Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

proposed, at a council of war, that an attack should be made the next day on the enemy. Though nothing could be more evidently judicious than this proposal, the duke positively refused to consent to it. The prince called him a coward, and challenged him; but Marlborough kept his temper, and declined the challenge. On this the prince, being violently enraged, left the council. Early the following morning he was awoke by Marlborough, who, coming to his bedside, desired him to rise, as he was preparing to make the attack, and added, "I could not tell you my determination last night, because there was a person present who I knew was in the enemy's interest, and would betray us. I have no doubt we shall conquer, and when the battle is over, I will be ready to accept your challenge."

George. And did the prince take him at his word?

Mrs. M. No: he was overpowered by Marlborough's greatness of mind, and asked his pardon for his own intemperate conduct. The duke accepted his apologies, saying, "I thought, my dear prince, you would in time be satisfied."

George. And now will you tell us about sir Cloudesly Shovel?

Mrs. M. His parents were poor, and lived in Norfolk. He was, when very young, apprenticed to a cobbler; but he had so great a desire to go to

sea that he ran away, and became a cabin boy on board a ship of war. During the heat of an engagement, the admiral wanted to send some despatches to another ship, and young Cloudesly swam with them in his mouth, and conveyed them in safety through the enemy's line of fire. He became noticed by the officers of the fleet in consequence of this exploit. In time he was made a lieutenant, and after that his rise was rapid. Both James and William promoted him. Anne made him admiral of the fleet, and he received many honours and distinctions; but none of them altered the original simplicity of his manners and character; and there was no man more valued and respected when alive, or whose loss was more lamented.

Mary. I think you said he was shipwrecked.

Mrs. M. His body was found on the shore, and was stripped by the country people, who buried it in the sands. It was afterwards taken up and removed to Westminster Abbey. Many years after the shipwreck, an old woman sent for the clergyman of her parish, and told him that she wished, before she died, to confess to him a dreadful crime which burdened her conscience. She then told him that admiral Shovel had survived the wreck, and had reached her hut in a very exhausted state, that he lay down on her bed to rest, and that she, tempted by the value of the things he had about him, had murdered him. In confirmation of

the truth of this assertion, she delivered up a ring which she had taken from his finger, and which, when shown to his friends, was well remembered to have been his.

George. I think the beginning of sir Cloudesly Shovel's history is like Robinson Crusoe's: but Robinson Crusoe was not so lucky as to be made an admiral.

Mrs. M. Robinson Crusoe's is not a real history, but only a tale written by Daniel Defoe, who, by the by, was a voluminous writer in queen Anne's reign.

Mary. I am quite disappointed, for I thought it was all true.

Mrs. M. It is supposed that the adventures of Alexander Selkirk, who lived some years on the island of Juan Fernandez, first suggested to Defoe the idea of writing his very delightful book, a book which has been more read, and translated into more languages, than perhaps any other book of amusement that can be named.

Before we enter on the reigns of the Brunswick family, I will give you a table of the descendants of James I., that you may the better understand the line of the succession:

[blocks in formation]

George I. son of the electress Sophia of Hanover, who was daughter of James I.'s daughter, the electress Palatine.

The old Pretender, James Francis, was the son of king James II. The young Pretender, Charles Edward, and Henry, cardinal of York, were sons of the Pretender James Francis.

CHAPTER XL.

GEORGE I.

[Years after Christ, 1714-1727.]

A pikeman and musketeer of the seventeenth century.

ANNE died, as I have already said, August 1, 1714, and the elector of Hanover was immediately proclaimed. He arrived in England Sept. 16, and was met at Greenwich, where he landed, by many persons of high office and rank. Amongst these was the duke of Marlborough, who had lately returned to England, and whom, both at this time and ever after, the king treated with great distinction.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »