own promotion to Oxford's hatred, and to suppose that he was sent up to the House of Lords, only to render him contemptible. These suspicions were partly true, and partly suggested by Bolingbroke's own ambition; being sensible of his own superior importance and capacity, he could not bear to see another take the lead in public affairs, when he knew they owed their chief success to his own management. Whatever might have been his motives, whether of contempt, hatred, or ambition, it is certain an irreconcileable breach began between these two leaders of their party; their mutual hatred was so great, that even their own common interest, the vigour of their negociations, and the safety of their friends, were entirely sacrificed to it. It was in vain that Swift, who was admitted into their counsels, urged the unreasonable impropriety of their disputes; that, while they were thus at variance within the walls, the enemy were making irreparable breaches without. Bolingbroke's antipathy was so great, that even success would have been hateful to him, if Lord Oxford were to be a partner. He abhorred him to that degree, that he could not bear to be joined with him in any case; and even some time after, when the lives of both were aimed at, he could not think of concerting measures with him for their mutual safety, preferring even death itself to the appearance of a temporary friendship.

Nothing could have been more weak and injudicious than their mutual animosities at this juncture; and it may be asserted with truth, that men, who were unable to suppress or conceal their resentments upon such a trying occasion, were unfit to take the lead in any measures, be their industry or their abilities ever so great. In fact their dissentions were soon found to involve not only them, but their party in utter ruin; their hopes had for some time been declining, the whigs were daily gaining ground, and

the

the Queen's death soon after totally destroyed all their schemes with their power.

Upon the accession of George I. to the throne, dangers began to threaten the late ministry on every side; whether they had really intentions of bringing in the Pretender, or whether the whigs made it a pretext for destroying them, is uncertain; but the King very soon began to shew, that they were to expect neither favour nor mercy at his hands. Upon his landing at Greenwich, when the court came to wait upon him, and Lord Oxford among the number, he studiously avoided taking any notice of him, and testified his resentment by the caresses he bestowed upon the members of the opposite faction. A régency had been some time before appointed to govern the kingdom, and Addison was made secretary. Bolingbroke still maintained his place of state secretary, but subject to the contempt of the great, and the insults of the mean. The first step taken by them to mortify him, was to order all letters and packets directed to the Secretary of State to be sent to Mr. Addison; so that Bolingbroke was in fact removed from his office, that is, the execution of it, in two days after the Queen's death. But this was not the worst, for his mortifications were continually heightened by the daily humiliation of waiting at the door of the apartment where the regency sat with a bag in his hand, and being all the time, as it were, exposed to the insolence of those, who were tempted by their natural malevolence, or who expected to make their court to those in power by abusing him.

Upon this sudden turn of fortune, when the seals were taken from him, he went into the country, and having received a message from court, to be present when the seal was taken from the door of the secretary's office, he excused himself, alleging, that so trifling a ceremony might as well be performed by one

of

of the under secretaries, but, at the same time, requested the honour of kissing the King's hand, to whom he testified the utmost submission. This request however was rejected with disdain; the King had been taught to regard him as an enemy, and threw himself entirely on the whigs for safety and protection.

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The new parliament, mostly composed of whigs, met the 17th of March, and in the King's Speech from the Throne many inflaming hints were given, and many methods of violence chalked out to the two houses. "The first steps, (says Lord Bolingbroke, speaking on this occasion) in both were perfectly "answerable; and, to the shame of the peerage be "it spoken, I saw at that time several Lords concur "to condemn in one general vote all that they had "approved in a former Parliament by many parti"cular resolutions. Among several bloody resolutiS6 ons proposed and agitated at this time, the resolu"tion of impeaching me of high treason was taken, "and I took that of leaving England, not in a pa"nic terror, improved by the artifices of the Duke "of Marlborough, whom I knew even at that time "too well to act by his advice or information in any case, but on such grounds as the proceedings "which soon followed sufficiently justified, and such "as I have never repented building upon. Those, "who blamed it in the first heat, were soon after "obliged to change their language: for what other "resolution could I take? The method of prosecu❝tion designed against me would have put me out "of a condition immediately to act for myself, or "to serve those who were less exposed than me, but "who were however in danger. On the other hand, "how few were there on whose assistance I could de"pend, or to whom I would even in these circumstances be obliged! The ferment in the nation was

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"brought

"brought up to a considerable height; but there was "at that time no reason to expect that it could in"fluence the proceedings in Parliament, in favour of "those who should be accused: left to its own move❝ment, it was much more proper to quicken than "slacken the prosecutions; and who was there to "guide its motions? The tories, who had been true "to one another to the last, were a handful, and no great vigour could be expected from them: the whimsicals, disappointed of the figure which they "hoped to make, began indeed to join their old "friends. One of the principal among them, namely, "the Earl of Anglesea, was so very good as to con"fess to me, that if the court had called the servants "of the late Queen to account, and stopped there, "he must have considered himself as a judge, and "acted according to his conscience on what should "have appeared to him; but that war had been de"clared to the whole tory party, and that now the "state of things was altered. This discourse needed no commentary, and proved to me, that I had never erred in the judgment I made of this set of men. Could I then resolve to be obliged to them, "or to suffer with Oxford? As much as I still was "heated by the disputes, in which I had been all

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my life engaged against the whigs, I would sooner "have chosen to owe my security to their indulgence, "than to the assistance of the whimsicals: but I "thought banishment, with all her train of evils, "preferable to either."

Such was the miserable situation to which he was reduced upon this occasion; of all the number of his former flatterers and dependants scarcely was one found remaining. Every hour brought fresh reports of his alarming situation, and the dangers which threatened him and his party on all sides. Prior, who had been employed in negociating the treaty of Utrecht,

Utrecht, was come over to Dover, and had promised to reveal all he knew. The Duke of Marlborough planted his creatures round his Lordship, who artfully endeavoured to increase the danger; and an impeachment was actually preparing in which he was accused of high treason. It argued therefore no great degree of timidity in his Lordship, to take the first opportunity towithdraw from danger, and tosuffer the first boilings of popular animosity to quench the flame that had been raised against him; accordingly, having made a gallant shewof despising the machinations against him, having appeared in a very unconcerned manner at the play-house in Drury-lane, and having bespoke another play for the night ensuing; having subscribed to a new opera that was to be acted some time after, and talked of making an elaborate defence, he went off that same night in disguise to Dover as a servant to Le Vigne, a messenger belonging to the French King; and there one William Morgan, who had been a Captain in General Hill's regiment of Dragoons, hired a vessel, and carried him over to Calais, where the Governor attended him in his coach, and carried him to his house with all possible distinction.

The news of Lord Bolingbroke's flight was soon known over the whole town; and the next day a letter from him to Lord Lansdowne was handed about in print, to the following effect.

"MY LORD,

"I LEFT the town so abruptly, that I had no "time to take leave of you or any of my friends. You "will excuse me, when you know that I had certain "and repeated informations, from some who are in "the secret of affairs, that a resolution was taken, by "those who have power to execute it, to pursue me "to the scaffold. My blood was to have been the 66 cement