Her majesty had, during the interval between dinner and supper, presented several ladies of the highest rank to the king, and he had saluted each with a kiss, which was the privilege of his station. But a grand act of courtesy was reserved for the royal favorites, the Duke and the Duchess of Marlborough. To the former, King Charles presented his sword, saying at the same time, "that he had nothing worthier of his acceptance, for he was a poor prince, who had little more than his sword and his mantle." After supper he prevailed on the duchess to give him the napkin which it was her duty to present to the queen, and he held it while her majesty washed her hands. On returning it to the Duchess of Marlborough, the king placed a superb diamond ring on her finger. He then gave his hand to the queen, and led her to her bed- {453}chamber, where he took formal leave, and expressed his intention to depart early the next morning. Prince George meant to escort the royal guest back to his ship at Portsmouth, but as he was far from well the Duke of Somerset was appointed to perform that office in his stead; and the Admiral, Sir George Rooke, was ordered to provide the proper number of ships to escort him to Spain. [[A.D. 1704.]] The queen's birthday this year fell on Sunday. She received the usual compliments, and held a splendid reception on the following day, after which Dry-den's play, entitled "All for Love, or Anthony and Cleopatra," was performed before her majesty and the whole court. This was succeeded on the next evening by the tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, in honor of Prince George. There were various other entertainments during the week; and we must not omit to say that notices of them were given in the daily papers, of which there were several in this reign. So much dissension arose in parliament, chiefly on account of church matters, that some of the Tories became disgusted and withdrew from office. The most important of these were the queen's uncle, Lord Rochester, the Duke of Buckingham, and Lord Dartmouth. This gave the Whig party the upper hand, and the Duchess of Marlborough thoroughly controlled and led them. Prince George was a Whig at heart, though he managed to keep this fact secret; however, the duchess knew it perfectly well, and rejoiced at it. Now we must take a look at Queen Anne to see what sort of a ruler she made, for thus far we have touched lightly on this important matter, or given the Duchess of Marlborough the precedence. As far as personal affection goes, this queen was the most popular one who had occupied the English throne; the lower classes always {454}called her "our good Queen Anne," and do so to this very day. [Illustration: 0460]