Harley's first concern is to find three…

Harley's first concern is to find three hundred thousand pounds for the next quarter's pay for the British army operating in Europe under Marlborough.

This is provided by a private consortium of Edward Gibbon, George Caswall and Hoare's bank.

The Bank of England has been operating a state lottery on behalf of the government which had not been particularly successful in 1710 and the one for 1711 has already begun.

This too is performing poorly, so Harley grants authority for selling tickets to John Blunt, a director of the Hollow Sword Blade Company, which despite its name is an unofficial bank.

Commencing March 3, 1711, tickets are completely sold out by the seventh.

This is the first truly successful English state lottery.

The new chancellor aims to frame an administration from the moderate members of both parties, and to adopt with but slight changes the policy of his predecessors; but his efforts are doomed to disappointment.

The Whigs refuse to join an alliance with him, and the Tories, successful beyond their wildest hopes at the polling booths, cannot understand why their leaders do not adopt a policy more favorable to the interests of their party.

The clamors of the wilder spirits, the country members who meet at the October Club, begins to be re-echoed even by those who are attached to the person of Harley, when, through an unexpected event, his popularity is restored at a bound.

A French refugee, the ex-abbé La Bourlie (better known by the name of the marquis de Guiscard), is being examined on March 8, 1711, before the privy council on a charge of treason, when he stabs Harley in the breast with a penknife.

To a man in good health the wounds would not be serious, but the minister has been ill and Swift pens the prayer, "Pray God preserve his health, everything depends upon it".

The joy of the nation on his recovery knows no bounds.

Both Houses present an address to the crown, suitable response comes from the queen, and on Harley's reappearance in the Lower House the speaker delivers an oration that becomes known throughout the country.