Next time King William returned from Flanders he found the bribery and corruption in his government just as bad as ever, and the new prime minister worse than the old ones had been. Parliament was opened, and charges of the gravest character were brought even against the queen's immediate attendants, in some of whom she reposed the utmost confidence. This was a source of great trouble to Queen Mary, and in the midst of it Archbishop Tillotson fell dead in the pulpit one Sunday while performing the service. Christmas was approaching, and the royal pair decided {398}to spend it quietly at Kensington Palace. By the twentieth of December the queen was so ill that she must have had some doubts as to her recovery, for she sat up at her secretary the whole night examining and burning papers that she desired nobody to see. Perhaps this occupation aggravated her illness, for she grew worse, and two days later was considered in danger. Princess Anne sent to ask permission to wait on her majesty. The message was delivered to the first lady-in-waiting, who went into the bed-chamber where the queen lay, and in a few moments returned with the message, "That the king would send an answer the next day." But the only message received by the Princess Anne was a request to postpone her visit, because it was necessary to keep the queen as quiet as possible. The king was so distressed at his wife's danger that he had his camp-bed removed to her room, and remained with her night and day. At last Archbishop Tennison, who had replaced Tillotson, informed the queen that her end was drawing near. She was not at all surprised, and said, "That she thanked God she had left nothing to the last hour; she had then nothing to do but to look up to God and submit to His will." Then the last rites of the church were administered; but the queen did not die until the twenty-eighth of December, in the sixth year of her reign, and the thirty-third of her age. Not a word had the dead woman left for the sister with whom she had quarrelled; not an expression of sorrow or regret for the father whom she had injured. All the members of the House of Commons marched in the funeral procession, and Queen Mary was interred at Westminster Abbey. Queen Mary had desired to convert Greenwich Palace {399}into a retreat for seamen, which work she had begun after the battle of La Hogue, as we have seen. After her death King William reproached himself for having neglected her wishes in this respect. He lost no time in ordering a plan which was supplied by the well-known architect, Christopher Wren, and soon a magnificent building arose in place of the one that had been burned down. The king did not live to see the completion of this asylum, otherwise a statue of the real foundress would have graced the court. However, the building itself is a noble monument to the memory of Queen Mary II. {400} CHAPTER XII. ANNE, QUEEN-REGNANT OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. (A.D. 1694-1714.)