great Captains, than Temperance and Moderation in Meat and Drink. The
Commander of the Army ought to be vigilant, that (as a good Prince once
said) the People committed to his Charge may sleep more safely; and
'tis not to be conceiv'd how such a Person, who is loaded continually
with foggy Intemperance, can be Careful, Active, Watchful, Alert,
Thoughtful, Foreseeing, being all Qualities necessary for so great a
Charge.
His Grace governs his Family abroad like a wise Master, with good Order
and Method; every thing about him shines with a temperate Use, and a
daily chearful Plenty, not only for his own Domesticks, but for many
others; but then all this is in due time and season: He has no
Constitution for an Intemperate Life, and the Loads of it would soon
destroy him.
As for his great Profits in the Army, let us take a view of them: There
is an Author call'd, _The Examiner_, who has been very diligent in
searching into His Grace's Revenue: But I am sure, in his Perquisites
belonging to the Army he can be no Judge; the Pay of a Captain General,
by the Day, may be known to any one, I suppose 'tis set down in the
_Present State of England_, as well as Master of the Ordnance, and
Colonel of a Regiment of Foot-Guards; these are all his Military
Employments, and the Pay of them as much his due, as the Pay of Three
Shillings and Six-Pence is to an Ensign. The Earl of _Rumney_ had all
these Places except Captain-General; he was both a Lieutenant-General
and an Ambassador, and enjoy'd them a long time, and yet I never heard
of any Man that envied him, or found fault that he had too many Places.
And 'tis a common thing for a great Mareschal of _France_ to have many
more Posts, and of much greater Profits.
Any young Clerk, who belongs to an Agent, can presently show how many
Regiments of Horse, Foot, and Dragoons are in the Pay of Her Majesty,
under the Duke; and everyone there, from a General to a Drummer, what
their proper Pay is, nor can they be deceived. The Hospitals and the
Artillery are paid accordingly, in an exact Method. The Pay of each
particular Body is issued out to the Pay-masters of the Army, from the
Pay-Master-General; and the Duke touches not a Farthing but what
properly belongs to him. And whereas abundance of People complain, that
almost all the Money of the Nation was, by the late Lord Treasurer,
sent into _Flanders_ to pay the Troops there; no matter what became of
the other parts of the War. This I know to be true, That the mercenary
or hired Forces, which are in our Pay, and are the greatest part of our
Army under the Duke, being most of them _Danes_, _Swiss_, _Saxons_, and
_Palatines_, all of the _German_ kind, will not march one Foot,
notwithstanding all the Perswasions that any General can use; no, not
to save any King or Prince in the World, unless they are duly paid, at
the appointed times, according to their first Agreement: but then, as
soon as you shew the _Gheldt_, they presently Shoulder, and Stalk
wheresoever you please.
What the Queen is pleas'd to allow the Duke for his Secret Service,
because his Eyes and Ears must be in all Secret Cabinets, (and, without
doubt, his Intelligence must be very good) it is not fit for me or the
_Examiner_ to know; or, for ought I can judge, any one else besides in
the World.
The Perquisites of Safeguards and Contributions, which in all Times
have belong'd to Generals, can't easily be valued, they are according
to the Countries in which the War is carried. But for all these Profits
to be ascrib'd to the Duke, (as in several Pamphlets 'tis evident they
are) is very unreasonable; because there are two other Chief Generals
besides, the Prince of _Savoy_ for the Imperialists, and Count _Tilly_
for the States, each of which will claim their Parts as well as His
Grace; besides the gross of them, which are given to the States
themselves: and yet we hear of no Complaint, or Papers printed against
them, or in the least envied by any of the Nations under whom they
serve.
In short, 'tis all the Reason that a conquering General, who fights our
Battels, and must look the Powers of _Europe_ in the Face, as he is
distinguish'd by Titles of Honour, so where-ever he goes he ought to be
attended with Plenty and Riches.
A Sea-Captain, after the Service of Nine or Ten Years, is usually
Master of a very great Fortune, he Sails in his Coach with rich
Liveries for his Colours, and Steers from his City to his Country-House
unenvied, and without unmerciful Remarks. The honest Gentlemen in Town,
call'd Agents, most of whom are risen from a mean Condition to be
Members of Parliament, Justices of the Peace, and to purchase Estates,
where-ever they can find out Land to be dispos'd of, who never ventur'd
their Lives farther than from the Pay-Office to the Tavern; and yet
they make a Figure in the World with a very good Grace, untouch'd, or
not mark'd by any Observator.
But this has been the Fortune of the most glorious Persons, to be
envied and persecuted whilst they are alive, and when taken away from
us by some unlucky Accident, are desir'd too late, and lamented with a
Witness.
If we observe, through the whole Nation, either here in this Capital,
or in any other Parts of _England_, allowing but for proportion of
Merit and Dignity, we shall find more People belonging to Offices of
Docks and Yards, to Offices of Stores and Victualling, who have made as
good use of the Places in which they serve, and with no greater Fatigue
and Danger than Figuring and Writing, as the best and richest General
in _Europe_.
When my Lord _Marlborough_ had escap'd the Wars, and was return'd to
the quiet of the Country, no Word was heard of him in Court or Town, no
one talked of his Money, or Riches, or Estate; but no sooner was he
again call'd to the High Station in which he now Acts, but Envy had
presently found him out, even in the midst of Guards and Arms, and ever
since has follow'd him close with all sorts of False-Reports, to this
very time; as if nothing but his most excellent Qualities, and growing
Glory, could make him Unfortunate.
Indeed Generals, tho' the most accomplish'd Heroes, are but Men, they
are not Infallible, but may be mistaken as well as other Mortals, they
are subject to Faults and Infirmities as well as their Fellow-Creatures;
but then their great Services for the good of their Country ought to be
cast into the Ballance, against their humane Mistakes; and not only
Charity, but Self-consideration should give them very good Quarter,
unless their Faults are prov'd to be Wilful and Contumacious.
I know not how it might happen to the Duke if he should chance to
Miscarry, or be beaten in a Battle; God be prais'd, as yet he has never
been foil'd: but then we must not suppose that he is Invincible, that
Fortune will always be confin'd to the Pomel of his Sword. But this is
certain, that the _French_ King has not been severe to any of his Great
Captains, tho', in their turns, they have been all beaten by the Prince
of _Savoy_ and the Duke, the Prince taking one of his chief Mareschals
a Prisoner with him out of the midst of his Garison; the Duke another
of them on the Banks of the _Danube_, with the greatest part of the
Banners and Trophies of his almost captiv'd Army: there are no Outcries
of the Common People for a Sacrifice to the Publick, nor base
Reflections made on their Courage or Conduct; because 'tis suppos'd in
all those fiery Ordeals of Battles, a General exerts all the Faculties
and Powers of Body and Soul; he puts Nature on the stretch. And as my
Lord Duke, at the conclusion of the great Battle of _Blenheim_ said, I
think to his Honour, that he believed he had pray'd more that Day than
all the Chaplains of his Army.
Therefore let not People think, that those Gentlemen who are call'd to
fight Battles make use of those Employments, in the heat of a bloody
War, for Diversion or Pleasure. They who have been Spectators of what
they do and what they suffer, will soon be perswaded, that no People
under Heaven purchase their Profits and Honours at a dearer rate.
'Tis a great happiness to a Nation to have a generous Race of Warlike
People, who, at all times, are ready to venture their Lives in the
defence of it. Cowardice is the highest Scandal to a Country, and
exposes it to be a Prey to every Invader, as well as a Scorn to their
Neighbours. In all Histories of the World, they who dare die for the
sake of their Country, have been esteem'd as a sort of Martyrs: And the
People who are protected at Home in their Estates, Ease, Safety, and
Liberties, ought not to grudge them of any of their Perquisites; but to
bless God for such a gallant number of Martial Brethren, who drive the
War at a great distance, so that we see none, we do but hear of it; for
'tis a sad thing to behold the Ravages, the Ruine, the Spoils, the
Devastations of those Countries which happen to be the Seats of War.
When the Officers, coming from _Flanders_, after the Campaign, appear
in the newest Fashions, which they bring over with them, with a good
Ayre and genteel Mien, which is almost common to them, the People, who
never saw the Hardships which they undergo, think them only design'd
for Pleasure and Ease, and their Profession to be desir'd above any
thing in the World besides. They often hear of Fights and Sieges, and
of a great many Men kill'd in a few Hours; but because they see not the
Actions, the Talk leaves but a small and transient Impression, and so
in a small time is wip'd off and forgotten. But if they did but see
them in a Rainy Season, when the whole Country about them is trod into
a Chaos, and in such intolerable Marches, Men and Horses dying and dead
together, and the best of them glad of a bundle of Straw to lay down
their wet and weary Limbs: If they did but see a Siege, besides the
daily danger and expectation of Death, which is common to all, from the
General to the Centinel; the Watches, the Labours, the Cares which
attend the greatest; the ugly Sights, the Stinks of Mortality, the
Grass all wither'd and black with the Smoke of Powder, the horrid
Noises all Night and all Day, and Spoil and Destruction on every side;
I am sure they would be perswaded, that a State of War, to those who
are engag'd in it, must needs, be a state of Labour and Misery; and
that a great General, I mean such a one as the Duke of _Marlborough_,
weak in his Constitution, and well stricken in Years, would not undergo
those eating Cares, which must be continually at his Heart; the Toils
and Hardships which he must endure, and the often Sorrows which must
prick his Heart for ugly Accidents, if he has the least Spark of humane
Commiseration, I say, he would not engage himself in such a Life, if
not for the sake of his Queen and Country, and his Honour.
I come now to add a word or two of the government of the Forces under
his Care. His own Example gives a particular Life to his Orders; and as
no indecent Expression, unbecoming, unclean, or unhandsome Language
ever drops from his Lips, so he is imitated by the genteel part of his
Army: His Camps are like a quiet and well-govern'd City; and, I am apt
to believe, much more Mannerly; Cursing and Swearing, and boisterous
Words being never heard among those who are accounted good Officers:
And, without doubt, his Army is the best Academy in the World to teach
a young Gentlemen Wit and Breeding; a Sot and a Drunkard being scorn'd
among them.
These poor Wretches, that are (too many of them) the refuse and
off-scowrings of the worst parts of our Nation, after two Campaigns, by
the Care of their Officers, and good Order and Discipline, are made
Tractable, and Civil, and Orderly, and Sensible, and Clean, and have an
Ayre and a Spirit that is beyond vulgar People.
The Service of GOD, according to the Order of our Church, is strictly
enjoin'd by the Dukes special Care; and in all fixed Camps, every Day,
Morning and Evening, there are Prayers; and on Sundays Sermons are duly
perform'd with all Decency and Respect, as well as in Garisons. And, to
be sure, the Good-Nature, and Compassion, and Charity of Officers
express'd to the poor sick and wounded Soldiers, and to their Families
in Garison, is more Liberal, and Generous, and Free, than usually we
meet with in our own Country.
And now then I hope my good Country-men will not suffer themselves any
longer to be impos'd on by false Reports, which are cunningly spread
abroad among them, against a Gentleman, a Patriot, who ventures his
Life, every Day, for their Safety, and is endeavouring to the utmost of
his Power, under his Most Gracious Sovereign, by his Courage, his
Skill, and his Wisdom, to bring the Common Enemy to Reason, and to
procure them and our Allies, an honourable and lasting Peace.
'Tis a thing of ill Consequence to bring a Disreputation on the good
Name of a General; and to lessen his Honour is to dispirit his Army:
for when the Forces under his Command have once a mean Opinion of the
Integrity, and Honour, and Conduct of their General, they may be drawn
out and forced to Battle, but never be perswaded to think of Laurels
and Victory.
'Tis an old Piece of Policy for an Enemy, if possible, to bring an
Odium on the Honour of a General against whom he is to act. Thus did
_Hannibal_, who, in his moroding Marches, had spared some Grounds
belonging to the Dictator _Fabius_, not out of any respect or kindness
to his Person, but to bring him into Envy and Suspicion among the
People at _Rome_; and so 'twas given out by one of the Tribunes, that
_Hannibal_ and he had, as it were, made a Truce; that the drift of
_Fabius_ could be nothing else but to prolong the War, that he might be
long in Office, and have the sole Government both of City and Armies.
And, without doubt, the _French_ King would have been very well
satisfied, if this same Aspersion, which was lately spread abroad
concerning our General, had taken the effect of having him laid aside,
and put out of his Places. A Finish'd Hero does not grow up every Day,
they are scarce Plants, and do not thrive in every Soil; He may be
easily lost, but then that Loss cannot easily be repair'd; therefore
there is great Reason to Value and Esteem him.
To conclude, As our great Commander is known to the World, or at least
to the greatest part of it, to be Temperate, Sober, Careful,
Couragious, Politick, Skilful, so he is Courteous, Mild, Affable,
Humble, and Condescending to People of the meanest Condition. And as
'tis said of _Moses_, the Great, the Valiant Captain-General of
Almighty God, for an immortal Title of Honour, that he was one of the
Meekest Men upon the Earth; so, without doubt, our Captain-General,
_John_ Duke of _Marlborough_, has a great share of it.
_FINIS._
APPENDIX
Authorship of _A Short Narrative_
While no direct contemporary corroboration exists as evidence for
Defoe's authorship, a considerable number of literary mannerisms,
interests, and opinions appear to establish it conclusively.
As Professor John Robert Moore said, _The Life_ is "exceptionally
characteristic" of Defoe, so characteristic in fact that "one can
recognize his style and manner as one would a familiar voice."[21] The
list of phrases and mannerisms which produce this effect is extensive:
The insertion of qualifying or explanatory phrases ("The first time
that I had the Honour of seeing John, Earl of Marlborough, [for so I
shall call him till he was created Duke] ..."), the use of "sentence
paragraphs," the repetition of such introductory phrases as "To be
short," "but now to the Truth of the matter," "in short," and "to put
all this matter out of doubt," and the frequent use of words such as
"matter" and "purpose" to emphasize the force and pertinence of his
arguments mark Defoe's writings throughout his career. The use of the
present participle construction as subject ("As for his Acting in
Concert with the Heroick Prince of Savoy ... is one of the strongest
Arguments of his Art and Knowledge"), long sentences hung together with
"and" and qualified with subordinate clauses, and a propensity for
coining words ("over-Honored and over-Paid") make Defoe's writing
nearly unmistakable and give it the hasty, colloquial quality. His
Latin quotations are off hand and rather careless.
At the same time, Defoe has great stylistic virtuosity. He is always
direct and forceful. Although he is attacking some of the most powerful
men in politics and literature in _The Life_, there is nothing at all
deferential. He includes trivial and often superfluous details which
give whatever he writes an authentic tone; these details may be places
("After several Marches, we came to the Confines of Haynault, within a
League of a small Town call'd Walcourt...."), names of people ("Mr.
Sizar was our Pay-Master General...."), or observations ("twas
supposed we would have a long and a late Fatigue"). The same sort of
verisimilitude which deceived the readers of _Memoirs of Captain
Carleton_ and _Journal of the Plague Year_ supports the illusion of an
eye witness account. Defoe's metaphors are also distinctive. While
there are no great number, they are graphic, often simplify and
condense an idea, and join image and idea in much the same way that
seventeenth-century conceits do. Drawing on the common place, the
originality and force comes from their aptness ("'tis easie to guess
out of what Quiver this Arrow of Scandal was drawn," "For the most
eminent Virtues are but as so many fair Marks set up on high for
Envy to shoot at with her poysonous darts"). Characteristic
idioms--"Engineer that stands behind the curtains," "the Lord knows who
and where"--can be found on every page. Small touches such as an
allusion to one of Defoe's favorite jokes (Lord Craven's retort to de
Vere concerning his ancestry) can also be identified.
Furthermore, the allusions to historical and Biblical figures are
consistent with Defoe's life-long usage, opinions and interests. Sir
Walter Raleigh and Hannibal, Moses and Solomon are referred to for the
same purposes in writings from _The Shortest Way with Dissenters_ to
_Atalantis Major_ (a typically explicit analog: from _The Shortest
Way_--"Moses was a merciful meek man" and from _The Life_--"Moses ...
one of the Meekest Men upon the Earth"). Defoe habitually commented on
the policies of military men and statesmen, traced topography, and
included the large features of military campaigns which could be found
in printed records. Defoe's opinions on drinking, swearing, reliance on
Providence, leadership qualities, gratitude, and courage, to mention a
few, are consistent throughout his life and found in this pamphlet. For
example, he makes the same distinctions in types of courage in _Journal
of the Plague Year_, the _Review_, _Robinson Crusoe_, _Atalantis
Major_, and _Memoirs of Captain Carleton_ that he does in _The Life_
("True courage cannot proceed from what Sir Walter Raleigh finely calls
the art or philosophy of quarrel. No! It must be the issue of
principle...").
Moreover, the pamphlet itself bears certain marks indicative of
Defoe's hand. It was published by John Baker, "at the Black-Boy in
Pater-noster-Row," Defoe's usual publisher for that year. Had it been
published by, say, Tonson, the immediate conclusion would be that it
was not Defoe's. Baker appeared to take greater care with Defoe's
pamphlets than he did with some others; _A Defence of Dr. Sacheverell_,
for example, has fifty lines of small type to the page. Six other
tracts by Defoe have titles beginning with "Short" or "Shortest." The
use of the eye witness narrator and the soldier narrator are recurring
devices which Defoe used to protect himself or his sources and to add
weight to what he was purporting to be factual.
Finally Marlborough was one of Defoe's heroes until at least late 1711.
He praises him highly in _Seldom Comes a Better_, _Atalantis Major_,
and _The Quaker's Sermon_. It is with reluctance that Defoe is
persuaded that Marlborough must be displaced, and even in the poem on
the occasion of Marlborough's funeral, his disapproval seems to be more
for the ostentatiousness and inappropriateness of the funeral than for
the man himself. All in all, there is scarcely a line in _The Life_
which does not bear Defoe's fingerprints.
WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
The Augustan Reprint Society
PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT
The Augustan Reprint Society
PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT
1948-1949
16. Henry Nevil Payne, _The Fatal Jealousie_ (1673).
18. "Of Genius," in _The Occasional Paper_, Vol. III, No. 10
(1719), and Aaron Hill, Preface to _The Creation_ (1720).
1949-1950
19. Susanna Centlivre, _The Busie Body_ (1709).
20. Lewis Theobald, _Preface to the Works of Shakespeare_ (1734).
22. Samuel Johnson, _The Vanity of Human Wishes_ (1749), and two
_Rambler_ papers (1750).
23. John Dryden, _His Majesties Declaration Defended_ (1681).
1951-1952
26. Charles Macklin, _The Man of the World_ (1792).
31. Thomas Gray, _An Elegy Wrote in a Country Churchyard_ (1751),
and _The Eton College Manuscript_.
1952-1953
41. Bernard Mandeville, _A Letter to Dion_ (1732).
1964-1965
109. Sir William Temple, _An Essay Upon the Original and Nature of
Government_ (1680).
110. John Tutchin, _Selected Poems_ (1685-1700).
111. _Political Justice_ (1736).
113. T. R., _An Essay Concerning Critical and Curious Learning_ (1698).
114. Two Poems Against Pope: Leonard Welsted, _One Epistle to Mr. A.
Pope_ (1730); and _The Blatant Beast_ (1742).
1965-1966
115. Daniel Defoe and others, _Accounts of the Apparition of Mrs.
Veal_.
116. Charles Macklin, _The Convent Garden Theatre_ (1752).
117. Sir Roger L'Estrange, _Citt and Bumpkin_ (1680).
118. Henry More, _Enthusiasmus Triumphatus_ (1662).
119. Thomas Traherne, _Meditations on the Six Days of the Creation_
(1717).
120. Bernard Mandeville, _Aesop Dress'd or a Collection of Fables_
(1740).
1966-1967
123. Edmond Malone, _Cursory Observations on the Poems Attributed to
Mr. Thomas Rowley_ (1782).
124. _The Female Wits_ (1704).
125. _The Scribleriad_ (1742). Lord Hervey, _The Difference Between
Verbal and Practical Virtue_ (1742).
1968-1969
133. John Courtenay, _A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral
Character of the Late Samuel Johnson_ (1786).
134. John Downes, _Roscius Anglicanus_ (1708).
135. Sir John Hill, _Hypochondriasis, a Practical Treatise_ (1766).
136. Thomas Sheridan, _Discourse ... Being Introductory to His Course
of Lectures on Elocution and the English Language_ (1759).
137. Arthur Murphy, _The Englishman From Paris_ (1736).
1969-1970
138. [Catherine Trotter] _Olinda's Adventures_ (1718).
139. John Ogilvie, _An Essay on the Lyric Poetry of the Ancients_
(1762).
140. _A Learned Dissertation on Dumpling_ (1726) and _Pudding Burnt to
Pot or a Compleat Key to the Dissertation on Dumpling_ (1727).
141. Selections from Sir Roger L'Estrange's _Observator_ (1681-1687).
142. Anthony Collins, _A Discourse Concerning Ridicule and Irony in
Writing_ (1729).
143. _A Letter From A Clergyman to His Friend, With An Account of the
Travels of Captain Lemuel Gulliver_ (1726).
144. _The Art of Architecture, A Poem. In Imitation of Horace's Art of
Poetry_ (1742).
1970-1971
145-146. Thomas Shelton, _A Tutor to Tachygraphy, or Short-writing_
(1642) and _Tachygraphy_ (1647).
147-148. _Deformities of Dr. Samuel Johnson_ (1782).
149. _Poeta de Tristibus: or the Poet's Complaint_ (1682).
150. Gerard Langbaine, _Momus Triumphans: or the Plagiaries of the
English Stage_ (1687).
1971-1972
151-152. Evan Lloyd, _The Methodist. A Poem_ (1766).
153. _Are these Things So?_ (1740), and _The Great Man's Answer to Are
these Things So?_ (1740).
154. Arbuthnotiana: _The Story of the St. Alb-ns Ghost_ (1712), and _A
Catalogue of Dr. Arbuthnot's Library_ (1779).
155-156. A Selection of Emblems from Herman Hugo's _Pia Desideria_
(1624), with English Adaptations by Francis Quarles and Edmund Arwaker.
1972-1973
157. William Mountfort, _The Life and Death of Doctor Faustus_ (1697).
158. Colley Cibber, _A Letter from Mr. Cibber, to Mr. Pope_ (1742).
159. [Catherine Clive], _The Case of Mrs. Clive_ (1744).
160. [Thomas Tryon], _A Discourse ... of Phrensie, Madness or
Distraction_ from _A Treatise of Dreams and Visions_ [1689].
161. Robert Blair, _The Grave. A Poem_ (1743).
162. Bernard Mandeville, _A Modest Defence of Publick Stews_ (1724).