DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

Ci) son of a Dorsetshire gentleman, he was attached as a young man to the household of Queen Anne’s father, James. At the age of sixteen he received a com- mission in the Guards, and at twenty-three he served the French under the orders of the great Marshal Turenne in a campaign against the Dutch. In the French camp he was known as the hand- some Englishman. ‘His manners are irresistible, he possesses the graces in the highest degree,’ said Lord Chesterfield, one of the wits of the day. To these external advantages he added an un- ruffled courage, boundless energy and ambition, a temper naturally cool, serene judgment, and a vigi- lance and capacity for enduring fatigue which never forsook him. One day when a position had been lost by a French officer, Turenne offered to bet that his handsome Englishman would take it again with half the number of men, and Turenne won his bet. On being caught in a violent storm, Marlborough called to his groom for his cloak. The groom was fastening some straps, and paid no attention to his master. Marlborough called again. The groom answered sulkily, ‘If it were raining cats and dogs, my lord, youd have to wait till I have done.’ Marlborough turned quietly round to some com- panions and said, ‘I would not have that fellow’s temper for the world.’ Ten years of uninterrupted successes never be-