Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-10-31

Small injuries, indeedl But if there
g hate in tho heart the smallest ooca-
sion will call it forth. Queen Mary
disliked the Duchess of Marlborough,
and used almost every means to induce
Anne to dismiss her. Failing in this,
she resolved to part them by sending
the duchess from court. No sooner
said than done. But, 10 tho princess
follows her. Anne's devotion seems,
indeed, untiring. "Dear Mrs. Free
man must give me leave to ask" she
writes about this time, s.if anything
has happened to make her uneasy. /
thought she looked tonight as il she
had the spleen, and l can't help being
in pain whenever I see her So" And
again: "Do, for Gods sake have a
little care of your dear health"
On the other hand, the duchess treat
ed her mistress With . contemptuous
familiarity that alarmed her own
friends, and made her pastoi and her
physician urge her to use more self
restraint. When she attended Anne'a
coronation, the courtiers noticed that,
in holding or presenting the Queens
gloves, she turned her head away, "aa
if she had an i'll smell under her nose. ~
:. She vas nov, indeed, as the oour-
tiers called her, dictatress;" nor was
she queen in political ranks only.
Without tithe of Lady Mary's; learn
ing, she shone preeminent for wit as
we'll as beauty in circles where Lady
Nary Wortley Montagu was a guest.
The reigning star in the group that in
cluded Pope, Addison, Gay, Steele,
Congreve, and Ciber, the Duchess OF
Marlborough, who was by this time the
richest peeress in England, might we'll
look forward to . comfortable and in
f1uential old age, even after the eleva-
ton of Mrs. Masham threw her out of
the queens favor.
She occupied her declining years in
completing at Blenheim, = ducal resi-.
dence, costing million OF dollars, and
in swearing at Yanbru9h, the architect.
She survived her husband twenty-five
years, remaining at the head Of the
whig party, while the Duchess Of Buck
ingham, the natural daughter of James
IL aspired to be leader Of the Jaoobites.
"Queen Sarah, " who at this cheerful
period of her life seems to have hated
everybody, cordially hated hen. On
the death of her son, this lady sent to
the Duchess of Marlborough to borrow
the magnificent funeral car which had
borne her husband to the tomb. ut
carried my lord Of Marlborough, " said
the duchess in q fury, "and it shall
never carry any other" ""Tis of NO
consequence, was the retort, "I have
consulted the undertaken, and he can
make me one as good for &20."
With all her spite towards people in
general, the duchess had her pet aver
sions also. Sir Robert Walpole waa
one of them. So was Queen Charlotte.
Indeed, it would be hard to find a char.
acter more full Of "envy and all un.
charitableness" than the duchess in
her declining years. Pope's word
satirizing her under the name Of Atos.
Sd seems hardly exaggerated:
" Fully ta!id sixty years the world has been he'
The wisest fool much time has ever made.
From loveless youth to irrespected age
No passion graaihed except her rage,
Who breaks with her, provokes revenge from
he'll.
No more storm her hate than gratitude,
To that each passion turns, or soon or late,
Love. il i makes her yield, must make hel
hate"
Aacauley, who certainly cannot be
accused of any personal animosity in
the premises, says:
"She lived to be that most odioua
and miserable of human beinRs, an an.
cient crone-at war with her whole
kind, at war with her own children and
grand children. Great indeed, and
rich but valuing greatness and riches
chiefly because they enabled her ia
brave public opinion, and to indulge
without restraint her hatred t. the liv.
ing and to the dead" |
She died ut the age of eighty-foul
years, preserving her remarkable beau
ty to the last. WOman's ambition sel.
dom asks more than Lady Marlborough
possessed-extrcme beauty, social tai.
ent, wealth, the highest rank subject
can have, the answering truth of q
husband she could fear as we'll as love,
royal favor, nay, more, devotion and
yet, -; 49, ~. -:
"Without ono distress. 90.
Sick OF herself through very selfishness,
the Duchess of Marlborough died, say.
ing In almost her last breath: 81 thinl
one can't leave the world at, . bette,
time than nov, when there Is no such
thing as'real friendship, truth, justice,
honor, OF; indeed, anything that II
agreeable in lfe." :.