The result of the shrewd Duchess's experience of political life and royal favour was embodied in the sound advice she gave her illustrious husband on his return to England, shortly after the death of Anne, and previous to the arrival of her successor, George I. "I begged of the Duke upon my knees," relates the Duchess, "that he would never accept any employment. I said everybody that liked the Revolution and the security of the law had a great esteem for him, that he had a greater fortune than he wanted, and that a man who had had such success, with such an estate, would be of more use to any court than they could be to him; that I would live civilly with them, if they were so to me, but would never put it into the power of any King to use me ill. He was entirely of this opinion, and determined to quit all, and serve them only when he could act honestly and do his country service at the same time." Though the Duchess witnessed the triumph of the Whigs on their return to power at the accession of George I., she was very far from possessing the influence she had enjoyed during Anne's reign. Her feverish thirst for political and courtly intrigues had returned upon her, despite so many bitter deceptions and the advance of old age. She scolded incessantly her husband for his indolence, when he had really become incapable of any longer taking an active part in public affairs. He confined himself to the enjoyment of his opulence and his high position. In May, 1716, he experienced a violent attack of paralysis, which for some time deprived him of speech and recollection. His health continued to decline more and more to the close of his life in June, 1722, though the notion of his imbecility appears to have been erroneous.