nt occurred which completed the downfall of the
Duchess. The prosecution of Sacheverell had been advised by the Duke,
lest he should preach him and his party out of the kingdom.

CHAPTER III.

SUCCESS OF THE CABAL, ETC.

THE result of the trial of Sacheverell made Harley and the favourite
sure of the temper of the nation, and they resolved to hesitate no
longer. The cabal had succeeded, and the Queen, a tool in the hands of
others, by degrees gave up every appearance of regard for the Duchess,
or of gratitude to the Duke. Though still fighting his country's battles
and gaining immortal honours, the cabal sought to overwhelm him with
unkindness and mortification at home. On the death of Lord Essex, the
Queen was urged to give the Duke's regiment to Major Hill, Mrs. Masham's
brother. Marlborough, highly indignant, insisted on Abigail being
dismissed, or else he would resign; but the efforts of Godolphin and
other friends accommodated the matter, and he was contented with the
disposal of the regiment being left with him. To prove, as it were, the
influence of the favourite, the Queen soon after gave Hill a pension of
L1,000 a year; and she made the Duke consent to raise him to the rank of
brigadier.

It was Harley's plan to overthrow the Ministry by degrees; and when Lord
Godolphin was dismissed from office, the triumph of the adverse party
was complete. Thus fell the most able, and perhaps the most patriotic
administration that England had possessed since the days of Elizabeth.
It fell by disunion in itself, by the imprudent impeachment of a
contemptible divine, and by the intrigues of the bedchamber, where a
weak woman, whom the constitution had invested with power, was
domineered over by one attendant and wheedled and flattered by another.

It was thus that, after seven-and-twenty years' service and professed
friendship, Anne emancipated herself from all obligations, and shook off
the yoke which pressed too heavily on her mind, regardless of the
confusion into which her weak compliance with interested persons cast
the country.

It was now that all the malice which had been long repressed burst out,
and poured forth its vengeance on the disgraced favourite. Among other
libellers in the service of the new Ministry Swift employed his great
talents to cover her with ridicule and obloquy. In the celebrated
journal called "The Examiner," his unjust insinuations must have been
even more galling than his abuse.