28                                      Dallas Pratt

Anne; Anne, who had even insisted that they dtop the ceremon¬
ious address customary between subject and monarch. " 'Morley'
and Treeman' were the names her fancy hit upon," the Duchess
tells us, "and she left me to choose by which of them I would be
called. My frank, open temper naturally led me to pitch upon
Freeman, and so the Princess took the other, and from this time
Mrs. Morley and Mrs. Freeman began to converse as equals,
made so by affection and friendship." She instructed Abigail
to keep her informed of all that passed at court, but discovered,
too late, that her protegee had made use of Airs. Freeman's in¬
creasingly lengthy absences to usurp her place in the heart of
"poor unfortunate faithful .Motley" (as the Queen loved to
style herself).

Eight years after the final interview in «hich she had so unsuc¬
cessfully tried to force the Queen to explain her withdrawal of
favor, the Duchess wrote to her friend, iMrs. Godolphin, wife
of the Provost of Eton College, and enclosed a mass of documents
which, she believed, vindicated her conduct: "I can't help fearing
that you will dislike many things that I ha\'e done because it is
scarcely possible for you to remember as you read them how
many years tlie Queen would not suffer me to live with her but
as a friend, nor do the least thing without sending me to ask .Mr.
iMontgomery's and .Mr. Freeman's opinion, which were the two
names my lord Godolphin and the Duke of iMarl; went by. I
believe, besides my having taken too much liberty with a queen,
you will think I have been too much a Whig." (C 12).

The word "Whig" is a reminder that these royal friendships
had political overtones which were of considerable significance
to successive governments, to the church, and to the prosecu¬
tion of the war against France. Lord Godolphin, the able Lord
Treasurer, and the Duke of Marlborough, were originally
Tories, adhering to the party which upheld the cause of high
Anglicanism and the Divine Right of Kings. The Whigs drew
their strength from the merchant classes, among whom were