In this case it may, perhaps, be fairly asserted that the Queen and the minister, while they punished the dissenters, caused the blame to fall upon the church. Their chief argument was, that the opposition of the clergy would be a source of the greatest embarrassment to the administration. It had long been the fashion to make the church suffer, at least in reputation, on every occasion when opportunity offered, and without any thought as to whether the establishment deserved it or not. It was in politics precisely as it was in Sir John Vanbrugh’s comedy of the ‘Provoked Wife.’ It will be remembered that, in that dramatic mirror, which represents nature as objects are seen reflected in flawed glass, when the tailor enters with a bundle, the elegant _Lord Rake_ exclaims, ‘Let me see what’s in that bundle!’ ‘An’t please you,’ says the tailor, ‘it is the doctor of the parish’s gown.’ ‘The doctor’s gown!’ cries my lord; and then, turning to _Sir John Brute_, he exultingly enquires, or requires, ‘Hark you, knight; you won’t stick at abusing the clergy, will you?’ ‘No!’ shouts _Brute_, ‘I’m drunk, and I’ll abuse anything!’ ‘Then,’ says _Lord Rake_, ‘you shall wear this gown whilst you charge the watch; that though the blows fall upon you, the scandal may light upon the church!’ ‘A generous design, by all the Gods!’ is the ecstatic consent of the Pantheistic _Brute_--and it is one to which _Amen!_ has been cried by many of the Brute family since first it was uttered by their illustrious predecessor. Meanwhile, Caroline could be as earnest and interested upon trifles as she was upon questions of political importance. She loved both to plague and to talk about Mrs. Howard. That the Queen was not more courteous to this lady than their respective positions demanded there is abundant evidence. In a very early period of the reign Mrs. Howard was required, as bedchamber-woman, to present a basin for the Queen to wash her hands in, and to perform the service kneeling. The _etiquette_ was, for the basin and ewer to be set on the Queen’s table by a page of the back stairs: the office of the bedchamber-woman was then to take both, pour out the water, set it before the Queen, and remain kneeling while her Majesty washed, of which refreshing ceremony the kneeling attendant was the only one who dared be the ocular witness.