Historical Characters in the Reign of Queen Anne

She grew uneasy to be treated by me with the form and ceremony due to her rank; nor could she bear from me the sound of words which implied in them distance and superiority. It was this turn of mind which made her one day propose to me that whenever I should happen to be absent from her we might in all our letters write ourselves by feigned names, such as would import nothing of distinction of rank between us. Morley and Freeman were the names her fancy hit upon, and she left me to choose by which of them I should be called. My frank open temper led me naturally 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.

the noisy and picturesque life of that wild Restoration era, full of corruption, yet so gay and sparkling to the spectator

It pleases the fancy to step historically from queen to queen, and to find in each a center of national greatness knitting together the loose threads of the great web.