears from the -statement given by the Duchess, in her concise account of affairs at -this period. - -“What were the designs of that unhappy Prince (James) everybody knows. -They came soon to show themselves undisguised, and attempts were made to -draw his daughter into them. The King, indeed, used no harshness with -her; he only discovered his wishes, by putting into her hands some books -and papers, which he hoped might induce her to a change of religion; and -had she had any inclination that way, the chaplains were such divines as -could have said but little in defence of their own religion, or to -secure her against the pretences of popery, recommended to her by a -father, and a King.”[99] - -Anne had been the object, since her father’s accession, of the jealousy -of the court, on account of her having borne children. In her heart a -true Protestant, she had expressed herself to Lady Churchill, two years -previously, in a manner which showed evidently that she was not disposed -to be a convert, and which proved also her dependence upon her -strong-minded friend. Her expressions relate to the introduction of four -peers of the Roman Catholic persuasion into the privy council. - -“I was very much surprised,” she writes, “when I heard of the four new -privy counsellors, and am very sorry for it; for it will give great -countenance to those sort of people, and methinks it has a very dismal -prospect. Whatever changes there are in the world, I hope you will never -forsake me, and I shall be happy.”[100] - -These sentiments, consistent with the character of a Princess who is -said, by one who knew her best, “to have had no ambition,”[101] were -participated by the Prince of Denmark, who, although a privy counsellor -during the reign of his father-in-law, had always been treated with -coldness by that sovereign. Upon the declaration of Indulgences by James -in his own person, without the consent of parliament, Lord Churchill -began overtures to the Prince of Orange, through Dykefelt his agent, and -Russell and Sidney, the great instruments of the revolution. The -resolution of the Princess Anne to “suffer all extremities, even to -death itself, rather than be brought to change her religion,” was -transmitted through the same channel. The terms in which these -assurances were conveyed, were worthy of the great mind from which they -proceeded. - -“In all things but this,” writes Lord Churchill to the Prince of Orange, -“the King may command me; and I call God to witness that, even with joy -I should expose my life for his service, so sensible am I of his -favours. I know the troubling you, sir, with this much of myself, I -being of so little use, is very impertinent; but I think it may be a -great ease to your Highness and the Princess to be satisfied that the -Princess of Denmark is safe in the trusting of me; I being resolved, -though I cannot live the life of a saint, if there be ever occasion for -it, to show the resolution of a martyr.”[102] - -Happily, however, there proved to be no necessity for the performance of -this brave determination; “the projects of that reign,” as the Duchess -well observes, “being effectually disappointed as soon as they were -openly avowed.”[103] - -The birth of a son, and the ceremony which declared him to be Prince of -Wales, accelerated, in a marked manner, the course of the infatuated -King’s destruction. Nonconformists, and the High Church party, Whigs and -Tories, now plainly foresaw a total subversion of government in Church -and State, all hopes of a Protestant succession to the throne being -annihilated. Those who had upheld the doctrine of passive obedience, -perceived that they were authorised, by the measures which James -adopted, to form schemes for the prevention of his further designs: -otherwise there would be no difference between the constitution of Great -Britain and that of an absolute monarchy. The doctrines of passive -obedience had, it was well understood, been so industriously spread -throughout the laity, as well as among the clergy, from a dread of those -excesses which the Presbyterians and Conformists had permitted and -extenuated in the last revolution, that many conscientious persons for -some time doubted whether they ought to refuse an unlimited obedience to -the sovereign. But the dangers of a sinking state, and of a tottering -church, opened the eyes even of the most scrupulous, and convinced them -that much ought to be sacrificed, in order to restrain the royal -prerogative, and to save their best interests, and the objects of their -veneration, from destruction.[104] - -Under these threatening clouds, an union of all parties began to be -considered as the only safe, the only practicable, the only honourable -project to guard the country from anarchy, by protecting the laws. Nor -can those be censured, who from considerations of such importance, and -from general views, divest themselves, in such an extremity, of private -interests, even of private obligations, for the sake of ensuring peace, -by obtaining justice, and with it, the protection of a moderate and -constitutional ruler. It requires infinite moral courage to give up the -long-maintained and often-repeated dogmas of a party; and we are bound -to hope, and to believe, that when great evils require so great a -sacrifice, the motive which impels the change must proceed from some -source higher than mere personal advancement. But unhappily, the world -generally judges otherwise. - -Lord Churchill, and the gifted woman who probably in a great degree -participated his irresolution, and influenced his counsels, have shared -largely in the condemnation bestowed upon others who adopted the same -course which they, on this great occasion, thought it wise and right to -pursue. Those who accuse them of ingratitude, must, however, recollect -that there is a higher degree of gratitude than any which can be due to -an earthly power; and that there are duties which no obligations can -annul; a disregard of which becomes treachery in its most extended -sense. - -The conduct of Lord Churchill, throughout the reign of James the Second, -was a consistent endeavour to withdraw from all participation in honours -which he could not receive from the King without degradation, and from -schemes which he must have viewed with disgust. Even when James sent to -require his presence at the birth of the Prince of Wales, he declined to -attend, assigning some slight reason. His desertion of James, as it was -called, was the work of some years, not the sudden impulse of a day; it -was wrung from Churchill unwillingly, and by painful degrees, and not -till after his reflective mind had been saddened by an unparalleled -succession of injuries inflicted upon his unhappy country, until -mournful presage knew not where to stop. Brought up in notions of -devoted loyalty to the Stuarts, his own family, that of his wife, his -intimate friends, and his brothers, being all wedded to the same -opinions and devoted to the same cause, the conduct of Churchill on this -occasion astounded the King more, it is said, than that of any of the -other men of character and influence of the time. It was easy for the -enemies of Churchill, or of his party—for personal enemies he could -scarcely have—to account for the measures taken with caution, but -pursued with vigour and firmness, by this great man. Dean Swift, whose -aspersions, unlike most ephemeral writings, ate into the heart of his -victims like caustic, and when once engrafted on the memory even of the -indifferent, can scarcely be erased, has thus in his own charitable way -explained the matter. - -In describing the character of Churchill he says:—“He was bred up in the -height of what is called the Tory principle, and continued with a strong -bias that way till the other party had bid higher for him than his -friends could afford to give.”[105] In another singular production of -the day, entitled “Oliver’s Pocket Looking Glass,” he was compared to -Judas, and even reproached for ingratitude towards James, on the score -of his lavish generosity to the degraded Arabella Churchill, the sister -of the Duke.[106] But Churchill adopted not the measures which he -prudently but resolutely adhered to, without a respectful but manly -remonstrance with James, which proved his real attachment to the royal -person, and his desire to warn him, if possible, from continuing his -infatuated course.[107] - -The recapitulation of those events by which the liberties of the people, -and the stability of the Church of England, were secured, belong to -history. The fatal blow given to the King’s power was struck by the -union of the Tories and the Whigs. Whilst the majority of the laity and -clergy laboured in conjunction to effect the important end in question, -some there were who deemed that determined but calm resistance -rebellion, and who formed the new party under the name of Jacobites. - -After this explanation, it is obvious what path the subject of this -Memoir was henceforth called to pursue; although in a secure and -peaceful course, even in that popular career, she and Lord Churchill -were not, from the difficulties of the times, enabled to continue. - -1688. At length, after a delay of a month within his own territories, -the Prince of Orange hastened to the sea-coast, in order to set sail for -England. But he was prevented from embarking by continued south-west -winds, which lasted for nearly three weeks, during which time the -anxiety of the English, and of the inhabitants of London in particular, -could only be equalled by the panic of James, and the miserable -uncertainties of all who were connected with the royal family. - -Meantime all ordinary occupations in the city of London were suspended; -the usually busy citizens were employed in inquiring the news, and in -looking at the steeples and weathercocks to ascertain which way the wind -blew. The general eagerness for the arrival of William was only exceeded -by the general apathy respecting James. Even prayers were offered for -that usually unwelcome visitant, an east wind, or, as it was now -christened, “the Protestant wind.”[108] Many individuals were known to -rise in the night, to gratify their curiosity on this point. - -But this intense expectation pervaded the metropolis only. In the -country there was an indifference more fatal to James than the utmost -turbulence could have proved: “A state of apathy,” says Dalrymple, -“which to the wise appeared more dangerous to the King than all the zeal -of those in London against him; for opposition leads to opposition of -sentiment; but that Prince approaches to his ruin whose subjects are -unconcerned about his fate.” Meantime James, blinded by his danger, gave -orders for the host to be elevated forty days for his protection: thus -rashly offending the opinions of that people whom he vainly attempted to -enslave.[109] - -At length the Prince of Orange, after many interruptions and dangers, -landed at Torbay, whilst the King, still confiding in the protection of -those spiritual weapons upon which he placed reliance, remained inert. -When a report that the armament of the Prince of Orange was shipwrecked -was brought to him one day at dinner, he was heard with great devotion -to say, “It is not to be wondered at, for the host has been exposed -these several days.” Even his adversary was not without some -superstitious feelings; his great desire being to land on the fourth of -November, because it was his birthday and his marriage-day, and it might -therefore prove fortunate. But his English adherents were rejoiced that -the landing could not be made effectual until the day after, which was -the anniversary of the discovery of the gunpowder plot. - -Notwithstanding a conditional promise from James, “upon the faith of a -King,” to call a free Parliament, disaffection to his cause grew -rapidly, spreading among those upon whom the unhappy monarch had most -fondly relied. He placed himself, however, at the head of his assembled -troops, consisting of twenty-four thousand men, at Salisbury, resolving, -as he declared, to show himself King of England.[110] He entrusted the -command of a brigade to Lord Churchill, whom he appointed -lieutenant-general. The memorable letter addressed by Churchill to his -sovereign, relinquishing the command, did not guard him from certain -strictures upon this passage of his life; with what measure of justice, -it has been left to the biographers of that illustrious general to -declare.[111] - -Meantime the Princess Anne and Prince George were acting in concert with -the popular party, whom they had long secretly favoured, although the -exact mode and time of their proceedings appears not to have been fixed. -During the six days that James remained at Salisbury, the unhappy -monarch’s mind was every hour fretted and depressed by the news of some -fresh defection. The first sea-officer that went over to the Prince of -Orange was the brother of Lord Churchill, Captain Churchill, who joined -the Dutch fleet with his ship. Humbled and alarmed lest he should be -delivered up even by his own troops, James retreated towards London. The -night before he commenced his march, Prince George of Denmark and the -young Duke of Ormond, who had lately received the order of the garter, -supped with him. The King was in deep dejection; the Prince and the Duke -were also lost in thought, meditating their own private schemes. On the -following morning intelligence was brought to James, that his two guests -of the preceding evening had gone over in the night to the Prince of -Orange. Prince George thought it his duty to leave a letter of excuses. -This royal personage, long a cipher in the court, which he could be said -neither to disturb nor to adorn, had been accustomed to say, when he -heard of the desertion of any of James’s friends, “_Est-il possible?_” -an ingenious mode of avoiding any expected opinion on so awkward a -subject. On being acquainted with the Prince’s flight, James recalled to -his attendants the notable phrase, by the sarcastic observation, “So -_est-il possible_ is gone too!” And with this sole exclamation he -allowed his relative to pass from his remembrance. - -Having left his troops quartered at different places, deserted indeed as -he went along by most of his officers, but retaining the common -soldiers, whose simple reasoning taught them to follow their sovereign, -James re-entered his capital. - -But here a severer blow than any which he had hitherto experienced, fell -upon him: the Princess Anne had fled. At first, to aggravate the -distress of James, a mystery was made of her flight, and it was -insinuated that the King, by encouraging the Papists, had been -instrumental in the death of his child. The Earl of Clarendon, her -maternal uncle, and her nurse, ran up and down like distracted persons, -declaring that the Papists had murdered the Princess. James, who had -fondly loved his daughter, and who had always shown her the utmost -tenderness,[112] burst into tears, and in the agonies of parental -feeling exclaimed—“God help me, my own children have forsaken me!” - -He had trusted, as it seemed, to the kindly and womanly nature of Anne; -but her affection was considerably less than her prudence. Yet public -opinion, adjudging to the Princess those softer qualities which become a -wife and a daughter, were willing to exculpate her, at the expense of -her advisers, for a feature in her character and conduct which offended -the natural feelings. It was soon perceived that an ill-timed caution, -not excusable fear, dictated her flight. By all good minds Anne has -been, and she remains, condemned for this act. - -It was doubtless the duty of the Princess to remain, to have received -and consoled her father. However others might judge or counsel, she was -still his child; and the heart which could be cold towards a parent in -such an extremity as that in which the degraded and unhappy monarch now -found himself, must have been deficient in all that is high and -generous, even if it could boast some amiable dispositions in the -sunshine of life. - -It was soon ascertained with whom, and where, Anne had fled; and the -public, commonly right in matters of feeling, could not readily forgive -her whom they fixed upon as the prime adviser of the Princess. - -Upon learning that the Prince of Denmark had deserted the King, and that -James was returning to London, the Princess, as Lady Churchill in her -own Vindication declared, was “put into a great fright. She sent for -me,” continues the same writer, “told me her distress, and declared that -rather than see her father she would jump out of the window. This was -her very expression.”[113] - -Such was Anne’s first outbreak of emotion, not for her father, but for -herself; it was probable she was more afraid of her quick-tempered -stepmother than of her subdued and unhappy father. A rumour had indeed -prevailed that the Queen had treated the Princess ill, and had even gone -so far as to strike her.[114] Be that as it might, Anne addressed a -letter to her stepmother, announcing that having heard of her husband’s -desertion of James, she felt too much afraid of the King’s displeasure -to remain, and to risk an interview. She stated her intention not to -remove far away, in order that she might return in case of a happy -reconciliation. She declared herself in a distressing condition, divided -between duty to a husband, and affection to a father; and, after -commenting upon the state of public affairs, she ended her epistle in -these terms:—“God grant a happy end to all these troubles, that the -King’s reign may be prosperous, and that I may shortly meet you again in -peace and safety. Till then, let me beg of you to continue the same -favourable opinion that you hitherto had of - - “Yours, &c. - “ANNE.” - -The following account of the caution with which Anne concerted her -flight, and the mode in which she put it into execution, is given by her -who acted so conspicuous a part in the tragicomic transaction. - -“A little before,[115] a note had been left with me, to tell me where I -might find the Bishop of London, (who in that critical time absconded,) -if her Royal Highness should have occasion for a friend. The Princess, -on this alarm, sent me immediately for the Bishop. I acquainted him with -her resolution to leave the court, and to put herself under his care. It -was hereupon agreed that, when he had advised with his friends in the -city, he should come about midnight in a hackney coach to the -neighbourhood of the Cockpit, in order to convey the Princess to some -place where she might be private and safe. - -“The Princess went to bed at the usual time, to avoid suspicion. I came -to her soon after; and by the back-stairs which went down from her -closet, her Royal Highness, my Lady Fitzharding, and I, with one -servant, walked to the coach, where we found the Bishop and the Earl of -Dorset. They conducted us that night to the Bishop’s house in the city, -and the next day to my Lord Dorset’s, at Copt Hall. From thence we went -to the Earl of Northampton’s, and from thence to Nottingham, where the -country gathered round the Princess; nor did she think herself safe -until she saw herself surrounded by the Prince of Orange’s -friends.”[116] - -Inoffensive, and even popular from her strict adherence to -Protestantism, Anne immediately met with defenders. A small body of -volunteers mustered round her, and formed a guard, commanded by no less -a person than Dr. Compton, Bishop of London, the resolute prelate who -had opposed the court on various occasions, and especially in his -refusal to suspend a Protestant clergyman for exposing papistical -errors.[117] This zealous man, who had been a cornet of dragoons in his -youth, now rode before the Princess and her suite, including Lady -Churchill, carrying a drawn sword in his hand, and pistols on his -saddle-bow.[118] In this chivalric guise the fugitive party reached -Northampton, and travelled on to Nottingham; where the gallant Earl of -Devonshire, the friend of Russell, had raised a band of volunteers to -assist the cause of the revolution. - -It happened that the famous Caius Gabriel Cibber, the sculptor, or, as -it was called in those days, statuary, was at this time at Chatsworth, -engaged by Lord Devonshire in the embellishment of that sumptuous place, -and, in the words of Colley Cibber, in altering “from a Gothic to a -Grecian magnificence.” Colley Cibber himself was visiting at Chatsworth, -in order to be under the restraint of his father’s eye, until the period -of his going to college should arrive; no unnecessary precaution, as it -appeared by his after life. Colley Cibber, in pursuance of his father’s -commands, travelled from London to Nottingham, and found the country in -a state, if it may be so expressed, of peaceful commotion. When he -arrived at Nottingham, he found his father in arms there, among the -Earl’s volunteer company. Caius, the sculptor, whose undying fame is -preserved in the exquisite figures on Bethlehem Hospital, was aged, and -averse to the thoughts of a winter campaign; and he persuaded his patron -to allow him to retire to Chatsworth to finish his works, and to -substitute his young son, more fit for the business of war, into his -honours and regimentals. - -The Earl consented, and Colley Cibber “jumped,” as he expressed it, -“into his father’s saddle.” - -He had not been many days at Nottingham, before news of the Princess -Anne’s flight reached that city, accompanied by the report that two -thousand of the king’s dragoons were in pursuit to bring her back to -London. On this alarm, the volunteers scrambled to arms, and advanced -some miles on the London road, in order to meet the Princess and her -cavalcade, Anne being attended only by the Lady Churchill and by the -Lady Fitzharding. The party, thus guarded, entered Nottingham in safety, -and were lodged and provided for by the care and at the charge of the -Earl of Devonshire; and the same night all the noblemen and other -persons of distinction in arms had the honour to sup at her Highness’s -table. There being more guests in number than attendants out of liveries -to be found, Cibber, being well known in the Earl of Devonshire’s -family, was desired by the _maître d’hotel_ to assist at the table. It -fell to the lot of the young officer of volunteers to attend upon Lady -Churchill, and he has left the following interesting memorandum of that -occasion. - -“Being so near the table, you may naturally ask me what I might have -heard to have passed in conversation at it, which I certainly should -tell you, had I attended to above two words that were uttered there, and -those were, ‘_some wine and water_.’ These, as I remember, came -distinguished to my ear, because they came from the fair guest whom I -took such pleasure to wait on. Except at that single sound, all my -senses were collected into my eyes, which, during the whole -entertainment, wanted no better amusement than that of stealing now and -then the delight of gazing on the fair object so near me. If so clear an -emanation of beauty, such a commanding grace of aspect, struck me into a -regard that had something softer than the most profound respect in it, I -cannot see why I may not, without offence, remember it, since beauty, -like the sun, must sometimes lose its power to choose, and shine into -equal warmth the peasant and the courtier.”[119] - -Such was the impression which Lady Churchill, most likely unconsciously, -produced upon the imaginative Cibber, who, fifty years after this -memorable scene, describes it in the foregoing glowing terms. - -The Duchess, in more homely phrase, thus describes the share which she -took in this event, in the narrative which her enemies feared would be -posthumous;[120] so late in life was it before she could resolve to -enter upon a review of those events of her youth, in which sweet and -bitter recollections were mingled. - -“As the flight of the Princess to Nottingham has been by some -ignorantly, not to say maliciously, imputed to my policy and -premeditated contrivance, I thought it necessary to give this short but -exact relation of it. It was a thing sudden and unconcerted; nor had I -any share in it, further than obeying my mistress’s orders in the -particulars I have mentioned, though indeed I had reason enough on my -own account to get out of the way, Lord Churchill having likewise, at -that time, left the King, and gone over to the other party.”[121] - -The assistance which Lady Churchill afforded the Princess on this -occasion, was the first action of her life in which she directly took a -share in public affairs, and evinced the effects of that influence upon -her gracious patroness, which afterwards became so conspicuous and -remarkable. Her conduct was severely criticised, and “a deluge of -scurrility, falsehood, and defamation,”[122] was drawn down upon her by -this first manifestation of her importance in the political world. - -In analysing her conduct in this transaction, we have first to consider -the truth of her statements, and afterwards the cogency of those reasons -which swayed her actions at so critical a period. - -It is scarcely possible, in the first place, to suppose that no plan had -been concerted by the Princess and her friends, for her security in a -storm which they must have beheld lowering for some considerable period -of time. Lord Churchill had chalked out his own course, and with that -decision and prudence which characterized his whole career, had avowed -his intentions, and carried them promptly into effect. Prince George, a -weaker vessel, had coqueted with the winds, and hovered about the shore, -before putting out his barque of small resolution to sea, trusting to -the only gale that ever blew him any importance in the course of his -royal existence. These two, for the time, influential men, the one -borrowing all his small lustre from the Princess his wife, the other -passionately attached to a woman of rising influence and of strong -discernment, could never have desired to conceal their projects, nor -even the slightest particulars of their daily movements, from those on -whose affections they placed dependence, and whose sentiments were in -unison with their own. There can be but little doubt that the plans for -the demeanour of the Princess were fully matured before it was necessary -to have recourse to action; with the Bishop of London, an avowed enemy -to court measures, for her spiritual adviser, Lady Churchill for her -friend, and Cavendish, the friend of Russell, for her host. Whether on -this, and on all other occasions of minor politics, Lord Churchill -controlled his wife, or his wife controlled him, it is of little purpose -to inquire. On this occasion they doubtless were wholly agreed; nor can -we view the actions of the Princess Anne from this period until the -memorable year 1710, otherwise than with a reference to the opinions and -wishes of her presiding genius. - -To these observations may be added the rumours, stated by Lediard as -facts, that six weeks before she left Whitehall, Anne had ordered a -private staircase to be made, under pretext of a more convenient access -to Lady Churchill’s apartments, but, in fact, to secure a mode of escape -whenever her person or her liberty were in danger. The night before her -Royal Highness withdrew, the Lord Chamberlain had orders to arrest the -Ladies Churchill and Berkley, but, on the request of the Princess that -he would defer executing those orders until after she had spoken to the -Queen, he complied with her wishes. The Princess’s women, on entering -her chamber the morning after her flight, were surprised to find their -mistress fled; and the excitement of the people, on the suspicion of -outrage to her, was so great, that they threatened to pull down -Whitehall, unless the place of her retirement was instantly -discovered.[123] - -It cannot be disputed but that the Princess acted with a degree of -pusillanimity which was a feature in her character, and throughout her -subsequent life made her the victim of daring minds, of whose intrigues -she was the slave, and at the same time, from her exalted station, the -active principle. Anne knew her father too well to suppose, that whilst -he retained the power to defend his daughter, he would suffer her to be -treated with indignity, or allow violence to be done to her feelings as -a wife, or to her opinions as a Protestant. The pretext that it was -unsafe for her to remain, on account of the schemes which might be -formed against her by the priests, was a needless alarm, and an -ungenerous insinuation. If we are to conclude that Princes may discard -natural feeling, and ties of duty, from their consideration, in times of -difficulty, we may commend the prudence of Anne in absenting herself -from a scene of distress wherein her father was the chief actor; we may -excuse her from remaining to receive the deserted and degraded king, -justly expiating grave offences by the bitterest mortifications, but -stung most by the utter alienation of one daughter, and the heartless -discretion of the other. But had Anne continued in London, had she -waited to receive the dishonoured King, and, by kindly sympathy and -filial affection which is of no party, endeavoured to soothe the pangs -of his return to his gloomy capital—had she thus solaced the most -painful hours of a father whom she was to see no more, she would have -compromised no party, nor entailed upon herself any responsibility. She -was a passive neutral being; unambitious, and, in those days, whilst her -brother and sister lived, comparatively unimportant: any breach of what -is called consistency, that fatal word which seems, in a public sense, -to be invented to banish sincerity and to smother nature, would, in her, -have been attributed to the most amiable source; except, perhaps, by her -stern formal brother-in-law, or by her virtuous, wise sister,—a pattern -of wives, but an undutiful and heartless daughter, and a cold and -ungracious sister. - -Anne wanted soul—wanted resolution and character more than heart; and at -a critical period, when she might have acted so as to avoid subsequent -self-reproach, and might have reaped the satisfaction to her own mind -that she had not added to the sharpness of the “serpent’s tooth,” she -absconded—for the flight had much of that character—under the auspices -of Lady Churchill, and guarded by the Bishop of London. It is natural to -suppose that the yearnings which in her latter days she felt towards her -brother, the Pretender, and her manifest distaste to the Hanoverian -succession, proceeded, in a degree, from a too late regret for the part -which on this occasion she had been induced to take, and which was -quickly followed by her surrender of her right to William the Third. - -There is something in the very style of Lady Churchill’s exposition of -the whole matter, that marks a sense of shame and regret, as she slides -rapidly over the particulars of the event. - -Fearless herself, one may almost picture to the mind her contempt, when -the Princess expressed, in childish terms, her fear of her father. Upon -that point, the alleged excuse of her nocturnal flight, Lady Churchill -endeavours guardedly to excuse her royal mistress. She dwells with far -less minuteness and distinctness on her own motives than on the -subsequent explanations of other matters, in which she avows and defends -her unequivocal counsels to the Princess, and brings conviction that she -acted a sincere and upright part on those occasions. - -Her known character for resolutely maintaining her own will, in -opposition even to that of Anne, fixed upon her all the ephemeral -obloquy with which the Jacobite party assailed the proceeding. It was -supposed, and not without reason, that the Princess was even at this -time much more under her control, than was the first lady of the -bedchamber under that of her mistress, whom she scorned to cajole, but -contrived to command. - -“Flattery, madam,” says her bitterest assailant, “is what you never -happened to be accused of, nor of temporising with the humours of your -royal patroness. The peccadillos you have been supposed answerable for, -are of a quite contrary class—of playing the tyrant with your sovereign, -of insisting on your own will in opposition to hers, and of carrying -your own points with a high hand, almost whether she would or not.”[124] - -Yet, with the inconsistency which often accompanies invective, this foe -of the Duchess adds: “Flattery does not always imply fulsome praises and -slavish compliances; none but the grossest appetites can swallow such -coarse food. There is a species, of a much more refined and dangerous -nature, which never appears in its own shape, but makes its approaches -in so happy a disguise, as to be mistaken for truth, simplicity, and -plain dealing. Your Grace had discernment enough to find that the -Princess had an aversion to the first; so you, very adroitly, made use -of the last; and, as you confess yourself, found your account in -it.”[125] - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - - Change of manner in James—Character of Queen Mary—Her submission to - her husband—Surrender of the crown to William—The indecision and - reluctance of Anne—Her stipulation for a settlement—The part which - Lady Churchill is said to have taken in the affair—She asks advice - from Lady Russell and Archbishop Tillotson—The different qualities - of these two advisers—1688. - - -The Protestant Lords assembled at the Privy Council held by James the -Second imagined that the King was altered, and that his powers of mind -had forsaken him. They asked each other “where were the looks, and where -was the spirit, which had made three nations tremble?” “They perceived -not,” says Dalrymple, “that the change was not in the King, but in -themselves.”[126] In their consciousness of the monarch’s feebleness, -contrasted with former power, consisted the change. - -The Princess Anne was not, it is to be presumed, enabled to conquer her -fears of encountering her humbled parent, since no mention is found of -her return to the metropolis until after all storms were hushed and -Mary, “possessing neither the authority of a queen, nor the influence of -a wife,”[127] became the presiding power of the concerns of a remodelled -court. - -The personal character of Mary may be said to have had a considerable -influence upon the conduct of Lady Churchill, and upon her position in -that purified region, the British court; since, during the whole period -of her short reign, the two royal sisters were scarcely ever on -affectionate or even friendly terms; and it has been deemed necessary by -Lady Churchill to justify herself as the supposed cause of these -continual differences, not to say complete though disguised alienation, -between those Princesses. - -Bishop Burnet has described, in his character of Queen Mary, a perfect -model of feminine excellence. “The queen,” he says, “gave an example to -the nation, which shined in all the parts of it.”[128] Tall and -majestic, of a form exquisitely proportioned, her countenance expressive -and agreeable, notwithstanding a constitutional weakness in her eyes, -Mary moved with dignity and grace, spoke with equal propriety and -spirit, and acted, when occasion required, with masculine resolution. In -all that duty and station exacted, she was admirable. She possessed, in -its perfection, that quality, “not a science,” as Pope expresses it, -“but worth all the seven, prudence.” Her intentions for the benefit of -her subjects were excellent.[129] Her first and continual care was to -promote reform in every department which she superintended. She began by -attacking those habits of idleness which had tended to demoralise the -court, and exposed its fair ornaments to many temptations. She set the -fashion of industry, by employing herself in needlework, working many -hours a day herself, with her ladies and her maids of honour similarly -engaged around her, whilst one of the party read to the rest. She freed -her court from all doubtful or censurable characters, so that there was -not a colour of suspicion of any improprieties, such as had been the -source of just censure in the preceding reigns. She expressed a deep -sense of religion, and formed a standard of principle and duty in her -mind, upon the sense of her obligations as a Christian. Industrious and -pious, she was consequently cheerful and unconstrained. Every moment had -its proper employment; her time being so apportioned out to business and -diversion, to the devout exercises of the closet, and to the polite -customs of the court, that the most scrupulous observer could not -pronounce her to be too serious or too merry, too retiring or too busy, -nor could find out the slightest cause of censure in her well-considered -actions, nor in her prudent yet engaging deportment. Her capacity was -great; her memory, and the clearness of her comprehension, were -particularly remarkable; her attention to everything laid before her was -that of a superior and reflective mind. Yet she was humility itself; her -distrust of her own judgment was accompanied by an absolute reverence -for the King’s opinions; and her perfections were crowned, in the sight -of the English people, by her firm though unobtrusive adherence to the -Protestant faith, of which she was regarded as the chief stay and -support, after her merits and her opinions had been fully disclosed. - -Such were the qualities assigned to Mary by her zealous panegyrist; but -with all these attributes,—admirable in a private sphere, excellent in a -queen,—like many persons of regular habits, patterns of virtue in a -quiet way,—perfect when not put out of their habitual course,—prudent, -submissive, and placid, Mary had one grand defect. She wanted heart. -Gentle in her nature, whilst free from the passions of pride and anger, -she was devoid also of the generosity which sometimes accompanies those -defects in character. She rarely gave cause of offence, but she could -not forgive. Too good a wife, she sacrificed filial to conjugal duty; -forgetting that the Saviour, whose precepts she honoured, throughout all -his high vocation, knew no obligation which could obliterate the duty to -parents. But Mary may be held up to the degenerate wives of the present -day, as one who would have been at once their model and their reproof, -had she been placed under different circumstances. In anything less than -the cruel alternative of ceasing to revere and to protect a parent at -the command of a husband, or, for the sake of her consort’s political -views, Mary would have risen pre-eminent in esteem, both immediate and -posthumous. - -Transplanted early to a foreign soil, she devoted herself with ready -submission to the wishes, the pursuits, the very prejudices of a husband -whom she could not have loved, had she not possessed feelings different -from those of her sex in general. At his command she became sedate and -obedient; her naturally good spirits were subdued into the tone which -her reserved but not unimpassioned husband deemed becoming in woman, and -essential in her who had the honour of sharing his damp climate and cold -heart. - -This, indeed, became her second nature; yet, at the king’s command, the -staid, domestic Mary roused herself from her simple habits and matronly -reserve, and was converted into a patroness of mirth and folly; for she -was enjoined to use every art to entertain, and charm the fascinating -Duke of Monmouth, in order to annoy and endanger her father and his -throne. William, jealous to a degree, and concealing under his dry -exterior a temper of a furious violence,[130] ordered his exemplary wife -to attract and to be attractive, and she obeyed. She received visits in -private from the Duke; she danced, she skated, because Monmouth loved -those amusements. “It was diverting,” says a contemporary writer, “to -behold a princess of Mary’s decency and virtue, with her petticoats -tucked half-way to her waist, with iron pattens on her feet, sometimes -on one foot, sometimes on the other.” No less extraordinary was it to -hear that Mary was permitted to receive the Duke alone every day after -dinner, to teach her country dances in her own apartment.[131] So -accommodating was this pattern of conjugal obedience, that she could not -only lay aside natural feelings, but, what is perhaps more difficult, -dispense with long-cherished habits, and reassume the part of girlhood, -after a long period of matronly dignity, which somewhat resembled the -precision, without the liberty, of a single life. - -In matters of weightier import than learning country dances, or skating -on Dutch canals, Mary was equally subservient. The flight of James from -London; the arrival of the Prince of Orange at St. James’s; the -subsequent withdrawal of James entirely from the British dominions; the -acknowledgment of the convention summoned by William, that the -tranquillity of the country was owing to his administration, and the -petition of that body that he would continue to exercise regal -power,—were events which would have been regarded by an ambitious woman -with the utmost intensity of interest. - -The declaration of the Houses of Parliament, five days afterwards, that -the crown had become vacant by the desertion or abdication of James -disclosed fully to Mary the realization of those dreams of greatness, -which an aspiring or even busy female would have cherished in her heart, -in the absence of those natural feelings with which Mary was but little -troubled. But the gentle Queen was here again all duty and obedience; -her mind was but a reflection of her husband’s will and pleasure. -Instead of hurrying to occupy the throne to which she might with -scarcely an effort have been raised, she remained, at the desire of her -consort, patiently in Holland, in order to prevent any intrigues which -might be formed in favour of her ruling alone,—a proposal[132] which -gnawed into the very heart of the proud, reserved William.[133] Upon her -being detained still longer in Holland by contrary winds, or perhaps by -a secret gale in the form of a conjugal command, the Earl of Danby was -despatched for the purpose of detailing to her the debate in Parliament -respecting the successor to the vacant throne; and at the same time to -intimate that if she desired to reign alone, he doubted not but that he -should be able to insure the accomplishment of her wishes. The Princess, -with a firmness which had something of magnanimity in it, replied, “that -she was the wife of William Prince of Orange, and would never be any -other thing than what she could share in conjunction with him;” adding, -“that she should take it very ill if, under pretext of a concern for -her, any faction should set up a divided interest between her and her -husband.” To confirm this answer, and to prevent misunderstanding, she -sent the letter brought to her by Lord Danby, and her answer, to the -Prince; and thus prevented any jealousy, on the score of her hereditary -right from interfering with her domestic comfort and the confidence of -her husband.[134] - -Such was Mary, unlike the rest of her imprudent race;—unlike them, -perhaps, from the early tuition[135] of her stern husband, a very -Utilitarian of the seventeenth century. That she will be fully proved -deficient in tenderness—that her feelings were even too much under -control—(for we may control our feelings until they cease to -exist—extinguished by the constant pressure of a dense and foggy mental -atmosphere)—that the good principle within her displayed itself rather -in the absence of wrong than in active zeal—that she was amiable without -being beloved, and commendable without attaining popularity, was fully -shown during her short possession of regal power. - -Whilst the debates concerning the monarchy were carried on, the Princess -Anne began to manifest some traits of character for which the world had -not hitherto given her credit. Unlike her sister, she was not an -unconcerned observer of the startling schemes which were bruited, nor of -the great changes to which the absence of her father had already given -birth. Even her placid temper appears to have been ruffled at the -reported desire of William, through the intrigues of his favourite -Bentinck, to rule alone; and to exclude her family from the possession -of a crown which they were little likely to regain when lost. But -William, checked by the demonstration of English spirit in one of his -English adherents, contented himself with a declaration, first, that in -case of a regency being proposed, he should decline that office: he -would accept of no dignity dependent on the life of another. Secondly, -that if it were the design of the people to settle the Princess alone on -the throne, and to admit him to a participation of power only through -her courtesy, he should decline that proposal also. “Her rights he would -not oppose. Her virtue he respected. No one knew them better than he -did. But he thought it proper to let them know that he would hold no -power dependent on the will of a woman.” And he concluded with an -intimation that if either of these schemes were adopted, “he should give -them no assistance in the settlement of the nation, but return to his -own country, happy in the consciousness of the services which he had, -though in vain, endeavoured to do theirs.”[136] - -This declaration on the part of William had the intended effect. There -appeared to men of all parties no alternative between making the Prince -of Orange king, or recalling the exiled monarch. The first of these -plans was, after much procrastination, adopted. - -One obstacle alone was opposed to the decision of the leading partisans -of William;—the consent of the Princess Anne to waive her right to the -crown was necessary before the accession of William could be -accomplished. - -The Jacobite party, on the pretext of regard to Anne, but actually for -their own factious purposes, supported her in the indecision, not to -term it opposition, which the Princess at first evinced, in respect to -the proposal to relinquish her right in favour of William. - -Anne, after wavering long, after contradicting herself at various times, -and keeping all around her and connected with her in suspense, at last -consented to postpone her claim in favour of the Prince of Orange; -stipulating at the same time for an ample revenue, to support her -dignity as next heir to the throne.[137] This step, which was, under all -circumstances, the wisest for herself, and the most considerate for the -good of the nation, that Anne’s counsellors could have advised, was -attributed to Lady Churchill,—“one,” says Dalrymple, “of the most -interested of women, who possessed at that time the dominion of her -spirit, and who hoped to serve her own interest and her husband’s by -betraying those of her mistress.”[138] - -It will here be necessary, and we think not uninteresting to the reader, -to insert Lady Churchill’s account of the share which she had in the -transaction. - -“Quickly after this,” (speaking of the Princess Anne’s flight to -Nottingham,) “the King fled into France. The throne was hereupon -declared vacant, and presently filled with the Prince and Princess of -Orange. The Parliament thought proper to settle the crown on King -William for life, and the Princess of Denmark gave her consent to it. -This was another event which furnished simple people with a pretence to -censure me. It was intimated that, to make my court to the King and -Queen, I had influenced the Princess to forego her undoubted rights. The -truth is, I did persuade her to the project of that settlement, and to -be easy under it after it was made. But no regard to the King nor the -Queen, nor any view of ambition, had the least share in moving me to -this conduct, any more than to what inconsiderable part I acted in the -business of the Revolution.”[139] - -Lady Churchill proceeds to say, that, with respect to the Revolution, -“it was evident to all the world, that as things were carried on by King -James, everybody sooner or later must be ruined who would not become a -Roman Catholic. This consideration made me very well pleased at the -Prince of Orange’s undertaking to rescue us from such slavery. But I do -solemnly protest, that if there be truth in any mortal, I was so very -simple a creature, that I never once dreamt of his being King. Having -never _read_, nor employed my time in anything but playing at cards, and -having no ambition myself, I imagined that the Prince of Orange’s sole -design was to provide for the safety of his own country, by obliging -King James to keep the laws of ours, and that he would go back as soon -as he had made us all happy; that there was no sort of difficulty in the -execution of this design, and that to do so much good would be a greater -pleasure to him than to be king of any country upon earth. I was soon -taught to know the world better. However, as I was perfectly convinced -that a Roman Catholic was not to be trusted with the liberties of -England, I never once repined at the change of the government; no, not -in all the time of that persecution I went through. I might, perhaps, -wish it had been compassed by some other man, who had more honour and -justice than he who could depose his father-in-law and uncle to maintain -liberty and the laws, and then act the tyrant himself in many instances; -but I never once wished that the change had not been made. - -“And as to giving King William the crown for life, it was the same -principle of regard for the public welfare that carried me to advise the -Princess to acquiesce in it. It is true, that when the thing was first -started, I did not see any necessity for such a measure; and I thought -it so unreasonable, that I took a great deal of pains (which I believe -the King and Queen never forgot) to promote my mistress’s pretensions. -But I quickly found that all endeavours of that kind would be -ineffectual; that all the principals, except the Jacobites, were for the -King, and that the settlement would be carried in Parliament, whether -the Princess consented to it or not. So that in reality there was -nothing advisable but to yield with a good grace. I confess that, had I -been in her place, I should have thought it more for my honour to be -easy in this matter, than to show an impatience to get possession of a -crown that had been wrested from my father. And as it ought to have been -a great trouble to the children of King James to be forced to act the -part they did against him, even for the security of liberty and -religion, (which was truly the case,) so it seems to me, that she who -discovered the less ambition would have the more amiable character. -However, as I was fearful about everything the Princess did, while she -was thought to be advised by me, I could not satisfy my mind till I had -consulted with several persons of undisputed wisdom and integrity, and -particularly with Lady Russell of Southampton House, and Dr. Tillotson, -afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. I found them all unanimous in the -opinion of the _expediency of the settlement proposed, as things were -situated_. In conclusion, therefore, I carried Dr. Tillotson to the -Princess, and, upon what he said to her, she took care that no -disturbance should be made by the pretended friends, the Jacobites, who -had pressed her earnestly to form an opposition.”[140] - -Having thus explained to Anne the reasons which, in her opinion, -rendered it compatible with the honour of the Princess to surrender her -right to the crown for the time being, Lady Churchill, aware of the -responsibility in which she involved herself, and acknowledging that she -was fearful about everything the Princess did, whilst she was thought to -be advised by her, adopted the wise precaution of consulting persons of -“undisputed wisdom and integrity,” before she permitted the Princess to -send in her decision upon this momentous point. - -The individuals to whom Lady Churchill applied for counsel were such as -a woman of discernment, and of right intentions, would desire to -consult. The female friend to whom she addressed herself was the -illustrious Rachel Lady Russell, the beloved wife, counsellor, friend, -the high-minded support and solace, of one of the most noble of men. - -The tragedy in which Lord Russell terminated his life, was fresh in the -remembrance of the public. Five years before the Revolution, he had been -brought before his Peers on his trial, and being told that he might -avail himself of the assistance of one of his servants to take notes of -the proceedings in short-hand,—“I ask none,” was his reply, “but that of -the lady who sits by me.” And when the assembly beheld the daughter of -the virtuous Lord Southampton rising to assist her lord at this -extremity, a thrill of anguish moved the spectators.[141] - -But very recently, the loyalty, the good faith, the bravery of the -Russells, had been recalled to public remembrance, even by the unhappy -cause of their heartfelt calamity. When James, in his utmost need, had -summoned a council of the Peers to ask their advice, in passing to the -council chamber he met the Earl of Bedford, father of Lord Russell, who -had offered a hundred thousand pounds for his son’s life—a sum which -James, then Duke of York, had persuaded his brother to refuse. James, -reflecting upon the probity and influence of the Russells, and catching, -in his hopeless state, at any straw which could arrest his ruin, said to -the Earl, “My lord, you are a good man; you have much interest with the -Peers; you can do me service with them to-day.” “I once had a son,” was -the heart-broken father’s reply, “who could have served your Majesty on -this occasion;” and with a deep sigh he passed on. - -To the widowed daughter-in-law of this venerable man Lady Churchill -addressed herself. Nor would Lady Russell have permitted any step to be -entertained, that was derogatory to the honour of her who sought such -aid in her judgment; for in this noble woman, faithful in her grief to -the memory of him whom she constantly prayed to rejoin, the gentlest -qualities were united to the loftiest heroism. Her husband’s death was -preferable in her eyes to his dishonour. In one long fixed look, in -which the tenderness of the fondest affection was controlled on the part -of her husband by great and lofty resolves, on hers by a fortitude which -sprang from the deepest feelings, had the Lady Russell parted from her -lord. - -From the time of his death, Lady Russell, from a sort of common tribute, -had taken a high place in society. She bore her sorrows with the -patience of an humble believer in a future state of peace and of -re-union with the lost and the beloved; but not all the too late -tributes to the motives and excellence of him whom she had lost—neither -the reversal of the attainder by parliament, nor the ducal honours -conferred upon the family, nor even the universal respect and national -sympathy—could recal her to the busy world, bereaved, to her, of all -that was valuable. She lived in a dignified and devout seclusion at -Bedford House, formerly Southampton House, in Bloomsbury Square, that -beloved abode, at the sight of which the eyes of her noble husband had -been filled with tears, as he passed to the place of his execution in -Lincoln’s-inn-fields. Here, consoled by the society of the pious and the -learned, cheered by the hopes of an hereafter, and honoured in her dark -old age, Lady Russell resided, until death, in 1723, released her from -an existence rendered still more mournful by blindness, brought on by -continual weeping.[142] - -One of the brightest ornaments of the age in which she lived, Lady -Russell was as accomplished as she was high-minded. To her counsels the -celebrated Dr. Tillotson often recurred. By him, as by all who knew her, -she was regarded as the first of women;[143] nor could that woman -continue her friend, whose motives were not pure, and whose conduct was -not irreproachable. - -The other counsellor to whom Lady Churchill put forth her case, was the -good, the learned, but calumniated Archbishop Tillotson. - -In this selection, also, she showed great prudence. Tillotson was the -common friend of both the Princesses, and the spiritual adviser of Mary, -who entrusted to him the chief charge of the concerns of the church, -with which William the Third did not consider himself justified to -interfere. - -Tillotson was of a different temperament from the heroic Lady Russell, -and it was perhaps for this very reason that Lady Churchill consulted -him. With the soundest judgment and the kindest temper, this revered -prelate had a sensitiveness of disposition which tended to render him -cautious, perhaps timid, in his measures. “He was,” says his dearest -friend, “a faithful and zealous friend, but a gentle and soon conquered -enemy.”[144] But he was truly and seriously religious, without -affectation, bigotry, or superstition; and it may be supposed that the -dauntless thinker, Lady Churchill, whose original mind detested these -prevalent defects, delighted in conversing with one of so enlightened a -spirit. “His notions of morality were fine and sublime;”[145] and she -might well feel that she could not go wrong, with one so scrupulously -virtuous to guide her. The influence of Dr. Tillotson as a preacher, his -sermons being then accounted the patterns for all such compositions, -might also sway her in requesting his counsels; whilst “the perpetual -slanders, and other ill usage,” with which, according to his friend, he -had been followed, and which gave him “too much trouble, and too great a -concern,”[146] might, she may well have thought, have taught him to feel -for others, and induced him to double caution in pointing out the right -path, to one beginning the weary road of public life, in which she, too, -found that vanity and vexation of spirit went along with her on her -journey. - -It is not to persons such as these that we address ourselves, when we -intend to follow a crooked line of policy. We may judge favourably of -the purity of our motives, when we determine to question the wise and -the good, upon the mode and spirit of our actions; and Lady Churchill, -when she hastened to disclose her perplexities, and to unfold her -intentions, to two persons of undoubted probity and of known piety, may -have felt satisfied that she need not blush to confess them to a higher -power. - -The result of her deliberations was a determination to influence the -Princess to surrender what she could scarcely deem her rights, in favour -of William and Mary, during their separate lives; but with precedence to -her, and to her children, to any issue which William might have by a -second marriage, in case of the death of his Queen. And it might have -been inferred that, for this important decision, the gratitude of the -King and Queen would have been effectually secured to Lord and Lady -Churchill, who had both shared in the good office. But such was not the -result. - -This obstacle to the settlement of the crown being removed, the Prince -and Princess of Orange were declared King and Queen, in accordance with -the votes severally of both Houses of Parliament, upon a motion of Lord -Danby. The populace, who remembered how the crown had tottered on -James’s head at the coronation, and who recalled the pleasantry of Henry -Sidney, keeper of the robes, who kept it from falling off, remarking, as -he replaced it, “This is not the first time that our family has -supported the crown,”[147] were now startled by the circumstance, that -the day of the proclamation of William and Mary was also that of the -accession of the unfortunate James; and the assembled crowds pointed at -the statue of the unhappy monarch, with its face turned to the river, -and its back to the palace, in bitter and sarcastic allusion.[148] - -This event, which took place on the 6th of February, 1689, was, in six -days afterwards, succeeded by the arrival of Queen Mary in London. Her -singular, and, to a sensitive mind, truly painful situation, raised many -conjectures with respect to her probable conduct. But whether, as it is -asserted by some, she was warned by William to control her emotions, for -his sake, upon her first appearance as a sovereign, the deposer and -successor of her father; or whether her extraordinary levity proceeded -from the heartlessness of a common-place character, it is difficult to -decide. Political feuds may, indeed, sufficiently, though not -satisfactorily, account for hardness of heart, and an oblivion of the -dearest ties; and Mary’s pliant mind, and warped, but not unaffectionate -temper, had been long worked upon, during a series of intrigues, of -which her father was the object, and her husband the first agitator. - -Whatever was the nature of her feelings, the cold and light deportment -which she manifested on her entrance into her palace at Whitehall, the -last refuge of her deposed and deserted father, gave considerable -offence. Mary, it was thought, might have remembered, with compassion, -the unfortunate, and, as far as grave offences were concerned, the -innocent Queen, her stepmother, Mary of Modena, who had last inhabited -the very apartments into which she was now herself conducted. She might -have bestowed one passing serious thought upon that unhappy fugitive, -who only two months previously, had left that house privately, with her -infant son, the Prince of Wales, then five months old, carried by his -nurse; one faithful friend, the Count de Lauzun, the sole companion of -her flight. From this palace she had crossed the Thames, in the darkness -of night, unsheltered, in an open boat, the wind, and rain, and swell of -the river, conspiring to detain and terrify her, and to add to the gloom -of her situation. On this palace, standing for shelter under the walls -of an old church in Lambeth, had the wretched Queen fixed her eyes, -streaming with tears, and searching, with fruitless tenderness, for the -flitting shadow of her husband across the lighted window; whilst, -starting at every sound which came from that direction, the desolate -mother sometimes suspended her anxious gaze, to look upon her sleeping -infant,[149] unconscious of her miseries, unconscious of the hope -deferred, the disappointment, the perplexities which awaited him in his -future career, as the penalty to be paid for royal birth. - -But if Mary, disliking her stepmother, of whom, indeed, she knew but -little, and regarding her as a bigot whose pernicious influence drove -James, in the opinion of the Princess Anne, into greater outrages upon -justice than he would otherwise have inflicted; if Mary, thus -prejudiced, gave not one reflection to her stepmother, nor doubted the -reality of her imputed brother’s relationship, she might yet have -bestowed some few natural tears upon the fate of her father. Many there -were who could have told her, had her heart yearned for such or for any -intelligence, how James, when his Queen and his son were gone, shuddered -at the solitude of his palace; how, in every look from others, he read -danger and dark design; how he dreaded alike kindness or distance; and -when informed by Lord Halifax (who, to induce him to leave England, -deceived him) that William meditated his death, he broke out into the -bitter exclamation, “that small was the distance between the prisons of -princes and their graves”: a saying which he quoted of his father, and -which now appeared to his affrighted mind prophetic of his own destiny. -The indecision, the confusion of mind, the helplessness of her father, -might rise to Mary’s mind, as she entered the hall whence he had been -accustomed to issue. The feebleness of majesty without power might occur -to her; the hapless King ordering out guards, no longer his, to fight -the Prince, and affecting to summon a council which would no longer meet -at his command, might have induced some reflections on her own account. -But Mary, unmoved, entered the palace, passed through those rooms which -scarcely two months before had been opened, the day after James’s -flight, to receive his expected levee, and walked unconcerned towards -her bedchamber, and into the suite of apartments prepared for her. It -was, on this occasion, the duty of Lady Churchill to attend her Majesty, -and her account of the Queen’s conduct is too lively, has too much an -air of truth, to be omitted. - -“I was one of those,” says the Duchess, “who had the honour to wait upon -her (the Queen) to her own apartment. She ran about, looking into every -closet and conveniency, and turning up the quilts upon the bed, as -people do when they come into an inn, and with no other sort of concern -in her appearance but such as they express; a behaviour which, though at -that time I was extremely caressed by her, I thought very strange and -unbecoming. For whatever necessity there was for deposing King James, he -was still her father, who had been so lately driven from that chamber, -and from that bed; and if she felt no tenderness, I thought she should -at least have looked grave, or even pensively sad, at so melancholy a -reverse of his fortune. But I kept these thoughts in my own breast, not -imparting them even to my mistress, to whom I could say anything with -all the freedom imaginable.”[150] - -Two days after the arrival of Mary, both Houses of Parliament went in -state to bestow the crown upon her husband and on her. The King, having -accepted the gift for himself, and for his consort, was proclaimed with -Mary, King and Queen, “in the very hall of that palace,” says Dalrymple, -“from which the father had been driven; and at the gate of which her -grandfather had, by some of those who now placed the crown on her head, -and by the fathers of others, been brought to the block.”[151] On the -following day Lord Churchill was sworn a member of the privy council, -and a lord of the bedchamber; and two days before the coronation he was -created Earl of Marlborough,—a title which he was supposed to have taken -in consequence of a connexion on his mother’s side with the family of -Ley, Earls of Marlborough, extinct ten years previously. But this famous -designation did neither augur unbroken prosperity to the receiver, nor -insure to the donor, King William, the devoted fidelity of Marlborough; -and the reign upon which we are now entering may be considered to have -been, in most respects, a season of anxiety to the spirits, and of -depression to the affairs, of Lord Marlborough, and of her who -participated in every emotion of his heart. - - - - - CHAPTER V. - - State of the British Court—Character of William. - - -The English court now presented a strange and gloomy contrast to those -seasons of reckless dissipation which had characterised it in the two -preceding reigns. - -The personal character of the monarch, his weak health and retired -habits, had considerable influence in producing this change. William -appeared, indeed, almost of a different species to the well-bred and -easy-tempered Charles the Second, and to the affable though stately -James. Both these monarchs were remarkable for the happy grace with -which they bestowed favours;[152] William, as even his warmest -panegyrist allows, generally “with a disgusting dryness, which was his -character at all times, except in a day of battle, for then he was all -fire, though without passion; he was then everywhere, and looked to -everything.”[153] His “Roman eagle nose,” and sparkling eyes, ill -corresponding with a weak and emaciated body, gave expression to a -countenance otherwise disfigured by small-pox, the effects of which, -added to a constitutional asthma, produced in him a deep and constant -cough, the surest obstacle to conversation. - -Without considering this impediment as having a continual influence over -his deportment, King William was one of those cynical personages who -adhere to silence as a type of wisdom, and despise the talkative; and -who, having seen some mischiefs arise from too great fluency of speech, -take refuge from indiscretion in cautious taciturnity. Like most of -those who defeat the purpose of society, in thus fencing themselves from -animadversion, the King was extremely prone to make severe remarks and -hypercritical comments upon others. His very senses, according to -Burnet, were provokingly “critical and exquisite.” Devoid of -imagination, which would have stood in the way of his unnatural -philosophy, he was an exact observer of men and manners. Nothing escaped -his piercing eye, nor was forgotten by a mind endowed with a most -extraordinary memory, which never failed him.[154] Like most reserved, -phlegmatic men, he imbibed strong and lasting prejudices; and whilst he -did not stoop to revenge, he was unable to shake off unfavourable -impressions of others, whether founded or unfounded. When to these -qualities we add the facts that he could not bear contradiction, his -temper being so peevish to a degree, that he could not bring himself to -love the English, and that he preferred the retirement of the closet to -the brilliancy of the ball-room or banquet, it might be easily foretold, -that with good intentions, possessed of sincerity, of religious belief, -and of valour, William and his court would become eminently distasteful -to the English people. - -The Queen endeavoured to the utmost of her power to dissipate the -disgust which she could not but perceive to exist in the public mind, -since the court was, in great measure, deserted. But as she interfered -not in public concerns, and as there was, on that account, little to be -gained from her influence, her vivacity, and the redundancy of her -conversation, (in which she delighted,) did not attract the gay and the -interested, and her efforts were fruitless. - -A few days after his accession, William, notwithstanding the advice of -his friends, took refuge from that society which he so much despised and -disliked, in the retirement of Hampton Court, which he left only to -attend the Privy council on stated days; and the people soon found, to -their infinite discontent, that it was the design of the sovereign to -add to this old and irregular building new tenements, upon an expensive -and magnificent scale, for his own and for the Queen’s apartments. Thus -retired from the gaze of his metropolitan subjects, the King did little -to conciliate their affections, as far as the cultivation of those arts -extended, which his predecessors had patronised. For his introduction of -the Dutch style of gardening into England, the nation has little cause -to be grateful. Yet gardening was the only art which seemed to afford -him any satisfaction. - -In this stately edifice, the proud monument of a subject’s wealth, and -of a monarch’s munificent taste, Lady Marlborough, in her attendance -upon the Princess Anne, must have passed a considerable portion of her -time. - -It was not long before misunderstandings began to disturb the serenity -of that constant intercourse which at first subsisted between the two -sisters. On the first arrival of Queen Mary, the Princess, as Lady -Marlborough relates, “went to see her, and there was great appearance of -kindness between them. But this,” adds the Duchess, “quickly wore off, -and a visible coldness ensued; which I believe was partly occasioned by -the persuasion the King had, that the Prince and Princess had been of -more use to him than they were ever likely to be again, and partly by -the different characters and different humours of the two sisters. It -was, indeed, impossible they should be very agreeable companions to each -other; for Queen Mary grew weary of any body who would not talk a great -deal, and the Princess was so silent that she rarely spoke more than was -necessary to answer a question.”[155] It was, however, apparent that the -subsequent alienation of the sisters had a deeper foundation than mere -difference of taste, or discrepancy of habits, which might naturally be -looked for between two sisters separated so early, and passing the -season of their youth in scenes widely different, and with characters -totally dissimilar. That Mary had received some impressions prejudicial -to the friend and counsellor of her sister, previous to her accession, -is manifest from the following justification of her favourite, which the -Princess had thought necessary, in the preceding year, to write to her -sister. - - - “_Cockpit, Dec. 29, 1687._ - -“... Sorry people have taken such pains to give so ill a character of -Lady Churchill.... I believe there is nobody in the world has better -notions of religion than she has. It is true, she is not so strict as -some are, nor does not keep such a bustle with religion; which I confess -I think is never the worse; for one sees so many saints mere devils, -that if one be a good Christian, the less show one makes, it is the -better, in my opinion. Then, as for moral principles, it is impossible -to have better; and, without that, all the lifting up of hands and eyes, -and going often to church, will prove but a very lame devotion. One -thing more I must say for her, which is, that she has a true sense of -the doctrine of our church, and abhors all the principles of the church -of Rome; so that, as to this particular, I assure you she will never -change. The same thing I will venture, now I am on this subject, to say -for her lord; for though he is a very faithful servant to the King, and -that King is very kind to him, and I believe he will always obey the -King in all things that are consistent with religion; yet, rather than -change that, I dare say he will lose all his places, and all that he -has.”[156] - - -This prepossession against the Countess of Marlborough may have -originated only in her known and determined spirit; but it was doubtless -aggravated by the relationship and correspondence of the Countess with -her sister, now Lady Tyrconnel, the warm and busy partisan of the exiled -monarch, of whom her husband, Lord Tyrconnel, was an active and -influential adherent. The Queen seems to have adroitly thrown her -objections to Lady Marlborough into the form of scruples concerning her -religious opinions, hoping that Anne’s strict notions upon those points -might be offended by her favourite’s carelessness upon matters of form, -then of absolute importance in the tottering state of our national -church, and at all times aids and props to devotional exercises, of the -greatest assistance to habitual piety. But the insinuations of Mary, in -whatever terms they may have been couched, only served to strengthen -friendship which a species of adversity still rendered essential to the -Princess Anne. - -The Countess, however, was retained in her post about the Princess, “a -situation seemingly of little consequence,” observes Dalrymple, “but -which, for that very reason, her pride and spirit of intrigue determined -her to convert into a great one.”[157] - -Like all busy, violent women, especially if their ardent dispositions -have a bias to politics, Lady Marlborough seems to have been peculiarly -obnoxious to the other sex. There is not an historian who praises her -without some reservation; and the majority of those who touch upon the -notorious influence which she exercised, mingle admiration for her -talents with marked dislike to her personal qualities. Yet, amid the -conflicting interests by which even the placid Anne was harassed, Lady -Marlborough proved a firm, zealous, and judicious friend, regardless of -her own advancement in court favour, and of her husband’s military -aggrandisement, for which a weaker mind would have trembled, ere it had -boldly ventured upon interference in political intrigues. - -The first cause of discord between the Queen and the Princess of Denmark -was upon a subject of domestic convenience. Upon such themes the spirit -of Lady Churchill was peculiarly excitable. In order to understand -precisely the nature and merits of a quarrel and a dispute which would -have been summarily, and perhaps peaceably settled, had men, instead of -women, been immediately concerned in adjusting it, it is necessary to -explain the sort of residence which Anne, in common with other brandies -of the royal family, was obliged at that time to adopt. - -It has already been stated that the Princess Anne resided at the -Cockpit, Westminster, in apartments which were allowed to her at the -time of her marriage, by her uncle, Charles the Second. Concerning these -well-situated accommodations, a perpetual irritation, a continual -negociating, intriguing, and consequent ill-will, seems to have been -excited. Some description of the localities, and of the advantages which -Anne derived from the appropriation of the Cockpit to her use—advantages -which sorely vexed her royal sister—may not, therefore, be deemed -impertinent. - -The ancient Palace of Whitehall, situated beyond Scotland Yard, and on -the same side of the street, was obtained by Henry the Eighth, from -Wolsey, in 1529, and, until consumed by fire in 1697, was the residence -of several of our monarchs, who found their account in thus living in -the centre of the metropolitan world, and at the same time in a healthy -and airy situation. - -In very few years after Henry the Eighth had obtained possession of -Whitehall, he procured, in addition to its immediate precincts, the -inclosure of the St. James’s Park, which he received from the Abbot and -Convent of Westminster in exchange for other property, and appropriated -to the improvement of the noble structure of Whitehall Palace. One -portion of the inclosure he converted into a park, another into a -tennis-court, a third into a bowling-alley, and a fourth into a cockpit. - -The Cockpit was situated near to what is now called Downing-street; and -was the only access from Charing Cross to St. James’s Park, and the -buildings beyond. Henry, for the accommodation of passengers, erected -two gates, one of which opened from the Cockpit into King-street, -Westminster, on the north, and the other into Charing Cross. The former -of these was known by the name of Westminster Gate, and the other by the -name of Cockpit Gate. Both were eminently beautiful; and before the year -1708, that of the Cockpit was still remaining, and added considerable -dignity to the entrance into Anne’s courtyard, being adorned with four -lofty towers, battlements, portcullises, and richly decorated.[158] -Westminster Gate had no less a reputation than its neighbour, and is -said to have been erected upon a design of Hans Holbein. - -Successive innovations in different reigns had, however, long before the -Princess of Denmark honoured the Cockpit with her residence, annihilated -its uses and original splendour. Apartments had been built over the -space, where Henry, with his coarse taste, delighted, in the truly -national and disgraceful sport. The Palace of Whitehall, including the -Cockpit, was one vast range of apartments and offices, extending to the -river. There was even a gallery for statues, accessible to young -artists, and rooms to the number of seventy were remaining until -lately.[159] The rooms were lent, or given, or let, to different persons -who rejoiced in royal favour; and the same tenement, if one so vast and -of such a character could be so considered, contained Charles the -Second, his court, his queen, the haughty Castlemaine, and the -beautiful, dangerous, and devoted Louise de la Querouaille. - -The rooms at the Cockpit appear, however, to have been in some respects -inconvenient to the Princess of Denmark. Their situation, when all -between them and the village of Charyng was an open space, when -Westminster Abbey rose uninterrupted to the view, and when St. James’s -Park, peopled with birds, was daily the scene of all that London could -boast of aristocratic splendour, must indeed have been at once gay and -commanding. Yet, notwithstanding these advantages, the Princess desired, -for certain reasons, to exchange her apartments for others; and she -encountered, in that desire, an unkind, and, as it appears, an -unnecessary opposition from Mary. - -The Duchess of Marlborough thus explains the affair; and as other -historians have not thought it worth their notice, we must consider her -account of it to be conclusive. - -“The Princess, soon after the King’s coming to Whitehall, had a mind to -leave her lodgings, (the way from which to the Queen’s apartment was -very inconvenient,) and to go to those that had been the Duchess of -Portsmouth’s, which the King on her request told her she should have. -But the Princess requesting also (for the conveniency of her servants) -some other lodgings that lay nearest to those of the Duchess, this -matter met with difficulty, though her Highness, in exchange for all she -asked, was to give the whole Cockpit (which was more than an equivalent) -to be disposed of for the King’s use. For the Duke of Devonshire took it -into his head, that could he have the Duchess of Portsmouth’s lodgings, -where there was a fine room for _balls_, it would give him a very -magnificent air. And it was very plain that while this matter was in -debate between the King, the Queen, and Princess, my Lord Devonshire’s -chief business was to raise so many difficulties in making the Princess -easy in those lodgings, as at last to gain his point. After many -conversations upon the affair, the Queen told the Princess ‘that she -could not let her have the lodgings she desired for her servants, till -my Lord Devonshire had resolved whether he would have them, or a part of -the Cockpit.’ Upon which the Princess answered, ‘she would then stay -where she was, for she would not have my Lord Devonshire’s leavings.’ So -she took the Duchess of Portsmouth’s apartment, granted her at first, -and used it for her children, remaining herself at the Cockpit. Much -about the same time, the Princess, who had a fondness for the house at -Richmond, (where she had lived when a child,) and who, besides, thought -the air good for the children, desired that house of the Queen; but that -likewise was refused her, though for many years no use had been made of -it, but for Madame Possaire, a sister of my Lady Orkney’s and Mr. -Hill.”[160] - -Notwithstanding these manifestations of a petty and somewhat tyrannical -ill-nature on the part of Mary, the Princess, who was propriety itself, -“continued,” says the Duchess, “to pay all imaginable respect to the -King and Queen.” But no humble endeavours on the part of Anne could -avail to soothe the irritations of her sister and brother-in law, whilst -they perceived that, bred up amongst the people, she was dear to their -subjects, and that on important occasions her interests became their -cause; and a jealousy, aggravated in its bitterness by the well-known -disposition of Anne to befriend her brother, and by her equally certain -repentance for her conduct to her father, became a permanent sentiment -in the mind of Mary. - -It was reasonable in the Princess to expect that having given up her -right in the succession, the King and Queen should study to promote her -comfort in all essential respects. Her father, at her marriage, had -settled upon her a suitable annuity of thirty thousand pounds; and now -that a fresh arrangement was to be made, Anne expected that a permanent -and independent revenue would be secured to her. - -This was in the King’s power, the civil list amounting to no less a sum -than six hundred thousand pounds a year. But William had no intention of -making the Princess independent, if he could possibly avoid such a step; -his policy was to keep her in subjection to himself and to her sister, -in order, if possible, to insure her fidelity in times when no one -around him was exactly to be trusted, and when he was obliged to pardon -insincerity, and to be blind even to treachery.[161] The King even -expressed some reluctance to continue to Anne the allowance which she -had received,—a line of conduct which was viewed with just indignation -by his sister-in-law, who had facilitated his Majesty’s accession to the -throne by her compliance with his wishes, at the time of that revolution -which had banished those whom she most loved from the crown. - -Stimulated by a sense of this injustice, and prompted by the Countess of -Marlborough, Anne resolved to appeal to Parliament, knowing that in that -assembly the Tories and the disaffected would warmly support her claims, -as the ready means of producing dissension at court, and of rendering -William unpopular.[162] - -Upon the report of Anne’s intentions being conveyed to the Queen, a -scene truly singular, as occurring between two royal personages, both -celebrated by historians for their moderation and discretion, took place -in the heated atmosphere of that scene of faction, Kensington Palace. - -The Queen sought an interview with her sister, for the purpose, and to -use the Duchess of Marlborough’s expression, “one night taking her -sister to task about it;” commencing her attack by asking her what was -the meaning of those proceedings. To which the Princess, somewhat -evasively, replied, “she heard that her friends had a mind to make her -some settlement.” - -The Queen, upon this reply, lost that command of herself for which she -had hitherto been remarkable. - -“And pray, madam,” she thus addressed the Princess, “what friends have -you but the King and me?” - -Anne felt the taunt deeply; and resented it with as much warmth as her -nature could muster. The intimation of her dependence, conveyed in this -speech, appears from the following remarks, penned by her friend and -confidante, to have stung her severely. How characteristic of that -sharp-sighted person is the sarcastic tone of the concluding remark! - -“I had not the honour to attend the Princess that night, but when she -came back, she repeated this to me. And, indeed, I never saw her express -so much resentment as she did at this usage; and I think it must be -allowed she had great reason, for it was unjust in her sister not to -allow her a decent provision, without an entire dependence on the King. -And, besides, the Princess had in a short time learnt that she must be -very miserable, if she was to have no support but the friendship of the -two persons her Majesty had mentioned.”[163] - -In justification of the narrow principle adopted by William and his -Queen on this occasion, Mr. Hampden, junior, spoke in the House of -Commons, representing the impolicy of settling a revenue on a Princess -who had so near a claim to the crown, and who might be supported by a -number of malcontents. He adduced in favour of his argument the -withdrawal of a motion for settling a separate allowance of a hundred -thousand pounds a year upon the Queen;[164] but his arguments did not -prevail, and the debate was adjourned to the next day. Some of the -Princess’s friends, encouraged by the general feeling in her favour, -even proposed to allow her seventy thousand pounds yearly;—and the King, -annoyed at the course which the debate took, and fearful of its issue, -prorogued parliament. - -Whilst the subject was thus warmly discussed, the Queen, although -conversing every day with her sister, observed a cautious silence on the -subject of her settlement: and the most strenuous exertions were made, -to prevail on the Countess of Marlborough to persuade the Princess to -give up the point in dispute. The most intimate friend of the dauntless -Sarah was the Viscountess Fitzharding, third sister of Edward Villiers, -who was successively created, by William, Baron Villiers and Earl of -Jersey. - -The family of Lady Fitzharding, though of Jacobite tendencies, exercised -over William a prodigious ascendency, through the influence of two of -its members; the Earl of Jersey, who was himself in high favour with the -King; and the Countess of Jersey, though a Catholic, was much esteemed -by the Queen: whilst Elizabeth Villiers, sister of the Earl, was the -acknowledged mistress of the monarch.[165] Partialities so unaccountable -and incongruous are not surprising to the reader who has gone through -the private history of courts and kings. - -Through this channel Mary now sought to influence Lady Marlborough, the -oracle to whom her sister Anne implicitly deferred. Every art was used, -either “through flattery or fear,”[166] to dissuade the Princess from -the pursuit of a settlement. The Duchess thus describes these -ineffectual efforts:— - -“My Lady Fitzharding, who was more than anybody in the Queen’s favour, -and for whom it was well known I had a singular affection, was the -person chiefly employed in this undertaking. Sometimes she attacked me -on the side of my own interest, telling me, ‘that if I would not put an -end to measures so disagreeable to the King and Queen, it would -certainly be the ruin of my lord, and consequently of all our family.’ -When she found that this had no effect, she endeavoured to alarm my -fears for the Princess by saying, ‘that those measures would in all -probability ruin her; for nobody, but such as flattered me, believed the -Princess would carry her point, and in case she did not, the King would -not think himself obliged to do anything for her. That it was perfect -madness in me to persist, and I had better ten thousand times to let the -thing fall, and to make all easy to the King and Queen.’” - -Little could Lady Fitzharding understand the character of her gifted -friend, when she attempted to dissuade her from any undertaking in which -she had resolutely engaged. On the contrary, the Duchess, persisting the -more strenuously in her determination the more it was opposed, with a -true feminine spirit writes: - -“All this, and a great deal more that was said, was so far from -inclining me to do what was desired of me, that it only made me more -anxious about the success of the Princess’s affair, and more earnest, if -possible, in the prosecuting of it.” For, as she further declares, she -would rather have died than have sacrificed the interests of the -Princess, or have had it thought that she had herself been bribed or -intimidated into compliance with the wishes of the court. - -Lady Marlborough, therefore, employed all the powers which she -possessed, to forward the settlement. She justly reflected, as the -Princess’s friend, that anything was better than dependence upon -William’s generosity, of which she had no opinion. For Lord Godolphin -told her that the King, speaking of the civil list, “wondered very much -how the Princess could spend thirty thousand pounds a year, although it -was less,” adds the shrewd Duchess, “than some of his majesty’s -favourites had.”[167] - -Meantime King William and his Queen were perfectly aware, as it appears, -with whom the resistance to their plans originated, and they took -measures, accordingly, to appease and to satisfy her who already held -“that good sort of woman,”[168] their royal sister, in a kind of -subjection to her will and opinion. Accordingly, a few days before the -question was put to the vote, a message was despatched to Lady -Marlborough, offering, on the part of the King, to give the Princess -fifty thousand pounds a year, if she would not appeal to parliament. - -The person employed on this delicate embassy was Charles Talbot, Duke of -Shrewsbury, whom the King had taken into his favour, although once a -Catholic, and the godson of Charles the Second. This nobleman, according -to William, “the only man of whom both Whigs and Tories spoke well,” was -an enemy to those party distinctions by which even great and good men -were betrayed into the violence of faction. Easy, graceful in his -deportment, and accomplished, he was peculiarly adapted, from his charms -of manner, and even of countenance, notwithstanding the loss of an -eye,[169] to act the part of mediator between the irritating and the -irritated, especially when of the gentler sex. - -Empowered by William to use his own discretion in the mode of persuasion -to be adopted, the Duke obtained an interview with Lady Marlborough. He -unfolded the object of his mission, which he sought to strengthen. - -The result of these negociations was favourable to Anne. She gained her -point, and an income of fifty thousand pounds was settled on her by -parliament. Some of the members persisted in proposing an allowance of -seventy thousand pounds, but the Princess was advised by her friends to -accept of the smaller sum, and not to combat the point any longer -against the influence of the crown. - -Notwithstanding this arrangement, the Countess thought it incumbent upon -her not to allow the Princess to accept of the settlement without -further advice. She sent, therefore, to ask the opinion of the Earl of -Rochester, who was then “just creeping into court favour,”[170] by means -of the interposition of Bishop Burnet, who recommended him to the -Queen’s regard and forgiveness. For Rochester was one of those who had -wished for a regency instead of a king, and who endeavoured to instil -into his own party those notions of arbitrary government which he had -imbibed in the reign of Charles the Second, under whom he had held -several high ministerial appointments. - -Lord Rochester, like all party men in his time, had his admirers and his -censurers. Although considered a man of abilities, and although his -private character was highly respectable, there were some points in his -conduct of which an adversary might take advantage, to question this -nobleman’s integrity.[171] - -Having refused to turn Catholic, in King James’s time, the earl had -received an annuity of four thousand a year, on his life and on that of -his son, settled upon him as a compensation of the Lord Treasurer’s -staff, which had been taken from him on that occasion. Lady -Marlborough’s observation upon the opinion which this nobleman now -delivered to her is therefore peculiarly pungent. - -“Nevertheless,” she says, “I was so fearful lest the Princess should -suffer for want of good advice, that after I had heard of the Commons -voting 50,000_l._ a year, I sent to speak with my Lord Rochester, and -asked his opinion whether the Princess ought to be satisfied, or whether -it was reasonable she should try to get more. (I did not then know how -much his heart was bent on making his court to the Queen.) His answer to -me was, that he thought not only that the Princess ought to be satisfied -with 50,000_l._, but that she ought to have taken it in any way the King -pleased; which made me reflect that he would not have liked that advice -in the case of his own 4000_l._ a year from the Post-Office, settled on -him and his son.[172] But I was not,” she adds, “so uncivil as to speak -my thought, nor so foolish as to struggle any longer. For most of those -who had been prevailed with to promote the settlement were Tories, among -whom my Lord Rochester was a very great man. Their zeal on the present -occasion was doubtless to thwart King William, for I never observed that -on any other they discovered much regard for the Princess of -Denmark.”[173] - -The success of the affair was justly attributable, as she affirms, not -to any faction making the passive Princess the plea for a vexatious -opposition to the court, but, as she forcibly expresses it, “to the -steadiness and diligence of my Lord Marlborough and me; and to this it -was imputed, both by those to whom the result was so exceedingly -disagreeable, and by her to whose happiness it was then so -necessary.”[174] - -Anne was at this time deeply sensible of all that she owed to the -firmness and zeal of these devoted servants. “She expressed her -gratitude in a manner generous to a very high degree;” and from this -time, until many years afterwards, the interests and the happiness of -the Churchill family were the objects of her solicitude, and of a -munificence certainly conferred with delicacy, and often rejected on -their part with a spirit of independence and disinterestedness. - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - - Character of Godolphin—His advice respecting the pension to the - Duchess of Marlborough—Feuds of Mary and Anne—Deficiency of respect - towards Prince George—Attachment of Marlborough to his wife—Her - residence at Holywell House—Birth of her children—Cloud lowering - over the fortunes of Lord Marlborough.—1789. - - -Whilst encountering many enemies, both male and female, whose hostility -the Countess of Marlborough might set down to the score of envy, she -possessed one friend who, through life, influenced all her actions, and -who has been supposed to have gained her affections. - -It would be a libel upon human nature to imagine, that the cherished -wife of John Duke of Marlborough could be fascinated by the lesser -constellation of talents and of virtues, displayed in the character of -the minister Godolphin. The impure and consequently illiberal judges of -conduct, who pride themselves on what is called knowledge of the world, -may decree that a cordial and confidential friendship, in the simple -acceptation of the word, cannot exist between the two sexes, where -similarity of age is joined to congeniality of temper and taste. But, -happily for society, some men are honourable, some women high-minded; -reliance may gratify one party, and approbation and esteem secure the -kindly feelings of the other. A friendship firm, generous, and delicate, -may exist between persons of different sexes; and where it has this pure -source, it will ever be found beneficial, permanent, and delightful. - -Resembling, in one respect, his distinguished friends, Godolphin had -early in life been attached to the service of the Stuart family. The -first situation that he held was that of page to Charles the Second; the -last appointment that he retained under the Stuarts was the painful and -precarious office of lord chamberlain to the blameless and unhappy Mary -of Modena, for whose beauty, misfortunes, and interests, he ever -expressed admiration, compassion, and regard.[175] - -Queen Anne, it is said,[176] had been touched by the merits of one whom -it required merit to appreciate, and had loved Godolphin when young, but -was prevented by state necessity from marrying a subject.[177] After the -revolution, in the progress of which Lord Godolphin acted the part of an -honest statesman, yet forgot not the duty of a grateful subject, he was -approved and retained in the Treasury by William, who appointed him also -one of the Lords Justices of the kingdom in his absence. Godolphin, -indifferent to the blandishments of rank, absolutely declined the honour -of the garter; and raised, unwillingly, to the Peerage, was as -disinterested in respect to the gains, as in regard to the honours of -successful ambition. In this particular he displayed a character totally -unlike that of the gifted woman for whom he has been said, by Tory -writers, to have cherished a passion which influenced his political -bias.[178] His disposition, in other respects, little resembled hers. He -was of a reflective, inquisitive turn of mind; slow but unerring in his -conclusions; possessed of exquisite judgment in all the affairs of life; -yet of a temper so peculiarly amiable, possessed of sentiments so -unusually lofty, that he might have lived in the most innocent -retirement, from the purity of his motives and the elevation of his -general character. Superior to the low practices by which weaker spirits -toiled for ascendency, Godolphin never condescended to a courtier’s -arts. His promise was inviolate; he detested not only falsehood, but, -what in his situation was most difficult, he never permitted himself to -have recourse to the more prevailing, and as it is believed safer, form -of that vice, dissimulation. Like Marlborough, Godolphin, when asked to -confer favours, softened his refusals with a kindness and frankness -which propitiated even the disappointed. - -The notions of economy, which this great minister adopted, not grounded -on a passion for wealth which sullied the brightness of the great -Churchill’s virtues, were applied with the same rigid care to the public -means, as to the expenditure of his own private fortune. Grave even to -sternness, he won universal esteem from his inflexible justice, and in -society was the object of affection, no less than of respect. Disfigured -in countenance by the small-pox, and severe in expression, there was yet -something bright and penetrating in his eye, something engaging in his -smile, which procured him the favour of the female sex,—to whom, with -all his profound experience of men and manners, with all his -infallibility of judgment, and his gravity of deportment, Lord Godolphin -was, during the whole of his life, passionately devoted.[179] - -The name of Godolphin (signifying a white eagle) was of ancient origin. -His immediate progenitors, country gentlemen of the county of Cornwall, -were distinguished for their loyalty to the Stuarts during the civil -war.[180] According to Dean Swift, who mentions the circumstance in that -casual, careless way which answers the intentions of malice without -wearing its aspect, Godolphin was intended for some trade, until his -friends procured him the office of a page at the court of Charles the -Second.[181] From this humble station he rose rapidly into political -consequence; for he sat in the first Parliament after the Restoration, -as member for Helston in Cornwall, and was shortly afterwards employed -in various high offices, until appointed to the commissionership of the -Treasury, at the same time that he was called to the House of Peers. -During the reign of James the Second, Godolphin enjoyed the favour of -Queen Mary, to whom he was chamberlain, and of James, who reappointed -him one of the Lords of the Treasury. Educated in high church tenets, -Godolphin, like his friend Lord Marlborough, became a Whig when the -Protestant succession was in danger. Yet, whilst he managed, with -consummate prudence, to act as one of the commissioners appointed by -James to treat with William at his landing, and was so skilful and so -fortunate as to retain his situation of Treasury Lord upon the accession -of William,—Godolphin, courageous, and, like most courageous men, -tender-hearted, was among the few of the deposed monarch’s courtiers who -gave him the solace of their attendance and sympathy. He accompanied the -abdicated King to the sea-side when he quitted England, and maintained a -correspondence with him until his death. - -It is not always possible to calumniate noble and popular characters, -but it is generally easy to ridicule the greatest and the best. Lord -Godolphin’s weakness, according to one whose inimitable strokes of -satire sink into the memory, were love of play and vanity. - -“Physiognomists would hardly discover,” says Dean Swift,[182] “by -consulting the aspect of this lord, that his predominant passions were -love and play—that he could sometimes scratch out a song in praise of -his mistress with a pencil and a card—or that he hath tears at his -command, like a woman, to be used either in an intrigue of gallantry or -politics.” Conformably to this devotion to dames and damosels was his -lordship’s romantic admiration of the beautiful exiled Queen, Mary of -Modena, whom he used to address in letters, in which love was -ambiguously mingled with respect; “whilst little presents of such things -as ladies like”[183] accompanied these epistles,—such tokens of regard -to one so unfortunate and so interesting being always first shown to -King William, though with the knowledge of James’s Queen. But in these -minor traits, mentioned as inconsistencies and follies, there is a touch -of generous sentiment, at the disclosure of which Lord Godolphin, amidst -all his vast concerns and political pursuits, need not have blushed. - -It was to this valued friend, both her own and her husband’s best -counsellor, that the Countess of Marlborough applied for advice, about a -year after the settlement on the Princess had been made, in a matter of -some delicacy. The Princess, from gratitude for her friend’s exertions, -wrote to offer her a pension of a thousand pounds. The manner in which -this proof of a generous friendship was offered, speaks honourably for -Anne’s goodness of heart and propriety of feeling.[184] - -“I have had something to say to you a great while, and I did not know -how to go about it. I have designed, ever since my revenue was settled, -to desire you would accept of a thousand pounds a year. I beg you will -only look upon it as an earnest of my good-will, but never mention -anything of it to me; for I shall be ashamed to have any notice taken of -such a thing from one that deserves more than I shall be ever able to -return.” - -Some delay having taken place in the payment of this annuity, the -Princess wrote a letter, couched in terms of the most sincere affection, -to her “dear Mrs. Freeman,” begging her not to think meanly of her -faithful Morley for the negligence of her treasurer. - -Upon this the Countess began to take seriously into consideration the -propriety of accepting her Highness’s kindness. The circumstances of her -family were not, as she alleged, great; yet she was far from catching at -“so free and large an offer,” until she had sent the first letter from -the Princess to Lord Godolphin, and consulted him upon the matter. - -Lord Godolphin’s opinion was favourable to the wishes of the Princess. -He replied, that there was no reason in the world for Lady Marlborough -to refuse the pension, knowing, as he did, that it was entirely through -her activity, and the indefatigable industry of Lord Marlborough, that -the Princess had obtained her settlement;[185] and the proffered income -was gratefully accepted. - -The good understanding which had subsisted between the two royal sisters -had never been based upon sincere affection, and the slightest accident -served to discompose, and even to annihilate, their apparent friendship. -Anne, who had repented, with tears, of her conduct to her father,[186] -and was not consoled for filial disobedience by her husband’s expected -aggrandisement, was doubtless scandalised by the manifest determination -of her sister to encourage every demonstration of public opinion which -her father had discountenanced. An occasion soon offered. The only -dramatic exhibition which the retiring Queen witnessed was the play of -the “Spanish Friar,” which had been forbidden by the late King. But Mary -was duly punished for this want of good taste, to say the least of it, -or deficiency in filial feeling. The repartees in the drama happened to -be such as the spectators, hearing them with preoccupied minds, could -readily appropriate to the Queen. Mary was abashed, and forced to hold -up her fan, and, to hide her confusion, turned round to ask for her -palatine, her hood, or any article of dress she could recollect; whilst -the audience, not yet softened towards her by those respectable -qualities which afterwards gained their esteem, directed their looks -towards her, whenever their fancy led them to make any application of -what was said, to the undutiful and unpopular daughter of James; and the -Queen, upon another diversion of this kind being proposed, excused -herself upon the plea of some other engagement, whilst the affair -furnished the town with discourse for a month.[187] - -It was evidently the policy or pleasure of Mary to retain the different -members of her family, as much as circumstances permitted, in -subjection. In particular she insulted her sister by a marked -indifference to Prince George, her brother-in-law, who, though -remembered by posterity as the “_Est-il possible_” of King James, was a -man of respectable conduct, of valour, humanity, and justice.[188] -William, however, held his brother-in-law in utter contempt; and the -manner in which he repaid the Prince’s desertion of his father-in-law, -would have been peculiarly galling to a gentleman of a warmer temper -than, fortunately, the Prince appears to have been. When William was -obliged to go to Ireland, and to enter upon that memorable campaign -which finally decided the peace of the United Kingdom, Prince George -involved himself in a great expense to attend his Majesty, with a zeal -returned only by ungracious and unbecoming conduct,—William not even -suffering the Prince to go in the same coach with him; an affront never -before offered to any person of the same rank.[189] - -Prince George, a pattern of patience, one of those characters who have -not, and who cannot have, a personal enemy, submitted not only to this -indignity, but to every possible species of irreverence, during the -whole campaign. He distinguished himself at the battle of the Boyne, and -was yet treated by the King, says the Duchess in her “Conduct,” “with no -more respect than if he had been a page of the back-stairs.”[190] - -These slights and disappointments came to a crisis, when the ill-used -Prince, determined not again to be exposed to such contumely, requested -permission of the King to serve him at sea as a volunteer, without any -command. The King, who was going to Flanders, embraced him by way of -adieu, but said nothing; and silence being generally taken for consent, -the Prince made preparations, and sent his baggage, arms, &c., on board. -But the Queen, according to the Duchess, had “her instructions neither -to suffer the Prince to go to sea, nor to forbid him to go, if she could -so contrive matters as to make his staying at home appear his own -choice.” - -Mary, in conformity with her invariable practice, followed to the very -letter the wishes of her royal husband, and endeavoured to make the -Countess of Marlborough her agent upon this occasion. But her Majesty -had yet to learn the fiery temper of her with whom she attempted to -deal. “She sent a great lord to me,” says the Duchess, “to desire I -would persuade the Princess to keep the Prince from going to sea, and -this I was to compass without letting the Princess know that it was the -Queen’s desire.” The Countess’s reply was, that she had all the duty -imaginable for the Queen, but that no consideration could make her so -treacherous to her mistress as she should consider herself, if she -attempted to influence her in that matter, without telling her the -reason; and she intimated that she “would say what her Majesty pleased -to the Princess, if she were allowed to make use of the Queen’s name.” - -The affair ended in Prince George’s submission to a peremptory message, -forbidding him to go to sea, and conveyed through the Earl of -Nottingham. He justly felt himself rendered ridiculous to the public, by -being obliged to recal his preparations, to obey like a school-boy, and -to remain at home. - -Whilst these minor events were disturbing the peace of the royal -household, the first campaign in Ireland called Marlborough away from -the home and the wife whom he loved so well. Every letter to the -Countess which he penned during his absence, breathes a devotion which -time and distance seem only to have heightened. In the hurry of military -movements, in the excitement of unparalleled triumphs, his heart was -ever with her. “I am heart and soul yours,” was his constant expression. -“I can have no happiness till I am quiet with you.” “I cannot live away -from you.”[191] Again, he beautifully concludes one letter: “Put your -trust in God as I do, and be assured that I think I can’t be unhappy as -long as you are kind.” So true and elevated was the attachment of that -affectionate heart. “Pray believe me,” he says, writing in 1705, -immediately after the battle of Ramilies, “when I assure you that I love -you more than I can express.”[192] These and other innumerable fond -asseverations, even when his wife had passed the bloom of youth, and, it -appears, no longer possessed (if she ever did) equanimity of temper, -speak an attachment not based upon evanescent advantages. With a candour -inseparable from a great mind, he generously took upon himself the blame -of those contentions by which the busy and harassing middle period of -married life, that period in which love often dies a natural death, is, -in all stations, apt to be embittered. On one occasion, after thanking -her, as for a boon, for “very many kind expressions” to him in a letter, -he says, “in short, my dear soul, if I could begin life over again, I -would endeavour every hour of it to oblige you. But as we can’t recal -what is past, forget my imperfections, and as God has been pleased to -bless me, I do not doubt but he will reward me with some years to end my -days with you; and if that be with quietness and kindness, I shall be -much happier than I have ever yet been.” - -This longing for home, and for the undisturbed enjoyment of all that -home gives, appears in every effusion of that warm heart, the natural -feelings of which neither the dissipations of a court, nor the -possession of power, nor the incense of nations, could alienate from the -fondest objects which life presents to a mind not vitiated by -selfishness. Marlborough, amidst all his troubles, was happiest in his -nursery. There the guilelessness, the freshness of the infant mind -appeared to him in beautiful contrast with the measured phrase, and the -mask of prudence, adopted insensibly in the world; the petty cares and -wants of children, so easily solaced—their unconsciousness of all that -is painful, all that is anxious—operate as a charm on the sickened heart -and harassed mind, and bring to the wearied passenger through life some -sense of happiness, some trust and hope that all is not disappointment -and deception in this probationary state. Those parents who turn with -disgust and indifference from children, as merely sources of care, may -picture to themselves the great Marlborough the playfellow of his little -girls. - -“You cannot imagine,” he writes from Tunbridge to Lady Marlborough, “how -I am pleased with the children; for they, having nobody but their maid, -are so fond of me, that when I am at home they will always be with me, -kissing and hugging me. Their heats are quite gone, so that against you -come home they will be in beauty. - -“If there be room I will come on Monday, so that you need not write on -Sunday. - -“Miss is pulling me by the arm, that she may write to her dear mamma; so -that I shall say no more, only beg that you will love me always as well -as I love you, and then we cannot but be happy.” - -To this charming and natural letter the fond father added, in his own -handwriting, the following little postscript from his daughter:— - -“I kiss your hands, my dear mamma.—HARRIET.”[193] - -Happy and amiable Marlborough! and blessed the parents, to whom still -the affectionate though unconscious dependence of their children brings -a thousand minute and indescribable enjoyments! - -With the affections of such a man, Lady Marlborough might have been the -happiest, as well as one of the most distinguished of women, had she -risen superior to the temptation of intrigue, and discarded the workings -of tea-table politics with the scorn which they deserved. But her -unquiet spirit allowed her no real happiness. External circumstances, -which were peculiarly in her favour, contributed to ruin her peace, by -fostering her domineering and busy temper. Indulged by her husband in -living at her birthplace, he gratified her inclination still further, by -purchasing the respective shares of her sisters, Frances and Barbara, -joint co-heiresses with herself, and built a mansion on the spot, called -Holywell House. At this place Lord and Lady Marlborough resided, the -house being described as one of great magnificence, and they left it -only to enter upon the yet more majestic pile of Blenheim House, when -repeated success had raised them to the climax of their greatness. The -birth of six[194] children successively—of two sons and four -daughters—added to their domestic felicity, whilst yet those children -were spared to them, and continued amenable to the domestic control. -Some troubles, incident to human nature generally, were allotted to the -distinguished parents, but mitigated by advantages so abundant, that the -early portion of their married life must be considered as peculiarly -blessed. - -During the first two years after the accession of William, Lord -Marlborough only enjoyed his home and country at brief intervals, that -were tantalising even to one who felt himself destined to high offices, -and framed for glorious enterprises. On his return from the Netherlands, -the King, though secretly nettled at his interference in the affair of -the settlement, was obliged to acknowledge that it was to Marlborough -that the success of his troops at the siege of Walcourt, a small town in -the Low Countries, was to be chiefly attributed.[195] In the close of -the year 1690, Marlborough was entrusted with the command of troops sent -to Ireland, in which country he had refused to act whilst James the -Second, his former benefactor, remained in that island. But when James -retired to France, Marlborough prepared to use his utmost exertions, in -conjunction with others, to reduce the remainder of that kingdom to -obedience. The success of his endeavours enabled him to return to -England on the 28th of October, and to experience a favourable reception -from King William; but he was obliged almost immediately to resume his -command in Ireland, where he remained during the winter. The following -year found him still active in military affairs, serving under William -himself in Flanders, with a distinction and success that wrung praises -from his enemies. Even William was forced to acknowledge that “he knew -no man so fit for a general who had seen so few campaigns;”[196] and to -the praises of the Prince de Vaudemont, who prophesied of Marlborough -that he would attain a higher point of military glory than any subject -William possessed, the phlegmatic monarch relaxed so far from his usual -taciturnity as to reply with a smile, “he believed that Marlborough -would do his part to make his words good.” But all these services were -obliterated shortly afterwards from the royal mind; and a cloud of -adversity, though not of disgrace—for nothing can disgrace the -virtuous—lowered over the fortunes of Marlborough. - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - - State of Parties—Character of Lord Nottingham—of Bentinck—Influence of - the Villiers family—Of Lady Orkney—Quarrel of the Queen and - Princess—Marriage of Frances Jennings to the Duke of - Tyrconnel—Suspicions of the Earl and Countess of Marlborough - entertained at court—Disgrace of Lord Marlborough. 1689. - - -In order to understand the vicissitudes of favour which Lord and Lady -Marlborough experienced, some insight into the state of parties, and -some acquaintance with the characters of public men, are essential; -although a lengthened discussion upon the subject, in a work of this -nature, would be wearisome and inconvenient. - -Scarcely had William the Third ascended the throne, than he found that -“his crown was encircled with thorns.”[197] In the hurry and stir of -events, carried away by the strong current of sympathy, the Tories had -promoted his elevation; but when dangers were past, they remembered, too -late to retrieve, what they considered to be their error—that in so -doing they had departed from all their established maxims; they -recollected, not only that they had dethroned James, but that they had -preferred his daughters and the Prince of Orange in the succession, to -the infant Prince of Wales; and, to excuse their inconsistency, they -were forced to pretend a mere submission to events which they had -actively promoted. This faction, reluctantly styled by Burnet, in the -portion of his history[198] relating to this period, “Tories,” were -therefore avowedly hostile to the court, and yet not to be considered as -its sole, nor indeed as its most dangerous enemies. - -The clergy, the majority of whom had inveighed from the pulpit against -the right of infringing upon the order of succession, were, from motives -of the same description, inimical also to the Calvinistic King, whose -known attachment to Dissenters inspired a jealousy of him, and towards -his numerous adherents of the same tenets with himself, which was -quickly manifested by the Bishops. Among the seven prelates who had been -persecuted by the late King, only one, the Bishop of St. Asaph, did -homage to the new monarch, and took the oaths. And when Mary sent to ask -Sancroft’s blessing, the cutting reply of the Archbishop was, “that she -must seek her father’s first, otherwise his would not be heard in -heaven.”[199] - -Thus repelled, William looked in vain for a servile compliance from the -Whigs; they had the plea of consistency to shackle the support which -they might be expected to give the royal minion of their power; and, -having always opposed the crown, they were unwilling to relinquish that -jealousy of its prerogative for which their party had hitherto been -distinguished. - -After the happy termination of the war in Ireland, factious spirits, -like gnats after rain coming forth in the sunbeam, began to show -themselves, and to congregate for action. Whilst some complained of the -great standing army kept up after the contest with James and his -adherents was finally and triumphantly concluded—whilst some murmured at -one grievance, some at another—Englishmen of all parties were disgusted -with the preference given to the Dutch, on whom alone the confidence of -the sovereign was bestowed. Nor did William take any means to ingratiate -himself in the affections of his adopted country. He shut himself up all -day, attended chiefly by Bentinck, whom he had created Earl of Portland, -and who shared his favour with Henry Sidney, the only Englishman whom -the King really liked. By degrees, a new feature in the character of the -chosen successor of James, alienated from him that party who had placed -him on the throne, and who began to think that there was something -contagious around that unenviable position. Naturally cautious, and -ignorant of our constitution, William took offence at the warmth of -those who professed liberal opinions, mingled with notions of -republicanism, from which he recoiled with as much dread as his -prerogative-loving predecessors. The name of liberty became intolerable -to him; and it was soon found that his love of monarchy, and his sense -of its high privileges, were far greater than could possibly have been -expected, in a prince whose pretensions rested upon the suffrage of the -great body of the nation.[200] - -These opinions were supposed to be cherished in William by the Earl of -Nottingham, who was chosen Secretary of State with the Earl of -Shrewsbury. Lord Nottingham had opposed the settlement of the crown with -vehemence, and in copious orations; declaring, however, when the party -opposed to him had prevailed, that “though he could not make a king, -yet, upon his principles, he could obey one better than those who were -so much set on making one.”[201] It was this minister’s successful -endeavour to infuse distrust and dislike of the Whigs into the mind of -his sovereign—to gain every species of information which could assist -his efforts, from the lowest sources and by the lowest means—every angry -speech in political meetings being reported to his Majesty’s ears, and -making a deep impression on the mind of William.[202] Yet Nottingham has -been said, even whilst holding his office of secretary, to have always -kept “a reserve of allegiance to his exiled master;”[203] whilst the -necessities of a numerous family induced him to take an employment in -the existing government. - -The great ambition of this nobleman was to be at the head of the church -party. Regular in his religious duties, strict in morals, and of a -formal, unbending character of virtue, the zeal of Nottingham, affected -or real, aided by a solemn deportment, and by a countenance the -inflexible gravity of which accorded with his disposition,—it was not -until years afterwards that his actual insincerity was discovered, and -that it was found that the principles which he professed had been all -along at variance with those which he actually entertained.[204] - -Amongst sundry Tories and Jacobites who, by the influence of Nottingham, -were preferred, Lawrence Hyde, Earl of Rochester, contrary to all -expectation, was made a privy counsellor. His near relationship to the -Queen, his niece, had not hitherto secured royal favour. He was -accounted a man of abilities, although immeasurably inferior in that -respect to his celebrated father; he wrote well, but was an ungraceful -speaker. Devoted to the exiled monarch, Rochester, whilst he perceived -the errors of his royal brother-in-law, opposed the act of settlement, -and voted for a regency—a step which Queen Mary found it difficult to -forgive; nor was it until after Bishop Burnet had wrought upon her mind, -that she consented to receive her uncle, or to forget his opposition to -her reign. By degrees, however, he rose in her regard, and attained a -degree of influence which was exerted against Lady Marlborough in -particular, and of which she felt the effects. Lord Rochester, with many -excellent and respectable qualities, united a spirit somewhat too -zealous to be productive of benefit in the state affairs at that time; -he was considered as the leader of the high church party; and, refusing -the oaths of allegiance to William and Mary, remained a non-juror until -his death.[205] - -The more placid, but more steady opposition of Bentinck, Earl of -Portland, to all that Lady Marlborough proposed and desired, was -supposed by her to be even more effective than the turbulent temper of -Lord Rochester. Brave, faithful, disinterested, charitable, a favourite -without presumption, a consummate statesman without forgetting the -higher duties, Bentinck would have been a valuable and a devoted friend, -had Lady Marlborough been so fortunate as to possess his esteem; nor is -there any reason to suppose that he was at any time her implacable -enemy, although his interests, and even his affections, were centered in -the monarch whom Lady Marlborough has treated, in her “Conduct,” with so -little respect. - -Descended from an ancient family in the province of Guelderland, -Bentinck was first page to William Prince of Orange, and afterwards -gentleman of the bedchamber. When William was made stadtholder, Bentinck -continued near him, and was with him when the Prince was attacked with -the small-pox, a disease which had been peculiarly fatal to the -stadtholder’s family. On this occasion, and during the progress of a -disorder then shunned with as much alarm and horror as the plague and -cholera have since been, and the first symptoms of which were regarded -almost as the signal of death, Bentinck never deserted the sick room of -the Prince. He administered medicines to his master, and was the only -person who lifted him in and out of bed.[206] The first day of the -Prince’s convalescence was the commencement of Bentinck’s illness. He -begged of William to allow him to return home, as he could no longer -combat against the symptoms of disease. Happily, William had not to -grieve that the life of his devoted servant had been sacrificed by his -tender care. From that time Bentinck was peculiarly favoured by the -reserved but not ungrateful Prince; yet so little dependence is there to -be placed on human affections, so constantly are we to be admonished -that nothing is stable, nothing wholly satisfactory, in this life of -chances and changes, that the generous Bentinck afterwards found himself -supplanted in his sovereign’s regard by Keppel Earl of Albemarle; and, -whilst he still retained the confidence of William, perceiving that his -personal influence with the King was gone, in 1698 he retired from -court, leaving those offices which he had so long held in the household -to be performed by deputy. - -During the first six or eight years of the reign of William and Mary, -Lord Portland, however, enjoyed all that favour and those distinctions -which his prudence, and the courage which he had displayed both in -military and civil affairs, so well justified. The avowed favourite of -the King, and deriving considerable grants from the crown, he spent the -sums for which he was indebted to the Treasury and to British lands, in -promoting the welfare of the English peasantry. Besides daily extensive -charity among his poor neighbours, Lord Portland built and endowed a -charity school on his estate in Buckinghamshire; and passed his days in -the domestic, and dignified, and useful retirement of an English -nobleman of the old school; visiting Holland every summer, but living -mostly in England. It was before going as ambassador to negociate the -peace of Ryswick, that he endeared himself to the English nation by -being actively instrumental in saving the noble edifice of Whitehall, in -which a fire had broken out, which was chiefly checked by the zeal and -liberal aid of this noble foreigner graft upon our English -nobility.[207] - -The Earl of Portland became eventually one of the richest subjects in -England. But, as there is a dark spot on all human brightness, he -rendered himself unpopular to many, notwithstanding his extensive -charities—notwithstanding his profusion “in gardening, birds, and -household furniture,”—qualities truly English,—by a frugality which, in -the continental nations, is carefully instilled into youth by education -and practice, but which is uncongenial to the habits of the English -nation. The resentment of Queen Anne and of the Duchess of Marlborough -was shown in a manner not displeasing to the public, when, on her -accession, the Queen deprived Portland of “the post of Keeper of Windsor -Great Park.”[208] - -Whilst we accord to Bentinck every merit due to one so estimable, it -must be allowed that his relationship to the Villiers family contributed -greatly to the support of that rank which he held in the King’s esteem, -whilst it was at the same time the cause of the hostilities afterwards -declared between his lordship and the vehement lady whom he had the -fortune mortally to offend. By his first marriage with Mrs. Villiers, -fourth sister of the Earl of Jersey, Lord Portland strengthened his -interests doubly. Lady Jersey was the confidante of Mary; Lord Jersey -was in high favour with William; whilst Elizabeth Villiers, afterwards -Lady Orkney, was the mistress of the gloomy and grave, but, as it seems, -not altogether faithful husband of the subservient and devoted Mary -Stuart. - -There was, however, an intermediate person, a third sister of Lord -Jersey, the Viscountess Fitzharding, one of the favoured few who were -prized by the Countess of Marlborough, but, as it seems, a spy upon her -friend, and a betrayer of her secrets. This lady held a confidential -situation in the household of the Princess of Denmark, and was also one -for whom Lady Marlborough entertained what she truly calls “a very -singular affection”—a possession of which she shamefully availed -herself, by repeating all that she heard, and perhaps more than what she -heard, in the Princess’s family. The pernicious effect of such -repetitions, even between relatives affectionately attached, may readily -be conceived; but in the dissensions of two sisters, whose earliest -instructions, when they referred to conduct to each other, had in all -probability been those of distrust—whose interests clashed, whose -relative position was every way awkward, whose husbands were on -indifferent terms, and who resembled each other only in one respect, -that of displaying filial ingratitude to a misled and culpable monarch, -but an affectionate father—it was certain that a spark would kindle a -flame between spirits so ready for combustion. - -At length the smothered discords between Mary and her sister broke out, -and once blazing, they were never entirely extinguished. The imprudence, -vulgarity of taste, or rather deficiency in feeling, of the Princess and -of her favourite, in their ordinary conversation and correspondence, -cannot be justified. It is often from errors apparently trivial, though -originating from coarseness of mind and violence of temper, that the -most serious inconveniences, sometimes the greatest misfortunes, -originate. The Princess and her favourite considered it high diversion -to vent their dislike to the King, in applying to him opprobrious terms, -the most decorous of which was “Caliban,” whilst others will not bear -repetition.[209] These offensive expressions, though, after the death of -Queen Anne, carefully expunged by the Duchess even from her original -letters, as well as in her “Conduct,” were, however, acknowledged by -Lady Marlborough, in the indorsements of letters from Lady Orkney to her -ladyship; and they were carefully collected and repeated by Lady -Fitzharding, whom the malcontents supposed to be in their confidence. -The hour of disgrace was, however, at hand—disgrace inflicted in the -tenderest point, and calculated to humble, if any thing could humble, -the lofty spirit of Lady Marlborough. That, however, which would have -crushed a gentler spirit, scarcely pressed upon hers; as appears by her -subsequent effrontery, which even her own skilful defence could not -extenuate. - -But even if the comparative grossness of the times, and the aggravations -received from the court, cannot justify the Princess and her “dear Mrs. -Freeman,” neither can the petulance, meanness, and love of power which -Queen Mary displayed, be excused. - -There is always something in feminine altercations that is ludicrous as -well as painful. Few women know how and where to stay the course of -anger; when it once begins to flow, every charm, every grace so fondly -prized by the sex, is obliterated, when retort follows retort, and -retaliation grows vigorous; and dignity, to assert which the fair sex is -oftentimes so valiant, takes its departure immediately we become -vociferous in its defence. - -One evening, in the interregnum between the quarrel concerning the -settlement and their final feuds, the Queen, who had lived outwardly on -tolerable terms with her sister for some time, “began,” as the Princess -Anne expressed it, “to pick quarrels,” upon the sore subject of the -annuity, and to intimate that supposing some twenty or thirty thousand -pounds were to be taken off the fifty thousand allowed, the Princess, -she presumed, could live upon it “as she had done before;” upon which an -indecorous altercation ensued.[210] On the following day, Lord -Marlborough, after performing his usual duties as lord of the -bedchamber, received, through Lord Nottingham, the humiliating -intimation that he was dismissed from all his employments, both civil -and military, and forbidden the court. This blow is said to have been -totally unexpected by the Earl, from whom the King had parted on that -very morning in the usual manner.[211] - -Lord Marlborough received the intelligence communicated by Lord -Nottingham with the composure of a superior mind. “He retired,” says one -of his biographers, “with the calmness of the old Roman dictator, -wishing to be succeeded by a better servant, and by one more concerned -for his Highness’s honour.”[212] - -Of course, innumerable causes for this unlooked for occurrence were -started by the public, always curious on such occasions. By some it was -said that a letter had been intercepted, which gave rise to suspicions -unfavourable to the Earl. By others the disgrace of Marlborough was -ascribed to the resentment of Lord Portland, whom Marlborough was in the -habit of designating “un homme de bois;”[213] by many, the interference -of Marlborough and the Countess in the matter of the settlement was -referred to as the cause of his loss of favour and office, without -taking into account that it was then two years since that affair, and -that Marlborough had been in the mean time so employed and distinguished -by the King as to have obtained from the Marquis of Carmarthen the -invidious appellation of the “General of favour.” But, whilst it has -been allowed that these various causes, severally and conjointly, might -have, in some degree, effected the result so painful to the Earl and so -aggravating to the Countess, the recent boldness of Marlborough, in -representing to his Majesty the detrimental effects of his undue -partiality to the Dutch, was the immediate source of the King’s marked -displeasure. - -“It was said,” relates Lediard, “that all the resentment was, for the -liberty he had taken to tell the King, that though himself had no reason -to complain, yet many of his good subjects were sorry to see his royal -munificence confined to one or two foreign lords.” French historians -make no scruple to name the Earl of Portland and Rochford, both -Dutchmen, to be the lords here hinted at; and add that the King turned -his back upon the Earl without making any answer, and soon afterwards -sent him a dismissal from his employments, and forbade him the court. -Those who considered the jealousy or envy of foreign officers a reason -for his lordship’s disgrace, assert it to be a confirmation of their -opinion that the Earl was not employed again, nor recalled to council, -until this motive ceased, and an end was put to the war by the peace of -Ryswick.[214] - -The Countess of Marlborough, however, makes no allusion to this -ungrateful and petulant behaviour of the King.[215] “This event may be -accounted for,” she says, speaking of the dismissal of his lordship, “by -saying that Lord Portland had ever a great prejudice to my Lord -Marlborough, and that my Lady Orkney, (then Mrs. Villiers,) though I had -never done her any injury, except not making my court to her, was my -implacable enemy. But I think it is not to be doubted that the principal -cause of the King’s message was the court’s dislike that anybody should -have so much interest with the Princess as I had, who would not obey -implicitly every command of the King and Queen. The disgrace of my Lord -Marlborough, therefore, was designed as a step towards removing me from -about her.”[216] - -Lord Rochester, the Countess proceeds to say, was also her foe, having -warmly opposed her coming into the Princess’s family in the first -instance, and wishing at that time greatly for her removal; believing -that if he could compass it, he should infallibly have the government of -both the sisters, his nieces, although he had never done anything to -merit the confidence of the Princess. - -There was, however, still another reason assigned for the event which -caused so much speculation. The beautiful Frances Jennings, the “glass -and model” of her fair countrywomen in the days of Charles the Second, -had twice changed her condition since she had officiated, in the bloom -of youth, at the court of the Duchess of York. The first affections of -Frances were bestowed on the noted Jermyn, for whose unworthy sake she -rejected the brave Talbot, marrying, in a temper of mind betwixt pique -and ambition, Sir George Hamilton, a maréchal-de-camp in the French -service, and grandson of the Earl of Aberdeen. - -In 1667, Lady Hamilton becoming a widow, and the attachment of Talbot -being unchanged by time, she became his wife; a marriage unfortunate, as -far as ambitious views were concerned, as the high rank which Talbot -afterwards obtained as Duke of Tyrconnel was not acknowledged at the -court of William. - -Between the Duchess of Tyrconnel and her sister Lady Marlborough, there -never subsisted any very cordial intercourse,[217] nor was the connexion -likely to prove anything but a source of suspicion towards the Earl and -Countess. The Duchess of Tyrconnel, on the part of William, exercising -the ingenuity with which nature had endowed her, in tormenting those -admirers who were too importunate, or, when she ceased to attract those -who were too cold, turned her lively talents to political intrigue, in -which she played a deep game: but her cabals were often detrimental to -the cause which she espoused, and terminated finally in her becoming one -of those needy Jacobites about the court of St. Germains, whom the beset -and unfortunate exiled monarch—as unfortunate in his friends as in his -enemies—was obliged to satisfy with some portion of his own -pension.[218] - -The Duke of Tyrconnel, united as he was to this busy spirit, had -qualities which would have adorned a better cause than that for which, -with zeal and address, he long combated in the sister country. “He was,” -says Clarendon, “a very handsome man, wore good clothes, and was, -without doubt, of a clear, ready courage, which was virtue enough to -recommend a man to the Duke’s good opinion; which, with more expedition -than could be expected, he got, to that degree, that he was made of his -bedchamber.” - -To this qualified praise must be added the undoubted stigma attached to -the conduct of Tyrconnel, having in his youth been one of those “men of -honour,” so termed by Grammont, who acted as counsel to James the -Second, when Duke of York, in order to facilitate his nullifying the -marriage contract between his Highness and Miss Hyde. If such were the -arts by which he recommended himself to James, and obtained, added to -various other means, a fortune, as we are told, of forty thousand a -year, they are not much to his credit. - -The first object of Tyrconnel’s admiration was Miss Hamilton, to whom he -offered his hand and fortune; and further proffered as many sacrifices -as she could desire of the letters, hair, and pictures of a former -flame, the Countess of Shrewsbury; and although these articles had no -intrinsic value, they testify strongly—such, at least, is the opinion of -that competent judge, Count Grammont, of a lover’s “sincerity and -merit.” - -Refused by Miss Hamilton, whose affections were engaged to the gay, the -captivating, the admired, the profligate Grammont, Lord Tyrconnel had -next wooed, and nearly won, the capricious Frances Jennings. In both -these instances he had the good sense and good taste (only to be -mentioned as remarkable in such days as those) to select women of -reputation—with our modern ideas, we can scarcely say of virtue—for the -objects of his adoration. But whilst he laid at Miss Jennings’ feet the -honours, in prospect, of a peerage, and the present respectability of an -ancient name, though represented by an impoverished family—though his -wealth tempted her, and the elegance of his person and manners, in a -court where the art of good-breeding was the only art studied, were -acknowledged, he had been again, as it has been seen, unsuccessful. In -this mortification the vanity of the rejected suitor was solaced by the -languishing attachment of the automaton, Miss Boynton, one of those -young ladies who enjoyed the reputation of performing fainting-fits upon -the slightest occasion, and who had formerly won his regard by swooning -away upon his account at their first interview. To this languid lady, a -contrast to the lively Frances Jennings, Lord Tyrconnel had been -eventually united. Affected in manners, weak in mind, and uninteresting -in person, she proved perhaps a better helpmate to this determined -Jacobite than his equally resolute and more intriguing second wife, to -whom, after the death of her first husband, he was united. - -Such is the account of that historical romance by Grammont, to which we -owe the very questionable advantage of an intimate acquaintance with the -court of the second Charles. - -To those personal gifts which appeared so dangerous in the eyes of Miss -Boynton,[219] the Duke of Tyrconnel added the still more important -acquisition, derived from the habit of frequenting the best company, of -knowing how to recommend himself to others by that knowledge, which -seems in a man of the world a sort of instinct, of the dispositions, the -weaknesses, and wishes of those with whom he converses. With prodigious -vanity, much cunning, and little principle, Tyrconnel displayed some -noble qualities. By James the Second he had been appointed to the -command of the army in Ireland; by James raised to the Peerage—first to -an earldom, then a dukedom; by James he was appointed Viceroy of -Ireland. Upon the invasion of Ireland by the Prince of Orange he bravely -defended it, nor could the offers which were held out to induce him to -submit, make any impression upon his integrity.[220] - -Tyrconnel sank into insignificance after the battle of the Boyne in -1690, but the English court still jealously watched his movements; and -his close connexion with the Earl and Countess of Marlborough was not -forgotten by those who envied the high qualities of the one, and -disliked the proud spirit of the other, and aggravated, doubtless, the -secret dislike which Queen Mary indulged towards the Countess of -Marlborough. Since the origin of most mischief is attributed to women, -an imputed act of indiscretion, on the part of that lady, was alleged, -at any rate, to have been made an excuse for the sudden disgrace of her -husband.[221] The Earl, it was reported, had mentioned to his wife, in -confidence, a scheme which had been confided to him, to surprise -Dunkirk—a project which had been concerted by William, and had proved -abortive. Lady Marlborough, as it was also rumoured, had spoken of this -plan to the lady of Sir Theophilus Oglethorp;[222] and it had been -carried, in some manner, of course, to Lady Tyrconnel, and from her to -the French court. - -The author of “The Other Side of the Question,” in confirmation of this -report, has stated, but on no assigned authority, that four persons only -in England were privy to the design on Dunkirk; namely, “the King, Lord -Marlborough, and two more; that one”[223] of these four communicated the -secret to his wife, who, as it was said, sold it to Lady —— for what she -could get: that in consequence, the said design miscarried, and those -concerned in it abroad were hanged: that upon this, the King sent for -his three confidants, and having with some trouble found out the leak, -expressed himself, on the occasion, in his dry way, as follows—“My lord, -you have put a greater confidence in your wife than I did in mine.” - -This conjecture, or tradition, however,—for though a prevalent report at -the time, it is nothing more,—is refuted by the fact that the design -against Dunkirk was not projected until the month of August, 1692, -whereas the Earl had been dismissed from his employments in the previous -January;[224] and although every possible obloquy that could be cast -upon the Countess of Marlborough was likely to be propagated in the -court, where she was known to be out of favour, yet it is certain that -no misconduct of hers, nor indiscretion on the part of her husband, on -the score of the projected siege of Dunkirk, could have occasioned the -harsh usage which his lordship had experienced. - -Lord Marlborough, although disgraced, was not without advocates, as the -King soon perceived. Admiral Russell, one of a family noted for -magnanimous courage in the cause of justice, “put himself on ill terms -with the King,” as Lediard relates, by pressing to know the grounds of -the Earl’s disgrace; and almost reproached William with his oblivion of -the Earl’s services, who had, as he said, “set the crown on the King’s -head.”[225] - -This generous interference, and the regret for the occasion of it which -the Princess of Denmark evinced, only irritated the King and Queen more -and more against their oppressed sister-in-law and her favourite. On the -twenty-ninth of January, the Princess received an anonymous letter, -informing her that a dangerous cabal was formed among the Portland and -Villiers family against the Earl and Countess of Marlborough, and -apprising her that their misfortunes would not end with the Earl’s -dismissal, but that he would be imprisoned as soon as the prorogation of -Parliament had taken place. The unknown friend who wrote this letter, -added, that the interview which Marlborough had held with his friends -Godolphin and Russell, on the day of his disgrace, had excited the -jealousy of the court; whilst the tears which the Princess had herself -been seen to shed since that event, had added to the irritation of her -sister and brother.[226] - -Perhaps the Princess Anne might, in the midst of her tears, remember -with a pang the indulgent conduct of the father whom she had deserted, -and who, according to a writer contemporary with her favourite, had -twice paid debts which the mercenary spirit of that favourite, according -to the same account, which must be taken with some reservation, had led -the Princess to incur.[227] - -Whatever were Anne’s feelings, those expressed by Lady Marlborough were -quite in accordance with her high spirit, which, with a hardihood which -certainly has the effect of disguising our faults far more than the -varnish of dissimulation, she avows in her own peculiar way.[228] - -“But to come to the sequel of the King’s message: I solemnly protest -that the loss of my Lord Marlborough’s employments would never have -broke my rest one single night upon account of interest; but I confess, -_the being turned out_ is something very disagreeable to my temper; and -I believe it was three weeks before my best friends could persuade me -that it was fit for me to go to a court which (as I thought) had used my -Lord Marlborough very ill. However, at last they prevailed, and I -remember the chief argument was urged by my Lord Godolphin, who said -that it could not be thought that I made any mean court to the King and -Queen, since to attend the Princess was only to pay my duty where it was -owing.” - -The consequence of this advice, upon which Lady Marlborough so much -relied, was, that “she waited on her mistress to Kensington.” -Particulars of the interview may readily be conceived. The offended -dignity of Mary, the suppressed vexation of the tearful Anne, the flush -of anger on the brow of the haughty lady in waiting, that subdued but -not intimidated favourite, nature struggling with etiquette, as she bent -before the Queen whom she hated, and followed the Princess whom she -governed and despised;—all these circumstances combined must have formed -a fine scene for the pen or the pencil. - -Unfortunately, no details of the meeting are permitted us, but the -effect which it had upon the temper even of the mild and prudent Mary, -may be inferred from a letter which the Queen wrote to her sister on the -ensuing day. - -After premising that she had something to say which she thought would -not be very pleasing to the Princess, the Queen reminded her sister that -nobody was ever “suffered to live at court in my Lord Marlborough’s -circumstances.” It was therefore incumbent on her Majesty, as she -thought, though much against her will, to tell her sister how very unfit -it was that Lady Marlborough should stay with the Princess either; -“since that,” added the Queen, “gives the husband so just a pretence of -being where he ought not.” - -“Taking everything into consideration,” the Queen, therefore, plainly -intimated to her sister, that, since she had allowed Lady Marlborough to -accompany her to Kensington on the foregoing night, her Majesty was -reduced to the necessity of plainly telling her, that her lady of the -bedchamber “must not stay,” and “that she had all the reason imaginable” -to look upon Anne’s bringing her as “the strangest thing that ever was -done; nor,” added the Queen, “could all my kindness for you, (which is -ever ready to turn all you do the best way at any other time,) have -hindered me from showing you that at the moment; but I considered your -condition, and that made me master myself so far as not to take notice -of it then.” - -“But now,” adds the Queen, “I must tell you, it was very unkind in a -sister, would have been very uncivil in an equal, and I need not say I -have more to claim, which, though my kindness would make me never -extort, yet when I see the use you would make of it, I must tell you I -know what is due to me, and expect to have it from you. ’Tis upon that -account, I tell you plainly, Lady Marlborough must not continue with you -in the circumstances her lord is.” - -This assumption of the Queen towards her offending sister, Mary softened -by kinder terms. “I have all the real kindness imaginable for you,” she -added, “and as I ever have, so will always do, my part to live with you -as sisters ought;” and neither the King nor she were willing, as she -said, to have recourse to harsher means. - -But, notwithstanding the resolution expressed in the foregoing -paragraph,—“the sight of Lady Marlborough,” the Princess proceeds to -say, “having changed her style, does naturally change her -thoughts.”[229] “She could pass over most things,” and “live with her -sister as became her,” but she complained of the want of common civility -exhibited by that sister, in not comprehending her wishes, and avoiding -the contact with which she had placed her with Lady Marlborough. - -This reproof was felt severely by Anne, and gave dire offence to her who -had courted the rebuke, and it afforded Mary the desired opportunity of -putting a direct affront upon her. Nor could numbers of affectionate -expressions, nor what the Duchess of Marlborough calls, in the -conclusion of the epistle, “useless repetitions,” intended “to remind -her sister of the distance between them,” heal the wounds thus made, nor -reconcile Anne to a sister who had incurred the displeasure of one whom -she loved better than all the world besides. - -From this time the firebrand of discord, thrown between the two royal -sisters, was never extinguished except by death. The mortification -inflicted upon Lady Marlborough was bitterly commented upon by her, -years after she had outlived the effects of other changes in those whom -she served, and those whom she endeavoured to serve. This first -humiliation was, perhaps, her bitterest pang of the sort; and she, to -“whose temper the being turned out was not very agreeable,”[230] must -have writhed under the banishment from that court, in whose atmosphere -she had been accustomed from her early youth to consider herself as a -privileged individual. - -Queen Mary, having struck the first blow, was resolved not to relax in -her displeasure. The Duchess, in recalling this period of her life, -endeavours to show the inconsistency of the Queen, in expelling from her -sister’s service one whom she had formerly designated as a “kind, dear -friend, from whom she hoped that her sister would never part.”[231] But -Mary then knew the Countess only by letter, and by report, as the -beloved wife of an influential man disposed to liberal measures, and -devoted to Protestantism,—as a Whig in principle herself, and having -influence enough to make her husband turn round to her opinions; as a -woman to be feared, encouraged, courted. Even after her arrival in -England, Mary behaved towards her subsequent foe with a consideration -which would, says the Duchess of Marlborough, have engaged “some people -to fix the foundation of their future fortunes in her favour;” nor could -any one, she asserts, have had a greater chance to rise in it than -herself, “if she could have broken the inviolable laws of friendship;” -but this transient sunshine was now overclouded, and events succeeded -each other, which added to the darkness of the storm. - -The Princess Anne returned an answer to the Queen’s letter the day after -she had received it, having first consulted her uncle, Lord Rochester, -requesting him, with the greatest earnestness, to assist her in this -affair, and to convey her letter to the Queen; an office which his -lordship declined, promising, however, that he would speak to the Queen -upon the subject. The epistle, in consequence of his lordship’s refusal -to act as a mediator, was therefore sent to Mary by one of the -Princess’s own servants. - -The reply, probably penned only by Anne, and composed either by her who -was termed her “Dictatress,”[232] or by Godolphin, is couched in calm -but resolute terms. - -No apology is tendered for the act which had offended the Queen; no -possible reason for the dismissal of Lady Marlborough is allowed: she is -justified throughout; whilst a reference to Lord Marlborough’s conduct, -which might have called down an answer, is prudently avoided. It is to -the unkindness of her sister to herself personally, that the Princess -principally objects. The whole letter bespeaks a stronger mind to have -been employed in its careful construction than the Princess of Denmark -possessed; doubtless, he who gave the advice to go to court, and she who -followed her there, were its authors.[233] Lord Rochester, who had only -recently crept into royal favour, was wise enough not to convey the -offensive document. No other answer was returned to it than a message by -the Lord Chamberlain to the Countess of Marlborough, to forbid her -remaining any longer at the Cockpit. - -The residence designated by this undignified name has been already -described, and its appropriation to the Princess Anne, at the time of -her marriage, specified. It appears to have been only sufficient for the -Prince and Princess of Denmark and their household, their children being -established in the Duchess of Portsmouth’s former apartments in the -palace, whither it had formerly been the wish of Anne to remove.[234] - -The Cockpit being, however, within the precincts of Whitehall, the -command issued by Queen Mary for the removal of the Countess of -Marlborough was certainly an undue exertion of authority, since it was -disputed by several people whether the King had power to remove any -individual from the Cockpit. At the time of the Princess Anne’s -marriage, Charles the Second had bought this house from the Duke of -Leeds, and settled it on his niece, and on her heirs. It was, therefore, -clearly her own property, and the attendants whom she chose to retain -under its roof were separately and especially her servants. But Anne, -though she might, says the Duchess, have insisted on her right “of being -mistress in her own house,” was resolved to avoid all risk of irritating -the King and Queen; and she determined, consequently, upon retiring from -the Cockpit, instead of continuing to brave the displeasure of these -royal personages by retaining her favourite in that abode. She wrote, -therefore, respectfully, but not submissively, to her sister, declaring -that since all that she had said, and all that Lord Rochester had urged, -could not prevent the Queen from exacting a mortifying sacrifice from -her, she was resolved to retire, and to deprive herself of the -opportunity of assuring her of that duty and respect which she had -always been, and which she should always be, desirous of showing her -Majesty.[235] - -The Princess took prompt measures for her departure. She sent to desire -an interview with the Duchess of Somerset,[236] from whom she requested -the temporary loan of Sion house; and the Duchess, with many professions -of service, after retiring to consult with the Duke her husband, waited -on her highness, to acquaint her, in a very respectful manner, that Sion -house was at her service. - -As soon as this arrangement was known, the King, according to the -Duchess of Marlborough, sent for the Duke of Somerset,[237] and did all -he could to persuade his grace to retract his promise to the Princess; -“but in vain; so,” as the Duchess contemptuously remarks, “there was an -end of that matter.”[238] - -Previous to Anne’s removal from the Cockpit, however, she deemed it -incumbent on her to wait upon the Queen at Kensington, and to make “all -the professions that could be imagined;” but Mary met all these advances -with a cold disdain; or, in the words of the Duchess, “was as insensible -as a statue;” and when she did answer her sister, it was in the same -imperative and offended style as that in which her letter had been -dictated. - -This alienation of the royal sisters was, however, fully explained by -events which reflect no honour either upon Lord or Lady Marlborough. -Even the panegyrists of the great Churchill have not attempted to -extenuate, whilst they were unable to deny, his political intrigues at -this epoch. - -No individual in the British dominions was more fully aware of the fact, -that King James still lived in the hearts of the English, than he who -held the unenviable post of his successor. The progress of the French -arms abroad contributed greatly to the unpopularity of William, whilst -at the universities, and amongst churchmen of all ranks, the divine and -indefeasible nature of hereditary right was still strenuously, and by -the Archbishop of Canterbury, with eight bishops in his train, publicly -maintained. - -The retired habits of the King, his cold exterior, his uniform -preference of his Dutch followers in all appointments about the court, -the vast expense and indifferent management of the war in Ireland, the -presence of foreign troops, and the neglect of the navy, all grievous -and tender points with the English nation, produced a secret but -universal discontent. The Marquis of Halifax was heard to declare, that -if James could be prevailed on to make advances to the Protestants, it -would be impossible to keep him four months longer out of the -kingdom.[239] - -Under these circumstances, there were, even in the British cabinet, not -a few who regretted, and even repented, the part which had been so -recently enacted in the late settlement of the crown. The dissolution of -the Parliament, or Convention as it was called, irritated these -discontents; a secret correspondence was held, even from the very centre -of the court, with the monarch at St. Germains; the Duke of Bolton, the -Marquis of Winchester, the Earls of Devonshire and Montagu, the Marquis -of Carmarthen, one of the principal abettors of the Revolution, were all -more or less implicated in the conspiracy. - -At this critical period, the fidelity, the honour, and the prudence of -Marlborough, sank beneath the powerful temptation of avenging upon -William the slights which he had suffered, and of raising his own -fortunes by restoring the Stuart dynasty. Historians have been at a loss -to comprehend the motives of one who had so recently sacrificed all -private considerations to what he justly deemed imperative -necessity.[240] Ambition, and, in the mind of Marlborough its too -frequent attendant, the love of gain, sufficiently account for his -defection from William, who, prejudiced, as the Duchess asserts,[241] by -Bentinck, availed himself of the services of Marlborough in war, but was -little disposed to recompense his toils by appointment to lucrative -civil offices. - -Whatever might be the motives of Marlborough’s culpable correspondence -with the exiled King, the fact itself was not long concealed from -William, who was cruelly compelled to employ many to whose dissimulation -he was not a stranger; whilst James was equally unable to rely on the -assurances of those whose perfidy to another did not augur the most -perfect fidelity to his own cause.[242] All classes in society were now, -however, more or less infected with Jacobitism. Those who were -dissatisfied with the treatment of the British court were secretly -addressed by the agents of James, whilst the lower classes were -stimulated by means of the press, which formerly had published many -libels against the Duke of York, but which were now loud in his -favour.[243] It was not long before this conspiracy, the first of the -many ineffectual attempts which were made to restore James, began to -assume the distinct and fearful form of a threatened invasion. - -In the latter end of the year 1690, James despatched into England -Colonel Bulkley, whose daughter was afterwards married to the Duke of -Berwick,[244] and Colonel Sackville, with instructions to probe the -sentiments of the people, and to attach to him the disaffected. Bulkley -first addressed himself to Lord Godolphin[245] by allurements and -promises. At their interview he inquired, in a tone of despondency, but -kindly, respecting the court of St. Germains; but, on being asked by -Bulkley what he would sacrifice in order to serve the cause of the -deposed monarch, Godolphin started from his chair, and exclaimed that he -would leave the office in which he had lately been replaced, that of -first lord of the Treasury,[246] in order that he might be free to -promote the restoration of James. - -Lord Halifax was the next of William’s ministers who received Bulkley -with open arms; and his ready profession of loyalty to James encouraged -the more wary measures of Godolphin and Marlborough. Bulkley, however, -meeting these two noblemen in the park, solicited them to return with -him home to dine at his lodgings: the invitation was accepted, and -Colonel Sackville was summoned to join the conference, and to receive -the declaration of Marlborough’s penitence. The Earl could neither eat, -nor drink, nor sleep, as he assured Colonel Sackville, from the pangs of -conscience; and he protested that he would risk the ruin of all his -fortunes to redeem his apostasy. But, in fact, Marlborough, although -employed by William in situations of high trust, had never entirely -broken off all correspondence with James’s adherents. When he, in -conjunction with other great men, had invited William Prince of Orange -to England, he had, perhaps, in common with many others, no expectation -that William would become king. His connexion with the Duke of Berwick, -his nephew, and with Earl Tyrconnel, had enabled him to maintain a -secret but continued correspondence with those active agents of the -exiled King. Marlborough had long since made his peace with James. He -had been the first to give intelligence to the Jacobite party of -William’s intention to visit Ireland, and was the chief person to -despatch timely notice to any of that faction who were threatened with -warrants of the privy council, of which he was a member. Yet the -services which he had performed in the taking of Cork and Kingsale -somewhat abated those hopes of his defection from William, which James -had never entirely abandoned. - -The conference with Bulkley was not the first step of Marlborough’s -treason;—for such, in fact, after the settlement of the crown by the -voice of Parliament, oaths of allegiance taken, and offices of military -trust exercised, it must be deemed. - -In January, 1689, the year preceding the visit of Bulkley, Marlborough -had addressed James by letter. He had petitioned for the forgiveness of -the exiled King, and for that of the Queen. He had promised that the -influence of Lady Marlborough to bring back the Princess Anne to her -duty should be exerted. Upon this assurance pardon had been -granted;[247] and in consequence of this reconciliation further measures -were resorted to by Marlborough. - -The Duke of Shrewsbury was next brought into the plot; yet both the Duke -and Godolphin were urged by Marlborough, the one to continue in office, -the other to endeavour to regain it, that they might more effectually -serve their liege lord and sovereign. Lord Carmarthen also was willing -to be reconciled, though cautiously neither giving nor refusing -promises; whilst Marlborough went so far as to proffer his exertions to -induce a revolt of the army in England, and to urge an invasion of -twenty thousand men from France with James at their head, acknowledging -that all schemes for his restoration must be visionary, unless they were -seconded by the King of France.[248] - -At length an arrangement for striking this decisive blow was completed. -The two admirals, Russell and Carter, were drawn into the scheme, and -Louis the Fourteenth was assured that the army would be conducted by -Marlborough, the fleet by Russell,[249] and informed that the management -of the church was to be left to the judgment and responsibility of the -Princess Anne. That Princess, instigated by her friends, had already -sought a reconciliation with her father; her motives, it is to be -feared, being of a very mixed nature, resentment towards William and -Mary actuating her far more than a late return of filial duty. - -The admirable energy and sound judgment of Queen Mary, it is well known, -saved the country from the threatened invasion, and defeated the designs -of the conspirators. In the absence of William, whilst her mind was -saddened with anxiety for the King’s safety, not knowing whom to trust, -she summoned the Parliament by proclamation; she issued warrants against -the disaffected, amongst whom were many persons of high rank; and, -collecting the militia of Westminster, and the trained bands of London, -in Hyde Park, she appeared amongst them at two days’ review, and -commended their readiness and loyalty. By a master-stroke of policy she -prevented the defection of the navy, and is acknowledged to have -contributed greatly to strengthen the tottering adherence of her naval -commanders. Being apprised, in the absence of the King, that several of -the English officers were disaffected, she desired Lord Nottingham to -write to Admiral Russell, informing him that she would change none of -the officers, and that she imputed the reports which had been raised -against them to the contrivance of his enemies and of theirs. The -officers returned an assurance, that they were ready to die in her cause -and that of their country; and her generous and wise confidence was -justified in the event. - -The battle of La Hogue, in which Russell retrieved the credit of the -navy, and proved his valour and his restored sense of loyalty, saved our -country.[250] - -The same high policy adopted by Mary, magnanimous, it must be -acknowledged, as well as prudent, was pursued by William. Upon his -return from Holland, after the battle of La Hogue, he reproached -Godolphin with the correspondence he had carried on. The minister denied -the fact; but William, placing a letter in his hand, which had been -stolen from the cabinet of the exiled Prince, desired him “to reflect on -the treachery of those whom he was trusting, and the mercy that was -shown him.” The generous mind of Godolphin was touched, and he remained -ever after a faithful servant to William.[251] The Duke of Shrewsbury -was won over by a similar line of conduct. With the Earl of Marlborough -a more severe policy was adopted. - -1692. On the 5th of May, a fortnight before the engagement of La Hogue, -Marlborough was suddenly arrested, along with two other noblemen, and -Dr. Spratt, Bishop of Rochester, on a charge of high treason. The -Duchess thus scornfully mentions the occurrence:— - -“Soon after the Princess’s going to Sion, a dreadful plot broke out, -which was said to be hid somewhere, I don’t know where, in a flowerpot, -and my Lord Marlborough was sent to the Tower.”[252] - -“To commit a peer of the realm to prison, it was necessary there should -be an affidavit of the treason. My Lord Romney, therefore, Secretary of -State, had sent to one Young, who was then in gaol for perjury and -forgery, and paid his fine, in order to make him what they call a legal -evidence; for, as the court lawyers said, Young, not having lost his -ears, was an irreproachable witness. I shall not dwell on the story of -this fellow’s villany, the Bishop of Rochester having given a full -account of it in print.”[253] - -The miscreant named Young, whose negative virtue Lady Marlborough thus -describes, was at that time imprisoned in Newgate for the nonpayment of -a fine. This man, being an adept at counterfeiting hands, drew up an -association in favour of James the Second, annexing to it the signatures -of Marlborough, the Bishop of Rochester, and others. He also forged -several letters from Marlborough; and, after secreting the pretended -document of association in the palace of the Bishop of Rochester, at -Bromley in Kent, he gave information of its being lodged there. Measures -were instantly taken to secure the supposed delinquents. - -In this season of adversity, new to Marlborough, some tried and faithful -friends proved their respect for his honour, by rejecting the infamous -accusation with contempt. Lady Marlborough thus describes the conduct of -friends and of relatives. Her testimony adds one to the many bitter -convictions which the narrative of life presents, that the ties of blood -are sometimes found inferior in strength to the close bonds of -friendship, in those on whom we have no other claim.[254] - -“And though these considerations had no weight with the King, they had -so much with my Lord Devonshire, my Lord Bradford, and the late Duke of -Montagu, that they thought it infamous to send my Lord Marlborough to -prison on such evidence; and therefore, when the warrant for his -commitment came to be signed at the council table, they refused to put -their hands to it, though at that time they had no particular friendship -for him. My Lord Bradford’s behaviour was very remarkable, for he made -my Lord Marlborough a visit in the Tower; while some of our friends, who -had lived in our family like near relations for many years, were so -fearful of doing themselves hurt at court, that in the whole time of his -confinement they never made him or me a visit, nor sent to inquire how -we did, for fear it should be known.” - -The affectionate heart of the Princess of Denmark produced a prompt -letter of condolence upon the arrest of the Earl; an event, which it -appears, from one passage, was to be succeeded by a less abrupt, though -equally strict, mode of imprisonment of Anne and her husband. But -William was probably fearful of the consequences of such a step as that -to which Anne alludes; and the degradation of the Princess into a -private station, with the loss of all public honours usually paid to one -of her rank, seems to have been the only penalty imposed upon his -sister-in-law. - -“I am just told by pretty good hands,”[255] the Princess writes, “that -as soon as the wind turns westerly, there will be a guard set upon the -Prince and me. If you hear there is any such thing designed, and that -’tis easy to you, pray let me see you before the wind changes; for -afterwards one does not know whether they will let one have -opportunities of speaking to one another. But let them do what they -please, nothing shall ever vex me, so long as I can have the -satisfaction of seeing dear Mrs. Freeman; and I swear I would live on -bread and water, between four walls, with her, without repining: for as -long as you continue kind, nothing can ever be a real mortification to -your faithful Mrs. Morley, who wishes she may never enjoy a moment’s -happiness in this world, or in the next, if ever she proves false to -you.” - -These expressions of affection are reiterated in various forms, in -several other letters which the Countess of Marlborough at this time -received from her royal mistress.[256] These epistles speak well for the -generosity of feeling and good-breeding of Anne. The utmost delicacy -towards the inferior, the warmest sentiments for the friend, prevail; -and those obstacles, which gave the character of heroism to their mutual -regard, were doubtless highly favourable to the Countess’s influence. A -little love of opposition reigns in all female bosoms; to oppose their -wishes, is to strengthen those wishes until they become ardent passions. -This, indeed, seems to have been exemplified in the warm intercourse of -Mrs. Morley and Mrs. Freeman, and in the midst of state intrigues, -dangers, invasions, and treasons, to have thrown a character of romance -over their difficulties and their separations, which must have proved -consolatory at least to the disinterested party in a friendly alliance -which has met with undeserved ridicule. - -The anxieties of the Countess probably produced an indisposition to -which her friend, in one of these letters, refers. After telling her -friend, “for God’s sake, to have a care of her dear self, and give way -as little to melancholy thoughts as she can,” she suggests a trial of -ass’s milk, and regrets the necessity of her dear Mrs. Freeman’s being -“let blood.”[257] - -The proud, imperious Countess writhed under the disgrace of her lord; -and the world might also assign another reason for her distress, and for -the passionate expression of her dislike towards his enemies, and -towards those of the Lord Treasurer, which even in her latter days -dictated the pages of her personal narrative. Amongst the political -enemies of Lady Marlborough, the most celebrated, and the least -scrupulous, was the celebrated Dean of St. Patrick. Swift, who -patronised the authoress of the “Atalantis,” the infamous Mrs. Manley, -and who procured that most abandoned woman remuneration from the Tories, -for the imprisonment which she sustained for some of her lampoons,[258] -has adopted one of her falsehoods gravely, and as a matter of -acknowledged fact, into his “Remarks upon the four last years of Queen -Anne’s reign.” In his character of Lord Godolphin, he says: “His -alliance with the Marlborough family, and his passion for the Duchess, -were the cords which dragged him into a party which he naturally -disliked, whose leaders he personally hated, as they did him.” - -This assertion, in which the reputations of two persons are sacrificed -by a side-blow, alludes to a report prevalent during the prosperous -years of Lady Marlborough’s life, and called into being by that very -prosperity. It originated with Swift’s tool, Mrs. Manley, or, as she -chose to call herself, Rivella, who was subsequently employed by the -Tory party in their periodical, “The Examiner,” after Swift had -relinquished his part in it: but he has not blushed to acknowledge that -he supplied this disgrace to her sex with much of the venom poured out -upon the Whigs, in that noted publication.[259] - -By the agency of Mrs. Manley, a rumour was spread abroad reflecting on -the nature of that friendly connexion between the Marlborough family and -Godolphin, which a closer tie afterwards cemented. An intrigue of the -grossest character was described, by the pen of that wretched woman, as -having taken place between the Lord Treasurer and the Countess of -Marlborough; whilst even her devoted husband was alleged to have been -acquainted with it, and to have connived at it for purposes of his own -interest, and from party motives.[260] - -These calumnies, which, says the anonymous author of the Duchess’s Life, -“however improbable it seems, we remember the time when many people -believed more firmly than they did their creed,”[261] originated in the -intimacy, both personally and in correspondence, not only between the -Earl of Marlborough and the Lord Treasurer, but between Godolphin and -the able and influential woman whose intellectual sway asserted an -enduring power over both these good and distinguished men. In all the -difficulties and anxieties of the Earl and Countess, Godolphin -participated. Their opinions, their feelings, were in unison with those -of the Lord Treasurer. Like him, nurtured in high church and Tory -principles, they had abandoned with reluctance those doctrines when the -spirit of the age no longer went with them. Like him, their early -prepossessions, their maturer affections, leaned to the Jacobite cause. -The Countess, indeed, being younger when the mischievous tendencies of -those bygone notions of prerogative and divine right were disclosed to -her, had more thoroughly imbibed sentiments of the Whig party than Lord -Marlborough and Godolphin; but in essential points this celebrated -triumvirate accorded. - -It was easy for the opposite faction to raise conjectures, and to -disseminate calumnies, upon the basis of a friendship so closely -cemented, that neither the Earl nor the Countess ever acted without -first consulting him whom they regarded as their best friend. It is easy -to demolish, by the blast of malignity, every fair fabric which the best -affections of our nature raise up; it is easy to put the worst -construction upon intimacies, the sources of which the innocent mind -would gladly lay bare to the whole world. Endowed with beauty, with wit, -fearless in her temper, unbending in her opinions, Lady Marlborough was -not, nevertheless, one of those individuals whom the infections of -slander could eventually taint. She was of too independent a nature to -be readily susceptible of the tender passions. Her domestic character, -as a mother, acknowledged to be exemplary even by those who commended -her not,[262] afforded the best refutation to the corrupt passions of -which she was accused. The neglect of daily duties is generally the -first signal of a woman’s ruin—the first indication that her mind is -unsettled, her inclinations gone astray, her peace and composure -destroyed. The virtuous, blameless character of the Princess, who gave -the Countess of Marlborough her favour and countenance, was, in a minor -degree, a refutation of the malignant charge, raised doubtless in the -hope of rending asunder the unanimity of three powerful persons, by -awakening the gnawing pangs of suspicion, and the dread of an endangered -reputation, to disturb their repose. - -The uniform confidence of the most devoted, if not the best beloved of -husbands; the pride, the virtuous pride, which he felt in her great -qualities; the undying love which he bore her through the toils of -campaigns and the turmoil of politics, triumphantly assert the innocence -of that woman, of whose misdeeds there would have been abundant willing -witnesses, eager to offer their testimony to the absent and injured -husband. But the Earl left her, as it appears, without a misgiving with -respect to her moral conduct; and trusted her to the honour, as he often -commended her to the advice, of that friend whom he loved to his dying -hour, and whom he bitterly regretted after his death.[263] - -It is impossible to unveil the secrets of the human heart; but to those -who believe in the existence of virtue, honour, friendship, all the -probabilities are in favour of Lady Marlborough’s innocence of this -hideous charge. From this period of her life, however, when Godolphin -became her acknowledged ally, must be dated the influence which that -firm and notable friendship began to exercise over her opinions and -conduct, as well as the ascendency of her own political influence. - -Godolphin, who, according to the Duchess herself, “conducted the Queen, -with the care and tenderness of a father or a guardian, through a state -of helpless ignorance, and who faithfully served her in all her -difficulties,”[264] now shared the counsels, as he had participated in -the scheme of Marlborough to restore James. According to his female -friend, he was admirably calculated for an adviser; being, as she -describes him, “a man of few words, but of a remarkable thoughtfulness -and sedateness of temper; of great application to business, and of such -despatch in it, as to give pleasure to those who attended him in any -affair.”[265] Thus provided with an able and efficient counsellor, less -bigoted, perhaps, to her virtues than her still enamoured husband, and, -by the equability of his temper, well adapted to calm what Dr. Burnet -terms her “impetuous speech,”[266] Lady Marlborough succeeded in -steering through the rest of this reign in far more tranquillity than -could possibly have been anticipated from its commencement. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - - Release of Marlborough from prison—Confession of Young—Altercations - between Anne and Mary—Illness of Anne—of Mary—Death of the - latter—Reconciliation of King William to the Princess. 1694. - - -The pretended association and audacious forgery of Young were discovered -immediately upon his being confronted with the Bishop of Rochester. The -Earl of Marlborough was consequently released, but not until the 15th of -June, that being the last day of Term. He was then admitted to bail, the -Marquis of Halifax and the Duke of Shrewsbury being his sureties; an act -of kindness for which they were, however, erased shortly afterwards from -the list of privy counsellors.[267] - -Some time afterwards, when Young was on the point of suffering the -penalty of death for another offence, he confessed, with pretended -contrition, that he had obtained the Earl of Marlborough’s seal and -signature by addressing him under the character of a country gentleman, -inquiring the character of a domestic. This avowal completely exonerated -Marlborough, who had been himself startled at the similarity of the -signature, subscribed to the association, to his own handwriting. - -Conscious, perhaps, of deserving disgrace, Lord Marlborough remained -during the latter years of Williams reign chiefly at Sandridge, -sometimes exchanging his residence for apartments at Berkeley-House, -which Lady Marlborough, in virtue of her office about Queen Anne, -inhabited on the removal of the Princess thither from Sion House. The -Countess of Marlborough meantime devoted herself to the care of the -Princess, who was confined, at Sion House, of a lifeless infant, whilst -yet altercations between her and her sister were rife. Anne, however, -sent due intelligence of her confinement to Queen Mary, first by Sir -Benjamin Bathurst, and then by Lady Charlotte Beverwart, who waited -until the Queen should have held a conference with the Earl of -Rochester, before she could see her Majesty. The delivery of her message -produced a visit to Sion House, of which the Duchess gives the following -account.[268] - -“She (the Queen) came attended by the Ladies Derby and Scarborough. I am -sure it will be necessary to have a good voucher to persuade your -Lordship[269] of the truth of what I am going to relate. The Princess -herself told me, that the Queen never asked her how she did, nor so much -as took her by the hand. The salutation was this: ‘I have made the first -step, by coming to you, and now I expect you will make the next, by -removing my Lady Marlborough.’ The Princess answered, that she had never -in all her life disobeyed her, except in that one particular, which she -hoped would some time or other appear as unreasonable to her Majesty as -it did to her. Upon which the Queen rose up and went away, repeating to -the Prince, as he led her to the coach, the same thing that she had said -to the Princess.” - -Lady Derby, one of the Queen’s ladies in waiting, took up the cue from -her royal mistress, and never even went up to the bedside to inquire how -the Princess was. The Queen, indeed, upon her return, was heard to say, -“she was sorry for having spoken to the Princess,” whose agitation she -had observed was so great, that “she trembled, and looked as white as -the sheets.”[270] Nevertheless, soon after this visit, all company was -forbidden to wait upon the Princess, and her guards were taken from her. - -The King was not in England when these indignities were offered to the -Princess, and Mary and her constant adviser, Lord Rochester, were alone -responsible for the harshness with which an only sister was treated. But -Anne, as the presumptive heir apparent, was dear to a people who dreaded -the horrors of civil war, and of a disputed succession. In coming from -Sion House to London, without guards, her coach was attacked by -highwaymen, a circumstance which produced many severe animadversions on -the danger to which the heir of the throne was exposed, without an -escort, at a period when such adventures were not unknown even in -Piccadilly.[271] - -Lady Marlborough, distressed at being the manifest cause of the -indignities offered to her gracious mistress, entreated Anne to allow -her to leave her, and used every argument her thoughts could suggest to -persuade the Princess to that effect. These well-meant endeavours were -unavailing; for “when I said anything that looked that way,” the Duchess -relates, “she fell into the greatest passion of tenderness and weeping -that is possible to imagine;[272] and though my situation at that time -was so disagreeable to my temper, that could I have known how long it -was to last, I could have chosen to have gone to the Indies sooner than -to endure it, yet, had I been to suffer a thousand deaths, I think I -ought to have submitted rather than have gone from her against her -will.” - -The result of the Princess’s vexations was a fever, after her -confinement, on recovering from which she sent to Dr. Stillingfleet, -Bishop of Worcester, hoping through his mediation to convey to Mary her -sense of the honour which the Queen, in her last heartless visit, had -conferred upon her. Dr. Stillingfleet, whom the Princess found, in her -conversation with him, to have become very partial to the Queen, -undertook to be the bearer of a letter, in which Anne requested -permission to pay her duty to her sister. The Queen’s reply evinced a -determined, and, if not an unkind, almost persecuting spirit. She began -by telling her sister that since she had herself never used compliments, -“so now they will not serve.” She declared that “words would not make -them live together as they ought;” there was but one thing she had -required, “and no other mark would satisfy her.”[273] But she must have -been ignorant of the tenacity of her sister’s disposition, and only -partially aware of the influence which the Duchess exercised over the -easily moulded Anne, if she could have expected such a sacrifice. - -Meantime Lord and Lady Marlborough had the misfortune to lose their -infant son, Lord Brackley,—an event to which Anne alludes in the -following terms. - -“I am very sensibly touched with the misfortune that my dear Mrs. -Freeman has had of losing her son, knowing very well what it is to lose -a child; but she knowing my heart so well, and how great a share I bear -in all her concerns, I will not say any more on this subject, for fear -of renewing her passion too much. Being now at liberty to go where I -please, by the Queen’s refusing to see me, I am mightily inclined to go -to-morrow, after dinner, to the Cockpit, and from thence privately in a -chair to see you some time next week. I believe it will be time for me -to go to London, to make an end of that business of Berkeley-house.” - -This letter of condolence contained a copy of the cold and arbitrary -reply of the Queen to the Princess; the original, Anne specifies, being -kept by her, in case it should be necessary to show it for her own -justification. At the same time she observes, that having extorted an -admission from Dr. Stillingfleet that she had made “all the advances -that were reasonable,” she thought that the more “it was noised about -that she would have waited on the Queen, but that she refused to see -her, the better; and therefore that she should not scruple saying so to -anybody, when it came in the way.”[274] - -Not, however, satisfied with the perpetual assurances of the Princess, -that “only death should part her from her dear Mrs. Freeman”—that if her -dear friend should ever leave her, “it would break her faithful Mrs. -Morley’s heart”—and other repeated declarations of the same nature, the -Countess sought to ascertain the sentiments of the Prince George, upon -the subject of her quitting the Princess’s service. The reply of the -warm-hearted, and certainly at this period of her life, the generous -Anne, was equally distinct upon this point as upon the other bearings of -the question. - -“In obedience to dear Mrs. Freeman, I have told the Prince all she -desired me, and he is so far from being of another opinion, that, if -there had been any occasion, he would have strengthened me in my -resolutions, and we both beg you would never mention so cruel a thing -any more.” - -“Can you think either of us so wretched,” she continues, “as for the -sake of twenty thousand pounds, and to be tormented from morning to -night with flattering knaves and fools, we should forsake those we have -such objections to, and that we are so certain are the occasion of all -their misfortunes?” - -“No, my dear Mrs. Freeman,” she thus addressed her in another part of -her letter, “never believe your faithful Morley will ever submit. She -can wait with patience for a sunshiny day, and if she does not see it, -yet she hopes England will flourish again. Once more give me leave to -beg you would be so kind never to speak of parting more, for, let what -will happen, that is the only thing that can make me miserable.”[275] - -It is curious, but to the experienced observer of all that passes among -the social relations of life, whether of friendship, love, or kindred, -not surprising, to find these letters so full of tenderness, and of -disinterested attachment, and so acceptable at one time to Lady -Marlborough, thus characterized, when she dipped her pen in gall to -write the character of her former patroness. - -“Her letters,” says the plain-spoken Duchess in her private memoranda, -“were very indifferent, both in sense and spelling, unless they were -generally enlivened with a few passionate expressions, sometimes pretty -enough, but repeated over and over again, without the mixture of -anything either of diversion or instruction.”[276] - -Thus firmly fixed in the affections of the Princess, none of the -numerous efforts which were made by different members of the household, -many of whom had been promoted to their situations by the Countess, -availed to induce Anne to allow her favourite to be removed—Lord -Rochester, her uncle, in vain working to effect that end. The result was -a direct and unhappily prolonged hostility between the Queen and the -Princess, and it was made a point of duty with regard to the one sister, -that no courtier should visit the other. Lady Grace Pierrepoint was one -of the few ladies, with the exception of some female members of Jacobite -families, who determined to make her election between the two courts in -favour of Anne; other ladies of high rank made their visits very rare, -paying their respects only on certain occasions. A more decided mark of -royal spleen was testified, through the agency of Lord Rochester, when -the Princess visited Bath. This nobleman, who loved pageants and -addresses, “wrote to the Mayor of Bath, a tallow-chandler, forbidding -him, or any of his brethren of the corporation, to show any respect to -the Princess Anne, without leave from the court.” - -“But it must be owned,” says the Duchess in her contemptuous way, “that -this lord had a singular taste for trifling ceremonies. I remember, when -he was treasurer, he made his white staff be carried by his chair-side, -by a servant bare-headed; in this, among other things, so very unlike -his successor, my Lord Godolphin, who cut his white staff shorter than -ordinary, that he might hide it, by taking it into the chair with -him.”[277] - -“My Lord Rochester,” however, must, the Duchess imagines, “have been -disappointed, if he expected that the Princess regarded this petty -exertion of power with anything but contempt.” Anne was, in fact, -infinitely more vexed to observe a frown on the brow of her favourite, -than to be precluded from the honours usually paid her. - -“Dear Mrs. Freeman must give me leave to ask her,” writes the submissive -Queen, on one occasion, “if anything has happened to make her uneasy. I -thought she looked to-night as if she had the spleen. And I can’t help -being in pain whenever I see her so.”[278] - -With respect to the mayor’s omission of the wonted respect of going to -church with her, Anne thought it was a thing to be laughed at; nor was -she probably disturbed in her general placidity by “another foolish -thing,” as the Duchess calls it, a trifling, but characteristic proof of -Mary’s unsisterly vengeance. When the Princess resided at -Berkeley-House, it was her habit to attend St. James’s church; and the -preacher, in compliance with custom, ordered a copy of his text to be -laid upon her cushion. But Mary, carrying her resentments into that -sacred edifice without whose porch worldly passions should be left, -ordered that this observance also should be abandoned: the minister, -however, refusing to comply, unless an order were given in writing, -which the Queen and her advisers “did not care to do,” “that noble -design,” as the Duchess terms the Queen’s prohibition, “was dropt.”[279] - -Berkeley-house, to which the Princess about this time removed, was the -scene of all those cabals, those fears and resentments, those -heart-burnings and bickerings, by which a minor court, in open hostility -with the more powerful, but less popular head of the family, is -tolerably sure to be infested. Berkeley-house, standing on the site of -Devonshire-house, and giving the name to Berkeley-square, was at this -time the last house in Piccadilly, a distinction which Devonshire-house -also possessed until long after the year 1700.[280] - -The Princess lived here with her favourite and other friends in a very -quiet manner, never seeing the Queen, who still, through Lady -Fitzharding and other mediators, insisted upon the dismissal of Lady -Marlborough as the condition of reconciliation between herself and Anne; -whilst Anne, with her native obstinacy, adhered to her friend in -preference to her kindred. - -The unkindness of the Queen, however, could only injure the Princess in -one way, that of stopping her revenues; but Lord Godolphin was -Treasurer, a man too useful to the court to be offended, and who, as the -King knew, would quit his office in preference to refuse paying an -annuity which had been voted by act of Parliament. Between these -discordant sisters, one stay, one common subject of interest and source -of affection, there still however was, to mitigate the anger of Mary, -and to preserve the semblance of a bond of union between the family. The -hopes of the nation, the pride of his family and his preceptors, and the -promising representative of weak parents, the infant Duke of Gloucester -was now the sole object of mutual interest, for to their common parent -the royal sisters could not look conjointly for comfort. Anne had, -indeed, already reconciled herself to that culpable monarch, though -injured parent, whom she had deserted in the hour of trial; and, upon -the threatened invasion of James, had written to assure him that she -should fly to him the instant she heard of his landing, saying, “She -could ask for his forgiveness, being his daughter, but how could she ask -him to present her duty to the Queen?”[281] But Mary, at variance to her -dying day with her father, could not join with her sister in those -expressions of duty and sentiments of affection, which might have proved -a bond between her and Anne, but which were all turned to bitterness in -the mind of one who loved her husband, to use her own habitual -expression, “more than she loved her life.”[282] - -William Duke of Gloucester, a child, at this time, of three years old, -was now, therefore, the only bond between these disunited sisters. This -Prince, subsequently the favoured charge of the great Marlborough, and -of the celebrated Bishop Burnet, was the only surviving offspring of the -Prince and Princess of Denmark, of six children, most of whom had died -as soon as they were born, and only one of whom, a daughter, had -attained the age of a twelvemonth. Both William and Mary appear to have -regarded this promising but premature scion of their house as their own -peculiar possession; and William, especially after the death of his -Queen, manifested the tenderest solicitude for the health and welfare of -the young Prince; a circumstance which seemed to imply that the Duke had -been dear to his deceased and lamented wife.[283] - -The Duchess of Marlborough, indeed, intimates that whenever her Majesty -made the young Prince any present of “rattles” or other playthings, “she -took especial care to have her attention inserted in the Gazette. -Whenever the Duke was ill, she sent a bedchamber woman to Camden-house, -to inquire how he did. But this compliment was made in so offensive a -manner to the Princess, that I have often wondered how any mortal could -hear it with patience. For whoever was sent, used to come without any -ceremony into the room where the Princess was, and passing by her, as -she stood or sat, without taking more notice of her than if she had been -a rocker, go directly up to the Duke, and make their speech to him, or -to the nurse, as he lay in her lap.”[284] - -The Princess, however, happy in her favourite circle, seems to have -received these indignities with her wonted apathy, whilst she testified -her affection for Lord and Lady Marlborough by the offer of a pension of -a thousand pounds a year, creating a new place in her household as an -excuse for that granted annuity to one whom she considered as a victim -in her cause. But Marlborough, though his income was materially reduced -by the loss of his lucrative employments, respectfully declined the -generosity of his kind patroness.[285] - -These bickerings between the Queen and the Princess were soon, however, -painfully and effectually terminated. The small-pox at that time raged -fearfully in London. Thousands died of the disease, and apprehensions -were entertained for the safety of the Queen, who had never had the -cruel distemper. Mary had a short time previously been much concerned at -the sudden decease of Archbishop Tillotson, who was struck with palsy -whilst performing service in Whitehall Chapel. She had spoken of this -revered prelate with tears, and her mind had been considerably disturbed -at the loss of so valuable a friend. Whilst still grieving for this -event, she fell ill; but her natural spirits sustained her. The disease -seemed to subside; and to Bishop Burnet, who was with her for an hour on -the day of the attack, she complained of nothing. On the following -morning she went out; but returned oppressed with the cruel malady to -her closet. There she shut herself up, burnt many of her papers, and put -the rest in order. Nevertheless, thinking it might be only a transient -indisposition, she used some slight remedies: these were ineffectual to -relieve her, and in two days the small-pox appeared in its most -malignant form.[286] - -The Princess Anne was at this time indisposed, and remaining, by her -physician’s advice, upon one floor, lying constantly on a couch. Yet, -upon hearing of the Queen’s illness, she sent a lady of the bedchamber -with a message of kindness and respect, begging that her Majesty would -allow her the happiness of waiting on her, and declaring that she would -run any risk in her present situation to have that satisfaction. To this -message, which was delivered to the Queen herself, a reply was returned, -in the King’s name, that the Queen would send an answer on the following -day. Accordingly a letter arrived, announcing that, since the Queen was -ordered to be kept as quiet as possible, the writer, Lady Derby,[287] -was ordered by the King to request that the Princess would defer her -visit. - -The construction which Lady Marlborough put upon this “civil answer was, -that poor Queen Mary’s disease was mortal, more than even if the -physicians had told her that it was;” yet she added also the -uncharitable interpretation, “that the deferring the Princess’s coming -was only to leave room for continuing the quarrel, in case the Queen -should chance to recover, or for reconciliation with the King (if that -should be thought convenient) in case of the Queen’s death.”[288] - -Be that as it may, the two sisters never met again. The King, -overwhelmed by a knowledge of the Queen’s danger, seems to have been -occupied with far different thoughts than those imputed to him by the -Duchess, and probably consulted only the Queen’s well-doing, when he -prohibited a harassing interview between her and the Princess, which -might have hastened the approaching event. On the third day of Mary’s -illness, the stern, reserved monarch was completely bowed down by the -intelligence that the medical advice called to supersede the erroneous -treatment of Dr. Ratcliffe, was resorted to too late. He called Dr. -Burnet into his closet, and with a burst of anguish exclaimed, that -there was “No hope of the Queen; that, from being the happiest, he was -now going to be the most miserable creature upon earth.” The Queen bore -the awful consciousness of approaching death with far more composure -than he, for whom she had sacrificed every other tie, could assume. When -apprised by Archbishop Tenison that all hope of her recovery was at an -end, she quickly comprehended the reverend prelate’s intention, for -which he sought to prepare her by degrees. She evinced no agitation. She -said, she thanked God that she had always resolved that nothing should -be left to the last hour; she had then nothing to do, but to look up to -God, and submit to his will. Indeed, as one who loved this virtuous -Princess observes, “her piety went farther than submission, for she -seemed to desire death rather than life.”[289] - -Whilst this solemn scene was passing at Kensington, the Princess sent -every day to inquire after the state of the Queen, but received no -encouragement to urge her desire of an interview. On one occasion, the -Lady Fitzharding, who had the charge of the Duke of Gloucester, broke -into the room where the dying Mary lay, and declaring the Princess’s -message to her, endeavoured to impress her Majesty with a sense of her -sister’s distress. The Queen, according to the Duchess of Marlborough, -returned no answer but “a cold thanks.”[290] Nor did she ever, in the -course of her illness, send any message whatsoever to the sister from -whom she was estranged. In extenuation of this seeming inconsistency in -one so devout, it must be stated, that she had so far adopted the -stoical notions of her husband, as to preclude him and herself from the -trial of a last farewell. After causing to be delivered to him a small -casket, in which she had formerly written her sentiments, she devoted -her time to prayer. The Archbishop of Canterbury administering, and all -the bishops standing round, Mary received the Holy Communion—that solemn -service, in which, even in the fulness of health, we cannot participate -without an awful consciousness of the immediate presence of our Maker. -Faint but calm, the dying Queen followed the whole office; and, when -that was concluded, she composed herself to meet her God. She slumbered -sometimes, but she was not refreshed; for, “like others who labour and -are heavy laden,” nothing refreshed her but prayer. At last her strong -reason began to be obscured, her speech to falter; she tried in vain to -say something to the King; she endeavoured to join in the holy offices -of the archbishops. Cordials were given her; but all was ineffectual; -and she sank about one o’clock in the morning of the twenty-eighth of -December, her disorder having first displayed fatal symptoms on -Christmas Day.[291] - -In this beautiful picture of an exemplary deathbed, but two objects are -wanting: a father reconciled, a sister restored to affection. But the -father, who regretted more that his daughter died unforgiven by him, and -undutiful, than her death itself, was at a distance; his pardon and his -blessing could not have been obtained. The sister prayed for admission, -and was refused. Such is the effect of party violence, which ruled even -in the breast of the pious, affectionate, and strong-minded Mary! If it -be said, “how hardly shall a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven,” it -may also be a matter of consideration how difficult it must prove for -the soul, torn by the strong contending passions which darken a -political career, to enter into that blessed rest, where selfishness and -ambition can find no mansion! - -The Princess Anne, unchecked by indifference to her amiable advances, by -the advice of Lord Sunderland and others, wrote to the King, shortly -after the Queen’s death, a letter expressive of her “sincere and hearty -sorrow for his affliction,” and declaring herself “as sensibly touched -by his misfortune,” as if she had not been so unhappy as to fall under -her sister’s displeasure. Her letter found the King too dejected, and -too much humbled by his calamity, to think of refusing her petition. -During the Queen’s illness, his anguish had broken out into violent -lamentations; after her death his spirits sank so low, that many persons -feared that he was following her. In this depression of spirits and -strength, he betook himself to those aids of religion which, with a due -seriousness, and a respect for sacred subjects, he had never, during his -busy intercourse with the great world, resorted to with heartfelt -earnestness, as the only solace, the only cure for bereavements which -leave us heart-broken, dependent, and wretched beings. - -Whilst William was in this state of mind, the great and good Lord -Somers, who had long lamented the feuds which disturbed the royal -family, visited him at Kensington, for the purpose of interceding with a -view to reconciling these differences. He found the King sitting at the -end of his closet in an agony of grief, little to be expected from one -who rarely betrayed the passions by which his spirits were now -overwhelmed. The King, lost in his own bitter reflections, paid no -attention to the entrance of Lord Somers, until that nobleman, -remarkable for his courtesy and prudence,[292] broke the silence by -expressing a hope that now all disunion between his Majesty and the -Princess Anne might cease. “My lord, do what you will; I can think of no -business,” was the agonised reply of the King; and to all the -observations which Somers made, he returned no other answer.[293] The -Duchess of Marlborough, however, imputes the reconciliation to Lord -Sunderland, who had, on all occasions, as she says, shown himself to be -a man of sense and breeding, and had used his utmost endeavours, before -the Queen’s death, to make up the breach between the two sisters, -though, she thinks, he never could have succeeded during the lifetime of -Mary. Although the reconciliation was opposed by the Earl of Portland, -yet the quarrel was at last adjusted; and Anne visited the King, who -received her with cordiality, and promised her that St. James’s palace -should in future be her residence.[294] - -“And now,” says the Duchess, “it being publicly known that the quarrel -was made up, nothing was to be seen but crowds of people of all sorts -flocking to Berkeley-house, to pay their respects to the _Prince_ and -_Princess_: a sudden alteration which, I remember, occasioned the -half-witted Lord Carmarthen to say one night to the Princess, as he -stood close by her in the circle, ‘_I hope your highness will remember -that I came to wait upon you when none of this company did_;’ which -caused a great deal of mirth.” - -But although matters were thus publicly made up, the King, at least in -the opinion of the Duchess, never cared to testify the slightest public -respect for Anne, nor to conciliate her regard. From the beginning of -his reign, when he committed the heinous offence on which much stress -was laid, that of disappointing the Princess of a plate of peas on which -she had set her mind,[295] to the last hour, he was still mightily -indifferent to the placid, but, it must be acknowledged, somewhat -uninteresting Anne. But all his affronts were borne with imperturbable -patience by the Princess. When she waited upon his Majesty at -Kensington, no more respect was shown her than to any other lady, “till -the thing caused some discourse in town, after which Lord Jersey waited -upon her once or twice down stairs, but not oftener. And if any one came -to meet her,” continues the Duchess, “it was a page of the back-stairs, -or some person whose face was not known. And the Princess, upon these -occasions, waited an hour and a half, just upon the same foot as the -rest of the company, and not the least excuse was made for it.”[296] - -All this submission was very galling to the proud, high-spirited -favourite, who would have braved William in presence of his whole court, -had she been the Princess, rather than have paid one tribute of respect -to the careless and contemptuous monarch. Lady Marlborough looked on -indignant, and was of opinion that the Princess conciliated a great deal -too much. She could not endure that her royal mistress should move a -single step that she would not have taken in her place; nor was there a -single advance on Anne’s part of which she approved, except her last -letter to the Queen, and her offer of visiting her dying sister.[297] -This candid acknowledgment she makes with an almost indecent boldness, -not to be wondered at in one who, in her later days, defended herself, -in a court of justice, a suit against her grandson.[298] - -It must, indeed, be allowed, that the list of petty grievances with -which the Duchess swells the indignities offered to the Princess Anne, -appears, at this distance of time, puerile and vexatious. Her complaints -are detailed with a solemnity which seems ridiculous, now that all the -stirring passions which gave importance to those incidents are at rest. -Her narrative, sarcastic as it is, was unfortunately polished by the -hired assistance of Hook, the historian, and, after repeated revisions, -which must have shorn many pungent and characteristic passages, was -given to the disappointed public, respectably moderate. Still these -“annals of a wardrobe,” as Horace Walpole designates them, this “history -of the back stairs,” possess—as even he who speaks of “old Marlborough” -with bitter contempt is fain to allow—some “curious anecdotes, some -sallies of wit, which fourscore years of arrogance could not fail to -produce in so fantastic an understanding.”[299] - -With the account of the death of Queen Mary, much of the Duchess’s -caustic satire subsides. Still she has a few touches reserved for -William. Even the sorrow which the monarch experienced, and his desolate -situation in a foreign country, where he reigned unloved, did not soften -the unceasing aversion and contempt with which the Duchess regarded the -royal widower. - -His first grave offence, after Mary’s decease, was his silence in regard -to a letter written by the dutiful and subservient Anne, congratulating -his Majesty upon the honour done to his name and adopted country, by the -taking of Namûr. Probably the King would have received congratulations -with a better grace, from any one than from her, who might regard -herself as having a sort of partnership interest in the glory of -England. Good wishes from Anne were somewhat like the next heir to an -estate setting forth a strain of rejoicing, on the growth of timber, or -on the improvement of lands, to him who was actually in possession. The -King took no notice of the humble epistle, or, in the Duchess’s words, -“showed his brutal disregard for the writer,” by never returning “any -answer to it, nor so much as a civil message.”[300] - -The next offence, and it certainly was one which spoke ill of William’s -good breeding, was his compelling Prince George to wear coloured clothes -on the royal birthday, almost immediately after the death of his -brother, the King of Denmark. The Prince, knowing that deep mourning was -sometimes allowed in certain instances, requested, through Lord -Albemarle, permission to keep on his mourning when he paid his respects -to his Majesty.[301] William’s ungracious reply was, that he should not -see his brother-in-law unless he came in colours; and the subservient -Prince was forced to comply. - -“I believe,” says the Duchess, after relating this instance of William’s -contemptuous conduct, “I could fill as many sheets as I have already -written, with relating the brutalities that were done to the Prince and -Princess in this reign. The King was, indeed, so ill-natured, and so -little polished by education, that neither in great things nor in small -had he the manners of a gentleman.”[302] - -The Duchess makes no allowance for his Majesty’s habits and character. -Precise as he seems to have been in the article of Prince George’s -attire, William hated formalities, and especially those public addresses -which must be so peculiarly tedious to a sovereign. Respecting this very -siege of Namûr, touching which he gave so much offence to the Duchess, -he committed an act of ill-breeding towards no less an individual than -the mayor of a borough. This worshipful person having come to court to -present an address, combining the two dissimilar topics of condolence -for the death of the Queen, and congratulation for the success at Namûr, -introduced himself by saying that “he came with joy in one hand and -grief in the other.” “Pray put them both into one hand, good Mr. Mayor,” -was the King’s laconic remark, heedless of the impression which he made -upon formal courtiers and ladies in waiting, who, like the Duchess of -Marlborough, could sooner pardon a defect in morals, than a solecism in -manners.[303] It was probable, from his Majesty’s known aversion to -compliments, public and private, that he intended no offence to the -Princess Anne, when he committed the “brutality” of not answering her -letter. - -Notwithstanding the spirit manifested in these animadversions by the -Countess of Marlborough, the Earl sought every opportunity of -maintaining the good understanding between the Princess and the -court.[304] This he justly thought of importance, possibly for the -reason avowed by Dalrymple, that an apparent reconciliation between the -royal family had all the good effects of a real one, “because it obliged -inferior figures to suspend their passions by the example of their -superiors.”[305] But Marlborough, although taking an active part in the -House of Lords, was not at present allowed to enter the royal presence, -though having a “fair and very great reversion” of favour.[306] - -The only adverse event during the remaining portion of William’s reign, -which particularly affected Lord and Lady Marlborough, was the -conspiracy of Sir John Fenwick, one of the most active Jacobites of the -day. With this party, though not personally with Fenwick, Marlborough, -it cannot be denied, had been deeply and culpably implicated. No -considerations can excuse the dishonourable intercourse which -Marlborough, in conjunction with Godolphin and others, had carried on -with the exiled monarch. It resulted from a temporising and mean policy, -which sought to secure an indemnity from James in case of his -restoration, or of the accession of the Prince of Wales. If the reasons -which engaged Marlborough to aid the accession of William were valid, -and sprang from a pure source, those reasons were still in force to -promote the peaceable rule of the reigning monarch, and to support him -on his throne. - -The rash encouragement which Godolphin and Marlborough had given to -James’s emissaries, now involved them in a serious dilemma. Fenwick, -convicted, upon the evidence of an intercepted letter to his wife, of -being concerned in the plot formed at this time to assassinate William, -sought to avert the justly merited sentence from which he afterwards -suffered, by a disclosure of the names of those whom he declared to have -been concerned in the conspiracy. He was instructed in the details of -his pretended confessions, by Lord Monmouth, afterwards the noted and -eccentric Earl of Peterborough. He accused the Duke of Shrewsbury, the -Earl of Marlborough, Godolphin, and Russell, of treasonable practices; -and of having, in particular, accepted pardons from the late King. - -These noblemen were, however, fully cleared of the charges made against -them by Fenwick; and Marlborough, standing up in his place in the House -of Lords, solemnly denied ever having had any conversation whatsoever -with Sir John Fenwick during the reign of the present King. Lord -Godolphin vindicated himself in the same manner. Fenwick was executed, -and Monmouth stripped of all his offices, and sent to the Tower; but was -saved from further punishment by the mediation of Bishop Burnet.[307] -Cleared, therefore, from this atrocious accusation, Marlborough, who, -with his wife, had suffered much uneasiness whilst the proceedings -against Fenwick were pending, experienced, in the end, the security -which a subject derives from the dominion of a rightly thinking and -high-minded prince, and the superior strength and wisdom of such a -government to the uncertain rule of passion and despotism. It was -William’s policy to make large allowance for the transient defection of -his subjects; to endeavour to bring them back to duty by mildness and -forgiveness; and to show no petty spleen, nor undue displeasure at the -lingering fondness which they might cherish for their absent and -justly-deposed monarch. Some time, however, elapsed before Marlborough -received any outward proof of his sovereign’s restored confidence. -William, indeed, openly regretted that he could not employ a nobleman -who was great both in military affairs and as a cabinet minister, and -“one who never made a difficulty.”[308] But, at length, either the -King’s scruples were overcome: or, as he allowed, in any enterprise, -choosing to act upon the principle of converting an enemy into a friend, -he appointed Marlborough to a situation of the highest trust. - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - 1697, 1698. - - Circumstances attending the Peace of Ryswick—Appointment of - Marlborough to the office of preceptor to the Duke of - Gloucester—Bishop Burnet—His appointment and character. - - -The peace of Ryswick, in 1697, was accompanied by two acts, intended, on -the part of William the Third, to relieve and indemnify his predecessor -for some of his disappointments and afflictions. On the one hand, the -King bound himself to pay fifty thousand pounds a year to Mary of -Modena, the wife of James; a sum which would have been her jointure had -she continued Queen of England. By another act William consented that -the son of James the Second, afterwards known as the Pretender, should -be educated in England in the Protestant faith, and should inherit the -crown after his own death.[309] Such were his just intentions; but, in -consequence of the distinct refusal of James on both these points, the -Pretender lost his crown, and his mother her jointure; and the hopes of -the country, and the kindly feelings of the King, were henceforth -centered in William, the young Duke of Gloucester, the only surviving -child of the Prince and Princess of Denmark. - -The Duke was now entering his tenth year; and it was thought advisable -to withdraw him from the care of female instructresses, and to place -him under the guidance of the learned and the valiant. He was a child -of singular promise, and of a precocious capacity, foreboding weakness -of body and premature decay. The King long hesitated before he could -resolve to comply with the wishes of the Princess Anne, who earnestly -desired that Marlborough might be appointed her son’s governor. The -situation was first offered to the Duke of Shrewsbury, but was -declined by that nobleman, whose infirm health rendered him, at that -time, desirous of retiring from public life. There was a considerable -struggle in the mind of William before he could decide to place, in so -responsible an office as that of governor, the man upon whom all the -most enlightened of his advisers had fixed, as the proper tutor for -the Prince. At length, the persuasions of the Earl of Sunderland, and -of Lord Albemarle, who had succeeded Lord Portland in the royal -favour, induced the monarch to bestow the honour upon Marlborough. It -was conferred with these remarkable words: “Teach the Duke of -Gloucester, my lord, to be like yourself, and my nephew cannot want -accomplishments.”[310] On the evening of this appointment, June 19th, -1698, Lord Marlborough was sworn one of the privy council. - -This sudden restoration to good fortune and to the King’s confidence -acted doubtless beneficially upon the disposition of Lord Marlborough, -who, like all superior natures, received benefits with the kindly spirit -with which they were proffered. But no conciliation could mollify the -implacable spirit of Lady Marlborough, nor reconcile her to the monarch -who had once consented to the indignity offered to her, of forbidding -her the court. Instead, therefore, of softening her tone when she -discusses the events of this period, or of acknowledging the distinction -conferred on Lord Marlborough, she refers to the arrangements respecting -the household of the young Duke, as plainly proving that the Princess -judged rightly, when she refused, on a former occasion, to leave her -settlement to the generosity of the King. - -William, as the Duchess affirms, obtained from Parliament a grant of -fifty thousand pounds a year for the settlement of the young Duke, but -allowed the young Prince five thousand pounds only of that sum, refusing -even to advance one quarter for plate and furniture, which the Princess -Anne was therefore obliged to supply out of her own funds.[311] The -Princess received, also, a promise from his Majesty that she should have -the appointment of all the household, excepting to the offices of the -deputy-governor and gentlemen of the bedchamber. The message which -brought Anne this assurance was, what the Duchess calls, “so humane,” -and had so different an air from anything the Princess had been used to, -that it gave her “extreme pleasure;” and she instantly set about to fill -up the appointments, making various promises to her own, and undoubtedly -to her favourite’s, friends. What then were the consternation of the -Princess, and the fury of the Countess of Marlborough, when, after a -long delay in confirming these appointments, they were apprised that the -King, who was going abroad, would send a list of those persons whom he -had selected for the Duke’s household. - -The cogitations of two ladies, on such an occasion, may be imagined. The -disappointment of various friends, the affronts sustained by others—the -loss of patronage—the sure gain of contempt and ridicule—all the -awkwardness of the affair must have ruffled even the placid Anne, who -was probably, however, not half sufficiently incensed to satisfy the far -more irritable and indignant Countess. - -Anne, too, was in that condition which rendered any annoyance to her a -matter seriously to be dreaded. She had settled who were to be grooms of -the bedchamber, and who were to be pages of honour, and was not by any -means disposed to unsettle these appointments. - -All this was duly represented to the King by Lord Marlborough, who -respectfully hoped that his Majesty “would not do anything to prejudice -the Queen in her present state;” but this intercession produced no other -effect than a violent fit of passion in the King, who declared that the -Princess “should not be Queen before her time,” and that he would make a -list of what servants the Duke should have. - -At length, however, Keppel Earl of Albemarle, who had more influence -than any other courtier with the King, undertook to settle the affair. -He took the list of the household made out by the Princess, and, whilst -they were in Holland, showed it to the King. The list was, as it -happened, approved by William, with very few alterations. But that was -not, the Duchess declares, owing to the King’s goodness, but “to the -happy choice which the Princess had made of the servants.” Nay, she -further insinuates that the reason of William’s desiring to alter the -list was, that he might place in the household some of the servants of -the last Queen, and by that means save their pensions.[312] - -At length, however, the arrangements were completed. It must be -acknowledged they were made somewhat too soon for the benefit of the -royal child. The young Prince, delicate in frame, would have been -happier perhaps, and, in the event of his living, stronger in mind as -well as in body, had nature, and not etiquette, been made the rule of -his youthful pursuits, and if state and ceremonials, too fatiguing for -his infancy, had been postponed until his childish powers could better -sustain their injurious effects upon his health. But the little victim, -who had struggled into boyhood, the only one of his family, and who was -doomed to be the national hope, and the sole object of the monarch’s -care, was to be rendered valiant, theological, wise—a hero, a wonder—in -short, that miserable being, a prodigy. - -Marlborough was to teach him military tactics and the theory of war. The -boy delighted in all that boys of simpler habits, and in a happier -sphere, usually delight in. He learned with facility all the terms of -fortification and of navigation; knew all the different parts of a -strong ship, and of a man of war; and took pleasure in marshalling as -soldiers a company of boys who had voluntarily enlisted themselves to -form his troop.[313] All this the great Marlborough himself taught him. -In the departments of classical literature and theology, the Duke had -another preceptor, scarcely less celebrated. - -Dr. Gilbert Burnet, whom William now appointed governor to the Duke of -Gloucester in conjunction with Marlborough, was at this time Bishop of -Salisbury, a see which he wished to resign on being appointed preceptor -to the young Prince; being conscientiously averse from holding any -preferment, the duties of which he could not in person superintend. Dr. -Burnet was the intimate friend of the Countess of Marlborough; and -probably he had had some share in forming her political opinions, and in -weaning her from the Tory party, in whose principles the Countess had -been reared. - -It was scarcely possible for the Countess to possess a more valuable -friend, nor the Duke of Gloucester a more enlightened preceptor, than -this able, uncompromising advocate of civil and religious freedom—this -pious divine, this disinterested, scrupulous, and zealous man. Burnet -was of Scotch descent, and his character exhibited some of the noblest -features which distinguish the inhabitants of the north of the Tweed, in -all varieties of situation and circumstance. Like many great men, he -owed much of his eminence, and most of his religious impressions, to his -mother. She was a Presbyterian, a sister of the famous Sir Alexander -Johnston, Lord Warristoun, who headed the Presbyterians during the civil -wars, and whom no alliance nor kindred could bend to show any lenity to -those who refused the solemn league and covenant. Dr. Burnet’s father, -differing from these opinions, from the conviction that the -Presbyterians did not intend to reform abuses in the Episcopal church, -but to destroy that church itself, resolutely rejected the league and -covenant; and was, on that account, at three several times, obliged to -fly from his native county of Aberdeen; and, during one occasion, to -remain five years in exile. Such were some of the consequences of -fanatic zeal, in those disturbed and uncomfortable times. - -By his father, himself a barrister, Burnet was educated, until he -attained ten years of age, when, being a master of the Latin tongue, he -was removed to Aberdeen College, and at fourteen began to study for the -bar; such was the precocity of his intellect; in some respects, the -effect of the custom of the day. - -Fortunately for the Church of England, Burnet, after a year’s -application to the law, changed his course of studies, and applied -himself to divinity, for which his father had originally destined him. -When eighteen years of age, he was put upon his trial as a probationary -preacher, the first step in Scotland towards an admission into orders, -both in the Episcopal and in the Presbyterian church. From this epoch in -his career, he devoted his life to the service of the church. He -improved his notions upon many matters, in those times still unsettled, -relative to the rites and ceremonies of the church, by conversing with -the learned at the English universities. By foreign travelling, he -enlarged his ideas concerning the differences into which learned and -pious men fall, upon points of discipline and matters of doctrine. -Whilst residing in Holland, he became acquainted with the leading men of -the various persuasions tolerated in that country; the Arminians, -Papists, Unitarians, Brownists, and Lutherans, all passed under review -in his reflecting mind; and, from the observation of the pious -dispositions and high motives, of which he met with instances among all -professing Christians, he drew this satisfactory and benevolent -conclusion, that nothing but general charity could be acceptable to the -great Ruler of men; he learned to abhor severity, and to see the beauty -and wisdom of universal toleration. - -Thus prepared for the eminent station which he afterwards filled, and -for the great part which he had to act, Burnet, during a protracted -intercourse with the kings and nobles of the land, held fast his -integrity. When chaplain to Charles the Second, he remonstrated with him -on his licentious course of life, fearless of the consequences to -himself. He laboured with as little success to convert James from the -doctrines of papacy. At a time when silence would have best aided his -preferment in the church, he published his History of the Reformation, -for which he received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament. Nor did -he lose any opportunity of publicly admonishing, and of privately -reclaiming, the abandoned members of the aristocracy; and of calling -sinners of all ranks and conditions to repentance. His preaching was -earnest, unstudied, emphatic, effective. He improved upon the Scottish -mode of giving premeditated discourses from memory, and by allotting -many hours of the day to meditation on any given subject, and then -accustoming himself to speak upon those aloud, he attained a remarkable -facility in that mode of religious instruction, which is, of all others, -when well acquired, the most effective.[314] - -It was whilst this excellent and energetic man was chaplain to Charles -the Second, an unwilling witness of the corruptions of the court, that -he was requested to visit a female of abandoned character, who had been -treading the paths of destruction with the celebrated Wilmot Earl of -Rochester. Burnet, at this time without any parochial duty, never -refused his aid to those who sought it. He went to the sinner, and left -her penitent; but the good which he did ceased not here, but shed its -beams forth in a “naughty world.” The Earl of Rochester, hearing of the -manner in which the divine had reclaimed the unfortunate partner of his -guilt, sent for Burnet; and during a whole winter, once in every week, -went over with him all those topics by which infidelity attacks the -christian religion. The judgment of the sceptic, Rochester, was -convinced; his conviction of the importance of moral duty established; -his proud spirit laid prostrate; his opinions and his deportment -entirely changed. He died a sincere penitent; whilst Burnet, in -bequeathing to posterity the memorial of the sceptical difficulties, of -the true contrition, of this misled and sinful man, has left to the -infatuated and to the erring a legacy of inestimable price. In the words -of Dr. Johnson, speaking of the bishop’s account of these conferences, -entitled “Some Passages in the Life of John Earl of Rochester,” “the -critic ought to read it for its elegance, the philosopher for its -argument, the saint for its piety.”[315] - -Burnet, both by his own account and that of his biographer, appears to -have been very unwilling to undertake the charge now offered to him by -the King, and pressed upon him by the Princess. “I used,” he says, “all -possible endeavours to decline the office.” - -Having once, however, consented, he devoted himself with his usual -ardour to the important task of educating the Prince. His admirable -observations on education, in the conclusion of his History, show how -excellently qualified the bishop was for the task. He went beyond his -age, and was devoid of the narrow views and prejudices of his time. The -great design of instruction was, as he justly thought, to inculcate -great and noble sentiments, to give general information, to avoid -pedantry, and to represent virtue and religion in the true light, as the -only important, the only stable acquisitions in this sublunary state. He -looked with regret on the errors committed by parents of the highest -rank, who, lavish in other respects, were narrow in their notions of -expenditure on education; he regarded education as “the foundation of -all that could be proposed for bettering the next age.” He considered -that “it should be one of the chief cares of all government.”[316] - -With such a preceptor, it may readily be supposed how exact, and how -earnest, would be those lessons guided by such high principles. “I -took,” says the bishop, “to my own province, the reading and explaining -the scriptures to him, the instructing him in the principles of religion -and the rules of virtue, and the giving him a view of history, -geography, politics, and government;” instructions which the peculiar -though simple eloquence of the bishop might have rendered invaluable in -any other case. - -But such advantages as these were adapted to one of riper years, and of -a more hardy constitution than the feeble Prince. His progress was -indeed amazing. Under the guidance of the bishop he attained a religious -knowledge which was, says Burnet, “beyond imagination.” His inquiries, -his reflections, his pursuits, were those of a precocious and highly -endowed mind. The custom of the times authorised this hot-bed culture to -the infant mind. Our nobles and gentry were generally members of the -universities at a period of life when now they would be school-boys. But -the approved mode of rearing a vigorous plant cannot be pursued with a -tender and delicate shoot. Henry Prince of Wales, the wonder of the -court of James the First; and the Duke of Gloucester, the last remaining -object of the Princess Anne’s maternal affection, are instances of -excellence too prematurely developed to be permanent. The event of two -years showed, indeed, that the care and zeal bestowed upon the powers of -the Duke’s mind might with advantage have been postponed, however -admirable the intentions, and valuable the instructions, of his -distinguished preceptors. - -Whilst Marlborough, with his eminent colleague, was training up the -young Prince to prove, as they hoped, an honour to his country, the -great general’s own family were growing up around him, displaying more -than the ordinary graces and promise of youth. At this time, five -children, one son and four daughters, formed the domestic circle of Lord -and Lady Marlborough. Yet they were not destined to derive unalloyed -felicity from these fondly prized objects of paternal affection. Their -eldest son, afterwards Marquis of Blandford, a youth of considerable -attainments, and of great moral excellence, was eventually consigned by -his disconsolate parents to an early grave. The beauty and talents of -their daughters were counterbalanced by defects which occasioned many -heart-burnings, and much “home-bred” infelicity, in the latter period of -Lady Marlborough’s life. - -Henrietta, the eldest daughter of these distinguished parents, inherited -much of her mother’s spirit, with more than Lady Marlborough’s personal -charms, and with a great portion of that mother’s less enviable temper. -When old age and bitter humiliation had added to the Duchess of -Marlborough’s native moroseness, which they ought rather to have -subdued, their eldest daughter and she were long at variance, and never -reconciled. Yet, in a happier season, better expectations and brighter -hopes were formed in the prospect of an union between Lady Henrietta, -and the son of Lord and Lady Marlborough’s most intimate and valued -friend. At this time, in her eighteenth year, the Lady Henrietta had -already attracted many admirers. The intimacy of her parents with Lord -Godolphin directed, however, her inclination to one object, Francis, -Lord Rialton, the eldest son of the Earl. The attachment between these -two young persons began at a very early age, and was viewed with -approbation by the parents on both sides, although the advantages to be -derived from the projected marriage were chiefly, in worldly respects, -on the side of Lord Rialton; Godolphin having, two years previously, -resigned his situation as first lord of the Treasury, at the time of Sir -John Fenwick’s accusations, and, whilst he conducted the public -finances, he had rather impaired than improved his own property. But -similarity of political opinions, a close intimacy, mutual confidence -and respect, rendered the prospect of a near alliance with Godolphin not -only agreeable, but advantageous; and Marlborough, in his subsequent -campaigns, and after Godolphin was reinstated in his office, experienced -the benefit of possessing a friend at the head of that important -department, in which Lord Godolphin, as first lord of the Treasury, -aided all the great general’s designs, by a prompt attention to a supply -of those means without which the most skilful projects could not have -succeeded. - -When Lady Henrietta had completed her eighteenth year, the marriage with -Lord Rialton took place. The fortune of Lord Marlborough did not, at -this time, authorise him to bestow a large portion on his daughter; yet -he prudently and honourably declined the ample settlement which the -Princess Anne, with kindness of intention, and delicacy of manner, -offered to make in favour of the lovely bride. The sum which her royal -highness proposed was ten thousand pounds; one half of which was -accepted by her favourites, who added five thousand pounds to the -liberal gift. And with an establishment ill suited to their rank, but -probably sufficient for happiness, the young couple were obliged to be -content. - -Lady Anne Churchill, next in age to Lady Rialton, and according to -Horace Walpole, “the most beautiful of all Lady Churchill’s four -charming daughters,”[317] excelled her sister Henrietta in sweetness of -disposition, as well as in external advantages. Her amiable manners, and -the possession of mental qualities beyond her age, particularly endeared -this beautiful and affectionate daughter to her parents. She was the -object of admiration, as well as of affection. Lady Anne received, -before her marriage, the flattering tribute of complimentary verses from -Lord Godolphin, who delighted to relieve the duties of the great master -of finance by the fascinating attempts of the poetaster.[318] Lord -Halifax, of whose poetry, we must agree with Dr. Johnson, that “a short -time has withered the beauties,”[319] celebrated also the charms of Lady -Anne, in verses somewhat better, though not above mediocrity. Yet it was -not the fate of this admired young lady, at first, to inspire that -ardent attachment in the husband selected for her by her parents, which -her beauty and her goodness of disposition merited. - -Amongst the most intimate of Lord Marlborough’s friends, Robert Spencer, -Earl of Sunderland, secretary of state and president of the council to -James the Second, had proved himself, at the time of Marlborough’s -disgrace at court, the most zealous of his advocates. Sunderland, who -had encountered a variety of accusations for countenancing popery to -please King James, and for betraying that monarch afterwards to William, -was now in high favour with the reigning sovereign, over whom he -exercised a remarkable ascendency. Although beloved neither by Whig nor -Tory, his ministry was more efficient than any which succeeded it in the -time of William. Of disputed integrity, but of acknowledged talents, -Lord Sunderland was, however, constrained to bend beneath the violence -of party. He withdrew about this time from public life, notwithstanding -the earnest entreaties of the King that he would remain near him; and, -fearing that in the attacks made upon him by the Tories he would not be -supported by the Whigs, Sunderland fled from the censures for which he -felt there was too real a foundation, in his conduct during the -preceding reign.[320] - -Between the Countess of Sunderland and Lady Marlborough there existed a -friendship of an enthusiastic, almost a romantic character. This -affectionate intimacy was accounted for by mutual obligations and common -misfortunes, shared by the two great statesmen, the husbands of these -two ladies. - -After the revolution, Marlborough had exerted his influence to assist -Sunderland in exile and distress. When Marlborough fell into disgrace, -Lord Sunderland had pleaded his cause, and adhered to him with a -grateful constancy; advocating with the King the expediency of placing -Marlborough in the office of preceptor to the young Duke of Gloucester. -The warm attachment between the two Countesses sometimes aroused even -the jealousy of the Princess Anne, who considered Lady Sunderland as her -rival in the affection of the spoiled and flattered Lady -Marlborough,[321] and envied the terms of equality which rendered the -friendship of the two Countesses a source of mutual happiness. Not -devoid of romance in her early years, though in her latter days she -degenerated into coarseness of mind and vulgarity of manners, Anne felt, -it seems, the insuperable barrier which her exalted rank had placed -between her and the delights of a true, disinterested friendship. - -Charles Lord Spencer, the only son of the Earl and Countess of -Sunderland, reported to have been famed alike for “his skill in -negociations and his rapid equestrian movements,”[322] was the object to -whom the ambition of his parents now pointed, as a probable bond of -union between their family and the powerful houses of Marlborough and -Godolphin. The lovely Lady Anne was god-daughter to the Countess of -Sunderland. Her beauty, her accomplishments, and the favour which she -already enjoyed with the Princess Anne, were all cogent reasons for -promoting the match, in the eyes of the veteran courtier and statesman, -Sunderland. The first proposals in the affair seem to have originated on -his side. In one of the letters written on the subject he says:[323] - -“If I see him so settled, I shall desire nothing more in this world but -to die in peace, if it please God. I must add this, that if he can be -thus happy, he will be governed in everything, public and private, by -Lord Marlborough. I have particularly talked to him of that, and he is -sensible how advantageous it will be to him to do so. I need not, I am -sure, desire that this may be a secret to every one but Lady -Marlborough.” - -Notwithstanding their friendship for the family of the Earl, the -suggestion of a closer bond was not at first received by Lord and Lady -Marlborough with encouragement. Perhaps they might regard the betrothing -of their favourite daughter to Lord Spencer somewhat in the light of a -sacrifice. That young nobleman had displayed a character of mind both -uncommon and repulsive: grave, cold, and staid in his deportment, an -ardent, impetuous, and somewhat haughty spirit was concealed beneath -that icy exterior.[324] His political principles were those of -republicanism; his notions of filial duty were tinctured by the actions -of his school-boy studies. Already had he anathematised his father in -the House of Commons, with all the powers of a ready eloquence, and -declared against the crafty Earl for protecting traitors, and for -permitting his mother to harbour her own daughter, the wife of the -attainted Lord Clancarty. For this act of Roman heroism, Lord Spencer -had been extolled by the violent party, and his loyalty to the King -eulogised; since, to serve his Majesty, he would not scruple to expose -his father. But cautious observers had questioned this unnatural -display, which was supposed to be concerted between the young lord and -his father; and Lord Spencer had lost some friends from the -supposition.[325] - -The detestation which Lord Spencer expressed for his father’s opinions, -and especially for those which he had adopted on his conversion to the -Church of Rome, was, however, sincere. On the death of Lord Sunderland, -he took care to manifest his unseemly disrespect, by casting out of the -library which his father had collected, all the works of the holy -fathers, or, as he called them, “dregs of antiquity,” which he -considered well replaced by the works of Machiavel.[326] This -self-opiniativeness characterised his whole career. Though professing -himself a devoted adherent of Lord Somers, Lord Spencer had neither the -moderation nor the true patriotism of that great and good man.[327] He -carried all his notions to extremes; mistook violence and recklessness -for zeal, and bluntness for sincerity; and his private deportment was -ill calculated to obliterate the unfavourable impression which his -public career had imparted. - -To this dark picture we must add, however, before we consider the -portrait of Lord Sunderland to be complete, some, though few, enlivening -touches. Eager for distinction, or at least for notoriety, this nobleman -was, nevertheless, exempt from the mercenary motives by which many -public men were debased. His high spirit led him, though not rich for -his station, to reject a pension offered him by Queen Anne, when, during -her reign, he was left out of the administration. The same indifference -to his pecuniary interests caused him to reject, with indignation, the -attempts made by his mother-in-law to reinstate him in his employments, -in the reign of George the First.[328] And when it is stated that he -discarded the “holy fathers” from his library, after his father’s death, -it must be added that he replaced them by numerous works of great value, -forming a library of considerable extent, and selected with admirable -judgment. - -To this ungenial partner the young and lovely Anne was eventually -consigned. At first, indeed, her parents made many objections to the -marriage. The coldness and indifference of Lord Spencer to their -daughter was the chief obstacle. He was now a widower, having recently -lost, in the Lady Arabella Cavendish, a wife whom he idolised, and for -whom he still mourned with all the depth of feeling, and tenacity of a -man of strong passions, and reserved nature. His political violence was -another impediment, in the opinion of the rightly-judging mind of the -great Marlborough, who saw in the times nothing to justify, but -everything to deprecate, temerity and factious heats. But the Countess -of Marlborough, more disposed to Whig opinions, viewed that objection to -Lord Spencer with far less anxiety than his coldness to her darling -child, and the increased gloom of the young nobleman’s deportment and -countenance. From those she augured little of happiness to a daughter -for whom she evinced true maternal apprehensions, and who lived not to -harass and aggravate her, when the once fascinating Countess, -degenerated into “Old Marlborough,” had become captious and vindictive. -High-minded, though faulty, Lady Marlborough dreaded that her daughter -should be sacrificed to a man who loved her not, and who might be -induced to marry whilst his affections were buried in the grave of -another. The eagerness of Lord and Lady Sunderland for the promotion of -the match—their remonstrances, the earnest solicitations, which they -addressed to their son—all added to her apprehensions, and occasioned -her to draw back somewhat from the first steps in her projected -alliance. - -By degrees, however, the grief of the gloomy young widower yielded to -the loveliness and youthful graces of the Lady Anne. He began not only -to tolerate, but to cherish, the idea of a second marriage. The growing -attachment became ardent, as his other passions; and his mother, eagerly -communicating the change in his feelings to her friend, urged Lady -Marlborough to hasten an union now anxiously desired by her once -reluctant son. - -Lady Marlborough found some scruples, some objections on the part of her -husband, still to overcome. But her influence was paramount. In spite of -many forebodings, induced by the headstrong nature of Lord Spencer, he -gave his consent; but his prognostications, that political differences -between him and his future son-in-law would ere long arise, were -unhappily justified. - -The marriage, however, after a series of negociations which lasted -eighteen months, was solemnised at St. Albans in January 1699–1700, the -Princess Anne bestowing a dowry of five thousand pounds upon the bride, -and her father adding as much more.[329] - -The young couple appear to have lived happily together, though not -without some alloys from the habits and circumstances of Charles Lord -Sunderland. Lady Sunderland became the centre of a political and -fashionable circle, and, as the “Little Whig,” (so called from the -smallness of her stature,) took the lead in that party in the great -world. Years afterwards, the solicitude which Swift evinced to -conciliate her ladyship’s favour, when, during the struggle for power -between the contending parties, the influence of the “Little Whig” might -avail his selfish pursuits, proves the estimation in which Lady -Sunderland’s fascinations were held.[330] - -The Lady Elizabeth, Countess of Bridgwater, third daughter of the Earl -and Countess of Marlborough, is said to have eclipsed her three sisters -in beauty of countenance, eminently gifted as they were in personal -advantages, whilst she was inferior to none in excellence of -disposition. Her face is described to have been remarkable for symmetry: -and its sweet and intelligent expression lent that indescribable charm -to beauty which, in Lady Elizabeth, captivated some singular and -highly-gifted admirers. Pope ventured to admire, and admiring, first -depicted her face, and then her mind. - - “Hence Beauty, waking, all her forms supplies, - An angel’s sweetness, or Bridgwater’s eyes.”[331] - -Yet the poet threw all the drawings which he is said to have made of -this amiable lady into the fire. “She was,” says the monumental -inscription to her memory in Little Gaddesden church, Hertfordshire, “a -lady of exquisite fineness, both of mind and body; agreeably tall; of a -delicate shape and beautiful mien; of a most obliging, winning carriage; -sweetness, modesty, affability, were met together; whatsoever is -virtuous, decent, and praiseworthy, she made the rule of all her -actions; her discourse was cheerful, lively, and ingenuous; pleasing, -without ever saying too much or too little; so that her virtue appeared -with the greatest advantage and lustre; her address was as became her -quality, great, without pride; admired and unenvied by her equals; and -none condescended with greater grace and satisfaction to her -inferiors.”[332] - -For this accomplished being a suitable settlement in life was provided; -and, at a very early age, she was united to Scrope, Earl, and afterwards -Duke, of Bridgwater. - -If we may judge from the inscription on her monument, this union appears -to have been as replete with happiness as the fondest parents could have -wished. “Happy,” says the epitaph, “her lord in such a wife; happy her -children in such a mother; happy her servants that duly attended upon -her. Being arrived at the highest pitch of worldly felicity, in full -enjoyment of tenderest love and esteem of her entirely beloved husband, -universally admired and spoken of for every good quality.”[333] - -Such were the terms employed in describing this beloved child of the -Marlborough family, whose early fate, like that of her sister, Lady -Sunderland, afterwards embittered their father’s old age, and hastened -his death by the effects of grief. - -His youngest daughter, Lady Mary, Pope’s “Angel Duchess Montagu,” -married, in 1705, John Montagu, Duke of Montagu, Grand Master of the -Order of the Bath, and the trusted servant of successive -sovereigns.[334] The Duchess of Montagu became, eventually, one of the -bedchamber ladies to the Princess of Males, afterwards Queen Caroline, -towards whom her mother, the Duchess of Marlborough, imbibed a strong -aversion. “The Angel Duchess Montagu,” beautiful as her sisters, appears -not to have verified that name in her subsequent conduct to her mother, -with whom she was long at bitter variance. At this epoch of the Duchess -of Marlborough’s life, Lady Mary was, however, yet a child, and her -mother’s temper had not shone forth, as afterwards it became apparent, -in her conduct. - -Thus, in the exalted stations which her children attained, the ambition -of Lady Marlborough, as a mother, may be supposed to have been fully -gratified. But whilst she accomplished for them, aided by their personal -advantages, connexions all advantageous, though not equally splendid, -she omitted to sow the good seed of filial subjection, which is ever -best secured by cultivating the affections. In her family she may be -said to have been peculiarly unhappy. Not many years elapsed after Lord -Marlborough was raised to a dukedom, before his son, the Marquis of -Blandford, the sole male representative of his father’s honours, was -summoned to an early grave. The title eventually descended in the female -line, and Lady Godolphin became Duchess of Marlborough. With this -daughter Lady Marlborough was many years embroiled in endless -contentions, and the latter period of the illustrious Marlborough’s life -was employed in the vain attempt to mediate between two fierce and -grasping combatants. Money, as usual, was the cause of the combustion, -and a total alienation the result. - -Lady Sunderland died young, but her sons became at once the delight and -the torment of their grandmother in the decline of her long-lived -importance, and, as it almost appeared, of her judgment and sense of -decorum. - -Lady Bridgwater also died too early for _her_ contentions with her -mother to be signalised; but she left a daughter, the Duchess of -Bedford, afterwards married to Lord Jersey, between whom and the Duchess -of Marlborough a running warfare was long maintained. - -With her youngest daughter, the Duchess of Montagu, the irritable -Duchess was on terms equally unhappy. The Duke of Marlborough was heard -to observe, speaking to his wife of this daughter, “I wonder you cannot -agree, you are so alike!”—a speech which augurs ill for the Duchess of -Montagu’s temper. The lively and amiable Duchess of Manchester, -granddaughter of the aged and morose Sarah, and described by one who -knew her as “all spirit, justice, honour,” possessed that influence over -her grandmother which gay and open characters often seem to acquire, by -the unpremeditated frankness which charms whilst it half offends. -“Duchess of Manchester,” said her old grandmother to her one day, “you -are a good creature, but you _have_ a mother.”—“And _she_ has a mother,” -was the arch and fearless reply.[335] - -Such were the anecdotes in circulation at a later period. In her own -youth Lady Marlborough rendered the beauty and accomplishments of her -daughters serviceable in her own elevation to power. She afterwards -obtained for so many of them posts about the Queen, that Anne was said -to have her court composed of one family.[336] Yet the Duchess lived to -prove, in the joyless isolation of her old age, how completely all our -wishes may be realised without producing happiness. - - - - - CHAPTER X. - - Death of the Duke of Gloucester—Its effects on the Succession—Illness - and Deathbed of William—His last actions—1700. - - -The death of the Duke of Gloucester cast a gloom over the last year of -King William’s life, whilst it caused not only maternal grief, but -scruples of serious import, in the mind of the young Prince’s mother, -the conscientious but weak-minded Anne. - -The Earl and Countess of Marlborough were at Althorp when they were -apprised of the dangerous illness which had attacked the young -Prince.[337] The Duke was of delicate frame, and for some years had been -languishing. It was not to be supposed that a child could live in health -or enjoyment whose premature intellect was, before the age of eleven, -stocked with “Greek and Roman histories,” “the gothick constitution, and -the beneficiary and feudal laws,” added to various other acquirements, -equally obnoxious to the natural tastes of children, and therefore to be -gradually and slowly introduced into their progressive capacities. -Neither could the visits of five cabinet ministers, once a quarter, to -inquire, by the King’s orders, into his progress, have been otherwise -than stimulating and fatiguing to the unhappy child.[338] On the 24th of -July, 1700, he attained his eleventh year. On the ensuing day he was -taken ill; “but that,” says his Episcopal tutor, “was imputed to the -fatigues of a birthday, so that he was too much neglected.” On the -following day he grew much worse, and at the end of the fourth day he -was carried off, his complaint proving to be a malignant fever. His -mother, the Princess, attended him throughout his illness “with great -tenderness,” according to Burnet, “but with a grave composedness that -amazed all who saw it: she bore his death with a resignation and piety -that were indeed very singular.”[339] - -The Earl of Marlborough hastened to Windsor upon the first intelligence -of the fatal disease, but arrived only in time to receive the last sigh -of his young and interesting charge. Thus died the last of seventeen -children that the Princess Anne had borne, dead and living, and thus -William expressed his feelings on the event, in reply to the letter sent -him upon this occasion by the Earl of Marlborough. - -“I do not think it necessary to employ many words in expressing my -surprise and grief at the death of the Duke of Gloucester. It is so -great a loss to me, as well as to England, that it pierces my heart with -affliction.”[340] - -By this melancholy event the strength of the Jacobite party was -considerably augmented. The Princess, indeed, still leaned to that -faction. The part which she had acted in the Revolution had occasioned -her incessant regret. Zeal for the Protestant religion, the popular -outcry, and the persuasion that the Prince of Wales’s birth was an -imposture, had, at that eventful period, influenced her conduct. Upon -the death of her son, however, her feelings were awakened towards her -own family. She wrote to inform James the Second of her calamity. She -began to regard her brother’s legitimacy with different views from those -which, during the irritations between her and her mother-in-law, she had -been disposed to entertain.[341] She privately solicited her father’s -sanction for her acceptance of the crown in case of the King’s death; -and, far from being averse to the restoration of her own family, she -declared her resolution to make a restitution of the crown, whenever it -was in her power to perform what she considered an act of justice.[342] - -The decline in William’s bodily health, and mental energy, rendered -these negociations by no means unimportant, for the King’s mind had been -harassed by a series of trying and aggravating events. His distress and -irritation upon the disbanding of his guards, and his exclamation, “If I -had a son, by God these guards should not leave me!” betrayed the -humiliation and the bitterness of spirit from which the unhappy monarch -suffered; and it is well known that he even meditated relinquishing that -crown which had cost him his peace of mind. Wasted with vexation, -asthmatic, dropsical, his Majesty had recourse to wine to recruit his -cheerfulness. Even in a state of partial inebriation, William was still -the politician. He wished to have it supposed that he intended to settle -the succession upon the reputed Prince of Wales, in order that his real -design, of entailing it upon the Electress of Hanover, might not -transpire prematurely. In one of those parties in which the King relaxed -himself, in company with the infamous Lord Wharton, whom he always -called “Tom,” he said to his lordship, “Tom, I know what you wish -for—you wish for a republic.” “And not a bad thing, sir, neither,” was -the reckless peer’s reply. “No, no,” returned the King, “I shall -disappoint you there. I shall bring over King James’s son upon you.” -Lord Wharton, with a low bow, and an affectation of deep reverence, -answered, sneeringly, “that is as your Majesty pleases.” William was not -displeased at the answer thus elicited.[343] - -When the succession was, by act of parliament, entailed upon the -Princess Sophia of Hanover, a woman of rare endowments, of science, -knowledge of the world, and personal accomplishments, it was the office -of Lord and Lady Marlborough, by their endeavours, to prevent any -opposition on the part of Anne; and they are supposed to have employed -their influence, since, independent of their advice, she adopted no -measure.[344] The Prince of Denmark took little share in public affairs, -and was merely the affable, obliging cipher that nature had originally -intended him to appear. - -Upon the death of James the Second, and the proclamation of his son, in -France, King of England, a storm was suddenly aroused in the British -dominions. Both Whigs and Tories at this time were averse to the -restoration of the Stuarts. It has been alleged, as a reason for this -indifference, that the Tories being in power, and having place, had -little more to desire. The Whigs were bound by the principles which -actuated them at the Revolution. All parties were indignant that the -King of France should presume to name a King of England, without -consulting the English people. - -The summoning of a new parliament which entered into all William’s views -for war, and the conclusion of what is called by historians the Second -Alliance, were events which rapidly followed the indignity imposed at -St. Germains. Not satisfied with those proceedings, the House of Commons -attainted the young Pretender, a boy of twelve years old, and framed a -bill, which passed into a law, requiring all persons in public stations -to abjure him. A similar act, attainting the exiled Queen, Mary of -Modena, was also contemplated; but the peers, high-minded generally as a -body, refused to countenance the measure. - -William, conscious of his decay, signed this treaty, the last to which -he put his name. He appointed the Earl of Marlborough general of the -troops in Flanders, and ambassador at the same time, knowing his great -abilities both as a general and as a diplomatist, and believing he could -best serve his country by placing such a trust in such a man. The final -actions of the sovereign were those of a benefactor to his country. The -last charter which he signed was the East India Charter, then esteemed, -as a political measure, of great importance. The last act of parliament -to which he gave his consent, was that fixing the succession in the -House of Hanover. The last message which he sent to Parliament was a -recommendation of an union between England and Scotland: this was five -days before his death. - -Broken with premature decay, for he was now only in the fifty-second -year of his age, William, whilst planning a war which he calculated to -finish with glorious success in four years, received his death-stroke. -Some say that he was mounted on a charger once belonging to the -unfortunate Sir John Fenwick, whose death was imputed to William as an -act of injustice; others, that he was on a young and ill-trained horse, -when, by the stumbling of the animal, he was thrown, and dislocated his -collar-bone. The King was near Hampton Court at the time of the -accident. The bone was set, and might have united without difficulty; -but his Majesty had business at Kensington, whither, disregarding pain, -he went in his coach. The bandage of the setting was unloosed, but was -set again. Fever came on; a cough, fatal to so debilitated a frame, -succeeded. The King, retaining his composure to the last, gave his -consent, when on his deathbed, to the act of attainder against the -Pretender, in compliance, it is said, with the entreaties of the -Princess Anne,[345] who was terrified at the anticipated result of his -death without the act being completed. - -And now William prepared to meet that Creator, whose precepts, as given -to us through his Son, he had in many respects studied to obey; though -the snares of a political career, and the peculiar situation in which -his elevation to the throne had raised him in this country, had -presented to him incessant temptations. Since the death of his Queen, -the King had been devoted to Lady Orkney, to whom he had made a grant of -some lands in Ireland, which, in common with those given to Lord -Portland, and other followers, had been revoked by parliament. Yet, -whilst unfaithful to Mary during her lifetime, and degrading the pure -memory of her character, and her enthusiastic attachment to himself, by -putting such a successor in her place in his affections, William -cherished the memory of his lost wife. Fastened to his arm was found a -ribbon attached to a gold ring, in which was some hair of Queen Mary. -Unknown to any of his attendants, the reserved monarch had carried this -relic about him, and it was discovered only when the last offices of -laying out the body were performed.[346] - -On his deathbed, William’s affections seemed to be restored to their -wonted channel. Lord Portland, whose faithful services had been of late -superseded by the attractive qualities of Keppel Lord Albemarle, stood -near him. The dying King looked steadfastly at him, endeavoured to speak -to him, but was unable. He placed Portland’s hands upon his heart, and -in that position expired. His last words, uttered with composure, were -these, “Je tire vers ma fin.” It is remarkable, that upon the -post-mortem examination, when almost every important organ of the -suffering monarch’s emaciated frame was found to be diseased, his head -was alone exempted from any trace of disease.[347] Hence his eye, that -eagle eye, which his foe, the Duke of Berwick, could not regard at the -Battle of Landen without admiration, retained its brilliancy and its -searching keenness of expression to the last.[348] - -The character of William the Third has been minutely expatiated upon by -historians. In comparison with the monarchs of the Stuart line, he rose -transcendent; but even without challenging such a parallel, his merits -appear of the highest order. His intellectual powers were by nature -capacious and sound. His acquirements were admirably adapted for the -station which he held. Courageous, prompt, discerning, war was his -favourite pursuit. Reserved and taciturn in private life, on public -occasions his eloquence was both effective and polished. The last speech -that he made in parliament, and which appears to have been impromptu, -was one of the ablest harangues ever addressed by a British monarch to -his subjects. - -The outward deportment of William, like the unsightly binding of a -scarce book, concealed his merits from the vulgar eye, whilst, by the -reflective, the intrinsic value was more strongly exemplified by -contrast. More than irritable, passionate, or, as the language of the -times expresses it, “choleric” to his attendants of the bedchamber, his -benevolence, his ready forgiveness, his magnanimous appreciation of -merit even in those whom he personally disliked, were shown in -innumerable passages of his life. These qualities were conspicuously -displayed in the restoration of Lord Marlborough to royal confidence, -after a detected intercourse with the court of St. Germains. And whilst -Lady Marlborough casts aspersions on the noble-minded monarch, of petty -import, she is obliged, for consistency’s sake, to pass over those later -days of his life, when William generously placed a man whom he disliked -at the head of military affairs, for the simple, but unfashionable, and, -unhappily, not often regal reason, that he thought him best adapted to -fill that trust. The unreasonable jealousy which he evinced towards the -Princess Anne was, in fact, the great blemish of his social character. - -Descended from a noble succession of heroes, the five great Princes of -Orange, William, proud of his own country, must, in spite of that -natural partiality, be regarded as one of the greatest benefactors that -these islands have ever possessed. To him we owe the secure -establishment of that faith for which he showed regard, not by forms, -for those he somewhat too much despised, but by maintaining that -toleration which is its essence. It is melancholy to reflect that -William, deceived, disappointed, and latterly disliked by his subjects, -was often so depressed as to long for his release. Yet, as his prospects -brightened, and when James’s death removed a continual source of -faction, he declared to his faithful Portland, that “he could have -wished to live a little longer.”[349] - -By the King’s death, the weight of affairs in England fell upon -Marlborough, who immediately returned to this country. And now, to the -dawn of his fortunes, overclouded as they had sometimes been, succeeded -the brightness of day. In his fifty-third year, Marlborough was still -vigorous; his activity was unimpaired, his constitution unbroken, except -by occasional attacks of ague, when in campaign. His experience of men, -his insight into parties, his popular qualities, independent of his -public services, had been attained during a long course of vicissitudes; -circumstances sufficiently adverse to form a decided and well-poised -character. At this period, too, the manly comeliness of person which he -is said afterwards to have regretted, when gazing at an early picture of -himself he exclaimed, “That _was_ a man,” still remained, undiminished -by age and toil. - -“From his birth,” says a contemporary writer, “the Graces were appointed -to attend and form him; polished in address, and refined in manners as -in the gifts of nature; fit to adorn a court, and shine with -princes.”[350] - -The Countess of Marlborough, ten years younger than her distinguished -husband, though past the bloom, could scarcely have lost the attractions -of her surpassing, and what is more remarkable, unfading beauty of face -and form. Perhaps the “scornful and imperious” character of her -countenance, described by Horace Walpole, may have assumed its fixed -expression about this time, when she discovered the extent of her -influence, and was betrayed into a forgetfulness of what was due to her -own station, and to majesty. “Her features and her air,” says her -sarcastic censor, “announced nothing that her temper did not confirm;” -and he seems to consider it doubtful which of these two attributes had -the greatest influence in “enslaving her heroic lord.”[351] - -Until an advanced age, Lady Marlborough possessed evident remains of -remarkable loveliness; her fair hair, so celebrated, was unchanged by -time; her most expressive eyes still lighted up her countenance; her -flashes of wit enlivened her natural turn for communicating those -reminiscences of former days, which could scarcely have appeared tedious -under any circumstances, but which the shrewdness and talent of this -extraordinary woman rendered exceedingly diverting. - -There was one feature in the Duchess of Marlborough’s composition which -contributed to enhance the charms of her conversation, and which, -probably, strengthened the influence which she acquired over the minds -of others. This was her fearless plain-speaking. The style of her -Vindication shows her candour; the matter of that amusing work, with -certain exceptions,[352] establishes her character for truth. Even her -worst enemies appear in their replies to have been unable to disprove, -or even to deny, most of her statements, but were forced to content -themselves with abusive comments.[353] The same honesty and openness, we -are told, were manifested in the Duchess’s conversation as in her -writings. “This might proceed,” observes the editor of a recent -publication, “partly from never thinking herself in the wrong, or caring -what was thought of her by others.”[354] It might also proceed from that -knowledge and that tact, which, during “sixty years of arrogance,” as -Horace Walpole terms her career, she must have acquired; and which, -perhaps, taught her, that needless explanations are, in conversation, as -in print, the worst of policy. But, with all her faults, duplicity has -never been alleged against the lofty Duchess of Marlborough. It was -foreign to the generous warmth of her nature; it was foreign to the -audacity, for no milder term can be applied, of her temper. Evasion -would scarcely have suited her purpose with the placid, subservient, but -also somewhat manœuvring Anne, who was born not to rule, but to be -ruled, and who was daunted by the arrogance and fearless truth of her -groom of the stole. Disingenuousness would have destroyed her influence -over the just and honourable Marlborough,—an influence which even -coldness, conjugal despotism, nay, fiercer passions, could not destroy, -but which would have sunk directly, had the foundation of that faulty -but lofty character been found defective. It was not Lady Marlborough’s -beauty, it was not her native, though untutored ability, it was not her -wit, which prolonged her influence over her husband; but it was her -truth, her contempt of meanness, her abhorrence of flattery, and her -genuine fidelity to friends. - -She was, as Doctor Johnson has expressed it, “a good hater;” and if that -signify “a hater” without the garb of dissimulation—a hater who eschews -false alliances, and hangs out true colours—one may be allowed to feel a -certain respect for the character, even whilst we condemn the principle -of hatred. No one ever accused the Duchess of Marlborough of smiling to -betray. She could have torn her foes to pieces, sooner than have -accorded to them one reverence which her heart conceded not. Her -insolence to the Queen, her contempt of Anne’s understanding, and her -presumption and arrogance, cannot, however, be defended. Nor can the -unfeminine qualities which she displayed, be viewed otherwise than with -dislike and disgust. - -The Duchess of Marlborough’s dismissal from Anne’s favour may be said to -have commenced, in reality, when that Princess ascended the throne of -England. The favourite was now wholly devoted to Whig principles; Anne -was always, in her heart, a Tory. Lady Marlborough could ill brook -opposition from one whose actions she had for years guided, and who had -scarcely dared to move except at her bidding. The Queen had, as a -monarch, one great failing, which characterised the house of Stuart: she -allowed too great familiarities in those around her, and forbore to -rebuke insolence, or even to check presumption.[355] No one was so -likely to presume upon this want of dignity as the Countess of -Marlborough. Her haughtiness soon grew into downright contumacy. Even -whilst holding the Queen’s fan and gloves, or presenting them to her -Majesty, in the capacity of an attendant, she turned away her head with -contempt directly afterwards, as if the poor harmless Queen inspired her -with disgust.[356] How long Anne bore with such conduct, remains to be -seen. For the first ten years of her reign Lady Marlborough, however, -ruled paramount. - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - - Accession of Anne to the throne—That event considered by the Whigs as - unpropitious—Coronation of the Queen—Dislike of Anne to the - Whigs—Efforts of Lady Marlborough—Dismissal of Somers and - Halifax—1702. - - -Queen Anne was not tantalised by suspense concerning the result of her -predecessor’s illness. Particulars were hourly sent by Lord and Lady -Jersey to Lady Marlborough, of the King’s state, as “his breath grew -shorter and shorter;” an attention which, instead of gratifying the -Countess, “filled her,” as she declares, “with horror.”[357] The -courtiers, who had been weeping at the bedside of the late monarch, -hastened to depart from Kensington, and to remove into the more genial -atmosphere of St. James’s palace, where they offered their -congratulations to the new sovereign in crowds.[358] The Queen was -proclaimed in the courtyard of St. James’s, on the day of the King’s -death, March the eighth, 1702, at five o’clock in the afternoon, both -Houses of Parliament attending the ceremony.[359] A solemn mourning was -ordered, and the members of the privy council were enjoined to hang -their coaches with mourning, and to put their servants in black -liveries; the Queen wearing purple—at that time royal mourning. Two days -after the King’s death, her Majesty went to the House of Lords, attended -by Lady Marlborough, and preceded by the Earl of Marlborough, carrying -before her the sword of state. She addressed both Houses in the usual -mode, and inspired admiration and confidence by the dignity, -self-possession, and graciousness of her manner. “Her speeches were -delivered,” says Bishop Burnet, “with great weight and authority, and -with a softness of voice, and sweetness in the pronunciation, that added -much life to all that she spoke.” Yet she offended the partisans of the -late King, by saying “that her heart was entirely English;”[360]—which -appeared to challenge an invidious comparison with one whose affections, -it was well known, had often reverted to the kingdom which he had -quitted.[361] The speculations which were set afloat concerning the fate -of parties, and the opinions which her Majesty’s political appointments -would display, may readily be imagined. By a proclamation issued, -however, immediately after her accession, the Queen signified that all -persons at present in authority should continue to hold their places, -until her Majesty’s further pleasure should be made known.[362] - -Notwithstanding the known influence, and the avowed opinions, of Lady -Marlborough, the Whigs regarded the accession of Queen Anne as -unpropitious. The principles of the adverse party had been instilled -into her mind at a very early age, by Compton, Bishop of London. She -owed the Tories many obligations; in particular, the settlement of her -annuity, which they had secured, in opposition to the wishes of William -and Mary. Her mother’s family were devoted loyalists, or, rather, when -times changed and appellations were changed also, zealous Tories. - -The capacity of Queen Anne was limited, her notions were contracted, her -prejudices consequently strong.[363] Any opinions imbibed could with -difficulty, therefore, be eradicated from a mind which could view only -one side of the question; and early prepossessions seldom lose their -hold over our feelings, even when our judgment strives to dispel their -influence. Easy, and regardless of forms in private, Anne, when seated -on her throne, was jealous of her prerogative, retaining that attribute -of the Stuarts, whether it were implanted by others, or the result of a -disposition naturally tenacious of certain rights. Her heart had never -been wholly weaned from her father during his lifetime, nor from those -sentiments which James had inculcated both by precept and example; and, -in the Whigs, she saw only a party who were anxious to curb the power, -and to abridge the independence of the crown, upon a plan equally -systematic and dangerous.[364] - -Before any political changes were adopted, the funeral of King William -took place. After several deliberations in council, it had been agreed -to perform his obsequies privately. The royal corpse was carried from -Kensington in an open chariot, during the night of Sunday, the 12th of -April, to the chapel of Henry the Seventh at Westminster. The pall was -borne by six Dukes. Prince George was chief mourner, supported by two -Dukes, and followed by sixteen of the first Earls in England, as -assistants, among whom was the Earl of Marlborough. A long train of -carriages closed the procession. Amidst the solemn service, and the -swelling anthem, the body of William was interred in the same vault with -Charles the Second, and with his late consort, Queen Mary.[365] - -On the twenty-third of April the coronation of Queen Anne took place. -Her Majesty was carried in a low open chair to Westminster Abbey, from -the Hall. The ceremonies were those anciently prescribed, and the Queen -made the responses with her usual clear articulation and accurate -pronunciation.[366] When the Holy Bible was opened, she vouchsafed to -kiss the bishops;[367] and the ceremonials of the day concluded with a -banquet, during which Prince George sat by her side. The Queen, who had -remained at the Duke of Gloucester’s apartments in St. James’s till her -own rooms were hung with black, now went to Kensington at night, and -remained at St. James’s during the day.[368] The Countess of Marlborough -was, on all occasions, her constant attendant. - -The change from royal robes to suits of mourning; from festive halls, -and the shouts of the people, to the now deserted apartments of her son, -or her own sombre, though stately chambers, would have grated upon a -more sensitive disposition than that which Anne possessed. Perhaps the -coronation of her father, when the crown tottered upon his head; perhaps -the half rebuke of her sister, upon a similar occasion, occurred with -bitterness to one who was now nearly the last of her family, with the -exception of her maternal uncle, and of her attainted nephew. At the -coronation of Mary, Anne, observing the Queen to be heated with the -weight of the royal robes, and tired with the solemnity, said to her in -a low voice, “Madam, I pity your fatigue.” “A crown, sister,” returned -Mary, quickly, “is not so heavy as it seems to be, or as you think it;” -the words being eagerly caught by the curious attendants around.[369] - -Whilst the public were amused with the pageantry of this imposing -ceremony, busy cabals occupied the private hours of the Queen, and -within her palace, a contemporary writer has not hesitated to affirm, -there was a very busy market of all the offices of government. “For,” -says Cunningham, “the Queen’s own relations being kept at a distance, -all things were managed by the sole authority of one woman, to whom -there was no access but by the golden road; and it was to no purpose for -the Earl of Rochester to set forth his own duty, affection, and the -rights of consanguinity.”[370] - -This “woman,” it needs scarcely to be stated, was the Countess of -Marlborough, whose frank avowal of her exertions to form the Queen’s -household, at this period, in her Conduct, was not necessary to -establish that which all the world knew. With respect to the grave -charge preferred against her by Mr. Cunningham, the consideration of her -imputed corruption must be hereafter discussed. - -The elevation of her royal mistress to the throne brought the Countess, -as she observes, “into a new scene of life, and into a sort of -consideration with all those whose attention, either from curiosity or -ambition, was turned to politics and the court.”[371] Hitherto, whilst -her personal influence over the Princess had furnished many a topic for -the gossip of the day, it had produced no apparent effect upon the -affairs of the nation, the Princess herself never having been allowed -any means of interference in politics, or power in public appointments. -But now the Countess began to be regarded as one who possessed a great -extent of patronage,—that curse and temptation, as it often proves; in -short, as one, “without whose approbation neither places, pensions, nor -honours were conferred by the crown.”[372] The intimate friendship with -which she was honoured by the Queen favoured this supposition. - -Yet the Countess’s ascendency over her Majesty, great as it was, proved -not sufficiently strong to overcome those obstinate, though it must be -acknowledged, honest prejudices by which the Queen was governed. Queen -Anne had, as the Duchess observes, “been taught to look upon all Whigs, -not only as republicans who hated the very shadow of legal authority, -but as implacable enemies to the Church of England.” Prince George -carried this dislike of the popular party even to a greater length; and, -having received many indignities from a Whig ministry in the former -reign, he threw into the scale against them all his resentments. Even -Lord Marlborough and Lord Godolphin, though open to conviction, and -having (so says the Duchess) “the real interest of the nation at heart,” -were, from education and early associations, partially Tories, and of -“the persuasion that the high church party were the best friends to the -constitution, both of Church and State; nor were they perfectly -undeceived,” remarks the gifted instrument of the conversion of these -great men, “but by experience.”[373] - -The Countess of Marlborough had, therefore, almost invincible obstacles -to encounter, before she could hope to compass that which she avowedly -had at heart, the establishment of the Whig party in the royal councils. -But to so determined a spirit as hers, impediments based upon the wills -and opinions of those whom she was wont to govern, only heightened her -ardour in the cause which she espoused. From natural disposition, an -enemy to all false pretensions, and to everything that resembled -hypocrisy or cant, the clamorous zeal for religion boasted by the Tories -was peculiarly disgusting to her frank temper. She detected, through the -outcry raised against the Whigs, the workings of self-interest, not the -fervour of attachment to the sacred Liturgy, and to the purified -ordinances which had been so lately rescued from impending destruction. -The plea set forth for “safety of the church” she regarded merely as a -plausible means of working upon weak minds, and blinding others to the -selfish motives of personal ambition. For many years a secure looker-on, -almost in a private station, Lady Marlborough had probably seen -sufficient of the leaders of both parties to be fully aware that men of -all political opinions are actuated by mixed motives, and that whilst we -witness many transactions which are of “good report,” we must not seek -for “whatsoever is honest, whatsoever is pure,” from the principal -actors in a political faction. It was Lady Marlborough’s lot chiefly to -observe the higher orders of society, whose immediate interests were -affected by the success of those opinions which they maintained, and she -could not, from experience, be aware that it is the middling classes who -really and earnestly cherish certain notions, in the importance of which -to the public good they firmly believe. Public opinion is composed of -more extended tributes than those which the Countess of Marlborough took -into account. There can be little doubt, from the manifestations which -popular feeling continually displayed during the reign of Queen Anne, -that the pervading sentiments of the people were in accordance with -those of the high church party, whose intolerance and perversion of -terms she justly reprobates. “The _word_ church,” observes the Duchess, -fearless of the calumnies which attached a want of religion to her other -failings, “had never a charm for _me_, in the mouths of those who made -the most noise with it; for I could not perceive that they gave any -other distinguishing proof of their regard for the _thing_, than a -frequent use of the _word_, like a spell to enchant weak minds; and a -persecuting zeal against Dissenters, and against more real friends of -the church, who would not admit that _persecution_ was agreeable to its -doctrine.” And after this strong passage she adds, “And as to state -affairs, many of these churchmen seemed to me to have no fixed -principles at all, having endeavoured, during the last reign, to -undermine that very government which they had contributed to -establish.”[374] - -Such persons as those to whom the Duchess here alludes, have been well -described by a later writer, of sound discernment, as exhibiting “in -their conversation the idiom of a party;” and suspecting “the sincerity -of those whose higher breeding and more correct habits discover a better -taste.”[375] - -Notwithstanding Lady Marlborough’s efforts, the Queen continued to be -extremely reluctant to show any favour to the party which her favourite -espoused. Lord Marlborough and Lord Godolphin, being thought to stand on -neutral ground, were, in a degree, claimed by both Whigs and Tories; but -it was owing to the zeal and perseverance of Lady Marlborough that any -professed Whigs were retained in office. The Earl of Marlborough was, -indeed, obliged to be absent for a fortnight, whilst all the cabals -called into play, on the forming of a new cabinet, were in -activity.[376] By the Queen’s command, in his capacity of commander of -the English forces, and plenipotentiary, he was sent to the Dutch -states, with a letter of condolence to them on the death of William. -Whilst at the Hague, the Earl was appointed by the States, general of -their forces, with a salary of ten thousand pounds a year;[377] and on -the fifth of April he returned to take the chief direction of affairs, -and to receive new honours from the hand of his gracious sovereign. - -Although reported to have been “more ambitious of gain than of power,” -the Earl and Countess must have experienced considerable disappointment -when the formation of the new cabinet was completed. Lord Somers, who at -this time was a deferential votary of the powerful Countess, and Lord -Halifax, who came into public life under Lord Godolphin’s auspices, were -both dismissed the council. In order to comprehend the state of parties, -and to understand in which direction the weight of talent and influence -was likely to preponderate in those unsettled times, some reference must -here be made to the preceding reign; and a short account of the -principal actors in the scenes of those factious days may not prove -uninteresting. - -Lord Somers, whom Horace Walpole describes as “one of those divine men, -who, like a chapel in a palace, remain unprofaned, whilst all the rest -is tyranny, corruption, and folly,” had possessed more influence in the -councils of William than any other minister. He was, therefore, on the -accession of Anne, one of the most conspicuous marks for the violence of -faction. Agreeably to custom, those who could discover little to blame -in the elevation of this distinguished statesman, deprecated his origin. -The race from which he rose to a pre-eminent sphere, have been described -“as the dregs of the people.”[378] To his honour, and not to his shame, -might the fact redound, supposing the statement to be true; but, -unhappily for those who exulted in such a source of humiliation, and -attributed the modest demeanour of the Lord High Chancellor to a -consciousness of this humble origin, Somers sprang from a family both -ancient and respectable. - -His ancestors, though not distinguished by the honours of rank, were -neither “hewers of wood nor drawers of water.”[379] From the time of the -Tudors, one branch of the Somers family had owned and inhabited an -ancient house in the northern suburbs of the city of Worcester, which -edifice, hallowed by the appellation of the “White Ladies,” from its -site, that of an ancient monastery, had been spared by foes, and -honoured by friends, during all the convulsions of the civil wars. In -“Somers’s House,” as the respected tenement was called, Queen Elizabeth -had been received, and entertained in her progress through the county. -The extensive and richly cultured gardens of the old conventual -residence had furnished the famous pears which that Queen, in the -fulness of her approbation, had added to the city arms, as a testimony -both of her satisfaction in eating the fruit, and of her admiration at -the good order by which a tree, laden with it, and transplanted from the -garden of the “White Ladies” into the market-place, could be preserved -from injury. - -In Somers’s house Charles the Second took refuge before the battle of -Worcester, and left there the sacred relics of his garters, waistcoats, -and other garments, when he fled to Boscobel. And in this time-honoured -mansion, where his mother was placed for security, was born the -celebrated John Somers, just at the eventful time of the battle of -Worcester, 1651. His birth occurring in this species of sanctuary, and -in those times of commotion, was not inserted in any register. - -The father of Lord Somers, notwithstanding the protection which his roof -had afforded to Charles the Second, commanded a troop of horse in -Cromwell’s army; but quitted the profession of arms upon the -establishment of the Commonwealth; and, enjoying a patrimony not -exceeding three hundred pounds a year, took a house in the precincts of -the cathedral at Worcester, and commenced practising as an attorney. On -his father’s pursuit of this calling, honourable in proportion to the -principle with which it is exercised, the future greatness of the young -John Somers was founded. - -The civil wars had thrown into confusion some of the finest estates in -the county; and the elder Mr. Somers, in his legal capacity, found ample -employment in settling disputed rights, and revising dilapidated -fortunes. Amongst other families, the Talbots, Earls of Shrewsbury, -placed their estates and finances in his hands. The Earl of Shrewsbury, -at that time young, gay, accomplished, the godson of Charles the Second, -and the pupil of Father Petre, was a Roman Catholic; and had been, from -his infancy, the object of the zealous care and attention of those -active missionaries, the Jesuits. His spiritual guides and his other -tutors had formed a brilliant, and perhaps what may be termed an amiable -character, but had not produced a sound statesman, or an irreproachable -moralist. From his infancy, the licentiousness of a court, and the -darker passions that lurk in the shadows of that bright scene, had been -familiar to this young nobleman. - -Five years before his acquaintance with Somers commenced, Lord -Shrewsbury had lost his father in a duel with the Duke of Buckingham, -whose horse was held by the abandoned wife of the murdered nobleman, in -the disguise of a page. Lord Shrewsbury had attractive and popular -qualities, which rendered him afterwards the darling of a people in -whose cause he proffered his fortune and influence, to compass the -Revolution. At the period when his acquaintance with the Somers family -began, he was disgusted with the unsatisfactory life of a courtier, -notwithstanding the adulation paid to his rank and to his possessions, -through the medium of personal flattery, and by the incense offered to -his talents. Resolved, also, to rid himself of the numerous priests and -other dependents who thronged around him, he retired to his estate in -Worcestershire, where much of his property was situated; but his seat at -Grafton not being in a fit state to receive him, the young nobleman made -the house of his agent, at the White Ladies, his principal abode. And -here a strange contrast must have been presented to the scenes, and the -society which the young but satiated man of fashion had quitted. -“Somers’-house,” as the old mansion was irreverently called by the -vulgar, was large enough to contain many separate families; and numerous -Blurtons, Foleys, and Cookseys, with whom the family of Somers had -intermarried, had already taken up their abodes in the capacious -edifice. These simple, and, as it happened, united and industrious -relatives, lived in the most primitive manner that could be devised, -somewhat after the fashion, but without the peculiarities, of a Moravian -establishment. They spent the mornings in their respective occupations: -some attended to the farm on the Somers property, and in cultivating -teasels; others were engaged in the clothing trade, in manufacturing -woad and madder; others superintended the labours of the cottagers, -dependencies twenty in number, after the conventual fashion; and the -making of bricks, tiles, and other building materials, which the -dilapidated state of the city brought into great request. When the -labours of the day were ended, all the relatives, their children and -visitants, repaired to the great hall of the old nunnery, dined together -at one common table, the products of their farm and their fish-ponds -furnishing the viands, and passed the evening in conversation or -merriment, or in discussions more engrossing, on politics and family -interests. At Christmas, the board was spread after the ancient fashion; -and the collar of brawn, and the huge saltcellar were displayed in the -old conventual hall during the whole winter. - -In this busy and happy scene, the friendship of Lord Shrewsbury with -young Somers took root. Often occasional visiters swelled the number of -the inmates; for the old dormitories of the nuns were used by the -hospitable father of Lord Somers to supply the deficiency of inns and -taverns. Nor is it of slight importance to trace those circumstances -which mark the early portion of a great man’s life. In the motley -society of the “White Ladies,” the future Chancellor of England probably -learned to know himself and others. His prudence, his pliability in -matters of little consequence, his firmness in matters of moment, may -all have had exercise in the various emergencies and temptations to -which a boy is exposed among a large assemblage of older persons, with -whose affairs, and in whose family politics, he must necessarily, -sometimes involuntarily, participate. - -So ardent was the friendship contracted in these scenes between Lord -Shrewsbury and Somers, that the latter, although intended for the bar, -delayed his removal to the university until he was twenty-two years of -age, in order that he might not sooner be separated from his friend, and -from the society at the “White Ladies.” So strong was the attachment -formed by Lord Somers to the old house where these social days were -passed, that one of his first cares, in after times of prosperity, was -to repair the venerable edifice, together with the Priory of St. Oswald -adjoining.[380] Nor did the happy community of the “White Ladies” cease -to welcome their favourite member, young Somers, at each college -vacation, after his removal to Oxford. The Earl of Shrewsbury and his -friend made, upon such occasions, that happy home their place of -meeting. The foundation of Somers’s fortunes was laid by the -introduction which his friend afforded him to Lord Shaftesbury, Sir -William Temple, and other leaders of the opposition, to the court of -Charles the Second: but a far greater benefit was achieved for Lord -Shrewsbury himself, in his conversion to a pure faith. - -The vacations of the “White Ladies” were not idly, though they might -sometimes be unprofitably, spent. The celebrated Richard Baxter acted as -the spiritual guide of several members of the Somers family, and at that -time resided at Worcester. By the arguments of this pious divine, aided -by the conversation of Mr. Somers, who was nine years older than his -friend, Lord Shrewsbury was prepared for that conversion to the -Protestant faith, which Tillotson afterwards confirmed and commemorated. -It might have been well for public morals, if the pursuits of the two -friends had not taken another direction. The famous “Tale of a Tub” is -supposed to have had its origin in the leisure of the White Ladies. -Shrewsbury and Somers are said to have sketched the characters, and -composed the plan of the poem; Lord Shaftesbury, and Sir William Temple -treasured up the imperfect outlines, and entrusted them to Swift; Swift -manufactured the materials into their well-known form, and gave them to -the world.[381] - -Like all really popular works of fiction, life itself supplied the -characters. Blurton, the uncle of Lord Somers, was portrayed in Martin, -the good church-of-England man. The grandfather of Lord Somers was -exhibited in Jack the Calvinist, the devoted disciple of the -Presbyterian Baxter. Father Peter was drawn from the famous Father -Petre. For the publication of this noted satire, Swift, as it is well -known, lost the chance of a bishoprick, in consequence of Queen Anne’s -scruples. - -The introduction to Russell and Sidney, which Lord Shrewsbury afforded -to his friend, confirmed those political principles which Somers in a -degree inherited. During the reign of Charles the Second, he was -employed in writing state papers, ascribed to Sidney, but certainly the -productions of Somers’s pen. He wrote the celebrated answer to King -Charles’s declaration on dissolving the last Parliament. The study of -the classics varied the severer toils of law and politics. It was not, -however, until he had entered his thirty-seventh year, that Somers drew -upon his merits as a lawyer, and a statesman, the distinguished -approbation which had hitherto been accorded to him by the learned few. -In 1688 he became counsel for the bishops imprisoned by James the -Second; and by the great display of ability on that memorable occasion, -his future station in his profession, and in the state, was determined. - -From that epoch in our country’s annals, Somers held on a consistent and -a patriotic course, until his death. He rose, says his bitterest -foe[382] to “be the head and oracle” of the Whig party. “He hath raised -himself by the concurrence of many circumstances,” says the same writer, -“to the greatest employments of the state, without the least support -from birth or fortune; he hath constantly, and with great steadiness, -cultivated those principles under which he grew.”[383] Although -incorrupt in his high station, he was compared to Bacon, but only in the -intellectual features of his noble character. As a statesman he was true -to his principles, above the littleness of avarice, inflexible upon -points of conscience, benevolent, energetic, just. During his long life -he sought every adequate means of benefiting mankind, and he projected -schemes to benefit posterity. - -The public career of Somers was irreproachable, but not happy. Often -deceived in those whom he thought his friends, or the friends of his -principles, Lord Somers had suffered the indignity and injustice of an -impeachment in the late reign. His glorious refutation of that factious -charge achieved for him a reputation which an untried man could scarcely -have attained. - -It was these trials of fortitude that drew from the early friend of -Somers the following observation. - -“I wonder,” thus wrote the Earl of Shrewsbury from Italy, “that a man -can be found in England, who has bread, that will be concerned in public -business. Had I a son, I would sooner breed him a cobbler than a -courtier, a hangman than a statesman.”[384] - -Lord Somers had no opportunity of evincing how far his sentiments in -this respect agreed with those of the noble Earl. He never married, and -his moral character shared in the general contamination of the age.[385] -The Duchess of Marlborough, in her opinions of the Whigs, comments -severely on his conduct in this respect; even whilst he was seated on -the woolsack, he offended the laws of society, and injured his best -interests by his example.[386] But her insinuations against his -integrity as a chancellor were refuted, by the unblemished probity which -all historians have attributed to this eminent and upright, but, as it -must unhappily be allowed, not wholly irreproachable man. - -Lord Halifax was the other Whig member of the council who was dismissed -at the same time with Somers. These noblemen were both, at that time, -the personal friends of the Earl and Countess of Marlborough; yet it was -impossible, the Countess declares, to introduce Lord Somers into the -administration until near the close of Marlborough and Godolphin’s -influence with the Queen.[387] - -Lord Somers, bland and courteous, never offending in word or look, -humble, as if unconscious of his great abilities, and yielding to others -far inferior to himself in judgment and knowledge, was not enslaved by -the talents, the beauty, and the power of Lady Marlborough; and, even at -this time, he was secretly disgusted by her arrogance and love of -domination. He submitted to the will of the Queen, as manifested in his -dismissal, with a lofty calmness, which gave that act of her Majesty the -semblance of an indignity, disgraceful to her judgment, rather than of a -mortification imposed upon Somers. Nor did the slights of worldly -friends, and the taunting opposition of foes, weaken his resistance to -those measures of which he disapproved, or abate his ardour to promote -schemes of which he augured well, whether proposed by a party who had -deserted him, or by adversaries who rejoiced in his adversity. -Repressing the impulses of a temper naturally impetuous, he permitted -the extensive information which he possessed concerning all the -political interests of Europe, his profound knowledge as a lawyer, and -his manly eloquence, still to be useful in the service of his country; -and his great character stood unsullied by petulance; a mark for envy, -which could not sap its noble foundations, although it might by calumny -injure and deface its exterior. But whilst Lord Somers thus encountered -unmerited contumely, his companion in the loss of office, Lord Halifax, -was not so resigned to the loss of an importance on which his vanity -rendered him dependent for comfort. - -“Mouse Montague,”[388] as Lady Marlborough, writing after their -estrangement, contemptuously calls Lord Halifax, was descended from the -house of Manchester, but, being a younger brother, his patrimony -amounted to fifty pounds a year only. With this, as the Duchess remarks, -he “could make no great figure.”[389] His name was given him for a -political work, which first brought him into notice; for it was the -fashion of the day to attach some appellation to the great men who most -attracted public attention. Even the pulpit was sometimes the origin of -such appropriations; and the great Godolphin is said to have been -mortified and enraged by the addition of “Volpone” to his other -designations, affixed to him by a sermon preached by Dr. Sacheverel. - -Mr. Montague, endowed with his humble title, soon rose into fame. He -became a member of parliament, and attracted the notice of Godolphin. He -had abilities which recommended him to the notice of that able minister. -His knowledge of finance was accurate; and he displayed minor -qualifications which were serviceable, when conjoined with those of -others, though they might not have enabled him to stand alone. Montague -exercised the arts which please, and possessed the talents which dazzle. -It would be presumptuous to say of the man whom Addison extolled, and -whom Steele described, (in a dedication be it remembered,) as “the -greatest of living poets,”[390] that he had, as Swift said of Lord -Sunderland, but an “understanding of the middling size.” But he was, as -Pope observes, “fed with dedications,” though he does not appear, from -all accounts, to have been very willing to recompense his flatterers by -feeding them in return. As a politician, he was timid and uncertain, -because governed more by a desire for his own interest, than by a fixed -principle. His oratory was energetic as well as elegant; but his conduct -wanted the vigour which gave expression to his language only. His -patronage of literature and of literary men, however it may have been -ridiculed, was the most respectable feature in a character which cannot -stand the test of examination. His poems, with the exception of two, -were written upon public events, in which the views of a politician were -mingled with the gallantry of a man of the world. It is not to be -expected that a poem on the death of Charles the Second, or an ode on -the marriage of the Princess Anne, should display much inspiration. His -lordship’s verses on the Toasting Glasses of the Kit-Cat Club are -allowed by Horace Walpole, with contemptuous brevity, to be “the best of -the set.” His “knack of making pretty ballads,” which Lady Marlborough -graciously ascribed to him, elevated as it was by flattery into -excellence, was not the only social talent which Lord Halifax possessed. -He read aloud admirably; and Lord Godolphin, having a good deal of that -business to do, employed him frequently in this way. His manners, -notwithstanding that the Duchess of Marlborough compares him, for -ill-breeding, to Sir Robert Walpole, were acknowledged to be elegant. -His disposition was social; and, where circumstances did not tend to -draw money from his pocket, he was benevolent. He had the merit -(ascribed to him by Steele, who sullied the just praise by the -subsequent flattery) of having, “by his patronage, produced those arts -which before shunned the light, into the service of life.”[391] To his -exertions, as first commissioner of the Treasury, the stability of paper -credit and the improvement of the crown were due. He projected the -national library; and, to bring his merits to their climax, he had the -honour of sharing an impeachment with Somers, and of defending himself -against it with success. - -Lady Marlborough encouraged the advances made by Lord Halifax to procure -her favour, and courted his regard in return. His predominant weakness -was a love of female admiration; and although, as the Duchess, in her -old age, and when there was no Lord Halifax to show himself, or to hear -her remarks, observed, “he was a frightful figure,” yet he “followed -several beauties who laughed at him for it.”[392] Such were her -expressions when parties and politics pleased no longer. In her younger -and busier days, the manœuvring Lady Marlborough humoured the politician -and the coxcomb, by “projecting marriages and other allurements.”[393] -“She came,” says Cunningham, “one evening to his lordship’s country -villa, as if by accident, bringing with her performers and instruments -to compose a concert, which lasted till late in the night.”[394] The -Italian music, then lately introduced, engrossed the fashionable world; -and so busied in the acquisition, and with the patronage of this -newly-imported taste, were even politicians, that the enemies of the -Duke of Marlborough gave out that men of no experience—men frequenting -the theatres, squandered the public money, as well as their own, and -mismanaged public affairs. Lady Marlborough attended the numerous -entertainments with which Halifax, combining profit with pleasure, -treated the citizens, with whom he possessed much interest. The ladies -all smiled upon the noble poet, who managed his costly galas with skill -and effect. But the thrifty politician (careful and covetous, as many -persons are in private who passionately love display) ate upon pewter -when alone, that his plate might not be injured by too much rubbing. -Indeed, according to Lady Marlborough, he did worse; for he sometimes -paid the authors whom he patronised, with presents given by others, the -merit of which he took to himself.[395] - -Lord Halifax had not, at this period of his life, experienced how unsafe -it is to lay bare the weaknesses of the heart of man to that dangerous -being, a female wit. Self-interested, vain, restless, petulant, and even -almost absurd, as he was, we cannot suppose him devoid of some good -qualities, which secured him the confidence of Godolphin, and the esteem -of Somers; yet the well-known and, in their way, almost unequalled lines -of Pope will be called to recollection. - - “Proud as Apollo on his forked hill, - Sat full-blown Buffo, puff’d by every quill; - Fed with soft dedication all day long, - Horace and he went hand in hand in song.”[396] - -In strong contrast with Halifax, how must the social qualities of Somers -have risen in comparison; how refreshing must have been his good sense, -which set forth all his great qualifications in order and beauty; how -delightful that delicate sense of politeness which sprang in him from a -humanity of disposition; which appeared in the least important of his -actions; which manifested itself in the kindly expression of the -countenance, in the refined manners, in the very tone of his voice. How -admirable at once the solidity and the eloquence of a mind which -comprehended not only the most abstruse sciences, the most profound and -varied knowledge, but which displayed the graceful acquirements of an -accomplished gentleman. Whilst Halifax employed his hours of recreation -“to fetch and carry sing-song up and down,” Somers, by dividing his time -between the public scenes of life, and the retirement of a cheerful, not -an unemployed and gloomy and selfish retirement, attained a perfection -of taste, an elegance and purity of style, that few men of his -profession and station, engrossed as they must necessarily be with dry -and recondite researches, have been enabled to acquire. He had, says -Swift, “very little taste for conversation;”[397] and, unlike his -associate _Buffo_, who - - “Received of wits an undistinguished race,” - -consoled himself, in his hours of recreation, “with the company of an -illiterate chaplain or favourite servant.”—Yet the man who never -delivered an opinion of a piece of poetry, a statue, or a picture, -without exciting admiration from the just, and happy, and delicate turns -of expression which he adopted, must have loved to commune with higher -minds than the unsuitable companions whom Swift has assigned to his -leisure hours.[398] - -Queen Anne retained in his office, as lord high steward, William Duke of -Devonshire. This nobleman, “a patriot among the men, a Corydon among the -ladies,”[399] had officiated at her Majesty’s coronation, as he had done -at that of William and Mary,—where his stately deportment and handsome -person, as in costly attire he bore the regal crown, eclipsed the sickly -monarch, lowly in stature, behind whom he walked, whilst his daughter -bore Queen Mary’s train. Whilst a boy, he had borne the royal train, -with three other noble youths, at a similar ceremonial, when Charles the -Second ascended the throne. Yet, though descending from a stock devoted -to the Stuarts, and though his grandmother, the celebrated Countess of -Devonshire, was instrumental in the Restoration, the high-minded peer -became, upon conviction, a strenuous supporter of that liberty and of -those rights upon which the second James so largely encroached. He voted -for the bill of exclusion, and spoke boldly, though always with -politeness and temper, upon that famous measure. At the trial of his -friend Lord Russell, when it was almost deemed criminal to be a witness -in behalf of the illustrious prisoner, Lord Cavendish, with the Earl of -Anglesea, Mr. Howard, Tillotson, and Burnet, gave his testimony to the -honour, the prudence, and good life of the distinguished sufferer. When -he found that the doom of Russell was inevitable, he sent him a message, -entreating to be allowed to change cloaks with him, and to remain in the -prison whilst Russell should make his escape. The noble refusal of the -generous offer is well known. It was Cavendish’s sad office to attend -his beloved, and more than ever honoured friend, to the last; to solace -the wretched Lady Russell, and bear the last message of affection from -the noblest of beings to one who merited all his love. In the court, and -in the senate, Lord Cavendish displayed the gallant qualities which had -been manifested in the prison of Lord Russell. Insulted in the precincts -of the court by Colonel Culpeper, a creature of King James’s, he -retaliated by dragging the offending party out of the presence-chamber, -and caning him on the head. For this act he was prosecuted and fined -5000_l._ But Cavendish, then Earl of Devonshire, chose rather to go to -the King’s Bench prison, than to pay a fine which he thought exorbitant. -He escaped to Chatsworth, where, in the midst of difficulties occasioned -by loans in the former earl’s time to the exiled family never repaid, -and aggravated by Lord Cavendish’s own rash castigation of Culpeper, his -energetic mind framed a plan for remodelling the venerable pile in which -he had sought security. The famous waterworks, the gardens, pictures, -statues, and a great portion of the modernised structure, were the -result of this nobleman’s magnificent taste and profuse -expenditure.[400] His splendour and liberality were guided by an economy -as essential to the peer who wishes to retain his independence, as to -the peasant. His attention to the meanest of his guests was such, that -when he gave an entertainment, he would send for the groom-porter to -inquire if he, and all of the same degree, had received due provision. -His love of liberty was shown in a favourite saying of his, “that the -deer in his park were happier than subjects under a tyrannical king:” -or, as he expressed the same sentiments in his own poetry— - - “O despicable state of all that groan - Under a blind dependency on one! - How far inferior to the herds that range, - With native freedom, o’er the woods and plains!”[401] - -But whilst the noble Cavendish detested that tyranny under the effects -of which Russell had perished, and the whole British nation had -suffered, in the properties and safety of its subjects, during the reign -of James the Second, his well-conditioned mind cherished the elevating -sentiments of loyalty, where loyalty was justly due. That bond of social -union he prized, as every rightly thinking man must prize it, as an -auxiliary to freedom, and a rallying point for the sincere, and the -well-intentioned of all political opinions, however opposed on other -points. The character of Lord Cavendish affords an illustration of the -truth, that it is perfectly consistent with the lover of liberty, and -the advocate of the subject’s right, to cherish the most ardent zeal for -the maintenance of regal authority, and to feel the strongest personal -attachment to the sovereign. Far from being one of those who, in the -unsettled state of the government, desired that its disarranged elements -might settle into a republic, the Earl of Devonshire, though he signed -the association to invite William the Third to England, was the first of -the nobility to step forward to protect the person of the Princess Anne, -whom he guarded with a loyal and chivalric zeal which has been already -described. - -This model for English noblemen had received the honour of a dukedom in -1694, the preamble to his patent containing some of the highest -compliments from William and Mary ever offered from a monarch to a -subject. He was one of the few who was honoured with an equal respect -and confidence by their successor. Unhappily for the Whig party, to whom -his influence was consistently given, this peer did not enjoy his -restored fortunes, and high favour, many years after the accession of -Anne. His deathbed was instructive, as the last scene of a life which, -exhibiting the most generous and heroic qualities, had displayed, -nevertheless, sundry irregularities. The love of pleasure and the love -of virtue are sometimes strangely conjoined in the same character. -Courteous, though commanding; in person at once attractive and stately; -accomplished in the ornamental arts—poetry, painting, music; standing on -a high eminence, and living, from his youth upwards, in public life;—the -errors of the Duke of Devonshire were attributable to the pervading -spirit of the times. What we call virtue in private life was not then -recognised by the great and fashionable. The Duke, like most other men -of his class, had fallen into those received notions which exempt men -from the purity, and decorum, which are at once the restraint and the -safeguard of woman. On his deathbed the man of pleasure and of the world -felt that he had driven off his repentance too late. Happily, his senses -were spared to him. He sent for Dr. Kennet, and entreated that prelate -“to pray heartily with him to God that he would accept of his -repentance.” He declared himself ready to ask pardon of all whom he had -offended, and also to forgive others. At every successive visit from his -reverend adviser, he reiterated his repentance. His prayers for the -“peace of God” were earnest, and, as it seemed, effectual. After the -many agonising struggles of a wounded and chastened mind—after evincing -his real piety by acts of justice and of charity, (beautiful planets, -which should ever shine upon the deathbed,) peace was given to him. -Fortitude and patience were added to that inward conviction of pardon. -He fixed the probable hour of his departure, and asked what was the -easiest way of dying. His soul departed, as it seemed, in a peaceful -slumber. “And thus,” says his biographer, “he fell asleep, not merely -like an ancient Roman, but rather like a good Christian.”[402] - -The death of Cavendish raised up a memorable controversy among the -clergy, upon the propriety of receiving deathbed repentance, and of -ratifying it with the administration of the sacraments. The question, as -was usually the case in those days, was raised by party clamour rather -than by religious zeal; and Dr. Kennet, who preached the funeral sermon -of the Duke, was branded with opprobrium by the whole body of the -clergy, for a contempt of discipline.[403] - -Of a very different character was Thomas, created, in 1714, Marquis of -Wharton, whose white staff was given by the Queen, before his face, to -Sir Edward Seymour,—an affront so marked as to draw down the following -threat in private from the offended nobleman:—“That he would soon -provide himself with other rods to chastise the new ministers.”[404] -This able, but unprincipled man, received his dismissal in a manner very -different from the dignified demeanour of Somers, on incurring a similar -mortification. Wharton was a specimen of those unsound materials of -which parties are composed, and of which honest and great men are -forced, by political compact, to make use. It seems singular that a man -who scoffed at all religions, and outraged every right feeling, should -have been brought up in the most rigid puritanical principles. The -mother of Lord Wharton, more especially, was one of the zealous -adherents to the Presbyterian faith. But though he deviated from the -parental precept, and conformed to the national worship, Wharton had -imbibed in his early education a love of constitutional freedom, which -not all the seductions of royal favour could efface.[405] His morals he -owed to a different school. A favourite companion of Charles the Second, -he never, like Marlborough, and Somers, and Cavendish, retrieved the -errors of early youth by a sincere and effectual amendment. The -consciences of those individuals were wounded by a sense of their -transgressions; but his was hardened. His nature was debased by habitual -sin; they, “like sheep, were led astray,” but their hearts were not -corrupted. Purity, holiness, honour, had always charms for these great -men, and must always have charms for those who are really great; but, to -Lord Wharton, these lights were dim.[406] - -In the opinion entertained of Lord Wharton by the world, William seems -to have coincided; for, in spite of Wharton’s activity as one of his -most powerful partisans, and of his Majesty’s endurance, not to say -enjoyment, of his coarse and fearless jokes,[407] he advanced Wharton to -no place of political importance. By William, Lord Wharton was made -comptroller of the household, an office far below his ambition, and, as -far as ability should be taken into account, his deserts. - -Wharton was an associate, but not a friend, of Marlborough and -Godolphin. He was, in truth, a brier in their path; a dangerous friend, -more dreaded than a foe; a man whose elevation they feared even more -than his open enmity. He was an able debater, bold, and therefore likely -to be, to a certain extent, powerful; for irresolute characters are -governed by those of a decisive and fearless temper. His fluency, -however, was devoid of all grace, his manner was coarse, his wit -pungent, but always tainted with grossness. His attacks upon others were -unsparing and reckless. - -The absence of all religion—not merely the sceptical turn of many of -those who aimed at being thought wits, but an avowed, and, as it is not -difficult, in such a case, to believe, an actual infidelity,—may -sufficiently account for the dereliction from all that is honourable and -estimable, which Thomas Lord Wharton’s political career presented. It -also accounts for the marked indignity offered to him by Queen Anne in -the mode of his dismissal. Sir Edward Seymour, the leader of the Tories, -and the promoter of the impeachment of Somers and Halifax in 1701, was -substituted in his place. The privy seal was given to the Marquis of -Normanby, a nobleman of great accomplishments and of personal beauty, -who was not the less agreeable to Anne from having been the first who -aspired to her hand, before Prince George was fixed upon as her destined -husband. Rich, young, attractive, Lord Normanby, then Lord Mulgrave, -might doubtless have succeeded in obtaining her consent; but though his -addresses were silenced, they were not forgotten by the Queen.[408] The -appointment of Lord Nottingham and Sir Charles Hedges to be principal -secretaries of state completed the manifestation of the Queen’s -inclination for the high church party. - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - - Dissatisfaction of the Countess of Marlborough—Formation of the new - Cabinet—Her efforts to convert the Queen—Quarrels with Lord - Rochester—Reports concerning the sale of offices—The Duchess’s - sentiments on the proper mode of such appointments—Cabals within the - court. - - -1701–2. The Countess of Marlborough viewed all these changes with a very -dissatisfied mind. “The wrong-headed politicians,” as she designated -them, who succeeded those “who had been firm to the Revolution,” found, -in her, a determined, and, what was more to their injury, a persevering -enemy. The Countess did not, after the manner of her sex, break out into -loud invectives at these ministerial appointments, nor excite the Queen, -if that were possible, by violent arguments, to maintain a cause which -always becomes dearer to ladies in proportion to the frequency of the -attacks made upon it. Sagacious, though resolute, she resolved, from the -very beginning of the Queen’s reign, “to try whether she could not, by -degrees, make impressions on her, more favourable to the Whigs.” The -difficulties of her task would have deterred a less ardent character; -and the zeal with which she accomplished her purpose argues, in some -measure, for the reality and genuineness of her principles; for if, as -it was broadly stated, offices were avowedly sold by Lady Marlborough, -it could be of little importance to her, supposing that she were -governed solely by such base motives as were imputed to her, which party -had the ascendency, as long as she herself remained in favour. - -“As to private interest,” remarks the Duchess, “the Whigs could have -done nothing for my advantage more than the Tories. I needed not the -assistance of either to ingratiate me with the Queen; she had, both -before and since her accession, given the most unquestionable proofs -that she considered me, not only as a most faithful servant, but as her -dear friend.[409] - -“It is plain, therefore,” continues the Duchess, “that I could have no -motive of private interest to bias me in favour of the Whigs; everybody -must see that had I consulted that oracle about the choice of a party, -it would certainly have directed me to go with them to the stream of my -mistress’s inclination and prejudice. This would have been the surest -way to secure my favour with her.”[410] - -She appears, nevertheless, from one of the Queen’s letters, never to -have abated in her zeal for the Whig principles, on account of the -Queen’s often avowed predilections for the Tories. “Your poor, -unfortunate, faithful Morley,” writes Anne, who, after the death of the -Duke of Gloucester, added the last epithet to those terms of affection -which she generally used, “would not have you differ in opinion with her -in the least thing. And upon my word, my dear Mrs. Freeman,” she adds, -“you are mightily mistaken in your notion of a Tory. For the character -you give of them does not belong to them, but to the church. But I will -say no more on this subject, but only beg, for my poor sake, that you -would not show more countenance to those you seem to have so much -inclination for than for the church party.”[411] Such was the style in -which the Queen of England addressed her subject, about a year after her -accession. But it is probable that even at this time Anne began to fear, -rather than to love this female keeper of her royal conscience. - -The world, at least the court world, all contributed, of course, to -intoxicate, by interested adulation, the haughty, rather than vain mind -of the groom of the stole and keeper of the privy purse. The Whigs, whom -Lady Marlborough declared she regarded as her personal enemies, paid her -but little respect, but the Tories were ready to overwhelm her with -compliments, upon any little service, paid or unpaid, which she might -condescend to perform for one of their party. Lord Rochester, whom the -Countess never forgave for having recommended Queen Anne to send her to -St. Albans during the disputes between the two royal sisters,[412] -condescended to write her a “very fine piece,” when a vacancy occurred -in the Queen’s household, and when it was his desire that his -daughter,[413] Lady Dalkeith, first cousin to her Majesty, should be -made one of the ladies of the bedchamber. “I confess,” says the Duchess, -“indeed, I was not a little surprised at this application from his -lordship. I thank God, I have experience enough of my own temper to be -very sure I can forgive any injury, when the person from whom I have -received it shows anything like repentance. But could I ever be so -unfortunate as to persecute another without cause, as my Lord Rochester -did me, I am confident that even want of bread could not induce me to -ask a favour of that person; but surely his lordship had something very -uncommon in his temper.”[414] - -The appointment was not given to Lady Dalkeith, on the pretext that the -number of ladies fixed by the Queen had been exceeded during the -lifetime of the deceased lady whom Lady Dalkeith had wished to succeed; -to which was added the declaration, that upon the first vacancy the list -was to be reduced to ten, which number the Queen considered sufficient. - -This, probably, was merely an excuse. The Duchess, indeed, declares that -she could have forgiven his lordship’s ill-treatment of herself, if she -had thought that he sought to promote the Queen’s true interest. “But -the gibberish of that party,” as she calls it, “about non-resistance, -and passive obedience, and hereditary right, I could not think it -forebode any good to my mistress, whose title rested on a different -foundation.” She therefore naturally desired to keep Lord Rochester, a -high churchman from hereditary principles, and his family, as much from -the Queen’s presence as she possibly could; whilst she endeavoured by -all possible means to work upon the opinions of the well-disposed, but -shallow and obstinate Anne. - -It is not such minds as those either of the Queen or the favourite, that -are open to conviction. “I did,” says the Duchess, “speak very freely -and very frequently to her Majesty upon the subject of Whig and Tory, -according to my conception of their different views and -principles.”[415] The Queen had, indeed, assured her that she could not -give her a greater proof of her friendship than in speaking plainly to -her on all things; and of this proof the Countess was ever disposed to -give her Majesty the full experience and benefit. - -The Queen had not long ascended the throne, before an order in council -was issued, to “prohibit the selling of places within her Majesty’s -household.” But this, it was observed, was not done, until Lady -Marlborough had disposed of a considerable number.[416] Indeed, from the -testimony of various historians, this practice, on the Countess’s part, -appears to have been notorious; yet how can her noble professions be -made to agree with her alleged shameless corruption? - -“If I had power to dispose of places,” she writes to Lord Godolphin, -“the first rule I would have would be, to have those that were proper -for the business; the next, those that deserved upon any occasion; and -whenever there was room, without hurting the public, I think one would -with pleasure give employments to those who were in so unhappy a -condition as to want them.”[417] - -Upon the disinterestedness or the cupidity of Lady Marlborough’s -disposition, and respecting the sincerity of her professions, posterity -is far more likely to put a fair and just construction than were her -jealous and party-inflamed contemporaries. - -The conduct of the Queen, in throwing her government chiefly into the -hands of the Tories, was attributed to the understanding between Lord -Marlborough and that party, that the war with France and the grand -alliance should be continued; a measure upon which he founded the basis -of his future fortunes.[418] By some writers it was insinuated, that a -difference of opinion upon political subjects existed between the Earl -and his Countess; and that the Queen’s first political changes were -promoted by Lord Marlborough in opposition to the Countess, and -accomplished for the purpose of being at the head of the grand -confederacy: and it was surmised that he fell into the Queen’s -inclinations to favour the Tories, contrary to the wishes of his Whig -consort.[419] By another partisan of the high church party it has been -declared, that when Queen Anne came to the throne, both the Earl and -Countess of Marlborough were the “staunchest Tories in the kingdom;” and -that the subsequent change of politics was accounted for by jealousy of -the Queen’s relations, Prince George and Lord Rochester, whose influence -was obnoxious to those who would not be contented with a divided rule. -“Hence,” says this writer, “these two noble personages now mentioned, -thought fit to put themselves at the head of the Whig interest, which -they knew they could manage without fears of a rival.”[420] - -Meantime, the administration of the late King’s affairs led to much -discontent, and gave rise to shameless peculation. “This was an age,” -says a contemporary writer, “when such a spirit of rapacity prevailed, -that not only were bad men greedy of gain, but even those that were -reputed men of virtue endeavoured to bring all things into confusion, so -that they might acquire to themselves preferments, titles, and -honours.”[421] Godolphin, whose character for probity stood well with -all parties, descended so far as to advise the Queen not to pay the late -King’s debts, or, at least, only so much as he thought proper to allow. -He discharged the claims of those who could exercise the greatest -political interest; others he delayed; others disallowed; a proceeding -dishonourable to the Lord Treasurer, the more especially as the King had -left assets enough to satisfy all demands, independent of aid from the -Exchequer. And whilst this ill-advised frugality was disgraceful in the -extreme, it was likewise inconsistent with the laws of England, by which -every just claimant is entitled to protection.[422] The Prince of -Denmark presented the King’s equipages and horses to Lord Grantham, the -master of the horse. The Queen took the royal ensigns of the Order of -the Garter. When the rest of King William’s goods and furniture were to -be divided, Lord Montague threatened the Countess of Marlborough with a -prosecution for his share, which, it is presumed, he suspected her -ladyship of appropriating; but the favourite contrived to pacify the -angry nobleman, and to effect an union by marriage between her own and -Lord Montague’s family.[423] - -Upon the return of Lord Marlborough from Holland, the Queen announced to -both Houses of Parliament her intention of declaring war against France, -and this measure being approved, war was proclaimed on the fourth of -May. - -The succession was now settled, and the Electress Sophia of Hanover was -ordered to be prayed for by her christian name, indicating that her -title to the throne was by her own blood. Towards this Princess, eminent -for her accomplishments and personal character, Anne evinced throughout -her reign far more jealousy than she ever manifested towards the young -Pretender, lately proclaimed in France, King of Great Britain. It was -reported, immediately after the death of William the Third, that that -monarch had left among his papers a scheme for setting aside his -sister-in-law from the succession, for bringing in the House of Hanover, -and even for imprisoning Anne to effect this purpose. The Tories, in -order to influence the elections, talked loudly and confidently of the -truth of these reports. Five commissioners, namely, the Dukes of -Somerset and Devonshire, the Earls Marlborough, Jersey, and Albemarle, -were empowered to examine his late Majesty’s papers, in order to prove -the truth or falsehood of these rumours. Eventually they were declared -by a vote of the House of Commons to be false and scandalous.[424] - -The oath of abjuration, notwithstanding a general expectation to the -contrary, was taken by both Houses of Parliament, with, however, a -mental reservation by many, that the right of the pretended Prince of -Wales, solemnly abjured by them, was a legal, and not a divine right, or -birthright; nor did they consider their abjuration binding in case of a -revolution or a conquest. “This,” says Burnet, “was too dark a thing to -be inquired after, or seen into, in the state matters were then in.” Yet -the lurking spirit of disaffection, like a blight, had its unseen but -perceptible influence upon all classes of society; more especially upon -that which, struggling to hold the reins of empire, was harassed by -party clamour. The well-known, and, it must be acknowledged, excusable -partiality of the Queen for her own family, kept alive the spirit of -Jacobitism in the country. Lady Marlborough fearlessly spoke her -sentiments to the Queen on this subject. - -“When I saw,” she observes, “she had such a partiality to those that I -knew to be Jacobites, I asked her one day whether she had a mind to give -up her crown; for if it had been her conscience not to wear it, I do -solemnly protest I would not have disturbed her, or struggled as I did. -But she told me she was not sure the Prince of Wales was her brother, -and that it was not practicable for him to come here, without ruin to -the religion and country.”[425] - -Whilst this struggle for power was carried on between parties at home, -Marlborough was negociating in Holland for a continuance of that -alliance which raised his prosperity to its height. The French monarch, -on the death of William, had in vain endeavoured to detach the Dutch -from the English interest. The personal influence of Marlborough, and -his talents as a negociator, completely frustrated this attempt on the -part of Louis; but some time elapsed before he could, with equal -success, arrange another matter of dispute. The Queen was extremely -desirous that her husband, the Prince of Denmark, should succeed to the -command of the united forces, and, in a great measure, supply the place -of the late King in Holland. The Dutch were by no means agreeable to -this proposition, which was, in the first instance, made an absolute -condition by the Queen. Prince George had the ambition to desire, -without the talent to acquire distinction; he was, moreover, a confirmed -invalid, and of a very moderate capacity for anything, especially for -military operations. The States, therefore, offered to Marlborough the -powers which he had negociated to obtain for Prince George, and that -great general deemed it expedient to accept their proposals, and to -return to England, to expound all that had passed between him and the -States, and to maintain the necessity of promoting a good understanding -between them and England. - -Lord Rochester, in the council, with other Tories who were favourable to -the French interests, loudly opposed a war which they foresaw would -augment the power of Marlborough, and consequently of his lady and her -Whig friends. But, notwithstanding these clamours, war was proclaimed on -the fourth of May, in London, at the Hague, and Vienna; and Marlborough -once more set sail from the English shores, and repaired to Holland. But -whilst the measures which he advocated were thus carried into effect, -Lord Marlborough had the mortification to perceive a growing coolness -between himself and Lord Rochester, an impetuous and well-intentioned -man, between whom and Lord Marlborough there had been a friendship of -long standing, unshaken by Lady Marlborough’s dislikes and -bickerings.[426] In quitting the shores of England, the great general -experienced, in the midst of many sources of vexation, how invariably -the eminent, and the successful, pay a tax to the rest of mankind for -the possession of their envied advantages. Marlborough, hurried from one -kingdom to another—harassed by the loss of friends—fortunate, but not -happy—would, in certain seasons of depression, have gladly exchanged all -his bright prospects and high honours, for the leisure of Holywell, and -for the real affection of his idolized wife. Lady Marlborough -accompanied him to Margate, where her husband was detained for some days -by contrary winds. At last the wind changed; the vessel was ready to -sail; the signal to depart was given. Lord Marlborough, who had been -solicitous for war, ardent in the expectation of reaping honours on the -plains of Holland, eager to depart, saw the signal which summoned him, -with unwonted anguish. He contemplated, perhaps, years of separation -from her to whom, in absence, every fond thought was given; who, though -past the bloom of youth, was the object of an attachment almost -romantic—an attachment, enthusiastic as it was, which elevated the noble -and affectionate heart of the great Marlborough. Since the accession of -Anne, his domestic comfort had indeed been impaired by the altered -position of his spoiled and arbitrary wife. The event which called her -forth into public life, called forth also passions which embittered the -intercourse between her and the good, the moderate, the kind-hearted -Marlborough. It was in vain that he had endeavoured to control her -vehement enmities, or to subdue her eager desire of interference in -political affairs. Her busy spirit was not kept in subjection by any of -that useful fear which sometimes serves as a restraint, on important -occasions, to women who, in the minor concerns of life, can act the -tyrant with a resolution worthy of a reasonable cause. - -Lady Marlborough was not restrained, by any respect for the -understanding of the Queen, from intruding her notions on politics, when -unbidden or unwelcome. Her high spirit had been wounded, unpardonably, -by the appointment of a Tory ministry, in direct opposition to her -wishes; and she chose not, even whilst obliged to submit, to permit the -Queen to enjoy her sovereign pleasure unmolested. Incessant bickerings, -in which Marlborough and Godolphin were obliged to interfere, and to -soothe the angry passions of “Queen Sarah,” as she was popularly called, -had already begun to weaken the ardent friendship of Mrs. Freeman and -Mrs. Morley, while they embittered the life of Lord Marlborough in -another way. Both Lord Godolphin and the Duke considered it their duty, -in such disputes, to take the Queen’s part. Doubtless, as far as -fluency, courage, and perseverance were concerned, it was obviously the -weaker side; but, in the adjustment of these differences, Lord -Marlborough and his wife were often opposed in opinions; and Godolphin -and Marlborough must infallibly have been disposed to agree with their -subsequent foe, Harley. “I see,” said that consummate courtier, “no -difference between a mad Whig and a mad Tory.”[427] - -Matrimonial differences were the result of these rencontres; and the -temperate, benevolent Marlborough suffered keenly from the occasional -irritability of a wife, to purchase whose affections he would, as it -appears from his letters, have made any sacrifice but that of principle. - -Notwithstanding all these painful remembrances, the bonds of domestic -life, which he was leaving, had abundant charms to rivet the noble heart -of the most humane, the most exemplary of heroes. Lord Marlborough, who -could face the enemies of his country undaunted, was overwhelmed with -grief when he bade his wife and family farewell. He hastened on board -the vessel, to conceal the agitation which he could not master. How -beautiful, how touching, is the following letter, written by him from on -board the vessel, shortly after this parting! - -“It is impossible to express with what a heavy heart I parted with you -when I was at the waterside. I could have given my life to have come -back, though I knew my own weakness so much that I durst not, for I -should have exposed myself to the company. I did, for a great while, -with a perspective glass, look upon the cliffs, in hopes I might have -had one sight of you. We are now out of sight of Margate, and I have -neither soul nor spirits; but I do at this minute suffer so much, that -nothing but being with you can recompense it. If you will be sensible of -what I now feel, you will endeavour ever to be easy to me, and then I -shall be most happy, for it is only you that can give me true content. I -pray God to make you and yours happy, and if I could contribute anything -to it with the utmost hazard of my life, I should be glad to do -it.”[428] - -What can we say to the woman who could undervalue such affection, and -fritter away the happiness, the glory of being Marlborough’s wife, in -petty intrigues and heart-burnings which marred their matrimonial -felicity. Some qualities there must have been, generous and attaching in -her character, which attracted, in spite of the vexations raised by her -provoking activity and interference—in spite even of temper, that word -of mighty import in the catalogue of human woes—the ever-returning -affection of her husband towards her. The most gentle, the most -irreproachable of wives could scarcely have deserved proofs of tender -consideration more touching than the foregoing and following letters; -and, probably, to speak seriously, would not have received them. It is a -remarkable fact, that the most arrogant women often inspire the greatest -devotion in those to whom fate has united them, especially if the -partner of that lot be of a gentle and clinging disposition. - -“I do assure you,” writes the great Marlborough, on occasion of some -political broil, “I had much rather the whole world should go wrong than -you should be uneasy, for the quiet of my life depends only on your -kindness. I beg you to believe that you are dearer to me than all things -in the world. My temper may make you and myself sometimes uneasy; but -when I am alone, and I find you kind, if you knew the true quiet I have -in my mind, you would then be convinced of my being entirely yours, and -that it is in no other power in this world to make me happy but -yourself.” - -On another occasion he adds, “’Tis impossible, my dearest soul, to -imagine the uneasy thoughts I have every day, in thinking that I have -the curse, at my age, of being in a foreign country from you, and, at -the same time, with very little prospect of being able to do any -considerable service for my country.”[429] - -And again:— - -“_July 17, 1702—from the Meuse._ - -“We have now very hot weather, which I hope will ripen the fruit at St. -Albans. When you are there, pray think how happy I should be walking -alone with you. No ambition can make me amends for being from you. If it -were not impertinent, I should desire you in every letter to give my -humble duty to the Queen, for I do serve her in heart and soul.[430] - -“I am on horseback, or answering letters all day long; for, besides the -business of the army, I have letters from the Hague, and all places -where her Majesty has any ministers; so that if it were not for my zeal -for her service, I should certainly desert, for you know, of all things, -I do not love writing.” - -At another time he writes to her, “I am very impatient for the arrival -of Devrell, you having given me hopes of a long letter by him; for -though we differ sometimes in our opinion, I have nothing here gives me -so much pleasure as your letters; and believe me, my dearest soul, that -if I had all the applause, and even the whole world given me, I could -not be happy if I had not your esteem and love.”[431] - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - - Dangers which beset Marlborough—Peculiar circumstances attending his - return to England—Order in Council forbidding the sale of - places—Lord Marlborough raised to a Dukedom—Sentiments of the - Duchess on that occasion. - - -The Countess of Marlborough was now left to steer her course alone, amid -the intricacies of politics. Her path was protected by the friendly -assistance of Lord Godolphin, who was at once her guide and support, and -the constant correspondent to whom Marlborough disclosed his inmost -sentiments. - -Dangers and difficulties perplexed the hero, even amid his most -brilliant success. The campaign of the Meuse had been concluded, Liege -taken, and Marlborough was preparing to return to England, when an -accident occurred which had nearly closed for ever the splendid career -of him on whom the fortunes of England depended. In descending the -Meuse, from Maestricht, in order to go to the Hague, the boat in which -he sailed was separated in the night from its companion, manned with -sixty men, and Marlborough was left with a guard of twenty-five men -only. A French vessel from Gueldre was lurking among the reeds and sedge -on the river, as Marlborough’s small party became apparent. The adverse -party suddenly rushed on the boat, and overpowered the guards. - -In this situation, the coolness of Marlborough, and his perfect command -of countenance, saved him from discovery. The Dutch deputies on board -were furnished with French passports, but Marlborough disdained to -solicit one from these functionaries. A man standing near him thrust -into his hands a pass which he drew out of his pocket. It happened to be -a French passport which had been formerly given to General Churchill, -Lord Marlborough’s brother, who had quitted the service from ill health. -Although aware that it was out of date, and that the slightest -inspection might detect the imposition, Marlborough composedly presented -it. He was, in consequence, permitted to proceed, whilst his escort were -detained. To the man who saved his life, he gave a pension of fifty -pounds.[432] Marlborough reached the Hague in safety, where rejoicings -of the greatest enthusiasm upon his escape gratified the kind heart -which was touched by the homely tribute of the lower orders. - -It must have been with no common feelings that the Countess welcomed -back her husband, after a risk so imminent. In her Vindication of her -Conduct she alludes but seldom to Marlborough, and seems to make far -less account of his victories and defeats, than of her own successful or -frustrated intrigues; and of the sentiments with which she welcomed to -his home him whom the multitude compared to Cæsar for good fortune, and -declared that he was shown to be peculiarly in God’s favour, from his -unparalleled success,[433] there is, in her writings, no record. - -During the Duke’s absence, the Tory party had been greatly augmented in -strength. After disposing of several important posts, to most of which -Tories were preferred, her Majesty, in July, passed an order in council -against the selling of places in her household and family; but this was -not issued until, as the enemies of Lady Marlborough observed, abundance -of places had been purchased from the favourite.[434] - -Elections for a new Parliament were carried on with great warmth, the -Tory interest predominating. On the sixth of August, the Queen prorogued -the Parliament until the eighth of October; and three weeks afterwards, -accompanied by Prince George, she set out by Windsor for Bath, the use -of the waters being recommended for the Prince’s asthma. It is probable -that Lady Marlborough, in her capacity of Groom of the Stole, -accompanied her royal mistress on this occasion; it indeed appears, from -several of the letters, that she[435] frequently visited Bath. At -Oxford, where the Queen rested one night, she was received with -manifestations of loyalty and affection. She honoured the convocation of -the university with her presence, and, in reply to an address, assured -the magnates of “her favour and protection; and that she should always -have a particular regard to this great body, so considerable in itself, -and so useful both in Church and State.” After receiving the usual -present of a Bible, a common prayer-book, and a pair of gloves, Queen -Anne partook of a splendid banquet, at which most of the distinguished -members of her government were present, many of whom had received the -title of Doctor of Law. When these ceremonials were finished, she -proceeded on her road to Bath, where she remained until the beginning of -October, and where, doubtless, “Queen Sarah” remained with her Majesty. - -And now commenced that course of prosperity which proved so intoxicating -to the mind of Lady Marlborough, and which is said to have engendered -the vice of cupidity in the otherwise noble nature of Marlborough. It is -one of the besetting temptations of a long career of success, that it -induces us to set a value upon our exertions, and our merits, which -produces the curse of discontent. Nothing can come up to our sense of -what we deserve: and the bounties of fortune, like some luscious -liquors, create only a thirst for more. - -The Queen, in her speeches at the opening of her first Parliament, -referred to the successes of her arms under Lord Marlborough, she was -answered by an address, congratulating her Majesty upon that head, and -declaring that the Earl had signally “retrieved the ancient honour and -glory of the English nation,” a phrase which satisfied neither -Marlborough nor his captious wife. The Queen went in great state to St. -Paul’s to return thanks, and received an address of congratulation from -the Commons upon the recovery of her asthmatic consort, whose illness -had assumed the form of lethargy.[436] - -In November Lord Marlborough returned, and immediately received the -thanks of the House of Commons for his services. This honour, accepted -with the most graceful, or, as some call it, artful humility by -Marlborough, was succeeded by a declaration of the Queen in council, -that it was her intention to make his Lordship a Duke. - -Her determination was expressed in these terms: “I am so satisfied of -the eminent services of my Lord of Marlborough to the public and myself, -both in the command of the army, and in the entire confidence he has -settled between me and the States General, that I intend to make him a -Duke.”[437] - -This new distinction is said to have proceeded entirely from the favour -of her Majesty, unsolicited, and indeed by Lady Marlborough undesired. -It is difficult to believe this of so ambitious a woman; yet thus writes -Lord Godolphin to her Ladyship on this momentous occasion. - -In sending to Lady Marlborough the address of the House of Lords, he -says:— - -“I am apt to think Mrs. Morley may have something to say to you upon the -subject, which perhaps you may not like; but I think it should be -_endured_ upon such an occasion, when it is visible to the whole world -that it is not on your account.”[438] - -The Queen followed this prefatory letter with the following gracious and -delicate mode of announcing her intentions. - - - “_St. James’s, 22nd October._ - -“I have had this evening the satisfaction of my dear Mrs. Freeman’s of -yesterday; for which I give you many thanks, and though I think it a -long time since I saw you, I do not desire you to come one minute sooner -to town than it is easy for you, but will wait with patience for the -happy hour; and only beg, when you do come, you would send for a coach, -and not make use of a chaise. - -“Lord Treasurer intends to send you a copy of the address of the House -of Lords, which is to be given me to-morrow, and that gives me an -opportunity of mentioning a thing which I did not intend to do yet. It -is very uneasy to your poor unfortunate, faithful Morley, to think that -she has so very little in her power to show you how sensible I am of all -Lord Marlborough’s kindness, especially when he deserves all that a rich -crown could give. But since there is nothing else at this time, I hope -you will give me leave, as soon as he comes, to make him a duke. I know -my dear Mrs. Freeman does not care for anything of that kind, nor am I -satisfied with it, because it does not enough express the value I have -for Mrs. Freeman, nor ever can, how passionately I am yours, my dear -Mrs. Freeman.”[439] - - -“Ambition,” the Duchess of Marlborough observes, “had no share in -procuring that new title;”[440] and the following extract from a letter -addressed by her, on this occasion, to one of her friends, appears to -confirm the declaration of one who was as little addicted to duplicity -as any person inhabiting the atmosphere of a court could possibly be. - - -“I believe,” she says, “there are very few in the world who do not think -me very much pleased with the increase of honour the Queen gave Lord -Marlborough when he commanded the army at her coming to the crown; and -perhaps it is so ridiculous, at least what few people will believe, that -I would not mention it but to those that I could show the original -letters to. If there be any truth in a mortal, it was so uneasy to me, -that when I read the letter first upon it, I let it drop out of my hand, -and was for some minutes like one that had received the news of the -death of one of their dear friends; I was so sorry for anything of that -kind, having before all that was of any use. - -“I fear you will think what I say upon the subject is affected; and -therefore I must repeat again, that it is more uneasy to me for a time -than can easily be believed. I do think there is no advantage but in -going in at a door; and when a rule is settled, I like as well to follow -five hundred as one. And the title of duke in a family where there are -many sons is often a great burthen; though at that time I had myself but -one, I might have had more, and the next generation a great many. To -conclude, a higher title was not my feat; and if I saw you, I could -convince you of it.” - - -Lord Godolphin, who knew her reluctance to the proffered honour, wrote -to soothe her alarms, and to pacify her on the occasion. At the time -that these letters were written, there was not the slightest reason to -suppose that they would ever be made public; and the Countess is -therefore borne out in her assertion, that the distinction came to her -family, not only unsolicited but undesired.[441] - -“I give you many thanks,” writes the Lord Treasurer, “for the favour of -your letter, which I received this evening. I did easily believe Mrs. -Morley’s letter would make you uneasy, but having her commands not to -speak of it, I durst not say any more, than just to prepare you to -submit to what I found by her she was convinced was necessary for the -satisfaction of the public. I have waited upon her this evening to let -her see how truly uneasy you were, and have begged of her, when she sees -you, not to part till she has made you easy again, either by your -submitting to please her, or by her condescending to cure your -apprehensions.”[442] - -Lord Marlborough appears to have been far less averse to the favour -meditated by his gracious sovereign than his more cautious, and, in -common affairs, more sagacious wife. - -Nov. 4th.—“You know,” he observes, writing from the Hague, in reply to -some letters in which the subject had been broached, “I am very ill at -compliments, but I have a heart full of gratitude; therefore pray say -all you can to the Queen for her extraordinary goodness to me. As you -have let me have your thoughts as to the dukedom, you shall have mine in -short, since I shall have the happiness of being with you so soon.” - -He proceeded, however, to take counsel upon the occasion from the -Pensionary Heinsius, a man of great sagacity, and one of his intimate -and partial friends. Heinsius, across the channel, ventured to differ -with the female arbiter who ruled Godolphin and Marlborough, and -strongly recommended the acceptance of the high honour. He represented -that it would give Marlborough greater consideration with the allied -princes, and could not create jealousies, since it was bestowed wholly -as a reward for the good services of the last campaign. To Marlborough’s -objection that he should, until he had an estate, make a worse figure as -a duke than as he was, the Pensionary replied, that “the Queen’s -kindness was such, Lord Marlborough need not doubt a fortune; and that -whatever was done at this time, for his fortune as well as the title, -would be without envy, since all the people were pleased with what he -had done.” Heinsius concluded his arguments by representing to the great -general that it was not reasonable to expect in any future campaign such -signal success as had accompanied the last; and he begged his lordship, -for “the good of the common cause, the Queen’s service, and his own -sake, that he would think this the proper time for being distinguished.” - -This discussion made considerable impression on the judgment of him whom -it chiefly concerned. Lord Marlborough assured the Pensionary that he -would acquaint the Lord Treasurer and Lady Marlborough of the matter, -and that he should be guided entirely by their decision. “I do beg of -you,” he adds, addressing his wife, “that you will do me justice that it -is not my vanity that makes me think what the Pensioner says is -reasonable.”[443] - -The Queen having, on the second of December, announced her intention of -honouring the Earl of Marlborough with a dukedom, enhanced the -obligation conferred, by sending, in ten days afterwards, a message to -the House of Commons, stating that she had added to the distinction a -pension of five thousand a year upon the revenue of the post-office, -payable during the term of her Majesty’s natural life. She further -observed, “that if it had been in her power, she would have granted the -same terms in the pension as in the honour, that is, by making it -permanent; and that she hoped they would think it so reasonable in this -case, as to find some methods of doing it.”[444] - -This message occasioned warm debates in the House, and an address was -returned, importing that the Commons, “to their inexpressible grief,” -could not comply with her Majesty’s wishes; and that they begged leave -to lay before her Majesty their apprehensions of making a precedent for -the alienation of the revenues of the crown, which had been so much -reduced by the exorbitant grants of “the late reign.” - -The Queen, notwithstanding sundry complimentary matters from her Majesty -to the Commons, and from the Commons to her Majesty, was yet unable to -accomplish her point. Her justly-prized general and his favoured wife -were fruitlessly indignant, at what they considered almost as a -desertion of their interests, by their ministerial friends. They, on the -other hand, attributed the Duke’s efforts to have the grant of five -thousand a year made perpetual, to that fondness for money with which -this great man has been repeatedly, and, perhaps, not undeservedly, -reproached.[445] Sir Christopher Musgrave remarked, “that he disputed -not the merit of the Duke of Marlborough’s services; but that it must be -acknowledged they were well paid;” and the profitable employments which -had been already bestowed upon different members of his family were -brought into array against his demands. - -Whilst these objections to the Duke’s claims were boldly advanced in the -House of Commons, the public, without the doors of that august assembly, -were lavish of satirical remarks, which stung the Duke and Duchess, and -even the Queen herself, to the very quick. Amongst other satires that -were circulated, a lampoon was handed about, importing that the Queen -intended to give one Duke (Marlborough) all the gold which another Duke -(Ormond) had brought from Vigo.[446] - -Wounded and incensed by these remarks, the Duke entreated the Queen to -recal her message, lest he should be the cause of obstructing the public -business.[447] The Queen complied with this request; but, on the very -day when the Commons presented their remonstrance, generously intimated -her intention to the Duchess of Marlborough, of adding to the annuity of -five thousand pounds, two thousand pounds out of the privy purse. This -kind and prompt mark of affection was thus announced: - -“I cannot be satisfied with myself without doing something towards -making up what has been so maliciously hindered in the Parliament; and -therefore I desire my dear Mrs. Freeman and Mr. Freeman would be so kind -as to accept of two thousand pounds a year out of the privy purse, -beside the grant of the five. This can draw no envy, for nobody need -know it. Not that I would disown what I give to people that deserve, -especially where it is impossible to reward the deserts; but you may -keep it as a secret or not, as you please. I beg my dear Mrs. Freeman -would never any way give me an answer to this; only comply with the -desires of your poor, unfortunate, faithful Morley, that loves you most -tenderly, and is, with the sincerest passion imaginable, yours.”[448] - -The proffered bounty was, with a feeling of honour, lofty and -praiseworthy, declined. So disinterested a refusal might be considered -as setting aside the charge of covetousness against Marlborough, and the -imputed, grasping conduct of his wife. But, unhappily for those who -would wish to exalt human nature, years afterwards, when the Duchess was -out of favour, she had the meanness, by her own acknowledgment, to claim -the two thousand pounds a year thus offered, and thus, at the same time, -refused; and to press her claim by sending the Queen one of her own -letters, in which she enforced the Duchess’s acceptance of the grant; -and to demand that her Majesty should allow her to charge the sum, with -arrears, from the time of the offer, in the privy purse accounts. The -Queen, though alienated from her favourite, was generous enough to agree -to her proposal—the Duchess mean enough to receive the money.[449] The -original refusal, therefore, we cannot but suppose, proceeded from the -just, though not liberal Marlborough, who disdained to accept, from the -Queen’s private bounty, a grant which the assembly of the nation had -refused. Thus was the affair settled; but Marlborough never forgave the -Tories their opposition to his claims. In offering to the Parliament his -hearty thanks for their approbation of his services, he made this -speech:—“He was overjoyed,” he said, “that the House thought he had done -service to the public; but that he would hereafter endeavour, as it had -always been his wish, that he might be more indebted to his country, -than his country to him.”[450] - -The subsequent rupture between Marlborough and the Tories originated on -this occasion. The Duke was indignant, it is said, at being placed -merely on a footing with Sir George Rooke, and the Duke of Ormond, who -received the thanks of the Houses at the same time with his grace. He -was also wounded, and not without reason, at the apparent disposition to -undervalue his services which his friends manifested. These sentiments -were shared, to their fullest extent, and exasperated with every womanly -invective, by her who had continually regretted the early partiality of -the Duke to a party whom she abhorred. But it was not long before, in -the course of events, the Duchess perceived that her direst foes were -not those who openly and vehemently opposed her ambitious views. - -Amid the clamours of Whigs and Tories, and during the storm of their -hostilities, a middle or moderate party gradually and silently arose, -and, fostered by circumstances, attained a powerful ascendency. These -“trimmers,” as they were contemptuously called, gained accession to -their numbers, amongst those who, like the Duke of Marlborough, beheld -with regret the extravagances into which both factions were betrayed, in -their avidity for preferment. - -Robert Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford, was the leader of this new and -powerful schism from the Tory school of politics,—which he appeared, in -a great degree, to have latterly deserted. - -The political career of this being of ephemeral influence was, indeed, -one of artifice. “His humour,” says Lord Cowper, “was never to deal -clearly, nor openly, but always with reserve, if not dissimulation, or -rather simulation, and to love tricks, even, where not necessary, but -from an inward satisfaction he took in applauding his own cunning. If -any man was ever under the necessity of being a knave, he was.”[451] - -The great instrument of the proud Sarah’s fall, Harley, was well -understood by his foe, even whilst, yet, he flattered her weaknesses, -and temporized with the party whom she espoused. To a plain, familiar, -unoffending manner, great application and extensive reading, Harley -united an aspiring genius, and, as the Duchess remarks, as much -knowledge as any one living, “of the secret of managing the corruptions -of human nature.”[452] Educated among dissenters, his moderation, and -the support which he gave to the succession of the house of Hanover, had -conciliated the Whigs, whose cause he now pretended, with various -reservations, to advocate. His election to the office of Speaker had -been, nevertheless, regarded by the Tories as a triumph, although it had -been carried almost by unanimous consent. Yet, by dexterous management, -Harley contrived, when the high church party became overbearing and -obnoxious, to erect in himself that resource, of which the Queen -afterwards availed herself, to balance parties. Extolled by Swift “for -venturing to restore the forgotten custom of treating his prince with -respect,” Harley was suspected of some deep design by others, when, at -his own table, he expatiated with admiration upon the manner of the late -King’s death, which he compared to that of the ancient heroes, as if it -had been above “the mere condition of mortal men.”[453] Yet, in public, -he still espoused the interests of the Tories, flattering the Whigs, -nevertheless, with assurances that he was satisfied that neither King -William, nor his ministers, had any design but for the public good, and -condoling with them upon the persecution that they had of late years -encountered from the clamours of the adverse party. Thus a foundation -was laid for that future eminence which Harley, to the downfall of -Marlborough and his lady, enjoyed, but with short duration.[454] - -In private life Harley was amiable, and, as far as money was concerned, -singularly disinterested, for the times in which he lived. With all the -weight of business on his mind, he had the power of enjoying the -relaxation of conversation in an easy, light-hearted, and pleasing -manner. A patron, as well as a proficient in learning, he was, as Pope -relates, “above all pain, all anger, and all pride;” and thus, by that -happy combination of qualities, escaped those displays by which the -vanity and frequent absurdity of Halifax rendered the character of a -patron odious, and avoided the ridicule, which sometimes, with less -reason, alighted upon Godolphin. - -Lord Rochester, the main prop of the Tories, and at present the -determined rival of Marlborough, was his ally; but proved, subsequently, -the only impediment of Harley’s pre-eminent favour with the Queen. By -much prudence, by the courtesy of his manners, and the command of his -temper, he was peculiarly formed to ingratiate himself at a court. -Rochester and Harley were, however, opposed to the favourite and her -gallant husband. But, at this period, both personal regard and -affectionate gratitude were still in favour of the Duchess’s continuance -in prosperity and power. - -Aware of her Majesty’s inclination, Marlborough and his wife sought -every means of gratifying the Queen’s earnest wishes, in respect to the -elevation of her consort, Prince George, to an equal share of the regal -dignity with herself. The desire which Anne cherished for the -accomplishment of this end, strongly marks her affectionate disposition -and unambitious character. But although the Prince of Denmark might be -considered as the least dangerous of men, the measure, when brought -forward, was overruled by a jealous parliament, as unconstitutional. -Disappointed as she was, Anne sought consolation in the endeavour to -obtain for her husband a provision in case of his surviving her; a -project in which the Tories warmly concurred. To the bill which was -brought in for granting a pension of one hundred thousand pounds yearly, -a clause was annexed, continuing to the Prince, after the Queen’s death, -the offices which he held during her lifetime; and the most violent -opposition was raised by the Peers to this clause, which was contrary to -the Act of Settlement. The Whigs were clamorous against it, as deviating -from the principles of the Revolution, and the bill passed by one vote -only. Marlborough, who was still considered as belonging to the Tory -party, argued strenuously in the Queen’s behalf, and his efforts were -repaid by expressions of affectionate gratitude on the part of Anne. - -“I ought,” wrote her Majesty, “to say a great deal to both of you in -return, but neither words nor actions can ever express the true sense -Mr. Morley and I have of your sincere kindness on this, and on all other -occasions; and therefore I will not say any more on this subject, but -that, to the last moment, your dear, unfortunate, faithful Morley will -be most passionately and tenderly yours.”[455] - -The Queen, who was devotedly attached to her husband, notwithstanding -the disparity of their age, and other circumstances, never forgave those -who opposed this measure. It was true that there was little apparent -probability of the Prince’s living so long as to feel the loss of -station and decline of influence which the Queen’s death would entail -upon his Royal Highness. He had for years been afflicted with an asthma, -which during the winter (1702) endangered his life. Yet Anne evinced, on -the subject of a provision for her consort, a zeal which she had never -yet shown on any other subject.[456] The great world, whilst it admired -her domestic qualities, had not given her credit for the strong conjugal -affection which marked and elevated both her own private conduct, and -which had adorned the character of the late Queen. The courts of the -Stuarts had not been accustomed to qualities so respectable and so -amiable. Hence, when even the sedate and virtuous Anne promoted John -Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave, and afterwards Marquis of Normanby and Duke -of Buckinghamshire, to be a privy councillor, her preference to that -brave and accomplished nobleman was attributed to an early -prepossession; Lord Mulgrave having paid his addresses to her before she -was contracted to Prince George.[457] Queen Anne resembled, it may be -presumed, most other women, who rarely cease to regard with complacency -the man who has once displayed towards them affection or admiration, -even when those feelings have not been reciprocal. If, by a stretch of -imagination, anything like romance can be attached to the recollection -of this amiable Princess, the early addresses of the young -nobleman,—addresses which were prohibited as soon as discovered,[458] -though proffered at a time when there was little probability of Anne’s -becoming Queen of England,—may be deemed romantic. “Anne,” says the -arch-satirist of her day, “had undoubtedly no turn for gallantry, yet so -far resembled her predecessor, Queen Elizabeth, as not to dislike a -little homage to her person. The Duke,” he adds, “was immediately -rewarded, on her accession, for having made love to her before her -marriage.”[459] - -Lord Mulgrave, whom the Queen was thought for such reasons to promote, -had been a warm adherent to her father, even whilst he manfully -reprobated and ridiculed that monarch’s religious faith.[460] Like -Rochester, he influenced the Queen’s mind,—it may without scandal be -presumed, in some measure through her affections,—to the Tory party. In -conformity with the fashion of the day, he affected literature. - -“The life of this peer,” says Horace Walpole, with his usual pointed and -well-bred ill-nature, “takes up fourteen pages and a half in folio in -the General Dictionary, where it has little pretensions to occupy a -couple. The author of the Dictionary,” he adds, “calls the Duke one of -the most beautiful prose writers and greatest poets of this age; which -is also,” he says, “proved by the finest writers, his cotemporaries; -certificates that have little weight, where the merit is not proved by -the author’s own works.” “It is said,” adds the malicious Walpole, “that -the Duke wrote in hopes of being confounded with his predecessors in the -title; but he would have been more easily confounded with the other -Buckingham, if he had never written at all.”[461] - -Notwithstanding the Queen’s earnestness on the subject of a provision -for the Prince her husband, a protest was signed against that clause -which enabled him to keep his employments in the next reign, thus making -him an exception to all other foreigners similarly situated. It bore the -names of seven peers, whilst those of twenty-eight were affixed to a -still stronger protest, objecting to the whole bill. Amongst the noble -names which thus appeared, that of Lord Sunderland, who had lately -succeeded that celebrated statesman his father, gave the greatest -offence to Anne, and distress to the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough. -Lord Sunderland had aggravated his offence by speaking against the -grant. His father-in-law was grieved, and surprised at the part which -his son-in-law took; but the Duchess was incensed by what she considered -as a mark of disrespect, and an act of defiance to her will, by one -usually flattering and subservient to his stately mother-in-law.[462] -Her daughter, Lady Sunderland, with difficulty effected a -reconciliation; for the principles of the Whigs were forgotten in the -service of Majesty. This perplexing and irritating conduct on the part -of Lord Sunderland was one of a series of political vexations, which -Marlborough and his Duchess experienced at the hands of that able, but -violent nobleman. - -The Duchess of Marlborough had now wholly embarked on that voyage of -politics which ended only with her long and weary life. A taste for the -excitement for cabal, like a passion for gaming, grows with indulgence; -it is rarely wholly relinquished, but fastens itself upon the character, -until every faculty is absorbed in what is popularly termed a spirit of -party. - -The Duchess, whatever were her private motives, had, it must be allowed, -extended and sound views upon such subjects as engaged the powers of her -energetic mind. Doubtless the society of the able men whose intimacy she -had secured, contributed to enlarge those opinions, which could scarcely -have been formed in the courts of Charles the Second and his brother, or -improved into principles in the contracted court or common-place society -of the virtuous, but prejudiced Anne. - -It is difficult to draw a distinction between what may be called real -liberality of sentiment, and a pernicious licentiousness of profession -in our religious concerns. The principle of toleration was mingled, in -the days of William and of Anne, with a dangerous laxity, which required -rather the counsels of the preacher, or the correctives of an -enlightened press, or the chastening hand of popular education, to -prevent its growth, than the questionable efficacy of penal enactments. -The Test and Corporation Acts had rendered the Sacrament of the Lord’s -Supper an essential observance to all those who held offices of trust. -This measure, passed (1673) in the time of Charles the Second, had -moderated the bitter feelings towards dissenters, in which the high -church party had, until that time, indulged; and the zeal which many -dissenters had displayed in the service of the country at the -Revolution, had procured them offices under government, to obtain which, -they had in many instances not scrupled to receive the Communion. A -participation in this ceremonial was, by law, only incumbent once, and -it might be followed by an immediate, and regular attendance on the -services and sacraments of a dissenting meeting-house. The laxity and -dissimulation to which this practice conduced, called for remedy; and -the remedy was either to be obtained by remitting the test, thus -unscrupulously nullified, or by strengthening the penal enactments. - -The question became, as usual, a matter for faction to agitate, rather -than for the calm light of reason to settle, The dissenters were -countenanced by the Whigs: and were supporters of the war, which they -deemed essential to establish the principles of the Revolution. The -Tories, in attacking them, attacked, therefore, their adversaries in -various ways, and, as it was argued, more from political virulence, than -from religious zeal. Yet, since it was allowed that there were many -dissenters who reprobated the practice of thus prefacing the Sacrament -by making it the vehicle of a false profession, so it may be presumed -that there were also numerous persons amongst the high church party, who -viewed such evasions of truth with real indignation, independent of -party zeal, and who really desired, in the clamour for reformation, that -such scandal to religion, and such temptation to the worst passions of -our nature, should be prevented by legislative enactments. - -It is agreeable to reflect that more just and delicate notions of -religion, and its invariable attendant, integrity, now prevail, and that -conduct in these matters, such as was common, and even habitual in the -days of which we write, would be reprobated by all thinking people in -our own times. Men who aspired to hold public offices were then -frequently to be seen receiving the Communion of the Church of England -once, and, having complied with the statute, were never known to enter a -church of the established form again. Even Prince George received the -sacrament as high admiral, yet maintained his Lutheran chapel, in which, -when interest called him not elsewhere, he was a continual attendant and -communicant.[463] Nor were those who raised the clamour against such -inconsistencies, to use the mildest term, much to be commended for the -regularity or sincerity of their religious observances. Sir Edward -Seymour, the leading partisan of the church, confessed, when discussing -the subject of non-conformity, that it was then seven years since he had -received the sacrament, or heard a sermon in the Church of England. It -was remarkable that the leading members of the House of Commons, who -were the most active against dissenters, were all descended from -dissenting families. Amongst these were Harley, and Henry St. John, -afterwards Lord Bolingbroke.[464] - -The bill for preventing occasional conformity was, however, brought into -the House of Commons. Its advocates did not attempt to conceal the -existence of party motives, but contended, that since the last reign had -been begun with a law in favour of dissenters, it was becoming that the -gracious sovereign now on the throne should show, by some mark, her -determined protection of the established church.[465] Whilst in the -preamble a spirit of toleration was asserted, the enactments of the bill -were severe, though vague, and tended to promote the vices of informers, -and to produce a spirit of inquisition into every man’s actions. It -affixed a heavy fine upon every person holding a public office, after -attending any meeting of dissenters, not according to the Liturgy of the -Church of England, where more than five persons were present, besides -the family. Upon functionaries so offending, while exercising their -duties, it affixed a fine of five pounds for every day so employed; and, -after attending such meeting, they were incapacitated from holding any -office, until after a whole year’s conformity to the church;—the great -object of the bill being, according to a Whig “historian, to model -corporations, and to cast out of them all those who would not vote in -elections for the Tories.”[466] - -Such was the opinion of Bishop Burnet. The Duchess of Marlborough gives -us a much more highly-coloured delineation of the motives and workings -of this famous measure, than even the determined and strenuous prelate. - -The Church of England, the Duchess thought, could not be in any -immediate danger with such a “_nursing_ mother” as the Queen, or, as the -Tories called her, the illustrious ornament of the church; and the -Tories, in bringing forward this famous measure, “by the heat and -agitation with which they over-acted their part, exposed their -monopolizing ambition, which ought to have been better concealed under -the cloak of zeal for the church.”[467] - -The affection of her Majesty for the church, the Duchess considered, -could not be doubted, since, for its better security, she had chosen -“its renowned champions to be of her ministry and council. -Nevertheless,” she adds, “in the very first new parliament after her -Majesty’s accession, it was thought necessary, with all diligence, to -provide new strength, new supports for this flourishing church, as if it -had been in the most tottering and declining condition.”[468] The -motives for such conduct were, in the Duchess’s estimation, interested -and invidious. The bill did not, in her opinion, “aim at excluding the -_occasional_ conformists only, but all those _constant_ conformists, -too, who could not relish the high church nonsense of promoting religion -by persecution.” - -The measure, if intended, as the Duchess further asserts, to distinguish -in her Majesty’s estimation the friends, from the foes of the church, -succeeded in producing that effect, as subsequent events fully proved. -Those who contemplated by its enactments the immediate prevention of the -scandal of non-conformity, were disappointed, for it was not finally -successful. It was brought into the Commons and passed; its “hottest” -panegyrists being, according to Cunningham, “the clergy, and a crowd of -women of the lowest rank, inflamed, as it were, with a zeal for -religion.” “These women,” he observes, “expressed as great an exultation -at the supposed victory, as if they had taken more pleasure in such -religious triumphs, than in the gratification of even their lusts and -their appetites.”[469] - -The Peers, however, less carried away at this time by religious or -political zeal than the Commons, threw out the bill, being of opinion, -not only that it was the offspring of party and prejudice, but that it -would be impolitic during the time of war to disgust so large a body of -her Majesty’s subjects as the Protestant dissenters. They argued, also, -that it was not then expedient to set about the reformation of religious -controversies. - -The decision of the press was against the court, but highly acceptable -to the people. Prince George, though himself an occasional conformist, -was not ashamed to go to the House and vote for the bill;[470] yet even -this singular proof of the Queen’s good wishes towards the measure could -not save it. The commercial part of the nation were warm in their -dislike to its principles and details. Lord Somers, in a celebrated -speech, in which he designated the great body of merchants, tradesmen, -and mechanics, as “the nation,” denounced the measure. Lord Wharton lent -the aid of his forcible eloquence to advocate the cause of toleration. -His speech was strongly characteristic. “Men’s minds,” he argued, “are -different, and their sentiments of divine worship, various. It were, -indeed, to be wished, but is hardly to be expected, that men were all of -one opinion. Many people like variety, as I myself do, provided it be -not injurious to the public.” It was not long after these debates, that -these two lords, “having,” says Cunningham, “over-strained their voices -in the heat of debates in Parliament, fell into dangerous -sickness.”[471] Such was the violence with which the discussion was -carried on. - -The loss of the bill was a great mortification to the Tories; and Lord -Rochester, about this time, resigned his appointment as Lord Lieutenant -of Ireland, it was said, chiefly from his unwillingness to leave -England, lest the church should be betrayed in his absence. But it was -with more truth supposed, that jealousy of Lord Godolphin, and vexation -at the Queen’s not making Rochester her sole director and adviser, had a -share in producing his lordship’s resignation. This, “if true,” says the -Duchess, “affords a remarkable instance how much self-love and conceit -can blind even a man of sense; for such, by his own party at least, he -was esteemed to be. I don’t wonder he should like power, (it is what -most people are fond of,) or that, being related to the Queen, he should -expect a particular consideration: this was very natural and very -reasonable, if he had behaved himself to her as he ought. But when one -considers that his relation to her was by such a sort of accident, and -that his conduct had been so very extraordinary, it is an amazing thing -that he should imagine that he was to domineer over the Queen and -everybody else, as he did over his own family.”[472] - -“Whether the church was in any danger or _not_ before,” adds the -Duchess, contemptuously, “it could not be questioned by any good -churchman but it _now_ began to be in some peril, when my Lord Rochester -was no longer in place, nor in the council.”[473] - -The Duchess, during the progress and defeat of the Conformity Bill, -endeavoured, but unsuccessfully, to bring the Queen over to her own -views of the important subject. Yet Anne, on being informed that a great -portion of her subjects were greatly offended at the attempt made by -this bill to shackle their religious professions, endeavoured, in her -speech on the opening of the next Parliament, to dissuade the House from -this measure, as it might prove a barrier to union at home, and -consequently detrimental to the prosecution of the war abroad. - -Marlborough, though still reputed to be a high churchman, seconded the -wishes of the people by every effort in his power. His popularity, on -that account, rose to a pitch of the greatest favour; and the money and -the trade of the country being in the hands of those who espoused the -cause of the Dissenters, Lord Godolphin began also to be convinced of -the importance of the Whigs as a body, “and to pay them as much regard -as the times and the Queen’s prejudices would permit.” - -The next blow to the Tories was manifested by the removal of Sir Edward -Seymour and Lord Jersey from their employments, and by the resignation -of Lord Nottingham, who was indignant at the favour shown to the Whigs. - -The same party spirit which affected the political world, ran with -aggravated fury throughout the whole body of the clergy. Divisions now -took place, “to describe which,” says Burnet, “new names were found out; -and they were distinguished by the name of High Church and Low -Church.”[474] Those who treated the dissenters with moderation, who -expressed approbation of the Revolution, and aversion to the House of -Stuart—those who wished well to the present war, and ill to France—were -considered by their opponents to favour the presbytery, and to be ill -affected to the church. Amongst such, the Duchess of Marlborough figured -conspicuously, and, whilst her day lasted, with powerful effect upon the -growth and strength of the party with whom she delighted to be classed. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV. - - Death of the Marquis of Blandford—His character. 1702–3. - - -How often does it occur, that in the hurry of life some event interposes -to show us the fruitlessness of our cares—to prove to us our position, -as powerless instruments in the hand of Providence—to mark the weakness -of our wills, and the transient nature of all that we prize, and of all -that we have sought to gain, by rising early, and late taking rest, and -eating the bread of carefulness! - -Whilst the Duchess of Marlborough, by the workings of her powerful mind, -swayed the destinies of party, and governed her sovereign, it was -decreed that a chastising hand should humble and restrain her; that the -blow should be aimed in the tenderest part, calculated, to lower her -proudest aspirations, and to touch with poignancy those maternal -affections of which even the most worldly are never destitute, but which -the worldly taste only in bitterness; for interest and pleasure deaden -the daily emotions and gentle pleasures of domestic life, whilst they -cannot wholly avert the sting which the dormant affections receive. - -The Duchess had borne her husband two sons. Of these, Charles, the -younger, died at an early age. John, the elder, survived until the age -of seventeen, when, in all the promise of future celebrity and -excellence, he was taken from his parents, just as their hopes of him, -their pride of him, and their love of him, had raised their expectations -to the utmost height. - -Commanding in person, and strong in intellect,[475] this noble youth -united with the high spirit of his mother, the gentleness, and -graciousness, and strong principles of his father. His religious habits, -his frequent attendance on the holy sacrament, his assiduity in his -studies, and the regularity of his conduct, proved that, how much soever -his parents had been absorbed in the concerns of the world, and in the -pursuit of greatness, they had neither neglected the formation of his -intellect, nor the far more important yet corresponding culture of his -sense of duty, and his best affections. - -Well might the bereaved parents afterwards exclaim with Congreve, when -death had robbed them of this star which shed a ray of brightness on -their path of life, - - To mourn thy fall, I’ll fly the hated light, - And hide my head in shades of endless night; - For thou were light, and life, and wealth to me; - The sun but thankless shines that shows not thee; - Wert thou not lovely, graceful, good, and young, - The joy of sight, the talk of every tongue? - Did ever branch so sweet a blossom bear, - Or ever early fruit appear so fair?[476] - -The original intention of the Duke and Duchess was, that their son -should, by the favour of the Queen, fill the place of master of the -horse to the young Duke of Gloucester. Upon the death of that young -Prince, Lord Blandford was sent to King’s College, Cambridge, having -been prepared for that seminary of knowledge by his previous education -at Eton. At Cambridge he was placed under the tuition of Mr. Hare, -afterwards Bishop of Chichester, the chaplain subsequently, and the -friend and correspondent, of the Duke and Duchess. Under his guidance, -and enjoying the friendship of Horace, afterwards Lord Walpole, the -young nobleman added credit to his name, by a regularity which would -have become the lowliest as well as the most exalted member of the -university. His classical attainments were considerable; the courtesy of -his manners accorded with an affectionate and modest nature; and his -good sense appreciated the important benefits of that college -discipline, from which a feebler or more presuming mind would have -revolted. - -With all these excellencies—the excellencies which would have adorned -him in private life, had he been spared—Lord Blandford cherished the -ambition to resemble and to emulate his father, in the brilliant course -of a military career. - -When scarcely sixteen, he entreated permission to join the campaign in -the Netherlands. His request was not gratified; for although Marlborough -could not repel a thirst for distinction which so well accorded with his -own nature, the mother of the high-spirited youth dreaded for her child -the dangers which appear not to have overwhelmed her at any time with -apprehensions for his father. Lord Blandford, nevertheless, ardent and -resolute, persisted in his desires, and sought to obtain for himself and -Horace Walpole commissions in the cavalry, that they might serve at the -same time, and in the same regiment. - -The parent, who dreaded for her son perils by land, and perils by sea, -was doomed to lose him by that fatal complaint, which then, in most -instances, baffled medical skill, and proved the scourge of society. The -small-pox raged in Cambridge. Lord Godolphin, who was at Newmarket, -wrote to the inquiring mother accounts of her son’s health, which were -calculated to satisfy her maternal anxieties, whilst yet the disease had -not attacked the delicate, and, as it seems, prematurely gifted youth. -Lord Churchill, the lord treasurer acknowledged, was thin almost to -emaciation; but he dwelt more minutely upon the displays of his mental -and moral qualities than on his health. - -“I repeat to you that I find Lord Churchill very lean. He is very -tractable and good-humoured, and without any one ill inclination that I -can perceive. And I think he is grown more solid than he was, and has -lost that impatience of diverting himself all manner of ways, which he -used to have. This is truly just as I find him, and I thought it might -not be improper to give you this account, that you might be the better -judge whether you would desire to see him now, according to the proposal -I made in my letter of yesterday, or stay for that satisfaction until my -Lord Marlborough comes over.”[477] - -This was in August, 1703. In October, Lord Godolphin received the young -nobleman as a guest in his house at Newmarket, where, unhappily, the -small-pox then raged. But it was vainly hoped, by precautions, to avert -the risk of infection. - -“What you write,” thus Lord Godolphin addressed the anxious mother, “is -extremely just and reasonable; and though the small-pox has been in this -town, yet he, going into no house but mine, will, I hope, be more -defended from it by air or riding, without any violent exercise, than he -could probably be anywhere else.” - -In a few days afterwards, more particular accounts reached the Duchess, -and her maternal pride must have been highly gratified by the encomiums -which so consummate a judge of character as Lord Godolphin passed upon -her son. - -“Your pretty son,” as the lord treasurer terms him, “whom I have just -now parted from; and I assure you, without flattery or partiality, that -he is not only the best natured and most agreeable, but the most -free-thinking and reasonable creature that one can imagine for his age. -He had twenty pretty questions and requests, but I will not trouble you -with the particulars till I have the honour to see you.” - -The foregoing opinion was the last expressed by this well-judging and -warm friend, concerning him upon whom the fondest hopes were placed. How -gratifying, yet how mournful! Yet the noble youth was prepared for that -better sphere to which he was thus early called, to spare him, in mercy, -from the snares and troubles of the world, in which he might otherwise -have acted a conspicuous, but probably not a happy part. - -The letter was followed by alarming intelligence. The small-pox, in its -most malignant form, had attacked the darling of these distinguished -parents. The Duchess hastened to Cambridge, and found her son in great -danger. She sent to London for additional medical assistance, and the -Queen, feeling as a mother bereaved, and acting with her usual -consideration, despatched two of her own physicians in one of the royal -carriages. The medicines were also sent by express from London. But the -cares, the fears, the hopes, the efforts of all those who were -interested in the young man, were unavailing. The fatal disorder ran -rapidly its devastating course. Dr. Haines and Dr. Coladon, the court -physicians, hastened in vain to aid the expiring youth. The grief of the -highest, and the sympathy of the lowest, individuals in her Majesty’s -realms, availed not: for his hour was come. How far we are, in such -instances, to look to secondary causes, it is difficult to say; but it -is easy to suppose that the imperfect knowledge of disease in those -unscientific days, the unnatural and irritating mode of treating it -which prevailed, even within the memory of man, may have aided that -consciousness of the importance of his recovery to his parents, and the -painful observance of their grief, in increasing the danger of the -amiable and lamented youth. - -The Queen took his illness to heart, as if it had been the scene of her -own sad deprivation acted over again. - -“I writ two words to my dear Mrs. Freeman,” she says, addressing the -Duchess, “and could not help telling her again that I am truly afflicted -for the melancholy account that is come this morning of poor Lord -Blandford. I pray God he may do well, and support you. And give me leave -once more to beg you, for Christ Jesus’ sake, to have a care of your -dear precious self; and believe me, with all the passion imaginable, -your poor, unfortunate, faithful Morley.” - -Lord Godolphin, in a calmer, but equally kind, equally friendly strain, -thus proffers the valuable consolations of a sympathetic heart. “The -best use of one’s best friends is, to assist and support one another -under the most grievous afflictions. This is the greatest trial of your -submission and resignation to the Divine Providence that God Almighty -could possibly send you, and consequently the greatest opportunity of -pleasing Him, by that respect and submission which is always due to his -severest trials; and, at the same time, the greatest occasion of letting -the whole world see that God Almighty has blessed you with a Christian -patience and fortitude, as eminent as the reason and understanding by -which you are justly distinguished from the rest of your sex.” - -The concern of a friend is expressed in the foregoing fragment; the -anguish of a father in those passages which follow. - -The character of Marlborough, the great, the affectionate, the good, the -pious, shines forth in these extracts. - - -“I am so troubled at the sad condition this poor child seems to be in, -that I know not what I do. I pray God to give you some comfort in this -great affliction. If you think anything under heaven can be done, pray -let me know it, or if you think my coming can be of the least use, let -me know it. I beg I may hear as soon as possible, for I have no thought -but what is at Cambridge. - -“I writ to you this morning,” he adds, “and was in hopes I should have -heard again before this time, for I hope the doctors were with you early -this morning. If we must be so unhappy as to lose this poor child, I -pray God to enable us both to behave ourselves with that resignation -which we ought to do. If this uneasiness which I now lie under should -last long, I think I could not live. For God’s sake, if there be any -hope of recovery, let me know it.”[478] - - -These mournful anticipations were followed by the too probable result. -Within a few hours after the unhappy father had written this letter, he -set off for Cambridge, where he arrived only in time to see his son -expire, on the morning of Saturday, the twentieth of February, -1704.[479] - -The condolence of friends and relations, and the sympathy even of foes, -followed this event. To the chosen place of Lord Blandford’s interment, -in King’s College Chapel, whose sacred walls had witnessed his early and -late piety, beneath whose roof he had been a constant attendant at -morning and evening prayers,—the disconsolate parents followed the -earthly remains of their lost treasure. An inscription, in elegant -Latin, on a monument erected to his memory, perpetuates the recollection -of his early promise. Not only of the highest rank by descent, but of -the most exalted virtues, the external qualities of one so favoured by -fortune, and endowed by nature, corresponded, as the inscription states, -with his mental attributes. He possessed, it is said, the stately and -manly form, and the surpassing symmetry, which constitute the perfection -of manly beauty.[480] In the quickness of his faculties alone did he -resemble his mother. His admirable humility, and sweetness of manners, -in the midst of all that rank and affluence could effect to spoil him, -were the bright reflection of his glorious father. In purity of conduct, -though introduced early to a court life, between the period of his -leaving Eton and entering on an academic life at Cambridge, he was more -happy than that parent; for men are to be judged by circumstances. A -sense of religious duty (the only effectual safeguard) led to a “strict -observance of decorum, that rather,” says an historian, “seemed innate, -than acquired.”[481] He retained of the court nothing but its -politeness, and desired, in the bright prospects which apparently -awaited him, nothing but true honour and distinction, not from his -position alone, but from his own strenuous exertions. - -His parents were deeply, but differently affected by their calamity. The -high spirit of the Duchess was subdued, and the best dispositions of her -heart were touched, by this bereavement: but ambition soon regained its -ascendency over her soul, and the chastening hand was forgotten in the -busy interests of the day, the hour. Marlborough, on the contrary, -though quickly summoned to a fresh campaign, carried about with him the -yearning tenderness, the mournful, though no longer poignant regrets, -which a sensitive mind retains for a beloved and lost object. After the -first bitter pangs had been assuaged, he set off for the seat of war; -but in the heart of enterprize, amid the busiest scenes in which he was -engaged, the father recalled all that he had hoped and planned for his -lost son. In a letter to Lord Godolphin, written from Cologne, he says: - -“I have this day seen a very great procession; and the thoughts how -pleased poor Lord Churchill would have been with such a sight, have -added very much to my uneasiness. Since it has pleased God to take him, -I do wish from my soul I could think less of him.”[482] - -Alas! how many parents may utter the same natural but fruitless wish! - -The Duchess, unfortunately for those who feel an interest in probing the -long since tranquillized emotions of her turbulent spirit, imposed upon -the Duke a condition, with which, in the true spirit of honour, he -complied, (though, as he states himself, with regret,) of burning the -letters which she wrote to him. She seems, however, to have written in a -kind and consolatory manner, and we may infer from the lively gratitude -of her husband, that such was not always her custom. What a picture of -real attachment is presented in the following passage of the Duke’s -answer! - -“If you had not positively desired that I would always burn your -letters, I should have been very glad to have kept your dear letter of -the 9th, it was so very kind, and particularly so upon the subject of -our living quietly together, till which happy time comes, I am sure I -cannot be contented; and then I do flatter myself I should live with as -much satisfaction as I am capable of. I wish I could recal twenty years -past, I do assure you, for no other reason but that I might in -probability have longer time, and be the better able to convince you how -truly sensible I am at this time of your kindness, which is the only -real comfort of my life; and whilst you are kind, besides the many -blessings it brings me, I cannot but hope we shall yet have a son, which -are my daily prayers.”[483] - -His earnest solicitude on the subject of her health seems to have been -fully shared by the Duchess with respect to him. Marlborough, like many -men whose minds are tasked to the utmost of their bodily strength to -bear, suffered severely from the headache. How that over-wrought frame -and intellect at last broke down, it is melancholy to reflect. - -“I have yours of the eighteenth, by which I find you were uneasy at my -having the headache. It was your earnest desire obliges me to let you -know when I have those little inconveniences of the headache, which are -but too natural to me; but if you will promise to look upon my -sicknesses as you used to do, by knowing I am sick one day and well -another, I must not be punctual in acquainting you when I am uneasy. I -think you are very happy in having dear Lady Mary with you; I should -esteem myself so, if she could be sometimes for an hour with me; for the -greatest ease I now have is sometimes sitting for an hour in my chair -alone, and thinking of the happiness I may yet have, of living quietly -with you, which is the greatest I propose to myself in the world.” - -At the very time of his investing the fortress of Huy, after being -distracted by opposing councils, compelled to adopt plans which he -disapproved, and harassed by fatigues, being often fourteen hours of the -day on horseback, and marching sometimes five days together,[484]—it was -in the midst of these trials of strength and patience that his heart -turned towards home, and he found leisure, in the midst of a camp, to -write those beautiful letters, unequalled for simplicity, and in the -true expression of a tender and noble nature. - -Lord Godolphin had written to his friend the painful intelligence that -he thought the Duchess to be much out of health. This information roused -all the tenderness and apprehensions of the hero’s sensitive mind. - -“For God’s sake,” he writes, “let me know exactly how you are; and if -you think my being with you can do you any good, you shall quickly see -you are much dearer to me than fame, or whatever the world can say; for -should you do otherwise than well, I were the unhappiest man living.” - -Notwithstanding the offer of this noble sacrifice—noble in one who was -not merely carried on by impulse, but who had laid plans of the greatest -extent for the aggrandizement of his country—the Duchess, who appears to -have been a domestic tyrant, could never be wholly satisfied without -incessant expressions of regard and devotion. She could not forbear, -even at this distance, adding to his many troubles by her exacting -spirit. She scrutinized even the language of affection, with the -fastidiousness of a spoiled child, loath to be contented. - -From the following and other passages, we are led to conclude that the -hopes of having a child to supply the loss of him from whom he had been -severed, were, at one time, revived in the Duke’s mind. On a former -occasion he wrote to his wife thus:— - -“What troubles me in all this time is your telling me that you do not -look well. Pray let me have, in one of your letters, an account how you -do. If it should prove such a sickness as that I might pity you, yet not -be sorry for it, it might make me yet have more ambition. But if your -sickness be really want of health, it would render me the unhappiest man -living.” - -These hopes were further raised, only, unfortunately, to be frustrated. -In all other respects the Duchess of Marlborough, pre-eminently blessed, -was destined to that one cankering disappointment—that the children of -the son-in-law whom she least loved, became the heirs of those honours -so dearly purchased by Marlborough. - -“I have just now,” says the Duke, in one of his letters, “received yours -of the sixth. What you say to me of yourself gave me so much joy, that -if any company had been by when I read the letter, they must have -observed a great alteration in me.”[485] - -Yet, with his usual delicacy and consideration, he writes in a -consolatory strain, when it appeared to the Duchess that he thought more -of his disappointed hopes, than of the ill health which caused them. He -urged upon her the tranquillizing of her busy mind, by quiet, and -cessation from business, and by looking to higher sources of comfort -than the adulation of society, or the favours of a monarch. The -chastening hand was not extended to Marlborough in vain, when he could -think and write in terms such as these. After entreating his wife to -think as little as possible of worldly business, and to be very regular -in her diet, which he trusts, by the aid of a good constitution, may set -her right in time, he addresses her in the following beautiful strain:— - - - “Op-heeren, Aug. 2. - -“I have received yours of the twenty-third, which has given me, as you -may easily believe, a good deal of trouble. I beg you will be so kind -and just to me, as to believe the truth of my heart, that my greatest -concern is for that of your own dear health. It was a great pleasure to -me, when I thought we should be blessed with more children; but as all -my happiness centres in living quietly with you, I do conjure you, by -all the kindness which I have for you, which is as much as man ever had -for woman, that you will take the best advice you can for your health, -and then follow exactly what shall be prescribed for you; and I do hope -that you will be so good as to let me have an exact account of it, and -what the physicians’ opinions are. If I were with you, I would endeavour -to persuade you to think as little as possible of worldly business, and -to be very regular in your diet, which I should hope would set you right -in a very little time, for you have naturally a very good constitution. -You and I have great reason to bless God for all we have, so that we -must not repine at his taking our poor child from us, but bless and -praise him for what his goodness leaves us; and I do beseech him, with -all my heart and soul, that he would comfort and strengthen both you and -me, not only to bear this, but any correction that he should think fit -to lay on us. The use, I think, we should make of his correction is, -that our chiefest time should be spent in reconciling ourselves to him, -and having in our minds always that we may not have long to live in this -world. I do not mean by this that we should live retired from the world, -for I am persuaded that by living in the world, one may do much more -good than by being out of it; but, at the same time, to live so as that -one should cheerfully die when it shall be his pleasure to call for us. -I am very sensible of my own frailties; but if I can ever be so happy as -to live with you always, and that you comfort me and assist me in these -my thoughts, I am then persuaded I should be as happy and contented as -it is possible to be in this world; for I know we should both agree, -next to our duty to God, to do what we ought for the Queen’s service.” - - -Happy would it have been for the Duchess, had these higher principles of -conduct guided her future path through life. But while the afflictions -which bore down the spirit of her husband sank into a good soil, in the -mind of this ambitious and restless woman, schemes for the -aggrandizement of her family soon succeeded to the gloom of her son’s -deathbed, and effaced all the solemn lessons which she had there -learned. - - - - - CHAPTER XV. - - Remarks on costume and manners in the time of Anne—Literary men, their - habits and station in society—The system of patronage—Its effects in - degrading the moral character of writers—In producing not only - flattery, but slander—Mrs. De la Rivière Manley—Dr. - Drake—Prior—Congreve. - - -The manners and spirit of the period of which we treat are so fully -exemplified in those periodical publications of the day, which are in -the hands of every English reader, that no digression for the purpose of -illustrating the mode of social life, with which we are all so familiar, -appears necessary. With the costumes of the fashionable world, the pages -of the “Tatler,” “Spectator,” and other works, have rendered us -intimately acquainted. It is sufficient to remark, that in this last -respect the customs which prevailed in the reign of William were but -slightly varied when Steel and Addison handed them down to fame. -Formality of manner, and decorum in dress, had already succeeded the -negligence and indelicacy of the preceding century. Still there were -gross absurdities creeping into vogue. As we have ever borrowed the most -startling extravagances from the French, so we owed to Louis the -Fourteenth the long reign of perukes, in the adoption of which we were -servile copyists, until good sense drove out those disfiguring -encumbrances, and left mankind free to breathe and to move untrammelled. -When Anne reigned, many lived, more especially amongst the sons of the -aristocracy, who could scarcely remember to have worn their own locks. -Boys were quickly disguised in flowing curls—the higher the rank, the -greater the profusion. Thence they rose to the dignity of a _scratch_ -for their undress, and to that of the waving flaxen peruke, called by a -wag, “the silver fleece.” White wigs, frosted with powder, had succeeded -the dark curling perukes which were in vogue in the reign of Charles the -Second; and the use of powder had become lamentably universal. For this -extravagance outraged nature was indebted, also, to that most artificial -of human beings, Louis the Fourteenth, whose very statues were laden -with enormous wigs; and the monarch himself wore one even in bed.[486] - -William the Third seldom varied his dress; but, after the accession of -Anne, female extravagance and male absurdity rose to their climax. -Whilst the summit of each exquisite courtier was crowned with a flowing -peruke, redolent of perfume, and replete with powder, on the which sat a -small cocked-hat, his nether proportions were mounted aloft on high -heels, affixed to varnished and stiffened boots, or to shoes garnished -with large buckles. The costume of the present court dress, with its -accompaniments of plain cravats and lace ruffles, completes the picture. - -The ladies of the court of Anne were befitting partners for such -objects. Their hair was curled and frizzed, and in the early part of the -eighteenth century it rose high, surmounted by a sort of veil or lappet, -but diminished to a small caul with two lappets, termed a mob. Raised -heels continued in vogue to a very late period; whilst hoops, in Anne’s -time, were in their infancy, commencing in what was then called a -“commode,” which gently raised and set out the flowing train. In this -respect our fair ancestresses resembled our modern ladies; but in one -essential point they differed greatly. Modesty of attire, brought into -public estimation by the example of their truly respectable Queen, was -uniformly studied; and the loose and indelicate style in which Sir -Godfrey Kneller and Sir Peter Lely painted the female aristocracy, was -to be seen no more. With some deviations, the commendable practice of -being adequately clothed, continued until after the time of Sir Joshua -Reynolds, whose portraits bear out the fact, that decency of apparel in -_his_ days, as it had been in those before him, distinguished a -gentlewoman from a female of loose character. Unhappily for the -nineteenth century, this distinction is now thoughtlessly abandoned. - -Concerning the immorality of our forefathers, many hints must -necessarily, in the course of this work, escape, without any intention -of enlarging upon so disagreeable a subject. There is little doubt but -that the free strictures of the public press, conjoined with the -influence and example of the court, served greatly to check the misrule -and reckless profligacy which, even in the sober days of William, had -been accounted spirited and fashionable by the young nobility and their -sycophants. The “Hectors,” a species of the bravo genus, were the -illustrious predecessors of the “Mohawks,”[487] whose inglorious courses -have been the subjects of so much admirable satire from Addison,[488] -and who have gradually subsided into a description of creature less -dangerous, though perhaps equally reprehensible and offensive. The -female portion of the community, among the higher ranks, are described -by a contemporary writer to have been the slaves of punctilio and -ceremony, and to have sat, in all the stateliness of their costume, -“silent as statues”[489] in the company of men,—amongst whom alone -cultivation of the intellect, in those days, had become general. - -No sooner was a settled monarchy established, and the country relieved -from the dreaded dangers of a second civil war, than literature revived, -and resumed the flourishing aspect, though not the sound and vigorous -condition, to which, in the days of Elizabeth, it had happily attained. -The impoverished state of a great portion of the country, and the decay -of many ancient and once wealthy families, rendered the pursuit of -literature essential as a profession to those who preferred walking in -the paths of science, or following the footsteps of the Muses, to the -perilous duties of a soldier, or to the service of a church torn by -contentions, and threatened with hourly destruction. - -The profession of letters is supposed to have been at its height of -prosperity during the middle and latter part of the reign of Anne. Some -unpleasant peculiarities, however, attended its exercise. Since those -days, the extension of education, and the general taste for knowledge -which has consequently been diffused, have gradually effected a -considerable change in the position of literary men. The lettered and -the scientific are now able to rise to fame independent of individual -patronage, excepting in instances of extreme poverty, by which the -exertions are either shackled or turned into different and inferior -channels. - -In the times of Anne, that approbation of literary merit which is -necessary to its existence, and which gradually swells into an universal -tribute to genius, originated with the higher orders of society, or, at -least, if unparticipated by them, languished and died away. In our own -days, on the contrary, it is the testimony of the middle classes to -merits which they are now qualified to discern, and the gratification -which they manifest in the productions of the lettered world, which lead -the way to what is vaguely called popularity. It is not easy to define -the causes of this remarkable change in one part of our social economy. - -From the exclusive enjoyment of the privileges of education, which were -confined to the higher classes, and by them only moderately enjoyed, -arose the system of patronage which, for nearly a century, regulated the -commonwealth of letters. The benefits conferred proceeded solely from -the nobility and richer gentry, amongst whom literature and the arts -found that protection which is now derived from the common tribute of -mankind. No distinction was accounted greater, among the nobility, than -the power, and disposition, to reward literary merit. To be a patron of -the learned, to protect, with more effectual aids than mere empty -commendations, some one, if not several, of the needy wits who came to -the metropolis on speculation, was as essential a line of conduct to any -young nobleman who aspired to fashionable distinction, as it is now to -belong to a certain order of society, or to possess the attributes, -without which gentlemen, in every age, must sooner or later sink in the -estimation of their own class. There were few of the stately halls and -pleasure saloons of the noblemen of that time, in which some learned -dependent was not to be seen, sharing the festivities, and enhancing the -social pleasures of the liberal patron, whom he failed not to repay in -sonorous verse, or with dedications in prose, of lofty phraseology. The -old system of remunerating dedications by sums of money, unhesitatingly -offered and unblushingly received, prevailed even until the close of the -eighteenth century. More solid advantages were also derived to the -fortunate literati by patronage. The celebrated St. Evremond took his -seat at Devonshire-house, pensioned by its high-minded and noble owner, -and experienced such liberality in England, that he declined returning -to France, even when not only permitted, but encouraged to dwell in his -native country. Dryden had his Buckingham and his Ormonde, ducal patrons -with whom he lived on terms of familiarity; and Congreve had friends no -less elevated in rank, the Dukes of Marlborough and of Newcastle. -Halifax, as we have seen, was “fed with dedications,” by Steele and -others. Gay had his Queensberry, in whose stately abode he was -absolutely domesticated. Innumerable other instances might be adduced. - -The notorious fact, that whilst the middling and lower classes were -generally indifferent to literature, the gay and the great mingled some -attentions to it with all their daily frivolities and nightly revelries, -may be accounted for, in the beginning of the last century, by the -distinctions of Cavalier and Roundhead being not as yet wholly obsolete: -the spirit, though not the form, of these distinctions remained. Before -the civil wars, and as long as the Stuarts ruled, taste, fancy, wit, the -culture of letters, and the patronage of the arts, were cherished by the -highly-horn and the well-bred, the more that they were avoided by the -Puritans, as temptations to forget the grand business of life. The young -nobleman who had not some small amount of poetical fame, amplified into -extraordinary fecundity of genius by the gratitude of poorer and wittier -men, seemed to the world scarcely to have fulfilled his destiny, as a -man born to all the luxuries of praise and fame. The commotions of the -second James’s reign, and the indifference of his grave successor to the -interests of learning, checked, but did not annihilate the notion, that -to nobility some exhibition of literary taste, and an extensive -appreciation of it in others, were essential attributes. - -The effect of this prevailing fashion of patronage on the one side, and -of dependence on the other, was not to destroy our literature, -assuredly, for never were its shoots so abundant, nor its blossoms so -fair, as in the famed Augustan age; but whilst it called forth -imaginative minds, and rendered the pursuit of letters a profession -worthy of the name, in so far as emoluments might be procured, it -debased the moral character of men in proportion as it rendered their -intellectual powers marketable to the rich and the powerful. Adulation -became a trade; and when such base commodity was found to be in request, -slander was soon perceived to be no less profitable to him who sped the -arrow of calumny which flieth by night, or the pestilence of destruction -by day. - -Indelicacy, and its consequence, immorality, being likewise acceptable, -in an age when a father could jest with his son on the success of that -son’s amours,[490] the taste of the lofty and luxurious patron was even -consulted by writers whose nobleness of thought and elevation of fancy -might have led the world to expect better fruits from the growth of -their own untrammelled inclinations. Hence that mixture of “dissolute -licentiousness and abject adulation,” of which Johnson too justly -accuses Dryden; but from which our older poets, the pure and exalted -Milton, and his inimitable predecessors, Shakspeare, Cowley, Spenser, -were nobly exempt. The merriment, and the adulation of Dry den were, as -Johnson also remarks, “artificial and constrained, the effects of study -and meditation,—his trade, rather than his pleasure;” and the same may, -with reverence, be observed of the prince of flatterers, the great, the -little, the powerful, the weak, the satirical, the fawning Alexander -Pope. - -The system of patronage called into being another class of writers, who -also “traded in corruption.” These were the political pamphleteers of -the day, a paid regiment, in which, to the disgrace of the sex, a female -author, unparalleled in any day for the power of invention, or rather of -perversion, received no slight encouragement in her gross and horrible -attacks upon personal character, from the most eminent in rank and in -intellect among the party by whom her services were hired. - -Mrs. de la Rivière Manley, or Rivella as she was figuratively called, -the pupil, in her early days, of the infamous Madame Mazarin, and the -confidante of the scarcely less infamous Duchess of Cleveland, was the -disseminator, if not the originator, of those calumnies which party -spirit chose to affix to the characters of the Duke and Duchess of -Marlborough, and of the latter in conjunction with Lord Godolphin. Her -own history, translated from the French, and supposed in the narrative -to be communicated by Louis Duc d’Aumont, ambassador in England, in -1712, to his friend General Tidcomb, whilst taking the air in -Somerset-house garden, is said, by its dreadful details, sufficiently to -prepare those who are condemned to read it, for the subsequent works of -this wretched woman. Of these, the most popular were her “Atalantis,” -the “History of Prince Mirabel’s (Marlborough’s) Infancy, Rise, and -Disgrace, collected from the Memoirs of a Courtier lately deceased,” and -the “Secret History of Queen Zarah and the Zarazians,”[491] first -published and inserted among the State Tracts by Dean Swift, in -1715.[492] This patronage on the part of Swift, which scarcely excites -our wonder in the clergyman who could remodel and publish the “Tale of a -Tub,” ceased only with the life of the abandoned Rivella, which closed -at an advanced age, in 1724. - -Dr. James Drake, the author of “The Memorial of the Church of England,” -was a man of liberal education and of considerable attainments, which, -unhappily for him, were applied to serve political rancour, instead of -being confined to the medical profession, of which he was a member. Dr. -Drake was a native of Cambridge, a Master of Arts in that university, -and fellow both of the College of Physicians and of the Royal Society. -Yet he found it more profitable, notwithstanding the patronage of Sir -Thomas Millington, to devote his talents to the service of booksellers, -who quickly appreciated his powers of invective and ridicule. It was -disappointment on not being made one of the commissioners of the sick -and wounded, which induced Drake, after successive publications, to -publish the “Memorial,” in conjunction with Mr. Poley, the member for -Ipswich. In this production, after referring to the death of King -William, Drake comments upon the “numerous, corrupt, and licentious -party throughout the nation, from which the House of Commons was -sometimes not free,” who might “entertain hopes, from the advantage of -being at the helm, and the assistance of their rabble, to have put into -practice their own schemes, and to have given us a new model of -government of their own projection,” and “to have mounted their own -beast, the rabble, and driven the sober part of the nation like cattle -before them.” That this was no conjecture was proved, the author stated, -by the conduct of the party to the Queen, towards whom, “not contented -with showing her a constant neglect and slight themselves, they also -instructed their whole party to treat her with disrespect and slight. -They were busy to traduce her with false and scandalous aspersions; and -so far they carried the affront, as to make her at one time almost the -common subject of the tittle-tattle of every coffee-house and -drawing-room, which they promoted with as much zeal, application, and -venom, as if a bill of exclusion had been then on the anvil, and these -were the introductory ceremonies.”[493] - -Lord Godolphin, and certain other of the ministry, were so much -scandalized at these comments, that they represented to Queen Anne that -the publication was an insult to her honour, and prevailed upon her -Majesty to address both Houses upon the subject, in the Parliament which -met October 27th, 1705. Accordingly, after a long debate, “it was voted -that the church was not in danger,” and her Majesty was entreated to -punish the authors of the “Memorial.” The printer was accordingly taken -into custody, and, being examined before one of the secretaries of -state, deposed that the manuscript of the “Memorial” was brought to him -by a lady in a mask, accompanied by another lady barefaced, who, -together, stipulated to have two hundred and fifty copies printed, which -were delivered to four porters sent by the parties who brought the -“Memorial.” But although the lady without a mask and three of the -porters were found, Dr. Drake remained undiscovered; and the indignant -ministry were obliged to convict him upon another publication. - -Drake was the editor of a newspaper, entitled “The Mercurius Politicus,” -for which he was prosecuted in the Queen’s Bench in the ensuing year, -but acquitted upon a flaw in the information, the word NOR being -inserted in the written information, and, in the libel given in -evidence, the word NOT. Eventually the prosecution killed Drake, for the -anxieties attending it, and the ill usage of some of his party, brought -on a fever of which he died, bitterly exclaiming against the severity of -his enemies. Thus speedily were extinguished an energetic spirit, and -abilities adapted to higher purposes than those to which they were -applied. Besides displaying in his writings great command of language, -Dr. Drake possessed a well-stored and philosophic mind. Amid historical, -political, and even dramatic works, he published a “New System of -Anatomy,” which met with deserved praise and success.[494] - -It would require a work of some extent to describe the innumerable -productions of the day in which the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, -under fictitious names, were alternately defamed and defended. The -authors of these productions came forth like bats and owls, in the -twilight and in darkness, when the political day of the great Colossus, -as the Duke was called, and of “Queen Sarah,” was overcast by the shades -of night. They were for the most part answered, and they cannot, on the -whole, be said to have affixed any stain upon the memory of the great -hero, or on the more faulty conduct of the imperious favourite, whom -they assaulted generally in the grossest manner, and with invective -rather than facts.[495] - -Attacks so violent as these soon pass out of remembrance, consumed in -their own heat; for it is only the wary and well-directed operations of -a cautious hand that wound, and injure, and endure. Already had the -Duke, and Duchess, and their party a powerful, though latent foe, who, -in the retirement of an Irish parsonage, divided his days between the -gentler arts of deluding the affections, and alternately beguiling and -breaking the hearts, of weak, but fondly disinterested women; and of -advancing the cause of the church,—if those efforts could be called -advancement, which disseminated immorality, whilst they advocated the -constitution of the hierarchy. Jonathan Swift, by all accounts the least -lovable, and yet the most dangerous, of mankind, was at this time -nominally a Whig, but a disappointed Whig, in his inert and chrysalis -state, awaiting only the necessary change to become a Tory. Brought up -in dependence, and his deportment as a “fine gentleman spoiled,” as he -declared, by a subservience half affectionate, half abject, towards his -great patron, Sir William Temple,[496] the arbitrary, sarcastic, and -selfish spirit of this most able, but most unhappy man, grew under the -check of adversity, which cannot soften all natures. He was a -tyrant,—from the domestic cruelty of forcing a guest to eat asparagus in -King William’s way,[497] to the monstrous ingratitude, indelicacy, and -perfidy of influencing his supposed wife, the beautiful, the devoted -Stella, to bear the imputed ignominy of being his mistress. He was a -timeserver, as selfish men may be expected to become; and a calumniator, -from the same narrow principles of self-advancement. Swift, at this -period, was living in the unrestrained enjoyment of the attachment with -which he had inspired the unhappy Stella, then scarcely twenty years of -age, in all the bloom of that beauty of form and face which were -destined to fade beneath the pressure of suspense, expectation, -disappointment, and despair. Already had the moral profligate, if we may -so call him, secured his Stella from the addresses of a respectable -clergyman, who had applied to Swift in the capacity of the lady’s -guardian, acting in which office Swift had demanded such unreasonable -terms of settlement, that the honest lover was unable to accede to -them.[498] This love of evasion, this mixture of moderation with -passion, of prudence with grasping desires, marked the political, as -well as the personal character of Swift. Generally speaking, the high -churchmen of those days were Tories, and the low churchmen Whigs. It is -not easy to say why, except for the purposes of party, this should be -the case; nor can we reasonably justify a suspicion that an ardent -promoter of the principles of the Revolution, like Swift, could not be -equally sincere in his ultra notions of liberty, and in his vehement -advocacy of the high church cause. His subsequent abandonment of the -Whig party confirms the uncomfortable and foreboding feelings with which -we behold him, in one poem extolling the constancy of Archbishop -Sancroft, who refused the oaths to William and Mary,[499] and, in -another, on the burning of Whitehall,[500] declaring that nothing could -purify that ancient palace, after the residence of the Stuarts. Speaking -of James the Second— - - “He’s gone—the rank infection still remains; - Which to repel requires eternal pains: - No force to cleanse it can a river draw, - Nor Hercules could do’t, nor great Nassau.”[501] - -It was not difficult to predict that Swift would be one of the first to -lend his too powerful aid to darken the portraits of the Whigs, when any -future cloud should throw a gloom over those services and talents which -he once magnified and extolled. - -The advocate of Somers, and of Halifax, Oxford, and Portland, in 1701, -Swift had now become the friend of Addison, Steele, Arbuthnot, and other -noted men, whom he met at Button’s coffee-house, and to whom, not -knowing his rare talents, nor hearing him at first even utter a -syllable, they gave the name of “the mad parson.” The appearance of the -“Tale of a Tub,” in 1704, published in spite of his intimacy with the -little knot of friends, called “Addison’s senate,” in order to benefit -the interests of the high church party, by exposing the errors and -corruptions of Popery, concentrated the good-will of the Tory chiefs, -who could not be blind to the powerful assistance of one who could aid -them with the engine of ridicule. But, in giving to the world this -production, Swift proved himself to be, like many unprincipled men, -near-sighted, and destroyed all hopes of that high preferment to which -he aspired. Although the “Tale of a Tub” has since been claimed, but -with no certainty, as the original idea of Somers,[502] and although it -was, at the time of its publication, imputed to a pedantic and simple -cousin of Swift, the real author was tolerably well surmised, and -eventually ascertained.[503] - -The real lovers of religion, and the sincere adherents of the Church of -England, were shocked and disgusted by this celebrated satire, and Queen -Anne could never be prevailed upon to bestow on the author the -preferment which he panted to obtain, by fair, or, if these were -inexpedient, by any means. - -If other statements are to be credited, one who held a high place in her -Majesty’s confidence was the original framer of the bold composition. - -Whether this conjecture be true or not, there is abundant reason to -conclude that Swift enriched the original design by the effusions of his -surpassing wit, to which he sacrificed the all important considerations -of character. It was not long before he gave proofs, that if he were not -the sole author of the “Tale of a Tub,” he was fully capable of being -so, by his Letter on the “Relaxation of the Sacramental Text,” which he -also endeavoured, but vainly, to conceal.[504] But it was at a later -period that Swift began that series of attacks upon the Duke and Duchess -of Marlborough, and on their party, in his papers in the “Examiner,” a -periodical paper set on foot by himself, Dr. Atterbury, St. John, Prior, -Dr. Frend, and other Tory writers, after the administration had passed -from the hands of Godolphin and Marlborough into those of Harley and his -party. To this powerful production, sustained with an apparent calmness -and exactness of statement, which gave indescribable effect to its -bitter remarks and searching analyses, the Duchess of Marlborough was -indebted for much of her unpopularity, and Harley for a considerable -proportion of his influence over the public mind.[505] The portion of -the papers for which Swift was solely responsible, are acknowledged to -be greatly superior to the subsequent essays. Swift himself prophesied -the inferiority. Upon the publication of number forty-four, which was -the last he wrote, he intimated to his friends that the rest would be -“trash for the future;” and the subsequent papers were, he says, -“written by some under-spur leathers in the city, and were designed -merely as proper returns to those Grub-street invectives which were -thrown out against the (Tory) administration by the authors of the -‘Medley’ and the ‘Englishman,’ and some other abusive detracting papers -of the like stamp.” - -The result fully bore out this prediction; and the “Examiner,” of all -the attacks which were made upon the Marlborough party and their -friends, the most obnoxious to them, and beneficial to their enemies, -soon sank in reputation, and altogether ceased. But its disparaging -effects upon those whom it assailed were long experienced; and the party -which this celebrated publication attacked, never recovered the -popularity and stability which it first undermined. - - - - - APPENDIX. - - - LETTER FROM MISTRESS WITTEWRONGE, _daughter-in-law of Sir John - Wittewronge, Bart. of Rothamsted Park, Herts, to the_ DUCHESS OF - MARLBOROUGH, _referring to Mrs. Jennings_. - - Sir John Wittewronge came to England from Ghent, in consequence of the - persecutions of the Protestants in Flanders. One of his family was - maid of honour to Queen Anne, probably through the interest of the - Duchess, who appears from this letter to have been a friend of the - family. - -May it please your grace, when your grace was last at St. Albans, I -endeavoured to have the honour of making my duty in person, but word was -brought me by the servant I sent, that your grace’s stay there was soe -short, that company was not expected; and not knowing when I may hope to -have any opportunity of speaking, humbly crave pardon, that I presume to -express myself in this manner, which I thought could not be well omitted -without a seeming neglect, both of my duty and interest, since your -grace will please to remember that it was told me I should be in a -capacity in London ere it were long, which I took as a gracious -intimation that some favour was intended for my husband, who, I am sure, -will deserve it, and has no hopes from any other hand. I must own my -affection to the memory of your noble mother, who honoured me with her -love, and bestowed upon me many costly favours, which may seem an odd -argument in my behalf to hope for more from your grace; but it is -godlike to confer new mercies on them who have been the objects of -former ones without any merit, especially upon such as are truly -thankful for what they have received. I begg at least forgiveness, and -shall ever remain - - Your grace’s most dutyfull - Thankful Servant, - MARY WITTEWRONGE. - - For her grace the Duchess of Marlborough. - (Endorsed in the hand writing of Mr. Wittewronge) - My wife to Duchess Marlb. - - -_Extract from “An Account of the Conduct of the Duchess of Marlborough. - 1742._” - - - FROM THE QUEEN TO HER SISTER THE PRINCESS ANNE. - - Kensington, Friday, the 5th of Feb. - -Having something to say to you which I know will not be very pleasing, I -chuse rather to write it first, being unwilling to surprise you, -although I think what I am going to tell you should not, if you gave -yourself the time to think, that never anybody was suffered to live at -court in my Lord Marlborough’s circumstances. I need not repeat the -cause he has given the King to do what he has done, nor his -unwillingness at all times to come to such extremities, though people do -deserve it. - -I hope you do me the justice to believe it is as much against my will -that I now tell you, that after this it is very unfit Lady Marlborough -should stay with you, since that gives her husband so just a pretence of -being where he ought not. - -I think I might have expected you should have spoke to me of it. And the -King and I, both believing it, made us stay thus long. But seeing you -was so far from it that you brought Lady Marlborough hither last night, -makes us resolve to put it off no longer, but tell you she must not -stay; and that I have all the reasons imaginable to look upon your -bringing her as the strangest thing that ever was done. Nor could all my -kindness for you (which is ever ready to turn all you do the best way, -at any other time,) have hindered me from showing you that moment, but I -considered your condition, and that made me master myself so far as not -to take notice of it then. - -But now I must tell you it was very unkind in a sister, would have been -very uncivil in an equal, and I need not say I have more to claim: which -though my kindness would make me never exact, yet when I see the use you -would make of it, I must tell you I know what is due to me, and expect -to have it from you. ’Tis upon that account I tell you plainly, Lady -Marlborough must not continue with you in the circumstances her lord is. - -I know this will be uneasy to you, and I am sorry for it; and it is very -much so to me to say all this to you, for I have all the real kindness -imaginable for you; and as I ever have, so will always do my part to -live with you as sisters ought. That is, not only like so near -relations, but like friends. And, as such, I did think to write to you. -For I would have made myself believe your kindness for her made you at -first forget that you should have for the King and me; and resolved to -put you in mind of it myself, neither of us being willing to come to -harsher ways. - -But the sight of Lady Marlborough having changed my thoughts, does -naturally alter my stile. And since by that I see how little you seem to -consider what even in common civility you owe us, I have told you -plainly; but withall assure you, that let me have never so much reason -to talk anything ill of you, my kindness is so great, that I can pass -over most things, and live with you as becomes me. And I desire to do so -merely from that motive; for I do love you as my sister, and nothing but -yourself can make me do otherwise; and that is the reason I chuse to -write this rather than tell it you, that you may overcome your first -thoughts; and when you have well considered, you will find, that though -the thing be hard, (which I again assure you I am sorry for,) yet it is -not unreasonable, but what has ever been practised, and what you -yourself would do, were you in my place. - -I will end this with once more desiring you to consider the matter -impartially, and take time for it. I do not desire an answer presently, -because I would not have you give a rash one. I shall come to your -drawing-room to-morrow before you play, because you know why I cannot -make one; at some other time we shall reason the business calmly; which -I will willingly do, or anything else that may show it shall never be my -fault if we do not live kindly together; nor will I ever be other by -choice but your truly loving and affectionate sister, - - M. R. - - - THE PRINCESS ANNE’S ANSWER TO THE FOREGOING LETTER. - -Your Majesty was in the right to think your letter would be very -surprising to me. For you must needs be sensible of the kindness I have -for my Lady Marlborough, to know that a command from you to part with -her must be the greatest mortification in the world to me; and, indeed, -of such a nature, that I might well have hoped your kindness to me would -have always prevented. I am satisfied she cannot have been guilty of any -fault to you; and it would be extremely to her advantage if I could here -repeat every word that ever she had said to me of you in her whole life. -I confess it is no small addition to my trouble to find the want of your -Majesty’s kindness to me upon this occasion, since I am sure I have -always endeavoured to deserve it by all the actions of my life. - -Your care of my present condition is extremely obliging, and if you -would be pleased to add to it so far as upon my account to recall your -severe command, (as I must beg leave to call it, in a matter so tender -to me, and so little reasonable, as I think, to be imposed upon me, that -you would scarcely require it from the meanest of your subjects,) I -should ever acknowledge it as a very agreeable mark of your kindness to -me. And I must as freely own, that as I think this proceeding can be for -no other intent than to give me a very sensible mortification, so there -is no misery that I cannot readily resolve to suffer, rather than the -thoughts of parting with her. If, after all this that I have said, I -must still find myself so unhappy as to be farther pressed in this -matter, yet your Majesty may be assured, that as my past actions have -given the greatest testimony of my respect both for the King and you, so -it shall always be my endeavour, wherever I am, to preserve it carefully -for the time to come, as becomes - - Your Majesty’s - Very affectionate Sister and Servant, - ANNE. - - From the Cockpit, Feb. 6th, 1692. - - - FROM THE PRINCESS ANNE TO THE QUEEN. - -I am very sorry to find that all I have said myself, and my Lord -Rochester for me, has not had effect enough to keep your Majesty from -persisting in a resolution which you are satisfied must be so great a -mortification to me, as, to avoid it, I shall be obliged to retire, and -deprive myself of the satisfaction of living where I might have frequent -opportunities of assuring you of that duty and respect which I always -have been and shall be desirous to pay you on all occasions. - -My only consolation in this extremity is, that not having done anything -in all my life to deserve your unkindness, I hope I shall not be long -under the necessity of absenting myself from you; the thought of which -is so uneasy to me, that I find myself too much indisposed to give your -Majesty any farther trouble at this time. - - February 8, 1692. - - - _Two Letters of kindness from the Princess of Denmark to Lady - Marlborough._ - - - THE PRINCESS ANNE TO LADY MARLBOROUGH. - -To Lady Marlborough.—I had last night a very civil answer from the -Bishop of Worcester, whom I sent to speak with, but have heard nothing -more of him since, so I dare not venture to go to London to-day for fear -of missing him. If he comes in any time to-morrow, I will not fail of -being with my dear Mrs. Freeman about five or six o’clock, unless you -are to go to the Tower. And if you do, pray be so kind as to let me know -time enough to stop my journey. For I would not go to London, and miss -the satisfaction of seeing you. I could not forbear writing, though I -had nothing more to say, but that it is impossible ever to express the -kindness I have for dear Mrs. Freeman. - - - TO LADY MARLBOROUGH FROM THE PRINCESS ANNE. - -To Lady Marlborough.—Sir Benjamin telling me you were not come to town -at three o’clock, makes me in pain to know how your son does, and I -can’t help inquiring after him and dear Mrs. Freeman. The Bishop of -Worcester was with me this morning before I was dress’d. I gave him my -letter to the Queen, and he has promised to send it, and seemed to -undertake it very willingly; though, by all the discourse I had with -him, (of which I will give you a particular account when I see you,) I -find him very partial to her. The last time he was here, I told him you -had several times desired you might go from me, and I repeated the same -thing again to him. For you may easily imagine I would not neglect doing -you right upon all occasions. But I beg it again for CHRIST JESUS’S -sake, that you would never name it any more to me. For be assured, if -you should ever do so cruel a thing as to leave me, from that moment I -should never enjoy one quiet hour. And should you do it without asking -my consent, (which if ever I give you may I never see the face of -heaven,) I will shut myself up, and never see the world more, but live -where I may be forgotten by human kind. - - - THE DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH TO THE QUEEN.[506] - -This letter proves that, so early as the year 1707, the good -understanding between the Queen and her favourite was undermined. - - August 7, 1707. - -Lord Marlborough has written to me to put your Majesty in mind of Count -Wrateslaw’s picture, and in the same letter desires me to ask for one -that he sent Lord Treasurer, which came from Hanover, which I have seen, -and which I know you would not have me trouble you with; and I have been -so often discouraged in things of this nature that I believe nobody in -the world but myself would attempt it; but I know Mrs. Morley’s -intentions are good, and to let her run on in so many mistakes that must -of necessity draw her into great misfortunes at last, is just as if one -should see a friend’s house set on fire, and let them be burnt in their -bed without endeavouring to wake them, only because they had taken -laudanum, and had desired not to be disturbed. This is the very case of -poor dear Mrs. Morley; nothing seems agreeable to her but what comes -from the artifices of one that has always been reported to have a great -talent that way. I heartily wish she may discover her true friends -before she suffers for the want of that knowledge; but as to the -business of calling for the Princess Sophia over, I don’t think that -will be so easily prevented as she (perhaps) may flatter herself it -will, though I can’t think there can be many, at least, that know how -ridiculous a creature she is, that can in their hearts be for her. But -we are a divided nation; some Jacobites that cover themselves with the -name of Tory, and yet are against the crown. And whoever comes into the -project of that sort must do it in hopes of confusion. Others there are -that are so ignorant that they really believe the calling over any of -the House of Hanover will secure the succession, and the Protestant -religion. And some of those gentlemen that do know better, and that have -so many years supported the true interest against the malice of all the -inventions of the enemies to this government, I suppose will grow easy, -and be pretty indifferent at least in what they think may be of no ill -consequence, further than in displeasing the court, not only in this of -the Princess Sophia, but in anything else that may happen; and as Mrs. -Morley orders her affairs, she can’t expect much strength to oppose -anything where she is most concerned. Finding Mrs. Morley has little -time to spare, unless it be to speak to those that are more agreeable, -or that say what she likes on these subjects, I have taken the liberty -to write an answer to this, which you will say is sincere, and can be no -great trouble only to sign it with Morley. - - - _Extract from the Duchess’s Letter to Mr. Hutchinson._ (_This passage - relates to the Duchess accepting two thousand pounds out of the privy -purse: a sum, which she had formerly refused from the Queen._ Taken from - the Coxe Manuscripts, vol. xliii.) - -But to return to my own case. When the Queen had turned me out of my -places, the next thing I had to do was to make up my accounts for the -robes and privy purse, with all the care and exactness I could. But in -the mean time, while some of my friends persuaded me to let the Queen be -asked whether she would not allow me to take out of the privy purse the -two thousand pounds a year which she had so often pressed me to accept, -since the reason of my refusing it now ceased, when she turned me out of -my places, I must confess it went much against me to desire anything of -her; but when I considered how great a sum of money I had saved her by -the management of my offices, the real service I had done her in many -respects, and the dear hours of my life I had spent upon her for many -years together, without either asking or having anything of her, (except -those few trifles I mentioned before,) after she came to the crown, -which any one would think was the proper time for her to have rewarded -her old servants, I thought I should not be in her debt though she -should give me what I had so often refused, and therefore that I might -very well suffer myself to be governed by my friends in letting her be -asked about this matter; and accordingly I consented that a copy of one -of her own letters, in which she pressed me so much to take that money -out of the privy purse, should be shown to her, and that the person who -carried it should tell her that I desired to know, before I made up my -accounts, whether she still was willing that I should take the money out -of the privy purse according as she had desired me in that letter. When -this was proposed to her, she blushed and appeared to be very uneasy, -and not disposed to allow of my putting that money into my accounts; but -for want of good counsel or instructions to defend herself in refusing -that which she had been so very earnest with me to accept before, she -consented that I should do it. Then I sent in my accounts with that -yearly sum charged in them from the time she had offered it to me. But I -still used this further caution, of writing at the bottom of the -accounts, before I charged the last sum, a copy of the letter I -mentioned before, that when she signed them, she might at the same time -attest her own letter, and the offer she had made me of her own accord, -and pressed me to take in this manner—“_Pray make no more words about -it, and either own or conceal it, as you like best; since I think the -richest crown could never repay the services I have received from you._” -After this the Queen kept my accounts almost a fortnight by her, in -which time I don’t doubt but they were well examined by Abigal and Mr. -Harley; but there was no fault which they could pretend to find with -them, and they were sent back to me, without the least objection being -made against them, signed by the Queen’s own hand, who had writ under -them that she allowed of them, and was satisfied they were right; so -that the new ministers had nothing left them in this matter but to -whisper about the town some scandalous storys of it, and to employ such -of their agents as the Examiner in propagating them. - -I don’t pretend to give you any particular account of these, or any -other abusive storys that were industriously raised of me, but leave you -to judge of them by the matters of fact which I have now given you a -relation of, and which I have told in so full a manner as I think will -give you a clear notion of my whole behaviour in all the concerns I had -with the Queen, and particularly with respect to everything in which she -seemed to show any uneasiness towards me. - - - _Extract from a Letter written by the Duchess of Marlborough, -vindicating herself from the charge of selling places; and touching also - upon other matters._—Taken from the Coxe Manuscripts, vol. xliv. p. 2. - -And upon the whole, I solemnly swear, as I hope for happiness here or -hereafter, that besides the case of the pages to the Princess, which I -have told you of, I never did receive the value of one shilling in -money, jewells, or any such thing, either directly or indirectly, for -the disposing of any employment, or doing any favour during my whole -life, nor from any person whatsoever, upon any such account; and that if -there is any man or woman upon earth that can give the least proof to -the contrary, I am contented for the future to be looked upon both by -friends and enemies, as one of the vilest of women, worse than Abigal -herself, when I consider her as instrumental in doing the greatest -mischief that a nation can suffer; the reducing it from the most -flourishing to at least a dangerous condition; and as acting the most -ungratefully and injuriously to a person to whom she owes her very -bread. - -I may be thought, perhaps, in this to put my own vindication upon too -ticklish a bottom, when it is considered how far the malice of men will -go, in these times especially, in maintaining the greatest falsity -against others, when they can serve their own purposes by it. But as -everybody ought to look upon all general reflections, where no proof is -offered at, to be only mere aspersions; so I depend upon it that I shall -be able to convict any man, to his own shame, that shall dare to produce -any particular instance against me, of my having taken anything for the -disposal of any employment. I am sensible my enemies have not wanted -inclination to have done this long ago, if there had been any room for -it; and it is no small vindication of me, that their own impudence, as -great as it is in this respect, has not carried them so far as to offer -at any proof against me of this nature. - -There is another public vindication of me which I think I ought to take -notice of, and that is, that soon after the Queen came to the crown, I -was the cause of having the strictest orders made against taking of -money for the disposing of places that were ever known at the court; -which, how consistent it was with having any designs of my own of making -money that way, I leave any one to judge. In the green cloth I found -means of making it necessary, for every one that came into any -employment there, to make an oath, in the strictest terms that could be, -that he did not pay anything for it. And though I could not so easily -procure any such effectual means to prevent the same practice with -respect to the dispensing of other employments, yet I often pressed the -Queen to do all that was possible in it; and upon this there was an -order of council made, which everybody knows of, about it. All this, I -hope, is sufficient to clear me from anything cast upon me with respect -to the disposal of employments. - - - _Extract from a work called “Sylva, or the Wood,” published in 1788; -describing the limited education of the Duchess, and the manner in which - she delivered the Vindication of her Conduct, so often referred to in - this Volume, to Mr. Hooke._[507] - -The “old Sarah,” as she was then called, published, in 1742, an _Account -of her Conduct_ under Queen Anne; which _account_, by the way, affords -an excellent insight into the manœuvres of a court, and would greatly -confirm the idea given of it in the two preceding numbers. She was -assisted herein by Mr. Hooke, the historian, to whom, though oppressed -with the infirmities of age, and almost bed-rid, she would continue -speaking for six hours together. She delivered to him her account -without any notes, in the most lively, as well as the most connected -manner; and though the correction of the language is left to Hooke, yet -the whole is plainly animated with her spirit; and as some philosophers -have said of Saul with regard to body, she was _tota in toto, et tota in -qualibet parte_. She was of a strong understanding and uncommon -sagacity, which I premise to justify my wonder at the strange neglect of -education among the females; for her woman would have written as well, -and perhaps better. - -Here follow, merely as curiosities, two letters from her own -handwriting, directed “For Doctor Clarke, att his haus near St. James’ -Church,” without alteration of either grammar or orthography; that is -_verbatim et liberatim_, as Mrs. Bellamy upon a like occasion expresses. - - - _An Inventory of the Jewels belonging to the Duke and Duchess of - Marlborough._—Copied from the Coxe Manuscripts, vol. xlviii. - - Weight. Value. - - Car. Gr. £ s. d. - - In the Duke of Marlborough’s George, eleven - jewels 0 95 - - A brilliant of the first water, and very - lively weight, in a ring; the gift of the - Emperor 10 1½ 900 0 0 - - A brilliant drawing to the crown, and a - fowle on one side; the gift of the king of - Prussia, in a coulant to a cross 13 0¼ 1,500 0 0 - - In her grace the Duchess of Marlborough’s - earrings, the two brilliants under - - 900 0 0 - - A fine spread brilliant, the bottom very - deep, drawing upon the blue 6 2¾ 450 0 0 - - A high-crowned brilliant, good water, and - perfect cleane 7 0½ 450 0 0 - - A clear lively stone, well spread, but a - little drawing, (in the cross) 5 2½ 300 0 0 - - A fine stone of good water, perfectly - cleane, but thin, (the middle stone of a - button for a loope) 2 3½ 150 0 0 - - A spread stone, but drawing to the crown, - (in a collet for a little cross) 3 1¾ 150 0 0 - - A good water, and a fine lively cleane - brilliant, (in the cross) 4 1¾ 130 0 0 - - A fine lively cleane stone, but drawing in - the water, (in the cross) 4 2½ 130 0 0 - - The middle stone of a button for a loope, - very white, extremely spread, and cleane - and lively 2 0¾ 100 0 0 - - A very fine stone, in all perfection of - colour and cleaness, (in the cross) 2 1¾ 60 0 0 - - A cleane stone, a little drawing, (in the - cross) 2 2¼ 60 0 0 - - A brilliant of the first water, and almost - perfectly cleane, (in a ring) 5 0 210 0 0 - - One fassett diamond drawing 2 3¼ 100 0 0 - - The other fassett drawing yellowish. The two - middle stones of the button 2 0½ 80 0 0 - - Forty-four fassetts in the loopes 7 2 45 0 0 - - Sixteen fassetts in the buttons above 9 0 72 0 0 - - Two high fassett diamonds through the four points in - buttons, each set round with eleven brilliants, all - valued at 220 0 0 - - Forty-four fassett diamonds in the two loopes 35 0 0 - - Twenty-two fassett diamonds in a buckle 60 0 0 - - Two loopes with forty brilliants in them - - - - - Twenty-four brilliants round the two brilliant buttons - - - - - Twelve buttons of the same sort 355 0 0 - - Twelve loopes that go with them 135 0 0 - - Two buttons of another fashion, with seven diamonds, - each of them about the bigness of the middle stone 130 0 0 - - Two loopes, with thirteen diamonds in each, and one - large diamond at the bottom of each loope 210 0 0 - - Four buttons, with nine diamonds in each, of another - fashion and smaller 50 0 0 - - Four loopes, with ten diamonds in each loope 25 0 0 - - A fine large rose diamond, perfect cleane, set for a - coulant 360 0 0 - - Five fossett diamonds in a cross 220 0 0 - - A pair of ruby earrings set with brilliants about - them, and a cross and coulant set with diamonds, and - a pearle necklace to it, with rubies mixt with them, - all at 90 0 0 - - A blue enamelled cross set with diamonds 20 0 0 - - A pair of shoe-buckles set with fossett diamonds 20 0 0 - - A large brilliant in a ring, in which is his grace the - Duke of Marlborough’s picture 800 0 0 - - Two rose diamonds cut through the pints, very high, - cleane and lively 170 0 0 - - Two middle drops to earrings 160 0 0 - - Four side drops to ditto 70 0 0 - - A yellow rose diamond, set in a ring which his grace - wears 150 0 0 - - A large brilliant ring; the gift of the Emperor 1,500 0 0 - - A large rose diamond set in a ring; the gift of the - King of Poland 1,500 0 0 - -Endorsed in the Duchess’s handwriting with these words: - -“All the brilliants and other small diamonds, except those described in -this book, were bought with the Duchess’s own money, as likewise all the -pearles of every sort. The two best pendant drops cost of Mr. Dolbin -500_l._, and were once valued at 2,200_l._” - - - _Dated December the 30th, 1718, from a book of Sarah Duchess of - Marlborough’s._—Additional Catalogue. - -A large pearl necklace, containing thirty-nine pearls; the two end -pearls are what are called pendant pearls. - -Two very large pendant pearls that cost five hundred pounds, but are -valued at more than double the price, set in earrings with two brilliant -diamonds. - -Two hundred and eighty-four pearls in a string, for a bracelet. - -Three strings in a necklace, with a brilliant hook. Near four hundred -pearls in three; and the hook contains sixteen diamonds. - -One hundred and forty-seven pearls in a bracelet, with the Duke of -Marlborough’s picture. - -Nine old pearls. - -A pair of pendants, with eight false French pearls, set about with -brilliants. - -A pair of ruby earrings, with six drops, set round with diamonds. - -A ruby cross, set round with diamonds. - -In the necklace twenty-six fossett diamonds; all the rubies false but -the middle one and those in the cross. - -Five large diamonds in a cross; one very large one for the middle -collet, one large one to buckle it behind, with two little ones: in all -nine. - -A brilliant buckle for a girdle, with sixteen diamonds. - -A brilliant buckle for the Duke of Marlborough’s picture, with eight -diamonds and a drop. - -Such another buckle for four pictures of my daughters. - -The Duke of Marlborough’s picture in a ring. - -A large buckle for a girdle of fossetts. - -A buckle for a girdle of lesser fossetts. - -Four diamond buckles and loops, to put on the neck of a manteau. - -Six diamond buckles and loops for manteau sleeves: there is in the loops -for the sleeves one hundred and twenty-four diamonds, some brilliants, -and some fossetts. - -Fifteen loops set for stays, and eight buttons. - -One very fine ring fossett set transparent. - -Six pendant drops set in a sprig, fossett stones all. - -Six very fine brilliant drops in a pair of pendants, and two very fine -fossetts for the earrings of those pendants. - -A very large brilliant ring set transparent. - -Two pins with four fossett diamonds. - -Sixteen collets set with cristalls and hair; sixty little brilliants set -in collets to go between the cristalls. - -A buckle for one of the bracelets with eight little brilliants and a -drop. - -Ten brilliant buckles for stays, and two taggs (one lost.) - -Eight little square buckles for a waistcoat, fossett, and ten taggs. - -Seven little white brilliants, unsett. - -A little yellow diamond for the hook of a necklace. - -Madame d’Escalache’s picture in a locket. - -Thirty-six brilliant collets, pretty large, for a necklace. - -Seventeen of those diamonds generally used for the boddice. - -A little bracelet with gold crosses. - -A little locket of cristall with my Lord Godolphin’s hair. - -A pair of earrings with four pretty large brilliant diamonds. - -Two little diamond hooks to set drops upon. - -Fourty-four small diamonds set in fassetts. - -Thirteen more of the same sort. - -Two small fassett drops with two little diamonds, for earrings. - -Two diamond knotts with false blue stones, for earrings. - -A large amethyst ring. - -A small Turkey ring. - -Two French pearls with diamond tops. - -A pair of diamond knotts with false green earrings. - -A pair of diamond knotts with eight false green stones. - -A ring with my mother’s hair, and four brilliant diamonds. - -A gold snuff-box, with two of the Duke of Marlborough’s pictures in it. - -A gold snuff-box, with the Duchess of Portsmouth’s picture in it. - -A pair of shoe-buckles. - - * * * * * - -Lady Anne Egerton’s and Lady Dye’s diamonds, that are in use, are not in -this account. - -Mr. Gibson valued the best pearl necklace by weight that was bought of -the Duchess of Beaufort at six hundred and eight pounds, and said he -would give so much for it to sell it again, in October, 1715; and -besides that, there were five pearls added to it, bought of the Duchess -of Montague. - -A little diamond hook to a garnet necklace.[508] - - -_An Account of what the Grant of Marlborough-House has cost the Duke and - Duchess of Marlborough._[509] - -Paid to Sir Richard Beeling, upon a pretended debt of Queen Dowager’s, -two thousand pounds. - -Building the house, and making the garden, very near fifty thousand -pounds. - -That article seems almost incredible, but it is not really so -extravagant as it appears, because it is the strongest and best house -that ever was built; and if it were worth the trouble to look into old -accounts when they signify nothing, I could prove what I have said by -the payments out of the accounts. As to what has been paid for two -grants in Queen Anne’s time, there being a mistake in one of them which -occasioned another, and the renewal in King George the First’s time; -likewise the fine and payments upon account of the four little houses to -make the way, must have cost a good deal. But it is not worth the -trouble of summing up the particulars. The yearly rents I pay to the -crown are five shillings; and thirteen pounds fifteen shillings for -Marlborough-house; and thirteen pounds fifteen shillings for the four -little houses. The land-tax for Marlborough-house is sixty pounds a -year; for the four little houses I don’t know what it is. The Examiner -magnified the vast profit I had by this grant from the crown, which it -never cost one shilling. Likewise a great value was set upon the -advantage of the lodges in Windsor Park. None of the expense of building -either was done by the crown; and it cost the Duchess of Marlborough a -great sum of money to make those two lodges what they are, who lost an -arrear due from King George the First, the allowance for keeping the -Park. After that, his present Majesty, by letters patent under the privy -seal, bearing date the twenty-ninth day of June, in the second year of -his reign, was pleased to grant to the ranger of the Great Park at -Windsor an allowance of five hundred pounds a year in consideration of -the charge of supplying hay for feed of the deer, and paying -under-keepers, and gate-keepers, and other subordinate officers doing -duty or service there, their wages; and to authorise and direct the -payment of the said fee, salary, or allowance, at the receipt of the -Exchequer, quarterly, out of his treasure applicable to the uses of his -civil government. This salary was stopt by another order at Christmas, -1736, since which time the Duchess of Marlborough has been at the whole -charge of all the payments in his Majesty’s Park; notwithstanding that -by her grant she has as strong a right to it as anybody can have from -the crown. And though Queen Anne gave her this grant, at King George’s -coming to the crown she paid the usual fees as if it had been given her -then, and which ’tis plain, by what has passed since, could not be taken -from her. But she did not think it worth making a dispute about that. -There is likewise in the order to recal the payment, from the crown, -that Mr. Bridgman should not continue his payment for an allowance he -had for keeping one of the King’s gardens in the Park. That is a thing I -don’t pretend to have a right to have, for it is not in my grant; nor do -I know more of it than that my Lord Ranelagh, when he reduced the prices -of the gardeners to the crown, I suppose to please some former ranger -before I had it, obliged the gardeners to pay a hundred pounds a year to -the gardener that kept that garden in the Great Park. And likewise they -paid an allowance out of theirs for keeping the garden that comes into -the Little Park; and some allowance for some fruit-trees planted in that -park. But I don’t know the particulars of the last exactly, because I -have computed that this grant of Marlborough-house, which the crown -never paid one shilling for, besides the constant rent of the crown, and -taxes, at fifteen hundred pounds a year. Now money is at three per cent. - - -This statement terminates thus abruptly. - ------ - -Footnote 1: - - It is the impression of her descendant, Earl Spencer, that the Duchess - was born at Holywell: and the facts which are stated in chapter i. p. - 10 of the first volume, and for which the Authoress is indebted to the - kindness of Mr. Nicholson, abundantly prove that conviction to be - just. - -Footnote 2: - - Life of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, 1745, p. 61. - -Footnote 3: - - Collins’s Baronage, art. Churchill. - -Footnote 4: - - The letter, now amongst the papers of John Bennet Lawes, Esq., the - descendant of Sir John Wittewronge, Bart., is too much mutilated to be - copied or inserted in the appendix. The Duchess, from the vicinity of - Sandridge to Rothamsted Park, was probably early acquainted with the - family of Wittewronge. She bought some land from Sir John - Wittewronge.—See her Grace’s will. - -Footnote 5: - - A Letter from the Duchess. Private Correspondence of the Duke of - Marlborough. Colburn, 1837, vol. ii. p. 112. - -Footnote 6: - - For a more detailed account of the Jennings or Jennyns family, see - Appendix I. - -Footnote 7: - - Sandridge is a straggling and by no means picturesque village, in the - vicinity of St. Albans. The property once belonging to the Jennings - family descended to the favourite grandson of the Duchess, Lord John - Spencer, (commonly called “Jack Spencer,”) and was sold by the present - Lord Spencer to John Kinder, Esq., who has built a handsome house on - the estate. - - The manor of Sandridge, at the time of the dissolution, formed part of - the possessions of the Abbot of St. Albans, and is thus described in - the Domesday Survey. “It answered for ten hides. There is land to - thirteen ploughs. The Abbot himself holds Sandridge. Three hides are - in the demesne, and there are two ploughs here, and a third may be - made. Twenty-six villanes here have ten ploughs Meadow for two - ploughs. Pasture for the cattle. Pasturage for three hundred hogs. The - whole value is 18_l._ When received 12_l._ And the same in King - Edward’s time.”—_Clutterbuck’s Hist. of Hertfordshire_, p. 216. - - Upon the dissolution, this manor came to the crown, and was granted by - charter, anno 32 Henry VIII., to Ralph Rowlat, whose sister married - Ralph Jennings, the grandfather of Richard Jennings. - -Footnote 8: - - With the day of her birth I have been assisted by the kindness of a - friend. Coxe mentions merely the year. - -Footnote 9: - - I am enabled, by the kindness and intelligence of the Rev. Henry - Nicholson, rector of the Abbey of St. Alban’s, to give the - corroborating evidence to this fact. A member of the highly - respectable family of a former rector of St. Albans distinctly - recollects that it used to be the boast of her aunt, an old lady of - eighty, not many years deceased, that she had herself been removed, - when ill of the small-pox, to the very room in the house where Sarah - Duchess of Marlborough was born. This was a small building since - pulled down, and its site is now occupied by a summer-house, between - what is called Holywell-street and Sopwell-lane in St. Alban’s, and - within the space afterwards occupied by the pleasure-grounds of the - great house at Holywell. Holywell is said by tradition to have been so - called, because in it was a well, marked in an old map of St. Albans, - where the nuns of Sopwell used to dip their crusts, too hard to be - eaten without such a process. - -Footnote 10: - - Clutterbuck’s History of Hertfordshire, p. 57. - -Footnote 11: - - Bishop Burnet’s Hist. of His Own Times, vol. v. p. 53. - -Footnote 12: - - Granger, art. M. B. - -Footnote 13: - - Macpherson’s Hist. of Great Britain, vol. i. p. 174. - -Footnote 14: - - Macpherson, p. 177. - -Footnote 15: - - Life of James II., edited by Macpherson, vol. i. p. 73. - -Footnote 16: - - Hist. Brit., vol. i. p. 178. - -Footnote 17: - - See Archdeacon Coxe’s Life of John Duke of Marlborough, vol. i. - Introduction, p. 45; also Lediard’s Life of Marlborough. For a further - account of the Churchill name and lineage, see Appendix II. - -Footnote 18: - - See Coxe, p. 47 and 49. - -Footnote 19: - - See Grammont. - -Footnote 20: - - This early exploit was the result of a wager of Turenne’s. “I will bet - a supper and a dozen of claret,” said the general, “that my handsome - Englishman will recover the post with half the number of men commanded - by the officer who has lost it.” The wager was accepted and - won.—Lediard, vol. i. - -Footnote 21: - - Coxe, p. 9. - -Footnote 22: - - Lord Chesterfield’s Letters, 136. - -Footnote 23: - - For a specimen of the errors, in this respect, imputed to the Duke, - see Appendix, No. I., in an extract from the newspapers of his time. - -Footnote 24: - - “Divi Britannici; being a Remark on all the Kings of this isle, from - the year of the world 2855 unto the year of Grace 1660.”—General - Biography, art. Churchill. - -Footnote 25: - - Coxe, p. 1, 2. - -Footnote 26: - - See Life of Zarah, p. 2. - -Footnote 27: - - Life of Zarah, p. 3. - -Footnote 28: - - Collins’s Baronage, vol. ii. p. 131. - -Footnote 29: - - Collins’s Baronage, art. Churchill. - -Footnote 30: - - Coxe, i. 13. - -Footnote 31: - - Chesterfield’s Letters, p. 136. - -Footnote 32: - - Bishop Burnet alludes to this intrigue between Marlborough and the - Duchess. “The Duchess of Cleveland, finding that she had lost the - king, abandoned herself to great disorders; one of which, by the - artifice of the Duke of Buckingham, was discovered by the king in - person.”—Hist. of his own Times, vol. i. p. 370. - -Footnote 33: - - Burnet, vol. i. p. 129. - -Footnote 34: - - Grammont, vol. ii. p. 284. - -Footnote 35: - - Chesterfield’s Letters, p. 136. - -Footnote 36: - - From 1675 to 1678. See Coxe, vol. i. 15. - -Footnote 37: - - Life of John Duke of Marlborough, p. 39. - -Footnote 38: - - See Coxe, 14, 15. - -Footnote 39: - - Continuation of Lord Clarendon’s Life, p. 167. - -Footnote 40: - - Ibid., p. 148. - -Footnote 41: - - Granger. - -Footnote 42: - - Lediard, p. 32. - -Footnote 43: - - Echard’s Hist. Revolution, p. 113. - -Footnote 44: - - Coxe, vol. i. p. 15. - -Footnote 45: - - Coxe. - -Footnote 46: - - Lediard. - -Footnote 47: - - Coxe. - -Footnote 48: - - Coxe, vol. i. p. 18. - -Footnote 49: - - Coxe, vol. i. p. 18. - -Footnote 50: - - See Coxe, from Lives of Marlborough and Eugene, vol. i. p. 15. - -Footnote 51: - - Dalrymple, Appendix, p. 239. - -Footnote 52: - - Lediard, p. 39, 40. - -Footnote 53: - - Coxe, vol. i. p. 19. - -Footnote 54: - - Coxe. - -Footnote 55: - - Coxe. - -Footnote 56: - - Lediard. - -Footnote 57: - - Boyer, p. 36. - -Footnote 58: - - Granger. - -Footnote 59: - - Macpherson’s Hist. England, p. 365. - -Footnote 60: - - Boyer. - -Footnote 61: - - Granger, vol. i. p. 8. - -Footnote 62: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 63: - - Private Correspondence of the Duchess of Marlborough, vol. ii. p. 116. - -Footnote 64: - - Priv. Correspondence. - -Footnote 65: - - Granger, art. Anne. - -Footnote 66: - - Boyer, p. 716. - -Footnote 67: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 68: - - Four last Years of Queen Anne’s Reign, vol. xii. p. 11. - -Footnote 69: - - Granger. - -Footnote 70: - - Four last Years, p. 11. - -Footnote 71: - - Conduct. - -Footnote 72: - - Conduct, p. 11–15. - -Footnote 73: - - Conduct, p. 10. - -Footnote 74: - - Lord Wharncliffe’s edition of Lady M. W. Montague’s Works, vol. i. - -Footnote 75: - - The Life of Colley Cibber. - -Footnote 76: - - Burnet’s History of his own Times, vol. i. p. 756. - -Footnote 77: - - Conduct, p. 11. - -Footnote 78: - - Ibid., p. 20. - -Footnote 79: - - Conduct, p. 13. - -Footnote 80: - - Conduct, p. 15. - -Footnote 81: - - Coxe, 27. - -Footnote 82: - - Conduct, p. 13. - -Footnote 83: - - Conduct, p. 12. - -Footnote 84: - - Coxe, 28. - -Footnote 85: - - Dalrymple, i. 104. - -Footnote 86: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 87: - - Life of St. Evremond. See Notes to Grammont, vol. ii. p. 351. - -Footnote 88: - - Brian Fairfax’s Life of the Duke of Buckingham, quoted in Grammont. - -Footnote 89: - - Macpherson, vol. i. p. 384. - -Footnote 90: - - Grammont, ii. 190. - -Footnote 91: - - Burnet, vol. i. p. 368. - -Footnote 92: - - See Notes to Grammont, vol. i. p. 329. - -Footnote 93: - - Ibid. 261. - -Footnote 94: - - See Opinions of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough. Edit. 1784, p. 4. - -Footnote 95: - - £20,000 a year. - -Footnote 96: - - Ibid. p. 6. - -Footnote 97: - - Boyer’s Life of Anne, p. 3. - -Footnote 98: - - See letters from the Princess of Denmark to the Princess of Orange in - Dalrymple’s Mem. vol. ii. Appendix. - -Footnote 99: - - Conduct, p. 16. - -Footnote 100: - - Coxe, i. 33. - -Footnote 101: - - Conduct. - -Footnote 102: - - Coxe, 34. - -Footnote 103: - - Conduct, p. 16. - -Footnote 104: - - Tindal, vol. xv. p. 150. - -Footnote 105: - - Four Last Years of Queen Anne, p. 10. - -Footnote 106: - - See Oliver’s Pocket Looking Glass, printed 1711, p. 25. - -Footnote 107: - - Coxe, p. 34. - -Footnote 108: - - Dalrymple, book v. p. 215. - -Footnote 109: - - Dalrymple, book v. p. 215. - -Footnote 110: - - Dalrymple, 228, book v. - -Footnote 111: - - See Coxe, Lediard. - -Footnote 112: - - Macpherson, ii. 479; Clarendon’s Diary, Nov. 9, 1688. - -Footnote 113: - - Conduct. - -Footnote 114: - - Tindal, xv. p. 200. - -Footnote 115: - - Before the Princess had sent to declare her distress. - -Footnote 116: - - Conduct, p. 16. - -Footnote 117: - - Tindal, p. 75, vol. xv. See Appendix. - -Footnote 118: - - Dalrymple, b. vi. p. 230. - -Footnote 119: - - Life of Colley Cibber, p. 48. - -Footnote 120: - - The Other Side of the Question, in a Letter to Her Grace the Dowager - Duchess of.... By a Woman of Quality. Ed. London, 1742, p. 5. - -Footnote 121: - - Conduct, p. 19. - -Footnote 122: - - Life of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, 1746, p. 6. - -Footnote 123: - - Life of John Duke of Marlborough, by Lediard. - -Footnote 124: - - Other Side of the Question, p. 11. - -Footnote 125: - - Other Side of the Question, 11. - -Footnote 126: - - Dalrymple, b. vi. p. 232. - -Footnote 127: - - Macpherson, i. p. 516. - -Footnote 128: - - Burnet, iv. 193. - -Footnote 129: - - Noble’s edition of Granger, vol. i. p. 13. - -Footnote 130: - - Burnet. - -Footnote 131: - - Macpherson, vol. i. p. 308, apud d’Avaux. - -Footnote 132: - - Dalrymple, Burnet, Tindal, Macpherson. - -Footnote 133: - - Dalrymple, b. vi. p. 269. - -Footnote 134: - - Tindal, vol. xv. p. 280. - -Footnote 135: - - Macpherson. - -Footnote 136: - - Dalrymple, b. vi. p. 270. - -Footnote 137: - - Dalrymple, b. vi. p. 270. - -Footnote 138: - - Dalrymple, b. vi. p. 270. - -Footnote 139: - - Conduct, p. 22. - -Footnote 140: - - Conduct, p. 22. - -Footnote 141: - - Dalrymple, b. i. p. 90. - -Footnote 142: - - Granger. Edited by Noble. art. Russell. - -Footnote 143: - - Dalrymple. - -Footnote 144: - - Burnet, vol. iv. p. 196. - -Footnote 145: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 146: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 147: - - Dalrymple, b. ii. p. 113. - -Footnote 148: - - Ibid. b. vii. p. 272. - -Footnote 149: - - Dalrymple, b. vi. p. 238. - -Footnote 150: - - Conduct. - -Footnote 151: - - Dalrymple, b. vii. p. 276. - -Footnote 152: - - Macpherson, vol. i. p. 512. - -Footnote 153: - - Burnet, v. 69. - -Footnote 154: - - Burnet. - -Footnote 155: - - Conduct, p. 25. - -Footnote 156: - - Doctor Birch’s Notes from the Princess Anne’s Letters to her Sister. - See Sir John Dalrymple’s Memoirs. - -Footnote 157: - - Dalrymple, vol. ii. part ii. b. i. p. 305. - -Footnote 158: - - In 1708 the hinges of the portcullis were remaining. - -Footnote 159: - - Among others, those near the water were occupied by the late Duchess - of Portland.—Smith’s Antiquities of Westminster, vol. i. p. 19. - -Footnote 160: - - Conduct, p. 29. - -Footnote 161: - - See Dalrymple. - -Footnote 162: - - Conduct, p. 28. - -Footnote 163: - - Conduct, p. 30. - -Footnote 164: - - Boyer, p. 6. - -Footnote 165: - - Coxe, vol. i. p. 60. - -Footnote 166: - - Conduct, p. 30. - -Footnote 167: - - Conduct, p. 32. - -Footnote 168: - - See Private Correspondence. - -Footnote 169: - - He was called in Ireland, when he was appointed by Anne lord - lieutenant, Polyphemus, or Ireland’s Eye.—Noble’s Granger, vol. i. p. - 51. - -Footnote 170: - - Conduct. - -Footnote 171: - - Tindal, vol. xvi. p. 502. - -Footnote 172: - - Conduct, p. 35. - -Footnote 173: - - Ibid. 37. - -Footnote 174: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 175: - - Noble’s edition of Granger, vol. ii. p. 18. - -Footnote 176: - - Macpherson. - -Footnote 177: - - Noble, art. Godolphin. - -Footnote 178: - - Dean Swift’s Four Last Years of Queen Anne, p. 12. - -Footnote 179: - - Boyer, p. 17. - -Footnote 180: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 181: - - Swift, p. 12. - -Footnote 182: - - Four Last Years, p. 12. - -Footnote 183: - - Swift. - -Footnote 184: - - Conduct, p. 37. - -Footnote 185: - - Conduct, p. 38. - -Footnote 186: - - Macpherson. - -Footnote 187: - - Letter written soon after the Revolution, by Daniel Finch, Esq. of - Nottingham. Dalrymple’s Mem. vol. ii. p. 79. - -Footnote 188: - - Boyer, p. 357. - -Footnote 189: - - Conduct, p. 38. - -Footnote 190: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 191: - - Correspondence, vol. i. p. 44. - -Footnote 192: - - Ibid. p. 27. - -Footnote 193: - - Coxe, vol. i. 4to. p. 18. - -Footnote 194: - - Lediard. - -Footnote 195: - - Coxe. - -Footnote 196: - - Lediard, p. 103. - -Footnote 197: - - Dalrymple. - -Footnote 198: - - Dalrymple, part II. b. i. p. 300. - -Footnote 199: - - Dalrymple, part ii. b. i. p. 300. - -Footnote 200: - - Tindal, Dalrymple, Burnet. - -Footnote 201: - - Burnet, vol. iv. p. 2. - -Footnote 202: - - Ibid. p. 5. - -Footnote 203: - - Swift’s Four Last Years of Queen Anne, p. 16. - -Footnote 204: - - Swift. - -Footnote 205: - - Boyer, App.; Tindal, Burnet. - -Footnote 206: - - Sir William Temple’s Memoirs. See Boyer, App. p. 49. - -Footnote 207: - - Boyer, Appendix, p. 57. - -Footnote 208: - - Noble, vol. i. p. 61. - -Footnote 209: - - See Coxe, note, vol. i. p. 61. - -Footnote 210: - - Coxe, p. 59. - -Footnote 211: - - Lediard, p. 107. - -Footnote 212: - - Ibid. p. 105. - -Footnote 213: - - Coxe, p. 59. - -Footnote 214: - - Lediard, vol. i. p. 105. - -Footnote 215: - - Conduct, p. 42. - -Footnote 216: - - Conduct, p. 43. - -Footnote 217: - - Notes to Grammont, vol. ii. p. 324. - -Footnote 218: - - Granger and Grammont, from Coles’s State Papers. - -Footnote 219: - - She was the daughter of Sir Matthew Boynton, and sister-in-law to the - famous Earl of Roscommon. - -Footnote 220: - - Notes to Grammont, vol. ii. p. 328. - -Footnote 221: - - Lediard, p. 111. - -Footnote 222: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 223: - - Other Side of the Question, p. 70. - -Footnote 224: - - Coxe, vol. i. p. 63. - -Footnote 225: - - Lediard, p. 111. - -Footnote 226: - - Coxe, vol. i. p. 61. - -Footnote 227: - - Other Side of the Question, p. 48. - -Footnote 228: - - Conduct, p. 42. - -Footnote 229: - - See Appendix, No. IV., for the rest of this letter, and for others - upon the same subject. - -Footnote 230: - - Conduct. - -Footnote 231: - - Conduct, p. 48. See Appendix V. for Queen Mary’s two letters to Lady - Churchill. - -Footnote 232: - - Other Side of the Question, p. 75. - -Footnote 233: - - Conduct, p. 55. See Appendix. - -Footnote 234: - - Whitehall, partly rebuilt by James I., who found it in a ruinous - state, comprehended within its walls, although unfinished, different - suites of rooms, in which the various members of the royal family, - their several retinues, the great officers of state, and in the times - of Charles the Second and James, the female favourites of those - monarchs who could sanction their pretensions.—_Pennant’s London_, v. - i. p. 191. - -Footnote 235: - - Conduct, p. 58. See Appendix VI. - -Footnote 236: - - Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Somerset, daughter and sole heiress of - Joceline Percy, Earl of Northumberland. This lady had been affianced - to Henry Cavendish, Earl of Ogle, only son of Henry Duke of Newcastle, - but his early death, in 1680, prevented the completion of the - nuptials. The Duchess afterwards supplanted the Duchess of Marlborough - in the confidence of Queen Anne.—_Granger_, vol. iii. p. 437. - -Footnote 237: - - Charles Seymour, commonly called the proud Duke of Somerset. - -Footnote 238: - - It may here be observed, that probably this firmness and propriety of - conduct on the part of the Duke and Duchess of Somerset laid the - foundation of that partiality which Anne evinced towards them, to the - prejudice, as it proved, of her earlier friends. The Duchess, or, as - the Duchess of Marlborough was wont to call her, “the great lady,” was - an avowed opponent of the Tory party, and became in after life a most - influential, as well as a most active friend to Whig principles. - -Footnote 239: - - Notes to Berwick’s Memoirs, vol. i. p. 424. - -Footnote 240: - - Conduct. - -Footnote 241: - - Tindal, vol. xvi. p. 517. - -Footnote 242: - - Dalrymple’s Memoirs. - -Footnote 243: - - Notes to Berwick’s Memoirs, p. 426. - -Footnote 244: - - Marshal Berwick, the son of James II., and the nephew of Marlborough, - was twice married. His first wife was a daughter of the Earl of - Clanricarde, and in 1699 he married a lady attached to the court of - the exiled Queen of England, and niece of Lord Bulkley.—_Memoirs of - the Duke of Berwick_, vol. i. p. 17. - -Footnote 245: - - Autobiography of James II., edited by Macpherson, p. 235. - -Footnote 246: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 247: - - Dalrymple, b. vii. part ii. p. 493. - -Footnote 248: - - Dalrymple, p. ii. b. vii. p. 493. - -Footnote 249: - - Russell avoided an engagement with the French fleet: he never failed - entreating King James to prevent the meeting of the two fleets, - assuring him that as an officer and an Englishman, he could not avoid - firing on the first French ship that came in his way, even if he - should see the King on the quarter-deck.—_Notes to Berwick’s Memoirs._ - -Footnote 250: - - Tindal, xvi. p. 531. - -Footnote 251: - - Dalrymple. - -Footnote 252: - - Conduct, p. 60. - -Footnote 253: - - Conduct, p. 63. - -Footnote 254: - - Conduct, p. 62. - -Footnote 255: - - Coxe, vol. i. p. 34. - -Footnote 256: - - See Appendix, VII. - -Footnote 257: - - Conduct. - -Footnote 258: - - Note in Coxe, vol. i. p. 9. - -Footnote 259: - - Coxe. - -Footnote 260: - - Life of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, p. 41. - -Footnote 261: - - Life of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, p. 39. - -Footnote 262: - - Burnet. - -Footnote 263: - - Coxe, vol. vi. p. 216. - -Footnote 264: - - Opinions of the Duchess of Marlborough. See Private Correspondence, - Colburn, 1837, vol. ii. p. 125. - -Footnote 265: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 266: - - Burnet. - -Footnote 267: - - Coxe, vol. i. p. 69. - -Footnote 268: - - Conduct, p. 74. - -Footnote 269: - - Lord Cholmondeley, to whom the Duchess addressed her Vindication. - -Footnote 270: - - Conduct, p. 74. - -Footnote 271: - - See Horace Walpole’s Letters to Sir Horace Mann. - -Footnote 272: - - Conduct, p. 73. - -Footnote 273: - - Conduct, p. 79. - -Footnote 274: - - Conduct, p. 80. - -Footnote 275: - - Conduct, p. 18. - -Footnote 276: - - Opinions of the Duchess. Private Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 120. - Colburn. - -Footnote 277: - - Conduct, p. 98, 99. - -Footnote 278: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 279: - - Conduct, pp. 98, 99. - -Footnote 280: - - Pennant, p. 171. - -Footnote 281: - - Dalrymple, b. vii. p. 508. - -Footnote 282: - - See Mary’s Letters to William III. Dalrymple, Appendix, p. 129. - -Footnote 283: - - Conduct, p. 103. - -Footnote 284: - - Ibid., edition 1742, p. 109. - -Footnote 285: - - Conduct, p. 285. - -Footnote 286: - - Burnet, iv. p. 149. - -Footnote 287: - - Lady Derby was Lady Elizabeth Butler, daughter of Thomas Earl of - Ossory; married to George ninth Earl of Derby, who died in 1702, and - was succeeded by James tenth Earl, who had been groom of the - bedchamber to William the Third.—_Burke’s Peerage._ - -Footnote 288: - - Conduct, p. 106. - -Footnote 289: - - Burnet. - -Footnote 290: - - Conduct, p. 107. - -Footnote 291: - - Burnet, p. 199. - -Footnote 292: - - Swift. Last Years of Queen Anne’s Reign, p. 6. - -Footnote 293: - - Coxe, vol. i. p. 74. - -Footnote 294: - - Conduct, p. 110. - -Footnote 295: - - Conduct, p. 115. - -Footnote 296: - - Conduct, p. 111. - -Footnote 297: - - Conduct. - -Footnote 298: - - Walpole’s Reminiscences, p. 315. - -Footnote 299: - - Walpole’s Noble Authors, p. 190. - -Footnote 300: - - See Appendix, VIII. - -Footnote 301: - - Conduct, p. 114. - -Footnote 302: - - Conduct, p. 115. - -Footnote 303: - - Dalrymple, b. iv. p. 78. - -Footnote 304: - - Coxe, vol. i. p. 74. - -Footnote 305: - - Dalrymple, b. iii. p. 56. - -Footnote 306: - - Coxe. From the Shrewsbury Papers. - -Footnote 307: - - Coxe, p. 82. - -Footnote 308: - - Coxe, p. 86. From the Duchess’s Narrative. Green Book. - -Footnote 309: - - Dalrymple, book v. p. 88. - -Footnote 310: - - Lediard, p. 118. - -Footnote 311: - - Conduct, p. 117. - -Footnote 312: - - Conduct, p. 119. - -Footnote 313: - - Boyer, p. 7. - -Footnote 314: - - It is told of Burnet, that on the consecration of some bishops, Bishop - Williams was appointed to preach the sermon at Bow Church. The clerk - had twice given out the psalm, and still the bishop, detained by some - accident, did not appear. Burnet was desired by the Archbishop of - Canterbury to supply his place. He did so, and preached one of the - best sermons he had ever been known to deliver. - -Footnote 315: - - Johnson’s Lives of the Poets, art. Rochester. See also Life of Bishop - Burnet, by Thomas Burnet, Esq. - - Burnet, Hist. of his own Times, vol. iv. p. 307. - -Footnote 316: - - Vol. iv. p. 207. - -Footnote 317: - - Reminiscences, p. 341. - -Footnote 318: - - Coxe, vol. i. p. 92. See Note. - -Footnote 319: - - Life of Halifax. - -Footnote 320: - - Burnet, vol. iv. p. 302. - -Footnote 321: - - Coxe, p. 94. - -Footnote 322: - - Granger, vol. ii. p. 373. - -Footnote 323: - - Coxe, vol. i. p. 95. - -Footnote 324: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 325: - - Cunningham’s History of Great Britain, book iv. p. 171. - -Footnote 326: - - Granger, vol. ii. p. 46. - -Footnote 327: - - Coxe, p. 96. - -Footnote 328: - - Cunningham’s History of Great Britain, book v. p. 301. - -Footnote 329: - - Coxe. - -Footnote 330: - - See Swift’s Letters. - -Footnote 331: - - Granger, vol. ii. p. 372. - -Footnote 332: - - Clutterbuck’s Hist. Hertfordshire, p. 19. - -Footnote 333: - - See Appendix VIII. The Epitaph of Lady Bridgwater. - -Footnote 334: - - Collins’s Baronage, vol. ii. p. 319. - -Footnote 335: - - Horace Walpole, Rem. p. 315. - -Footnote 336: - - Cunningham. - -Footnote 337: - - Coxe, p. 88. - -Footnote 338: - - Burnet, vol. iv. p. 358. - -Footnote 339: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 340: - - Coxe, p. 88. - -Footnote 341: - - Dalrymple, Appendix. - -Footnote 342: - - Coxe, from Macpherson’s Hist., vol. ii. p. 130. - -Footnote 343: - - Dalrymple, b. vii. p. 132. - -Footnote 344: - - Coxe. - -Footnote 345: - - Cunningham, vol. i. p. 252. - -Footnote 346: - - Dalrymple. - -Footnote 347: - - Flying Post, 1702. - -Footnote 348: - - Dalrymple. - -Footnote 349: - - Burnet, vol. v. p. 69. - -Footnote 350: - - Marlborough’s Apotheosis, p. 11. London, 1714. - -Footnote 351: - - Reminiscences, p. 313. - -Footnote 352: - - With one exception: in her “Conduct” she seems to imply that the Duke - of Marlborough had held no correspondence whatsoever with James the - Second. She does not, indeed, say so; but disingenuously says, if Lord - Marlborough had acted so and so. There was abundant proof of his - negociations with the exiled family. - -Footnote 353: - - Such is the style of the work, entitled, “The Other Side of the - Question,” and also of the “Review of a late Treatise, entitled ‘An - Account of the Conduct of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, &c.,’ in a - Letter addressed to a Person of Distinction.” In this work, which was - written by a nobleman, there seems to be more of invective than of - fact. - -Footnote 354: - - Lord Wharncliffe’s edition of Lady Mary W. Montague’s Letters. - Introduction, p. 75. - -Footnote 355: - - Review of a late Treatise, &c., p. 53. - -Footnote 356: - - Horace Walpole’s Reminiscences. - -Footnote 357: - - Conduct, p. 21. - -Footnote 358: - - Cunningham, vol. i. p. 257. - -Footnote 359: - - London Gazette. - -Footnote 360: - - Cunningham, Boyer, Dalrymple, Somerville. - -Footnote 361: - - Flying Post, or Postmaster. March 8, 1702. - -Footnote 362: - - Postboy. March 10. - -Footnote 363: - - Character of Anne by the Duchess. - -Footnote 364: - - Somerville’s Queen Anne. - -Footnote 365: - - Boyer, p. 15. - -Footnote 366: - - London Courant, April 24th, 1702; Flying Post, 1702. - -Footnote 367: - - Ibid. April 23rd. - -Footnote 368: - - Daily Courant, April 15th. - -Footnote 369: - - Review of a late Treatise, &c., p. 22. - -Footnote 370: - - Cunningham, b. v. p. 259. - -Footnote 371: - - Conduct, p. 121. - -Footnote 372: - - Conduct. - -Footnote 373: - - Ibid. p. 125. - -Footnote 374: - - Conduct, p. 126. - -Footnote 375: - - Mrs. Hannah More. - -Footnote 376: - - Conduct. - -Footnote 377: - - Churchill’s Annals, 1702. - -Footnote 378: - - Swift. Four Years of Anne. - -Footnote 379: - - See Bishop Watson’s Life. - -Footnote 380: - - Life and Character of John Lord Somers, by Richard Cooksey, Esq. 1791. - -Footnote 381: - - Maddock’s Life of Somers, p. 34. - -Footnote 382: - - Swift. - -Footnote 383: - - Four Last Years, p. 7. - -Footnote 384: - - Cooksey’s Life of Somers. - -Footnote 385: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 386: - - Private Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 148. - -Footnote 387: - - Private Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 149. - -Footnote 388: - - Halifax was called “Mouse Montague,” from the circumstance of Lord - Dorset’s presenting him to William the Third as a _Mouse_.—_Granger’s - Biography._ - -Footnote 389: - - Private Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 153. - -Footnote 390: - - See Dedication to the fourth volume of Tatler. - -Footnote 391: - - Dedication to the Tatler. - -Footnote 392: - - Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 156. - -Footnote 393: - - Cunningham, vol. vi. p. 316. - -Footnote 394: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 395: - - Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 154. - -Footnote 396: - - Pope’s Epistle to Arbuthnot. - -Footnote 397: - - Four Last Years, p. 9. - -Footnote 398: - - Freeholder, p. 39. May 4, 1716. - -Footnote 399: - - Horace Walpole. - -Footnote 400: - - Collins’s Baronage, vol. i. p. 110. - -Footnote 401: - - In a poem, entitled “An Allusion to the Bishop of Cambray’s Supplement - to Homer.” - -Footnote 402: - - Collins’s Baronage, vol. i. p. 118. - -Footnote 403: - - Dalrymple, b. x. p. 130. - -Footnote 404: - - Cunningham, b. ii. p. 259. - -Footnote 405: - - See Cunningham. - -Footnote 406: - - His infamous example was renewed in that singular, gifted, and most - profligate nobleman, his son, Philip Duke of Wharton. Modern times - scarcely furnish a parallel to the character of this peer. - - “Like Buckingham and Rochester,” says one who understood him well, “he - comforted all the grave and dull, by throwing away the brightest - profusion of parts on witty fooleries, which may mix graces with a - great character, but can never compose one. If Julius Cæsar had only - rioted with citizens, he had never been the emperor of the world.” The - courage of this bad, wild, singular man was not equal to his - assurance. Abuse sometimes displays cowardice; it is the cool and - temperate who are usually courageous. Lord Wharton, with the levity of - a man who really loved nothing but pleasure, and really prized nothing - but self-interest, could jest at his own want of heroism. When seized - by the guard in St. James’s Park for singing the Jacobite air, “The - King shall have his Own again,” as he has himself recorded in his - ballad, - - “The duke he drew out half his sword, - The guard drew out the rest.” - - The worst attribute of Philip Duke of Wharton, as a citizen of the - world, was his indifference to reputation. Men of pleasure are not - generally indifferent to a character for honour and consistency; but - Lord Wharton cared merely for ephemeral applause. Attached, in - reality, to no party, and having no actual motives but those of - expediency, there was not the slightest dependence to be placed upon - those visionary things, his opinions, beyond the moment when he was - haranguing a popular assembly, or debating in the House of Lords. It - is well known that at a later period, in 1723, upon the third reading - of a Bill of Pains and Penalties against Atterbury Bishop of - Rochester, Lord Wharton accomplished a brilliant display by a most - dishonourable artifice. He went to Chelsea, where the minister - resided, and professing his resolution to effect a reconciliation with - the court by speaking against the Bishop, requested some suggestions - upon the case. Thus enticed, the minister went over the whole argument - with his lordship. Wharton returned to town, passed the night in - drinking, (his libraries being, as Horace Walpole observes, made - taverns,) went to the House of Lords, without going to bed, and made a - most eloquent speech in favour of the Bishop, showing all the weak - points of the arguments which he had thus surmounted, in the most able - and masterly manner. - -Footnote 407: - - Horace Walpole’s Reminiscences. - -Footnote 408: - - Boyer, p. 14. - -Footnote 409: - - Conduct, p. 130. - -Footnote 410: - - Conduct, p. 131. - -Footnote 411: - - Ibid. p. 129. - -Footnote 412: - - Boyer, Appendix. - -Footnote 413: - - Lord Rochester married Henrietta, daughter of Lord Burlington, by whom - he had five daughters and one son, who succeeded him in his titles. - “He was,” says Mackay, “easily wound up to a passion.”—Pref. to - Clarendon Papers, vol. i. p. 18. - -Footnote 414: - - Conduct, p. 132. - -Footnote 415: - - Conduct. - -Footnote 416: - - Boyer, p. 33. - -Footnote 417: - - Essay from the Quarterly Review. - -Footnote 418: - - Burnet. - -Footnote 419: - - Other Side of the Question, p. 157. - -Footnote 420: - - Remarks upon the Conduct, &c., p. 43. - -Footnote 421: - - Cunningham, b. iv. p. 125. - -Footnote 422: - - Cunningham, b. iv. p. 125. - -Footnote 423: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 424: - - Burnet, vol. v. p. 88. - -Footnote 425: - - Narrative on Mrs. Morley’s coming to town. St. Albans, 1709. Coxe, - vol. i. p. 142. - -Footnote 426: - - Coxe, p. 153. - -Footnote 427: - - Coxe, Papers, B. M., vol. xli. p. 22. - -Footnote 428: - - Coxe, p. 158. From Marlborough Papers. - -Footnote 429: - - Coxe, Papers, p. 43. - -Footnote 430: - - Coxe, vol. i. p. 159–172. - -Footnote 431: - - Coxe, MSS. British Museum, vol. xli. folio, p. 11. - -Footnote 432: - - Coxe, 192. Note. - -Footnote 433: - - Cunningham, b. v. p. 296. - -Footnote 434: - - Boyer, p. 33. - -Footnote 435: - - Coxe, MSS., B. M. - -Footnote 436: - - Boyer, p. 35. - -Footnote 437: - - State of Europe, 1702. - -Footnote 438: - - Coxe, p. 202. - -Footnote 439: - - Marlborough Papers. - -Footnote 440: - - Conduct, p. 303. - -Footnote 441: - - Conduct, p. 305. - -Footnote 442: - - Coxe, p. 204. - -Footnote 443: - - See Lord Marlborough’s Letter, fragment. Coxe, p. 206. - -Footnote 444: - - Boyer, p. 37. - -Footnote 445: - - Cunningham, b. vi. p. 314. - -Footnote 446: - - The Duke of Ormond had recently, in a very gallant manner, taken Vigo, - in conjunction with Sir George Rook. A great booty was taken, but - whilst the Spaniards sustained a heavy loss, the English were not - comparatively benefited. “A great deal of the treasure taken at Vigo,” - says Burnet, “was embezzled, and fell into private hands; one of the - galleons foundered at sea.”—_Burnet_, vol. v. p. 115. - -Footnote 447: - - Boyer, p. 37. - -Footnote 448: - - Coxe, p. 208. - -Footnote 449: - - Conduct, p. 295. - -Footnote 450: - - Cunningham, vol. vi. p. 314. - -Footnote 451: - - Lord Cowper’s Diary, MS., p. 16. - -Footnote 452: - - Private Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 126. - -Footnote 453: - - Cunningham, b. vi. p. 315. - -Footnote 454: - - Harley first saw the light in Bow-street, Covent Garden. - -Footnote 455: - - Coxe, vol. i. p. 210. - -Footnote 456: - - Burnet, vol. v. p. 125. - -Footnote 457: - - Boyer, p. 14. - -Footnote 458: - - Boyer, p. 14. - -Footnote 459: - - Royal and Noble Authors, p. 436. - -Footnote 460: - - Burnet, vol. i. p. 683. - -Footnote 461: - - Royal and Noble Authors, p. 436. - -Footnote 462: - - See MSS. Letters from Lord Sunderland, in which he extols the - Duchess’s political exertions. Coxe, Papers B. M. Vol. xli. p. 13. - -Footnote 463: - - Burnet, vol. v. p. 123. - -Footnote 464: - - Cunningham, book v. p. 317. - -Footnote 465: - - Somerville, chap. xi. p. 27. - -Footnote 466: - - Burnet, vol. v. p. 120, 121. - -Footnote 467: - - Conduct, p. 136. - -Footnote 468: - - Conduct, p. 138. - -Footnote 469: - - Cunningham, b. v. p. 138. - -Footnote 470: - - Conduct. - -Footnote 471: - - Cunningham, p. 318. - -Footnote 472: - - Conduct, p. 142. - -Footnote 473: - - Ibid, 145. - -Footnote 474: - - Burnet, vol. v. p. 138. - -Footnote 475: - - Granger, vol. ii. p. 41. - -Footnote 476: - - Congreve’s Works. - -Footnote 477: - - Coxe, vol. i. p. 217. - -Footnote 478: - - Coxe, p. 220. - -Footnote 479: - - Ibid. vol. i. p. 219. - -Footnote 480: - - Collins’s Baronage, vol. i. p. 318. - -Footnote 481: - - Ibid. - -Footnote 482: - - MSS. Correspondence of the Duke of Marlborough. Coxe, Papers, vol. - lxiv. p. 2. - -Footnote 483: - - Coxe, 228. - -Footnote 484: - - Lediard. - -Footnote 485: - - Coxe, vol. i. p. 228. - -Footnote 486: - - Noble, vol. i. p. 386. - -Footnote 487: - - See “Account of a Journey to England,” a scarce tract in the British - Museum, written at the command of a nobleman in France. 1700. - -Footnote 488: - - These have since degenerated into the innocent race of dandies, that - “domestic wonder of wonders,” as a modern writer terms the - species—Sartor Resartus, p. 284. - -Footnote 489: - - See Letter to England. B. M. - -Footnote 490: - - Lord Chesterfield. - -Footnote 491: - - On the copy of this work, (1712,) in the British Museum, are written - these words, “Splendidi Mendex.” - -Footnote 492: - - See Tract in British Museum. - -Footnote 493: - - Biographia Britannica, art Drake. - -Footnote 494: - - Biographia Britannica. He wrote the “Sham Lawyer, or Lucky - Extravagant,” which he declares on the title-page to have been - “damnably acted” at Drury Lane. - -Footnote 495: - - It is not likely that many people will now take the trouble to read - the answers to the Duchess’s “Vindication.” The principal of these - are, “Remarks on the Conduct of a certain Duchess, in a Letter from a - Member of Parliament to a young Nobleman. 1742.” “The Other Side of - the Question, in a Letter to her Grace, by a Woman of Quality. 1742.” - The pamphlets for and against the Duke are numerous, and of various - titles. “Oliver’s Pocket Looking Glass, 1711, new-framed and cleaned, - to give a clear view of the Great Modern Colossus.” “No Queen, or no - General. 1712.” “Rufinus, or the Favourite; a Poem.” “Our Ancestors as - well as We, or Ancient Precedents for Modern Facts;” with others of - less imposing titles. “The Story of the St. Alb—ns Ghost, or the - Apparition of Mother Haggy. 1712;” a coarse, disgusting attempt to - satirize the Duke and Duchess and their family. - -Footnote 496: - - See Swift’s Journal to Stella. - -Footnote 497: - - That is, stalks and all.—Quoted in Scott’s Life of Dean Swift. - -Footnote 498: - - Scott, p. 73. - -Footnote 499: - - Ibid., p. 76. - -Footnote 500: - - Ibid., p. 46. - -Footnote 501: - - Sheridan’s Life of Swift. - -Footnote 502: - - See Maddock’s Life of Somers; and also Cooksey’s, p. 21. - -Footnote 503: - - Swift, indeed, at the very moment that he was revising a new edition - of the poem, wrote to his bookseller, hinting that he thought that his - little parson cousin was at the bottom of the Tub. - -Footnote 504: - - Scott’s Life. - -Footnote 505: - - See notes by Hawkesworth. Swift’s Works. - -Footnote 506: - - Coxe MSS. - -Footnote 507: - - Page 287. - -Footnote 508: - - This curious list proves the exact habits of the Duchess. - -Footnote 509: - - Coxe MSS., vol. xliii. p. 158. Also copied from the Duchess’s own - writing. - - - END OF VOLUME I. - - LONDON: - PRINTED BY IBOTSON AND PALMER, SAVOY STREET. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - _Just published, Second Edition, 2 vols. 8vo., with Portraits, Price - 28s._ - - - THE DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH’S PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE. - - ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE COURT AND TIMES OF QUEEN ANNE. - - (Now first published from the Originals.) - - WITH - - HER SKETCHES AND OPINIONS OF HER CONTEMPORARIES. - -“This is a very delightful work. We have closed the volumes with a -confirmed impression that in many of the highest points of conduct, -courage, and understanding, the Duchess of Marlborough was the most -remarkable woman of her own or any other day.”—_Examiner._ - -“In point of interest, and the developement of character, court and -cabinet intrigues, state of parties, and public manners, this -interesting and valuable publication rivals in merit the celebrated -correspondence of Horace Walpole.”—_Warder._ - - HENRY COLBURN, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough Street. - - TO BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS. - - * * * * * - - _Just ready_, - - - THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH’S CORRESPONDENCE - - WITH THE DISTINGUISHED PERSONS OF HIS TIME. - - (Now first published.) - - Two vols. 8vo., uniform with the Duchess of Marlborough’s - Correspondence. - - HENRY COLBURN, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough Street. - - ⁂ ORDERS RECEIVED BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. P. 86, changed “assigning some slight treason” to “assigning some - slight reason”. - 2. P. 201, changed “battle of the Boyne in 1651” to “battle of the - Boyne in 1690”. - 3. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. - 4. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed. - 5. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS OF SARAH, DUCHESS OF -MARLBOROUGH, AND OF THE COURT OF QUEEN ANNE VOL. I (OF 2) *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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