Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 4.djvu/288

280 the queen of my request; which her majesty thought very reasonable, and did appear, upon all occasions, as desirous of preserving reputation with posterity, as might justly become a great prince to be. But that incurable disease, either of negligence or procrastination, which influenced every action both of the queen and the earl of Oxford, did, in some sort, infect every one who had credit or busmess in the court: for, after soliciting near four years, to obtain a point of so great importance to the queen and her servants, whence I could propose nothing but trouble, malice, and envy to myself, it was perpetually put off.

The scheme I offered was, to write her majesty's reign; and that this work might not look officious or affected, I was ready to accept the historiographer's place, although of inconsiderable value, and of which I might be sure to be deprived upon the queen's death. This negligence in the queen, the earl of Oxford, and my lady Masham, is the cause that I can give but an imperfect account of the first springs of that great change at court, after the trial of doctor Sacheverell; my memory not serving me to retain all the facts related to me: but what I remember I shall here set down.

There was not, perhaps, in all England, a person who understood more artificially to disguise her passions than the late queen. Upon her first coming to the throne, the duchess of Marlborough had lost all favour with her, as her majesty has often acknowledged to those who have told it me. That lady had long preserved an ascendant over her mistress while she was princess; which her majesty, when she came to the crown, had neither patience to bear, nor spirit