While the queen's favour to the earl was thus gradually lessening, the breaches between him and his friends grew every day wider, which he looked upon with great indifference, and seemed to have his thoughts only turned upon finding out some proper opportunity for delivering up his staff: but this her majesty would not then admit; because, indeed, it was not easy to determine who should succeed him. In the midst of these dispositions at court, the queen fell dangerously sick at Windsor, about Christmas, 1713. It was confidently reported in town, that she was dead; and the heads of the expecting party were said to have various meetings thereupon, and a great hurrying of chairs and coaches to and from the earl of Wharton's house. Whether this were true or not, yet thus much is certain, that the expressions of joy appeared very frequent and loud among many of that party; which proceeding men of form did not allow to be altogether decent. A messenger was immediately dispatched, with an account of the queen's illness, to the treasurer, who was then in town; and, in order to stop the report of her death, appeared next day abroad in his chariot, with a pair of horses, and did not go down to Windsor till his usual time. Upon his arrival there, the danger was over, but not the fright, which still sat on every body's face, and the account given of the confusion and distraction the whole court had been under is hardly to be conceived: upon which, the treasurer said to me, "Whenever any thing ails the queen, these people are out of their wits; and yet they are so thoughtless, that, as soon as she is well, they act as if she were immortal." I had sufficient reason, both before and since, to allow his observation to be true, and that some share of it might, with justice, be applied to himself.

The queen had early notice of this behaviour among the discontented leaders, during her illness. It was, indeed, an affair of such a nature, as required no aggravation; which, however, would not have been wanting, the women of both parties, who then attended her majesty, being well disposed to represent it in the strongest light. The result was that the queen immediately laid aside all her schemes and visions of reconciling the two opposite interests, and entered upon a firm resolution of adhering to the old English principles, from an opinion that the adverse party waited impatiently for her death, upon views little consisting (as the language and opinion went then) with the safety of the constitution, either in church or state. She, therefore, determined to fall into all just and proper methods, that her ministers should advise her to, for the preservation and continuance of both. This I was quickly assured of, not only by the lord chancellor and lord Bolingbroke, but by the treasurer himself.

I confess myself to have been then thoroughly persuaded that this incident would perfectly reconcile the ministers, by uniting them in pursuing one general interest; and, considering no farther than what was fittest to be done, I could easily foresee any objections, or difficulties, that the earl of Oxford would make. I had, for some time, endeavoured to cultivate the strictest friendship between him and the general,* by telling both of them (which happened to be the truth) how kindly they spoke of each other; and by convincing the latter of what advantage such an union must be to her majesty's service. There was an affair upon which all our friends laid a more than ordinary weight. Among the horse and foot guards appointed to attend on the queen's person, several officers took every occasion, with great freedom and bitterness of speech, to revile the ministry, upon the subject of the peace and the pretender, not without many gross expressions against the queen herself; such as, I suppose, will hardly be thought on or attempted, but certainly not suffered, under the present powers. Which proceeding, besides the indignity, begot an opinion, that her majesty's person might be better guarded than by such keepers, who, after attending at court or at the levee of the general or first minister, adjourned, to publish their

The duke of Ormond.

disaffection in coffee houses and gaming ordinaries, without any regard to decency or truth. It was proposed, that ten or a dozen of the least discreet among these gentlemen should be obliged to sell their posts in the guards; and that two or three, who had gone the greatest lengths, should have a price fixed for their commissions, somewhat below the exorbitant rate usually demanded for a few years past. The duke of Ormond desired but ten thousand pounds to make the matter easy to those officers who were to succeed; which sum, his grace told me, the treasurer had given him encouragement to expect, although he pleaded present want of money; and I cannot but say, that, having often, at the duke's desire, pressed this minister to advance the money, he gave me such answers as made me think he really intended it but I was quickly undeceived; for, expostulating some days after with him upon the same subject, after great expressions of esteem and friendship for the duke of Ormond, and mentioning some ill treatment he had received from his friends, he said, he knew not why he should do other people's work. The truth is, that, except the duke, my lord Trevor, and Mr. secretary Bromley, I could not find he had one friend left, of any consequence in her majesty's service. The lord chancellor, lord Bolingbroke, and lady Masham, openly declared against him; to whom were joined the bishop of Rochester* and some others. Dartmouth, then privy seal, and Paulet, lord steward, stood neuters. The duke of Shrewsbury hated the treasurer, but sacrificed all resentments to ease, profit, and power; and was then in Ireland acting a part directly opposite to the court, which he had sagacity enough to foresee might quickly turn to account; so that the earl of Oxford stood almost single, and every day found a visible declension of the queen's favour towards him; which he took but little care to redress, desiring nothing so much as leave to deliver up his staff; which, however, as conjunctures then stood, he was not able to obtain; his adversaries not having determined where to place it; neither was it, upon several accounts, a work so proper to be done, while the parliament sate, where the ministry had already lost too much reputation, and especially in the house of lords. By what I could gather from several discourses with the treasurer, it was not very difficult to find out how he reasoned with himself. The church party continued violently bent to have some necessary removals made in the guards, as well as a further change in the civil employments through the kingdom. All the great officers about the court, or in her majesty's service, except the duke of Shrewsbury and one or two more, were in the same opinion; the queen herself, since her last illness at Windsor, had the like dispositions; and, I think, it may appear, from several passages already mentioned, that the blame of those delays, so often complained of, did not originally lie at the earl of Oxford's door. But the state of things was very much changed by several incidents the chancellor, lord Bolingbroke, and lady Masham, had entirely forsaken him, upon suspicions I have mentioned before; which, although they were founded on mistake, yet he would never be at the pains to clear; and, as he first lessened his confidence with the queen, by pressing her upon those very points, for which his friends accused him that they were not performed; so, upon her change of sentiments, after her recovery, he lost all favour and credit with her, for not seconding those new resolutions from which she had formerly been so averse. Besides, he knew, as well as all others who were near the court, that it was hardly possible the queen could survive many months; in which case, he must of necessity bring upon him the odium and vengeance of the successor, and of that party which must then be predominant, who would quickly unravel all he had done: or, if her majesty should hold out longer than it was reasonable to expect, yet, after having done a work that must procure him many new enemies, he could expect nothing but to be discharged in displeasure. Upon these reasons, he continued his excuses to the duke of Ormond, * Dr. Atterbury.

404

HALF HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY.

for not advancing the money; and during the six last months of his ministry, would
enter into no affairs but what immediately concerned the business of his office. That
whole period was nothing else but a scene of murmuring and discontent, quarrel and
misunderstanding, animosity and hatred, between him and his former friends.
the mean time, the queen's countenance was wholly changed towards him; she
complained of his silence and sullenness; and, in return, gave him every day, fresh
instances of neglect or displeasure.

In

The original of this quarrel among the ministers, which had been attended with so many ill consequences, began first between the treasurer and lord Bolingbroke, from the causes and incidents I have already mentioned; and might, very probably, have been prevented, if the treasurer had dealt with less reserve, or the lord Bolingbroke had put that confidence in him which so sincere a friend might reasonably have expected. Neither, perhaps, would a reconcilement have been an affair of much difficulty, if their friends on both sides had not too much observed the common prudential forms of not caring to intermeddle; which, together with the addition of a shrug, was the constant answer I received from most of them, whenever I pressed them upon the subject. I cannot tell whether my lord Trevor may be excepted, because I had little acquaintance with him, although I am inclined to the negative. Mr. Prior, who was much loved and esteemed by them both, as he well deserved, upon the account of every virtue that can qualify a man for private conversation, might have been the properest person for such a work, if he could have thought it to consist with the prudence of a courtier; but, however, he was absent in France at those junctures when it was chiefly necessary. And, to say the truth, most persons had so avowedly declared themselves on one side or the other, that these two great men had hardly a common friend left except myself. I had ever been treated with great kindness by them both; and I conceived, that what I wanted in weight and credit might be made up The former they never doubted, and the latter they with sincerity and freedom. had constant experience of: I had managed between them for almost two years; and their candour was so great, that they had not the least jealousy or suspicion of me. And I thought I had done wonders, when, upon the queen's being last at Windsor, I put them in a coach to go thither by appointment without other company; where they would have four hours' time to come to a good understanding; but, in two days after, I learned from them both, that nothing was done.

There had been three bishoprics for some time vacant in Ireland; and I had prevailed on the earl of Oxford, that one of them should be divided. Accordingly four divines of that kingdom were named to the queen, and approved by her; but upon some difficulties not worth mentioning, the queen's mandatory letters to Ireland had been delayed; I pressed the treasurer every week while her majesty was at Windsor, and every day after her return, to finish this affair, as a point of great consequence to the church in that kingdom; and, growing at length impatient of so many excuses, I fell into some passion, when his lordship freely told me, that he had been earnest with the queen, upon that matter, about ten times the last fortnight, but without effect; and that he found his credit wholly at an end. This happened about eleven weeks before the queen died; and, two nights after, sitting with him and lord Bolingbroke, in lady Masham's lodgings at St. James's, for some hours, I told the treasurer, that, having despaired of any reconciliation beI now tween them, I had only staid some time longer to forward the disposal of those power, bishoprics in Ireland: which since his lordship told me was out of his resolved to retire immediately, as from an evil I could neither help to redress, nor endure the sight of: That, before I left them, I desired they would answer me two questions: first, whether these mischiefs might not be remedied in two minutes? and, secondly, whether upon the present foot, the ministry would not be infallibly

ruined in two months? Lord Bolingbroke answered to each question in the affirmative, and approved of my resolution to retire; but the treasurer, after his manner, evaded both, and only desired me to dine with him next day. However, I immediately went down to a friend in Berkshire, to await the issue, which ended in the removal of my lord treasurer, and, three days after, in her majesty's death.

Thus I have, with some pains, recollected several passages, which I thought were most material, for the satisfaction of those who appear so much at a loss upon the unaccountable quarrels of the late ministry. For, indeed, it looked like a riddle, to see persons of great and undisputed abilities called by the queen to her service, in the place of others with whose proceedings she was disgusted, and with great satisfaction to the clergy, the landed interest, and body of the people, running, on a sudden, into such a common beaten court-track of ruin, by divisions among themselves; not only without a visible cause, but with the strongest appearances to the contrary, and without any refuge to the usual excuse of evil instruments, or cunning adversaries, to blow the coals of dissension; for the work was entirely their own.

I impute the cause of these misfortunes to the queen, who, from the variety of hands she had employed, and reasonings she had heard, since her coming to the crown, was grown very fond of moderating schemes, which, as things then stood, were by no means reducible to practice; she had likewise a good share of that adherence to her own opinions, which is usually charged upon her sex. And, lastly (as I before observed), having received some hints that she had formerly been too much governed, she grew very difficult to be advised.

I

The next in fault was the treasurer, who, not being able to influence the queen in many points, with relation to party, which his friends and the kingdom seemed to have much at heart, would needs take all the blame on himself, from a known principle of state-prudence, that a first minister must always preserve the reputation of power; but I have ever thought, that there are few maxims in politics, which, at some conjunctures, may not be very liable to an exception. The queen was by no means inclined to make many changes in employments; she was positive in her nature, and extremely given to delay. And surely these were no proper qualities for a chief minister to personate towards his nearest friends, who were brought into employment upon very different views and promises. Nor could any reputation of power be worth preserving at the expense of bringing sincerity into question. remember, upon a Saturday, when the ministers and one or two friends of the treasurer constantly met to dine at his house, one of the company attacked him very warmly, on account that a certain lord, who perpetually opposed the queen's measures, was not dismissed from a great employment, which, besides other advantages, gave that lord the power of choosing several members of parliament. The treasurer evaded the matter with his usual answer, that this was whipping-day ; upon which the secretary Bolingbroke, turning to me, said, “It was a strange thing that my lord Oxford would not be so kind to his friends, and so just to his own innocence, as to vindicate himself where he had no blame; for, to his knowledge and the chancellor's (who was then also present), the treasurer had frequently and earnestly moved the queen upon that very point, without effect; whereupon this minister, finding himself pressed so far, told the company, that he had at last prevailed with her majesty, and the thing would be done in two days, which followed accordingly. I mention this fact as an instance of the earl of Oxford's disposition to preserve some reputation of power in himself, and remove all blame from the queen; and this, to my particular knowledge, was a frequent case; but how far justifiable in point of prudence, I have already given my opinion. However, the treasurer's friends were yet much more to blame than himself; he had abundance of merit with them all

not only upon account of the public, the whole change of the ministry having been effected, without any intervention of theirs, by him and lady Masham.

THE FAGGOT.

SWIFT.

[Written in the year 1713, when the queen's ministers were quarrelling among themselves.]

Observe the dying father speak :

Try, lads, can you this bundle break;
Then bids the youngest of the six,

Take up a well-bound heap of sticks.

They thought it was an old man's maggot :
And strove by turns to break the faggot :
In vain the complicated wands

Were much too strong for all their hands.
See, said the sire, how soon 'tis done :
Then took and broke them one by one.
So strong you'll be, in friendship tied,
So quickly broke, if you divide.
Keep close then, boys, and never quarrel.
Here ends the fable and the moral.

This tale may be applied in few words
To treasurers, comptrollers, stewards,
And others, who in solemn sort
Appear with slender wands at court:
Not firmly join'd to keep their ground,

But lashing one another round :
While wise men think they ought to fight
With quarter-staves, instead of white;
Our constable with staff of peace,

Should come and make the clatt'ring cease;
Which now disturbs the queen and court,
And gives the whigs and rabble sport.

In history we never found,
The consul's fasces* were unbound;

Those Romans were too wise to think on't,

Except to lash some grand delinquent.

How would they blush to hear it said,

The prætor broke the consul's head;

Or, consul in his purple gown,

Came up and knock'd the prætor down?

Come, courtiers: every man his stick :
Lord-treasurer,† for once be quick;

An 1, that they may the closer cling,

Take your blue ribbon for a string.

Come, trimming Harcourt, bring your mace

And squeeze it in, or quit your place :

* Fasces, a bundle of rods or small sticks carried before the consuls at Rome.

Robert Harley, earl of Oxford.

Lord-chancellor.