CHAPTER X.

COMMENCEMENT OF THE GEORGIAN ERA.

Lord Chancellor. Harcourt consults Atterbury respecting his first Communication to George I.-His Reply-Letter from Lord Bolingbroke-Prior in Custody-The Duchess of Marlborough appeals to the Bishop-The Duke of Ormonde, Atterbury, and Sir William Wyndham-Addison's Marriage-Eustace Budgell-Gay and "The What d'ye Call It"-Is offered the Post of Gentleman Usher to one of the Princesses-Jacobite Pamphlet attributed to AtterburyThe Duchess of Buckingham-Steele rewarded-Death of Prior-Lord Bathurst-The Bishop writes to Pope--Lord Lansdowne in the Tower-Honest Shippen - Pope to Atterbury on the South Sea Bubble-Atterbury to Pope on the Arabian Tales-Atterbury to Bishop Trelawney-His Letters to Pope-Pope's Estimate of Addison in his Epistle to Arbuthnot-Scurrilous Pamphlet-Pope's Villa—“ On the Bishop of Rochester's Preaching," by the Duke of Wharton.

As a lawyer and as a statesman Simon Harcourt had won his way to the highest estimation. He had filled with honour the posts of Solicitor and Attorney-General, and Keeper of the Great Seal; and on the 3rd of September, 1711, had been ennobled, with the title of Baron Harcourt, of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire. In April of the following year he became Lord High Chancellor. While a leading member in the last administration of Queen Anne, his lordship and Bishop Atterbury were brought into frequent communication; but their intimacy was of

much longer standing, and had been founded on Lord Harcourt's attachment to the Church, of which he gave one proof in his marriage with the daughter of a clergyman (the Rev. Thomas Clarke, M.A.), whose son married Elizabeth, the daughter of that estimable member of the Anglican Establishment, John Evelyn.

The Lord Chancellor seems to have permitted his mind to be influenced by indecision with respect to his conduct towards his new sovereign. His lordship had not hitherto, it is evident, quite reconciled himself to the Elector of Hanover, and writes to the Bishop of Rochester for his advice as to how he ought to address him, having at last made up his mind to write. The shortness of his sentences

indicates a hurried manner.

LORD CHANCELLOR HARCOURT TO BISHOP ATTERBURY.

My Lord,

Tuesday Even, August 10, 1714.

My neglect of writing* is inexcusable. I doubt it may be justly taken as an affront. I am determined now to do it, late as it is. An ill excuse is worse than none. My station will excuse the presumption. I wish I had your thoughts to-morrow morning in writing: pray send me two lines if I must see you no more. To excuse the neglect, to justify the presumption, and not appear mean, under the apprehensions I ought to have of being removed, are matters to be nicely considered. Your faithful servant,

Whatever I write will be certainly shown.†

HARCOURT.

Whether the Bishop regarded the Lord Chancellor's note as an experiment on his loyalty does not appear; but the frankness of the reply, with its

*To King George I.

+ Atterbury Papers.

278

ADVICE TO LORD HARCOURT.

suggestive conclusion, left no room for doubt on this point. The writer allows nothing to escape him that betrays disinclination to George I. The Protestant succession is admitted as an established fact; all that the politician ventures to state is the propriety of his correspondent writing as the leader of a party, a course his lordship did not follow. He preferred joining the Whigs, who were likely to have the entire direction of the Government; and having done this, he shared their hostility to his present adviser.

BISHOP ATTERBURY TO LORD CHANCELLOR HARCOURT.

My Lord,

Westminster, August 11, 1714.

Had I any reason to think your lordship could want my assistance in anything, I would not stir from the town. But I am far from that vanity. In the present case, I am sure there is no need of me; for my poor opinion is that the more plainly and nakedly, and without reserve, your lordship expresses your mind in that letter, the more welcome it will be.

There is no art requisite towards giving the K[ing] proper assurances that he has not a more faithful subject within his dominions, nor one that desires more to approve himself such by real services; that you thought the best service you could do, at this important juncture, was to make use of any advantage your station might give you towards uniting the hands and hearts of all his subjects, and securing the quiet of his kingdoms.

There is one way of addressing him, indeed, which would require more skill; that is, if your lordship thought fit to write, not merely as a single person, but in some measure as the head of an interest. This I could wish your lordship would do, and would take the steps proper to enable you to do it; but I do not find your lordship so disposed, and therefore am silent on that subject.-I am, &c. *

LORD BOLINGBROKE.

279

The writer of the next letter had been removed from his post of Secretary of State on the last day of the preceding month, in a fashion intended to mark the Royal displeasure; but George I. was not yet in England. His Majesty landed at Greenwich on the 18th, and the deposed and insulted minister had time to consult with his faithful friend and colleague. Bolingbroke shows that his disgrace affected him less than the collapse of that political influence which had maintained his authority. The change in the current of patronage had drawn off those among his supporters who made it a rule to go with the stream.

VISCOUNT BOLINGBROKE TO BISHOP ATTERBury.

My Lord,

September, 1714.

To be removed was neither matter of surprise nor of concern to me; but the manner of my removal shocked me for at least two minutes. It is not fit that I should be in town without waiting upon the King when he arrives; and it is less proper that I should wait upon him after what has passed tilf by my friends some éclaircissement has been had with him. I have written to the King, and I have spoken with Monsieur Bothmar, and both I hope in a way becoming me. On Sunday morning I go home, from whence I shall return as I receive advices from hence.

The satisfaction and the advantage of conversing with your lordship are so great, that I shall certainly make use of the opportunity of seeing you which you are so kind as to afford me. About eight to-morrow in the evening I will not fail to be at the Deanery.

I cannot conclude this letter without assuring you that I am not in the least intimidated from any consideration of the Whig malice and power; but the grief of my soul is this: I see plainly that the Tory party is gone. Those who broke from us formerly, continue still to act and speak on the same prin

280

WALPOLE AND PRIOR.

ciples and with the same passions. Numbers are still left, and those numbers will be encreased by such as have not their expectations answered. But where are the men of business that will live and draw together? You, my lord, know my thoughts as well as you know your own. Nothing shall tempt or fright me from the pursuit of what I know is right for the Church and nation; but the measures of the pursuit must I fear be altered. Till to-morrow, my lord, adieu.-I am, &c.*

On the 1st of December, 1714, Lord Stair superseded Prior in Paris, and he returned to England the following March, only to find that the day of retribution had arrived, and the Whigs were again in the ascendant. On the 25th he was committed to the custody of a messenger, and brought up for examination before a Secret Committee of the Privy Council on the 1st of April. Of this "wild examination," as he terms it, he has left a report; and he seems to have been badly used. The object of his examination, it presently appeared, was to establish a charge of high treason against the late minister as well as himself. On the 10th of June, 1715, the chairman, Robert Walpole, moved in the House of Commons an impeachment of Matthew Prior, and he was ordered into close custody. So he remained, no person being permitted to see him without leave from the Speaker. Even in 1717, when an Act of Grace was passed, he was one of the persons excepted. He was at last liberated, there being not the slightest charge against him. The whole transaction reflects disgrace upon Walpole and his abettors: it was unquestionably an exhibition of political spite.