Queen Anne was not tantalised by suspense concerning the result of her predecessor’s illness. Particulars were hourly sent by Lord and Lady Jersey to Lady Marlborough, of the King’s state, as “his breath grew shorter and shorter;” an attention which, instead of gratifying the Countess, “filled her,” as she declares, “with horror.”[357] The courtiers, who had been weeping at the bedside of the late monarch, hastened to depart from Kensington, and to remove into the more genial atmosphere of St. James’s palace, where they offered their congratulations to the new sovereign in crowds.[358] The Queen was proclaimed in the courtyard of St. James’s, on the day of the King’s death, March the eighth, 1702, at five o’clock in the afternoon, both Houses of Parliament attending the ceremony.[359] A solemn mourning was ordered, and the members of the privy council were enjoined to hang their coaches with mourning, and to put their servants in black liveries; the Queen wearing purple—at that time royal mourning. Two days after the King’s death, her Majesty went to the House of Lords, attended by Lady Marlborough, and preceded by the Earl of Marlborough, carrying before her the sword of state. She addressed both Houses in the usual mode, and inspired admiration and confidence by the dignity, self-possession, and graciousness of her manner. “Her speeches were delivered,” says Bishop Burnet, “with great weight and authority, and with a softness of voice, and sweetness in the pronunciation, that added much life to all that she spoke.” Yet she offended the partisans of the late King, by saying “that her heart was entirely English;”[360]—which appeared to challenge an invidious comparison with one whose affections, it was well known, had often reverted to the kingdom which he had quitted.[361] The speculations which were set afloat concerning the fate of parties, and the opinions which her Majesty’s political appointments would display, may readily be imagined. By a proclamation issued, however, immediately after her accession, the Queen signified that all persons at present in authority should continue to hold their places, until her Majesty’s further pleasure should be made known.[362] Notwithstanding the known influence, and the avowed opinions, of Lady Marlborough, the Whigs regarded the accession of Queen Anne as unpropitious. The principles of the adverse party had been instilled into her mind at a very early age, by Compton, Bishop of London. She owed the Tories many obligations; in particular, the settlement of her annuity, which they had secured, in opposition to the wishes of William and Mary. Her mother’s family were devoted loyalists, or, rather, when times changed and appellations were changed also, zealous Tories.