Agnes Strickland's Queens of England (45 page)

HOGARTH'S HOUSE.

reign witnessed a series of continental victories. No wonder that the populace called her *' good Queen Anne."

Strange to say, although her majesty was never known to read a book, and passed a large part of her time at card-playing, poetry and science awakened into new life in her reign, and many of the writers delighted to sound her praises. She probably did not appreciate their work, but she patronized men ot letters, it may be for love of approba-

tion. The number of learned men of Queer. Anne's reign exceeded that of EUzabeth, and represented every branch of art, science, and literature. It included no Shakespeare, it is true; but there were Newton, Wren, Locke, Hogarth, Congreve, CoUey, Gibber, Pope, Swift, Gay, Addison, Steele, and a host of others. We must not omit to mention Defoe, because every child will connect his name with that delightful romance, " Robinson Crusoe." It was on account of the existence of such a bevy of luminaries that Queen Anne's reign was entitled the Augustan age of England*

That reign witnessed the beginning of periodical papers, for there were three, the "Tattler," "Spectator," and " Guardian," edited by Addison and Steele,

The "Tattler " contained accounts of the political events of the day, and was placed on her majesty's breakfast-table, with the hope that she would occasionally read it, but she is not supposed ever to have done so. The "Ladies' Diary, or Women's Almanack " was another of the periodicals published in Queen Anne's reign, that have since become so numerous. It began by containing articles that are of most interest to women in general, but is now a mathematical periodical, which women are not likely to care for.

We have mentioned the continental victories that distinguished this reign. The most splendid of them all was the battle of Blenheim, news of which was brought to Windsor Castle in August by Colonel Parkes, aid-de-camp to his grace, the Duke of Marlborough. This glorious victory was celebrated with unusual splendor.

What shall we say of the hero of the great victory thus celebrated ? Perhaps Thackeray has given the best description. He says : " Before the greatest obstacle or the most trival ceremony; before a hundred thousand men

drawn in battalia, or a peasant slaughtered at the door of his burning hovel; before a carouse of German lords, or a monarch's court, or a cottage table where his plans were laid, or an enemy's battery vomiting flame and death, and strewing corpses round about him, — he was always cold, calm, resolute, like fate. He performed a treason or a court-bow; he told a falsehood as black as Styx as easily as he paid a compliment or spoke about the weather. He was as calm at the mouth of the cannon as at the door of a drawing-room. He would cringe to a shoe-black or he would flatter a minister or a monarch ; be haughty, be humble, threaten, repent, weep, grasp your hand or stab you whenever he saw. occasion. But yet those of the army who knew him best, and had suffered most from him, admired him most of all, and had perfect confidence in him as the first captain of the world."

After the Blenheim victory the enthusiasm for the duke was very great; even those who hated him and those whom he had cheated were ready to greet him with frantic cheers.

The queen informed the house of commons that she desired to present the palace and grounds of Woodstock to the great hero and his heirs forever, and the act was passed a few weeks later. Her majesty ordered a portrait in miniature to be painted of the duke, which was surrounded by brilliants valued at eight thousand pounds, and the picture itself was covered with a diamond instead of glass. This magnificent gift was presented to the Duchess of Marlborough as a souvenir of the victory of Blenheim.

It need scarcely be said that while her husband stood so high in the royal favor, the influence of the Duchess of Marlborough remained unabated, and she compelled the queen to appoint all her officers of government from the

Whig ranks. When her majesty hesitated, the upstart tyrant would vulgarly exclaim : " Lord, madam! it must be so! " Thus she secured for her friend, William Cowper, the high post of keeper of the Great Seal. The privilege of disposing of the church livings had belonged to the sovereign, but Lord Keeper Cowper now claimed it, and subsequently it was taken out of the hands of the crown entirely. The Church of England was never in greater danger of destruction than during Queen Anne's reign, because most of the dignitaries had been connected with some species of dissent. The prince consort was a Dissenter; but, worst of all, the violent duchess, her majesty's favorite and ruler, headed a strong band of free-thinkers, who hated the church.

[A.D. 1705.] In April her majesty, accompanied by her husband, made an excursion to Cambridge. She was received by the Duke of Somerset, who was then chancellor of the university, and attended an exhibition, where she distributed honorary degrees among the noblemen and gentlemen of her court. But the most memorable of Queen Anne's actions connected with this visit was the bestowing of knighthood on Dr. Isaac Newton at Trinity College. After holding a grand reception, dining at Trinity Hall, and attending divine service at the beautiful chapel of King's College, the royal party returned to Newmarket, where her majesty made a long sojourn.

[A.D. 1706.] Another great victory was won at Rami-lies by the Duke of Marlborough, and another splendid thanksgiving procession took place at St. Paul's to celebrate it. At this period all the great offices of state were in the hands of the Marlborough family. The last of the appointments was the result of a serious contest between her majesty and the duchess, in which the latter came off victorious, as usual. This was the nomination of her son-

in-law, Lord Sunderland, to the important office of secretary of state. When the queen yielded this point, the commander-in-chief and the lord treasurer were, one a son-in-law, the other father of a son-in-law of this ambitious couple. Their connections filled lucrative posts, besides, their daughters were ladies of the bed-chamber, and the mother herself, as mistress of the robes and groom of the stole, governed all the officials and the queen into the bargain. Never was this creature more insolent than when such was the state of affairs. She had contrived, by fair means or by foul, to appropriate the enormous income of ninety thousand pounds of the public funds, and the poor queen was miserable on account of what she had been made to suffer at the hands of the woman who was indebted to her for all she had, and for all she was. When she could no longer fail to perceive that th^ affection of her royal mistress had become estranged, the duchess began to inquire what new favorite had interposed to create ill feeling; for it was not in the nature of this woman to blame herself for anything.

She could not fix upon any one until the regular season for the distribution of the queen's cast-off clothing came around; then Abigail Hill, her cousin, excited her suspicion. Although the duchess pretended to act with perfect justice in dividing the old gowns, mantles, and head-dresses among the bed-chamber women and dressers of her majesty, they all declared that she invariably kept the best of them for herself. Seeing that Abigail Hill fared badly in the distribution, the queen made her some liberal presents, as well as Mrs. Danvers, whose dismissal the jealous duchess had frequently urged. But this liberality only increased the squabble over the old clothes, and the duchess declared that they were all hers by right.

Once when this Mrs. Danvers, one of the bed-chamber

women, was so ill that she believed herself to be dying, she sent for the Duchess of Marlborough, and implored her to transfer her position with the queen to her daughter, who would be entirely unprotected after her death. The duchess declared her inability to do so, because of her being on bad terms with her majesty. Finding that to be the case, the sick woman told a long story about Abigail Hill's wickedness and general bad behavior, and wound up her narrative by informing her visitor that said Abigail had long been her secret enemy.

Queen Anne may have been desirous of dispensing charities, but the Duchess of Marlborough held the purse-strings so tightly that she was unable to do so. When she demanded a small sum of money, that tyrant would frequently tell her that " it was not fit to squander away money while so heavy a war lasted," though at that very time vast sums of the public funds were annually supplied for the building of the duke's house at Woodstock. A touching case of distress came under her majesty's notice in the sad fate of Sir Andrew Foster, a gentleman who had spent most of his life in the service of James II., and who had been ruined by his adherence to that sovereign. He died of star\'ation, in a miserable hut just outside of London, and Queen Anne was so shocked when she heard it that she deter mined, as it was too late to relieve the unfortunate Jacobite, he should at least be decently buried. For this object she was forced to borrow twenty guineas of Lady Fretchville, for she could not command so large a sum herself; and yet the Marlboroughs were then drawing sixty-four thousand pounds per annum from the public purse. Later the sum reached ninety-four thousand pounds.

[A.D. 1707.] The queen carried one extremely important point in violent opposition to the powerful duchess, and that was the union between Scotland and England.

This measure was passed in both countries, signed and ratified in great state in the presence of the Scottish commissioners, the English ministers, and both houses of parhament. When Queen Anne signed this important ratification she said, "The union with Scotland is the happiness of my reign."

On the same day, April 24, her majesty dissolved the English house of commons, and summoned the first united parliament of Great Britain to meet the following October. The signing of the union was then celebrated by a grand national festival, and a few days later her majesty went in solemn procession to St. Paul's Cathedral to return thanks for the successful completion of this matter.

But it must not be supposed that the union was brought into working order without a struggle, for in the course of a few weeks Scotland was almost in a state of open rebellion. It was the queen's policy to extend mildness and mercy to all offenders, which was a great deal more effective than shedding blood on the scaffold; for in a very little while she was universally acknowledged as sovereign of both England and Scotland,

Sixteen Scottish noblemen represented their country in parliament, and there was a good deal of jealousy aroused on account of favors shown them by her majesty. At her accession she had declared, " That her heart was entirely English," and this sentence was inscribed on some of her medals, so when she showed partiality^ to the Scotch an English satirist wrote : —

" The queen has lately lost a part Of her ' entirely English heart,' For want of which by way of botch She pieced it up again with Scotch."

For some reason, not necessary for us to inquire into, the Duke of Hamilton was denied a seat in parliament;

and in order to console him for the injury, Queen Anne consented to stand godmother in person to his third son. She gave the child her own name, and from his infancy he was called " Lord Anne." Some years later Lord Anne Hamilton was celebrated as a valiant soldier.

To return to the palace dissensions. The Duchess of Marlborough became at last furiously jealous of Abigail Hill, and probably opposed her marriage, otherwise it would not have been managed so secretly as it was. She was engaged to Samuel Masham, a page to the queen, and it seems a very undignified proceeding for her majesty to have consented to witness a secret marriage, in a remote part of her palace, between two people who were not under obligations of duty to any one unless it was herself. But such was really the arrangement, and only proves that all parties stood in mortal terror of the duchess's wrath. How long this union would have remained secret it is impossible to tell, had not the queen thought proper to dower the bride from her own private purse, and as soon as she demanded the sum she chose to present, of course the watchful duchess set to work to find out to what purpose it "was to be put. She had began to suspect that there was a mystery, and it did not take her more than a week to ferret it out. No sooner were her spies set on the right track than they made another discovery that was forthwith reported to the duchess with an accuracy and assiduity worthy of a better cause. It was this: " That Mrs. Masham spent about two hours every day with the queen in private, while the prince, who was a confirmed invalid, took his afternoon nap."

Now did the duchess see, at last, who had forestalled her in her devoted " Mrs. Morley's " good graces ; she only awaited a favorable opportunity to unbottle the phials of her wrath, and pour them on the heads of both the offend-

ers. The enormity of the crime shocked her. " I was struck with astonishment at such an instance of ingratitude," she wrote her husband, " and should not have believed it had there been any room for doubt,"

In reply to her very exaggerated statement of a trivial affair, the duke wrote some good advice. His letter was sent from Meldest, in South Germany, and he said : " The wisest thing is to have to do with as few people as possible. If you are sure Mrs. Masham speaks of business to the queen, I should think you might, with some caution, tell her of it, which would do good, for she certainly must be grateful, and will mind what you say."

The duchess did not heed this advice of her clear-headed husband, but kept herself up to a pitch of excitement at what she called the barbarity, ingratitude, and wickedness of the queen. She accused her, too, of intrigue, though why the conversations she held with one of her attendants at the bedside of her declining husband should be so called it is difficult to understand. Her majesty treated Abigail Masham with confidence and consideration, because she assisted in the care of the prince-consort, who suffered from fearful attacks of asthma, and it was this attendant's duty to sleep at night on a pallet in the ante-chamber of her majesty's bed-room, within call.

Not long after the duchess discovered the marriage, when she was alone with the queen one day, she took her to task for having kept it secret, and told her that it plainly showed a change in her majesty's feeling towards her. The queen replied, " That it was not she who was changed, but the duchess;" and added, " I believe I have begged Masham a hundred times to tell you of her marriage, but she would not,"