[Footnote 46: He acquired, from his solemnity of deportment, the nickname of _Diego_ and from his gravity, that of _Dismal_. [S.]] These lineaments, however imperfectly drawn, may help the reader's imagination to conceive what sort of persons those were, who had the boldness to encounter the Queen and ministry, at the head of a great majority of the landed interest; and this upon a point where the quiet of Her Majesty's reign, the security, or at least the freedom, of her person, the lives of her most faithful friends, and the settling of the nation by a peace, were, in the consequences, deeply concerned.[47] [Footnote 47: It was these "lineaments, imperfectly drawn," that Erasmus Lewis specially emphasized for omission, in his letter to Swift already referred to. "Now I have mentioned characters," wrote Lewis, "I must tell you that they [the friends who had met to read the 'History' in manuscript] were clearly of opinion, that if those you have drawn should be published as they now stand, nothing could save the author's printer and publishers from some grievous punishment. As we have no traces of liberty now left but the freedom of the press, it is the most earnest desire of your friends that you would strike out all that you have said on that subject" (Sir W. Scott's edit., vol. xix., pp. 133-136). [T.S.]] During the dominion of the late men in power, addresses had been procured from both Houses to the Queen, representing their opinion, that no peace could be secure for Britain, while Spain or the West Indies remained in the possession of the Bourbon family. But Her Majesty having, for reasons which have been often told to the world, and which will not soon be forgotten, called a new Parliament, and chose a new set of servants, began to view things and persons in another light. She considered the necessities of her people, the distant prospect of a peace upon such an improbable condition, which was never mentioned or understood in the grand alliance; the unequal burthen she bore in the war, by the practices of the allies upon the corruption of some whom she most trusted, or perhaps by the practices of these upon the allies; and, lastly, by the changes which death had brought about in the Austrian and Bourbon families. Upon all which motives she was prevailed upon to receive some overtures from France, in behalf of herself and the whole confederacy. The several steps of this negotiation, from its first rise to the time I am now writing, shall be related in another part of this History. Let it suffice for the present to say, that such proposals were received from France as were thought sufficient by our court whereupon to appoint time and place for a general treaty; and soon after the opening of the session, the Bishop[48] of Bristol, lord privy seal, was dispatched to Utrecht, where he and the Earl of Strafford were appointed plenipotentiaries for the Queen of Great Britain.