Thus did Sarah Jennings rise.  Her daughters were married to great nobles and statesmen, her husband was the most famous general of his age, and she herself was the favorite and confidential friend and adviser of the Queen.  Upon her were showered riches and honor.  She had both influence and power,—­influence from her talents, and power from her position.  And when she became duchess,—­after the great victory of Blenheim,—­and a princess of the German Empire, she had nothing more to aspire to in the way of fortune or favor or rank.  She was the first woman of the land, next to the Queen, whom she ruled while nominally serving her.

There are very few people in this world, whether men or women, who remain unchanged under the influence of boundless prosperity.  So rare are the exceptions, that the rule is established.  Wealth, honor, and power will produce luxury, pride, and selfishness.  How few can hope to be superior to Solomon, Mohammed, Constantine, Theodosius, Louis XIV., Madame de Maintenon, Queen Elizabeth, Maria Theresa, or Napoleon, in that sublime self-control which looks down on the temptations of earth with the placid indifference of a Marcus Aurelius!  Even prosperous people in comparatively humble life generally become arrogant and opinionated, and like to have things in their own way.

Now, Lady Marlborough was both proud by nature and the force of circumstances.  She became an incarnation of arrogance, which she could not conceal, and which she never sought to control.  When she became the central figure in the Court and in the State, flattered and sought after wherever she went, before whom the greatest nobles burned their incense, and whom the people almost worshipped in a country which has ever idolized rank and power, she assumed airs and gave vent to expressions that wounded her friend the Queen.  Anne bore her friend’s intolerable pride, blended with disdain, for a long time after her accession.  But her own character also began to change.  Sovereigns do not like dictation from subjects, however powerful.  And when securely seated on her throne, Anne began to avow opinions which she had once found it politic to conceal.  She soon became as jealous of her prerogative as her uncle Charles and her father James had been of theirs.  She was at heart a Tory,—­as was natural,—­and attached to the interests of her banished relatives.  She looked upon the Whigs as hostile to what she held dear.  She began to dislike ministers who had been in high favor with the late King, especially Lord Chancellor Somers and Charles Montague, Earl of Halifax,—­since these powerful nobles, allied with Godolphin and Marlborough, ruled England.  Thus the political opinions of the Queen came gradually to be at variance with those advanced by her favorite, whose daughters were married to great Whig nobles, and whose husband was bent on continuing the war against Louis XIV. and the exiled Stuarts.  But, as we have said, Anne for a long