re to use his tongue or pen against him. Such
wretches, however, were found, and did not seem in the least to dread the
infamy which was promised them. The scurrilous ballad of which we have
already spoken was by one Ned Ward, a publican and rhymester, and it
pictured the entry of the duke in verses after the fashion of Hudibras.
It depicted the procession as made up of

Frightful troops of thin-jawed zealots,
Curs'd enemies to kings and prelates;

and declared that those "champions of religious errors" made London seem

As if the prince of terrors
Was coming with his dismal train
To plague the city once again.

The memory of what the Plague had done in London was still green enough
to give bitter force to this allusion.

{54}

Marlborough could have afforded to despise what Hotspur calls the
"metre-ballad-mongers," but his pride received a check and chill not
easily to be got over. When fairly rid of his enthusiastic followers and
admirers he went to the House of Lords almost at once, and took the
oaths; but he did not remain there. In truth, he soon found himself
bitterly disappointed; not with the people--they could not have been more
enthusiastic than they were--but with the new ruling power. Immediately
after the death of the Queen, and even before the proclamation of the new
sovereign had taken place, the Hanoverian resident in London handed to
the Privy Council a letter from George, in George's own handwriting,
naming the men who were to act in combination with the seven great
officers of State as lords justices. The power to make this nomination
was provided for George by the Regency Act. This document contained the
names of eighteen of the principal Whig peers; the Duke of Shrewsbury,
the Duke of Somerset, and the Duke of Argyll were among them; so, too,
were Lords Cowper, Halifax, and Townshend. It was noted with wonder that
the illustrious name of Somers did not appear on the list, nor did that
of Marlborough, nor that of Marlborough's son-in-law, Lord Sunderland.
It is likely that the omission of these names was only made in the first
instance because George and his advisers were somewhat afraid of his
getting into the hands of a sort of dictatorship--a dictatorship in
commission, as it might be called, made up of three or four influential
men. The King afterwards hastened to show every attention to Marlborough
and Somers and Sunderland, and he soon restored Marlborough to all h