When Marlborough wooed and won Sarah Jennings, she was the bosom friend and constant companion of the Princess Anne, whom she had known from girlhood. Soon she obtained complete mastery over the weak and feeble nature of the princess, who became a mere puppet in her hands. The friends laid aside all the formalities of rank in their intercourse; Anne was Mrs. Morley, and the duchess Mrs. Freeman. Anne saw with her favourite’s eyes, heard with her ears, and spoke with her tongue. If she attempted to show one spark of independence, she was immediately crushed and deafened by the violent reproaches of the woman who was nominally her servant but really her tyrant. Anne’s husband, Prince George of Denmark, did not count. He was considered the most harmless and stupid man in the three kingdoms. “I have tried him drunk,” said Charles the Second, “and I have tried him sober, and there is nothing in him.” Counting upon his wife’s complete control of the princess, Marlborough soon began to plot against William. His plan was to take advantage of the king’s unpopularity and drive him from the throne in favour of Anne. The plot was discovered, and William, usually calm and cool, was roused to the utmost indignation. “Were I and my Lord Marlborough private persons,” he cried, “the sword would have to settle between us.” At once the earl was stripped of his offices, and his wife was driven from St. James’s. Anne, however, refused to be parted from her friend, and left the court with her. Then Marlborough opened a treacherous correspondence with the deposed king at St. Germains. He basely revealed the plan of William’s intended expedition to Brest, expressed his deep sorrow at having deserted his rightful sovereign, and obtained a written promise of pardon. The attack on Brest was a complete failure; the enemy, thanks to Marlborough, was forewarned and forearmed, and more than a thousand Englishmen were slain. This piece of foul treachery is the blackest stain on Marlborough’s character. Queen Mary died childless in 1694, and Anne became the acknowledged heiress to the throne. William was obliged to recall her to court, and with her returned the Marlboroughs, who were reluctantly received into favour once more. William hated the earl’s baseness and treachery, but he was obliged to recognize his splendid gifts, and to declare that he, of all men, was the fittest to carry on the great work of checking the ambition of Lewis. Marlborough was therefore sent to Flanders at the head of the army, and had only just taken command when William met with the accident which was the immediate cause of his death.