The title and the honours of the dukedom of Marlborough descended upon his daughter Henrietta, Countess of Godolphin, with a reversionary entail upon the male issue of any of her sisters. The Countess’s son, Lord Rialton, was to receive, in consequence, a more ample allowance than his cousins, together with various heirlooms of great value. Amongst these, the service of gold plate presented to the Duke by the Elector of Hanover, and the diamond sword given to him by the Emperor Charles, are particularly enumerated. To the Duchess of Marlborough were left the plate and jewels belonging to the Duke. She was permitted to dispose, by will, of the estate at Sandridge, which the Duke had purchased; but was requested to leave Marlborough-house, the site of which had been granted to her by the crown, to the successor in the title. She was also appointed one of the trustees to the Duke’s will, in conjunction with his three sons-in-law, and with several gentlemen. The Duchess was likewise entrusted with a bequest of much importance, as matters then stood. This was the sum of fifty thousand pounds to be expended in equal instalments, in five years, for the purpose of completing the palace and other works at Blenheim, under the sole control of the Duchess. Wealthy, independent, and still agreeable in her person, the Duchess had not been many months a widow before endeavours were made to induce her to change that state, and to enter once more into matrimonial life. Those who thus sought to ensnare her, were, however, but little acquainted with the Duchess’s real sentiments. The earliest, and not the least ardent suitor to her grace, was Thomas Earl of Coningsby, whose admiration of the Duchess appears to have commenced even before Marlborough was committed to the tomb. Lord Coningsby was a politician of a sort peculiarly acceptable to the Duchess; and, as was her habit with other friends, she had maintained an occasional correspondence with this active Whig peer, who had always expressed the most sincere devotion to her husband. This attachment appears to have been returned by Marlborough, who professed, in writing of Lord Coningsby, to place considerable reliance upon his judgment; whilst Coningsby, on occasion of the Duke’s leaving the kingdom in 1712, went so far as to say, that “he had now not a friend in the country.” Such were the terms on which the subsequent suitor stood with the husband of his “dearest, dearest Lady Marlborough,” for so he repeatedly calls her in his letters.