Mr. Boyle, chancellor of the exchequer. The names of the great whig leaders, Somers, Halifax, and Orford were erased from the list of those summoned to attend the privy council. War (already on the eve of explosion when William died) was declared at once against France, and Marlborough was sent to the Hague. The allies, i.e., the Dutch, Brunswickers, Prussians, the emperor, &c., &c., united in bestowing the command in chief on the English general.

After taking Liege and a few smaller towns Marlborough returned to England, and was received with great favour by the queen, who at once conferred a dukedom on him and directed parliament to settle £5,000 a year on the victorious general; who, at that time, had won none of his following great victories. The houses naturally hesitated to comply with the queen's request; and murmurs arose that it was a great reward for taking a few towns, none of importance but Liege. Insinuations were thrown out that Marlborough and his wife were making a monopoly of the queen's bounty, and the outcry became so loud that by Marlborough's own advice Anne withdrew her application. This did not, however, prevent the commons from presenting a remonstrance, in which they reflected harshly upon king William's profusion to foreign favourites. It was the tories who opposed the grant, and from that hour Marlborough became their enemy. The duchess henceforward used all her influence to overcome the queen's prejudices against the whigs, and to bring them into power.

In 1704 the queen, who was an excellent churchwoman, desired secretary Hodges to inform the commons that her majesty having taken into her serious consideration the mean and insufficient maintenance belonging to the clergy in this kingdom, had been pleased to remit the arrears of the tenths to the poor clergy; and that, for an augmentation of their livings, she had declared that she would make a grant of her whole revenue arising out of the first fruits and tenths, as far as it was or should hereafter become free from encumbrances, and that if the house of commons could find any proper method of making her good intention effectual, it would be very acceptable to her majesty. These tenths amounted to £11,000 a year, and the first fruits to about £5,000. The bill was passed and became law; and addresses of thanks were presented from all the clergy of England to Anne, who rejoiced more especially in the title of "Nursing Mother to the Church."

Meantime Marlborough had gained the greatest of his victories, Blenheim, and returned to England, bringing with him the French commander, Tallard, as a prisoner. He was received this time with enthusiasm, and the thanks of parliament were voted to him. Meantime the war of the succession proceeded also in Spain itself.

Early in 1704 an army of English, Dutch, and Portuguese was assembled on the western border of that country. The archduke Charles had reached Lisbon, and placed himself at the head of these troops. But the military skill of the duke of Berwick-the son of Marlborough's sister and James II.-held the allies in check. On the south, however, a most important conquest was achieved. Sir George Rooke took by a coup de main the impregnable Rock of Gibraltar, which even the combined forces of France and Spain have never since been able to retake. This was for England a greater gain than any that she obtained from all Marlborough's fruitless victories. It gave her the key of the Mediterranean-a conquest the value of which has increased with the advancing centuries. But Rooke received neither thanks nor reward from his country for this great service, while Marlborough and his duchess were loaded with gifts and honours.

The earl of Peterborough, a man worthy of the heroic ages, was at the head of the English contingent fighting for the archduke Charles. He took Barcelona, was everywhere victorious, and had formed a plan for obtaining possession of Madrid;

army.

but the archduke, who continually refused to follow out the Englishman's suggestions, and who had dawdled away valuable time in Catalonia, refused his assent to it, and Peterborough, vexed and impatient, demanded permission to leave the He obtained it, and went to Italy; but was shortly afterwards recalled by the English ministry, who could neither understand nor appreciate him, and a veteran, lord Galway, was appointed in his stead. This utterly incompetent general lost at the battle of Almanza his whole army, 120 standards, and all his artillery. The cause of archduke Charles was ruined in Spain from the time Peterborough left him; but in Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands Marlborough had won his great victories, and the power of Louis XIV. was tottering.

Meantime the intrigues of the duchess of Marlborough proved successful, and Anne, after a long struggle with herself, gave the great seal to Mr. William Cowper, afterwards lord Cowper, a whig and enthusiastic admirer of the principles of the Revolution. The privy seal was given to the whig duke of Newcastle. The whigs were now triumphant; and the duke of Marlborough was certain of the continuance of the war, and of his retaining the command, through the favour of those to whom he had gone over. Lord Godolphin had also abjured toryism, and was as powerful as ever. Somers was president of the council, Wharton, lord lieutenant of Ireland. It was in 1707 that the greatest event of Anne's reign occurred. We allude to the union with Scotland, a measure violently opposed by the Scottish populace, and long regretted by Scotsmen of higher rank, but which has proved to be of the greatest benefit to both nations. The united parliament first met in this year, 1707. Meantime Blenheim had been succeeded by Ramilies, Oudenard, and all Marlborough's other victories, and his fame and fortune seemed alike steadfast and enduring.

But a great change was at hand. Anne's love for the duchess of Marlborough had yielded to feelings of aversion; entirely natural and well-deserved by her fierce and cruel friend. Moreover, she had a new favourite on whom she could rely, and whose devotion had soothed and comforted her when death removed her husband (to whom the queen was deeply attached) from her side. This lady was a bedchamber woman, Abigail Hill, a relative of the duchess of Marlborough, and recommended by her to the service of the queen, over whom she soon acquired as great influence as duchess Sarah had once possessed. Miss Hill married with the royal sanction a gentleman of the household, a Mr. Masham, afterwards created a peer, and retained her majesty's affection to the close of Anne's life. She was a tory, and devoted to the exiled Stuarts, opinions in which the queen fully sympathised, and it was not long before she found an opening to urge Anne to remove the whigs from office. It came thus. In 1710 a certain high church clergyman, named Henry Sacheverel, preached an assize sermon at Derby on the 15th of August, in which he attacked the government vehemently. On the anniversary of the gunpowder plot he again preached in St. Paul's Cathedral, and in it held the newly-turned-whig Godolphin up to detestation under the name of "Volpone," a hateful character in Ben Jonson's dramas. Godolphin was furious at this attack, and insisted that the preacher should be impeached. In vain the mild and sagacious Somers advised that no notice should be taken of him. The impeachment was brought, and the doctor was on his trial. The whole nation as by one common impulse instantly sided with the preacher, and a display of tory feeling was manifested which appalled the ministers.

The populace were frighfully excited; vast multitudes attended Dr. Sacheverel as he went each day to Westminster hall, shouting for him, or silently praying for him. The queen every day went to witness the trial as a private spectator, but the mob, recognising their beloved sovereign, surrounded her sedan on the road, ex

THE EDITOR.]

THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE.

We hope your majesty is for claiming, "God bless your majesty and the church! Dr. Sacheverel." Riots ensued; meeting houses and the dwellings of many eminent dissenters were destroyed and plundered, and the mob proposed to attack the bank; but these tumults were suppressed, and several of the ringleaders imprisoned. Sacheverel was found guilty, and prohibited from preaching for three years; also two of his sermons were ordered to be burned by the common hangman.

The lightness of this sentence was regarded as a triumph by his party, and no doubt a much more severe one would have been given, if the ministers had not The queen, now assured that the people would feared the popular indignation. give her their support, summoned a new parliament, to which, as she had anticipated, few but tories were returned.

The duke of Marlborough's popularity had long been waning. The people, heavily taxed, could not understand why their blood should soak the plains of When next he Flanders, and their toil pay for a war from which England reaped nothing but glory; and Anne sickened at the sanguinary stories of even battles won. landed in England, Marlborough was received with insults by the mob, and was even accused of having sold the contract for bread for the troops to a Jew for £6,000

a year.

Harley as lord Oxford; St. John as viscount Bolingbroke, were called to power, and were leaders of a large majority in parliament. Their thoughts turned at once to peace. The war was a whig war; the general-for whom no substitute Peace was desirable could be found a whig, the queen was sick of bloodshed; the people murmured at the burdens imposed to support a conflict so useless to them. in all respects. Negotiations were therefore entered into with France in January, 1712, but the treaty was not signed at Utrecht till April, 1713.

Philip was

Its chief articles were that Louis XIV. should destroy the fortifications of Dunkirk, and yield Newfoundland, Hudson's Bay, and St. Christopher's to England; retaining only Cape Breton for the French fisheries; and that he should also abandon the cause of prince James, and acknowledge the protestant succession. allowed to retain the Spanish crown, to deprive him of which, such long and expensive wars had been undertaken-but he had to solemnly renounce his right of succession to the French throne. Moreover, Louis consented to release from the prisons and galleys in which they languished, the French Huguenots, who suffered for their faith. Spain gave up all claim on Gibraltar and Minorca; both were to belong to England. The Dutch, our allies, had the barrier granted to them which they wished, and the strongest towns in Flanders were ceded to them. The emperor was to have Naples, Milan, and the Netherlands; the duke of Savoy, Sicily, with the title of king, and other places on the continent.

Such was the celebrated treaty of Utrecht, which was so fiercely and bitterly disputed afterwards, and in which the tories certainly seem to have tried to do The whigs, of course, attacked it with justice to all engaged in the late wars. great violence, but their opposition was a far slighter danger to the ministry than the dissensions which raged among themselves. Lord Oxford and lord Bolingbroke quarrelled incessantly, even at the council board, and the ministry was only kept together by the efforts of their friends, amongst whom was the celebrated dean Swift. Lord Oxford was believed to be sincere in desiring the Hanoverian or protestant succession; Bolingbroke was known to be desirous of calling the prince of Wales, James Francis, to the throne.

Oxford (first raised to power by the influence of lady Masham), managed very soon to offend both his early friend and his sovereign, and was called on by Anne to resign his office. He obeyed, though reluctantly, and Bolingbroke was requested to form a ministry. But he could not succeed; and the illness and death

**

BB

of Anne rendered the task ultimately impossible. Great anarchy prevailed in the tory party. The quarrels of the queen's counsellors were so violent, and so unrestrained, even by her presence, that she despaired of calming them. After one terrible scene at the council, she declared "that she could not outlive their violenee," and was soon after seized with a lethargy. She recovered a temporary consciousness, but almost immediately afterwards had an apoplectic fit and expired, in the fiftieth year of her age, and the thirteenth of her reign.

Well might the poor queen have repeated Shakespeare's words,

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."

That for which she had failed in filial duty and slandered her own father, brought her nothing but trouble. Her children all died young, one-the young duke of Gloucester-a most promising boy. Her husband, to whom she was much attached, soon followed her little ones; her friends were cruel and domineering; her servants insolent.

Anne Stuart was a dull woman, but very kind and charitable; the people long remembered her as 66 good queen Anne." She was a devout member of the English church, a good wife, an affectionate mother, a romantically attached friend; but she wanted energy, strength of mind, and dignity, and paid for her weakness by the troubles of her life.

As soon as the news that the queen was dying reached the public car, the whigs rushed into the council chamber, seized the government, and immediately took measures to secure the succession of the elector of Hanover, the son of Sophia, who had died a year before. They sent off Mr. Craggs to Hanover, requesting the prince to proceed immediately to Holland, where a squadron should meet him, and bring him to England. They secured the sea ports, and gave the command of the navy to lord Berkeley, a whig. The tories, disorganised by their quarrels, were powerless. "The earl of Oxford," says the bewildered St. John to Swift, in a letter, "" was removed on Tuesday. The queen died on Sunday. What a world is this, and how does fortune banter us!"

THE GREAT STORM OF 1703.

HONE.

In Little Wild street chapel, Lincoln's Inn Fields, a sermon is annually preached on the 27th of November, in commemoration of the "Great Storm" in 1703.

This fearful tempest was preceded by a strong west wind, which set in about the middle of the month; and every day, and almost every hour, increased in force until the 24th, when it blew furiously, occasioned much alarm, and some damage was sustained. On the 25th, and through the night following, it continued with unusual violence. On the morning of Friday, the 26th, it raged so fearfully that only few people had courage to venture abroad. Towards evening it rose still higher; the night setting in with excessive darkness added general horror to the scene, and prevented any from secking security abroad from their homes, had that been possible. The extraordinary power of the wind created a noise, hoarse and dreadful, like thunder, which carried terror to every ear, and appalled every heart. There were also appearances in the heavens that resembled lightning. “The air,” says a writer at the time, "was full of meteors and fiery vapours; yet," he adds, "I am of opinion, that there was really no lightning, in the common acceptation of the term; for the clouds, that flew with such violence through the air, were not to

my observation such as are usually freighted with thunder and lightning; the hurries nature was then in, do not consist with the system of thunder." Some imagined the tempest was accompanied with an earthquake. "Horror and confusion seized upon all, whether on shore or at sea; no pen can describe it, no tongue can express it, no thought can conceive it, unless theirs who were in the extremity of it; and who, being touched with a due sense of the sparing mercy of their Maker, retain the deep impressions of his goodness upon their minds though the danger be past. To venture abroad was to rush into instant death, and to stay within afforded no other prospect than that of being buried under the ruins of a falling habitation. Some in their distraction did the former, and met death in the streets; others the latter, and in their own houses received their final doom." One hundred and twenty-three persons were killed by the falling of dwellings; amongst these were the bishop of Bath and Wells (Dr. Richard Kidder) and his lady, by the fall of part of the episcopal palace of Wells; and lady Penelope Nicholas, sister to the bishop of London, at Horsley, in Sussex. Those who perished in the waters, in the floods of the Severn and the Thames, on the coast of Holland, and in ships blown away and never heard of afterwards, are computed to have amounted to eight thousand.

All ranks and degrees were affected by this amazing tempest, for every family that had anything to lose lost something: land, houses, churches, corn, trees, rivers, all were disturbed or damaged by its fury; small buildings were for the most part wholly swept away, as chaff before the wind." Above eight hundred dwellinghouses were laid in ruins. Few of those that resisted escaped from being unroofed, which is clear from the prodigious increase in the price of tiles, which rose from twenty-one shillings to six pounds the thousand. About two thousand stacks of chimneys were blown down in and about London. When the day broke, the houses were mostly stripped, and appeared like so many skeletons. The consternation was so great that trade and business were suspended, for the first occupation of the mind was so to repair the houses, that families might be preserved from the inclemency of the weather in the rigorous season. The streets were covered with brickbats, broken tiles, signs, bulks, and pent-houses.

The lead which covered one hundred churches, and many public buildings, was rolled up, and hurled in prodigious quantities to distances almost incredible; spires, and turrets of many others were thrown down. Innumerable stacks of corn and hay were blown away, or so torn and scattered as to receive great damage.

Multitudes of cattle were lost. In one level in Gloucestershire, on the banks of the Severn, fifteen thousand sheep were drowned. Innumerable trees were torn up by the roots; one writer says, that he himself numbered seventeen thousand in part of the county of Kent alone, and that, tired with counting, he left off reckoning.

The damage in the city of London, only, was computed at near two millions sterling. At Bristol, it was about two hundred thousand pounds. In the whole, it was supposed, that the loss was greater than that produced by the great fire of London, 1666, which was estimated at four millions.

The greater part of the navy was at sea, and if the storm had not been at its height at full flood, and in a spring tide, the loss might have been nearly fatal to the nation. It was so considerable, that fifteen or sixteen men of war were cast away, and more than two thousand seamen perished. Few merchantmen were lost; for most of those that were driven to sea were safe. Rear-admiral Beaumont with a squadron then lying in the Downs, perished with his own and several other ships on the Goodwin Sands.

The ships lost by the storm were estimated at three hundred. In the river Thames, only four ships remained between London bridge and Limehouse, the rest