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163

JOHN CHURCHILL,

DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH.*

[1650-1722.]

JOHN CHURCHILL, who (according to the prediction of the Prince De Vaudemont) lived to attain the highest pitch of glory, to which a subject could be exalted, was the son of Sir Winston Churchill of Dorsetshire. His father had suffered severely during the civil wars for his loyalty to Charles I.; so that he was obliged to live privately with his lady, the daughter of Sir John Drake of Ashe in Devonshire, at whose seat Churchill was born June 24, 1650.

By a clergyman in the neighbourhood he was instructed in the first principles of literature; and he is recorded by Knight, in his Life of Dean Colet,' among the eminent scholars of St. Paul's School:†

* AUTHORITIES. Ledyard's Life of the Duke of Marl borough; Biographia Britannica; and Smollett's History of England.

+ The following Note occurs in p. 483 of the Catalogue of the Library of St. Paul's, under the article Vegetius De Re Militari:'

"From this very book John Churchill scholar of this school, afterward the celebrated Duke of Marlborough, first learned

but his father, upon the Restoration, being appointed to some considerable posts under Charles II., judged it prudent to introduce him early at court, where from his handsome person and graceful behaviour he was at the age of twelve made page of honour to the Duke of York. The continued kindness of his patron was secured by the disgraceful intervention of his sister, the mistress of that Prince. From the Duchess of Cleveland, the favourite of Charles II., he received at a subsequent period a present of 50007., with which he immediately purchased an annuity for life.

During the first Dutch war, about the year 1666, he was presented with a pair of colours in the guards, and subsequently obtained leave to go to Tangier, then besieged by the Moors; where he for some time cultivated attentively the science of arms, and was personally engaged in several skirmishes with the enemy. Upon his return to England, he appeared constantly at court, and was greatly respected by both the royal brothers.

In 1672, the Duke of Monmouth commanding a body of English auxiliaries in the service of France, Mr. Churchill attended him, and was soon afterward made a Captain of Grenadiers in his Grace's own regiment. He shared in all the actions of that celebrated campaign against the Dutch: and at the siege of Nimeguen, in particular, he so much distinguished himself, that he was noticed by Turenne himself, and

the elements of the art of war; as was told me, George North [of Codicote] on St. Paul's Day 1724-5, by an old clergyman, who said he was a contemporary scholar, was then well acquainted with him, and frequently saw him read it.' This I testify to be true. G. NORTH."

received from him the name of the handsome Englishman;' an appellation, by which he was known in the French army for many years. Another circumstance, while he was upon the same service, rendered this a title of honour; for a French Lieutenant Colonel having deserted a pass upon the approach of a Dutch detachment, Turenne betted a wager, that dangerous as the enterprise was, the ⚫ Handsome Englishman would retake it with half the number of men with which the other had lost it -and won.'

The next year, he signalised himself so greatly by his intrepidity at the reduction of Maestricht, that Louis XIV. publicly thanked him for his behaviour at the head of the line, and assured him that he would acquaint his Sovereign with it:' the Duke of Monmouth likewise, on his return, acknowledged, how much he had been indebted to Churchill's bravery.'

These honourable testimonies procured for him, from Charles II., the rank of Lieutenant Colonel; and from the Duke of York, the appointment of Gentleman of his Bedchamber, and soon afterward that of Master of the Robes. Obliged to pass his days at court, he behaved with the utmost circumspection in the. factious times that ensued. In the beginning of the year 1679, when the Duke was constrained to retire to the Low Countries, Colonel Churchill accompanied him throughout all his peregrinations, till he was again suffered to reside in London. While he was in attendance upon his Grace in Scotland, he had a regiment of dragoons given him; and in 1681 he successfully paid his addresses to Sarah, daughter

of Richard Jennings, Esq. of Sandridge in Hertfordshire, one of the most accomplished ladies of the court, and then in the service of the Princess, afterward Queen Anne.

The first use made by his Royal Highness of his interest, on returning to court, was to obtain a peerage for his favourite, who by letters patent dated December 1, 1682, was created Baron Churchill of Aymouth in Scotland, and appointed Colonel of the third troop of guards.*

At the commencement of the new reign, he was sent Embassador to France, to notify the accession of James II.; and in the May following was created a Peer of England, by the title of Baron Churchill, of Sandridge. In June, he was ordered into the west, to suppress the rebellion of Monmouth; and within a month he accomplished his object, having taken the Duke himself prisoner. He quickly discerned, however, the bad effects of this victory upon the royal mind; as it confirmed his Majesty in an opinion, that by means of a standing army the religion and government of England might easily be subverted. How far Lord Churchill sanctioned, or opposed, this criminal project, cannot perhaps now be ascertained. He does not, indeed, appear to have been guilty of any mean compliances, or to have had any concern in executing the violences of that unhappy reign: on the contrary, as Bishop Burnet informs us, "he very prudently

In this year also, upon a shipwreck suffered by the Duke of York on his passage to Scotland, he received a signal proof of his master's attachment in his solicitude to save him, while a great part of the crew (120 persons, including several persons of quality) were left to perish.

declined meddling much in business, spoke little except when his advice was asked, and then always recommended moderate measures." It is even said, he declared very early to Lord Galway, that if his master attempted to overturn the Established Religion, he would leave his service;' and that he signed the Memorial transmitted to the Prince and Princess of Orange, by which they were invited to rescue this nation from popery and slavery. It is certain, however, that he continued in the confidence of James II., after the Prince had landed on the fifth of November,* 1688; attended him, at the head of a brigade of 5000 men, when he marched against his son-in-law; and though the Earl of Feversham, suspecting his inclinations, advised the King to seize him, was through his Majesty's personal regard left wholly at liberty to go over to the Prince. Of this freedom he availed himself, by joining him at Axminster, but without betraying any post or carrying off any troops.

That he took this step with great concern, appears from the following letter, which he left behind him, addressed to his deserted master:

66 SIR,

"Since men are seldom suspected of sincerity,

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* Of this date, as coincident with that of the Gunpowder Plot, and equally with it commemorated in our National Liturgy, Bishop Watson in his Apology for the Bible' ingeniously avails himself, to justify the double reason assigned in Scripture for the sanctification of the Sabbath (viz. one, that on that day God rested from the work of creation,' Exod. xx. 11; and the other, that on that day God had given them rest from the servitude of Egypt,' Deut. v. 15.) which had been criminated by his vulgar and violent adversary, as implying a contradiction.

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