his great-grandfather, Henry the Fourth of France; when many even of his Huguenot followers implored him to sacrifice his faith for the attainment of his throne. His uncle also, Charles the Second, had, in 1660, consented to suppress his secret religious predilections. But to the great and lasting honour of James he disdained any such unworthy compromise with his conscience; and he wrote a very able letter, to be circulated amongst his partisans in England, and in which he declared his fixed determination neither to dissemble nor to change*; a rare and admirable instance of religious sincerity in princes. It was hoped, however, by the Pretender, that this letter might have the good effect of increasing the confidence of his friends, since he who thus preferred his conscience to his interests might be more surely relied on in his solemn promises to respect the religious establishment and constitutional rights of others. But such an argument was far too refined for popular apprehension; his sincerity, though a merit in him, must have been a misfortune to England had he come to the throne; and, however praiseworthy might be the sentiments of his letter, its general circulation at such a period cannot be considered otherwise than ill-timed and injudicious.

This letter, however, by no means put an end to the importunities of the Jacobites with the Pretender, nor to their exertions for him. Both continued with unabated ardour; and the latter, at least, with good prospects of

success.

On the other side, the friends of the Protestant Succession, fully aware of their danger, no less endeavoured to take their measures in case of an appeal to arms. In the absence of Marlborough, and in want of his master-mind, they considered Stanhope as their military chief; and that general became the pivot of several important schemes and missions. He held some private conferences with the principal officers of the French refugees, a numerous body, and zealous for the Protestant cause. He despatched several officers to the opposite coasts to ascertain the movements of the troops, and to guard against the

* See this letter in Macpherson's Papers, vol. ii. p. 525. The ill effect it had produced is mentioned by Iberville to Torcy, just before the Queen's death. July 20. 1714.

1713.

THE COURT OF HANOVER.

57

Pretender secretly collecting and landing at the head of any considerable force.* He and his friends were also brooding over a scheme no less adventurous and decisive than that which they dreaded in their opponents; for they had it in contemplation that, on the Queen's death, or dangerous illness, or perhaps even greatly declining health, the Elector should come over with a body of troops. Such a design was, of course, kept scrupulously secret; yet, as we shall find, it came to the knowledge of Ministers in the course of the ensuing spring. It was supported by Marlborough with all his influence, and he sent General Cadogan from abroad to concert with Stanhope the necessary arrangements for that purpose. Yet the Duke positively refused to commit himself in documents, by putting his name to an association which had been framed by the most eminent of the Whigs in England, and brought to him at Antwerp by Mr. Onslowrefusal not unattended, on their part, by some disappointment and suspicion.

a

The Court of Hanover, however, on this as on other occasions, showed but little readiness to second the exertions of its friends in England. The Dowager Electress was still living at the advanced age of eighty-two, and sometimes appeared jealous of the attention of her son to affairs in which she, as the next heir, considered herself chiefly concerned. From age she was slow and dilatory, as much as the Elector from temper. Both of them displayed, also, either an ill-judged parsimony, or a surprising poverty, in refusing to lay out small sums, from time to time, according to the advice and entreaties of their English correspondents. In vain was it urged upon them that a very moderate expense might secure some doubtful

*“The officers sent by Mr. Stanhope to the Boulonnais and Flan"ders are returned; and report that they found no troops in motion "there, only that nine Irish battalions and a regiment of dragoons "were advanced from Lorraine, and in quarters at Douay, Valenciennes, and Hesdin, and that the officers said openly that they had "orders to be ready to march upon a moment's warning." Kreyenberg to Robethon, Feb. 16. 1714. Macpherson's Papers, vol. ii. p. 567.

† Macpherson, vol. ii. p. 472, &c.

See Coxe's Life of Marlborough, vol. vi. p. 263.

elections or determine some wavering friends.* In vain did Marlborough especially beseech the Elector not to spare his money, and offer to assist him with a loan of 20,000l. So far from being able or willing to enter into such expenses, the Elector, at this very period, was himself soliciting a pension for his mother from Queen Anne. † Such means as calling in an armed force and buying mercenary partisans-the sword and the purse—appear strange expedients for securing a succession which was not only the regular and appointed course of law, but rooted in the hearts of three fourths of the English people at that period. Yet let us not too rashly condemn the statesmen who had recourse to these expedients. Let us remember how firmly established was the administration against which they had to strive; how fearful the dangers from which they finally delivered us! Nor let it be forgotten that no suspicion of any personal lucre or advantage to themselves, nor of illegal violence against their opponents, ever attached to their counsels, either for the application of money or for the landing of troops.

The broken health of the Queen, at this period, was another circumstance that stimulated both parties to exertion, as showing the importance of time. Her Majesty's constitution had in early life been injured by repeated miscarriages. Having of late years grown large and unwieldy, she could no longer take her former exercise of hunting, whilst she still continued to indulge somewhat too freely at her table; and she became subject to fits of the gout, which gradually grew more and more frequent and severe. Other ailments also intervened. On the 24th of December, she was seized with an inflammatory fever, and for several days remained alarmingly ill. Meanwhile various reports spread abroad, and, as usual, the less that was known the more there was rumoured. Even Her Majesty's death was more than once asserted. The monied men were seized with a panic.

* Baron Schutz to Bothmar, Dec. 11. 1713. Halifax and Sunderland pressed that day for 20007. "to carry the elections of the Common Council of London ;" and Stanhope added, "We are all sure "that being masters of the Common Council, London will present "to Parliament any address we choose!"

† See Somerville's Queen Anne, p. 556.

1713.

THE DUCHESS OF SOMERSET.

59

The funds fell. A run was made upon the Bank, and a deputation hastened up in fear and trembling to the Lord Treasurer, to request his advice and assistance. Under his direction, the Queen wrote a letter to the Lord Mayor announcing her recovery*; and a short time afterwards still more satisfactorily confirmed her own account, by arriving in London and opening Parliament in person.

The alarm, however, caused by Anne's undoubted jealousy of Hanover, and supposed predilection towards St. Germain's, was not so easily appeased. The ground for it, in fact, grew daily stronger. One of the first objects of Lord Bolingbroke and Mrs. Masham had been to remove as much as possible from Court all warm partisans of the Hanover Succession. None of these were left about Her Majesty, except the Duke and Duchess of Somerset, who afforded no handle for dismissal. The Duke was Master of the Horse, a well-meaning man, but of shy proud habits and slender understanding; insomuch that, on one occasion, we find Marlborough justifying himself as from a serious imputation, from any idea of having trusted or employed him in affairs of importance.† The Duchess, on the other hand, was a bold, imperious woman, with all that firmness of mind which her husband wanted. It was found that she was accustomed to ply the timid conscience of the Queen with hints on the terrors of Popery and the duty of securing the Protestant establishment. The floodgates of party virulence were instantly opened upon her; and a Protestant clergyman led the van against the inconvenient Protestant zealot. In his "Windsor Prophecy," Swift poured forth some most vehement invectives against the Duchess, reproaching her with having red hair, and with having connived at the murder of her first husband. It is difficult to guess which of these two accusations the Duchess resented most deeply, the latter being without a shadow of foundation, while the former, unhappily, could not be denied. To tell the truth of a

* See this letter, dated February 1., in Tindal (vol. vi. p. 136.). "I beg you will have so kind an opinion of me as to believe I can't be so indiscreet as to employ the Duke of Somerset in any thing that is of consequence." To the Duchess, July 19. 1708. Swift says of Somerset, that he "had not a grain of judgment; hardly common sense." Works, vol. x. p. 300.

lady's person is sometimes still more unpardonable than to spread falsehoods about her character. Certain it is, however, that the Duchess of Somerset became Swift's most deadly enemy, and, by her influence with her Royal mistress, was one of the principal means of excluding him from higher church preferment.

It may easily be supposed that however strong might have been Anne's Jacobite predilections, she found it necessary to conceal them with great care; and this was especially the case, since in her mind they were so frequently struggling with natural timidity and conscientious fears for the Established Church. Yet, in more than one instance, her family feelings burst through the veil which usually surrounded them. One of these is related by Lockhart of Carnwath. That zealous Jacobite having brought up what he terms a "high monarchical" address from the county of Edinburgh, was told by the Queen that she did not doubt his affection to her person, and hoped that he would not concur in any design to bring over the Prince of Hanover during her lifetime. Somewhat surprised at this sudden mark of confidence, “I "told her," says Lockhart, "that Her Majesty might judge from the address I had read, that I should not be acceptable to my constituents if I gave my consent for bringing over any of that family, either now or at any "time hereafter. At this," adds Lockhart," she smiled, "and I withdrew, and then she said to the Duke of "Hamilton she believed I was an honest man and a fair "dealer."*

46

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*Lockhart's Comment. p. 317.