Before these arrangements, the minor difficulties respecting the offices of attorney and solicitor general were obviated. Sir James Montague was appointed attorney-general on the 19th of October, and his vacant place was conferred on Mr. Robert Eyre. An appointment was also found for Sir Peter King, who had been originally a candidate for the solicitorship, and was supported by the zealous Whigs. As the queen refused to yield to his nomination, in resentment for his violent attacks on the Admiralty, he was first proposed for the situation of speaker; but the dispute respecting this important station being settled by a compromise with the court in favour of Sir Richard Onslow, he was gratified with the appointment of recorder to the city of London, which was purposely vacated by the nomination of the actual recorder to the office of baron of the court of exchequer. By these arrangements the Whigs were apparently gratified, and again tacitly coalesced with the court. The joint influence of the united parties being predominant in the new parliament, the proceedings met with no difficulty in foreign affairs and the grant of supplies, and encountered only a faint opposition on the part of the Scottish members to the arrangements arising from the Union.

With the death of the prince of Denmark may be connected an event, not unworthy of a place in these pages, although it produced no permanent effect on the state of domestic politics. This was the temporary renewal of the intercourse between the queen and the duchess. After the last acrimonious interview, a sense of wounded pride induced the duchess to remain silent, in conformity with the resolution which she had announced to the duke; and the unusual interval of several weeks appears to have elapsed, without any communication between her and the queen. As the crisis of the prince's last malady approached, her feelings of respect and attachment towards her sovereign revived; and she sent a letter of condolence to her afflicted mistress, though she could not avoid recurring to their recent altercation.

"Windsor Lodge, Oct. 26. Though the last time I had the honour to wait upon your majesty, your usage of me was such as was scarce possible for me to imagine, or for any body to believe, yet I cannot hear of so great a misfortune and affliction to you, as the condition in which the

prince is, without coming to pay my duty, in inquiring after your health; and to see, if in any particular whatsoever, my service can either be agreeable or useful to you, for which satisfaction, I would do more than I will trouble your majesty to read at this time."

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She had scarcely written this letter, before farther accounts of the prince's danger induced her to travel all night, and repair to Kensington. She desired the person charged with her letter to inform the queen that she waited her majesty's commands. She was accordingly summoned into the royal presence, in the afternoon; but the queen received her, to use her own expression, very coolly, and like a stranger." It was not to be expected that, after the recent dispute, the queen should accept this mark of attention, introduced as it was with expressions calculated to recall her past indignities; but the duchess was not discouraged by the repulse. She again waited on the queen the ensuing morning, and was present at the moment when the prince expired. With affectionate zeal she removed her royal mistress from this sad. spectacle to her closet, and desiring the other attendants to withdraw, she knelt down, and endeavoured to soothe the agonies of her grief, continuing in that posture till the first emotions had subsided. She then urged the imprudence of remaining in a place which must continually awaken her sorrow, and pressed her to remove to St. James's. Her importunities were for a considerable time fruitless; but at length her arguments prevailed. The queen delivered her watch to the duchess, desiring her to retire till the hand had reached a particular point, and ordered her to send Mrs. Masham. Though shocked at this mark of preference, the duchess withdrew, but did not summon the favourite, from an unwillingness to show her own decline of influence before the crowd which was collected in the ante-chamber. After preparing her own coach for the queen's reception, and desiring the company to retire while her majesty was passing, she returned at the appointed moment, announced that the carriage was ready, and excused herself for not delivering the message to Mrs. Masham, adding, "your majesty may send for her at St. James's, when and how you please.'

The queen acquiesced, and Mrs. Hill, the sister of Mrs. Masham, approaching to put on her hood, her majesty gave her some commission in a whisper. As she passed through

the gallery, leaning on the arm of the duchess, Mrs. Masham herself appeared, accompanied by Dr. Arbuthnot, one of the physicians of the household. The queen did not speak, but cast on her a look of regard. After giving some orders relative to domestic business, she entered the carriage; and immediately desired the duchess to request the lord treasurer to order an examination, whether there was room in one of the royal vaults at Westminster to receive the body of the prince and her own; and if not, to select another place of burial.

Having escorted her majesty to St. James's, and induced her to take some refreshment, the duchess retired, and the lord treasurer was admitted. But the queen soon followed her to her apartment, and not finding her there, sent a note, which marks her minute attention to all the details of the interment.

"I scratched twice at dear Mrs. Freeman's door, as soon as lord treasurer went from me, in hopes to have spoke one more word to him before he was gone; but nobody hearing me, I wrote this, not caring to send what I had to say by word of mouth; which was, to desire him, that when he sends his orders to Kensington, he would give directions there may be a great many yeoman of the guards to carry the prince's dear body, that it may not be let fall, the great stairs being very steep and slippery.

In the evening the duchess found the queen at table, and attended by Mrs. Masham, who instantly retired; but she carefully avoided any allusion to the new favourite, and the queen treated her with marks of renewed regard and familiarity. This was, however, a mere momentary change; for the duchess observes, that in her subsequent visits, she either found Mrs. Masham with the queen, or retiring on her entrance, and, indeed, reaped nothing from this sacrifice of her pride, except the mortification of observing the superior favour of her rival, and the decline of her own influence.'

* From a narrative of the events which took place on the death of the prince of Denmark, by the duchess

CHAP. LXXVI. STIPULATIONS WITH THE ALLIES.-1709

IN the general arrangements, Marlborough had not only to combat the intrigues of the party in Holland, who were obstinately bent on peace, but he had likewise to resist the exorbitant demands of the Dutch government, for the extension of their barrier, and particularly for the possession of Ostend. He encountered additional difficulty in vanquishing their objections to the intended augmentation of troops. He found the pensionary timid and hesitating, the adherents of France pertinacious and vehement, and even the best intentioned, more deeply impressed with their own financial embarrassments, than with the importance of the stake for which they were contending. He, however, exerted, with effect, his customary influence over the mind of Heinsius, overawed the partisans of France, and extorted the consent of the government to an augmentation of 6000 men, which, though not equal to the urgency of the case, was yet commensurate with their means, and proportionate to the supply which he had obtained from the British administration.

In his negotiations with the imperial court, he experienced no difficulty respecting the conduct of the war in the Netherlands, as Eugene, who was the channel of his communications, was no less satisfied than himself, that the principal effort of the enemy would be made in that quarter. It was therefore readily settled, that the imperial troops should winter in the Netherlands, and that a proper augmentation should be made. As the States refused to consent that both he and Eugene should be absent at the same time, he obtained from his colleague a promise to return to the Netherlands in the latter end of February, and himself wrote to procure the sanction of the emperor.

"The prince of Savoy,' he observed, "will communicate to your imperial majesty the letter of the States, urging the necessity that one of us should remain in the Low Countries during the ensuing winter; and as there is no time to receive the necessary orders, we have agreed, under the good pleasure of your inperial majesty, that his highness should immediately depart for Vienna, with the hopes that your imperial majesty will consent to his return, to relieve me towards the latter end of February,

Having since received the approbation of the queen, on the conclu sion of the campaign, we repaired hither without delay, and instantly began to concert with the States and the ministers of the allied powers, the measures for an augmentation of troops, and the necessary preparations, for opposing the mighty efforts of the enemy the ensuing campaign in the Netherlands, whither they are drawing from the Rhine and Italy fifty-two squadrons and fifty-one battalions more than they had last year. We find the States well disposed to make all possible exertions; but in truth their efforts have so much exhausted them, that we cannot expect the assistance necessary in the present extremity. I can assure your imperial majesty, that the state of England is not much better, the queen having strained every nerve; so that we are under the necessity of im ploring your assistance, and earnestly exhorting your imperial majesty to forward, with all possible expedition, the succours of troops, as well for Italy as other quarters, which, with all due submission, policy, as well as the principles of war, require in the present crisis, leaving, however, the 20,000 men under the command of the duke of Savoy, since we expect a powerful diversion on the side of Piedimont in our favour, provided a speedy accommodation can be effected with the pope, either by persuasion or force.

"I ought not to conceal from your imperial majesty, that the prospect of an approaching peace induces the States to make their final exertions, with the hopes that the next campaign will be the last; so that we ought not to omit any effort which may lead to a happy termination of the war. Your imperial majesty will permit me to refer you for further information to the prince of Savoy, who will deliver this letter, and do justice to my respect and devotion." *

Meanwhile the negotiation for peace had produced a considerable sensation at the court of Vienna; and the proposal relative to the cession of Naples and Sicily to the Bourbon prince, again prompted the emperor to anticipate the sacrifice of his interests, by adding the conquest of Sicily to that of Naples. Marlborough, however, strenuously combated a design, which would create the same mischief as the inva sion of Naples, and, at length, not only succeeded in dissuading him from the enterprise, but even obtained a promise, that he would send from the army in Naples a farther succour of 3000 men, to the assistance of his brother. This resolution was communicated in a letter from the emperor himself, dated January 28th, to which we find a grateful and respectful reply from the duke.

* Translated from a copy of the original, which is preserved in the archives at Vienna, communicated by his imperial highness the Archduke John.