. Historical portraits ... the lives of Fletcher .. . flowedin, and on his recovery Harley was created Earl of Oxford and LordHigh Treasurer (May 1711). This was the high-water-mark of hiscareer. The peace of Utrecht earned him the hatred of the Whigs,while his subsequent quarrel with Lady Masham and Bolingbrokedestroyed his power with the extreme Tories and the had been dallying with both Hanoverians and Jacobiteswith a view to the succession, but Bolingbroke, fearing thathis irresolution might ruin the Stuart cause, procured Oxfordsdismissal on July 27, 1714, five days be
. Historical portraits ... the lives of Fletcher .. . flowedin, and on his recovery Harley was created Earl of Oxford and LordHigh Treasurer (May 1711). This was the high-water-mark of hiscareer. The peace of Utrecht earned him the hatred of the Whigs,while his subsequent quarrel with Lady Masham and Bolingbrokedestroyed his power with the extreme Tories and the had been dallying with both Hanoverians and Jacobiteswith a view to the succession, but Bolingbroke, fearing thathis irresolution might ruin the Stuart cause, procured Oxfordsdismissal on July 27, 1714, five days before the Queens he had nothing to hope from George, since his shamelessdouble dealing had been fully exposed, Oxford courageously refusedto fly, and was impeached (June 1715). He was sent to the Tower,whence he practised how to lay his head on the block and corre-sponded cautiously with the Jacobites until his release two yearslater. Henceforth he took small part in politics, and died, littlelamented, at his house in Albemarle Street in ROBERT HARLEV, FIRST EARL OF OXFORDFrom llic portrait after Sir Godfrey Kncller in the National Poitrait Gallery Face It. j86 ROBERT HARLEY 287 The dictum concerning him— if any man was ever born underthe necessity of being a knave, he was —is certainly more just thanthe partisan adulation of Pope and Swift. Harley had no qualitieswhich entitled him to the place which he achieved, save a genius fortortuous methods, and a shrewd discernment in his choice of in the absence of principle or capacity, he obtained much ofhis success by a judicious use of journalism. Defoe and Swift hemade his devoted adherents and his most powerful weapons inpolitics. But at the same time a certain pedantic culture inspiredhim with a genuine love of literature and of literary men. Hegathered a great library, and was the founder of the celebrated Harleian Manuscript collection now in the British Museum; hewas the friend, as well as th
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