princess.' But this generous example of refusing meanly to submit to an unreasonable order, was followed by very few, except by the Jacobite ladies, who rejoiced greatly at the quarrel. The dowager Lady Thanet having declined by letter, and pleaded the royal command, the princess wrote her the following note:

"It is no small addition to my unhappiness in the queen's displeasure, that I am deprived by it, of the satisfaction of seeing my friends, especially of such as seem desirous to see me, and to find by those late commands, which her majesty has given you, that her unkindness to me is to have no end. The only comfort I have in these great hardships is, to think how little I have deserved them from the queen. And that thought, I hope, will help me to support them with less impatience. I am the less surprised at the strictness of the queen's command to you, upon this occasion, since I find she can be so very unkind to Madam,

"Your's, &c.

ANNE."

When the princess retired to Bath for her health, an official letter was sent to the mayor, not to attend her highness in state to church. This good man was a tallow-chandler, and had been accustomed until then, to wait on the princess, in order to conduct her thither, every Sunday. Mrs. Morley expresses herself thus on the occasion, to her bosom friend, Mrs. Freeman.

"I fancied yesterday, when the mayor failed in the ceremony of going to church with me, that he was commanded not to do it. I think 'tis a thing to be laughed at. And if they imagine either to vex me or gain upon me by such sort of usage, they will be mightily disappointed. And I hope these foolish things they do will every day show people more and more what they are, and that they truly deserve the name your faithful Morley has given them."

While in town, her royal highness, instead of the Cockpit, as formerly, now resided at Berkeley-house; and, as she frequented St. James's Church, the rector was forbid to lay the text upon her cushion as formerly, or take any more notice of her than of other people. But, as this happened to be a spirited ecclesiastic, he refused compliance, without some order from the crown in writing; which not being granted, he proceeded with the usual ceremonial as before. What was perhaps more mortifying to a princess, was the withdrawing the detachment of guards, that had always, until now, done duty over her highness.

On the demise of her royal sister, some little attention was paid to the Princess Anne, who was now next heir to the king, by Act of Parliament, and who, if title by blood had been of any avail, would have enjoyed the crown before him. She accordingly, on a day, and at a time appointed, repaired to his palace at Kensington, and was received with extraordinary civility. Her court being resumed as usual, the nobility flocked to Berke

ley-house, a circumstance which occasioned the "half-witted Lord. Caernarvon,' to say one night to the princess, as he stood close by her in the circle, I hope your highness will remember, that I came to wait upon you when none of this company did.' This remark, true in itself, but assuredly ill-timed, caused a great deal of mirth. Lord Portland seemed to be averse from this reconciliation; but, as his influence was on the decline, and Lord Sunderland, and still more the new favourite, the Earl of Albemarle, thought fit to pay their court to the rising sun, it was both effected and confirmed. Yet, it appears, that her highness was not treated with any very ceremonious respect at Kensington, being generally met by no higher a person than a page of the backstairs, and permitted to withdraw without any attendance; Lord Jersey, then chamberlain, having conducted her but once or twice.

The following epistle, written by the future queen to the reigning monarch, has been censured as too obsequious, by her then confidante.

«Sir,

"Though I have been unwilling to give you the trouble of a letter upon any other occasion, yet upon one so glorious to your majesty as the taking of Namur, I hope you will give me leave to congratulate your success, which don't please me so much upon any other account, as for the satisfaction that I am sensible your majesty must needs feel in this great addition to the reputation of your arms. And I beg leave, sir, to assure you, that, as nobody is more nearly concerned in your interest, so no body wishes more heartily for your happiness and prosperity at home, than Your's, &c.

ANNE."

No answer was ever sent to this courteous epistle; the prince too, on wishing to go in mourning to court, on account of the king of Denmark's recent death, was refused to be received out of colours; while the Duke of Gloucester's establishment, instead of fifty thousand pounds, as had been hinted, was reduced to fifteen thousand pounds a-year. All these contributed to produce a fresh coolness: and perhaps another rupture would have ensued, had not the king's demise, in 1702, elevated the princess to the throne, at the mature age of thirty-seven. But, anterior to this, she had sustained a great domestic affliction, by the death of her only son, the Duke of Gloucester, a calamity equally sudden, afflicting, and unexpected.

The charms of royalty, however, seem for a while to have obliterated, or at least to have suspended, her griefs.* The two great

Her Majesty, however, was ever after accustomed to subscribe herself, in all letters to the favourite, written posterior to this event, "your poor, unfor tunate, faithful, MORLEY"

parties in the nation looked up to her for favour and support, but she threw herself and her affairs almost entirely into the hands of the Tories.

"The queen," says the duchess, "had from her infancy imbibed the most unconquerable prejudices against the Whigs. She had been taught to look upon them all, not only as republicans who hated the very shadow of royal authority, but as implacable enemies to the church of England. This aversion to the whole party had been confirmed by the ill usage she had met with from her sister and King William, which, though perhaps more owing to Lord Rochester, than to any man then living, was now to be all charged to the account of the Whigs. And Prince George, her husband, who had been also ill treated in that reign, threw into the scale his resentments. On the other hand, the Tories had the advantage, not only of the queen's early prepossession in their favour, but of their having assisted her in the late reign, in the affair of her settlement. It was indeed evident that they had done this, more in opposition to King William, than from any real respect from the Princess of Denmark. But still they had served her; and, the winter before she came to the crown, they had, in the same spirit of opposition to the KING, and in prospect of his death, paid her more than usual civilities and at

tendance.

"It is no great wonder, therefore, all these things considered, that as soon as she was seated on the throne, the Tories (whom she usually called by the agreeable name of the church-party) became the distinguished objects of the royal favour. Dr. Sharp, archbishop of York, was pitched upon by herself to preach her consecration sermon, and to be her chief counsellor in church matters; and her privy council was filled with Tories. My Lord Normanby (soon after Duke of Buckingham), the Earls of Jersey and Nottingham, Sir Edward Seymour, with many others of the high-flyers, were brought into place; Sir Nathan Wright was continued in possession of the great seal of England, and the Earl of Rochester in the lieutenancy of Ireland. These were men who had all a wonderful zeal for the church; a sort of public merit that eclipsed all others in the eyes of the queen. And I am firmly persuaded, that notwithstanding her extraordinary affection for me, and the entire devotion which my Lord Marlborough and my Lord Godolphin had for many years shewn to her service, they would not have had so great a share of her favour and confidence, if they had not been reckoned in the number of the Tories."

One of the very first acts of her majesty's reign, was to advance four Tory commoners to the peerage, (the Lords Grenville, Guernsey, Gower, and Conway,) and it was with great dif

ficulty, that the favourite could obtain a patent for a Whig,* merely on account of his political principles. Such indeed was her influence at this moment, that the queen consulted her on her speech from the throne, &c. as may be seen from the following letter:

St. James's, Saturday, the 24th October, (1702.)

"I am very glad to find, by a letter from my dear Mrs. Freeman's, that I was blest with yesterday, that she liked my speech; but I cannot help being extremely concerned, you are so partial to the Whigs; because I would not have you and your poor, unfortunate, faithful, Morley, differ in opinion in the least thing. What I said, when I writ last upon this subject, does not proceed from any insinuations of the other party; but I know the principles of the church of England, and I know those of the Whigs, and it is that and no other reason, which makes me think as I do of the last. And, upon my word, my dear Mrs. Freeman, you are mightily mistaken in your notion of a true Whig for the character you give of them does not in the least belong to them, but to the church.

"I am at this time in great haste, and therefore can say no more to my dear Mrs. Freeman, but that I am most passionately hers."

Lady Marlborough's influence, combining at this moment with some other occurrences, her husband was placed at the head of the army; her relative Lord Godolphin obtained the treasurer's staff; her son-in-law Lord Sunderland, became secretary of state, while the Earls of Rochester, Jersey, and Nottingham, together with Sir Edward Seymour, all staunch Tories, and supporters of high church politics, were dismissed. Lord Cowper too was brought in as chancellor, to strengthen the former party, in the place of Sir Nathan Wright, who had been suffered to hold the seals solely on account of his marked attachment to the established form of faith.

The advocates for hereditary, in opposition to parliamentary, right to the crown, being now in disgrace, immediately turned patriots. As there was no longer any hope of getting an Occasi onal Conformity Bill pass, a cry was set up, that the "church was in danger," which led soon after to the dispute about Sacheverell, &c. The queen in her heart was always with the Tories on this point; but they highly offended her in another. This was a projected invitation to the Princess Sophia of Hanover, who was a Lutheran herself, and consequently a non-conformist, to come over and defend the church! A motion was made to this effect in the house of peers, by Lord Haversham, and seconded by the Earls of Rochester and Nottingham. That having failed, similar attempts were made in behalf both of the elec

* Mr. Hervey, made Baron Hervey of Icworth, in 1703.

toral prince and his father. In this dilemma, Anne addressed the general, then at the head of her army abroad, in a very interesting letter of which the following is an extract:

"What I have to say upon this subject, at this time, is to beg you will find whether there is any design where you are, that the young man should make a visit in the winter, and contrive some way to put any such thought out of their head, that the difficulty may not be brought upon me of refusing him leave to come, if he should ask it; or forbidding him to come if he should attempt it: for one of these two things I must do, if either he or his father should have an desires to have him see this country, it being a thing I cannot bear, to have any successor here, though but for a week: and, therefore, I shall depend upon you to do every thing on the other side of the water to prevent this mortification from coming upon her, that is, and ever will be, most sincerely,

July, 22, 1708.

Yours, &c. &c.

ANNE R."

The queen was so apprehensive of beholding a successor, that she repaired in person to the house of peers, and was present at the debates upon the invitation, when she actually heard the Duke of Buckingham treat her with something very like personal disrespect; having urged, as an argument for the measure, "that the queen might live till she did not know what she did, and be like a child in the hands of others." Anterior to this, her majesty had uniformly leaned towards the Tories; for in a letter to the favourite, she maintains, "that she can see nothing like persecution in the (Nonconformists) bill." "As to my say. ing the church was in some danger in the late reign, I cannot alter my opinion," adds her majesty, under the signature of "the poor unfortunate, faithful MORLEY;" "for, though there was no violent thing done, every body that will speak impartially, must own, that every thing was leaning towards the Whigs; and, whenever that is, I shall think the church beginning to be in danger."

Her majesty at the same time begs that Mrs. Freeman "would not let difference of opinion hinder them from living together as they used to do." Four years after, however, the queen seems to have been more ready to agree with her friend; for, after the Whigs had put a stop to the invitation, she writes as follows:

"I believe dear Mrs. Freeman and I shall not disagree, as we have formerly done; for I am sensible of the servicest those people have done me that you have a good opinion of, and will countenance them, and am thoroughly convinced of the malice and insolence of them, that you have always been speaking against."