John Dennis, the dramatist, had a most extravagant and enthusiastic
opinion of his tragedy of _Liberty Asserted_. He imagined that there
were in it some strokes on the French nation so severe, that they would
never be forgiven; and that, in consequence, Louis XIV. would never make
peace with England unless the author was given up as a sacrifice to the
national resentment. Accordingly, when the congress for the negotiation
of the Peace of Utrecht was in contemplation, the terrified Dennis
waited on the Duke of Marlborough, who had formerly been his patron, to
entreat the intercession of his Grace with the plenipotentiaries, that
they should not consent to his surrender to France being made one of the
conditions of the treaty. The Duke gravely told the dramatist that he
was sorry to be unable to do this service, as he had no influence with
the Ministry of the day; but, he added, that he thought Dennis’ case not
quite desperate, for, said his Grace, “I have taken no care to get
myself excepted in the articles of peace, and yet I cannot help thinking
that I have done the French almost as much damage as Mr. Dennis
himself.” At another time, when Dennis was visiting at a gentleman’s
house on the Sussex coast, and was walking on the beach, he saw a
vessel, as he imagined, sailing towards him. The self-important timidity
of Dennis saw in this incident a reason for the greatest alarm for
himself, and distrust of his friend. Supposing he was betrayed, he made
the best of his way to London, without even taking leave of his host,
whom he believed to have lent himself to a plot for delivering him up as
a captive to a French vessel sent on purpose to carry him off.