Queen's sword at the coronation, and not long after entertained William at his house at Marlborough, on the latter's journey to and from Ireland.

*

In 1689 he was elected Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, and, in the following year, succeeded 1689. Lord Halifax as Speaker of the House of Lords. 1690. Although disliked by William he gained the favour of the Princess Anne, with whom the Duchess became on friendly and intimate terms, and on one occa

sion was able to render her a slight service; for, 1692. when the Princess was ejected from the cockpit in April, 1692, he received her at Sion House and made her welcome, in spite of the order forbidding anyone to countenance her.† In 1701, Somerset became President of the Council, and was further appointed one of the Lords of the Regency during the King's absence on his last 1702. visit to Holland. The year following he was made Master of the Horse, an appointment which he held for some years, and, on Queen Anne's accession,

1701.

he became a Privy Councillor. In 1703, when 1703. the Archduke of Austria was proclaimed King of

Spain at Vienna, and was journeying to his new kingdom via Holland and the Channel, Somerset was detailed by the Queen to receive him at Portsmouth and escort him to Windsor. A magnificent reception was prepared on this occasion, and the Duke took a 1706. very prominent part in it. In 1706 he was made one of the Commissioners for the union with Scotland. By attaching himself to no party, the Duke had no serious political foes for some time, and continued to enjoy his places and the Queen's favour. Although he does not appear to have fully approved of Marlborough's Government, he supported him during the Mini1708. sterial crisis of February, 1708. Matters, how*Kit Cat Club.

+ London Gazette, 2758.
‡ Lodge.

ever, not turning out to his satisfaction he threw in his lot with the Tories, by whom, however, his assistance does not appear to have been appreciated or desired, if we are to judge by the manner in which St. John and others tried to oust him from his place in the Council. In 1712 (January) he was suddenly deprived of the

Mastership of the Horse and of his place at the 1712. Council Board, on its being reported to the Queen that, in his zeal for the Protestant succession in the House of Brunswick, he had entered into a secret correspondence with the Elector of Hanover. There appears to have been no harm or disloyalty in this correspondence, but the Queen was particularly touchy on such matters, and never quite forgave him for what she looked upon as needless interference in her business.

Although out of favour himself, his Duchess did not lose any of her influence over the Queen, and retained her position at Court as Groom of the Stole and first Lady of the Bedchamber, in which appointments she had succeeded the Duchess of Marlborough, and no efforts of her enemies were able to remove her. The Duchess continued to use her influence, which was chiefly directed towards persuading the Queen of her duty of securing the Protestant succession. Her efforts in this direction having soon been noticed, the floodgates of party virulence were at once opened upon her, though without effect. Swift, in his "Windsor prophecy," poured forth the grossest and most vulgar abuse upon her, and went so far as to accuse her of having murdered her first husband. The whole poem was so grossly violent and the accusation so untrue that his friends persuaded him to withdraw the publication, but his repentance came too late. Copies had already been issued in some quantity, and he had to bear the fruits of his indiscretion. Queen and the Duchess were greatly annoyed and, in revenge, carefully excluded him from any higher Church preferment, upon which, knowing whom he had to thank

The

for the loss of an expected Bishopric, Swift continued to pour forth his abuse in his poems*: (Note 80.)

"Now angry Somerset her vengeance vows
On Swift's reproaches for her murder'd spouse:
From her red locks her mouth with venom fills,
And thence into the royal ear distils."

When Queen Anne's recovery was despaired of, Somerset succeeded in disconcerting the schemes 1714. of some of the other Councillors, with regard to the succession, by suddenly appearing at the Council Board (where he had not appeared for three years) at Kensington, to which he had not been summoned, and, with the support of Shrewsbury, Somers, and Argyll, taking the steps necessary to ensure the peaceful succession of George I. "But for the Duke of Somerset (acting with Shrewsbury and Argyll) the Council which met upon Queen Anne's death might, and probably would, have recalled the Stuarts; but no man not at once Duke and Seymour, if unconnected with the Cabinet, would have pushed uninvited into a Cabinet Council, and compelled the members to make instant choice between their safety and their predilections. This act of impudent patriotism saved the Protestant succession, and those who grudge the pride of the Seymours may remember with advantage the incident in which it was most conspicuously shown."†

Upon the death of Queen Anne, August 1, the Duke's name was placed second in a list of 19 Peers whom George I had, by a previous deed, added to the seven great officers of state, as Guardians of the Realm until his arrival. The Duke concurred in every step necessary for the tranquillity of the country, and was employed with Shrewsbury and Cowper in receiving the Seals from Lord Bolingbroke and closing up the doors of his office.

*Forster's Life of Swift; also Sheridan.

†The Great Governing Families of England, by Sanford and Townsend.

Kit Cat Club.

When King George landed at Greenwich, September 18, the Duke was nominated one of the new Privy Council and, September 27, was restored to his place as Master of the Horse. He now found himself once more in considerable favour with his Sovereign and in a position where it was possible for him to acquire great influence and power; but, for the third time, his principles and pride caused him to quarrel with his King and to retire from the Court. Two years after the accession of George, Sir William Wyndham, Somerset's son-in-law, was accused of having entered into a treasonable correspondence with the Pretender, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Hearing of this in time, Wyndham went into hiding, and Somerset applied on his behalf, to the King, asking that Sir William should not be confined but be admitted to bail, should he voluntarily surrender himself. As there seemed no immediate prospect of effecting the arrest, the King willingly pledged his word to that effect, but no sooner had Sir William delivered himself up, than he was at once confined to the Tower, and all applications for bail were refused. Highly incensed at this dishonourable breaking of the King's pledge, Somerset expressed his indignation in no measured terms, for which he would have been dismissed from the Mastership of the Horse, had he not anticipated the King's intention by resigning his appointment in the most offensive manner he could think of. On October 25 he paraded his servants outside Northumberland House, dressed in the family livery in place of the royal one, and, sending for a common dust-cart, caused all the badges of his office to be thrown into it. Then, marshalling his men around the cart, he proceeded in great order to the courtyard of St. James's Palace, where, his retinue having formed up on either side of the cart, he gave the command "to shoot the rubbish," upon which all the royal liveries and his badges of office were turned out into the mud, a fitting place he considered for the property of a monarch who could not keep his pledged word. This

done, he marched slowly back to Northumberland House in the same order.*

After this, the Duke would never again accept any office at Court, even though, in June, 1747, George II nominated him one of the Privy Council.* Henceforth he resided quietly in his own home, chiefly at Petworth, and devoted himself to the management of his estates.

His first wife, Elizabeth Percy, had died in 1723, and the titles of Northumberland and Percy were practically extinct. It will be remembered that Somerset had, on his marriage, agreed to take the name of Percy, but had afterwards been released from this obligation. He desired, however, to retain the Northumberland honours in his family, as having married the last of the Percyes, but only on condition that they should remain secondary to the name of Seymour. The following letters, from the originals at Stover, show his feelings on the subject, and are not without interest. They are all addressed to Serjeant (Sir Thomas, afterwards Lord Chief Justice) Pengelly :-t

SIR,

Petworth,
January 8, 1723.

On this unfortunate occasion of the death of my poor wife, she being possessed of several Baronies in right of her family and also in King Charles I reign in right of a then writ of summons to call her grandfather to the House of Lords, in his father's lifetime, and he being then placed next to the Lord Audley but as the third Baron, there arose a dispute he claiming place as the first Baron in England. The House, February 5, 1628, referred it to the Committee for privileges, as appears by the Journal, but the sudden dissolution of that Parliament prevented the Committee making their report, and by consequence, the resolution of the House upon it; and there being twelve years before another Parliament met, her great grandfather died, so that her grandfather became Earl of Northumberland. That and the troubles which began early in

*Kit Cat Club.

This gentleman assisted the Duke greatly in his legal affairs. Many of the Duke's letters to him are in the possession of the author at Stover, Devon.