STAN HO TK. 



the mine?, if tliey did not immediately furrender. The 

 garrifon confided of 1600 men, commanded by colonel La 

 Jonquiere. So artfully had general Stanhope drawn up his 

 men, as to imprefs the minds of the enemy with the idea, 

 that they were bclieged by an army of at lead 10,000 fol- 

 diers. The Itratagem had the defired efftft. On the third 

 day the garrifon capitulated ; and fo completely mortified 

 was the Spanirti governor when lie learned the real number 

 of the befiegers, that he threw himfelf out of a window in 

 defpair, and was killed on the fpot. La Jonquiere was im- 

 prifoned for life, and the other French officers incurred 

 their monarch's difpleafure. In 1710, general Stanhope 

 headed the allied troops, killed the Spanifli commander 

 with his own hand, and placed the victorious banners of 

 England upon the walls of Madrid ; but before the end of 

 the year the general experienced a reverie of fortune, and 

 he, with 2000 choice Britilh troops, were made prifoners of 

 war at the town of Brihnega. On this account he incurred 

 the cenfure of the houfe of lords. Soon after the arrival 

 of king George 1. general Stanhope was appointed one of 

 the principal fecretarics of flate, and a member of the privy 

 council. He was alio employed in fevcral highly important 

 negociations. In the year 171 7 he was appointed firil lord 

 of the treafury, and chancellor of the exchequer ; and in a 

 very (hort time afterwards, he was raifed to the peerage of 

 Great Britain. On the 13th of December, 17 18, earl 

 Stanhope brought into the houfe of peers a bill for the re- 

 peal ot fome claufes in the Corporation and Teft a&s, 

 which, after a violent oppofition, was carried through both 

 houfes, and received the royal fanftion. This nobleman, 

 dilUnguilhed in the feveral capacities of general, llatefman, 

 and fenator, died in the year 1721, deeply regretted by the 

 king, whofe favourite minilter he had been, and greatly 

 refpefted bv the nation at large, for whofe interefts he had 

 ever manifeiled an unwearied and truly difmterefted zeal. 



Stanhope, Vhiuv, brother of the foregoing, was 

 brought up to the fea-fervice, and in 1704 was promoted 

 to the command of the Hailings frigate, as fuccefibr to 

 captain Charles Parfons. After this he was appointed 

 captain of the Milford, in which (hip he was ferving under 

 iir Staford Fairborne at the fiege of Ollend, and chofcn 

 by that commander to bear to England the news of its fur- 

 render. Not long after he was fent to the Mediterranean, 

 where he was employed under the command of captain 

 Coney. He continued in the fame command during the 

 remainder of his life ; which, fiys his biographer, exceflive 

 gallantry, added to a degree of fraternal love almoll un- 

 equalled, 1 endered, alas ! too Ihort. Frequent mention is 

 made of him in hiftory, and the private journals of officers 

 more particularly conntfted with him in fervice and com- 

 mand, as an adtive, diligent, and intelligent officer. In 

 Augult, 1708, being left under the command of captain 

 Hubbard, it was determined at a council of war, held on 

 board the Ehzabelh at the requell of the king of Spain, 

 that the York and Milford fhould affifl in conveying the 

 tranfporta, which h.id on board lieutenant-general Stanhope 

 and a ftrong body of troops, from Catalonia to Minorca. 

 The reduftion of this illand was not only become a very 

 favourite objeft vvuh the king of Spain, but w.is regarded 

 as likely to be extremely conducive to the fuccefs of the 

 allied caule. General Stanhope, who commanded the land 

 forces deftined for this expedition, was, as has been inti- 

 mated, the elder brother of this gentleman, and the ties of 

 confanguiiiity appeared to increafe the thirlt of glory, and 

 ilimidattd the latter to fhare with the former in danger, as, 

 though a younger, he appeared a fcarcely Icfs ambitious 

 candidate for fame and military glory. Attending the 



land-.'brces as a volunteer at the alTault of the Spanifh lines 

 at Fort Mahon, he there fell in the moment of vidory, on 

 the 17th of September, 1708. Campbell'^ Admirals. 



Stamioi'k, Philip, earl, fon of the forcgomg, born 

 the I jth of Auguft, 17 14, fucceeded to his father's titles 

 wlien he was only leven years old. He was, by the will 

 of his father, confided to the giiardiandiip of Phdip Dor- 

 mer, the celebrated earl of ChellerfiL-ld, of whom we hive 

 already fpoken. This nobleman, as wc have feen, was fo 

 (Irongly attached to the fludy of the belles-lettres and claffi- 

 cal purfuits, as to hold vciy cheap every other fpecics of 

 learning ; and in conformity with this difpofition, he abfo- 

 lutely prohibited his young relation and ward from mathe- 

 matical ftudies, for wliich he inanife.'led, while very young, 

 a natural and ftrong attachment. NotwithHanding this in- 

 junction, the young lord, when advanced to more mature 

 years, applied himlelf to his favourite ftudy with fo much 

 avidity, as to become one of the firll mathematicians of the 

 age. His prcdilcdtion, however, for the fciences, properly 

 fo called, did not prevent him from attaining the molt pro- 

 found and extenfive knowledge of the ancient claffics. At 

 no very advanced period of his life, he was a complet* 

 mafter of the Latin and Greek languages, and could, with- 

 out the fmallell hefitation, repeat the whole of the Iliad, 

 and tiie Odyffi;y of Homer, in the original language. He 

 diligently cultivated an acquaintance with the poets and hif- 

 torians of antiquity through the whole of his life, fpending 

 feveral hours of each day either in claffic;il reading, or in the 

 invettigation of theorems in the higher and more fublime 

 branches of geometry. Earl Stanhope acquired, hkewife, 

 a complete knowledge of many modern languages, in which 

 he could maintain a converfation with as much fluency, as 

 if they had been his vernacular tongue. 



A perfon fo formed for the purfuits of literature and 

 fcience in all its various branches, would, it may be eafily 

 conceived, have no great ambition to be diiUnguiflied as a 

 politician and ilatefman. He was, in truth, a man of the mofl 

 undeviating integrity, and his principles could in no inllance 

 be brought to bend to circumltances, nor be fwayed by any 

 motives from the ftrift line of reAitude. In the year 1742 

 we find him in his place in the fcnate, when the feveral 

 eltimates of the expence occafioned by foreign troops in the 

 pay of Great Britain were taken into confideration. Hi» 

 lordfhip then, at the clofe of an excellent and pathetic 

 fpeech, moved for an addrefs to advife and befeech his ma- 

 jelty, " that, in compaffion to his people, already loaded 

 with fuch numerous and heavy taxes, fuch large and grow- 

 ing debts, and greater annual expences than the nation at 

 any time before had ever fullained, he would exonerate his 

 fubjefls of the charge and burthen of thofe mercenaries, 

 who were taken into the fervice lall year without the ad- 

 vice or confent of parliament." 



Earl Stanhope's name is likewife enrolled among thofe of 

 many other patriotic noblemen in fevcral protelts againit 

 meafures, which appeared to his mind hollile to the conlli- 

 tution of his country, and the real interells ot public liberty. 

 It was either in the earlier attempts made by the minilters 

 of his prefent majefty to (ubjugate America, or on the 

 queftion of the Middlefix election, that this nobleman 

 travelled from Geneva, wiicre he refided leveral years, to 

 give his vote againll the meafure, and finding his exertion 

 of no avail, he foon after returned to the continent, to en- 

 joy domedic privacy among his family and his books. At 

 this period his lordfliip, whofe drcfs always correlponded to 

 the fimplicity of his manners, was once rather rudely pre- 

 vented from going into the houfe of peers by a door- 

 keeper, who was unacquainted with his perfon. Lord 

 J A 2 Stanhope 



