He set off
for Vienna, leaving his wife behind to die, in April, 1726. He had long
since quarrelled with her, and treated her with cruel neglect, and at
her death he was not likely to be much afflicted. It is said, that,
after that event, a ducal family offered him a daughter and large
fortune in marriage, and that the Duke of Wharton declined the offer,
because the latter was to be tied up, and he could not conveniently tie
up the former. However this may be, he remained a widower for a short
time: we may be sure, not long.
The hypocrisy of going abroad to retrench was not long undiscovered. The
fascinating scapegrace seems to have delighted in playing on the
credulity of others; and Walpole relates that, on the eve of the day on
which he delivered his famous speech for Atterbury, he sought an
interview with the minister, Sir Robert Walpole, expressed great
contrition at having espoused the bishop's cause hitherto, and a
determination to speak against him the following day. The minister was
taken in, and at the duke's request, supplied him with all the main
arguments, pro and con. The deceiver, having got these well into his
brain--one of the most retentive--repaired to his London haunts, passed
the night in drinking, and the next day produced all the arguments he
had digested, _in the bishop's favour_.
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