" QUEEN ANNE IS DEAD." 251 



living in and about London, such as, for instance, the ancestors 

 of the Duke of Leeds and numerous noble lords*) hunting 

 with the Royal Buckhounds was esteemed as a greater kind- 

 ness than a greater benefit would have been. Like many 

 of her predecessors, Queen Anne delighted to see these " com- 

 mon people " " hunt and be merry " when riding to her hounds 

 in the vicinity of Windsor and Epping Forests. Miss Strickland 

 says that prior to the Union with Scotland, she was depicted 

 on the Great Seal, mounted on a fleet hunter at the head of 

 the Royal Buckhounds. Dean Swift records that, in August 

 1711, he had seen Queen Anne hunting near Windsor in her 

 calash, which she drove " furiously like Jehu, and is a mighty 

 hunter like Nimrod " ; adding that on that occasion Her Majesty 

 followed the chase until four o'clock in the afternoon, during 

 which she drove not less than forty miles. On the whole her 

 reign was glorious in militar}^ triumphs ; conspicuous in the 

 eloquence and patriotism of her ministers ; notable in the de- 

 velopment of literature, science, and art ; commerce flourished ; 

 while hunting and rural sports expanded to and were enjoyed 

 by all classes. Thus in a blaze of glory set the sun of the last 

 Stuart sovereign, amid the lamentation of her subjects, in that 

 terse and enduring epitaph : '' Queen Anne is dead ! " 



* See Orridge's Citizens 0/ London, 



