emoved one great obstacle to the settlement of the nation.
The change of government was announced on the 6th of
February, and William and Mary declared king and queen.
The administration was solely vested in the king; while the
princess of Denmark and her heirs were declared next in the
succession, in preference to the issue of William by any
future marriage.

On the 14th of February Lord Churchill was sworn a
member of the privy council, and made a lord of the bed-
chamber; and two days before the coronation was raised to
the dignity of Earl of Marlborough.

As his paternal seat at Mintern was assigned to his brother
Charles, he fixed his principal residence at Sandridge, near
St. Albans, a manor belonging to the family of his wife.
This estate, by the death of Richard Jennings, Esq., had de-
volved on his three sisters and coheiresses, Frances, Sarah,
and Barbara. As Lady Marlborough was partial to her
birthplace, her husband gratified her by purchasing the
share of the two other sisters, and soon after built a mansion
on the spot, which was called Holywell House. This resi-
dence and property gave him an interest in the borough of
St. Albans, for which place, by his influence with James II.,
he obtained a new charter of incorporation. He was chosen
the first high steward under the new charter; a post which
had always been filled by persons of distinction.

The mansion of Holywell is described by local writers as a
building of great magnificence; and was the favourite resi-
dence both of Lord Marlborough and his lady, till the con-
struction of Blenheim gave him a new interest in a place
which presented the most striking monuments both of his
own and the national glory. ^*

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