consequence
of a person of education and talents retiring to solitude and
indolence in the vigour of youth. Nichols's "Literary Anecdotes,"
vol. iii. p. 134. Nash's "History of Worcestershire," vol. i. p.
528.

[61] See his "Letters" xl. and xli., and more particularly xlii. and
xliii., with a new theory of political principles.

SECRET HISTORY OF THE BUILDING OF BLENHEIM.

The secret history of this national edifice derives importance from its
nature, and the remarkable characters involved in the unparalleled
transaction. The great architect, when obstructed in the progress of his
work by the irregular payments of the workmen, appears to have
practised one of his own comic plots to put the debts on the hero
himself; while the duke, who had it much at heart to inhabit the palace
of his fame, but tutored into wariness under the vigilant and fierce eye
of Atossa,[62] would neither approve nor disapprove, silently looked on
in hope and in grief, from year to year, as the work proceeded, or as it
was left at a stand. At length we find this _comedie larmoyante_ wound
up by the duchess herself, in an attempt utterly to ruin the enraged and
insulted architect![63]

Perhaps this was the first time that it had ever been resolved in
parliament to raise a public monument of glory and gratitude--to an
individual! The novelty of the attempt may serve as the only excuse for
the loose arrangements which followed after parliament had approved of
the design, without voting any specific supply for the purpose! The
queen always issued the orders at her own expense, and commanded
expedition; and while Anne lived, the expenses of the building were
included in her majesty's debts, as belonging to the civil list
sanctioned by parliament.[64]

When George the First came to the throne, the parliament declared the
debt to be the debt of the queen, and the king granted a privy seal as
for other debts. The crown and the parliament had hitherto proceeded in
perfect union respecting this national edifice. However, I find that the
workmen were greatly in arrears; for when George the First ascended the
throne, they gladly accepted a _third_ part of their several debts!

The great architect found himself amidst inextricable difficulties. With
the fertile invention which amuses in his comedies, he contrived an
extraordinary scheme, by which he proposed to make the duke himself
responsible for the building of Blenhei