is no less celebrated wife, who, as Lady
Churchill and Duchess of Marlborough, so long and wholly swayed the mind
and ruled the court of Queen Anne. Brought up in such close intimacy
with the Princess, Lady Churchill had assumed from childhood an absolute
ascendancy over her mind. Anne was indolent and taciturn; she delighted
in the lively talk of her companion and bosom friend, and loved her in
spite of her haughty temperament, to which her own easy disposition
yielded without offering the slightest resistance. Married to a sullen
and insignificant husband, whose sole delight was centred in a crapulous
love of the bottle; she had lost her only son during his minority--had
seen her father, James II. dethroned, her brother, the Chevalier St.
George, proscribed, and, to the exclusion of that well-beloved brother,
she was compelled to leave her crown to a stranger--the Elector George
of Hanover, for whom she felt an invincible aversion. Anne confided all
her griefs to her favourite Mistress of the Robes, and by degrees an
ardent affection for her inseparable companion, which had in it all the
delicate tenderness of feminine friendship, sprung up in the Princess's
bosom. Such was the strength of the attachment that it was the desire of
the Princess that all distinction prescribed by etiquette should be
waived. She required that in their epistolary correspondence they should
treat each other as equals, under the assumed names of Mrs. Morley and
Mrs. Freeman. Lady Churchill chose the latter, which would be, she said,
the emblem of her "frank, open temper." Under these assumed names they
wrote frequently to each other to communicate their sentiments of joy,
anguish, hope or fear, according to the events of the day, and gave
themselves up unrestrictedly to the momentary impulse of their hearts.

"I both obtained and held the place in her service," the favourite goes
on to relate, "without the assistance of flattery--a charm which, in
truth, her (the Princess's) inclination for me, together with my
unwearied application to serve and amuse her rendered needless; but
which, had it been otherwise, my temper and turn of mind would never
have suffered me to employ. Young as I was when I first became this high
favourite, I laid it down as a maxim, that flattery was falsehood to my
trust, and ingratitude to my dearest friend.... From this rule I never
swerved: and though my temper and my notions in most things were widely
different from