Masham (Abigail Hill), induced his colleagues to recommend the Queen to dismiss him from her service; but she was too completely involved with his interests to listen to such advice. Consequently, Marlborough and Godolphin tendered their resignations. As the whole of the Cabinet Council supported them, the Queen, much against her will, was obliged to give way. In the month of February Harley resigned, and Mr. Boyle, a zealous Whig, became his successor. St. John, Walpole's schoolfellow, went out of office at the same time, also Mansell and Harcourt. The Earl of Cholmondeley became Comptroller of the Household; and the place of Secretaryat-War was filled by Mr. Robert Walpole. The latter was an important acquisition. Mr. Walpole had won the Duke's esteem by activity and zeal in his service, and the Duchess, as was before-mentioned, had not been less regardful of his merits. He had already displayed the qualifications of an able statesman, and the leading members of the Ministry expected to find in him a most efficient coadjutor.

The preparations that were at this time being made in France for a descent on England in favour of the Pretender, took off much of the public attention from the quarrel of Whigs and Tories. The Duke of Marlborough, aided by the able Secretary-at-War, was indefatigable in directing the military resources of the country against the threatened invasion; and so skilfully and zealously were the arrangements made for defence, that the French armament which

sailed from Dunkirk, after making one or two attempts at a descent on the coast of Scotland, and beating about the channel for a month, returned to the port whence it set out, with the loss of four thousand men, from sickness and privation. This event was highly favourable to the new ministry, and public opinion was expressed so strongly on the escape the country had had of a Popish ruler, that the Queen found it necessary to state her sentiments in terms equally clear and determined.

The Duchess of Marlborough had got rid of one of her great adversaries. The subtle and unscrupulous Harley apparently would no longer annoy her, but the more subtle and more unscrupulous Mrs. Masham still had possession of the Queen's ear, and earnestly as the Duchess tried to make her royal mistress agree to dispense with her services, her efforts were unattended with the slightest success. The firm of Morley and Freeman had finally dissolved partnership. Had the Duchess acted with prudence, it is not improbable that she might yet have recovered the ground she had lost in the Queen's affections; but her haughtiness and violence made the breach in her confidence irreparable.

The Duke was conducting the masterly campaign of 1711, against the best of the French generals, Marshal Villars, whom he completely out-manoeuvred; closing his campaigns by the admired and hazardous achievement of the capture of Bouchaine. Though his mind was dally harassed by the indignities at

home which were now rapidly following each otheras much through the indecision of his own partisans, as through the hatred of his enemies-he never remitted for a moment his exertions for his country's glory. He was, however, most anxious to be relieved of his responsibilities, and to retire into private life. He complained with no slight bitterness of the insulting conduct of the camarilla, but in the performance of his duties he strove to disarm resentment, and neutralize malevolence. All this, however, proved of no avail. Harley and Mrs. Masham had led the Queen from one step to another, towards the complete overthrow of the ministry and the Marlboroughs. One of their first triumphs was the appointment of the Duke of Shrewsbury, an accomplished Trimmer, as Lord Chamberlain, without consulting any member of the Cabinet.

The next measure was more directly aimed at the Duke himself. Mr. Walpole, now Secretaryat-War, had been commissioned by the Duke to submit to the Queen a list of officers for promotion, to which they were entitled for their services, and the Queen expressed a very eager desire that Colonel Hill and Mr. Masham should be included in the list, though their claims to promotion only existed in their relationship to her favourite. Walpole suggested to the Duke the propriety of meeting the Queen's wishes by promoting Masham, which he did not oppose; but the Queen further insisted on Mrs. Masham's brother obtaining the

same favour, with a pertinacity which would listen to no denial, and would hardly allow of the slightest reference to the Commander-in-Chief, although Walpole did not fail to place before the Queen the public affront she was putting on the Duke. Again, however, the latter suffered himself to be led away by the representations of his vacillating coadjutors, and signed the desired commissions. He soon found a reward for his weak compliance, in the dismissal of his son-in-law, the Earl of Sunderland, from the post of Secretary of State.*

It is with infinite distaste that we refer to the duplicity and treachery of which the Duke of Marlborough was made the victim by the unscrupulous arts of the Queen and her secret advisers. After making all possible allowance for the improper conduct of the Duchess, one cannot but feel the deepest indignation at the infamous designs encouraged by the Queen to ruin the man who had made her reign so memorable. There can be no

* From this period the Duchess missed no opportunity of abusing Walpole, and even accused him of having deceived and betrayed the Duke, her husband, towards the close of Queen Anne's reign. She represents him as waiting on the Duke with a bag of papers, exactly in the manner of the Duke's secretary, Mr. Cardonnel, for whom he promised to exercise his interest with the Queen, that he might be appointed Secretary-at-War, instead of which, he chose to expedite the promotions of Mrs. Masham's husband and brother. She adds, "Sir Robert has also a great obligation to me, for by my interest wholly, he was made Treasurer of the Navy, when Sir Thomas Lyttelton died."-" Private Correspondence of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough." Vol. 2, p. 160.

Question that at this period of her life, Queen Anne betrayed most of the worst qualities of the Stuarts. She exhibited the vulgar weaknesses of James I, combined with the elaborate insincerity of the first Charles. The assumed fondness of the British Solomon for Rochester, at the very moment the King was delivering him to the hands of justice, is rivalled in perfidy by the flattering professions of the Queen towards her great general, while step by step she was following up his ruin. Still more revolting was her conduct when his great spirit for a moment gave way in her presence, and he begged on his knees, that she would not disgrace his wife by the dismissal which had been announced to her. This painful appeal seemed to make no impression whatever on the Queen.

It is not intended here to attempt to guide the reader through the mazes of Whig and Tory politics during the reign of Queen Anne; but there was one incident which must be noticed, as, though of little real importance, it figured in public opinion as a matter of the most vital interest. This was the trial of the famous Dr. Sacheverel, which took place in 1710. At the present day it would be very difficult to satisfy any right thinking person that this famous divine was worthy of an hour's attention, yet at the period to which we have arrived, a very dull sermon, flavoured by a slight infusion of malice, directed against certain Whig