X. the grave, in the vault at the east end of the tomb of CHAP. Henry VII.; but that was not its final resting-place. It was afterwards removed to the chapel of Blenheim, 1714. where it was finally deposited in a splendid mausoleum, erected by the pious care of the Duchess. But the traveller who visits that sacred fane, and casts his eyes on the monuments of a nation's gratitude which surround it, will give it a wider mausoleum, and pronounce the well-known words- "Si monumentum quæris, circumspice." 1 1 Coxe, vi. Hist. de 385-387. Marlb. iii. 528, 529. rough's for will. The Duke of Marlborough, during his long and 61. splendid career, accumulated a very large fortune, the Marlboresult partly of the deserved munificence of his sove- tune and reign in the days when her favour lasted, and partly of the great emoluments which in his day belonged to the generals at the head of armies. The time had not then arrived when popular jealousy was to starve down the remuneration of public servants to the lowest point consistent with the discharge of their duty, and when a man who had his fortune to make, and wished to leave his family independent, was obliged to enter the service of a merchant or a manufacturer, and not that of his country. He left in land and money about £40,000 a-year. His will, which was made in November 1720, provided amply for all his relatives. To the Duchess, whom he had ever loved with the most passionate devotion, he left a jointure of £15,000 a-year. The sum of £50,000 was bequeathed to her, to aid in completing the works at Blenheim. The residue of his fortune was settled on his eldest daughter, Henrietta, Countess of Godolphin, and her heirs-male, with a reversionary entail on the heirs-male of his other daughters in suc CHAP. X. 1714. 1 Coxe, vi. 389, 390. 62. the title cession. To Lord Godolphin he assigned an annuity of £5000 a-year, if he survived his wife; and to Lord Rialton, his eldest son, one of £3000 per annum. His executors were directed to obtain an act of Parliament, settling on the future representatives of his titles all the landed estates which they might purchase with the interest of his personal estate.1 On the decease of the Duke, the title and estates Descent of descended to his eldest daughter, Lady Godolphin, who and estates. became Duchess of Marlborough. That line, however, became extinct in 1733, by the demise of her only son, the Marquis of Blandford, without issue. The title and estates, in terms of the entail, therefore devolved on the Sunderland branch, the next in the order of succession, from whom the present noble family of Marlborough is descended. Henrietta, second Duchess of Marlborough, left two daughters, the eldest of whom married Thomas Holles, Duke of Newcastle; the second, Thomas, Duke of Leeds, from whom the present and sixth Duke of Leeds is descended. Mary, the fourth daughter of the Duke of Marlborough, who married the Duke of Montagut, had three sons who all died in infancy-and three daughters, Eleanor, Mary, and Isabella. Eleanor died unmarried ; Isabella married the Duke of Manchester, and was celebrated as one of the greatest beauties of her day. By the Duke she had no issue; but, after his decease, she married Edward Hussey, Esq., who was afterwards created Earl of Beaulieu, which line is now extinct. 391, 392. Hist. de Marlb. iii. 547. 1 Coxe, vi. Her daughter married Lord Bolingbroke, and thus united the blood of these rivals in politics in that noble family.1 Mary, the youngest daughter of John, Duke of Montague, married George, fourth Earl of Cardigan, who in 1766 was created Duke of Montague. Their only son died in 1771, unmarried; but their surviving daughter, Elizabeth, having married Henry, Duke of Buccleuch, became the parent of a numerous line of descendants, who united the blood of Monmouth with that of Marlborough in that noble family. CHAP. X. 1714. 63. a descen Marlbo battle of At the battle of Fontenoy in 1745, when the English and French Guards approached each other, three officers Anecdote of of the former stepped out of the ranks, and, taking off dant of their hats, exclaimed, "Messieurs de la Garde rough at the Fançaise, tirez!" The French commander, the Comte Fontenoy. d'Anteroche, replied, "Messieurs de la Garde Anglaise, tirez vous-même, nous reponderons." The English fired accordingly, and "the discharge brought down," says the French historian, "six hundred of the French Guards, and annihilated another regiment. Thus the regard of reciprocal politeness preceded the most frightful carnage; and the example was afforded of two rival nations preceding a bloody action by an example of generosity, with which the Greeks and the Romans would not have failed to ennoble their history." One of these three English was Lord Albemarle; the second, Captain Charles Hay; and the third, Captain Churchill, son of a natural son of the Duke of Marlborough. If experience has shown that intellectual powers gene- 1 Hist. de rally come from the mother's, it tells equally that the 546. heroic come from the father's side.1 * A very imperfect idea would be formed of the character of the Duke of Marlborough, if it were rested * Coxe says that the officer was the grandson of Charles Churchill, the brother of Marlborough. At all events, he was of the same blood and parental descent.-COXE, vi. 392. Marlb. iii. X. 1714. 64. Remarkable kind ness of disposition in Marlborough. CHAP. solely on his public actions, great and glorious as they were. It is in private life that the feelings of the heart are fully proved, and there his disposition appeared in the brightest colours. He was the kindest and most affectionate of men; and in addition to these feelings, in himself he possessed in the highest degree the courtesy and benignity of manner which most strongly awaken similar feelings in others. He won the hearts, not only of men of his own disposition, but of the most opposite characters and selfish propensities. All yielded to the gentle atmosphere which impregnated the very air he breathed. The ambitious Sunderland, the unimaginative Godolphin, were alike influenced by it. He was not merely respected, but loved by his friends; and loved for his own sake, irrespective of the fame he had acquired, or the influence he wielded. It was the charm 395. Thom- of his manner, the gentleness of his temper, the suavity ess of Marl- of his disposition, which won every heart, as it does in 343. every age with those who are blessed with such a heavenly temperament.1 1 Coxe, vi. son's Duch borough, ii. 65. ter as a husband, father, and friend. This gentle and affectionate disposition appeared in His charac- all the relations of life, and in none so much so as in those in which it is usually least conspicuous. If it be true that no man is a hero to his valet-de-chambre, certainly no man approached the character so nearly as the Duke of Marlborough. In all the domestic relations of life-the true test of the feelings of the heart-he stood pre-eminent. To the Duchess he was inspired through life, not only with the affection of a husband, but with the ardour of a lover; and the equanimity of his temper was constantly evinced by the admirable manner in which he bore her caprice, vehemence, and instability, which, despite her sincere devotion to and great admiration for him, were sometimes directed against himself. His affection to his children was warm and steady, and evinced not only by words, but deeds. He settled liberally upon them on their marriage, and paid down their portions early in life, when his own fortune was far from considerable-the best proof that can perhaps be given of an affectionate feeling, for there are few affections, even of the strongest, which can stand the money test. Nor was his kindness confined to his immediate relations; it CHAP. X. 1714. per's Diary. extended also to his remoter connections. They were 1 Coxe, vi. all promoted by his influence, or enriched by his bene- 395. Cowficence; and every one, in particular, of the Masham Chesterfamily, who effected his downfal, had been rescued from ters, iii. 287. poverty and placed in affluence by his exertions.1 field's Let 66. of manners its great Alliance. Marlborough's graces of manner and fascination of deportment are well known, and have been deservedly His suavity celebrated by Lord Chesterfield, himself one of the to all, and greatest masters in them that ever existed. No one effects on the acquainted with the world need be told that this charm of manner is frequently the accompaniment of a very different disposition-that egotism and selfishness are too often veiled by a polished and insinuating exterior. But if hypocrisy, in a world generally selfish, is so often the homage which vice pays to virtue, it was not so with Marlborough. In him it was the reflection of a sweet disposition, an unruffled temper, a benevolent mind: the spirit shone forth in the manner, as the genius does in the eyes. It was the same to all; as much so to the humblest dependant as to the most haughty potentate. It was one great cause of the extraordinary success with which his measures were attended, and the unbounded sway |