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INTRODUCTION.
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the event. Barnet says that "during the time of his credit, things had been carried on with more spirit and better success than before. He had gained such an ascendant over the king, that he brought him to agree to some things that few expected he would have yielded to, and managed the public affairs in both houses with so much steadiness and so good a conduct, that he had procured to himself a greater measure of esteem than he had in any former parts of his life; and the feebleness and disjointed state we fell into after he withdrew contributed not a little to establish the character which his administration had gained him."[1]
Disappointed with the world, and indignant at what he deemed the ingratitude of his party, Lord
- ↑ Among other good acts of his, it appears from a statement of the Duchess of Marlborough that his good offices were employed, and successfully, in reconciling William and the Princess Anne. "I never heard of any body that opposed this reconciliation, except the Earl of Portland; but the person who wholly managed the affair between the King and the Princess was my Lord Sunderland. He had upon all occasions relating to her showed himself a man of sense and breeding, and, before there was any thought of the Queen's dying, had designed to use his influence to make up the breach, in which, however, I am persuaded he could not have succeeded during the Queen's life. Her death made it easy for him to bring the King to a reconcilement."—Account of the Conduct of the Duchess of Marlborough.
