minated, had not the coals of dissention been blown up from ano ther quarter. Spain mustered up a claim of £68,000 upon the African company concerned in the negroes, and refused to pay the £95,000 till the £68,000 were deducted; nay so high did they rise in their demands, that Geraldino, the Spanish ambassador at London declared, his master would as soon part with his eyes, as with his right of visiting ships in the American seas. But perhaps things had not so been carried to an extremity, if Geraldino had not informed his court of the division in parliament; and that by some well timed bribes, it was easy to get a majority which might obtain such terms as they pleased. This with the bishop of Renne's declaration at Madrid, that the people of England were ripe for a revolution, inflamed the Spaniards the more, which made them sieze the British ships wherever they could find them. In conse quence of these fresh insults, on the 23d of October 1739, war was declared against Spain.

Admiral Vernon, who had been sent to the West Indies to protect our trade, took Porto-Bello on the 22d of November, and received thirty thousand piasters as a ransom for not pillaging the town. On the 1st of April, 1740, he sailed to Carthagena, whose outworks he took, and then sailed victorious up to the harborn of the town, and debarked the land forces, under cover of the cannon from the ships; but a violent rain falling, which is mortal to our soldiers in those parts, and the ladders being too short, through an error in the mathematician, who computed the height of the wall of fort St. Lazara, they were obliged to retire, after trying what bravery itself would do. Hence Spain rose in her demands; and being secretly assisted by the French, she was the more active in prosecuting her mighty projects.

About a year after the beginning of the war with Spain, an event happened. which for eight years together, occasioned the most melancholy scenes: the emperor Charles VI. died on the 9th of October 1740; on which day, his eldest daughter, late empress-dowager, and mother to the present emperor, was proclaimed queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and arch-duchess of Aus tria. Her ministers at the several courts of Europe, notified her accession, and supported the legality of what was done, from her claim, in consequence of the will of Ferdinand I. and of the

deed of Charles VI. dated the 20th of June, 1722; wherein, with the unanimous voice of a general diet of the States of Hun gary, then met at Presburg, an act was passed for settling the succession of that crown on the female line of the house of Austria, and their descendants, in failure of male-issue, according to right of primogeniture. The queen's title was acknowledged by several princes; but the elector of Bavaria refused, and claimed the crown for himself, founding his pretentions to the Austrian succession upon the same will of Ferdinand I. and descent from Charles V. as also, that he was married to the emperor Joseph's daughter. The troops of his electorate marched, in September, 1741, in support of his claim, and were followed by 30,000 French forces, under pretence of securing the free election of an emperor, according to the treaty of Westphalia, of which their king was the guarantee:

On the other hand, his Britannic majesty supported the Prag matic Sanction, and opposed the election of an emperor by the influence of the court of Versailles; and though her Hungarian majesty was attacked by the king of Prussia, who marched his troops on the 14th of December, into Silesia, and at the same time de prived of assistance from the Russians, between whom and the Swedes a war had been just kindled; yet under all these disadvan tages, was she assisted by the British nation.

During the winter of the year 1741, the armies were active abroad; Lintz, and a few other places, were taken by the Austrians, who gained some advantages in the field, and extended into Bavaria itself. At home the parliament was taken up with exam. ining into the merits of elections; many of which being carried against sir Robert Walpole, he resigned his places into his majesty's hands; on which a total change ensued in the ministry. A resolution was taken for supporting the queen of Hungary, and restoring the balance of power, which must have been entirely destroyed, if the treaty for dividing the dominions of the house of Austria had succeeded, according to the proposal of France. In consequence of this resolution, three hundred thousand pounds were voted to her Hungarian majesty; and a considerable body of the British troops were sent to Flanders, the command of which, as also of the Hanoverians and Hessians, was given to the earl of Stair; k k

VOL. III.

who now began, like the sun, after setting for a long night, to rise with the brighter lustre., In March 1742, he was made fieldmarshal of his majesty's forces, and ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the States-General.

This sudden promotion, and restoration to favor gave satisfac tion to every true Briton; and the king received him with a tenderness and affection which convinced all present, that his majesty was inclined to remember the maxim of the wisest kings, viz. “ Not to forget his father's friends."

His lordship instantly applied himself to the management of the important business committed to him; and knowing that he had to deal with the ambassadors of Spain, France, and the new emperor, he assiduously studied their memorials, and prepared replies to them before he set out to Holland, where on the 10th of April, five days after his arrival, being conducted to a public audience of their high mightinesses, he made them a very spirited harangue, which had the desired effect, of engaging them in the queen's cause.

'l'his memorial was followed by another, of the 18th of August, in which the pressing instances of the queen of Hungary for assistance from his Britannic majesty, against a powerful French army were laid down, and the pitiful artifices of the French detected. To mention every transaction of this consummate statesman would swell this article too much; suffice it then to say, that the earl of Stair at length brought about a general pacification, seemingly to the satisfaction of all the parties concerned; but not till after the famous battle of Dettingen, where he for the last time, distinguished himself, in concert with king George II. as a general of undaunted bravery and intrepidity, to whom the glory of that day is chiefly ascribed. Soon after this action, he petitioned to resign, which being granted, he again returned to the pleasures of a country life; but ever ready to serve his king and country, upon the breaking out of the late rebellion, he rapaired to court, and offered his service to suppress it, which was gladly accepted; and he accompanied the duke of Cumberland to Edinburgh, driving the Pretender and his rabble army before them. After the suppression of this insurrection, he continued at court till the winter of the year 1746, when he repaired to Scotland, finding himself in a languishing condition, and unfit for business. By the help of his physici

ans, he was preserved till about ten at night of the 7th of May, 1747, when he breathed out a life which had been spent in eminent services to his country.

Thus died field-marshal John earl of Stair, who was a nobleman of the rarest abilities; equally fitted for the camp or the court; and how hard is it to say in which he most excelled? "A man of the strictest honor and veracity; great without pride; handsome without vanity; just without rigour; wise without arrogance; bountiful without ostentation; supporting the highest dignity with a decency, humanity, and moderation, only to be found among the great, being possessed of every talent that could make a man great in himself, serviceable to his king, or an ornament to his country."

“The earl of Stair, as to his person, was a man about six feet high, exceedingly straight and genteel in his body, which inclined to an agreeable slenderness; he was perhaps, one of the handsomest men of his time, and remarkable, among the nobility, for his graceful mien and majestic appearance. His complexion was fair, but rather comely than delicate; his forehead was large and graceful, his nose was strait, and exquisitely proportioned to his face; his. eyes were exactly suited to his features, being of a blue colour, and full of sweetness. His amiable countenance, on which there was imprinted a natural smile, could not fail to inspire the spectators with a warmth of affection not to be accounted for. These endow. ments of body were but indications of the beauties of the nobler part, and which he possessed in their highest perfection. So that he might be considered as the favorite child of nature, as well as the brightest ornament of his native country.

*Authorities. Henderson's Life of the Earl of Stair. Smollet's Hist. of England, Annals of George I. II.

x k 2

252

THE LIFE OF

HENRY SAINT-JOHN,

VISCOUNT BOLINGBROKE,

[A. D. 1672, to 1751.]

THE celebrated lord Bolingbroke, whose political writings and conduct as a statesman, have not been less the subject of censure than his philosophical works, was a descendant of the lord-chiefjustice Saint-John. He was born at Battersea, in Surrey, in the year 1572? and his mother dying young, he passed his infant years under the care of his grandmother, a strict Presbyterian, whose spiritual guide was the famous Dissenting-Minister, Daniel Burgess.

At a proper age he was sent to Eton school, and from thence removed to Christ-church-college in Oxford.

His native genius, and excellent understanding, were observed and admired by his contemporaries in both these places; but the love of pleasure had so much the ascendency, as to hinder him from exerting his talents for literature in any particular performance. His friends designed him for public business; and when he left the university, he was considered as one who had the fairest oppor tunity of making a shining figure in active life.

United with the graces of a handsome person, he had a manner and address that were irresistibly engaging; a quick apprehension, great strength of memory, a peculiar subtlety in reasoning, and a masterly elocution; but for some years, all these extraordinary endowments were employed in nothing so much as finishing the character of a complete rake. He was in particular much addicted to women, and apt to indulge himself in late hours, with all those excesses that usually attend them.

In the year 1700, he was married to the daughter and co-heiress of Sir Henry Winchescomb, of Bucklebury in Berkshire, Bart. This alliance was in all respects suitable to his birth and expectations; and the same year, he made his first appearance in the