[[A.D. 1705.]] In April her majesty, accompanied by her husband, made an excursion to Cambridge. She was received by the Duke of Somerset, who was then chancellor of the university, and attended an exhibition, where she distributed honorary degrees among the noblemen and gentlemen of her court. But the most memorable of Queen Anne's actions connected with this visit was the bestowing of knighthood on Dr. Isaac Newton at Trinity College. After holding a grand reception, dining at Trinity Hall, and attending divine service at the beautiful chapel of King's College, the royal party returned to Newmarket, where her majesty made a long sojourn. [[A.D. 1706.]] Another great victory was won at Ramilies by the Duke of Marlborough, and another splendid thanksgiving procession took place at St. Paul's to celebrate it. At this period all the great offices of state were in the hands of the Marlborough family. The last of the appointments was the result of a serious contest between her majesty and the duchess, in which the latter came off victorious, as usual. This was the nomination of her son- {458}in-law, Lord Sunderland, to the important office of secretary of state. When the queen yielded this point, the commander-in-chief and the lord treasurer were, one a son-in-law, the other father of a son-in-law of this ambitious couple. Their connections filled lucrative posts, besides, their daughters were ladies of the bed-chamber, and the mother herself, as mistress of the robes and groom of the stole, governed all the officials and the queen into the bargain. Never was this creature more insolent than when such was the state of affairs. She had contrived, by fair means or by foul, to appropriate the enormous income of ninety thousand pounds of the public funds, and the poor queen was miserable on account of what she had been made to suffer at the hands of the woman who was indebted to her for all she had, and for all she was. When she could no longer fail to perceive that the affection of her royal mistress had become estranged, the duchess began to inquire what new favorite had interposed to create ill feeling; for it was not in the nature of this woman to blame herself for anything. She could not fix upon any one until the regular season for the distribution of the queen's cast-off clothing came around; then Abigail Hill, her cousin, excited her suspicion. Although the duchess pretended to act with perfect justice in dividing the old gowns, mantles, and head-dresses among the bed-chamber women and dressers of her majesty, they all declared that she invariably kept the best of them for herself. Seeing that Abigail Hill fared badly in the distribution, the queen made her some liberal presents, as well as Mrs. Danvers, whose dismissal the jealous duchess had frequently urged. But this liberality only increased the squabble over the old clothes, and the duchess declared that they were all hers by right.