MEMOIRS
OF
SARAH
DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH,
AND OF THE
COURT OF QUEEN ANNE.
BY MRS. A. T. THOMSON,
AUTHORESS OF “MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF HENRY THE EIGHTH,” “LIFE OF SIR
WALTER RALEIGH, &c.”
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I.
LONDON:
HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER,
GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
MDCCCXXXIX.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY IBOTSON AND PALMER,
SAVOY STREET, STRAND.
INTRODUCTION.
Had the subject of this Memoir lived in the present day, copious
accounts of the part which she performed in public life would have
instantly been given to the world. Her domestic habits, and her merits
and demerits of every description, would have been amply discussed. With
her personal qualities we should, from a thousand channels, have been
familiarised. Every peculiarity of her resolute and singular character
would have been unveiled to the inspection of an inquisitive and amused
public: nor would there have been wanting those who would have eagerly
grasped at such an opportunity of commenting upon the politics, manners,
and events of the day, as that which the biography of the Duchess of
Marlborough affords.
It is, nevertheless, a fact, that ninety-six years have elapsed since
the death of this celebrated woman, and, as yet, no complete account of
her singular career, no memoirs of her as a private individual, of any
length, or of any importance in other respects, have appeared; and it is
remarkable, that both the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, two persons
who acquired in their lifetime as great a share of celebrity as any
British subjects ever enjoyed, incurred a risk of not being
commemorated, after their decease, by any connected and adequate work.
The biography of John Duke of Marlborough, undertaken by three
individuals, was completed only by Lediard, who had served under the
hero of Blenheim, and who may be supposed to have felt a sort of
personal interest in his illustrious career. The coldness of those to
whom the task was deputed, recommended as it was to their zealous
attention by the promise of a considerable sum to forward its
completion, proves how feebly the public called for such a production.
It was not until the Duchess was on her deathbed that she began to
arrange the voluminous materials of the life of her husband. It was not
until two years before her death that she published her own Vindication,
which she entitled “An Account of the Conduct of the Dowager Duchess of
Marlborough, from her first coming to Court, to the year 1510.”
This book, published in 1742, after provoking several replies, fell into
a partial oblivion. The animadversions and discussions to which it gave
rise, and the contemptuous opinion pronounced upon it by Horace Walpole,
whose fiat in the fashionable world was decisive, have therefore
remained unanswered. Garbled as it was, it is yet a work replete with
ability, carrying a conviction of the sincerity of its authoress, and
unfolding the motives by which she was actuated, with force and
clearness. The following extract will afford the reader an opportunity
to form a judgment of the Vindication by the Preface to the Duchess’s
narrative. The just and noble sentiments which she expresses upon the
acquisition of a good name, and likewise upon posthumous reputation,
must prepossess the mind strongly in favour of that which is to follow
these sound and well-expressed motives of action.
“I have been often told that there is a sort of philosophy, by which
people have brought themselves to be indifferent, not only whether they
be at all remembered after death, but whether, in case their names
should survive them, they be mentioned with praise or infamy. If this be
really a point of wisdom, it is infinitely beyond my reach; and I shall
own further, that it seems to me too refined and sublimed to be attained
by anybody who has not first got rid of the prejudices of common sense
and common honesty. I will not pretend to say that the passion for fame
may not sometimes be excessive, and deservedly the subject of ridicule.
But surely, my lord, there never was a single instance of a person of
true honour, who was willing to be spoken of, either during life or
after it, as a betrayer of his country or his friend; and I am persuaded
that your lordship must have observed, that all those who, at this day,
declare themselves wholly careless about what the world, or the circle
of their acquaintance, will say of them when they are dead, are quite as
unconcerned to _deserve_ a good character while they live.
“For my own part, I frankly confess to you, and to the world, that
whatever vanity or weakness the ambition of a good name may be thought,
either by philosophers or by ministers of state, to imply, I have ever
felt some degree of that ambition from the moment I could distinguish
between good and evil. My chief aim (if I have any acquaintance with my
own heart) has been, both in public and private life, to deserve
approbation: but I have never been without an earnest desire to _have_
it, too, both living and dead, from the wise and virtuous.
“My lord, this passion has led me to take more pains than you would
easily imagine. It has sometimes carried me beyond the sphere to which
the men have thought proper, and, perhaps, generally speaking, with good
reason, to confine our sex. I have been a kind of author. About forty
years ago, having understood that the wife of the late Bishop Burnet, a
lady whom I greatly esteemed, had received unfavourable impressions of
me, on account of the unhappy differences between Queen Mary and her
sister, I wrote a faithful narrative of that affair purely to satisfy
that one person.
“And when, after my dismissal from Queen Anne’s service, I perceived how
industriously malice was employed in inventing calumnies to load me
with, I drew up an account of my conduct in the several offices I had
filled under her Majesty. This piece I intended to publish immediately,
but was dissuaded from it by a person (of great eminence at this day)
whom I thought my friend. I have since imagined that he had, by
instinct, an aversion to _accounting_. It was said, as a reason for
deferring the publication of my Account, that prejudice and passion were
grown too violent and stormy for the voice of reason to be heard, but
that those would, after some time, subside, and that the truth then
brought to light would unavoidably prevail. I followed the advice with
the less reluctance, as being conscious of the power of an easy
vindication, whenever my patience should be pushed to extremity.
“After this I set myself another task, to which I was partly urged by
the injustice, and I may say ingratitude, of the Whigs. It was to give
an account of my conduct with regard to parties, and of the successful
artifice of Mr. Harley and Mrs. Masham, in taking advantage of the
Queen’s passion for what she called _the church_, to undermine me in her
affections. In this undertaking I had the assistance of a friend to whom
I furnished materials. Some parts of the work were of my own
composition, being such passages as nobody but myself could relate with
exactness. This was not originally intended to be published until after
my death.
“But, my lord, as I am now drawing near my end, and very soon there will
remain nothing of me but a _name_, I am desirous, under the little
capacity which age and infirmities have left me for other enjoyments, to
have the satisfaction, before I die, of seeing that _name_ (which, from
the station I have held in the great world, must unavoidably survive
me,) in possession of what was only designed it for a legacy. From this
desire I have caused the several pieces above mentioned to be connected
together, and thrown into the form into which I now venture to address
them to your lordship. They may possibly be of some use towards
correcting the folly and injustice of those who, in order to judge of
the conduct of others, begin with forming to themselves characters of
them, upon slight and idle reports, and then make such characters the
rule by which they admit or reject whatever they afterwards hear
concerning them. If any such happy effect as this might reasonably be
hoped from the perusal of these papers, I should be far from making any
apology for offering them to your lordship; I would not call it
_troubling_ your lordship with them. No, my lord, you will not esteem it
a _trouble_ to read them, even though you should judge them useless for
the purpose I have mentioned. The friendship you favour me with will
make you find a particular satisfaction in this justification of my
injured character to the world. And I imagine that there is no honest
mind, how much soever it may chance to be prejudiced against me, but
will feel something of the same pleasure in being undeceived.
“The original letters, of which, either in whole or in part, the copies
will be here found, I have directed to be preserved in my family as
incontestable vouchers of the truth of what I am going to relate.”
The works which this “Account” very soon elicited, in reply to its able
strictures upon persons and things, are enumerated in those chapters of
this work which relate particularly to the scurrilous attacks from which
the Duke and Duchess perpetually suffered. The latter, indeed, lived too
short a period after her Account of her Conduct appeared, to refute the
misstatements which were circulated in various pamphlets, and by other
works of ephemeral celebrity. It was, perhaps, for the best, that an
opportunity of acrimonious retaliation was not afforded to one who was
apt, to use her own expression, to “tumble out her mind” in a manner not
always either very decorous, nor very gratifying to her hearers. Those
who recommended the Duchess to postpone her work were doubtless well
acquainted with her peculiarities, and dreaded the violence of that
explosion which must ensue. It was, probably, the wish of her friends
and relations, as it is said to have been their expectation, that the
Vindication should be posthumous.
The Duchess of Marlborough, in addition to her own powerful efforts, had
the good fortune also to be defended by the pen of the celebrated Henry
Fielding. It must, however, be acknowledged, that possibly the defence
of the great novelist was not disinterested. Fielding wrote, as it is
well known, many fugitive political tracts, for which he was accused of
venality, and it was generally understood that they were remunerated by
the party whom he espoused. It is extremely probable that a man disposed
to make his talents profitable may not have been ashamed to vindicate
the conduct of the wealthy and powerful Duchess, for a consideration;
and there were circumstances in the family of Fielding which confirm the
supposition. His father, Edward Fielding, served under the Duke of
Marlborough; and his sister Sarah, the accomplished friend of Bishop
Hoadly, had, through that medium, ample opportunities of introducing her
brother to the Duchess. The work which Fielding published in 1742, was
entitled “A Full Vindication of the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough, both
with regard to the Account lately published by her Grace, and to her
Character in general; against the base and malicious invectives
contained in a late scurrilous pamphlet, entitled ‘Remarks on the
Account,’ &c. In a Letter to the noble Author of those Remarks.”
The Duchess had been dead nearly two years, when an anonymous biography,
concise and meagre, entitled “The Life of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough,”
was published in 1745. This small volume, for into one small volume in
those days was the long life of the departed Duchess compressed, has
every appearance of being written by a person amicable to the Duchess,
although not in her confidence; no original letters are introduced, and
the anecdotes of the Duchess, which are given, though favourable, are
not so voluminous as those which one might glean in an hour, in the
present day, from newspapers. The Life was, in all probability,
according to the custom of the Duchess, ordered and paid for by her;
perhaps the task was remunerated whilst she was alive; but, from the
coldness with which it is written, it was probably completed after her
death.
This little book has hitherto constituted the sole biography of Sarah
Duchess of Marlborough. Her own Vindication commences and ends with her
court life, and its title-page distinctly states it to be “An Account of
the Conduct of the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough, from her first coming
to Court to the year 1710. In a letter from herself to my Lord ——.” The
name of this favoured nobleman, Earl Cholmondeley, has been supplied by
Sir John Dalrymple in his manuscript notes on the work entitled the
“Opinions of the Duchess of Marlborough.”
With such scanty materials for a foundation, those who are disposed to
read the work of which this Introduction forms a portion, might
naturally dread that many of its details must be gleaned from report,
supported by questionable authority. Fortunately, however, the Duchess,
among other precise and valuable habits, had a custom, not only of
preserving every letter that she had received, but of describing its
contents in her own peculiar terms on each epistle. During her residence
abroad with the Duke, after their reverse of favour, she composed, also,
an elaborate justification of herself, in the form of a letter to Mr.
Hutchinson; a narrative which supplies ample materials for compiling
that period of her life to which it relates. She likewise prepared other
statements, which, with her letter to Mr. Hutchinson, she was persuaded,
as she says, by her friends, not to publish, until a very long time
after the events to which they related were almost forgotten by the
world. These she framed afterwards into the Account of her Conduct,
leaving out, as Horace Walpole declared upon report, and as subsequent
investigations have manifested, the most pungent, and of course the most
interesting, portion of her communications.
A great portion of the Duchess’s narrative having been delivered in
conversation to Hooke, the historian whom she employed to make the book
intelligible, the most characteristic portion of the Account, which was
suppressed by the prudence of Hooke, is of course wholly lost. In the
materials which the Duchess collected to form the volume, many minute
particulars which were not deemed worthy of insertion in the Account,
are, however, preserved; and it has been the good fortune of the
authoress of these Memoirs to supply, in some instances, the garbled
passages from the Duchess’s papers, and to restore to the Vindication
the Duchess’s own language; those expressive and happy phrases which, as
the reader will perceive, described her own sentiments, and portrayed
the characters of others, in a manner that no dispassionate historian
could imitate.
Of such papers as were deemed fit for publication by the Marlborough and
Spencer families, Archdeacon Coxe, in compiling his elaborate “Life of
John Duke of Marlborough,” had the free use, with the privilege of
making copies. In the able work of this indefatigable historian he
availed himself, in some measure, of most of these valuable materials;
but in the progress of his heavy task, he never forgot that he was
compiling a biography of the Duke, not the Duchess, of Marlborough; that
he was dealing with the enterprises, the treaties, the opinions, and the
projects, of men, and not with the intrigues, the foibles, the feelings,
and the quarrels of women. He has, therefore, but rarely, and
incidentally, referred to the Duchess of Marlborough: hastening from the
subject, as if he indeed feared that her formidable spirit might be
recalled by the expressions of disapproval which he cautiously bestows
upon her, by the hints which he gives of her temper, and the conclusion
to which he fails not to lead the reader, that she was the source of all
the Duke’s disappointments and reverses. This determination on the part
of the Archdeacon, and the manifest prejudice which he had imbibed
against the Duchess of Marlborough, may readily be traced, by those who
are induced to examine the manuscripts which were placed in the Museum
by the executors of Dr. Coxe. These papers, which formed, in part, the
materials for the Life of the great General, and also for the Duchess’s
“Account,” are extremely interesting, and afford a satisfactory basis
for a memoir. They contain, amongst other documents, many private
letters, from which a selection has been already published, with great
success, under the title of “Private Correspondence of the Duchess of
Marlborough.” They comprise also, not only a mass of papers relating to
the Duke’s continental and political affairs, but a discussion upon the
reasons for the dismissal of Lord Godolphin, the mode in which it was
effected by Queen Anne, some curious correspondence relative to the
building of Blenheim, the letters of Lord Coningsby to the Duchess, and
her grace’s long and reiterated remonstrances with the Treasury upon
various topics, passages of which develope more of her character than
long pages of description could unfold.
These documents arrived at the manuscript office of the British Museum
in a state of the greatest confusion, rendering it almost surprising
that they had been preserved at all. By the industry and judgment of Mr.
Holmes, they have been carefully arranged, in a manner well adapted to
lighten the task of examining manuscripts, always, be the writing ever
so legible, more or less laborious. To them, many of the details, and
much of the interest, which the second volume of this work may perhaps
be found to possess, are to be attributed. An author may augur somewhat
confidently of interesting and pleasing a reading public, when he can
make his principal characters speak for themselves. Without the aid of
these manuscripts, the Memoirs of the Duchess would not have had the
character of originality to which, in some degree, it is presumed, they
may aspire. It is curious that in many instances the Authoress has found
it desirable to extract from these documents the very passages which Dr.
Coxe had most carefully rejected. In the few memorials of the Duchess to
which he has referred in his work, he has passed his pen across all
lively observations, as irrelevant, all detail, however illustrative of
her character, as unnecessary. Everything that could cheer the reader
during the recital of vexatious politics, and after the enumeration of
battles, was discarded, or discussed briefly.
Such are some of the sources from which information for these Memoirs
has been gleaned. The published works which have been consulted, were
selected without any reference to their political bias. The merits of
those famous questions which agitated this country in the reigns of
James the Second, William, and Anne, have been so fully and ably treated
in the histories of Dalrymple, Macpherson, Cunningham, Somerville,
Swift, and by many other writers, that it would be presumptuous,
inadequate to the task as the Authoress considers herself, to revive
such discussions. The aim of this work is chiefly to develope private
history, connecting it, by general remarks, with the leading events of
the day. From a sense of her own incompetency, the Authoress has,
therefore, abstained as much as possible from political discussions;
conceiving also, that to the generality of readers, it is a relief to
escape from subjects which provoke controversy, and to retire into the
private sphere of life, where the contemplation of character, and the
investigation of motives, become chiefly interesting.
These Memoirs, although they aspire not to the dignity of history, must,
however, necessarily embrace various themes, and comprise descriptions
of public men. The Authoress has endeavoured, in all that she has had to
perform, to regard justice and moderation as her guides; to draw her
portraits from the most approved sources, discarding all considerations
of party, until the outlines were traced, and the colours filled in. The
ferment of political strife which impeded important business, and
disgraced society in the reign of Anne, subsiding during the reign of
her successor and his son, is revived amongst us; and the similarity of
those great topics which then came before parliament, to those which
have, of late years, engaged our legislators, cannot but be obvious to
such persons as are conversant with our annals.
It is singular that a degree of uncertainty prevails both with respect
to the birthplace of the Duchess of Marlborough, and with regard to the
place of her grace’s decease. Neither is there any record in the
possession of her descendants which supplies us with an account of her
last moments. Regarding this important point, the Authoress applied both
to his Grace the Duke of Marlborough and to Earl Spencer for
information. To her inquiries, a prompt, but unsatisfactory reply was
returned by the Duke of Marlborough; namely, that he had, in compliance
with the Authoress’s request, examined such documents as he possessed,
relating to the Duchess of Marlborough; but that the search had been
fruitless, as far as any account whatsoever of her death was concerned.
His Grace expressed also uncertainty respecting the spot where his
celebrated ancestor breathed her last, but stated that he believed it to
have been at Holywell. To Earl Spencer a similar application was made.
His lordship answered, almost in the same terms as the Duke of
Marlborough, that every paper relative to the Duchess which was fit for
publication had been published, and that there was nothing in such as
were not deemed proper for publication, relating in any way to her last
hours.
It appears singular that there should have been no record preserved,
among her numerous grandchildren and relatives, of the decline and death
of one who had played so conspicuous a part in life as the Duchess of
Marlborough. Perhaps this deficiency may be accounted for by the
dissensions which divided the Duchess from her grandchildren, more
particularly Charles Duke of Marlborough, her grandson, and from his
Duchess, the daughter of her enemy, Lord Trevor. On the other hand, her
favourite and heir, the honourable John Spencer, was one of those
reckless beings who are not likely to dwell with much attention upon the
deathbed of an aged relative. With respect to the belief entertained by
the present Duke, though not, as his grace expresses it, with any
certainty, that the Duchess died at Holywell, the Authoress has only to
offer the opposing testimony of the work before alluded to, namely, the
Life of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, which states that she died at the
Friary, St. James’s, Marlborough-house. There is much presumptive
evidence in favour of this statement. Almost to her latest hour, as may
be seen in the Coxe Manuscripts, the Duchess was in correspondence with
Mr. Scrope, secretary to Mr. Pelham, who, in one of his letters, begs
the honour of an interview, and names an evening. This occurred about
four days before the Duchess’s demise. Now it is not probable that a man
in an official station could undertake a journey to St. Albans in those
days, when even the passengers by the mailcoach to Windsor rested at
Staines, and dined upon the road. It seems, therefore, probable that her
Grace’s earliest biographer was right, and that the worn-out frame and
restless spirit of this wonderful woman ceased to exist in the great
metropolis.
* * * * *
It is incumbent upon the Authoress to express to his Grace the present
Duke of Marlborough her thanks for his prompt and polite replies to the
inquiries with which she ventured to trouble his Grace. To the right
honourable Earl Spencer she has to make similar acknowledgments. To
several of her literary friends she also owes obligations.
It seems scarcely necessary, where anything curious is to be
elicited, or any kind action to be performed, to mention the name of
William Upcott. That name occurs many times in the course of this
work. To Mr. Upcott the Authoress owes, besides several valuable
suggestions, two interesting manuscript letters, now for the first
time published in the Appendix of the second volume. The first of
these completes the correspondence,—on the part of the Duchess,
angry and characteristic,—between her Grace and the Duke of
Newcastle; part of which is to be found in the “Private
Correspondence.”
The second letter, likewise in the Duchess’s handwriting, a copy of
which Mr. Upcott has allowed the Authoress to make from his valuable
collection of autographs, relates to an action with which the Duchess
was threatened in 1712. The Authoress is also indebted to Mr. Upcott for
a fac-simile of the Duchess’s handwriting, for various anecdotes
selected from the newspapers of the day, those perishable but important
records; and for a perusal of several scarce tracts and books, of which
ample use has been made in these volumes. She cannot, indeed, recal to
mind the urbanity, liberality, and intelligence of that gentleman,
without rejoicing that she has been favoured with his aid, in the
performance of a task of no inconsiderable difficulty.
It is with the greatest pleasure and gratitude that the Authoress
acknowledges her obligations to Mr. Holmes. Upon her application to him
at the Museum, he entered with a kind and lively interest into her
researches, and facilitated them in every way. To his aid, and to his
intimate knowledge of the manuscripts, she owes that selection of
materials which he pointed out as most remarkable.
The Authoress has expressed, in a note in the first volume of these
Memoirs, her acknowledgments to the Rev. Henry Nicholson, Rector of St.
Alban’s Abbey, for the important information which she derived from him,
regarding the birthplace of the Duchess. Had it not been for the
assistance of that gentleman, directed to the subject by the local
inquiries of friends, she must have followed Dr. Coxe in erroneously
stating that the Duchess was born at Sandridge.[1]
The Authoress has great pleasure in acknowledging her obligations to
another gentleman of great classical and literary attainments, the Rev.
I. S. Brewer, to whom she owes so many useful suggestions, that she only
regrets she had not the benefit of referring to his superior knowledge
at an earlier period of the work than that at which it was first
obtained.
The Authoress cannot close this introduction to the latest of four
historical and biographical works, without thus publicly expressing her
thanks to Mr. Keats, of the British Museum, for his indefatigable
attentions to her; and for the assistance which she has on many
occasions derived from his endeavours to aid her researches.
_Hinde Street, London,
April 27, 1839._
CONTENTS
OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
State of the country previous to the birth of Sarah
Jennings—Her parentage—Account of her sister, La Belle
Jennings—James the Second—Characters of Anne Duchess of
York, and of her successor Maria d’Esté—The Princesses Mary
and Anne—Origin and character of John Churchill—His family
and circumstances _Page_ 1
CHAPTER II.
Marriage of the Princess Mary—Marriage of Colonel Churchill
and Miss Jennings—Characters of Anne and Mary—Friendship of
Anne for Lady Churchill—Appointment of the latter to be Lady
of the Bedchamber to the Princess—Death of Charles the
Second 37
CHAPTER III.
State of manners and morals—Of parties—Defence of
Churchill—His share in the Revolution—Progress of that event 71
CHAPTER IV.
Change of manner in James—Character of Queen Mary—Her
submission to her husband—Surrender of the crown to
William—The indecision and reluctance of Anne—Her
stipulation for a settlement—The part which Lady Churchill
is said to have taken in the affair—She asks advice from
Lady Russell and Archbishop Tillotson—The different
qualities of these two advisers 109
CHAPTER V.
State of the British Court—Character of William 136
CHAPTER VI.
Character of Godolphin—His advice respecting the pension to
the Duchess of Marlborough—Feuds of Mary and Anne—Deficiency
of respect towards Prince George—Attachment of Marlborough
to his wife—Her residence at Holywell House—Birth of her
children—Cloud lowering over the fortunes of Lord
Marlborough 161
CHAPTER VII.
State of Parties—Character of Lord Nottingham—of
Bentinck—Influence of the Villiers family—Of Lady
Orkney—Quarrel of the Queen and Princess—Marriage of Frances
Jennings to the Duke of Tyrconnel—Suspicions of the Earl and
Countess of Marlborough entertained at court—Disgrace of
Lord Marlborough 180
CHAPTER VIII.
Release of Marlborough from prison—Confession of
Young—Altercations between Anne and Mary—Illness of Anne—of
Mary—Death of the latter—Reconciliation of King William to
the Princess 234
CHAPTER IX.
Circumstances attending the Peace of Ryswick—Appointment of
Marlborough to the office of preceptor to the Duke of
Gloucester—Bishop Burnet—His appointment and character 265
CHAPTER X.
Death of the Duke of Gloucester—Its effects on the
Succession—Illness and Deathbed of William—His last actions 297
CHAPTER XI.
Accession of Anne to the throne—That event considered by the
Whigs as unpropitious—Coronation of the Queen—Dislike of
Anne to the Whigs—Efforts of Lady Marlborough—Dismissal of
Somers and Halifax 314
CHAPTER XII.
Dissatisfaction of the Countess of Marlborough—Formation of
the new Cabinet—Her efforts to convert the Queen—Quarrels
with Lord Rochester—Reports concerning the sale of
offices—The Duchess’s sentiments on the proper mode of such
appointments—Cabals within the court 357
CHAPTER XIII.
Dangers which beset Marlborough—Peculiar circumstances
attending his return to England—Order in Council forbidding
the sale of places—Lord Marlborough raised to a
Dukedom—Sentiments of the Duchess on that occasion 376
CHAPTER XIV.
Death of the Marquis of Blandford—His character 413
CHAPTER XV.
Remarks on costume and manners in the time of Anne—Literary
men, their habits and station in society—The system of
patronage—Its effects in degrading the moral character of
writers—producing not only flattery, but slander—Mrs. De la
Rivière Manley—Dr. Drake—Prior—Congreve 432
APPENDIX 455
[Illustration:
_Fac-Simile of a Letter of the Duchess of Marlborough._
_J. Netherdift Lithog._
]
MEMOIRS
OF THE
DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH.
CHAPTER I.
FROM 1660 TO 1678.
State of the country previous to the birth of Sarah Jennings:—Her
parentage—Account of her sister, La Belle Jennings—James the
Second—Characters of Anne Duchess of York, and of her successor
Maria d’Esté—The Princesses Mary and Anne—Origin and character of
John Churchill—His family and circumstances.
The period which preceded the birth of the distinguished individual
whose singular course is traced out in these Memoirs, was one of
apparent luxury and security, but of actual and imminent peril to the
national welfare. Charles the Second, in the decline of what could
scarcely be deemed his days of prosperity, had not, indeed, experienced
the bitterness of grief, which, in the fatal events that succeeded the
rebellion of Monmouth, reduced the afflicted monarch to a state of
depression which hurried him to an unhonoured grave. That painful scene,
which in its effects upon the health and happiness of Charles recalled
to remembrance the anguish of the royal mourner for Absalom, had not
been as yet enacted: Monmouth was to appearance still loyal, at least,
still trusted; and the ascendancy of the Roman Catholic persuasion over
our Established worship was, at that time, problematical.
The opinions of reflective men, hushed by the wise determination not to
anticipate the effect of probable events, which might accomplish all
that they secretly desired, were resolving, nevertheless, into those
famous schools of politics, which it were wrong to denominate factions,
and which were afterwards divided into the three parties interwoven with
all modern history, denominated Jacobites, Tories, and Whigs.
It is true it was not until some years afterwards that these celebrated
appellations affixed to each combination certain characters, which have
ever since, with little variation, retained the stamp which each
originally bore; but the names only were wanting. Public opinion, in
those worthy to assert its importance, had actually arranged itself
under three different banners; although it required some signal
manifestations on the part of government, to draw forth the forces
marshalled under these, from the state of inaction in which for the
present they remained.
Amongst the middle, or moderate party,—who, not contending, like the
Jacobites, for the indefeasible and divine right inherent in one family
under every circumstance, asserted generally the principles of arbitrary
government,—a great portion of the gentry, landed proprietors, numbers
of whom had fought and bled for the Royal cause, and yet, who were, from
the same high spirit and loyal dispositions, equally ready to defend
their country from oppression should occasion require, might at this
period be enumerated. This respectable portion of the community were,
for the greater part, of the Protestant faith; and, therefore, whilst
dreading the notion of republicanism, they were attached to the reigning
monarchs, and averse to the succession of James, or to the Yorkist
Party, as it was called—a name which, by a singular coincidence, had
already proved fatal to the peace of England.
Upon the virtue and strength of the Tories, as they might then be
called,—though eventually they merged, as the abettors of the
Revolution, into the bolder faction, with whom from necessity they were
joined,—much of what has since been preserved to us, depended.
Notwithstanding the practice which obtained among those who had
sufficient influence, of sending their sons into the army, and their
daughters to court, it is from the royalist families that many of those
who promoted the Revolution, and who even suffered for their premature
exertions in the cause of liberty, have sprung. Individuals who would
have shuddered at the name of Revolution, whilst yet their restored
monarch ruled the country,—with a facility which, when we consider his
character and example, is incomprehensible,—became, in after times,
impatient to distinguish themselves in a resistance to the unsettled
mandates of a court, and in their eagerness to promote the dominion of
just and fixed laws. Amongst this class was the family of Churchill;
and, if we consider the Duchess as its chief representative, that of
Jennings. The origin, principles, and circumstances of the latter family
we are now about to discuss.
Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, the subject of this Memoir, a gentlewoman
by birth, and a favourite of fortune, affords, in the narrative of her
chequered life, an instance that integrity, unless accompanied by
moderation, cannot protect from the assaults of slander, nor personal
and hereditary advantages insure happiness.
This celebrated woman, the beautiful and intellectual offspring of
wealthy and well-descended parents; the wife of the most distinguished,
and also of the most domestic and affectionate of men; blessed as a
parent beyond the lot of most mothers; the favourite of her sovereign,
and endowed with superabundant temporal means; lived, nevertheless, in
turbulence and discontent, and died, unloved, unregretted, and
calumniated.
Her original condition in life was fixed by Providence in a station,
neither too high to enjoy the quiet privileges of domestic comfort, nor
too low to aspire to distinction; and it was rather her misfortune than
her privilege, that she was singled out, in early life, to receive the
favours of the great. She was the daughter of a country gentleman in
good circumstances. Her family had, for many generations, possessed an
estate at Sandridge in Hertfordshire, near St. Albans, at which place,
it has been stated, the father of the Duchess could muster a tenantry
sufficient to influence considerably the election of members for the
adjacent borough of St. Albans.[2]
The family of Jennings had been held in high estimation by the House of
Stuart, and were distinguished among the adherents to the Royal cause.
The Duchess, whatever might be her subsequent opinions of rulers and
princes, sprang from a race devoted to the hereditary monarchy. Her
grandfather, Sir John Jennings, received the order of the Bath, in
company with his unfortunate young patron, Charles the First, then
Prince of Wales; and the partiality of the Stuart family, when restored,
was successively manifested by proofs of favour to the owners of
Sandridge.[3]
These details refute the reports which prevailed, during the sunshine of
prosperity which the Duchess enjoyed, that her parents were of mean
origin. It was also stated, by the scandalous writers of the day, that
her mother was a woman of abandoned character, rejected from society,
and of the lowest extraction. Among the various proofs which might be
adduced in contradiction of this aspersion, the most convincing is the
correspondence which Mrs. Jennings maintained, with families of
respectability in her own neighbourhood. A letter is still extant,
between Sarah Duchess of Marlborough and the daughter-in-law of Sir John
Wittewronge of Rothamsted Park, near St. Albans, in which this
calumniated lady is referred to by Mrs. Wittewronge, addressing the
Duchess, as “your noble mother.”[4] This, and the still stronger
testimony which will be presently adduced, disprove the insinuations of
party writers, who required but a slender foundation of surmise upon
which to ground their injurious attacks.
Those who thus wrote were perhaps aware, that they could scarcely wound
a person of the Duchess’s disposition more deeply than by an aspersion
of this description. Yet, in her celebrated Vindication, written in old
age, the Duchess, with calmness, refutes in these terms those who sought
to defame her origin: “Though I am very little concerned about pedigree
or families, I know not why I should not tell you, that his (her
father’s) was reckoned a good one; and that he had in Somersetshire,
Kent, and St. Albans, about four thousand pounds a year.”[5]
The mother of the Duchess belonged, in fact, to a family in some degree
superior to that of her husband. She was Frances Thornhurst, daughter of
Sir Giffard Thornhurst of Agnes Court in Kent, and heiress to her
father’s property. Thus, on both sides, the Duchess might regard her
origin with complacency; and the expression of the antiquary Collins,
when he describes her relatives “as a considerable family,” is
justified.[6]
This point, of little importance had it not been obscured by malignity,
is readily ascertained: but of the dispositions, principles, and
attainments of the parents who nurtured one who played so conspicuous a
part, we have no authentic record. It is a singular fact, that until a
diligent inquiry was made, with a view to the compilation of these
Memoirs, a degree of obscurity existed, even with regard to the
birthplace of the Duchess. Archdeacon Coxe explicitly declares that she
was born at Sandridge; but, on examining the parish registers of that
place, no mention of that fact, nor indeed of the birth of any of the
Jennings family, is to be found in them; nor are there in the church, as
it now stands, any monuments inscribed with that name. Neither does
there appear to have been any house on the estate at Sandridge, of
nearly sufficient importance to have been the residence of the Jennings
family.[7] It appears, however, from indisputable testimony, that Sarah
Jennings was born on the twenty-ninth day of May,[8] in the year 1660,
at Holywell, a suburb of St. Albans, and in a small house, very near the
site of the spacious mansion afterwards erected there by her husband,
John Duke of Marlborough.
It is to be regretted that a reference to the registers of the Abbey of
St. Albans will not assist in establishing this point: in the fire which
broke out in that noble building in 1743, a portion of those valuable
memorials was burnt. But tradition, corroborated by probability, has
satisfied the minds of those most qualified to judge, that at Holywell,
the future “viceroy,” as she was sarcastically denominated, first saw
the light.[9]
This celebrated woman was one of five children, all of whom, excepting
Frances Duchess of Tyrconnel, she survived. Her brothers Ralph and John
died young; and one of her sisters, Barbara, who married a gentleman of
St. Albans, named Griffiths, died in London in 1678, in the
twenty-seventh year of her age.[10]
By the early demise of these relatives, the Duchess acquired that
hereditary property which became afterwards her home. At a very early
age, however, she must have left Holywell, to enter upon the duties of a
courtier. She was preceded in the service of Anne Hyde, Duchess of York,
by her eldest sister Frances, the celebrated _La Belle_ Jennings, who
graced the halls in which the dissolute Charles and James held carousal,
and who followed the destinies of the exiled James to a foreign land.
Resembling in some respects her sister, Frances Jennings was equally
celebrated for her talents and for her beauty. Her personal charms were,
however, of a softer and more alluring character than those of the
imperious Sarah. Her bright yet delicate complexion, her luxuriant
flaxen hair, and her attractive but not elevated features, might have
been liable to the charge of insipidity, but that a vivacity of manner
and play of countenance were combined with youthful loveliness, in
riveting the attention on a face not to be forgotten. Like her sister,
Frances possessed shrewdness, decision, penetration, and, their frequent
attendant in woman, a love of interfering. Proud rather than principled,
and a coquette, this lovely, aspiring woman had no sooner entered upon
her duties of a maid of honour, than her youth and innocence were
assailed by every art which could be devised, among men whose professed
occupation was what they termed gallantry. Frances united to her other
attractions remarkable powers of conversation; her raillery was
admirable, her imagination vivid. It was not long before her
fascinations attracted the notice of that devotee and reprobate, James
Duke of York, whose Duchess she served. But James, in directing his
attention to a Jennings, encountered all the secret contempt that a
woman could feel, and received all the avowed disdain which she dared to
show. To his compliments, the indignant and persecuted maid of honour
turned a deaf ear; and the written expressions of the Duke’s regard were
torn to pieces, and scattered to the winds. Nor was it long before
Frances Jennings found, in a sincere and honest attachment, an
additional safeguard against temptation.
Sarah, at twelve years of age, was introduced into the same dangerous
atmosphere. Fortunately for both sisters, in Anne Duchess of York they
found a mistress whom they could respect, and in whose protection they
felt security; for she possessed—the one great error in her career set
apart—a sensible and well-conditioned mind.
Her court was then the chief resort of the gay and the great. It was the
Duchess’s foible (in such circumstances one of injurious effect) to
pride herself upon the superior beauty of her court, and on its
consequent distinction in the world of fashion, in comparison with that
of the Queen, the homely Katharine of Braganza. But she had virtue and
delicacy sufficient to appreciate the prudence and good conduct of those
around her, and to set an example of propriety and dignity, in her own
demeanour, becoming her high station. United to a husband who, in the
midst of depravity, “had,” says Burnet, “a real sense of sin, and was
ashamed of it.”[11] Anne, had she lived, might have possessed, as a
Protestant, and as a woman of understanding, a salutary influence over
the mind of her husband;—an influence which prudent women are found to
retain, even when the affections of the heart are alienated on both
sides. But her death, which happened in 1671, deprived England of a
queen-consort who professed the national faith; and, in her, James lost
a faithful and sensible wife, and the court a guide and pattern which
might have checked the awful demoralization that prevailed.
Anne was succeeded by the unfortunate Maria Beatrix d’Esté, Princess of
Modena, called, from her early calamities, “the Queen of Tears.”[12]
Into the service of this lovely child, for such she then was, Sarah
Jennings, in consequence of the partiality entertained by the Stuarts
for her family, who had been always Royalists, was, shortly after the
death of her first patroness, preferred.
In the young Duchess of York Sarah found a kind mistress, an
affectionate and a liberal friend. Her subsequent desertion of this
unhappy Princess is, we are of opinion, one of the worst features of a
character abounding in faults; and proves that ambition, like the fabled
Upas tree, blights all the verdure of kindly affections which spring up
within the human heart.
Maria Beatrix, the beloved, adopted daughter of Louis XIV., encountered,
in her marriage with James, a fate still more calamitous than that which
the ungainly Katharine of Braganza, or the lofty but neglected Anne
Hyde, bore in unappreciated submission. Beautiful beyond the common
standard, and joyous as youth and innocence usually are, this unhappy
woman came, in all the unconsciousness of childhood, to incur the
miseries of suspicion and obloquy, and to experience subsequent reverse,
even poverty. She was hurried over to England, when little more than
fourteen years of age, to become the bride of James, then no longer
young, in whom bigotry was strangely united to looseness of morals,
which habitual and prompt repentance could not restrain. In his
phlegmatic deportment, in spite of the natural grace of all the Stuarts,
vice failed to attract, yet ceased not to disgust; nor can we be
surprised that repeated and fruitless negociations were necessary to
procure him a wife, after remaining a widower for more than two
years.[13]
In November, 1673, the ill-fated Princess of Modena landed at Dover. The
match, which had been accelerated by the promise of a portion to Maria,
his adopted daughter, from the King of France, was universally unpopular
in England. It had been, however, already concluded, the Earl of
Peterborough having, in September, married the Princess by proxy, in
Italy. He had conducted the bride to Paris, when Parliament met, and the
Commons voted an address to the King, to prevent the marriage of his
brother and the Princess, on the plea of her religion. The hopes of a
dowry prevailed, at a time when Charles was so impoverished as to
entertain an idea of recalling the ambassadors from foreign courts, from
the want of means to support them; and the Princess was married to the
Duke, at Dover, on the same evening that she landed, to prevent further
obstacles, the ceremony being performed according to the rites of the
Church of England.[14]
The Duke and the Duchess proceeded to Whitehall, where no very cordial
welcome awaited their arrival. The Duchess was refused the use of the
private chapel, which had been stipulated by the marriage articles, and
the Duke was advised by his friends to withdraw from the country.[15]
Such was the reception of Maria D’Esté, the mother of the Pretender,
and, as such, the innocent cause of many national disasters. In her
service, and favoured by her kindness, Sarah Jennings passed many years;
nor can the subsequent desertion of this lovely and unfortunate
Princess, which the then influential Countess of Marlborough justified
to herself, be viewed in any other light than as an act of the coldest
ingratitude. During the twelve years that Mary enjoyed a comparatively
private station as Duchess of York, she passed her time, and engaged
those around her, in innocent amusements and revels, which have been
always peculiarly agreeable in their rulers to the English people. Young
and light-hearted as she then was, Mary was herself the fairest flower
of the court, over which she presided with the gay grace of her country.
“She was,” says Macpherson, “of exquisite beauty. Her complexion was
very fair, her hair black, her eyes full of sweetness and fire. She was
tall in her person, and admirably shaped; dignified in her manner, and
graceful in her deportment.”[16]
By the sweetness and propriety of her conduct, she, in her hours of
sunshine, made herself universally beloved, notwithstanding her
religion; and amid the storms of her subsequent career she showed a
spirit and heroism which deserved a better cause, and a clinging
attachment to James which merited a worthier object.
There is no reason to conclude that at first Sarah Jennings lived
constantly in the household of the Duchess. “I was often at court,” is
an expression which occurs in a passage of her Vindication. She seems,
indeed, to have remained in the proximity of the Duchess, chiefly for
the purpose of being a sort of playmate, rather than attendant, of the
Princess Anne, the step-daughter of her royal mistress, whose favour she
ultimately succeeded in obtaining, and for whose dawning greatness she
relinquished her adherence to the falling fortunes of the Duchess. It is
probably to this intimacy with the juvenile branches of the court that
Sarah, in part, owed that correctness of conduct, which not even the
malice of her enemies could successfully impugn; and soon a sincere and
well-founded attachment, the great safeguard to wandering affections,
ended in an engagement which gave to the beautiful Miss Jennings an
efficient and devoted protector.
In the year 1673, John Churchill, afterwards Duke of Marlborough, was
appointed to be a gentleman of the bedchamber to the Duke of
York,—probably on occasion of the Duke’s marriage. Churchill was at this
time a colonel in the army, and already his fame stood high as an
officer of enterprise; whilst, at the court, there were few of the young
gallants of the day who could cope with this gifted man, in the dignity
and symmetry of his person, in the graces of his manner, or in the charm
which good-breeding, and a species of benevolence in small and every-day
matters, confer upon the deportment.
The illustrious name of Churchill requires, however, some comment,
before the disturbed course of his love-suit to his future wife, the
solace and torment of his later days, can be unfolded.
Roger de Courselle, or Courcil, one of the Barons of Poitou, who
followed William the Conqueror to England, and settled first in
Somersetshire, and afterwards in Devonshire, under the anglicised name
of Churchill, was the direct progenitor of Colonel Churchill. It is
worthy of remark, that at different periods the ancestors of our great
warrior have been noted for valour. In the reign of Stephen, Sir
Bartholomew Churchill lost his life defending Bristol Castle, in the
cause of the king; and in the disturbed times of Edward the Fourth,
William, a lineal descendant of Sir Bartholomew, fought under the
banners of the Courtenays in Devonshire, for his sovereign. Successive
proofs of loyalty were given by the Churchill family; and Sir Winston,
the father of the hero of Blenheim, left the University of Oxford,
whilst a youth, to enlist in the army of Charles the First, in which he
served with distinction, as a captain of horse, in several battles.[17]
It was the inevitable consequence of the political turmoils in which the
family of Colonel Churchill bore a part, that his patrimony should have
suffered. His youth was passed in privacy and restraint; and perhaps to
that circumstance may be traced that love of order in his affairs, and
that close regulation of his expenditure, which in his prosperous days
procured for him the opprobrium of penuriousness. During the civil wars,
his father had married a daughter of Sir John Drake, of Ashe in
Dorsetshire, where Sir Winston was thankful, after the execution of
Charles the First, to retire, his estates being sequestrated by
Parliament, and a fine of upwards of four thousand pounds imposed upon
him for his adherence to the Royal cause.
In the safe seclusion of Ashe, John Churchill was nurtured; and,
although upon the restoration of Charles the Second the family estate
was recovered, his father was honoured with knighthood, and employed by
government, his valiant son never derived any pecuniary advantage from
the paternal property.[18] Sir Winston ultimately was reduced to
circumstances of difficulty, in which he died, bequeathing his estate to
his widow, with a request that she would leave it to his third son,
Charles. To his family connexion, not solely to fortune or to his own
merits, was John indebted for his elevation to distinction. His
condition therefore, in some respects, resembled that of his early and
late affection, as far as worldly and external circumstances are
concerned.
The family of Churchill, like that of Jennings, was ancient; and young
Churchill possessed, in the power of referring to a long line of
ancestry, an incentive, to an ardent mind peculiarly attractive, to aim
at distinction, not only for self-gratification, but with the hope of
restoring to former honour those whose fortunes and fame had been
crushed, but not obliterated. Colonel Churchill, even from his
childhood, had been connected with a court, and destined to share a
courtier’s duties and rewards. From his boyhood he was honoured with the
notice of Royalty, the Duke of York being his first patron.
To the influence of James he owed his rapid promotion in the army; and,
as in all similar cases, several causes, such as were incidental to the
Stuart family, and probably from their known looseness of principle,
were assigned for his success. But to the good-nature and discernment of
James the Second, the first opportunity afforded to Marlborough of
becoming great must be attributed. Observing the enthusiasm of the
high-minded boy, then his page, during the reviews of the regiments of
Foot Guards, James inquired of the youth “what profession he would
prefer?” Churchill, neither overpowered nor abashed by this trait of
condescension, fell upon his knees, and owned a predilection for that of
arms, venturing to beg “for a pair of colours in one of those fine
regiments.” His petition was granted, and at sixteen years of age
Churchill entered the army.
This commencement of his fortune has been stated, but erroneously, to
have been the result of James’s passion for Arabella Churchill, the
sister of the young officer, and afterwards the acknowledged mistress of
the prince. But Arabella, who was younger than her brother, had not at
that time attracted the notice of her brother’s patron. In all
probability her transient influence over the Duke—that influence which
excited the sole pang of jealousy ever evinced by Anne Hyde—accelerated
the rise to eminence which Churchill gained with unusual rapidity, and
in consideration of which he appears, in compliance with the custom of
the day, to have witnessed, without the burning blushes of shame, his
sister’s disgrace. Arabella, indolent, easy, not beautiful,[19] and
unambitious, soon lost her royal lover’s regard. She bore him, however,
two sons, one, the celebrated James Fitz-James, Duke of Berwick; the
other, Henry, Grand Prior of France; and two daughters, Lady Waldegrave
and Mrs. Godfrey.
At the period of his appointment in the household of the Duke of York,
Colonel Churchill was in his twenty-fourth year. Already had he
distinguished himself at the siege of Tangier during his first campaign,
and had served afterwards under the Duke of Monmouth, and nominally
under Louis the Fourteenth; but, to the especial advantage of his
military character, he had fought under the banners of Marshal Turenne.
Already had he signalised himself in the attacks on Nimeguen, where his
courage attracted the discerning eye of Turenne, who gave him the name
of the “handsome Englishman;” and a station of importance having been
abandoned by one of Turenne’s officers, Captain Churchill was appointed
to maintain it, which he effected, expelling the enemy.[20]
At the siege of Maestricht Churchill still further advanced his fame,
and received the thanks of Louis the Fourteenth, and his fortunes seemed
to his youthful mind advancing to their climax, when he was presented to
Charles the Second by the Duke of Monmouth, with this warm-hearted
asseveration, characteristic of that gallant nobleman. “To the bravery
of this gallant officer,” said the Duke, addressing his royal father, “I
owe my life.” The last reward of Churchill’s valiant exertions had been
an appointment to the command of the English troops auxiliary to France;
a post which the Earl of Peterborough had resigned.[21] The fame of
these various services had been extolled by friends at court, and by
connexions, influential in various degrees, and for various reasons.
Recalled, at sundry times, to the duties of a court life, the hero who
surpassed the generals under whom he served, surpassed also the
courtiers with whom he came into frequent collision. He was endowed with
personal beauty, height of stature, (being above the middle size,)
activity, and sweetness of expression: in short, the perfection of the
species, high intellect combined with perfect grace, was exhibited in
this great, and, when chastened by the course of events, subsequently
good man. His countenance was mild, thoughtful, commanding; his brow
lofty, his features regular but flexible. His deportment was dignified,
and, at the same time, winning. “No one,” said one who knew him
personally, “ever said a pert thing to the Duke of Marlborough.”[22]
The same consummate judge even attributed the great success of the Duke
“to the Graces, who protected and promoted him.” “His manner,” Lord
Chesterfield declares, “was irresistible, either by man or woman.”
Like most young men destined to the profession of arms, the education of
Churchill was limited. Lord Chesterfield, indeed, declares that the
great Marlborough was “eminently illiterate, wrote bad English, and
spelt it worse;” and he goes so far as to assert, that “he had no share
of what is commonly called parts; he had no brightness, nothing shining
in his genius.”
But with this opinion, however backed by high authority, it is
impossible for those who trace the career of Marlborough to agree. That
he was not a man of extensive intellectual cultivation, as far as the
learning to be acquired from books was concerned—that he was not
calculated to harangue in the senate with peculiar distinction, nor
addicted deeply to the study of the closet—may readily be admitted. It
may even be allowed that he was deficient in the science of
orthography—in those days less carefully instilled in youth than in the
present time.[23] But that he was absolutely illiterate, or even of
mediocre parts moderately cultivated, his private letters sufficiently
disprove. They are all admirably expressed; clear, emphatic, and in
well-constructed sentences. His father was a man of letters, the author
of an historical work,[24] and by Sir Winston was the education of
Churchill superintended, until he was placed at St. Paul’s school,
London.[25]
To the “cool head and warm heart” of Marlborough, as King William the
Third expressed it, he owed his early and progressive success. He was at
once the object of affection and of confidence. His calmness, the
suavity of his temper, until disease, most cruel in its effects on
_that_, broke down his self-command; his forbearance—his consideration
for others—the gentleness with which he refused what he could not
grant—the grace with which he conferred favours—these qualities,
combined with indefatigable industry, hardihood, and a judgment never
prejudiced by passion, were the true sources of Churchill’s greatness,
the benignant spirits which made the gifts of fortune sweeter when they
came.
It is uncertain at what time or in what manner the first tokens of
ardent affection between Colonel Churchill and the youthful Sarah were
exchanged. The authoress of the “Life of Zarah” has given a romantic
description of their first meeting, in which, as in other ephemeral
works, we may suppose there may be some foundation of truth, but no
accuracy of detail. According to this account, the youthful fancy of
Sarah was first attracted by the grace of her valiant lover in the
dance—a recreation in which he particularly excelled. “Every step he
took carried death in it,”[26] and the applause and admiration which
Colonel Churchill obtained, sank deep into the heart of one whose
ambition was perhaps as easily stimulated as her love. Yet that her
affections were interested in the addresses of the brave Churchill, is
manifest from her rejection of another suitor of higher rank, the Earl
of Lindsay, afterwards Marquis of Ancaster, and of others, by whom she
was considered as “the star and ornament of the court.”[27]
The correspondence between these celebrated lovers during the anxious
days of courtship was preserved by the survivor, with a care that marked
the honour which she felt she had received in being beloved by such a
man as Marlborough. They are said, by Archdeacon Coxe, to have displayed
the most ardent tenderness on the part of Churchill, with alternations
of regard and petulance on that of the lady. Her haughtiness, and the
sensibility of her future husband, fully appear in these letters. Yet,
notwithstanding the defects of character which they betrayed in the one
party, the attachment on the side of the other increased in ardour, and
continued sufficiently strong to overcome all obstacles. Amongst these,
the scanty portion of Sarah, no less than the still greater deficiency
of means on the part of her lover, formed the principal impediment. In
order to show the different circumstances of each of the families with
which they were connected, it is necessary to give some account of their
various members, and of the fortunes which they had at this time begun
to share.
The adherence of the Churchill family to the royal House of Stuart, and
the adverse effect of that adherence upon the fortunes of Sir Winston
Churchill, have been already mentioned. Sir Winston, a man of
considerable learning and of approved bravery, had indeed so far
retrieved his circumstances, and relieved his estate of its heavy
burdens, as to be able, in 1661, to stand for the borough of Weymouth,
and to sit in the first parliament called by Charles the Second. He was
afterwards appointed a commissioner of the Court of Claims in Ireland,
and constituted, on his return from that country, one of the
comptrollers of the Board of Green Cloth,—an office from which he was
removed, but to which he was restored. But these appointments appear to
have been the sole compensation which he received for his active
services; and he seems to have devoted the latter portion of his days to
pursuits of literature rather than of ambition, being one of the first
fellows of the Royal Society, and the author of an able and elegant
historical work on the Kings of England, which composition he dedicated
to Charles the Second.[28]
Sir Winston’s means were encumbered, however, with seven sons and four
daughters; and although seven of this numerous family died in infancy,
yet still a sufficient number remained to entail anxiety upon the owner
of an impoverished estate. George Churchill, the third surviving son,
like his brother John, owed the first gleams of royal favour to family
interest, but insured its continuance by his merit. He distinguished
himself both by sea and land; was a faithful servant, for twenty years,
as a gentleman of the bedchamber to George of Denmark, and attained,
under King William, the post of one of the commissioners of the
Admiralty.
Charles, the fourth son, was also bred to arms, and, at an early age,
signalised himself at the time of the Revolution. To him the landed
property of Sir Winston descended, on account of some pecuniary
obligations which his father owed him, and which prove how circumscribed
were still the means of the brave and estimable Sir Winston. Like his
brothers, Charles held offices under the crown, and was appointed
governor of the Tower of London by Queen Anne.[29] Thus, whilst, by
merit and interest conjoined, the sons of Sir Winston Churchill attained
independence, and perhaps wealth, it was natural for him to desire that
his eldest surviving son should farther advance his fortunes by an
advantageous marriage; nor was it inconsistent with the notions of the
day, to look upon marriage solely as a negociation in which the
affections were not even consulted, or were at least regarded as of
secondary import.
That such were the sentiments of Sir Winston and Lady Churchill, appears
from the strenuous opposition which they made to their son’s union with
Miss Jennings: for at present her portion was inconsiderable, and her
family interest not to be compared with that of the Churchills. It is
true that the estate at Sandridge, to which the Duchess afterwards
became co-heiress, was more productive than those lands which Sir
Winston Churchill had saved from the grasp of the parliament; but still
it was encumbered by a provision for her grandfather’s numerous issue;
nor was it until the death of her brothers, without children, that Sarah
and her sister Frances shared the patrimonial property. Thus
circumstanced, and precluded on both sides from the expectation of
parental aid, the young soldier was obliged to depend upon his own
powers of exertion, to find means to form an establishment for the lady
to whom he made his ardent suit.
The young Duchess of York was, at this juncture, the counsellor and
confidante of Sarah, and she appears to have offered her and Colonel
Churchill some pecuniary assistance in this emergency.[30] Nor was her
bounty the only source from which a future provision for the lovers was
derived.
It is always an ungracious task to touch upon the errors of those who,
by a subsequent career of honour, have left, as the final testament to
posterity, an example of domestic virtue. The income which Colonel
Churchill possessed,[31] is said to have been derived from a
dishonourable source.[32] Amongst the causes of his rapid rise in the
army, as well as of his success at court, his relationship to the
celebrated Barbara Villiers, afterwards Duchess of Cleveland, has been
naturally regarded as one of the most powerful explanations of the
favours which he received. This infamous woman, described by Bishop
Burnet as “a woman of great beauty, but enormously vicious and ravenous,
foolish, but imperious,”[33] governed Charles the Second, as it is well
known, by the exhibition of the most tempestuous passions, which she
ascribed in his presence to jealousy of him, whilst her intrigues with
other men were notorious. She was second cousin to Churchill by his
mother’s side, being the daughter of Villiers Lord Grandison, who was
killed at the battle of Edge Hill. Whilst Churchill was a youth, she
imbibed for him too strong a partiality, in such a mind as hers, to
appear even innocent, if it really were so. Her passion for him was as
sudden as it was disgusting; and however it may have procured him some
temporary assistance, it drew upon him the displeasure of the King, who
at one time forbade him the court.[34] The advocates of Churchill have
endeavoured to attach little importance to this disgraceful connexion,
for which his youth and the temptations of the court alone furnish an
apology; yet they cannot, whilst they excuse, entirely deny a fact which
undoubtedly sullies the fair fame of Churchill.
Lord Chesterfield, in holding up the Duke of Marlborough as a model of
good breeding and irresistible elegance and suavity, thus touches upon
the fact of his being under pecuniary obligations to the imperious
Duchess of Cleveland. “He had,” says his lordship, “most undoubtedly an
excellent, good, plain understanding, with sound judgment. But these
alone would probably have raised him but something higher than they
found him, which was page to King James the Second’s queen. There the
graces protected and promoted him; for while he was an ensign in the
Guards, the Duchess of Cleveland, then favourite mistress of the King,
struck by those very graces, gave him five thousand pounds; with which
he immediately bought an annuity of five hundred pounds a year, of my
grandfather Halifax, which was the foundation of his subsequent
fortune.”[35]
Upon this slender annuity, thus disreputably obtained, the hopes of
Churchill and of the young object of his affections depended. Sarah
appears to have been capricious and undecided in her conduct during the
progress of their engagement, which lasted three years.[36] The cause of
these variations of feeling has been assigned to the opposition made by
Sir Winston and Lady Churchill to their son’s forming a union so far
below their expectations; but it may be referred to various other
sources. The high-minded Sarah must have been often offended and
wounded, in the nicest feelings, by the past irregularities of
Churchill’s life. Those irregularities were renounced, it is true, upon
his engagement with her, and his honourable and well-toned mind was
recalled to a sense of that beauty which attends purity of conduct, and
its power to dignify characters even of a common stamp. But the effects
of his past conduct were found in the bitterness and jealousy of those
by whom he had been hitherto flattered,[37] and by whom doubtless the
defects of his moral character may have been grossly exaggerated. Sarah
may have intended to prove the constancy of her accomplished lover,
when, hearing that his parents destined him to become the husband of a
young lady of superior fortune to her own, though of less beauty, she
petulantly entreated him “to renounce an attachment which militated
against his worldly prospects;” and adding many reproaches, pungent as
her pen could write,—and in the vituperative style she had few
equals,—she declared that she would accompany her sister Frances, then
Countess of Hamilton, to Paris, thus finally to end their engagement.
Her address to the honour, to the heart of Churchill, was not made in
vain; he answered her by an appeal to her affection, and by earnest
remonstrances against her cruelty, and a reconciliation was the
result.[38]
Whilst these sentiments secretly occupied the heart of Churchill, and of
her who loved him, perhaps, less for his excellencies than for the
effect which they produced upon others, several events took place at the
court of Charles, in which Colonel Churchill, during the intervals of
his military service, participated,—his office of master of the robes to
the Duke of York, an appointment granted him in 1673, retaining him near
the court; whilst Sarah, in the course of her attendance on the Princess
Anne, must have taken a considerable interest in the events which
immediately concerned the royal family.