order to place him in a life-long command:" alarmed at this resemblance to the proceedings of Oliver Cromwell, the queen made it a personal request to her peers

"That they would be mindful of their duty to her, and neither to agree to any petition from the army, which the duke of Marlborough should present to parliament, nor suffer Mrs. Masham to be taken from her." And as the peers severally departed out of the royal cabinet, queen Anne thus earnestly addressed each of them :

"If ever any recommendation of mine was of weight with you, as I know many of them have been, I desire this may be especially regarded."

Many of the peers, in answer to her majesty, replied

"That they knew not of any such matter [regarding the army] as her majesty had intimated, but they were prepared to behave themselves in parliament as became their duty."2

Such reply proceeded from those of the nobility who were either neutral, or belonged to the Whig faction, for the queen was supported and urged on by a large body of the nobility, among whom might be reckoned the most influential of the Scottish peerage. The inimical houses of Hamilton, Argyll, Marr, and Gordon, enraged at being excluded from the privileges of their English peerages, united together (whatsoever were their differences of creed with. each other and with the church of England) to defend

queen against the encroaching Whig oligarchy. The Jacobite and Tory nobility of England, many of whomas the semi-royal houses of Rutland, Beaufort, and Aylesbury-had kept themselves aloof from the revolutionary court, now threw their influences into the popular scale.

"When the business for which the queen had called the peers separately into her closet began to transpire," says Cunningham, "the duke of Marlborough took an opportunity to wait on her majesty in order to clear himself from the calumnies of his enemies."

Marlborough positively denied the matter charged against him-namely, endeavouring to render himself perpetual military dictator, by means of the army's petition to par1 Hist. of Great Britain, Book xii. p. 279; by Cunningham.

2 Ibid. This scene illustrates an obsolete custom of royalty which was greatly objected to when practised by the Stuart sovereigns, before the Revolution, under the epithet of closeting.

liament. Yet, the queen well knew the startling proposal of making him general for life had been demanded of her by his own lips. At an audience that the duke of Marlborough had with queen Anne before he betook himself to his campaign, in the commencement of the year 1710, he asked as a favour "that her majesty would permit his wife to remain in the country as much as possible, and that she would be pleased to accept of her resignation, in favour of her daughters, when the peace was made." The queen granted the first request, which relieved her of the presence of her tyrant, with such willingness that the second was taken for granted.

The queen soon after received a visit from the duchess, who endeavoured to clinch this extorted admission by returning florid thanks for the advancement of her family. According to her custom, when aught was proposed contrary to her inclination, queen Anne observed a dogged silence, with a drooping mouth and a sullen brow. The fiery duchess demanded whether the duke of Marlborough had misunderstood her majesty's meaning. "I desire that I may never more be troubled on the subject," was the reply of her majesty in a peremptory tone.

The confusion and divisions which prevailed at the queen's cabinet-councils, owing to the distrust of her ministers, at this crisis, are thus sketched by the pen of the duchess of Marlborough, from the description of Godolphin.

"The queen gives no answer to Godolphin's representations: she says she will send for Somers; she wonders the lords should persuade the duke of Marlborough to return.' The duchess sent a copy of the duke's letter to Godolphin, which she desires him to show to lord Sunderland. She had spoken before on some subject, (probably on the appointment of the duchess's daughters to her places,) but too soon;" he writes, in continuation, "that the queen only made him a bow, but gave him not one word of answer." Lord Godolphin further wrote, "that the queen told Somers that she would send for him and let him know her mind,' but

Among the collections of Hume, the historian, is a very important one relative to the intended deposition of the queen by the Whigs, by means of Marlborough's army. Hume's Life, vol. xi.

Private Correspondence of the Duchess of Marlborough, vol. i. p. 296. Feb. 10, 1710.

he believed that would not be until she had talked with Abigail. After such a description, you will wonder with me why these should think it reasonable for Lord Marlborough to come. If he does, I shall wish he had never proceeded in this manner-never to the queen alone, but had gone to council in a cold formal way, and declared 'to the world' how he was used, that he served only till the war was ended, because he did not think it reasonable to let a chambermaid disappoint all he had done." "

All parties now made themselves ready for the approaching struggle, in which the question of triumph or defeat was to be decided by the fate of Sacheverel, whose trial was to take place in Westminster Hall after the duke of Marlborough had departed for Flanders.

1 Correspondence of the Duchess of Marlborough.

ANNE,

QUEEN-REGNANT OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

CHAPTER IX.

Cries of the populace to the queen as she goes to Sacheverel's trial at Westminster Hall-Proceedings of the queen and her ladies in her curtained box-Queen's momentary alarm at the riots-Sends her guards to suppress them-Her servants found rioting-Her observations-Her discussion with the duchess of Marlborough-Resolutions of the queen on the defeat of the family-junta-Queen informed of the duchess of Marlborough's contempt Queen's unwillingness to a private audience with the duchessRemarkable interview between them-Queen writes to lord GodolphinShe dismisses lord Sunderland Receives an insolent letter from the duchess of Marlborough-Dispute regarding the queen's promotion of Mrs. Masham's brother-Her interview with secretary Walpole-Queen receives homage from North American Sachems-Queen's uneasiness at the threats of the duchess of Marlborough to print all their letters— Queen worked upon by spy-agents-Queen demands the return of all her letters-Receives a tantalizing answer-Queen's letter to lord GodolphinDialogue between them—Queen finally dismisses him—Queen's dialogue with a menial-spy-The spy alarms the queen concerning the duchess's revelations Queen places the office of premier in the hands of seven commissioners She is warned by the Marlboroughs of an assassination-plot -She treats it contemptuously-Bishop Burnet warns her of assassination -Queen plays on Burnet's propensity for gossip-Anecdotes of the queen and lord Somers Interview between the queen and lord-chancellor Cowper Queen's remarks on her Scotch guards - Queen witnesses lord Nottingham's attack on her-Anecdotes of her household - Queen beset by madmen Duchess of Marlborough reviles and defies the queenQueen's interview with the duke of Marlborough He brings his wife's gold keys to the queen- Her final rupture with the duchess of Marlborough, &c. &c.

CRIES of "God bless your majesty and the church!" echoed from the vast crowds of the English populace who sur

rounded the sedan of queen Anne, as she was carried to Westminster Hall, to witness the impeachment of Dr. Sacheverel. Those among the people who pressed nearest to the chair of the royal Anne, added to their loyal shout the confiding exhortation of "We hope your majesty is for God and Dr. Sacheverel!"

A court had been prepared in Westminster Hall for the trial of Dr. Sacheverel, exactly according to the arrangement of the house of lords, with seats for the peers, in their due order and precedence. A box was erected near the throne for the queen, who chose to witness the trial incognito. On one side of the hall, benches were erected for the members of the house of commons of Great Britain; on the other side, for peeresses and gentlewomen. A scaffold was raised for the managers of the house of commons, who conducted the impeachment-among whom were distinguished the names of Coningsby, Robert Walpole, Spencer Cowper, and several others, not remarkable for attachment to any form of Christian worship, but into whose hands our church afterwards fell.

A stage with benches, below the bar, was prepared for the prisoner and his counsel. Opposite to the whole scene were balconies and galleries for the populace. The ladies, it is reported, although they filled the places appointed for them in great crowds, were uneasy lest the "Tatler" or "Observator," should turn their dress or conduct into ridicule in their papers, for the amusement of the London breakfast tables. Not one, however, who could gain admittance, stayed away; for the opinion among them was very general, that the church was in great danger of ruin by the prosecution of Dr. Sacheverel.

Westminster Hall, notwithstanding its vast extent, being, on the morning of February 27th, 1709-10, full to overflowing, and a still greater crowd gathered close to the doors, the lord chancellor demanded of the peers "whether it was their pleasure that Dr. Sacheverel should be brought before them?" On their answering, "Yes," Dr. Sacheverel came to the bar "with greater boldness and confidence in his crimes than conscious innocence and ingenuity." Such are the words of an eye-witness,' from whose information the scene is described. What those "crimes" were, after 1 Cunningham's History of Great Britain, vol. ii. p. 290. VOL. XII.

T