thin body, and delicate constitution. He had an acquiline nose, sparkling eyes, a large forehead, and a grave solemn aspect. He left behind him the character of a great politician, though he had never been popular; and that of a formidable general, though he was seldom victorious. His deportment was grave, phlegmatic, and sullen; nor did he ever shew any fire, but in the day of battle. He despised flattery, yet loved dominion. Greater as the stadtholder of Holland than as king of England; to the one he was a father, to the other a suspicious friend. His character and success served to shew that moderate abilities will achieve the greatest purposes, if the objects aimed at be pursued with perseverance, and planned without unnecessary or ostentatious refinement.

CHAP. XLI.

ANNE.-A. D. 1702 to 1706.

THE nearer we approach to our own times, the more important every occurrence becomes; and those battles or treaties, which in remoter times are deservedly forgotten, as we come down are necessary to be known, our own private interests being generally blended with every event; and the accounts of public welfare make often a transcript of private happiness. The loss of king William was thought at first irreparable; but the kingdom soon found that the happiness of any reign is to be estimated as much from the general manners of the times, as the private virtues of the monarch. Queen Anne, his successor, with no very shining talents, and few exalted virtues, yet governed with glory, and left her people happy.

Anne, married to prince George of Denmark, ascended the throne in the thirty-eighth year of her age, to the general satisfaction of all parties. She was the second daughter of king James by his first wife, the daughter of chancellor Hyde, afterwards earl of Clarendon. As she had been taught in the preceding part of her life to suffer many mortifications from the reigning king, she had thus learned to conceal her resentments; and the natural tranquillity of her temper still more contributed to make her overlook and pardon every opposition. She either was insensible of any disrespect shewn to her, or had wisdom to assume the appearance of insensibility.

The late king, whose whole life had been spent in one continued opposition to the king of France, and all whose politics consisted in forming alliances. against him, had left England on the eve of a war with that monarch. The present queen, who generally took the advice of her ministry in every important transaction, was upon this occasion urged by opposing counsels; a part of her ministry were for war, while another part as sincerely declared for peace. At the head of those who opposed a war with France was the earl of Rochester, lord-lieutenaut of Ireland, first-cousin to the queen, and the chief of the Tory faction. This minister proposed in council that the English should avoid a declaration of war with France, and at most act as auxiliaries only. He urged the impossibility of England's reaping any advantage from the most distinguished success upon the continent, and exposed the folly of loading the nation with debts to increase the riches of its commercial rivals.

In the van of those who declared for prosecuting the late king's intentions of going to war with France, was the earl, since better known by the title of the duke, of Marlborough. This nobleman had begun life as a court-page, and was raised by king James to a peerage. Having deserted his old master, he attached himself in appearance to king William, but had still a secret partiality in favour of the Tories, from whom he had received his first employments. Ever willing to thwart and undermine the measures of William, he became a favourite of Anne for that very reason; she loved a man who still professed reverence and veneration for her father, and paid the utmost attention to herself. But Marlborough had still another hold upon the queen's affections and esteem. He was married to a lady who was the queen's peculiar confidante, and who governed her, in every action of life, with unbounded authority. By this canal Marlborough actually directed the queen in all her

resolutions; and, while his rivals strove to advance their reputation in the council, he was more effectually securing his in the closet.

It was not, therefore, without private reasons, that Marlborough supported the arguments for an active war. It first gave him an opportunity of taking a different side of the question from the earl of Rochester, whose influence be desired to lessen; but he had, in the next place, hopes of being appointed general of the forces that should be sent over to the continent; a command that would gratify his ambition in all its varieties. He therefore observed in council, that the honour of the nation was concerned to fulfil the late king's engagements. He affirmed that France could never be reduced within due bounds, unless England would enter as a principal in the quarrel. His opinion preponderated; the queen resolved to declare war, and communicated her intention to the house of commons, by whom it was approved, and war was proclaimed accordingly.

Louis XIV., once arrived at the summit of glory, but long since grown familiar with disappointment and disgrace, still kept spurring on an exhausted kingdom to second the views of his ambition. He now, upon the death of William, expected to enter upon a field open for conquest and fame. The vigilance of his late rival had blasted all his laurels, and circumscribed his power; for even though defeated, William still was formidable. At the news of his death, the French monarch could not suppress his rapture; and his court at Versailles seemed to have forgotten their usual decency in the effusions of their satisfaction. The people at Paris openly rejoiced at the event; and the whole kingdom testified their rapture by every public demonstration of joy. But their pleasure was soon to have an end. A much more formidable enemy was now rising up to oppose them; a more refined politician, a more skilful general, backed by the confidence of an indulgent mistress, and the efforts of a willing nation.

The king of France was, in the queen's declaration of war, taxed with having taken possession of a great part of the Spanish dominions; with designing to invade the liberties of Europe; to obstruct the freedom of navigation and commerce; and with having offered an unpardonable insult to the queen and her throne, by acknowledging the title of the Pretender. He was accused of attempting to unite the crown of Spain to his own dominions, by placing his grandson upon the throne of that kingdom, and thus endeavouring to destroy the equality of power that subsisted among the states of Europe.

This declaration of war, on the part of the English, was seconded by similar declarations from the Dutch and Germans, all on the same day. The French monarch could not suppress his anger at such a combination; but his chief resentment fell upon the Dutch. He declared, with great emotion, that as for those gentlemen pedlars, the Dutch, they should one day repent their insolence and presumption, in declaring war against one whose power they had formerly felt and dreaded. However, the affairs of the allies were no way influenced by his threats. Marlborough had his views gratified, in being appointed general of the English forces; and he was equally flattered by the Dutch, who, though their countryman, the carl of Athlone, had a right to share the command, gave the English peer the chief direction of their army; and it must be confessed, that few men shone more, either in debate or action, than he; serene in the midst of danger, and indefatigable in the cabinet: so that he became the most formidable enemy to France that England had produced since the conquering times of Cressy and Agincourt.

A great part of the history of this reign consists of battles fought upon the continent, which, though of very little advantage to the interests of the nation, were very great additions to its honour. These triumphs, it is true, are passed away, and nothing remains of them; but they are too recent to be omitted in silence, and the fame of them, though it be empty, still continues to be loud.

The earl of Marlborough had learned the first rudiments of the art of war under the famous marshal Turenne, having been a volunteer in his army. He was, at first, rather more remarkable for the beauty of his person than the greatness of his talent, and he went in the French camp by the name of the Handsome Englishman; but Turenne, who saw deeper into mankind, per

ceived the superiority of his talents, and prognosticated his future greatness. The first attempt that Marlborough made to deviate from the general practices of the army, which were founded in error, was to advance the subaltern officers, whose merit had hitherto been neglected. Regardless of seniority, wherever he found abilities, he was sure to promote them; and thus he had all the upper ranks of commanders rather remarkable for their skill and talents, than for their age and experience.

In his first campaign, the beginning of July, he repaired to the camp at Nimeguen, where he found himself at the head of an army of sixty thousand men, well provided with all necessaries, and long disciplined by the best officers of the age. He was opposed, on the side of France, by the duke of Burgundy, grandson to the king, a youth more qualified to grace a court, than to conduct an army; but the real acting general was the marshal Boufflers, who commanded under him, an officer of courage and activity. But wherever Marlborough advanced, the French were obliged to retire before him, leaving all Spanish Guelderland at his discretion. The duke of Burgundy, finding himself obliged to retreat before the allied army, rather than expose himself longer to such a mortifying indignity, returned to Versailles, leaving Boufflers to command alone. Boufflers, confounded at the rapidity of the enemy's progress, retired towards Brabant, where Marlborough had no design to pursue; contented with ending the campaign by taking the city of Liege, in which he found an immense sum of money, and a great number of prisoners. By the success of this campaign, Marlborough raised his military character, and confirmed himself in the confidence of the allies, naturally inclined to distrust a foreign commander.

Marlborough, upon his return to London, was received with the most flattering testimonies of public approbation. He was thanked for his services by the house of commons, and was created a duke by the queen. His good fortune seemed to console the nation for some unsuccessful expeditions at sea. Sir John Munden had permitted a French squadron of fourteen ships to escape him, by taking shelter in the harbour of Corunna; for which he was dismissed from the service by prince George. An attempt was also made upon Cadiz by sea and land, sir George Rooke commanding the navy, and the duke of Ormond the land forces; but this also miscarried. The English arms, however, were crowned with success at Vigo. The duke of Ormond landed with five-and-twenty hundred men, at the distance of six miles from the town; and the fleet forcing its way into the harbour, eight French ships that had taken refuge there were burned or otherwise destroyed by the enemy, to prevent them from falling into the hands of the English. Ten ships of war were taken, together with eleven galleons, and above a million of money in silver, which was of more benefit to the captors than to the public. The advantage acquired by this expedition was counterbalanced by the base conduct of some officers in the West Indies. Admiral Benbow, a bold rough seaman, had been stationed in that part of the world with ten ships, to distress the enemy's trade. Being informed that Du Casse, the French admiral, was in those seas with a force equal to his own, he resolved to attack him; and soon after discovered the enemy's squadron near St. Martha, steering along the shore. He quickly gave orders to his captains, formed the line of battle, and the engagement began. He found, however, that the rest of the fleet had taken some disgust at his conduct; and that they permitted him, almost alone, to sustain the whole fire of the enemy. Nevertheless, the engagement continued till night, and he determined to renew it the next morning, but had the mortification to perceive that all the rest of the ships had fallen back, except one, who joined with him in urging the pursuit of the enemy. For four days did this intrepid seaman, assisted only by one ship, pursue and engage the enemy, while his cowardly officers, at a distance behind, remained spectators of his activity. His last day's battle was more furious than all the former; alone, and unsustained by the rest, he engaged the whole French squadron, when his leg was shattered by a cannon-ball. He then ordered that they should place him in a cradle, upon the quarter-deck; and there he continued to give orders as before, till at last the ship became quite disabled, and was unfit to continue the chase. When one of his lieutenants expressed his sorrow for the loss of the