Weary of the violences and inequalities of the temper of her haughty favorite, the queen had found some consolation in the affection of a young and adroit woman, a relative of the Duchess of Marlborough. Abigail Hill was simply a waiting-maid to the queen, who had married her, at the suggestion of her protectress, to a Mr. Masham, a poor gentleman of the chamber. At first she was not even admitted to the royal dressing-room. It was little by little, and through chance indiscretions, that the Duchess of Marlborough recognized that she was being supplanted in the confidence of the queen, who was naturally capricious. Notwithstanding her long fidelity to the duchess, the queen could not endure restraint. Mrs. Masham secretly introduced Harley; the anger of the duchess was to serve the ambition of the former Secretary of State, and the aspirations of the Tories towards power. An unfortunate trial, begun against an insolent and declamatory clergyman. Dr. Sacherevel, embittered religious passions. The High Church and the fashionable world were ardent and pronounced in favor of the accused. His sermon upon the "_False Brethren_," had not formally attacked the revolution of 1688, but had extolled the absolutism of the prerogative in sustaining the doctrine of non-resistance. His suspension for three years, by the House of Lords, was equivalent to an acquittal. "This fatal trial makes me sick," said Godolphin; "the life of a galley-slave would be a paradise for me." The Tories triumphed. "The ministers have a curate to roast," ironically said St. John, "and they have made so great a fire that they have roasted themselves." {128} On the 8th of August, 1710, after many significant changes in the cabinet. Lord Godolphin received by a messenger from the royal stables, a note from the queen, praying him to break the white rod--his insignia of office. The queen appeared before Parliament to dissolve it; the Chancellor, Lord Cowper, endeavored to speak, but Anne silenced him. The power passed from the powerful junta of the Whigs, and Harley was named Chancellor of the Exchequer; Lord Rochester became President of the Council, and St. John Secretary of State. The Duchess of Marlborough, disgraced without being dismissed, no longer saw the queen. Anne, overwhelmed by reproaches and insults, left the chamber where the duchess insisted upon remaining. Some months later the humility and prayers of the great general were unavailing to maintain the duchess in her position at court; he was obliged to pick up from the floor the golden key--the sign of office of the mistress of the robes--that his wife had flung away in her anger. "She has conducted herself strangely," avowed the duke, "but there is nothing to be done, and it is necessary to endure many things to obtain peace in the household."