Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-03
ination in Europe until Napoleon re-
established it. When Marlborough came

ination in Europe until Napoleon re-
established it. When Marlborough came
home full of honors Addison. in re-
sounding phrase. described him thus:
Rides on the whirlwind and directs
the Storm"
Unlike the great Elizabeth. or even
Mary Tudor, 1t does not appear that
Queen Anne took any cognizance Of
the campaigns of the English armies
on the continent. All was left to MARI
borough. Wh9 was furnished with
his ranks. That he made good fighting
men out Of this timber speaks well for
his ability as disciplinarian. While
he was building up the army and WIN
ming his battles Queen Anne was sit
ting supine at home. accepting the ad-
vice Of her ministers. or quarreling
with the Duchess of Marlborough, who
insisted on being in court while her
militant husband was in the field. AS
for the pleasures Of the table Indeed,
behind her back, the courtiers called
her "Rrandy Man," because of her pota-
lions. During her days as a princess
some writer of epigrams hit off the
royal family thus:
King William thinks all:
Queen Mary talks all; -t
Prince George drinks all;
And Princess Anne eats all.
Notwithstanding the ridicule of many
qualities of good faith and womanii-
ness are recognized by posterity. She
was called Good Queen Anne" and de-
served the adjective, though perhaps
as applied to queens it is a little like
the term good hearted" which always
seems to attach to commonplace in
dividual
And yet after all Anne was common
place. Her era was glorious; her min
listers and generals were great but you
may thrash over as you will the records
of her time without finding that she was
In any sense the animating force. Per-
sonally she was weak woman, fond Of
f1attery. apt to be governed by some fe-
male favorite dominated by her preju-
dices. and wholly without such personal
conviction as would make her a great
figure in the time in which she lived.
That was the beginning of the new
) democracy In England. but in building up
the house Of commons and in developing
parliamentary government she took no
part. Her power was as flimsy as the
cottage architecture to which her name
has been lent. But the power of her
SO great and so wholly exerted on the
side of a new and stronger democracy in
England that what was accomplished in
her reign justifies the title she bears of
Good Queen Anne"
Anne was born to great era, exactly
as she was born to wear crown. She
neither made, honored. nor disgraced
that era. II she knew the great figures
in literature that honored it. history
does not so state. The records tell of
Queen Elizabeth treading a measure with
wild win Shakespeare but that Queen
Anne ever knew Addison. Swift. Steele,
or DeSoe is not recorded. Yet they
fiourished in her time and, barring the
debtors jail for Steele and the pillory
for Defoe, throve.
When the time came for her to die
her physician. DR.. Arbuthnot. declared
that no wearied traveller could have
longed more for rest than she in her
later years had longed for the end of
her life. We may we'll believe 1t. AS
mother she had seen such Of her chill
dren as came into the world alive pass
quickly out Of it. AS a queen, though
applauded and upheld by the people, she
was unable to impress herself upon the
government. England was going too
fast toward democracy for her, and per-
haps the best thing to say about Good
Queen Anne is that she did not one
thing to Tetard that progress.