deserted him. But it seems an idle as well as an uncalled for perversion
of truth to contend, that from the date of his first attack he ever was
the man he had been previously. If 'the tears of dotage' did not flow
from his eyes, it is certain that much of the vigour of mind which once
belonged to him was lost, and even his speech continued embarrassed in
the pronunciation of certain words, as his features were slightly
distorted. Nor did the events which accumulated upon him, both at home
and abroad, by abstracting him from painful subjects, tend to facilitate
his recovery. The duchess, not less the slave of caprice now than
formerly, managed to involve herself in a serious misunderstanding with
the king, and withdrew, in consequence, her attendance on a court where
her presence ceased to be agreeable. This was preceded by quarrels with
almost all the oldest and steadiest friends of her husband, such as
Cadogan, Stanhope, Sunderland, and secretary Scraggs, which were not
composed till after the growing infirmities of the duke had taught them
to think of what he once had been, and what he was likely soon to
become. Nor was the death of Sunderland, which took place in April,
1722, without its effect in harassing the Duke of Marlborough. That
nobleman not only died in his father-in-law's debt, to the amount of
10,000_l_.; but the sealing up of his papers by government occasioned a
tedious suit, Marlborough being naturally anxious to secure them to
himself; a measure which the government, on public grounds, resisted.

"Besides being involved in these vexatious disputes, Marlborough was
again harassed by the workmen employed at Blenheim, who in 1718 renewed
their actions against him for arrears of wages due since 1715. He
resisted the demand; but a decree issued against him, from which he
appealed, though without effect, to the house of lords. No doubt there
was excessive meanness here on the part of government, of which
Marlborough had just cause to complain. Yet was it beneath the dignity