in long walks, and terraces, and was surrounded by a clipped holly hedge, and ornamented with choice shrubs, and beautiful flowers. But Peter had no taste for gardening, and with all his talent and energy, must still have retained much of his native barbarism, for he and his attendants totally ruined these cherished grounds with their rough pastimes; and the holly hedge, which Evelyn speaks of in his "Diary" as the pride of his garden, was sadly injured by Peter's extraordinary whim for being driven through it backwards and forwards in a wheelbarrow !

*

John Evelyn lived all through this reign, and died in 1706, having directed this noble truth, which he had learned by long experience, to be engraved upon his monument :-"That all is vanity which is not honest, and that there is no solid wisdom but in real piety."

* Horne's Life of John Evelyn.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

ANNE-FROM 1702 то 1714.

ON the death of William the third, his sister-inlaw, Anne, second daughter of the deposed king James, peaceably succeeded to the crown. She was made queen in her own right, while her husband, prince George of Denmark, refrained from any interference in the management of public affairs, and led a quiet and retired life. They had had several children, who had all died in their infancy, with the exception of one son, George, duke of Gloucester, who lived to be eleven years old. It was on the occasion of his death, very shortly after that of his aunt, queen Mary, that the Bill of Succession was passed, settling the crown on the electress of Hanover and her heirs, to the exclusion of those members of the Stuart family who were of the Roman Catholic faith. But, although this bill passed both houses, it met much opposition from the Jacobites, who were, you will remember, the adherents of James the second; and during the whole of Anne's reign, party

WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION.

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spirit ran very high indeed between the whigs and tories. In our days, by the term whig, we understand one who thinks much of the voice of the people; and by tory, one who leans more to the sovereign. But in queen Anne's time the tories inclined to Jacobinism, while the whigs were more intent on securing the Protestant succession. The queen herself was a tory, and the ministry at the beginning of her reign was principally composed of members of that party; but Anne had a friend, to whom she had long been attached, Sarah, afterwards duchess of Marlborough, a lady of strong mind, and many good and noble qualities, but unhappily of a proud, imperious temper, which led her to tyrannize over all connected with her, not even sparing her kind and indulgent royal mistress. This lady favoured the whigs, and soon contrived to have her own party in power.

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I told you that at the time of William's accident he was preparing for another French war. This was carried on by Anne, and is called the war of the Spanish Succession." It was conducted in Flanders, Germany, and Spain. England, in alliance with other European states, opposed Louis the fourteenth, who was endeavouring to force his grandson, Philip, upon the Spaniards as their king, in opposition to

the claims of the archduke Charles, whom they preferred. It was felt that France would become too powerful for the peace of Europe, were one of her princes allowed to wear the Spanish crown, and a war, which lasted ten years, was undertaken in favour of Charles. I do not intend entering much into the history of this war, as I feel sure my young readers have no more taste than myself for the miseries attendant on every war. But I must tell them something of the duke of Marlborough, the husband of queen Anne's friend, and the most celebrated general England has ever produced, with the exception of our own duke of Wellington, the "hero of Waterloo."

Marlborough was, like all truly brave men, distinguished no less by his humanity than his valour, and could not bear to look upon the sorrow caused by even the most brilliant victory. He had also the most perfect control over his temper; and you will no doubt, remember what Solomon says of such a man: "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city."

The army he commanded was composed of officers and soldiers of many nations; and he must often have been sorely tried in the midst of so many con