There was, doubtless, considerable justice in these bitter and insulting reproaches, heaped upon the Duchess when, by a late vindication of her life, she had drawn her enemies from their long repose. That all the real affection which the friendship of Morley and Freeman could boast, existed on the side of the Queen, is probable. Such was the opinion of their contemporaries. It was in the decline of her influence that the Duchess began to be querulous upon the subject of those little omissions of attention which pride and habit, not real, hearty attachment, rendered necessary to her happiness. It sounds strange to find a monarch excusing herself to a subject for not inquiring after her health directly upon the arrival of that lady from a sea-bathing place; yet such apologies as it neither became Anne to make, nor the Duchess to exact, are to be found in their published correspondence.[105] The Duchess, according to the opinion of one of her confidential friends, Mr. Mainwaring, was totally deficient in that “part of craft which Mr. Hobbes very prettily calls crooked wisdom.”[106] “Apt,” as she herself expresses it, “to tumble out her mind,”[107] her openness and honesty were appreciated, when at an advanced age, and after she had run the career of five courts,—by that experienced judge, the Lady Mary Wortley Montague, who often presumed upon the venerable Duchess’s candour in telling her unpalatable truths, which none but the honest could have borne to hear.[108] It was this uprightness and singleness of mind which rendered the Duchess unwilling to believe in the duplicity and the influence of her cousin. Warned of it by Mr. Mainwaring, it was not until she found in the Queen a defender of Mrs. Masham’s secret marriage, that the Duchess was roused into suspicion. It was then that she communicated her conviction to Lord Godolphin and to Marlborough, and besought their assistance and advice. Marlborough, acquainted as he had for years been with every cabal in every court in Europe, was singularly ignorant, in this instance, of that which was passing at home. Godolphin, better informed, had bestowed but little attention to it, and had placed but little importance on its consequences. Towards the middle of this year he received, whilst at Meldert, complaints from the Duchess, which drew from him this laconic and stern reply:— “The wisest thing is to have to do with as few people as possible. If you are sure that Mrs. Masham speaks of business to the Queen, I should think you might, with some caution, tell her of it, which would do good; for she certainly must be grateful, and mind what you say.”[109]