st
occasion which offered itself, that of Pulteney's rupture with Walpole
in 1726, he endeavoured to organize an opposition in conjunction with
the former and Windham; and in 1727 began his celebrated series of
letters to the _Craftsman_, attacking the Walpoles, signed an
"Occasional Writer." He gained over the duchess of Kendal with a bribe
of L11,000 from his wife's estates, and with Walpole's approval obtained
an audience with George. His success was imminent, and it was thought
his appointment as chief minister was assured. In Walpole's own words,
"as St John had the duchess entirely on his side I need not add what
must or might in time have been the consequence," and he prepared for
his dismissal. But once more Bolingbroke's "fortune turned rotten at the
very moment it grew ripe,"[11] and his projects and hopes were ruined by
the king's death in June.[12] Further papers from his pen signed "John
Trot" appeared in the _Craftsman_ in 1728, and in 1730 followed _Remarks
on the History of England by Humphrey Oldcastle_, attacking the
Walpoles' policy. The assault on the government prompted by Bolingbroke
was continued in the House of Commons by Windham, and great efforts were
made to establish the alliance between the Tories and the Opposition
Whigs. The Excise Bill in 1733 and the Septennial Bill in the following
year offered opportunities for further attacks on the government, which
Bolingbroke supported by a new series of papers in the _Craftsman_
styled "A Dissertation on Parties"; but the whole movement collapsed
after the new elections, which returned Walpole to power in 1735 with a
large majority.

Bolingbroke retired baffled and disappointed from the fray to France in
June, residing principally at the chateau of Argeville near
Fontainebleau. He now wrote his _Letters on the Study of History_
(printed privately before his death and published in 1752), and the
_True Use of Retirement_. In 1738 he visited England, became one of the
leading friends and advisers of Frederick, prince of Wales, who now
headed the opposition, and wrote for the occasion _The Patriot King_,
which together with a previous essay, _The Spirit of Patriotism_, and
_The State of Parties at the Accession of George I._, were entrusted to
Pope and not published. Having failed, however, to obtain any share in
politics, he returned to France in 1739, and subsequently sold Dawley.
In 1742 and 1743 he again visited England and quarrelled with Warburt