priests. The expedition of 1715 was
resolved upon against his advice. He drew up James's declaration, but
the assurances he had inserted concerning the security of the Church of
England were cancelled by the priests. He remained at Paris, and
endeavoured to establish relations with the regent. On the return of
James, as the result of petty intrigues and jealousies, Bolingbroke was
dismissed from his office. He now renounced all further efforts on the
Pretender's behalf.[8] Replying to Mary of Modena, who had sent a
message deprecating his ill-will, he wished his arm might rot off if he
ever used pen or sword in their service again![9]

He now turned to the English government in hopes of pardon. In March
1716 he declared his final abandonment of the Pretender and promised to
use his influence to secure the withdrawal of his friends; but he
refused to betray any secrets or any individuals. He wrote his
_Reflexions upon Exile_, and in 1717 his letter to Sir W. Windham in
explanation of his position, generally considered one of his finest
compositions, but not published till 1753 after his death. The same year
he formed a liaison with Marie Claire Deschamps de Marcilly, widow of
the marquis de Villette, whom he married in 1720 after the death in 1718
of Lady Bolingbroke, whom he had treated with cruel neglect. He bought
and resided at the estate of La Source near Orleans, studied philosophy,
criticized the chronology of the Bible, and was visited amongst others
by Voltaire, who expressed unbounded admiration for his learning and
politeness. In 1723, through the medium of the king's mistress, the
duchess of Kendal, he at last received his pardon, returned to London in
June or July, and placed his services at the disposal of Walpole, by
whom, however, his offers to procure the accession of several Tories to
the administration were received very coldly. During the following
winter he made himself useful in France in gaining information for the
government. In 1725 an act was passed enabling him to hold real estate
but without power of alienating it.[10] But this had been effected in
consequence of a peremptory order of the king, against Walpole's wishes,
who succeeded in maintaining his exclusion from the House of Lords. He
now bought an estate at Dawley, near Uxbridge, where he renewed his
intimacy with Pope, Swift and Voltaire, took part in Pope's literary
squabbles, and wrote the philosophy for the _Essay on Man_. On the fir