ally joined the
Tory party. But it was well known to every one that if any question
should arise between the House of Hanover and the Stuarts, he would stand
firmly by the appointed succession. He was a man of undoubted integrity
and great political sagacity; he had a handsome face, although he had
lost one of his eyes by an accident when riding, and {42} he had a
stately presence. His gifts and graces were said to have so much
attracted the admiration of Queen Mary that if she had outlived the King
she would probably have married Shrewsbury. The condition of the
political world around him had impressed him with so little reverence for
courts and cabinets, that he used to say if he had a son he would rather
bring him up a cobbler than a courtier, and a hangman than a statesman.
Bolingbroke once kindly said of him, "I never knew a man so formed to
please, and to gain upon the affections while challenging the esteem."

[Sidenote: 1714--The Dukes of Somerset and Argyll]

Before there was time to get to any of the business of the council the
doors were opened, and the Duke of Argyll and the Duke of Somerset
entered the room. The Duke of Argyll, soldier, statesman, orator, shrewd
self-seeker, represented the Whigs of Scotland; the honest, proud,
pompous Duke of Somerset those of England. The two intruders, as they
were assuredly regarded by the majority of those present, announced that
they had heard the news of the Queen's danger, and that they felt
themselves bound to hasten to the meeting of the council, although not
summoned thither, in order that they might be able to afford advice and
assistance.

The Duke of Somerset was in many respects the most powerful nobleman in
England. But all his rank, his dignity, and his influence, could not
protect him against the ridicule and contempt which his feeble character,
his extravagant pride, and his grotesquely haughty demeanor, invariably
brought upon him. He was probably the most ridiculous man of his time;
he had the pomp of an Eastern pasha without the grave dignity which
Eastern manners confer. He was like the pasha of a burlesque or an
_opera bouffe_. His servants had to obey him by signs; he disdained to
give orders by voice. His first wife was Elizabeth Percy, the virgin
widow of Lord Ogle and Tom Thynne of Longleat, the beloved of Charles
John Koenigsmark, the "Carrots" of Dean Swift. While she was Duchess of
Somerset and Queen Anne's close friend, Swift, w