become his station, can permit neither principle nor natural bias to direct him in his mode of conducting a war. Wherever the state of affairs shall appear to recommend his acting on the offensive, he will, of course, and with all diligence, adopt that system; when a contrary mode of proceeding seems to hold out better hopes of ultimate "success, he will with equal cheerfulness adopt it. The truth is, that the power of choosing between the fitting moment for aggressive and defensive manœuvre is exactly that which, more than any other, belongs to the great military genius. Events so ordered it, that an offensive warfare promised to Marlborough, in all his campaigns, more important results than its opposite; on this account he pursued it but had he been differently situated, we cannot for one moment doubt that he would have adapted his tactics, without violating any principle, to the position in which he stood.

In addition to these rare qualities of mind, the duke of Marlborough was endowed by nature with a person and address more than usually captivating, as well among his inferiors as his equals. To the elegance of that person and that address, indeed, lord Chesterfield does not hesitate to attribute a large share of Marlborough's success throughout life; and though we cannot exactly go so far as the noble author has done in the passage to which we allude, we are far from denying that it contains a great deal both of philosophy and sound reasoning. One thing, at least, is certain, that his mode of addressing the troops, the appearance of interest which he exhibited in his visits to the hospitals, and his manner of speaking to the meanest sentinel whenever he happened to cross his path, rendered him an object of equal love and respect to his followers. Nor ought it to be forgotten that Marlborough kept up something more than the forms of religion in his camp. He never entered upon a general action of which the plan had been deliberately laid, without himBelf receiving the sacrament, and causing prayers to be read at the head of every regiment; and the consequence was, that, to use the words of one who served under him, "cursing and swearing were seldom heard among the officers; and the poor soldiers, many of them the refuse and the dregs of the nation, became, at the close of one or two campaigns, civil, sensible, and clean, and had an air and spirit above the vulgar."

The plan of this work necessarily precludes us from offering any general review of the character of the illustrious Marlborough, considered as a statesman and a diplomatist. On some accounts we are disposed to lament, on others to rejoice, that such restrictions are imposed upon us; for though the exposure of even his moral delinquencies might convey a useful lesson to mankind, it were not an agreeable task to lay them bare. Enough is done, therefore, when we express our regret that the greatest hero of his age was not, as he might have been, also the most honest politician;

and that, when looking back upon his conduct towards his first master and early benefactor, we are almost compelled to acknowledge that the wrongs which he endured in his latter days were but a just recompense of his early treachery.

The duke of Marlborough left behind him three daughters, all of them married into the best families of the kingdom. Henrietta, the eldest, the wife of Francis earl of Godolphin, became on her father's decease duchess of Marlborough; but died in 1733, without male issue. Anne married Charles, earl of Sunderland, from whom are descended the present duke of Marlborough and the earl of Spencer; and Mary gave her hand to the duke of Montagu. The property which he had accumulated in the course of his long and busy life proved to be very great. In addition to the estates purchased for him by the country, he disposed by will of lands and money, of which the interest fell not short of 100,000l. a year; indeed, the annual revenue bequeathed to his successors in Woodstock alone is given on the best authority at 70,000. The mansion house at Blenheim was at the period of his death still in progress of erection, and he set apart a sum of money for the purpose of completing it, of which he committed the management exclusively to the duchess, who survived her husband many years. It seems alone necessary to add to this, that the estates of Woodstock are held on feudal tenure, the occupant presenting to the king once a year a standard similar to those which the founder of his house captured; and that these are regularly desposited in a private chapel at Windsor, where they may still be seen by the curious.

The funeral of this illustrious warrior and statesman was of course as magnificent as his reputation and the honour of the country seemed to require. His body, after undergoing the process of embalming, and lying in state at Marlborough House, was conveyed in a sort of triumphal car to Westminster Abbey, long lines of carriages following, and all the parade of troops, heralds, and mourners preceding and surrounding the senseless clay. A gorgeous canopy overshadowed it, adorned with plumes, military trophies, and heraldic achievements. Dukes and enrls were the chief mourners; the pall being borne by persons of not less eminent rank; and the cavalcade was received by the light of blazing torches at the door of the abbey by all the dignitaries and ministers of the church in full canonicals. Yet was the solemn ceremony performed for no other purpose than to render due honours to the remains of England's most illustrious commander. The body was not permitted for any length of time to rest where, amid such splendour, it had been entombed; but, being removed to the chapel at Blenheim, it was finally deposited in a mausoleum, erected by Rysbrack, under the superintendence of the duchess.

CHARLES MORDAUNT, the son of John lord Mordaunt, of Reigate in Surrey, and viscount Avalon in the county of Somerset, by Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Carey, second son of Robert earl of Monmouth, was born at his father's house in the country, in the year 1658. Of the events which marked the progress of his childhood and early youth no record has been preserved, at least we have utterly failed in our efforts to obtain any information on the authority of which it would be prudent to rely. We know, indeed, that he served, when a mere boy, on board the Mediterranean fleet, under admirals Torrington and Narborough; and that in 1675 he succeeded to the honours and estates of his ancestors. likewise assured that he was present at the siege of Tangier, in 1680; having, by this time, exchanged the naval for the military profession: but of the system adopted in forming his early tastes, as well as of the names of his instructors, we are left entirely ignorant. To one fact, however, the habits of his latter years seem to bear tolerably conclusive testimony. His education, using that term in its ordinary sense, could not have been neglected: at least, if the contrary be the case, he stands forth an almost solitary instance of literary aptitude acquired in the decline of life, for which no preparation had been made in boyhood.

We are

The first historical mention made of the subject of this memoir, represents him as a bold and uncompromising opponent of the state policy pursued by the last two princes of the house of Stuart. Walpole even asserts that his hostility to the court went so far as to involve him in the plot of which lord Russell and Algernon Sydney were the victims;* and that he accompanied the latter to the scaffold. But as neither Burnet nor Tindal make mention of this circumstance, and as Walpole neglects to quote his authority, the truth of the statement may, at least, be doubted. Be this, however, as it may, we find him, immediately after the accession of James, taking an active part in the opposition set up to the proceedings of that ill-advised monarch. It is probable that his exertions in the cause of public liberty marked him out as an object of royal disfavour; or, it may be, that sheer disgust drove him, as it drove others, to abandon, for a time, his devoted country. At all events, he became, by degrees, so little satisfied

* Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors.

with the state of affairs at home, that he solicited, and obtained, permission to serve abroad, and quitted England, avowedly for the purpose of commanding a portion of the Dutch fleet, which was then about to sail for the West Indies. Thus screened from animadversion, he passed over to Holland, where he immediately attached himself to the person and fortunes of the prince of Orange; strongly urging upon him the wisdom of attempting, without further loss of time, a revolution for which all classes in England were ripe. But the advice, though according well with the designs of the stadtholder, was rejected for the present as premature. "The lord Mordaunt," says Bur

net,

was the first of all the English nobility that came over openly to see the prince of Orange. He asked the king's leave to do it. He was a man of much heat, many notions, and full of discourse. He was brave and generous, but had not true judgment. His thoughts were crude and indigested, and his secrets were soon known. He was with the prince in 1686; and then he pressed him to undertake the business of England; and he represented the matter as so easy, that this ap peared too romantical to the prince to build upon it. He only promised, in general, that he should have an eye on the affairs of England; and should endeavour to put the affairs of Holland in so good a posture as to be ready to act when it should be necessary and he assured him, that if the king should go about either to change the established religion, or to wrong the princess in her right, or to raise forged plots to destroy his friends, he would try what he could possibly do."

From this date, up to the memorable era of 1688, lord Mordaunt resided entirely in the Low Countries. He was much courted by the prince; being, as Burnet expresses it, "one whom his highness chiefly trusted, and by whose advice he governed his motions." Nor, when the cause finally triumphed, and William became king of England, were his services permitted long to go without their reward. On the 9th of April, 1689, he was created earl of Monmouth, having, on the day previous, been nominated to the twofold office of lord of the bedchamber and first commissioner of the treasury.

Lord Monmouth, as he must now be called, discharged his civil duties only till November, 1690; when, in consequence of some misunderstanding, of the precise nature of which we are ignorant, he was suddenly dismissed from the

king's councils. It is, perhaps, more to be wondered at, that two men, differing so widely as the king and his chamberlain, should have lived together during a year and a half in amity, than that they quarrelled at last; nevertheless, the rupture, if such it was, cannot be said to have been complete; inasmuch as his military dignities were not taken away from the discarded courtier. Monmouth still continued to command the royal regiment of horse-guards, a corps of which the king was colonel; and, accompanying it to the Continent, in 1692, served throughout the campaign with distinction; but his rank being necessarily subordinate, and his responsibility light, it were out of place to describe in detail operations over which he exerted no control.

There occurs little in the personal history or lord Monmouth, during several years from this date, of which it were necessary, in a sketch like the present, to give any account. Like most of his contemporaries, we find him mixed up, from time to time, in party feuds and personal bickerings; but the results attending these differ so little from the issues of political cabals in general, that we need not now pause to record them. The case is widely different as we come down to 1696, when he was suddenly deprived of all his offices, and committed to the Tower. Over the part which he played in the transactions of that memorable year, it is deeply to be regretted that a veil of studied mystery is thrown; nevertheless, as we are not absolutely without a clue to guide us, it may be well if we give, in few words, the substance of a tale which is told more at length both by Tindal and Burnet.

We need scarcely remind our readers, that in 1696 a plot for the assassination of king William was detected; and that sir John Fenwick, a violent jacobite, was, along with other persons, arrested as one of the conspirators. Through the management of his wife, a near relative of the earl of Carlisle, one of the principal witnesses against the prisoner was induced to fly the country; so that, when the day of trial came, it was found necessary to suspend the proceedings, the testimony of one being insufficient to convict of high treason. A bill of attainder was in consequence introduced into parliament; during the preparation and progress of which, considerable delays occurred; and other and more powerful parties were, by means highly disgraceful to all concerned, dragged as it were before the bar of public opinion. A pamphlet appeared, having the name of Smith upon the title-page, which charged lord Shrewsbury with being accessory to the plot; while Fenwick himself threw out more than one hint that the accusation was not absolutely groundless. As the proceedings went on, however, Fenwick refused to repeat his insinuations, or to fasten a positive charge on lord Shrewsbury; while Peterborough, who at first appeared reluctant to sanction the bill of attainder, spoke vehemently in fa

vour of its passing. Strange occurrences followed upon this. The duchess of Norfolk openly declared, that the whole device of lord Shrewsbury's accusation originated with lord Monmouth. She asserted that he, assisted by Dr. Davenant, drew up the pamphlet of which Smith stood forth as the ostensible author; and that lady Fenwick had repeatedly been worked upon, the duchess herself being the instrument, to encourage her husband in his designs against Shrewsbury. We are not called upon to decide whether this story, given in part by Tindal, in part by bishop Burnet, be or be not correct; all that we know on the subject is, that an inquiry took place before both houses of parliament; that Smith's book was pronounced by the commons to be libellous and false; that both Fenwick and his lady confirmed before the lords the statements of the duchess of Norfolk; and that Peterborough suffered immediately afterwards the disgrace of which we have already spoken. Yet, though the tale undeniably received credence at the time (and Marlborough among others believed it,) the king would not push matters to an extremity. Monmouth was liberated after a short confinement; and the loss (of places) says Burnet, 66 was secretly made up to him; for the court was resolved not to lose him quite."

In the month of June, 1697, Henry second earl of Peterborough died, and Monmouth, his nephew and heir-at-law, succeeded to the title. The circumstance appears to have produced no immediate change either in his private habits or his public fortunes, over the latter of which a cloud continued to hang during some time longer : indeed, it was not till after the death of William, and the accession of Anne to the throne, that any advances were made towards rendering his talents available to the service of his country. Yet there is good reason to believe that Peterborough had not held aloof, throughout this extended interval, from all intercourse with the court and its attendants: he opened, on the contrary, a correspondence with Marlborough, of whose good opinion he expressed himself exceedingly covetous; and he succeeded at last in gaining a prominent place in the esteem of that illustrious nobleman. The consequence was, that in 1702, the appointment of governor-general of Jamaica, and commander-in-chief of the forces about to be employed in the West Indies, was offered to him; though, for some reason unknown to us, it was declined: and during a space of nearly three years more, he led the kind of life which was in those days usually led by Englishmen of his rank.

Perhaps there never breathed the human being with the bent of whose genius a life of inactivity and repose could so ill accord. Ardent, ambitious, brave, and aspiring; possessed of talents, too, which he was not given to under-rate; lord Peterborough pined and fretted for employment on some

stage where there might be difficulties to surmount or glory to be acquired. He continued, therefore, to solicit, through every channel within his reach, service abroad; and at last, through the interference of Marlborough in his favour, he attained his end. In the spring of 1705, an expedition was planned, on the success of which the issue of the Spanish war was expected to turn; and to Peterborough, as an officer of tried courage and acknowledged ability, its guidance was entrusted. Whence the necessity of the movement originated, as well as the ends which it was designed to serve, will be best understood if we look to the state of affairs as they existed then, and had prevailed for some time previously, in Spain and Portugal.

It is not our intention to give any detailed account of the Spanish war of succession, from its commencement in 1702, down to the period of which we are now treating. Our purpose will be sufficiently served if we state, that it opened, on the side of England, with an unsuccessful attempt to reduce Cadiz; that the failure of this enterprise induced her majesty's government to turn their attention towards the establishment of an alliance with Portugal; and that, in accordance with the terms of that alliance, 12,000 men, of whom two thirds were English and one third Dutch, arrived early in 1704 at Lisbon, under the command of the duke of Schomberg. With this force, which Charles of Austria accompanied in person, and which ought to have been joined, immediately, by 23,000 Portuguese, it had been resolved to make an inroad into Spain; and as the duke of Anjou was understood to be but ill prepared for defence, confident anticipations were entertained as to the result.

But Charles soon became aware that it is one thing to promise, and another to perform an obligation. The Portuguese army was shamefully deficient, both in numbers and equipment; there was neither unanimity of purpose, nor cordiality of feeling, among the generals; and Schomberg himself proved eminently deficient both in the temper and talent requisite to set in motion a machine so cumbersome. The consequence was, that the duke of Berwick, instead of defending Spain, carried an army of 50,000 men into Portugal, where he reduced several places of strength, and created alarm up to the very gates of Lisbon.

A commencement so disastrous, of operations in which he had somewhat reluctantly embarked, induced Schomberg almost immediately to resign; and he was succeeded in his command by lord Galway, a foreigner by extraction, but naturalised, and promoted to the peerage by king William. Galway reached Lisbon on the 30th of July, a fortnight after the taking of Gibraltar by the prince of Hesse and sir George Byng; and immediately hastened to join the army, which had proceeded towards the frontier as far as Coimbra. No event of importance marked the progress of the campaign. The duke of Berwick, securely posted in an entrenched camp behind the Agueda, bade

defiance to the efforts of the Anglo-Portuguese leaders; who withdrew from before him, early in October, into winter quarters. Berwick instantly detached a strong corps to reinforce the marquis of Villadarias, already on his march to attempt the recovery of Gibraltar; and, with the remainder of his troops, placed himself in cantonments along the frontier. The siege of Gibraltar, however, ended, as every reader of history knows, in the repulse of the assailants with heavy loss. Four English with two Dutch battalions being sent round from Lisbon, gave such a superiority to the garrison, that they not only checked the approaches of the enemy, but adventured on many and daring sorties, which wore out the patience of marshal Tesse, ruined his infantry, and compelled him to retreat with disgrace. It was chiefly owing to this circumstance, indeed, that the allies were enabled to take the field in the ensuing spring with marked superiority; and to recover the strongholds of Alcantara and Albuquerque, both of which had been wrested from them by Berwick.

The war was thus languishing along the Portuguese frontiers, when circumstances occurred, which induced the English government to hazard a fresh expedition into Spain itself. The two kingdoms Castile and Aragon, though united since the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, retain to this day something of the hereditary animosity which they harboured one towards the other in times of old. This feeling, as may be imagined, was considerably stronger in the beginning of the eighteenth century than at any later period, and hence whatever line of policy the Castilians might be disposed to approve, seldom failed of receiving the condemnation of the people of Aragon. It so chanced that the Castilians had espoused the Bourbon cause with extraordinary zeal. The knowledge of this fact led queen Anne's ministers to anticipate that the task of exciting an Austrian party in Aragon would not be difficult; and the mission of Mr. Crow, which took place early in the summer of 1704, convinced them that the expectation had been well founded. Throughout the provinces both of Catalonia and Valencia, but particularly in the former, the archduke Charles had many friends; strenuous and successful efforts were therefore made to rouse among them a spirit of opposition; and the better to encourage them, it was resolved to support, with an English army, any designs which they might entertain of liberating themselves from the yoke of France. To the command of that expedition the earl of Peterborough was nominated, full authority over the land forces being committed to him; while a joint control was assigned to him and sir Cloudesley Shovel over the movements and operations of the fleet.

From the tenour of the instructions conveyed on this occasion to lord Peterborough, it would appear that several objects were submitted to him for attainment. Prominent among these was the