GEORGE, EARL OF BERKELEY 120 From an unfinished engraving, in the British Museum, attributed to DAVID LOGGAN. ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, DUBLIN 124 Drawn by HARRY FENN. Engraved by C. A. POWELL. DANIEL DEFOE 136 Engraved by C. A. POWELL, after copperplate by M. VAN DER GUCHT, in the British Museum. CHURCH OF ST. GILES, CRIPPLEGATE, WHERE DEFOE IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN BAPTIZED 144 Drawn by HARRY FENN. Engraved by H. E. SYLVESTER. ROBERT HARLEY, EARL OF OXFORD 152 Engraved by JOHN P. DAVIS, after the original painting by Sir GODFREY KNELLER, in the British Museum. JOSEPH ADDISON 176 Engraved by T. JOHNSON, from mezzotint by JEAN SIMON, after painting by Sir GODFREY KNELLER. SIDNEY, EARL OF GODOLPHIN 192 Engraved by PETER AITKEN, from mezzotint by JOHN SMITH, in British Museum. Painted by Sir GODFREY KNELLER. THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE CHAPTER I THE PRINCESS ANNE The reign of Queen Anne is one of the most illustrious in English history. In literature it has been common to call it the Augustan age. In politics it has all the interest of a transition period, less agitating, but not less important, than the actual era of revolution. In war, it is, with the exception of the great European wars of the beginning of this century, the most glorious for the English arms of any that have elapsed since Henry V. set up his rights of conquest over France. Opinions change as to the advantage of such superiorities; and, still more, as to the glory which is purchased by bloodshed; yet, according to the received nomenclature, and in the language of all the ages, the time of Marlborough cannot be characterized as anything but glorious. A great general, statesmen of eminence, great poets, men of letters of the first distinction--these are points in which this period cannot easily be excelled. It pleases the fancy to step historically from queen to queen, and to find in each a center of national greatness knitting together the loose threads of the great web. “The spacious times of great Elizabeth” bulk larger and more magnificently in history than those of Anne, but the two eras bear a certain balance which is agreeable to the imagination. And we can scarcely help regretting that the great age of Wordsworth and Scott, Byron and Wellington, should not have been deferred long enough to make the reign of Victoria the third noblest period of modern English history. But time has here balked us. This age is not without its own greatness, but it is not the next in national sequence to that of Anne, as Anne’s was to that of Elizabeth.