A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



writs for the election of a new one to be issued 

 immediately. 701 



On 3 December the court had been ordered to 

 go into mourning for the King of Spain," 8 and 

 Count de Tallard, the French ambassador, who 

 the year before had signed the Second Partition 

 Treaty on behalf of France, arrived at the palace 

 on the same day, bringing a letter from Louis XIV. 

 An audience was arranged for him on the 1 1 th, 

 but without waiting for it he came to the palace 

 the day before, and insisted on making his bow to 

 the king. It is related that William only gazed 

 out of the window and observed ' M. 1'Ambassa- 

 deur, le temps est bien changeV 7M De Tallard 

 no doubt felt the truth of the remark when he 

 came to have his final audience the next day, and 

 William would scarcely notice him at all. The 

 interview lasted hardly five minutes, and the 

 court followed the king's example. 705 De Tallard 

 delivered Louis' letter, but seems to have dis- 

 agreed with the policy pursued by France. For a 

 time he avoided Hampton Court, but eventually 

 appeared there once a week, by way of putting the 

 best face he could on the strained relationship 

 between his own country and England. Mean- 

 while, the Emperor's ambassador, Count Wratis- 

 law, was received with many tokens of friendship 

 and respect, though William, hampered by internal 

 politics and the state of public opinion at home, 706 

 was unable to adopt any measures for carrying out 

 the provisions of the treaty so cavalierly ignored 

 by Louis. 707 



William's constant state of political disappoint- 

 ment and anxiety affected his health, and Vernon, 

 the Secretary of State, wrote that his various 

 symptoms were chiefly to be ascribed to his ' great 

 thoughtfulness in relation to the public.' 708 He 

 remained at Hampton Court in seclusion, under- 

 going a course of treatment, which included such 

 strange prescriptions as ' crabs' eyes and hogs' 

 lice.' m 



The state of excitement in the country after the 

 meeting of the new Parliament in February 170' 

 can hardly be said to affect the history of Hampton 

 Court, though the attack on the Whig ministers 

 was one of the many subjects which engaged 

 William's attention at the time. 710 



An address to the king on behalf of the Whig 

 peers was brought to the palace on 16 April by 

 the Duke of Devonshire and the Earl of Ramsay. 

 It was presented to William with much formality, 



but he did not vouchsafe any answer, a course of 

 action which puzzled the promoters ot the address 

 considerably. 7 " The king's real statesmanship 

 was much impeded by purely party considerations, 

 and Rochester's 7 " dictatorial and assuming manner 

 so much offended him that on one occasion after a 

 consultation in the king's closet at Hampton 

 Court he said to Lord Jersey, ' If I had ordered 

 him to have been thrown out of the window, he 

 must have gone ; I do not see how he could have 

 prevented it.' 7IS 



William's health again kept him at the palace, 

 and on I June 1701 he was there when he reluc- 

 tantly appointed ' John, Earl of Marlbough,' 

 commander-in-chief of his Majesty's forces in 

 Holland,' 14 and soon after made him Ambassador 

 Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to carry on 

 negotiations at the Hague for treaties to be made 

 with other powers against France. 716 On Monday 

 30 June the king himself left Hampton Court for 

 Holland. He returned somewhat unexpectedly 

 on 5 November, and arrived at the palace about 

 eight o'clock, ' much tired with his journey, so that 

 he went immediately to bed.' 71 * James II had 

 just died, and Louis XIV had instantaneously 

 restored all William's popularity in England by 

 acknowledging James's son as king of England. 

 William was almost overwhelmed even on the day 

 after his return by deputations from ' cities, 

 counties, and universities,' assuring him of the 

 loyalty of his subjects and their devotion to his 

 crown and person. 717 He probably received them 

 in the new ' Presence Chamber,' one of the most 

 stately of Wren's rooms, which remains practically 

 the same as it was then. The original canopy of 

 crimson damask is still fixed to the wall, with its 

 rich embroidery of silver and gold somewhat 

 dimmed by time. One of the most beautiful of 

 the great silver chandeliers is also in this room, 

 embossed with the royal emblems. 7 " Kneller's 

 large picture of William III landing at Torbay in 

 1697, hung then, as it hangs now, opposite the 

 canopy. ' We can imagine,' says the historian of 

 Hampton Court Palace, ' the ceaseless throng 

 passing up Verrio's resplendent staircase, making 

 their way through the stately guard-chamber, and 

 surveying with curiosity all the magnificence of the 

 new palace, of which so much had been reported, 

 and then approaching the feeble but high-spirited 

 king, who stood to receive them, pale, haggard, and 

 coughing.' 719 



701 Cole, Miino'.rs, 249; Grimblot, 

 op. cit. ii, 471. 



708 Land. Gaz. ; Luttrell, op. cit. iv, 

 713- 



[ Boyce, Hi,t. of Will. Ill, 466. 



~ Cole, Memoirs, 271 ; Luttrell, op. 

 cit. iv, 717. 



706 William was sensible that he had 

 failed to conciliate cither political party. 

 He told Halifax that ' all the difference 

 he knew between the two parties was, 

 that the Tories would cut his throat in 

 the morning and the Whigs in the 

 afternoon ' ; Ralph, Hist. Engl. ii, 908. 



7(17 Luttrell, op. cit. iv, 723. 



708 Cole, Memoirs, 279. Vernon was 

 a staunch Whig, and viewed with great 



apprehension the vexed question of the 

 succession after the death of the Duke of 

 Gloucester in 1700. He proposed that 

 the king should marry again, and that 

 the succession should be settled, in de- 

 fault of issue, in the Hanoverian line, 

 assing over Anne entirely ; Diet. Nat, 

 She. 



7 9 White Kennel, Complete Hist, of 

 Engl. (1702), 52. 



710 Somers, Halifax, Oxford, Portland, 

 and other Whigs were impeached ; 

 Ralph, op. cit. ii, 944 ; Diet. Nat. Biog, 

 'William III.' 



711 Ralph, op. cit. ii, 944-5 ; Luttrell, 

 op. cit. v, 40-1. 



~ la Laurence Hyde, Earl of Rochester 



362 



(1641-1711), Lord Lieut, of Ireland; 

 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



713 Lord Dartmouth, Notes, cit. Law, 

 op. cit. iii, 146-7. ~ 14 Lond. Gaz. 



715 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep, viii, App. i, 

 12 (26 June 1701). 



716 White Rennet, op. cit. vol. for 

 1 702, p. 66 j Corresp. of Henry Hyde, 

 Earl of Clarendon, i, 419 ; Lond. Gax. 



717 Lond. Gaz, ; Clarendon, Corresp, 

 ii, 420. 



718 The rose, thistle, fleur de lis, harp, 

 and the cypher W.R., all crowned, 

 appear in the design, on both canopy 

 and chandelier. 



719 Law, Hist, Oj Hampton Court 

 Palace, iii, 154. 



