English Men of Action.

On the evening of the third day Rupert joined him, and on the morrow he staggered out once more in the prince's company. Astonished as the Dutch had been at the reckless daring of Monk with his fleet of wrecks, they thought it impossible for him again to put to sea, and had gone back to Holland to refit. About eight o'clock they were sighted to windward, and at once fell into line and lay to to wait for the English. Monk was for attacking immediately. Up till now he had modestly given way to Rupert's greater nautical experience, but now the prince wanted to slacken sail to let the Blue division close up as it was far astern. Monk flew into a passion, but as even he could not call the daring prince a coward, he had reluctantly to admit that hewas prudent. While the gay young Duke of Buckingham, who, not to be out of the fashion, had joined the fleet as a volunteer, was laughing to see Rupert for once in his life on the side of caution, the furious old general was caught quietly loading a little pocket-pistol. It was a curious weapon for a sea-fight, and Monk had been heard to say that whatever happened he did not mean to be taken. It could only be intended to blow up the ship as a last resource. "And therefore," says Buckingham, "Mr. Saville and I in a laughing way most mutinously resolved to throw him overboard in case we should ever find him going down to the powder-room."

The action which ensued was indecisive, but the advantage on the four days was certainly with the Dutch. Still the old general would never admit it. He always maintained he had inflicted greater loss on De Ruyter than he had suffered himself. He did not dream he was beaten. He accused the greater part of his officers, certainly with some reason, of cowardice, and even of treachery. Not above twenty of them, he used to say, had behaved like men; and in unshaken contempt of his brave enemy he set to work desperately to refit and begin again more furious and confident than ever.

The Dutch were out first, and lay in triumph in the mouth of the Thames with a hundred sail. By incredible exertions Monk and Rupert had a like number ready before the end of July, and dropped down the river to meet the enemy. The Dutch retired to their own coasts and the English gave chase. Early on the morning of the 25th the enemy were sighted to leeward. They at once took the crescent formation to await the attack. The English came on in grand order. Every ship took up itsposition in splendid style, and by ten o'clock the whole line was hotly engaged. Monk and Rupert on theRoyal Charles, formerly theNaseby, singled out De Ruyter, but even the boldness with which the Dutch admiral accepted the engagement could not in the least reduce Monk's contempt. The old general stood unmoved on the quarter-deck chewing his tobacco as the Dutch flagship ranged alongside. "Now," said he, "will this fellow come and give me two broadsides, and then he shall run." Two broadsides were exchanged, but De Ruyter did not run, nor yet at the third or fourth. For two hours the kings of the fleets fought hand to hand in Homeric strife, till theRoyal Charleswas a perfect wreck aloft and had to fall astern. "Methinks, sir," said an officer to the Duke, "De Ruyter hath given us more than two broadsides." The old soldier only turned his quid to say, "Well, but you shall find him run by and by." And so he did at last. Jordan had taken the generals' place, and in half an hour they had bent new tackle enough to engage again. But before De Ruyter gave way he had once more reduced theRoyal Charlesto such a state that her boats had to tow her out of the line and the generals shifted their flags to theRoyal James.

De Ruyter brought off his shattered fleet in such masterly style that little was reaped from the victory. An attempt was made on the following day to renew the action and complete the enemy's destruction. But the wind was gone. The light airs that prevailed were useless to the English ships, while they enabled the Dutch, which were of shallower draught, to reach the refuge of their own shoals and estuaries. However, the English kept the sea, and a few days later were able to land onthe island of Schelling, sack the town of Brandaris, and burn a fleet of one hundred and fifty merchantmen that lay in the river. By this one exploit damage to the extent of over a million was done to the Dutch, and the Duke was applauded once more to the echo by his exulting country. All August he cruised in the Channel, making prizes, cutting out merchantmen, and preventing a junction between the French and the Dutch; nor did he return till just in time to receive the King's anxious suggestion that he should come to London to allay the panic which the great fire had created. He was left free to come or not as he liked, and much against his will he came to his master's side. The effect of his presence was immediate, and Lord Arlington considered that by his prompt return he had given the King his throne a second time.

Disgusted as Monk was with the whole war and its indecisive actions; with the weather that always interposed just as he was going to crush his despised foes; with his young gentleman captains who only played at fighting, and knew nothing of the sea but its slang; with the old Commonwealth officers that would not do their duty against the great Protestant Republic, there was yet worse in store for the old patriot.

An empty treasury suggested a change of front for the next year's campaign. The Dutch clearly meant to bleed the King to death with indecisive engagements. In order to rapidly and inexpensively bring the enemy to terms, it was moved in the Council to put the country in a state of defence, lay up the line-of-battle ships, and prey on the Dutch commerce with privateer cruisers. Charles was against the idea, andhe was strongly supported by Monk and three others. Negotiations for peace were on foot, and the old general had no notion of treating except sword in hand. But the majority prevailed. The naval ports were directed to be fortified and the dismantled ships protected by booms. The idea was well enough, and had it only been carried out the Dutch might speedily have been brought to their knees; but although twice in the depth of winter the King went in person to inspect the progress of the works for the defence of the Thames and Medway, next to nothing was done. Disorder, insolvency, and corruption paralysed every effort, and after insulting the Scotch coasts, De Ruyter on Sunday June 9th, 1667, suddenly appeared off the Thames and threatened London itself.

A perfect panic prevailed. The banks stopped payment, the beacons were fired, and once more every eye was turned on the Duke of Albemarle. He was hard at work preparing to meet a descent on the threatened counties. Two days before, on the first alarm, Lord Oxford had been sent off to mobilise the militia in Essex, and Lord Middleton to do the same in Kent, while a bridge of boats was being got ready about Tilbury that the horse of either county might be rapidly moved to the support of the other. With the river he had nothing to do. It was under the Duke of York and the Admiralty, and Pett, one of the commissioners, was in special charge of Chatham and the Medway. At daybreak, however, on Monday morning the Dutch were seen at anchor at the Nore. A little later they began to move up the river, and at noon the King sent for Monk.

In four hours he was on his way to Chatham with the Guards to save the fleet and dock-yard, and at his heels half the young bloods in London were trailing pikes. As a soldier the lord-general's name had never been so much as breathed upon, and in a burst of enthusiasm a rabble "of idle lords and gentlemen, with their pistols and fooleries," started to their feet to follow the pattern of soldiership, the old Captain-Lieutenant of "Vere's," their fathers' father-in-arms. By night he reached Gravesend. It was practically defenceless. The batteries were unarmed and unmanned, and he decided to halt the train of artillery that was following him at the weak point till further orders. There was time for little more. His rest was disturbed with the sound of a furious cannonade from the direction of Sheerness, and at daylight he hurried on to Chatham.

Here, thanks to Monk's perfect organisation and his officers' high capacity, Lord Middleton was able to report the mobilisation of Kent complete, and the Duke to write off a letter to the King full of cheery confidence as to the result of any attempt of the Dutch to land. But that was the end; the rest of the news was too desperate to tell. Sheerness had fallen, and practically nothing had been done for the defence of Chatham. There was no ammunition, not a gun was mounted, the dock-yard hands had not been paid for months, and in desperation nearly the whole of them had deserted. In the face of stringent orders, the finest ships in the navy were still lying out unprotected in the tideway; most of the officials were away busily transporting their effects in the boats that had been provided for the defence of the fleet, and Pett waspanic-stricken. The only obstacle to the enemy's attack was a chain which had been stretched across the river below Upnor, but not a gun had been planted for its protection. There was not even a gun-boat ready to prevent the Dutch removing it.

Monk instantly sent back to Gravesend to order on the artillery, and then hurried to the chain to throw up flanking batteries. It was soon discovered that there were not enough tools for the working-parties. More were sent for, and answer came that they could not be delivered without proper requisitions. Stickler as Monk was for orderly routine, he was no man to see his country strangled with red tape. With a sufficient force he marched to the stores, broke them open, and seized everything he wanted.

His next care was to arm and man Upnor Castle opposite Chatham; and to gain time till the works were complete he ordered ships to be sunk in the channels below the chain. To Pett and the most skilful pilots the work was committed, and Monk went to superintend the progress of the batteries. Five ships were sunk, and then, that no precaution might be omitted, Admiral Sir Edward Spragg was ordered to sound the channels in person to make sure they were blocked. By this time the tide was making fast and the Dutch were advancing on the flow. At the last moment Spragg returned to say he had found a deep channel quite clear. It was too late to stop it. Not a gun was yet in its place. In the extremity of the danger the veteran's old Quixotic spirit was rekindled and set every heart on fire. By the chain lay two guardships which had been stationed there for its protection, together with theMonmouth, which had just been fittedout to join the northern cruising squadron. Unable to witness in inactivity the insult which his old despised enemies were about to put on his country, he determined to man them with his troops. In person he went on board the cruiser, resolved to die in defence of his old flagship theRoyal Charles, which lay a little above helpless and dismantled, or at least determined not to survive his country's disgrace. And with him went down into the mouth of death fifty of the flower of England's dissolute Court, transformed for an hour to heroes by the magic of the one stout old heart which knew not how to flinch.

It would have been a worthy end could he and England's honour have fallen side by side. But it was not to be. The newly discovered channel had not been betrayed. The Dutch could not find it, and ere they had cleared a way through the sunken ships the tide was spent. A respite was won, but no rest. Sleepless and untiring the lord-general worked on. Two ships were placed in readiness to sink within the chain, and a large Dutch prize was ordered to block the fair-way between them. Pett was told to get theRoyal Charlesabove the dock by the evening tide, and Monk devoted himself to the batteries.

On Wednesday at break of day he was still hard at work. The redoubts were well forward, but theRoyal Charleshad not been moved. The big Dutch prize was being worked to its place, but it was only to be clumsily stranded on a shoal, and in spite of all Monk's efforts there was still nothing but the chain to protect the hulks and the dock-yard as the tide turned.

At ten the Dutch, having cleared the channel in thenight, came boldly on with tide and wind, and after a hard struggle seized the guardships that Monk had manned. It was a moment of fearful anxiety as they prepared to charge the boom. A fire-ship led the way. It stuck on the top of it. A larger one followed, and with a crash the chain gave way. Then through the very channel that the Dutch prize should have blocked the enemy came on. In a few minutes two more guardships were on fire, and the grand oldNasebywhich had been launched twelve years ago, "with Oliver on horseback in the prow trampling six nations under foot;" which with changed name had proudly borne the King from exile to a throne; which not a year ago had wrung from Europe a cry of admiration while Monk's own flag was floating in tatters at its masthead,—was a prize in the hands of the Dutch.

"This was all I observed of the enemies' action on Wednesday," wrote the broken-hearted general with pathetic brevity when he reported to Parliament. He turned away—but not to grieve. Resistance and revenge were still his only thoughts. The other three great first-rates he sunk at their moorings, and then the artillery arrived. On the ebb the Dutch fell back with their prize, and all that day and the next morning the work of defence went on. "Courage mounted with occasion." Monk's spirit was upon them, and the fine lords and gentlemen toiled like cattle. They strained at the drag-ropes, they staggered under burdens, and when the hour was come they took their stand with ladle and linstock to work the guns.

When on Thursday at noon the Dutch came on once more fifty guns, besides those which had arrived fromGravesend, were in position, and a furious fire was opened on them. The Dutch stood on in spite of it, and engaged Upnor Castle and the batteries with the coolest effrontery. Between the broadsides English deserters on board the enemy were heard jeering at the Government that had cheated them of their pay, and under cover of the intrepid attack the fire-ships passed on to where the three great ships were sunk. They were still an easy prey. Their upper works still towered above the water. Not a boat was to be found to stop the progress of the fire-ships. Helpless but defiant still, the old terror of the Dutch drew down to the shore, and taking his stand, cane in hand, with his Guards at his back, where the fire was hottest, watched the humbling of the flag which he and Blake and Oliver had raised so high. The fire-ships had soon done their work: the three finest ships that were left to England were a mass of flames; and no ball had come to end the bitterness of the old general's shame.

The Dutch retired with the ebb, and Monk, whom since the morning the anxious King had been summoning to his side to allay the panic in the capital, went up to town. He had saved the dock-yard and two-thirds of the fleet, but it did little to soothe his indignation, and he reached Whitehall at two o'clock next morning storming at those who had rejected his advice to fit out the fleet and treat sword in hand. On his arrival a report was circulated that he had been made Lord High Constable, and the immediate effect seems to have been a restoration of confidence. Something like order and definite purpose was infused into the work of blocking the Thames, and the Dutch thought fit to try and surprise other ports. But everywhere they found to their cost thatthey had no longer the Board of Admiralty to deal with. The hand of the lord-general was at every point, and wherever they attempted to land they were at once repulsed with loss. They returned to the Nore, but it was only to find that their old enemy had now set his mark there also. Thames and Medway bristled with guns and defensive works, and no further offensive operation was attempted till peace was signed.

Whatever was the fact, the country believed that old George had saved it from invasion and the miseries to which it had been exposed by Charles's treacherous councillors. TheMonmouthincident was sung in ballads, and the general was compared to his immortal kinsman the great Sir Richard Grenville. Parliament met in a rage. Ravenous for a scapegoat, they went into committee on the late miscarriages, and the first result was a vote of thanks to the lord-general.

It was but little consolation to the old man. The disgrace at Chatham had been a terrible blow to him, and his tremendous exertions had told upon his shattered constitution. In despair he saw Charles return to the lap of his mistresses, indolent and profligate and careless as ever; and he fell back into the lethargy from which he had roused himself at his country's call. For some time it had been growing on him as his terrible disease advanced with secret strides. The following year dropsy declared itself, but still he clung to his post and occupied himself incessantly with the duties of his office. In the autumn, however, it became so bad, and was so complicated by an affection of the heart and lungs, that he was compelled to retire to Newhall, his seat in Essex, for rest and change of air. The old rumour that he had beenpoisoned was revived, and caused great anger among thepeople;15for in him shone the only ray of hope, the only spark of honesty amidst the night of treachery and corruption in which the country seemed lost.

During the winter he grew worse, but still neglected all precautions. His extraordinary constitution had bred in him a contempt for medicine and an insuperable impatience of the restraints which medical treatment entailed. At last, however, being almost unable to breathe, he was induced to try some pills invented by an old soldier of his who had set up as a doctor. Strangely enough he experienced immediate relief, and by the end of the summer he returned to Whitehall thinking himself entirely cured. Once more he threw himself into the business of State with something of his old ardour, till with winter came a relapse to warn men that his end was near.

Every one flocked to the Cockpit to pay his respects to the renowned invalid and to look once more upon the embodiment of the iron age that was past. Parliament was sitting, and the great strife between the Houses over Skinner's case was at its height. Lords and Commons called on their way from Westminster, and forgetful even then of all but his country's peace, the stout old general, as he sat up in his chair wearily gasping for breath, implored them to come to a good understanding. Sir John Grenville, now Earl of Bath, was assiduous in his attendance, and Gilbert Sheldon, the aged Archbishop of Canterbury, who all through the plague had stood unflinching by the general's side, prayed with him constantly. Even the laughter-loving King tore himself almost daily fromthe society of Lady Castlemaine to endure for a little while the distressing sight.

Though to the last Monk could not quite believe that his disease had mastered him, yet he viewed the prospect of his approaching death with the same quiet resolution with which he had looked it in the face a hundred times before. He thought he still might live to staunch the bleeding wounds of his country and see its King a man again. But if he might not raise it, he at least could leave it with little regret now it was sunk so low. For years his own life had been a pattern of temperance and chastity, and the unblushing sin with which his great achievement had deluged the country was the source of real and poignant grief to him.

But one desire really bound him to life, and that was to see his son married. Christopher was now a gallant of about eighteen years old, and ever since his father was first taken ill a marriage had been in course of arrangement between him and Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, granddaughter of the Duke of Newcastle. Now at the eleventh hour the business was completed, and on December 30th the young couple were brought to the general's chamber. There beside his chair, as he sat gasping for life, they were married, and the last faint effort of the arms that had lifted a king on to his throne was to take the silly girl he had chosen and place her feebly in the arms of the beloved son she was destined to ruin. It was a tragic wedding indeed, and with it the doom of the ancient house of Monk was sealed. No child blessed the ill-omened union, and the extravagance of the half-witted bride soon drove the young duke to those evil courses which dragged him to his untimely end. The lastof his race, he brought his father's name and titles in dishonour to the ground. With the crown of the Stuarts fell the coronet of Albemarle. For by strange irony, as William of Orange was on the eve of sailing to dethrone the dynasty which the first duke had so triumphantly restored, the last duke was dying in Jamaica a broken gambler and a sot.

Happily ignorant of what he did, the dying father resigned himself to the end which was now inevitable. At four o'clock on New Year's morning, 1670, he insisted on being removed to his sitting-room. Just ten years ago in the fulness of his strength he had risen from his uneasy couch at Coldstream to order his vanguard to cross the Tweed on their eventful march. Now as then, it was freezing bitterly, and no fire was alight. Gumble hurried to his side. He saw death in the smile which greeted him, and hastened to read the service for the Visitation of the Sick. Later in the day the Sacrament was administered, and the world knew the great man was in extremity. All Sunday they flocked to take their leave of him in such numbers that it was impossible to keep the room clear for a minute. It was the anniversary of the great day of his life, the Second of January, when he himself at the head of his army had crossed the Rubicon of the English Revolution, and like Cromwell's, his victories seemed to cluster round his head even as Death laid his hand upon it.

All night he lingered clinging to life. Erect in his chair, as the people loved to remember, he defied even Death to make him bend, and at the last received him sitting like a king. To the end he maintained that he would live if only the bitter frost would loose its grip,and till dawn he obstinately held his enemy at bay. Then as the sun rose warm and bright and the frost began to break, the faithful Coldstreamers, who were watching in the silent chamber, heard "a single small groan," and the brave spirit of their chief was free at last.

With his George and Garter they hurried to the King. He received the news with genuine feeling as one that had lost a father. All that he owed to the stout heart that was still seemed to rush upon him like a loud warning from Heaven, and for a moment to rouse the magnanimity in which Monk had always believed. As though he could never reward enough the ungrudging service of his most faithful subject, he immediately despatched his Garter to Christopher, and announced that he should personally arrange the funeral. It was conducted in almost royal magnificence. After lying in state for some weeks in his armour as Captain-General, with his golden truncheon in his hand, his body was escorted to Westminster by the King in person in the midst of a procession which for splendour had only been rivalled at his own coronation, and there in Henry the Seventh's chapel it was laid with the bones of kings. And that no touch might be omitted to mark the exalted pedestal the majestic figure should occupy, the humblest of the great ones who were permitted to grace his last parade was the man on whom his cloak was to fall, the greatest of English generals, Ensign JohnChurchill.16

But there it all ended. No monument rose to mark the spot where the hero lay. The King was too poor,the new duke too profligate, and the homely duchess died with broken heart while her lord still lay in state. Nor have any been found since save distant kinsmen even to show posterity where he lies. Neither the splendid regiment he founded, nor the army he inspired, nor the country to whom at so slight a cost he restored the priceless boon of monarchy, have thought him worthy of the tribute that has been lavished on so many not more deserving. So the memory of the man the King delighted to honour has fallen a victim to the execration of the visionaries he crushed, to the reproaches of the Puritans he restrained, to the rancour of the unjust stewards he exposed, to the abjectness of the servile historiographers with whom half his career was a subject tabooed, and to the jibes of the profligates with whom he would not sin.

For a biographer to sum up a character so lovable and so misunderstood is almost impossible without falling into exaggeration. It is better that his story should close with a tribute dropped unwittingly from the most unwilling hand that could have penned it. On October 24th, 1667, for the last time the House awarded the sturdy old patriot their thanks for his service; "Which is a strange act," wrote Pepys; "but, I know not how, the blockhead Albemarle hath strange luck to be loved, though he be (and every man must know it) the heaviest man in the world, but stout and honest to his country."

In the sermon that was delivered at his funeral in Westminster Abbey we have the opinion of a great dignitary of the Church who was fully alive to his faults. Careful as he was that he should pronounce no idle panegyric, he blessed him altogether, "He was the best fatherin the world," said the Bishop of Exeter. "He was certainly the best husband in the world, and he received the requital of faithfulness and love. They twain were loving in their lives and in death they were not divided.... He was the favourite of Parliament, the darling of the Houses. They confided in him. They loved and revered him." And of the King's affection he had as high a testimony to give.

Such abiding popularity as his is a thing not lightly won. It is not for long that a great nation will honour a man unworthy of its devotion. Through ten years of doubt and danger and shifting party-strife he was the idol of the people of England, and if it is asked why we should endorse the verdict of his contemporaries, the answer is plain; he wound up the English Revolution. At the high tide of profit he struck a balance and closed the account. Elsewhere, under stars less fortunate than our own, no liquidator has arisen to do the work which only a man of Monk's inflexible integrity and splendid self-control can accomplish, and there we have seen Revolution drag on a bankrupt existence with ever accumulating loss. From that Monk saved us. It was what Cromwell strove to do and failed, for the hour was not yet ripe. With an exactness which it is impossible to account for or ignore Monk marked the hour when it came, gripped it with confident decision, and the fate of the sovereign who tried to set at nought the English Revolution proves the dull soldier was right.

Printed byR. & R. Clark,Edinburgh.

Vols. I.-VII., with Portraits, Now Ready, 2s. 6d. each.English Men of Action.Seven volumes in the series are now ready,namely:—General Gordon.By Colonel SirWilliam Butler.TheSpectatorsays:—"This is beyond all question the best of the narratives of the career of General Gordon that have yet been published."TheAthenæumsays:—"As a brief memorial of a career that embraced many momentous spheres of action, that included some of the principal military and colonial crises of the past fifty years, and that ended in a halo of transcendent self-immolation, Sir William Butler's volume is the best we possess."TheNonconformistsays:—"It is the best biography of Gordon that has yet appeared."Henry the Fifth.By the Rev.A. J. Church.TheSt. James s Gazettesays:—"The incidents in Henry's life are clearly related, the account of the battle of Agincourt is masterly, and the style is eminently readable."TheSpectatorsays:—"Mr. Church has told well his interesting story."Livingstone.By Mr.Thomas Hughes.TheSpectatorsays:—"The volume is an excellent instance of miniature biography, for it gives us what we seek in such a book—a sketch of his deeds, but a picture of the man.... This excellent little book."Lord Lawrence.By SirRichard Temple.TheLeeds Mercurysays:—"The book may be commended to all who are in search of a lucid, temperate, and impressive summary of Lord Lawrence's noble and blameless career."TheSaturday Reviewsays:—"This excellent sketch of Lord Lawrence's heroic character and unsullied life."Wellington.By Mr.George Hooper.TheScotsmansays:—"There are few, if any, more interesting life stories in our military history than that of the great Duke, and very few lives that form a more instructive or stimulating study. The story of the great Duke's life is admirably told by Mr. Hooper."Dampier.By Mr.W. Clark Russell.TheAthenæumsays:—"His practical knowledge of the sea enables him to describe and discuss the seafaring life of two centuries ago with intelligence and vigour.... As a commentary on Dampier's 'Voyages' this little book is among the best of the many that have been published."Monk.By Mr.Julian Corbett.Strafford.By Mr. H. D.Traill.[In November.The undermentioned volumes are in the press or inpreparation:—Warwick, the King-Maker.By Mr.C. W. Oman.Montrose.By Mr.Mowbray Morris.Marlborough.By Colonel SirWilliam Butler.Peterborough.By Mr.W. Stebbing.Captain Cook.By Mr.Walter Besant.Rodney.By Mr.David Hannay.Clive.By Colonel SirCharles Wilson.Warren Hastings.By SirAlfred Lyall.Sir John Moore.By ColonelMaurice.Sir Charles Napier.By Colonel SirWilliam Butler.Sir Henry Havelock.By Mr.Archibald Forbes.*****WORKS BY JULIAN CORBETT.THE FALL OF ASGARD: A Story of St. Olaf's Day. 2Vols. Globe 8vo. 12s.TheAthenæumsays:—"Mr. Corbett's story deserves the welcome that is due to a successful excursion into a comparatively untrodden region—that of mediæval Norse history.... There is no lack of stirring episode, heroic fighting and feasting, vivid pictures of Norwegian scenery and pagan ceremonial.... 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Vols. I.-VII., with Portraits, Now Ready, 2s. 6d. each.

Seven volumes in the series are now ready,namely:—

General Gordon.By Colonel SirWilliam Butler.

TheSpectatorsays:—"This is beyond all question the best of the narratives of the career of General Gordon that have yet been published."

TheAthenæumsays:—"As a brief memorial of a career that embraced many momentous spheres of action, that included some of the principal military and colonial crises of the past fifty years, and that ended in a halo of transcendent self-immolation, Sir William Butler's volume is the best we possess."

TheNonconformistsays:—"It is the best biography of Gordon that has yet appeared."

Henry the Fifth.By the Rev.A. J. Church.

TheSt. James s Gazettesays:—"The incidents in Henry's life are clearly related, the account of the battle of Agincourt is masterly, and the style is eminently readable."

TheSpectatorsays:—"Mr. Church has told well his interesting story."

Livingstone.By Mr.Thomas Hughes.

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Clive.By Colonel SirCharles Wilson.

Warren Hastings.By SirAlfred Lyall.

Sir John Moore.By ColonelMaurice.

Sir Charles Napier.By Colonel SirWilliam Butler.

Sir Henry Havelock.By Mr.Archibald Forbes.

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KOPHETUA THE THIRTEENTH. 2 Vols. Globe 8vo. 12s.

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FOOTNOTES1A True and Brief Relation of the famous Siege of Breda, etc., by Henry Hexham. Delft, 1637.2Captain Fox to Pennington,S. P. Dom.November 11th, 1641.3The above details are from a letter amongst the Longleat MSS., written by one of Monk's captains to a correspondent in England, a transcript of which was most kindly sent me by the Marquis of Bath.4Edw. Butler to Rupert,Hist. MSS. Rep. IX., pt. 2, p. 440 b.5Rinuccini to Card. Pauzirolo, October 31st, November 9th and 29th, 1648;Memoirs, p. 441; Walker'sHist. of Independency, vol. ii. pp. 150, 233-248;Capt. Stewart's MSS.,Hist. MSS. Rep. X., iv. p. 82, Col. Moore to Gen. Monck; "The Declaration of the British on the North of Ireland, etc.," April 9th, 1649;Br. Mus. E-556/15; Council Book during May and August 1649; Gilbert's app. toAphorismal Discovery;Ormonde LettersandCom. Journ.6Monk's biographers give him the credit of originating the whole movement, but in the face of Cromwell's despatch that is hardly possible. Heath (Chron.p. 274) is probably right when he says that "at the general's request he did draw and design the whole fight and embattle the army," but he cannot be trusted in assigning the whole credit of the victory to Monk. Hodgson, of course, attributes everything to Lambert, and states that at the end of the Council one stepped up and asked that he (Lambert) might have the conduct of the army that day—an assertion which is only credible on the supposition that Cromwell had previously taken the conduct out of his major-general's hands. In view of Monk's recent feat at Haddington this is not unlikely, and Lambert may well have been given the post of honour at the head of the attack to reconcile him to the slight.7Or June 1st. See for this and all the movements at this time Jordan's Log of theVanguard, printed in Penn'sLife of Penn.8For the whole battlecf.the published despatches with the principal flag-officer's account, Gumble'sLife, p. 67; Vice-Adm. Jordan's Log and Hoste's account, both printed in Penn'sLife of Penn; and the three despatches inCal. S. P. Dom., August 2nd.9Cf. Sir Phil. Warwick's opinion quoted by Kennett,Hist.iii. p. 217.10Burnet, i. p. 88. There is no trace of Hale's motion in the Journals, but it may have been purposely omitted. Mordaunt in his letter to the king on May 4th seems to be ignorant of what Monk had done,Clar. S. P.iii.11InEgerton MSS., 2618, p. 71. Cf.Hist. MSS. Rep. V., p. 149, and ii. p. 79; Broderick to Hyde, 7th May 1660,Clar. S. P.12Lord Garden says they were from Deane, but this must be a mistake. See his letter to Stirling of Keir, May 24th, 1661,Maxwell MSS., 68,Hist. MSS. Rep. X., i. p. 74.13SeeArgyle MSS., 80-85,Hist. MSS. Rep. VI., p. 617.14The statement that this action was fought without order rests on a remark which Pepys said was made to him by Penn. Penn had quarrelled with Monk, who was the terror of his party, and he was not present at the action. Jordan wrote him an account of it, but his letter gives the impression of a line carefully following the movements of the admiral (Penn'sLife, ii. p. 389;Grumble, p. 423), and this is confirmed by the official account which gives in detail the whole of Monk's elaborate manœuvres,S. P. Dom.clviii. f. 46.15Cf. Watts to Williamson,S. P. Dom. Cal., July 17th, 1667.16London Gazette, April 30th, 1670, by which it also appears that the King intended to raise a magnificent memorial to him.

1A True and Brief Relation of the famous Siege of Breda, etc., by Henry Hexham. Delft, 1637.

2Captain Fox to Pennington,S. P. Dom.November 11th, 1641.

3The above details are from a letter amongst the Longleat MSS., written by one of Monk's captains to a correspondent in England, a transcript of which was most kindly sent me by the Marquis of Bath.

4Edw. Butler to Rupert,Hist. MSS. Rep. IX., pt. 2, p. 440 b.

5Rinuccini to Card. Pauzirolo, October 31st, November 9th and 29th, 1648;Memoirs, p. 441; Walker'sHist. of Independency, vol. ii. pp. 150, 233-248;Capt. Stewart's MSS.,Hist. MSS. Rep. X., iv. p. 82, Col. Moore to Gen. Monck; "The Declaration of the British on the North of Ireland, etc.," April 9th, 1649;Br. Mus. E-556/15; Council Book during May and August 1649; Gilbert's app. toAphorismal Discovery;Ormonde LettersandCom. Journ.

6Monk's biographers give him the credit of originating the whole movement, but in the face of Cromwell's despatch that is hardly possible. Heath (Chron.p. 274) is probably right when he says that "at the general's request he did draw and design the whole fight and embattle the army," but he cannot be trusted in assigning the whole credit of the victory to Monk. Hodgson, of course, attributes everything to Lambert, and states that at the end of the Council one stepped up and asked that he (Lambert) might have the conduct of the army that day—an assertion which is only credible on the supposition that Cromwell had previously taken the conduct out of his major-general's hands. In view of Monk's recent feat at Haddington this is not unlikely, and Lambert may well have been given the post of honour at the head of the attack to reconcile him to the slight.

7Or June 1st. See for this and all the movements at this time Jordan's Log of theVanguard, printed in Penn'sLife of Penn.

8For the whole battlecf.the published despatches with the principal flag-officer's account, Gumble'sLife, p. 67; Vice-Adm. Jordan's Log and Hoste's account, both printed in Penn'sLife of Penn; and the three despatches inCal. S. P. Dom., August 2nd.

9Cf. Sir Phil. Warwick's opinion quoted by Kennett,Hist.iii. p. 217.

10Burnet, i. p. 88. There is no trace of Hale's motion in the Journals, but it may have been purposely omitted. Mordaunt in his letter to the king on May 4th seems to be ignorant of what Monk had done,Clar. S. P.iii.

11InEgerton MSS., 2618, p. 71. Cf.Hist. MSS. Rep. V., p. 149, and ii. p. 79; Broderick to Hyde, 7th May 1660,Clar. S. P.

12Lord Garden says they were from Deane, but this must be a mistake. See his letter to Stirling of Keir, May 24th, 1661,Maxwell MSS., 68,Hist. MSS. Rep. X., i. p. 74.

13SeeArgyle MSS., 80-85,Hist. MSS. Rep. VI., p. 617.

14The statement that this action was fought without order rests on a remark which Pepys said was made to him by Penn. Penn had quarrelled with Monk, who was the terror of his party, and he was not present at the action. Jordan wrote him an account of it, but his letter gives the impression of a line carefully following the movements of the admiral (Penn'sLife, ii. p. 389;Grumble, p. 423), and this is confirmed by the official account which gives in detail the whole of Monk's elaborate manœuvres,S. P. Dom.clviii. f. 46.

15Cf. Watts to Williamson,S. P. Dom. Cal., July 17th, 1667.

16London Gazette, April 30th, 1670, by which it also appears that the King intended to raise a magnificent memorial to him.

Transcribers' NotesPunctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced quotation marks retained.Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.Page3: "sons of metal" was printed that way.Page92: "Gravesand" may be a misprint for "Gravesend".Footnote5(referenced on page68): "E-556/15" is not an arithmetic expression and originally was printed without the dash. It appears to be a catalog number. "Monck" in "Col. Moore to Gen. Monck" was spelled that way.

Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced quotation marks retained.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.

Page3: "sons of metal" was printed that way.

Page92: "Gravesand" may be a misprint for "Gravesend".

Footnote5(referenced on page68): "E-556/15" is not an arithmetic expression and originally was printed without the dash. It appears to be a catalog number. "Monck" in "Col. Moore to Gen. Monck" was spelled that way.

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