be only an armistice of uncertain duration; nor can we depend upon any treaty till we make it with a Spanish minister whose system is directly opposite to that of Alberoni, as well in regard to France in particular, as to Europe in general."

This determination, backed by that of France, produced, as might be expected, a powerful effect at Madrid. However great the genius of the Prime Minister, men felt that it might be purchased too dearly by the prolongation of an unequal and disastrous war. His old friends began to drop from him; his enemies to renew and redouble their attacks. The confessor of Philip, finding that Alberoni wished to supplant him and appoint another to his office, immediately discovered that the Cardinal was a very dangerous Minister. The ASSA FETA, moved by some womanish resentments,* began to shake his influence with her Royal mistress. The grandees looked down with ignorant pride on the son of a gardener, and could neither forgive his origin below nor his elevation above them. Several of their order even went so far as to enter into a concert of measures with the Regent, who on his part well knew that though it might be unsafe to trust their friendships, he could rely on their sincerity of hatred. But the finishing stroke to the power of the mighty minister came from an English hand-from one of the most singular and striking characters of that or of any age.

Charles Lord Mordaunt, born in 1658, became in 1689 Earl of Monmouth by creation, and in 1697 Earl of Peterborough by descent. As a military man his character stands deservedly high, as a diplomatist also he possessed great merit; but as a politician it seems scarcely possible to award him any praise. In that department, his splendid genius was utterly obscured and eclipsed by his wayward temper. Vain, selfish, and ungovernable-always in a quarrel, and on a journey-he was never thoroughly trusted by any party, nor perseveringly active at any place. His conduct in Fenwick's conspiracy appears to have been most unjustifiable, and provoked even the mild and cautious Somers into expressions of undisguised contempt: "As to my Lord Monmouth, his discourses are so various, and if those were of the same tenor, his resolutions are so changeable, that what he will do must be left to chance. His main business is to get out of the Tower, and in order to that he is ready to do any thing."-But it might not be difficult to confirm the least favourable features of his portrait from the words, not of his enemies, but of his personal and political friends:-"I can assure you,' writes Bolingbroke to the Ambassador at the Hague, "that all I

Alberoni, during the last few months of his power, had grown more and more imperious. "Muchos hombres," says San Phelipe, "dignos de la mayor atencion, salian ajados de su presencia Decian algunos que menores trabajos havian padecido en tan dilatada guerra que en estas violencias de un Estrangero." (Coment. vol. ii. p. 234.)

"Sensit (Artabanus) vetus regnandi, falsos in amore, odia non fingere." (Tacit. Annal. lib. vi. c. 44.)

Lord Somers to the Duke of Shrewsbury, January 26, 1696, printed in the Shrewsbury Correspondence.

found by the letters sent by the courier from Lord Peterborough, was, that his head was extremely hot, and confused with various indigested schemes." And again, "I may tell your Excellency in confidence, that I have a letter of twenty sheets from Lord Peterborough, wherein the whole world is parcelled out, as if with a FIAT and the breath of his mouth it could be accomplished."*1 In the same correspondence we find Prior sneering at Lord Peterborough's fondness for Quixotic enterprises: "I do not question but he will take Bender on his way home from Vienna."† Pope observes, "He has too much wit as well as courage to make a solid general." “I love the hang-dog dearly," is the dubious praise of Swift.§ His friends suffered from his weaknesses, and his servants profited by them. On one occasion, when he was abroad, his steward pulled down, without his knowledge, a wing of his country house; sold the materials for his own profit; and, not satisfied with this, actually sent my Lord a bill for repairs!|| Yet sometimes Lord Peterborough showed economy, like every thing else, by fits and in extremes. "It is a comical sight," writes a lady from Bath in 1725, "to see him with his blue riband and star, and a cabbage under each arm, or a chicken in his hand, which, after he himself has purchased at market, he carries home for his dinner."¶

* Letters to Lord Raby, May 8, and May 18, 1711. Prior to Lord Bolingbroke, Paris, Sept. 9, 1712.

Pope to Swift, January 12, 1723.

Journal to Stella, January 10, 1713.

See Swift's directions to Servants. (Works, vol. xii. p. 444.)
Lady Hervey to Mrs. Howard, June 7, 1725. Suffolk Letters.

[It is a very characteristic passage in a letter from Lord Peterborough to Swift, written from Hanover, June 21, 1711, where he says:- Had you passed these six months with me abroad, I could have made you sensible, that it were easy to have brought the character and influence of an English Peer equal to that of a senator in old Rome. Methinks I could have brought it to that pass, to have seen a levee of suppliant kings and princes expecting their destinies from us, and submitting to our decrees; but if we come in politics to your necessity of leaving the town for want of money to live in it, Lord, how the case will alter!"-Swift's Letters, &c., vol. i. p. 110, edit. 1766.]

2

[In his "History of the War of the Succession in Spain," Lord Mahon gives the following character of "Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough:""This very remarkable man-the most remarkable, perhaps, of all those brought before our view in the War of the Succession, had just been appointed by Queen Anne to the command of a new expedition against Spain (1705). Closely resembling in his character the ancient heroes of that nation which he was sent to gain over or subdue, Lord Peterborough may be called the Don Quixote of history. Like the renowned Knight of La Mancha, much that ap peared little and ridiculous was singularly blended in his mind with much that was great and noble. His chivalrous turn of mind seemed to soar above the low and selfish level of modern times; but whenever shut out from any adequate employment, would waste itself, and degrade him by freaks and eccentricities. At eighteen he had fought against the Moors in Africa; he had been the first English nobleman to join William the Third in Holland, and was now in his forty-seventh year. Though devoting all his intervals of leisure to frivolous and fickle amours, he yet, at any call of duty or any pressure of danger, shone forth a skilful general, an unwearied and enterprising soldier. His talent for partisan warfare, more especially, has very seldom been equalled, hardly ever exceeded. On every occasion we may admire both the secrecy with which he planned, and the speed with which he executed his designs. His courage was carried to the verge of rashness, his generosity to the verge of profusion. He was rapid in decision, and fertile in expedients; but all his great qualities were often counterbalanced by the high opinion which he himself entertained of them,-by a fretful and irritable vanity,

This last of the knights-errant, while wandering in Italy, in 1717, met with an adventure as unpleasant as any of Don Quixote's. He was suddenly arrested at Bologna, by order of the Papal Legate, and conveyed to Fort Urbino, where he was closely imprisoned for a month, and no person allowed to speak with him. It appears that he was suspected of some design against the Pretender's life-a charge of which it is hardly necessary to assert the absolute falsehood; and he was set at liberty with every possible civility and reparation. The English Government, however, warmly resented this insult to an English subject, and it was for some time doubtful whether the squadron of Admiral Byng should not be directed to avenge it.

*

In the summer of 1719 Lord Peterborough was at Paris; and though neither employed nor trusted by his government, resolved to play some part in their affairs. He contrived to enter into confidential correspondence with the Duke of Parma, whom it was of great importance to detach from the cause of Alberoni, in order to prevail through the Duke upon his niece, the Queen of Spain. To prevent suspicion, Peterborough refused to proceed in person to the Duke's Court, but undertook to meet an accredited agent from Parma at Novi, in the Piedmontese States. There a conference was accordingly held; and there Peterborough, exerting his usual skill and meeting his usual success, obtained that letters should be immediately despatched to Queen Elizabeth Farnese, earnestly pressing for Alberoni's removal. At nearly the same time, Marquis Scotti, having been gained by a present of fifty thousand crowns from the

The conduct of King George's Government, as regards the Pretender's life, was not only above suspicion, but most landably active. I find, for example, in Boyer's Political State, 1719, vol. ii. p. 344, that “Paul Miller, a private trooper in the Horse Grenadiers, having made a proposal to Mr. Secretary Craggs to go and assassinate the Pretender, was by Mr. Secretary's warrant presently taken into custody of Mr. Bill, the Messenger; and the matter being laid before the Lords Justices, their Excellencies ordered that he should immediately be discharged out of his Majesty's service, and proceeded against with the utmost severity."

Earl of Peterborough to Earl Stanhope, Novi, Nov. 20, 1719. Appendix, vol. ii. According to San Phelipe, Lord Peterborough had been requested by the Regent to begin this negotiation, but it seems, on the contrary, to have proceeded solely from himself. Dubois writes to Stanhope (October 20, 1719, Hardwicke Papers, vol. xxxviii.), “ My Lord Peterborough est en liaison avec toute sorte de gens Il peut faire peu de bien et beaucoup plus de mal. J'y prendrai garde sans l'effaroucher. Je rends très humbles graces à V. Exc. de la bonté qu'elle a eu de m'avertir de ses indiscrétions."

which never left him in repose, which urged him to unceasing journeys and intrigues, and made him, as was usually said of him, see more kings and postillions than any other man in Europe. Under the influence of this froward temper, he was often as dangerous to his friends as to his enemies, and far better fitted to encounter the latter than to conciliate the first. Perhaps his very inconsistencies might tend to enhance his reputation with his contemporaries; for the most capricious freaks of great men are often admired by the multitude as deep-laid designs: but the impartial tribunal of history, while it admires Peterborough's genius, and praises his disinterestedness, must lameut that his conduct was so frequently guided by wounded vanity and personal resentment, and seemed always to proceed from momentary impulse, instead of settled resolution."-p. 130, chap. iv.]

Regent, returned to Madrid to counterwork his late employer, and to use his personal influence over the mind of the Queen.

All these little rills of intrigue, when they flowed together, produced an irresistible torrent. On the evening of the 4th of December, Alberoni had transacted business as usual with the King, and seen no change in his Majesty; but next morning there was put into his hands a Royal Decree dismissing him from all his employments, and commanding him to leave Madrid in eight days, and the Spanish territories in twenty-one. All his endeavours to obtain an audience. of the King or Queen were in vain; and, though permitted to write, he found his letter unheeded. He was compelled to set out within the time appointed, and had the further mortification of being overtaken at Lerida by an officer sent to search for papers which were missing from the public offices, and which were discovered in the Cardinal's baggage. It was, however, some consolation to him before his departure, to receive the visits and hear the condolences of larger and more splendid levees than had ever flocked around him in the meridian of his power. Many who had hitherto stood aloof, or even opposed him, now forgot his errors, and hastened to acknowledge his services. Such conduct the Cardinal himself calls a riddle;* but it is familiar to the Spaniards: their noble character seldom bends before the mighty, and never turns aside from the fallen!

Cardinal Alberoni pursued his journey to Italy, where he passed the remainder of his long and checkered life; at first in exile and concealment, at length in Papal confidence and favour. He survived till 1752, and I shall hereafter have occasion to mention him again as fomenting the discords in the Pretender's family. His attempt against the little republic of San Marino was still more unworthy; and even had it been successful, would have brought no advantage commensurate to its disgrace. But Alberoni could never remain tranquil. It would seem, in fact, as if superior talents were often conjoined by nature with a certain restlessness which compels them to seek out for themselves some employment. Few men who could be useful in action are happy in retirement.

It was hoped by the Court of Madrid that the dismissal of Alberoni would appease the Allied Powers, and obtain more favourable terms of peace. In reply to the States-General, Philip still continued to insist on the proposals lately made by his minister, and to refuse his accession to the Quadruple Treaty. Under these circumstances both Stanhope and Dubois saw the necessity of renewed exertions. Stanhope undertook another journey to Paris, and concerted his measures with the French and Imperial ministers; and on the 19th of January, 1720, was signed by these three statesmen a declaration binding themselves not to admit any conditions contrary to the Quadruple Alliance. Immediately afterwards Stanhope despatched Schaub, his confidential secretary, to carry a duplicate of this declaration to Madrid,† while Dubois, on his part, sent direcSee his Apology, Hist. Register, 1722, p. 209.

This duplicate, with the original signatures, is preserved in the Hardwicke Papers, vol. xxxvii.

tions to Marquis Scotti, Father d'Aubenton, and others in the French interest, to unite their exertions with Schaub's, and use their influence over Elizabeth. The struggle was arduous, from the difficulty of prevailing with the Queen; but that point once gained, it was more easy for her to prevail with her husband. Some difficulties that could not then be overcome were eluded by referring them to be discussed at a future congress, to be held at Cambray. But on the 26th of January Philip issued a decree, announcing his accession to the Quadruple Alliance, and declaring that he gave peace to Europe at the expense of his rights and possessions. He also renewed his renunciations of the French Crown, and promised to evacuate Sicily and Sardinia within six months-a condition which he punctually performed. It is remarkable that the orders to the Marquis de Lede arrived just as the two armies, drawn out in front of Palermo, were in motion against each other, and on the point of engaging in a great and decisive battle. Thus was that unnecessary bloodshed successfully averted; and thus, by the firmness, skill, and union of the French and English Governments, and especially of Stanhope and Dubois, were laid the foundations of a solid and happy peace for Europe, which endured for upwards of twelve years.

In the affairs of the North the union of England and France was no less salutary. On the death of the King of Sweden, the new Queen had been glad to conclude a peace with George the First, and to yield to him the duchies of Bremen and Verden. Poland was satisfied with the acknowledgment of King Augustus. Prussia also, after much negotiation, agreed to a suspension of arms, accepting Stettin and some other Swedish territory. But the Czar and the King of Denmark, seeing Sweden drained of men and money, and even of provisions,* and deprived of her military ruler, were not to be appeased with moderate concessions, and sought for the total ruin of that monarchy. In this state of things, the Cabinet of St. James combined with that of the Palais Royal to offer, and if necessary to enforce, their mediation between the warring powers. Lord Carteret, a young statesman of the highest promise, was sent ambassador to Stockholm; and Sir John Norris, with eleven men-of-war, sailed for the Baltic. Neither the Ambassador nor the Admiral could, at first, prevail. The Russian fleet ravaged the coasts of Sweden with dreadful havoc, burning above a thousand villages, and the town of Nykoping, which, next to Stockholm and Gothenburg, was reckoned the most considerable in the kingdom. Remonstrances and threats were used in vain; and at length Stanhope, then at Hanover, sent orders to Norris to treat the Russian fleet as Byng had the Spanish.†

"Outre l'épuisement d'argent où les Suedois se trouvent, ils manquent aussi de vivres, et l'on nous mande qu'ils n'en ont que pour trois ou quatre mois pour tout le Royaume." (Stanhope to Dubois, Hanover, July 31, 1719. Hardwicke Papers, vol. xxxix.)

La Suède n'a donc plus d'autre ressource que notre escadre et elle en convient. Avec les quatre vaisseaux qui doivent incessamment joindre notre Amiral, il en aura quinze, et pourvu que la Suède en ait 6 ou 8, nous hasarderons un combat, quoique nous