e chances of
James Stuart were frittered away in half-heartedness, insincerity, and
folly. While Bolingbroke and his confederates were caballing and
counselling, and paltering and drinking, the Whig statesmen were maturing
their plans, and when the moment came for action it found them ready to
act.

[Sidenote: 1714--The Council at Kensington]

The success was accomplished by a _coupe d'etat_ on Friday, July 30,
1714. The Queen was suddenly stricken with apoplexy. A Privy Council
was to meet that morning at Kensington Palace. The Privy Council meeting
was composed then, according to the principle which prevails still, only
of such councillors as had received a special summons. In truth, the
meeting of the Privy Council {41} in Anne's time was like a Cabinet
meeting of our days, and was intended by those who convened it to be just
as strictly composed of official members. But, on the other hand, there
was no law or rule forbidding any member of the Privy Council, whether
summoned or not, to present himself at the meeting. Bolingbroke was in
his place, and so was the Duke of Ormond, and so were other Jacobite
peers. The Duke of Shrewsbury had taken his seat, as he was entitled to
do, being one of the highest officers of State. Shrewsbury was known to
be a loyal adherent of the Act of Settlement and the Hanoverian
Succession. He was a remarkable man with a remarkable history. His
father was the unfortunate Shrewsbury who was killed in a duel by the
Duke of Buckingham. The duel arose out of the duke's open intrigue with
the Countess of Shrewsbury, and the story went at the time that the lady
herself, dressed as a page, held her lover's horse while he fought with
and killed her husband. Charles Talbot, the son, was brought up a
Catholic, but in his twentieth year accepted the arguments of Tillotson
and became a Protestant. He was Lord Chamberlain to James the Second,
but lost all faith in James, and went over to Holland to assist William
of Nassau with counsel and with money. When William became King of
England he made Lord Shrewsbury a Privy Councillor and Secretary of
State, created him first marquis and afterwards duke, and called him, in
tribute to his great popularity, the King of Hearts. He was for a short
time British Ambassador at the Court of France, and then Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland. He had flickered a little between the Whigs and the Tories
at different periods of his career, and in 1710 he actu