Stung by his country’s ingratitude, and threatened even with a prosecution, which for the credit of England was stopped, Marlborough was driven on one occasion, and one occasion only, to abandon his usually cool and dignified forbearance. When the Earl of Poulett, in a debate in the House of Lords, referred to him, under the description of a “certain general, who led his troops to the slaughter to cause a great number of officers to be knocked on the head, in a battle, or against stone walls, in order that he might dispose of their commissions,” the patience of the Duke could endure no longer. He challenged the Earl, and a duel was only prevented by the interposition of the Secretary of State, and by the express command of the Queen.[201] The death of Lord Godolphin, an event which took place under the Duke’s own roof, at St. Alban’s, on the 15th of September, 1712, determined Marlborough to quit England, and to reside abroad until better times should return. The Duchess fully concurred in this scheme; which became the more and more necessary to their mutual peace, since not even could she and the Duke enjoy and return the ordinary courtesies of society, without incurring observation and provoking suspicion. Marlborough was furnished with a passport, it is said, by the instrumentality of his early favourite, and secret friend, Bolingbroke; and in October the Duke sailed from Dover for Ostend. His request to see the Queen, and to take leave, was refused, and they never met again. But her Majesty is declared to have expressed her hopes that the Duke would be well received in foreign parts, and some say that Lord Treasurer Harley, not Bolingbroke, granted the passport, in opposition to the general opinion of the ministry, who dreaded Marlborough’s influence at the court of Hanover. In February, 1713, the Duchess, having remained to settle her husband’s and her own affairs, followed his grace, and joined him at Maestricht, whence they went to Aix-la-Chapelle. It was during her residence abroad that the Duchess employed her leisure hours in writing that portion of her vindication, which she addressed to Mr. Hutchinson.[202] Thus was the Duke of Marlborough, then sixty-two years of age, and the Duchess in her fifty-second year, driven from their country by the machinations of a party too strong for them to resist without the especial favour of the Queen. Anne is said coolly to have remarked to the Duchess of Hamilton, “The Duke of Marlborough has done wisely to go abroad.”[203] But no expressions of regret are recorded of her Majesty’s, upon the occasion of two old and long esteemed friends having thus quitted her dominions. Notwithstanding that the passport permitted the Duke, with a limited suite, to go into foreign parts, wherever he might think fit, and recommended him to the good offices of all “kings, princes, and republics,” he had some reason to apprehend a plot for seizing his person, at Aix-la-Chapelle, where he lived incognito.[204]