. A short history of England and the British Empire. een Anne was almostwholly wanting in the qualities that distinguish a ruler: shehad no personal charms and no talents of any sort,least of all those that are necessary to the diplo-mat or the politician. England in her day was governed by favorite her husband shecould expect no assis-tance: Prince Georgerealized that he had noabilities of the sort re-quired, and he had a wellfounded suspicion thatthe nation was alsoaware of it. QueenAnne was devoted tothe English church ; andas the churchmen werechiefly Tories, her lean-ings w
. A short history of England and the British Empire. een Anne was almostwholly wanting in the qualities that distinguish a ruler: shehad no personal charms and no talents of any sort,least of all those that are necessary to the diplo-mat or the politician. England in her day was governed by favorite her husband shecould expect no assis-tance: Prince Georgerealized that he had noabilities of the sort re-quired, and he had a wellfounded suspicion thatthe nation was alsoaware of it. QueenAnne was devoted tothe English church ; andas the churchmen werechiefly Tories, her lean-ings were in the samedirection, and wheneverpossible she selectedTories as her chief 399. The Duke andDuchess of Marlbor-ough. Williams deathon the eve of a tremendous war, the greatest that Europe hadknown for centuries, was a great loss to the enemies of Duke of But Williams preparations were complete ; he hadMarlborough. even seiected the general who was to lead theforces of the allies : John Churchill3 was the greatest military. Queen AnneFrom an engraving published 1815. Bates and Coman, 352 (Pope).Cheyney, No. 337. Tuell and Hatch, No. 59. THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH 425 genius of his age; he was also a statesman of the higher had been high in the favor of James II; but in 1688he had deserted to William, who had rewarded him with thetitle of earl. He was notalways faithful to theDutch king, but Wil-liam realized his useful-ness and forgave Anne he was alwaysloyal, and soon afterthe opening of her reignshe created him duke ofMarlborough. Duringthe first half of the newreign he was virtuallythe ruler of England:the management of thegreat war and the con-trol of foreign affairswere in his was nec-essarily absent with thearmy most of the time;but he had two efficientagents in London, his friend Sidney Godolphin, the lord treas-urer, and his wife, Sarah Jennings Churchill. The Duchess Sarah was a talented woman
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