ion of a third party. Abigail Hill, Mrs Masham, a cousin of the
duchess of Marlborough, had been introduced by the latter as a poor
relation into Anne's service, while still princess of Denmark. The queen
found relief in the quiet and respectful demeanour of her attendant, and
gradually came to prefer her society to that of the termagant and
tempestuous duchess. Abigail, however, soon ventured to talk "business,"
and in the summer of 1707 the duchess discovered to her indignation that
her protegee had already undermined her influence with the queen and had
become the medium of Harley's intrigue. The strength of the Whigs at
this time and the necessities of the war caused the retirement of
Harley, but he remained Anne's secret adviser and supporter against the
faction, urging upon her "the dangers to the crown as well as to the
church and monarchy itself from their counsels and actions,"[9] while
the duchess never regained her former influence. The inclusion in the
cabinet of Somers, whom she especially disliked as the hostile critic of
Prince George's admiralty administration, was the subject of another
prolonged struggle, ending again in the queen's submission after a
futile appeal to Marlborough in October 1708, to which she brought
herself only to avoid a motion from the Whigs for the removal of the
prince, then actually on his deathbed. His death on the 28th of October
was felt deeply by the queen, and opened the way for the inclusion of
more Whigs. But no reconciliation with the duchess took place, and in
1709 a further dispute led to an angry correspondence, the queen finally
informing the duchess of the termination of their friendship, and the
latter drawing up a long narrative of her services, which she forwarded
to Anne together with suitable passages on the subject of friendship and
charity transcribed from the Prayer Book, the _Whole Duty of Man_ and
from Jeremy Taylor.[10] Next year Anne's desire to give a regiment to
Hill, Mrs Masham's brother, led to another ineffectual attempt in
retaliation to displace the new favourite, and the queen showed her
antagonism to the Whig administration on the occasion of the prosecution
of Sacheverell. She was present at his trial and was publicly acclaimed
by the mob as his supporter, while the Tory divine was consoled
immediately on the expiration of his sentence with the living of St
Andrew's, Holborn. Subsequently the duchess, in a final interview which
she had forced upo