Page:The Queens of England.djvu/550

 498 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. vogue. On a much later occasion, when queen, she is known to have driven herself forty miles during one hunt. The death of her son was speedily followed by that of her father at St. Germains ; and on the 8th of March in the follow- ing year, 1702, she succeeded to the British crown by the death of William the Third. Just previously a struggle had com- menced between France and Austria for the throne of Spain, and, siding with the Austrian claimant, William had suc- ceeded in entailing upon his successor an inevitable European war, which was protracted through nearly the whole of her reign. On attaining the supreme power, the generosity of her character and her genuine attachment to her subjects at large became signally apparent. In her first speech in the House of Lords, in the course of which she styled herself entirely English, she voluntarily gave back 100,000/. of the handsome revenue unanimously voted to her. Her coronation took place on April 23, 1702. She was afflicted with gout at the time and was carried through some of the ceremonials in an arm- chair. One of the first and greatest acts of her reign was that which still claims the grateful remembrance of many, under the denomination of "Queen Anne's Bounty." The sovereign had a right to the first fruits of every benefice conferred by the crown ; but she declined to arrogate these gains to herself and created instead a fund therewith to augment the livings of the half-starved poorer clergy. The name of Marlborough is inseparably associated with the reign of Queen Anne. Its history is little else but a his- tory of the court intrigues of the parvenue duchess of that name and the brilliant successes of the military genius of that age, the duke. A slight sketch of their lives and characters is requisite for a just comprehension of the acts of this monarch. Sarah Jennings, from having been the playmate of Anne in infancy, became the favorite companion of her youth, and after her marriage with Colonel Churchill was regularly attached to the household of the princess. The secret corre- spondence which Anne carried on with Mary in Holland, and the subsequent intrigues by which she aided the downfall of her father, were not merely advised upon with Sarah Churchill, but in great measure instigated by her. Thus she fell into a dangerous dependence upon the confidence of her favorite, and when, soon after the succession of William and Mary, the