it?

If you come over hither we may talk better than write on the subject."

Consultation resulted in having the edition suppressed, for which no doubt the duchess was willing to compensate the publisher, and the offensive lines never saw the light during her grace's life; but two years after her death they were published in a folio sheet, when, it is to be hoped, they had no longer power to vex her spirit.

Meanwhile the "Account of her Conduct "—which after the fashion of the day, was addressed as a letter to a noble lord-had been given to the public. The duchess begins by saying she had been often told that some people were indifferent, not only as to whether they should be remembered after death, but whether, in case their names survived them, they should be mentioned with praise or infamy. This was a philosophy infinitely beyond her reach, and she owned it seemed to her too refined and sublime to be attained by anybody who had not first got rid of the prejudices of common sense and common honesty. She will not pretend to say that the passion for fame may not sometimes be excessive and deservedly the subject of ridicule; but she thinks there. never was a single instance of an honourable person who was willing to be spoken of, either during life or after it, as a betrayer of his country or of his friend.

After having shrewdly remarked that those who are indifferent as to what the world will say of them

"Account of her Conduct"

637

when they are out of it, are quite as unconcerned to deserve a good character whilst they are in it, she continues that, for her part, she frankly confesses that from the moment she could distinguish between good and evil, her ambition had been to gain a good name.

My chief aim," she writes, "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 have thought proper, and, generally speaking, with good reason, to confine our sex."

She then states that after her dismissal from Queen Anne's service, she had drawn up an account of her own conduct which she intended to publish immediately, but was dissuaded from doing so by a person of great eminence in his day, whom she thought her friend, who considered that prejudice and passion were then too violent to allow the voice of reason to be heard; but that these would in time subdue and the truth would then unavoidably prevail. "I followed the advice with the less reluctance," writes the duchess, "as being sure of the power of an easy vindication whenever my patience should be push'd to extremity."

Later she wrote another account of her conduct

regarding political parties and "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"; which was not intended to be published until after her death. "But my Lord," she continues, "as I am now drawing near my end, and very soon there will remain nothing of me but a name, I am grown 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, in which I now take the liberty to address them to your lordship."

CHAPTER XII

Storm produced by the Dowager Duchess's Book-She does not care what Fools or Mad People sayEmploys Henry Fielding to help Her in writing a Vindication-The Duchess of Buckingham draws near Her Death-The Ruling Passion strong in Death-She makes Preparations for a Pompous Funeral-Wishes to be laid beside King JamesStrange Vicissitudes attending His Majesty's Remains-Candles burn round Them for over a Century-Charles Duke of Marlborough and His Grandmother-He knows not Right or WrongThe Dowager Duchess erects a Statue to Queen Anne-Dwells on Former Days-Purchases a Chamber Organ Which beguiles Her LonelinessAnxious to have a Biography of Her Husband written Collects Papers and Letters for the Purpose-Employs Two Literary Men Whom She instructs-Her Desire is never gratified-Her Death at Marlborough House-The Terms of Her Will--Jack Spencer becomes Her Heir.