e, and at least she ought to have had all his mother's
jewels. This was enough to make him lose all respect for his indulgent
father. He downright abused his ministers, and talked impertinently to
his old grandmother the Princess Sophia, which ended in such a coldness
towards all his family as left him entirely under the government of his
wife.

"The indolent Elector contented himself with showing his resentment by
his silence towards him; and this was the situation the family first
appeared in when they came into England. This behaviour did not,
however, hinder schemes being laid by various persons of gratifying
their ambition, or making their fortunes, by particular attachments to
each of the Royal Family."

CHAPTER VII

AT HERRENHAUSEN AND ST. JAMES (1714-1716)

The Elector George Lewis not delighted at his accession to the British
throne--A greater man in Hanover than in London--Lady Mary modifies her
first impression of the King--She is in high favour at Court--An amusing
incident at St. James's--The early unpopularity of George I in England
generally, and especially in the capital--The Hanoverians in the Royal
Household--The Duchess of Kendal--The Countess of Darlington--Lady
Mary's description of the Hanoverian ladies--The Duchess of Kendal's
passion for money--Her influence with the King in political matters--Count
de Broglie--The scandal about Lady Darlington refuted--Lady Mary and the
Prince of Wales--The King and the Prince of Wales--The poets and wits of
the day--Gay's tribute to Lady Mary--Pope's verses on her--"Court Poems."

It is beyond question that the accession to the British throne gave no
thrill of pleasure to the King. He was fifty-four years of age, and had
no desire to change his state. It was necessary for him, as the present
writer has said elsewhere, now to go from a country where he was
absolute, to another where, so far from being supreme, when King and
people differed on a matter of vital importance, the monarch had to give
way--the price of resistance having been fixed, at worst at death, at
best exile or civil war. He had to go from a country where he was the
wealthiest and most important personage to another where he would be
merely regarded as a minor German princeling set up as a figurehead, and
where many of the gentry were wealthier than he. This point was
appreciated by Lady Mary when she went to Hanover in November, 1716, for
she wrote from there to the Countess of Bri