to separate a fierce lioness from her whelps.  The only person who could manage her was her husband; and when at last he compelled her to give up the keys, she threw them in a storm of passion at his head, and raved like a maniac.  It is amazing how the Queen could have borne so long with the Duchess’s ungovernable temper, and still more so how her husband could.  But he was always mild and meek in the retirement of his home,—­a truly domestic man, to whom pomp was a weariness.  Moreover, he was a singularly fortunate man.  His ambition and pride and avarice were gratified beyond precedent in English history.  He had become the foremost man in his country, and perhaps of his age.  And his wife was still looked to as a great personage, not only because of her position and rank, but for her abilities, which were doubtless great.  She was still a power in the land, and was surrounded by children and grandchildren who occupied some of the highest social positions in England.

But she was not happy.  What can satisfy a restless and ambitious woman whose happiness is in external pleasures?  There is a limit to the favors which fortune showers; and when the limits of success are reached, there must be disappointment.  The Duchess was discontented, and became morose, quarrelsome, and hard to please.  Her children did not love her, and some were in bitter opposition to her.  She was perpetually embroiled in family quarrels.  Nothing could soften the asperity of her temper, or restrain her unreasonable exactions.  At last England became hateful to her, and she and her husband quitted it, and resided abroad for several years.  In the retirement of voluntary exile she answered the numerous accusations against her; for she was maligned on every side, and generally disliked, since her arrogance had become insupportable, even to her daughters.

Meanwhile the last days of Queen Anne’s weary existence were drawing to a close.  She was assailed with innumerable annoyances.  Her body was racked with the gout, and her feeble mind was distracted by the contradictory counsels of her advisers.  Any allusion to her successor was a knell of agony to her disturbed soul.  She became suspicious, and was even alienated from Harley, whom she dismissed from office only a few days before her death, which took place Aug. 1, 1714.  She died without signing her will, by which omission Mrs. Masham was deprived of her legacy.  She died childless, and the Elector George of Hanover ascended her throne.

On the death of the Queen, Marlborough returned to England; and it was one of the first acts of the new king to restore to him the post of captain-general of the land forces, while his son-in-law Sunderland was made lord-lieutenant of Ireland.  A Whig cabinet was formed, but the Duke never regained his old political influence, and he gradually retired to private life, residing with the Duchess almost wholly at Holywell.  His peaceful retirement, for which he had longed, came at last.  He employed his time in surveying the progress of the building of Blenheim,—­in which palace he was never destined to live,—­and in simple pleasures, for which he never lost a taste.  His wife occupied herself in matrimonial projects for her grandchildren, seeking alliances of ambition and interest.