liments,
and who was still in the first agonies of his grief, showed little
disposition to meet her advances. But Somers, who felt that every
thing was at stake, went to Kensington, and made his way into the royal
closet.

William was sitting there, so deeply sunk in melancholy that he did not
seem to perceive that any person had entered the room. The Lord Keeper,
after a respectful pause, broke silence, and, doubtless with all that
cautious delicacy which was characteristic of him, and which eminently
qualified him to touch the sore places of the mind without hurting them,
implored His Majesty to be reconciled to the Princess. "Do what you
will," said William; "I can think of no business." Thus authorised, the
mediators speedily concluded a treaty. [587] Anne came to Kensington,
and was graciously received; she was lodged in Saint James's Palace; a
guard of honour was again placed at her door; and the Gazettes again,
after a long interval, announced that foreign ministers had had the
honour of being presented to her. [588] The Churchills were again
permitted to dwell under the royal roof. But William did not at first
include them in the peace which he had made with their mistress.
Marlborough remained excluded from military and political employment;
and it was not without much difficulty that he was admitted into the
circle at Kensington, and permitted to kiss the royal hand. [589] The
feeling with which he was regarded by the King explains why Anne was
not appointed Regent. The Regency of Anne would have been the Regency
of Marlborough; and it is not strange that a man whom it was not thought
safe to entrust with any office in the State or the army should not have
been entrusted with the whole government of the kingdom.

Had Marlborough been of a proud and vindictive nature he might have
been provoked into raising another quarrel in the royal family, and into
forming new cabals in the army. But all his passions, except ambition
and avarice, were under strict regulation. He was destitute alike of the
sentiment of gratitude and of the sentiment of revenge. He had conspired
against the government while it was loading him with favours. He
now supported it, though it requited his support with contumely. He
perfectly understood his own interest; he had perfect command of his
temper; he endured decorously the hardships of his present situation,
and contented himself by looking forward to a reversion which would
amply repay