to friends, and contemplated a history of the reign of Queen Anne, to which Swift and Pope make frequent references. He had been discussing this project for years (see letter to Swift, 19 Nov. 1729), and in 1736 was asking Wyndham to apply to the Duchess of Marlborough for information about her husband's campaigns (Coxe, ii. 337). The only fragment executed is apparently represented by the ‘Eighth Letter on the Study of History.’ In 1738 he visited England upon the Dawley business. He was introduced to Frederick, prince of Wales, who was now the centre of the opposition party. Bolingbroke had apparently no concern in the quarrel between the prince and his father in 1737 (ib. ii. 494), but he now wished to recommend himself to the new combination. The result was ‘The Patriot King,’ dated December 1738. It is his most elaborate piece of rhetoric; and Chesterfield declares that till he read it he did not know ‘the extent and power of the English language’ (Works, 1845, i. 376). An essay previously written upon the ‘Spirit of Patriotism,’ and afterwards addressed to Lyttelton, forms an introduction, and a paper on ‘The State of Parties at the Accession of George I’ is an appendix, added at Lyttelton's suggestion. The manuscripts were intrusted to Pope, with whom Bolingbroke was staying at the time, but not published.
Bolingbroke returned to France in the spring of 1739. He had now ceased to have any real influence in politics. He continued to write to Sir W. Wyndham, and expressed the gloomiest views of English affairs in general. The death of Wyndham (17 June 1740) deprived him of his most attached friend. Letters to him upon this occasion from Pope and Lyttelton (printed in Macknight, pp. 643–9) indicate the great importance attributed to the loss. Bolingbroke now adopted Hugh Hume [q. v.], who in February had become third Earl of Marchmont, as the successor to his confidence, and said that he would address to him all the philosophical and historical papers, the historical part of which had been intended for Wyndham. He was at this time revising the papers addressed to Pope (Marchmont Papers, ii. 213), and Chesterfield, who saw him in France in 1741, says that he would talk nothing but metaphysics (Chesterfield, v. 443). A close correspondence followed with Marchmont, in which Bolingbroke wrote fully and vigorously upon the last struggle with Walpole. In April 1742 Bolingbroke inherited the house at Battersea upon the death of his father, Lord St. John. He visited London, but found that the fall of Walpole had made no opening for his activity. He retired again to Argeville, and left his house at Battersea to Marchmont (Marchmont Papers, ii. 280). In 1743 he was again in England. Pope had now fallen under the influence of Warburton. He had in the previous year shown Bolingbroke's letters on the ‘Study of History,’ containing remarks on Jewish chronology, to Warburton, and innocently assured his friend that Bolingbroke would be glad to receive a candid criticism. Warburton wrote some remarks on the spot, which Pope sent to Bolingbroke. Bolingbroke's wrath was roused, and he made some very disagreeable remarks upon his critic. Pope, however, now introduced the two, and they all dined together at the house of Murray, afterwards Lord Mansfield. A sharp altercation followed, which led to later quarrels (see end of Warburton's fourth letter on Bolingbroke's philosophy; the end of Bolingbroke's fourth ‘Philosophical Essay;’ and Ruffhead, Pope, p. 220). Bolingbroke was again at Argeville in June 1743, and went to Aix-la-Chapelle for his own and his wife's health in August. Thence he resolved to return to England and settle at Battersea with his friend Marchmont. He was present at Pope's death (30 May 1744), and much affected. His discovery that Pope had had a questionable transaction with the Duchess of Marlborough, and afterwards that he had secretly printed fifteen hundred copies of the ‘Patriot King’ [see under Pope, Alexander], roused Bolingbroke's indignation, and he complained bitterly to Marchmont (22 Oct. 1744). A bitter controversy followed a little later. Bolingbroke made up his mind to publish a correct edition of the ‘Patriot King,’ some of the copies printed by Pope being in circulation. David Mallet [q. v.], who was known to him as a dependent of the Prince of Wales and Lyttelton, edited the book, and was said to be author of the preface. In this an attack was made upon Pope for his breach of faith. Warburton retorted in a letter to the ‘Editor of the Letters on Patriotism,’ &c., and Bolingbroke replied in, or inspired, a ‘Familiar Epistle to the most impudent man living.’ A final reply of unknown authorship was made in ‘A Letter to the Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, occasioned by his treatment of a deceased friend’ (see Watson, Life of Warburton, p. 366, for Mallet's denial of his authorship of the ‘Familiar Epistle’). Bolingbroke's conduct appears to have been generally condemned. Chesterfield told him that he had now succeeded in uniting whigs, tories, trimmers, and Jacobites against himself (March-
