and the queen dowager, was followed by another, for the security of his majesty's person, and the succession to the crown in the protestant line. This act also contained a clause enjoining all persons to abjure the pretended prince of Wales; and a second making it equally criminal to imagine or compass the death of the princess of Denmark, as that of the king's eldest son and heir. Strenuous opposition was made to these measures by the high tories, at the head of whom was Nottingham; but their efforts only served to show their general unpopularity.

The bill of abjuration was the last public act of our great deliverer. His health had been so long declining, and his infirmities were much increased by anxiety of mind, arising from the recent feuds at home, and embarrassments abroad, that, during the preceding summer, he had repeatedly prognosticated to his friends his approaching dissolution. His death was accelerated by an accidental fall from his horse, while hunting in the park at Hampton-Court. Supported by the energy of his mind, his constitution struggled for several weeks against the progress of decay, and his dissolution was suspended by Providence, until he had completed the great edifice of civil and religious liberty. When the bill of abjuration was presented for his signature, his hand was too feeble to perform its office, and he stamped his name to this national legacy, a few hours before he breathed his last. He expired on the 8th of March 1702, in the fifty-second year of his age, and the fourteenth of his reign.

The zeal which Marlborough had manifested in concluding the treaties of alliance, and in promoting the grand designs of William, joined with the fullest conviction of his great talents, as a general and statesman, obliterated the royal prejudices against his person, and the doubts entertained of his fidelity. Considering him as the most proper agent to consolidate the protestant succession, and carry into effect the extensive system which had been formed for the preservation of civil and religious liberty, the last advice of William to his successor was, a strong recommendation of Marlborough, as the most proper person in her dominions to lead her armies, and direct her counsels.* Indeed the subsequent conduct of Marlborough verified the profound judgment of the dying monarch. Whatever may have been his errors and his faults in the preceding period of doubt and infidelity; whatever intercourse he had hitherto maintained with his former sovereign and benefactor, or which he afterwards held with the Stuart family, he religiously fulfilled the great trust reposed in him by his sovereign and his country, and, more than any individual, contributed to consolidate the great work of the revolution, to baffle the hopes and machinations of the Stuarts and their adherents, and to smite that great colossus of power, which threatened the destruction of civil and religious liberty, and on which they placed their hopes of effecting a counter-revolution.

Whatever

* Life of Marlborough, p. 30. Lediard, vol. i. p. 136.

CHAPTER 10.

1702.

ACCESSION OF ANNE.-Favours conferred on the earl and countess of Marlborough as well as their relatives and friends.-Godolphin placed at the head of the treasury.— Formation of a tory administration.- Mission of Marlborough to the Hague.-Situation of the queen, and the countess of Marlborough.— Their party bickerings.—Embarrassments of Marlborough and Godolphin, from the Whig partialities of the countess.

On the death of William, the crown devolved on Anne, in conformity with the order of succession established at the revolution. At the time of the queen's accession, the doubts which she had formerly entertained were suppressed by the change of circumstances, or the brilliant prospect which opened to her view. The recent death of her father relieved her from the scruples which she had felt at his exclusion, and the disputed legitimacy of her brother induced her to acquiesce in the arrangements of the legislature; for even if he was not supposititious, she persuaded herself that he was disqualified by his religious principles, and considered her assumption of the crown as neces

sary to secure the existence of the established church.*

The first exercise of her power was the nomination of the prince her husband to the offices of generalissimo of the forces, and lord high admiral. Being regarded only as a subject, he still continued to occupy a seat in the house of peers, in the quality of duke of Cumberland.

The distinguished merits of the earl of Marlborough, his former zeal and services, his disgrace on her account, and her own romantic affection to his countess, were powerful recommendations to her favour and confidence. Accordingly the honours which his talents had extorted from William, were but the prelude to higher distinctions and employments. Three days after her accession he was nominated knight of the garter. On the ensuing day he was appointed captain-general of the english forces, at home and abroad, and soon afterwards master of the ordnance. His countess was also made groom of the stole and mistress of the robes, and intrusted with the management of the privy purse.

To the countess the queen also gave an additional and delicate proof of her regard. Recol

*The duchess observes: "When I saw 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." Narrative upon Mrs. Morley's coming to the crown. St. Alban's, Oct. 29. 1709.

lecting that in their excursions through Windsor park she had repeatedly admired the situation of the great lodge, the queen seized the earliest opportunity of offering her the rangership, to which that lodge was attached. In one of her familiar notes, after alluding to lord Portland, who had been ranger under the late king, she added, Mentioning this worthy person puts me in mind to ask dear Mrs. Freeman a question which I would have done some time ago; and that is, if you would have the lodge for your life, because the warrant must be made accordingly; and any thing that is of so much satisfaction as this poor place seems to be to you, I would give dear Mrs. Freeman for all her days, which I pray God may be as many and as truly happy as this world can make you."* The countess gratefully accepted 'this offer, embellished the lodge at a great expence, and it became her favourite residence.

Similar proofs of favour flowed on those who were connected with Marlborough and his lady by blood or friendship. Lady Harriet Godolphin and lady Spencer, their two daughters, were nominated ladies of the bed-chamber. The Sunderland family also felt the beneficial effects of their powerful interest. At the particular intercession of the countess, Robert, earl of Sunderland, obtained the renewal of the annual pension of 20001. which had been granted him by the late king, together with the payment of the arrears since its suspension. By such an unexpected instance of kind

*The queen to lady Marlborough, May 19. 1702.