420 CHURCHILL, DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH. I knew, whose virtues I admired; and whose memory, as the greatest general, and as the greatest minister, that our country, or perhaps any other, has produced, I honour."* The Duke's regard for Bolingbroke, though expressed in a different manner, appears to have been no less sincere. He used to style him familiarly, " Harry St. John" and after the death of his only son, the Marquis of Blandford, observed that he had no comfort in life but Harry St. John, whom he loved and regarded as his own son.† * Letters on the Study of History, p. 299. Macpherson, from Carte's Papers, vol. ii, p. 532. 421 CHAPTER V. Marlborough's public entry into London on the day after Queen Anne's death.-Dr. Sacheverel inveighs against his conduct on this occasion from the pulpit.-Marlborough is appointed Captain-General and Commander-in-Chief of the land forces, and Master of the Ordnance. But is reduced to the shadow of his former authority. Is personally disliked by George the First.-Reasons for this dislike.-Rebellion in 1715 defeated by Marlborough's prudent counsels to Government. His character as a negociator and an orator.— Burnet's sketch of him.-Marlborough's strong religious feelings. His decorous conduct after marriage.-Extract from Adam Smith.-Marlborough's humanity in war.-Anecdotes of his evenness of temper.-Curious anecdote related by Lord Bolingbroke.-Swift's opinion of Marlborough.-His avarice and duplicity. — Extract from Spence's Anecdotes, and from Dr. King's Anecdotes of his own Times.-Singular instance of Marlborough's liberality.-Prince Eugene's opinion of him. Compliment paid him by Peter the Great, and by the Emperor, Joseph the First. Anecdote of Charles the Twelfth of Sweden.-Marlborough's domestic habits and favourite pursuits at Blenheim.-Extract from Coxe's life. Private theatricals at Blenheim. — Marlborough's last years. His failing powers of understanding exaggerated by party writers.-His death and public funeral. -Enumeration of his children. On the death of Queen Anne, the Duke of Marlborough returned in a kind of triumph to London, where he arrived on the 2nd of August, 1714, the day following the Queen's decease. The indecent elation which he displayed by making a public entry into the metropolis,—at the very time when his royal mistress lay extended on the bed of death; when the bells of the capital were solemnly tolling for her departure; and when the shops of the citizens were closed out of respect for her memory,-has been severely and deservedly reprehended. Conduct, at once so impolitic and so heartless, was of course deprecated, with either real or pretended indignation, by the opposite party; and among others who raised their voices against the offending hero, the celebrated Dr. Sacheverel appears to have thundered forth his invectives even from the pulpit. About a week after the Queen's death, Dr. Kennet, afterwards Bishop of Peterborough, writes to Dr. Samuel Blackwell,—“ Dr. Sacheverel has vehemently reflected on the Duke of Marlborough's public entry, and called it an unparalleled insolence and a vile trampling upon royal ashes."* "When the Queen was dead," says Lord Dartmouth, "the Duke made a public entry into London, which surprised all the world, but had no effect beyond raising an universal laughter." If the world could forget his splendid services, no wonder that the Duke should forget himself. That Marlborough expected to derive extraordinary advantages from the Queen's death there can be little question; but his hopes were * Ellis's Original Letters, 2nd Series. vol. iv. p. 288. destined ere long to be signally disappointed. Bothmar writes, soon after the demise of the Queen :-" He is not pleased that he is not of the regency, and that there is any man but the King higher than him in this country." It was impossible, indeed, that a man of such influence, who was still recognized as a partizan of the Whigs, and who had performed so many services, not only for that party, but for the country at large, could be entirely overlooked by a Whig monarch and a Whig ministry. Accordingly, he shortly afterwards received the appointments of Captain-General and Commander-in-Chief of the land forces, and was named Colonel of the first regiment of Foot Guards, and Master of the Ordnance. "But although," says Coxe, "he was thus distinguished with honours and employments, he was reduced to the shadow of his former authority; for he was admitted to little share in the government of the state, and confined to the routine of his official stations." Such neglect, proceeding as it did from his own friends and political partizans, must have been more galling to the fallen hero, than all the injuries and mortifications which he had experienced from his professed foes. With the exception, indeed, of the ordinary patronage derived from the tenure of his official appointments, he possessed scarcely the slightest influence as a public man; indeed, his credit at Court is said to have been so low, that he was, on one occasion, unable to procure a lieu tenancy for a friend. To George the First he appears to have been personally disagreeable; and it is even affirmed, that, on occasions when he was anxious to obtain a boon from that monarch, he used to apply to Pulteney, then Secretary at War, to ask it as a personal favour to himself. "Do not say it is for me," he was accustomed to add, “for whatever I ask is sure to be denied."* 66 The dislike which George the First appears to have conceived for the Duke of Marlborough, has been differently accounted for. Although," says Coxe," he treated the Duke with a semblance of respect, he never forgot the supposed slight, which he had experienced in 1708, when Marlborough concealed from him the projected operations of the campaign." According to other accounts, the King's prejudice against the Duke originated in Marlborough having offered him no military command of importance during the period he headed the Allied army. But by far the most probable cause of their estrangement, may be traced to the King having been made acquainted with Marlborough's former treasonable correspondence with the Court of St. Germains; the proofs of which Harley had probably transmitted to him before he quitted Hanover, with the view of undermining the Duke in his regard. The last occasion on which the Duke of Marlborough seems to have been engaged in any public business of importance, was during the *Coxe's Life of Sir Robert Walpole, vol. i. p. 81. |