borough, who, intoxicated with her almost unlimited sway,
no longer deigned to ask, but commanded.

The influence of the Duchess of Marlborough at the court of Queen Anne
was now well understood by the continental powers of Europe. When
England, in 1703, received a foreign potentate as her guest, the Duchess,
was, of all her subjects, the object peculiarly selected for
distinction. Charles, the second son of the Emperor of Austria, having
recently been proclaimed, at Vienna, King of Spain, in opposition to the
Duke of Anjou, completed his visits to sundry courts in Germany, whither
he had repaired to seek a wife, by paying his respects to Anne of
England. Anne received her royal ally with great courtesy at Windsor,
whither he was conducted by Marlborough, and there entertained with a
truly royal magnificence. All ranks of people crowded to see the young
monarch dine with the Queen in public, and his deportment and appearance
were greatly admired by the multitude, more especially by the fair sex,
whose national beauty was, on the other hand, highly extolled by
Charles. The Duchess of Marlborough, though no longer young, still
graced the court which she controlled. It was her office to hold the
basin of water after dinner to the Queen, for the royal hands to be
dipped, after the ancient fashion of the laver and ewer. Charles took
the basin from the fair Duchess's hand, and, with the gallantry of a
young and well-bred man, held it to the Queen; and in returning it to
the Duchess, he drew from his own finger a valuable ring and placed it
on that of the stately Sarah.

It was two years after this visit that Charles sent a letter of thanks
for the assistance granted him by the Queen against the French, which he
addressed to the Duchess of Marlborough, "as the person most agreeable
to her Majesty." The King might have added, as a partisan most
favourable to the aid afforded him, and most inimical to the sway of
France, which, by the will of the late King of Spain, Charles the
Second, had been unjustly extended over the Spanish monarchy.

At the time of the overthrow of the Tories, she had pushed obsession of
her royal mistress even as far as constraint. To the Whigs, who had
proscribed her brother, Anne preferred the Tories; but, in spite of
these sympathies the favourite had demanded the dismissal of the
Ministry, and the Queen had yielded, though not without the deepest
grief, to her imperious Mistress of the Robes.

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