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Marlborough had studiously ingratiated himself by all thearts which a mind singularly observant and sagacious could 'learn from a long experience in courts; aud it is possiblethat Albemarle may have removed some difficulties. It ishardly necessary, however, to resort to that supposition forthe purpose of explaining why so wise a man as Williamforced himself, after some delay caused by very just andnatural resentment, to act wisely. His opinion of Marl-borough’s character was probably unaltered. But he couldnot help perceiving that Marlborough’s situation was widelydifferent from what it had been a few years before. Thatvery ambition, that very avarice, which had,in former times,impelled him to betray two masters, were now sufficientsecurities for his fidelity to the order of things which hadbeen established by the Bill of Rights. If that order ofthings could be maintained inviolate, he could scarcely failto be, in a few years, the greatest and wealthiest subj ect inEurope. Ilis military and political talents might thereforenow be used without any apprehension that they would beturned against the government which used them. It is tobe remembered too that he derived his importance lessfrom his military and political talents, great as they were,than from the dominion which, through the instrumentalityof his wife, he exercised over the mind of the Princess.While he was on good terms with the Court it was certainthat she would lend no countenance to any cabal whichmight attack either the title or the prerogatives of herMacaulay, History, IS, 10

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