A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Anne, Queen of England
ANNE,
Queen of England, second daughter of James the Second, by his first wife Anne Hyde, was born at Twickenham, on the 6th. of February, 1664. She was educated in the religion of the church of England; and, in 1683, married prince George, brother of Christian the Fifth, king of Denmark. At the revolution in 1688, Anne and her husband adhered to the dominant party of her brother-in-law William the Third; and, by act of settlement, the English crown was guaranteed to her and her children in default of issue to William and Mary. But all her children died in infancy or early youth.
Anne ascended the throne on the death of William in 1702; and two months afterwards, England, the Empire, and Holland, declared war against France and Spain; in which Marlborough and Peterborough, the English generals, and Leake, Rooke, Shovel, and Stanhope, the English admirals, greatly distinguished themselves. During the brilliant course of Marlborough's conquests, the spirit of political intrigue, which was perhaps never more fully developed than in the latter years of the reign of Anne, was stifled by the enthusiasm of the people. But as the war of the succession proceeded with few indications of its being brought to an end, the great commander of the English forces gradually lost his popularity, from the belief that his own avarice and ambition were the principal causes of the burdens which the war necessarily entailed upon the nation. A formidable party, too, had arisen, who asserted the supremacy of the church and the doctrine of the right divine of kings and the passive obedience of subjects—opinions which had expelled James the Second from his kingdom, and had placed his childless daughter upon the throne. These opinions, however, were supposed to be indirectly encouraged by the queen, and were exceedingly popular amongst a passionate and unreasoning people.
In July, 1706, the legislative union of Scotland and England was completed, which was mainly owing to the earnest and steady efforts of the queen in favour of the union. Anne was all her life under the control of her favourites, first of the duchess of Marlborough, and afterwards of Mrs. Masham. The duchess of Marlborough, a woman of the most imperious, ambitious, avaricious, and disagreeable character, kept the queen in a state of subjection or terror for more than twenty years. The detail of the scenes occurring between them would hardly be believed, were it not authenticated by careful writers. Miss Strickland, in her "History of the Queens of England," has given this curious subject a thorough examination.
Anne was mother of several children, all of whom died young. When left a widow, she would not listen to the entreaties of the parliament (although but forty-four years old at the time) to conclude another marriage, which might throw new obstacles in the way of the restoration of her own family, which appears to have been the great object on which her mind was set, but which she failed to accomplish.
Grieved at the disappointment of her secret wishes, the queen fell into a state of weakness and lethargy, and died August 1st., 1714. The words, "O, my dear brother, how I pity thee!" which she pronounced on her death-bed, unveiled the secret of her whole life. The reign of Anne was distinguished not only by the brilliant successes of the British arms, but also as the golden age of English literature, on account of the number of admirable and excellent writers who flourished at this time; among whom were Pope, Steele, Switt, Prior, Gay, Arbuthnot, Bolingbroke, and Addison. It may be considered the triumph of the English high-church party, owing to her strong predilection for the principles by which it has always been actuated. Her private character was amiable; but her good sense was rendered ineffectual from the want of energy. The kindness of her disposition obtained for her the title of good queen Anne, she was an excellent wife and mother, and a kind mistress.