The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-11-09

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Iea BE NJ Nh tha i screamed
Ishfm al. B6ycob el: RMS act revoked
Widespread dnlli gtfat ion and poeti emu
Esfons, pf which The following is 9 sample:
WhilBt Sarah from the royal ground
Roots up the royal oak
The sapling grooming from the wound,
| Thus to the siren spoke: M
''Ai! may the omen kindly fall.
For poor Britannia's good, s IA
I Or else not only me you fell :. ~.
But her who owns, the wood = i.
| In his sketch of Blenheim, published
last winter in the Pail Mall Magazine, the
present duke of Marlborough refers to
this duchess. of Marlborough as ian indis-
Greet woman" With unbounded power
lover Queen Anne, the duchess at last be-
came 80 pulled up with pride, egotism and
recklessness that she forgot the observ-
] ance of caution, and was often insolent
! to her sovereign. This the queen en-
dured, believing In Sarah's love for her,
till an incident came to her majesty's
knowledge one day that dissipated for
ever that belief Z
I This was on an occasion when Queen
AEne, noticing the absence of her gloves,
babe an attendant: fetch them from the
next room where she remembered she
| had left them. There Lady Marlborough
sat reading letter, and she had by acct
dent put on the queens, gloves. Very
submissiveiy the lady in waiting told her
| that she had on her majesty's gloves,
/ upon which Sarah, flying into a violent
| passion, exclaimed: "Have I on any
thing that has touched the odious hands
of that disagreeable woman.?'' and pull
| ing them off she cast them down, saying
''Take them away!' The lady in wait
| ing, Abigail Hill, Sarah's cousin, was a
| 81 ent woman of great discretion. AS
| she passed into the room where tho queen
| still was a glance informed her that her
| majesty had heard every word spoken
by the indiscreet duchess, and after 80
years of unstinted faith in her and of ar
| dent fondness for her the queens eyes
were opened to the real nature of Sarah's
feeling toward her. From that time on
the queens object was to get rid of tho
! Marlboroughs and. while it took her
years to do it, it was at length accom-
plished towards the last of her reign.
Never did the Duchess of Marlborough
learn that the queen had overheard her
speech that day. The lady in waiting
kept her own counsel, and was afterward
rewarded by becoming the most trusted
confident of Queen Anne. ~ -:
The torrent of abuse and threats used
by the duchess to hinder the displacing
Of herself and fami y and her extreme
violence toward her sovereign upon oc-
casions extended over years. From
childhood so much had been witlasn her
Knowledge regarding Queen Anne; the
letters between Mrs. Morley and Mrs.
Freeman written in unrestrained con-
fidence (Which the duchess was threaten
ing to publish), were powerful weapons,
and while they undoubtedly kept the
queen in check Sarah did not dare pub
lish them Q) because they involved her
self in dangerous past happenings and ca
the English people (whose idol Anne was)
threatened to tear the duchess limb from
limb if she shou publish anything in
furious to their queen.
Swift said of the Duchess Of Marlbor-
ough that three furies reigned in her
and ungoyernable rage" So greatly did
Queen Anne fear falling into this
woman's power that while the struggle
to displace her was being waged-during
such deliherations-the queens ladies
could not prevent her majesty FROM fall
ing into fainting fits.
I When the Marlborough family, except
ing the duchess, were finally dismissed,
they were in receipt of f96, 900 annual in
come: their daughters. Henrietta and
Anne, had received marriage portions Of
ESQ, 900 each. The site of Blenheim and
ESQ, 900 had been given them, and the
grant (,1nder conditions) Of the site Of
Marlborough House, together With emol~
uments regating-counting those &C
cruing from sales of court places--other
enormous sums. Still, as Oliver Twist
was said to have done, Sarah asked fer
more, and vigorously abused the queen
with tongue and pen on her failure to o.
tain it.
The supreme effort was to get from the
Duchess of Marlborough the insignia Of
her office. as mistress OF the robes-her
majesty's gold keys. No one had cour-
age to dare to approach her-not even
the sovereign's name-to make such
l.demand It was therefore decided to de-
fer this movement until the Duke OF
Marlhorough's return from abroad, where
he was then. On his return he had i'm
portant matters to submit to Queen
Anne, to which she positively refused to
listen until he had first recovered her
gold keys from possession OF his wife and
delivered them to her.
Thus urged the duke confronted his
angry spouse, demanding from her the
cold keys, which she refused to surren-
der. After stormy resistance how
ever, she threw them at his head, when
he snatched them up, carrying them
straightway to the queen, thus relieving
her majesty from the chance presence Of
the insolent woman who had been a ter
ror to her for SO many years Of her life.
The Duke Of Marlborough won many
great battles and he was beyond doubt,
a great general. Beyond a doubt, also,
he was man without elements OF fixed
integrity, whose many treasons and
shortcomings obscure the fame that he
otherwise might have Won AS some one
said of Louis Philippe, marlborough
was grand, mean man"
/ To Swift canstic wit may be attrib-
uted the saying "that Queen Anne might
make Sarah Churchill a duchess. butthat
it was beyond her power to make her a
gentlewoman." Rarely does it fall to the
lot Of subject to WELD such power. as
that which opportunity put into the hands
OF Sarah of Marlborough. Almost from
her infancy she had complete control over
the mind of Anne. When that princess
assembled the English throne, she was
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