The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-26 00:00:00

JANUARY 26, 1852.

LITERATURE.

THE LIFE OF JOHN, DUKE OF MARL-
BOROUGH. 2 Vols.. By Archibald Alison.
Second Edition. William Blackwood and Son.

Archdeacon Coxe had already written a very ad-
mirablemsnagngdeiant
go lifea
at his
os
itself
fist Marlborough,
h Aan.t rd .s
Aal
Alison
any
before
no
rot
ah e subject had
wteoertluhcyidoaftidoen.
Ledyard had in like manner given to the world a
biography of the same conqueror, not without ren-
dering his
work in many respects singularly merito-
rious. Gleig had, moreover, introduced an excellent
narrative of the career of the victor of Blenheim in
the course of his well-known memoirs of Military
Commanders. Besides these volumes, a variety of
others had long before thrown light upon that portion
of our history ; insomuch that the majority of
readers might somewhat reasonably have regarded a
composition like the one before us as, to say the least
of it, uncalled for and superfluous. There was the
Dutch account of the War of Succession, for example
in the splendid work of Rousset. There were the let-
ters and dispatches relating to the subject collected
together by Pelot. There was the summary of the
more remarkable battles in the campaigns of that
ever-memorable contest as presented to us in the mag-
nificent atlas of Kauslar. Added to all which there
was the masterly life of Churchill, compiled in 1807
by command of the Emperor Napoleon, a life which
the present biographer of the hero has not hesitated
to pronounce "the best military narrative" yet pub-
lished of the exploits of Marlborough! Yet there
still remained ample reasons for the undertaking
upon which the historian of Europe ultimately ad-
ventured. In the October of 1842, as is by this time
matter of celebrity, there had been discovered in the
record room of Hensington, near Woodstock, no less
than eighteen manuscript volumes, comprising, among
other things, the whole of the dispatches of the Great
Duke himself, a journal kept by Dr. Hale, his Grace's
chaplain, afterwards Bishop of Chichester, and a va-
riety of important letters in the handwriting of Mr.
Cardonnel, his private secretary. These remarkable
documents were soon afterwards laid before the
public, edited, arranged and collected by Sir George
Murray. The discovery was not less extraordinary
than might have been that of one of the lost books of
Livy in the blurred and mouldering scroll of some
palimpsest manuscript. It was scarcely a jot less
curious than that of the short-hand diary of Pepys,
edited by Lord Braybrooke. It tended not less sin-
gularly to render the history of John Churchill com-
prehensible, than did the mouldy old papers raked up
by Mr. Carlyle at the British Museum, in reference
to the personal and political history of Oliver Crom-
well. That the volumes in question had remained so
long overlooked at Hensington was, of course, a cir-
cumstance provocative of astonishment. Nut re-
deemed from obscurity, they were at last most fortu-
nately—and the students in military biographies were,
as we have observed, before long gratified by their
publication. Thereupon Mr. Alison was incited to
sit down, himself, and write a new account of the
career and exploits of Marlborough. He at once per-
ceived that there was room for such a composition.
He comprehended, moreover, that there was cause for
it, inasmuch as new lights had been admitted into
the more dark and questionable recesses of a career
hitherto very grievously misapprehended. Added to
all which considerations, it was undeniable that
Ledyard's Life was not sufficiently impartial, that
Gleig's was not sufficiently well authenticated, and
that Coxe's was, for the general public, both too costly
and too voluminous. Therefore—the original bio-
graphy in one volume, offered by Mr. Alison as a
tribute to the memory of Marlborough. Encouraged
by the success of that volume, our accomplished and
indefatigable author has now produced another edi-
tion of the work, so materially augmented in every
particular as to render it something much
more remarkable than a mere re-publica-
tion. Extended to two volumes, "The Life of
John, Duke of Marlborough," by Archibald Alison,
must in its present form be at once ranked, as it will
in the end become inevitably established, among the
most standard military biographies in our literature.
Referring to the style of the narrative, it will be found
everywhere remarkable for the luminous ability dis-
played by the historian throughout that more ex-
tended production, which still, of course, remains his
masterpiece. With the graces of a flowing and so-
norous eloquence are blended, in the successive chap-
ters, the caution of a minute and scrupulous exacti-
tude. Every paragraph in the two volumes, as was
conspicuously the case in the " History of Europe,"
is closed with a marginal reference to the authorities
upon which its particular statements are advanced.
By this means a confidence is justly established in the
correctness and authenticity of the narrative, and the
reader is enabled at pleasure to test the accuracy of
the biographer. . . . That a memorial account of
the great Duke of Marlborough must at all times
secure the attention and arouse the interest of every
well-educated Englishman cannot require anything
at all approaching to a deliberate or argumentative
demonstration. His glory is a portion, and a che-
rished portion, of our national heritage. His genius
as a captain has tended to extend and to elevate the
power of the British empire, and not only its power
but its reputation. As one of the moat illustrious
heroes of our race his fame must remain imperishable,
or perishable only with our language. Together with
the celebrity of the venerable conqueror still living, his
name will descend to posterity as that of a commander-
in-the• field who was never once vanquished. The
Duke of Marlborough and the Duke of Wellington
will participate in that high and enviable renown,
being the two most memorable among the military
captains of England—men the recollection of whose
achievements must always excite a noble feeling of
emulation in the hearts of their compatriots. The ce-
e
alembrointyg
theof Mh
wai s
historical
scornfulosberaowni
toipohat uhula gc
lsnmihuoaoesshmattmaincosi
adnrbi
acedtddcamheeo
oegpmi
frrr
admirers
rohces
suioi
oaarofmt
sffioeenuri
dyolc
fhrgwa. an
-afo at
oi vouonnu
ttrrhiyt
men, that it;a
le i
thevs et
en
victorn e t
dh e t omohof itlAhhile sasicoeancuoslnatydo
volume of his " History of England"—allusions
breathing in every syllable the bitterness of a blind
and obdurate prejudice, and altogether as undeserved
in their uncompromising severity as the brilliant but
exaggerated verse in which the poet designated Lord
Verulam—" the wisest, brightest, meanest of man-
kind." Already we have referred to the magnificent
tribute paid to the glory of Marlborough by the most
wonderful hero of modern times—in mentioning the
circumstance of the history of his career caused to be
written, in 1807, by the Emperor Napoleon. Con-
scious of the value of such incidents, Mr. Alison him-
self takes occasion to remind his reader before the
commencement of the present biography, that " Napo-
leon hummed the well-known air Marlbrook s'en va-t
en guerre, when he crossed the Niemen," to commence
that wonderful campaign into Russia, the most won-
derful and successful of all his campaigns, according
to the opinion of Lord Brougham. Precisely in the
same spirit, also, our author calls to mind in his
Preface the fact that " the French nurses frightened
their children with stories of Marlbrook, as the ori-
entals, when their horses start, say they see the
shadow of Richard Cceur de Lion crossing their path."
Marlbrook, in fact, was to the French children in those
days, what Boney was to the English children of the
last generation. Mr. Alison passes rapidly over the early
portion of the life of his hero, scarcely pausing for a mo-
ment in his manner, until he comes to the period when
John Churchill first participated in the affairs of Govern-
ment. Hence, we hear from his present biographer
little more in reference to the birth and parentage of
the great Captain, than the record of the facts that be
was born on the sth of July, 1650, at Ash, in Devon-
shire, being the son of Sir Winston Churchill,
a distinguished cavalier, who fought for
Charles 1., being subsequently driven into exile by
Cromwell. This succinctness, however, will not be
matter of surprise to those who recognise how en-
tirely and sedulously the writer dedicates his energies
to the recounting of events of importance, such as
everything here relating particularly to the War of
Succession. Having
Mr.
Alison
recormdeendtitohnes ctihrecufimrsattanapcepseaor!
his
ance of Marlborough at Court and his early promotion
there, not forgetting, of course, his curious intrigue
with the Countess of Castlemaine. Afterwards we
_.
come to the account of his services under Louis X.:Ye
and Turenne in Flanders. Then follow his marrrigce;
his journey into Scotland, and,his memorable s.ev_
on the occasion of Monmouth's rebellion. 1118
ared bythe
cannot but think inappropriately COMP.
mate desertion of James 11. is rather oddly, and we
between t hose
there being no sufficient parallel
biographer with Ney's desertion of Louis,:
subject P Napoleon,
e occur-
soldier, the
rences, seeing that Ney had been.
friend, the favourite, and the
tstisbing how far the
honours, titles, and wealth atet
VVhereas it was
Emperor had been his benefactor.i„tence—the Prince of
After the attainment
powerful claims upon the
entirelycora ng e differenth aving
ni no the
asuch
h other
b
hy the Du.tchm. an, we
future Duke of Marlboroug .b
ort campaign in 1690
Cthburroonheillo
of
whe
in Ireland, and throng
h his services in 1691 in
mmencement of
Flanders. Prior to the co
Mr. Alison t k is account
of the War of Succession, a es occasion
characters of Louis XIV., of William
to pourtray the a
—a portion of
the work before
fthrEouegghlaehdis s
111., and of James ,
would seriously direct the attention
us to which we e
influenced by the partizan• •
of those who are prejudices
of Mr. Macaulay The character of Louis XIV.
sl compared with that ' of Napoleon.
T here iogeniou
Y William
in-
The character of 111. is drawn with
le oldns and qualities and while the writer
COMpa.ra
to its heroic
does Justice he does not over-
look its many most undeniable failings, and thus sink
from the dignity of an annalist to the depth of a
most slavish admiration. The character of James 11.,
• is defined with
again, • singular ability, our author
doing full justice to the goodness and heroism of his
nature, to his renowned battles against Holland, and
his noble and patriotic labours in restoring the navy
of Great Britain—truths which are altogether and

wilfully overlooked by Mr. Macaulay in his perverse
determination
.to falsify hitory and to distort the
memory of this unfortunate sovereign into that of a
very monster of meanness and brutality. Thereupon
we come to the beginning of the war between Louis
and William, by the campaign of 1702, remarkable
for the siege and fall successively of Venloo and
Liege. Marlborough next appears before us in the
splendour of the great campaigns of 1703 and 1704,
rendered for ever remarkable by the victory of Blen-
heim. The campaigns of 1705 and 1706 develope the
narrative of those times through the medium of the
battle of Ramilies and the conquest of Flanders.
Simultaneously with the account of the campaign of
1707, distinguished by the failure before Toulon and
the battle of Almanza, comes the first inkling of the
commencement of the intrigues against Marlborough.
Notwithstanding which intrigues he contrives to win
new renown with his flaming sword in the campaign
of 1708, where, after the surprise of Ghent and
Bruges by the French, he fights the great battle of
Oudenarde. During that campaign, moreover, occurs
the siege and fall of Lille, together with the recovery
of Ghent and Bruges by Marlborough. Matters
becoming after that more complicated, the biographer,
we might rather say, perhaps, more correctly, the
historian, leads us through the other events connected
with the war in 1708, the conference of the Hague,
the siege of Tournay, the battle of Malplaquet, and
the fall of Mons. Arriving at the invasion of Russia
by Charles XII., we watch successively his defeat at
Paltowa by the Czar Peter, and the well-
remembered events of the campaigns of 1709
and 1710, the first in Savoy and Spain,
and the second in Flanders. After the
former occur the conferences at Gertruydenberg,
leading to the latter. Here Marlborough passes the
lines of Villars, and shortly afterwards Douai, Be-
thune, St. Venant, and Aire, are, in turn, besieged.
Meanwhile political changes of importance are trans-
piring at home. Harley's influence increases and of
course the influence also of Toryism. Thereupon
follow the dismissal of Godolphin, the change of the
Ministry, and the consequent increase of entangle-
ment in the situation of Marlborough. The campaign
in Spain, in 1710, is then described down to the battle
of Villa Viciosa : and, having turned our glance for
an instant towards Germany, on the death of Joseph
and the accession of Charles VI. as Emperor, we
watch the landing of Marlborough in Holland, and
the inauguration of the campaign of 1711, the cam-
paign marked by the famous
,seige and fall
of Bou-
chain. After several additional disasters in Spain,
and some secret negotiations between Louis XIV. and
the English Ministry, comes Oxford's very memorable
dismissal of Marlborough. His condemnation of the
treaty of "Utrecht brings down upon him a shameless
andinvidious persecution : the disasters in Flanders
lead to the treaty of Rastadt, and the ingratitude with
which the discomfited victor in so many battles is
treated in his own country drives him back to the
continent, where he is honoured with a most brilliant
reception. The lucidity with which these involved
events are recounted by Mr. Alison is not the least
conspicuous merit of the performance under our con-
sideration. His narrative from that critical epoch in
the life of his hero flows on, with unabated eloquence,
describing his loss of the principality of Min-
desheim, and his ultimate appointment as com-
mander-in-chief by George 1., in consideration
of his powerful and effectual advocacy of the Hano-
verian succession in opposition to the scheme for re-
storing the Stuarts adopted by Bolingbroke. The
wise measures suggested by Marlborough for the
defeat of the invaders in 1715 were the last evidences
of his genius as a military commander, for soon after-
wards he was stricken with the palsy and thereby
driven into the necessity of retirement. On the 16th
of June, 1722, in the seventy-second year of his age
he expired, and a few days afterwards the funeral
obsequies of the illustrious conqueror were celebrated
with uncommon magnificence. The summing up of
the character of the Duke of Marlborough, is, as
might have been expected, one among the most mas-
terly passages in these volumes. The biographer
having there brought his record of the hero to a con-
clusion, pauses first in consideration of the treaty of
Utrecht, and subsequently in a series of splendid
parallels between the great captains of modern times,
adopting the ingenious example of Plutarch, and
delineating the respective merits and demerits of such
military commanders as Marlborough, Eugene,
Frederick, Napoleon, and Wellington. It would be
unfair, before closing our notice of this very splendid
production, to omit any allusion to the peculiarities
of its form of publication. Besides some admirable
charts of the battles " bound-in " with the work, and
adroitly connected with its cover, each of the two
volumes is embellished with a beautifully engraved
frontispiece, one a likeness of Louis XIV., the other
one of Marlborough. Altogether the typography of
the work is as creditable to the publishers as its con-
tents are honourable to the biographer.

ESSAYS POLITICAL, HISTORICAL, AND
MISCELLANEOUS. 3 Vols. By Archibald
Alison. William Blackwood and Sons.
During the last twenty years, in addition to his
other literary occupations, Mr. Alison has been in
dustriously contributing, month after month, a va-
riety of papers, of a most diversified character, to the
pages of Blackwood's Magazine. These, in accordance
with a custom long since pursued in regard to the more
remarkable articles in the Edinburgh, have been col-
lected together, and issued again in the form of a separate
and most substantial publication. Having, upon the
occasion of their original appearance in the old, fami-
liar, two-columned pages of Maga, been separately,
and sometimes at no inconsiderable length, referred to
in this journal, the Essays of Mr. Alison cannot here,
without something like an appearance of tediousness
and supererogation, be spoken of otherwise than in a
way at once the most cursory and comprehensive.
But for this consideration, it would be agreeable to
expatiate upon contributions so discursive in theme,
and very often so elevating in tendency. Among the
Political Essays are several relating respectively to
the Parliamentary Reform Bill, to the Navigation-
laws, to Free Trade, to the Colonial System, to
Changes in the Currency, to Negro Emancipation,
to the increase of Crime and Transportation—in
short, to most of those important questions which,
during the last twenty years, have agitated the
public mind of England, and very materially af-
fected the development of its system of administra-
tion. Besides these, the first volume, dedicated ex-
clusively to the Political Essays, comprises papers
written at the time on the French Revolutions of
1830 and 1848, on the memorable battles of the three
days, the first of which elevated on the barricades the
Orleans dynasty, and the second the Provisional
Government. Among the Historical Essays there are
perceptible still greater variety and discursiveness.
Montesquieu is considered in his life, death, and
character, that Montesquieu who has been happily
designated by Mr. Alison, "the founder of the philo-
sophy of history," and as such, one who has discovered
in him an appropriate celebrant. Mirabeau, in his
and his errors, in his eloquence and his prollige_ch,T
genius
his daring and his weakness, has been analysed
judgmentw
scrupulous attention by the essayist.
has in like manner passed under review Hannibal
Delaineating in
Hisannibal and
Napoleon, Bruce and Lamartine.
he has
one contribution " The Roman Republic,",_e_ocracy „
described in another "The Athenzav
He has an eye now to " The Tyrol" and now to
" The Crusades." In looking at the progress of
events in Spain, be can pronounce upon the Carlist
struggle, and can muse over the decline of Turkey
when turning.his regard to Constantinople. The poet
will find interest in his criticisms
oa the
Greek Drama, while the artist will turn with
curiosity
of Painting. to his
0
s disssbeerytiang,
tio OD the British
School n
it would seem, the
fitful and unaccountable promptings of the moment,
he appears to have touched
upon the most strongly
contrasted subjects with equal facility, commenting
at one period on the Affghanistan Expedition, and at
another,on the peculiarities of the Old Scottish' Par-
liament. Not the least interesting paper preserved
to us in the second volume—the volume devoted en-
tirely to the Historical Essays—is that in which the
sublime intellects of Homer, Dante,
and Michael
Angelo are brought into comparison. Among the
miscellaneous essays are numbered reviews upon the
writings of Chateaubriand, upon the annals of
Macaulay, upon the travels of Humboldt, upon the
opinions of Wellington, upon the studies of Sismondi,
upon the lectures of Guizot, upon the genius of De
Steel, and upon the talents of De Tocqueville. Again,
as in the preceding volume, one of the most delight-
ful papers in the third—the volume restricted to the
Miscellaneous Essays—is one presenting to us an in-
genious comparison, this time, however, between
Virgil, Tasso, and Raphael. Historical publications
have not failed of course to attract the especial
scrutiny of the annalist of Europe, and therefore
it its we find him in one instance passing
under review the France of M. Michelet,
and at another the Russia of Karamsin.
Two contributions in particular will be found ol
value to those interested in the histrionic profession,
now unhappily in its decadence, one relating to it
more peculiarly in its intellectual phase, and another
referring to it especially in its character as an art—the
first an essay on the Romantic Drama, and the second
a paper upon the British Theatre, and its present con-
dition. From what we have already observed, it must
be apparent at a glance that the collected writings of
Mr. Alison as a contributor to Blackwood's Magazine
are of a kind sufficiently various, and of a character
sufficiently popular to command for them the atten-
tion of the most dissimilar tastes and of the most con-
tradictory predilections. They cannot fail to form an
agreeable and entertaining, because always readable _
and instructive, addition even to the most valuable
and fastidiously-selected library. cowing, moreover,l
in the name of a writer so accomplished and so just y
celebrated as Mr. Alison, they Will not fail to corn-
mind their own deserved share of admiration.