Page images
PDF
EPUB

WILLIAM DUKE

LOUCES

Ghneller pinxt.

At Kensington Palace

I.S. Muller Soulje.

[ocr errors][ocr errors]

After her father king James's acceffion to the throne, the Anne. princefs, during his whole reign, kept her court as private as 1701-2.

and he even then expreffed a particular fondness for me. This inclination increafed with our years. I was often at court, and the princefs always diftinguished me by the pleasure fhe took to honour me, preferably to others, with her converfation and confidence. In all her parties for amusement, I was fure, by her choice, to be one; and fo defirous she became of having me always near her, that, upon her marriage with the prince of Denmark in 1683, it was, at her own earnest request to her father, I was made one of the ladies of her bed-chamber.

What conduced to render me the more agreeable to her in this ftation was, doubtlefs, the diflike fhe had conceived to moft of the other perfons about her, and particularly to her first lady of the bed-chamber, the countefs of Clarendon; a lady, whofe difcourfe and manner (though the princess thought they agreed very well together) could not poffibly recommend her to fo young a miftrefs: for fhe looked like a mad-woman, and talked like a scholar. Indeed her highness's court was throughout fo oddly compofed, that I think it would be making myfelf no great compliment, if I fhould Tay, her chufing to spend more of her time with me, than with any of her other fervants, did no difcredit to her tafte. Be that as it will, it is certain fhe at length diftinguished me by fo high a place in her favour, as perhaps no perfon ever arrived

the

at a higher with queen or princefs. And, if from hence I may draw any glory, it is, that I both obtained and held this place without the affiftance of flattery; a charm, which in truth her inclination for me, together with my unwearied application to ferve and amufe her, rendered needlefs; but which, had it been otherwife, my temper and turn of mind would never have fuffered me to employ.

Young as I was, when I first became this high favourite, I laid it down for a maxim, that flattery was falfhood to my trust, and ingratitude to my greatest friend; and that I did not deferve fo much favour, if I could not venture the loss of it by fpeaking the truth, and by preferring the real intereft of my miftrefs before the pleafing her fancy, or the facrificing to her paffion. From this rule I never fwerved. And, though my temper and my notions in most things were widely different from thofe of the princess, yet, during a long courfe of years, he was fo far from being difpleafed with me for openly Ipeaking my fentiments, that fhe fometimes professed a defire, and even added her command, that it fhould be always continued, promifing never to be offended at it, but to love me the better for my frankness.

Favour with a princess upon thefe terms, engaged me to her in the manner that it ought; I mean, by a fentiment which I

chufe

Anne. fhe could, confiftent with her station. When the king's defigns 1701-2. were discovered, and Popish counfels began to prevail, attempts

were made to draw the princess into them. The king indeed used no harshness with her; he only discovered his wishes, by putting into her hands fome books and papers, which he hoped might

occa

chufe to call Honour, rather than Gratitude or Duty, becaufe, while it employs all the juftice and affection of thefe, it feems to exprefs a more difinterested principle of action. For I can truly affirm, that I never confidered myself on any fion where her intereft or glory was concerned, nor had I any idea of a mifery which I would not have fooner incurred, than the inward fhame of being confcious of a failure in this refpect. The facts themselves, which I am going to relate, will in a great degree evince the truth of what I fay; and that the princefs was perfectly perfuaded of it, is, I think, fufficiently manifest both from her letters to me, and from that unreferved intimacy of friendship, in which we for many years lived toge.

ther.

Kings and princes, for the moft part, imagine they have a dignity peculiar to their birth and ftation, which ought to raise them above all connexion of friendship with an inferior. Their paffion is to be admired and feared, to have fubjects awfully obedient, and fervants blindly obfequious to their pleafure. Friendship is an offenfive word, it imports a kind of equality between the parties; it fuggefts nothing to the minds of crowns or thrones, high titles or immenfe revenues, foun

tains of honour or fountains of riches; prerogatives which the poffeffors would have always uppermoft in the thoughts of thofe who are permitted to approach them.

The princefs had a different tafte. A friend was what the moft coveted; and for the fake of friendship (a relation which fhe did not difdain to have with me) fhe was fond even of that Equality which the thought be longed to it. She grew uneafy to be treated by me with the form and ceremony due to her rank; nor could the bear from me the found of words which implied in them distance and fuperiority. It was this turn of mind, which made her one day propofe to me, that, whenever I fhould happen to be abfent from her, we might in all our letters write ourselves by feigned names, fuch as would import nothing of diftinction of rank between us. Morley and Freeman were the names her fancy hit upon; and the left me to chufe by which of them I would be called. My frank open temper naturally led me to pitch upon Freeman, and fo the prin cefs took the other; and from this time Mrs. Morley and Mrs. Freeman began to converfe as equals, made fo by affection and friendship. • Conduct of the duchess of Marlborough, p. 9, &c.'

[ocr errors]

might induce her to a change of religion (i). Lord Tyrcon- Anne. nel alfo took fome pains with his fifter-in-law, the lady 1701-2. Churchill, to engage her, if poffible, to make ufe, for the fame end, of that great favour he knew the enjoyed with the princefs; but all thefe endeavours proved fruitless, and the prince and princefs of Denmark remained firm to their religion.

Though the queen, after he had declared herfelf with child, declined giving the princess of Denmark any fatisfaction in that matter, yet it does not appear that she thought it an impofture; nor did fhe, in her letter to the queen, when she left the court, give the leaft hint of fuch a fufpicion. Upon the landing of the prince of Orange, in 1688, the king went down to Salisbury to his army, and the prince of Denmark with him: But the news quickly came from thence, that the prince of Denmark had deferted the king and joined the prince of Orange, and that the king was returning to London. The princefs was fo ftruck with the apprehenfions of the king's difpleasure, that she told the lady Churchill, fhe could not bear the thoughts of it, and declared, rather than fee her father, the would jump out at the window. The bishop of London (who, in that critical time, abfconded) was then lodged fecretly in Suffolk-ftreet. The princefs immediately fent the lady Churchill (who knew where he was) to concert measures with the bishop, how the fhould withdraw from the court. It was agreed, that he should come about midnight in a hackney-coach near the Cockpit, in order to convey the princefs to fome place where the might be private and fafe.

The princess went to bed at the ufual time to prevent fufpicion. Lady Churchill came to her foon after; and, with her and lady Fitzharding, and one fervant, the princefs, by the back-stairs which went down from her closet, walked to the coach, where they found the bifhop and the earl of Dorfet. They conducted them that night to the bishop's houfe in the city, and the next day to the lord Dorfet's at CoptHall, from whence they went to Nottingham, where the country gathered about the princefs, and forming themselves

(i) The duchefs of Marlbo-, rough obferves here, that, had the princefs had any inclination to change her religion, the chaplains about her were fuch divines as could have faid but

into

Conduct of the duchefs - of Marib.

little in defence of their own re-
ligion, or to fecure her against
the pretences of Popery, recom-
mended to her by a father and a
king. Conduct of the duchess
of Marlborough, p. 15'.

« PreviousContinue »