V 
'88 M O R B A U it T. 
pointed to the poll of firft lord of the treafury, and was 
raifed to the dignity of earl of Monmouth, which had been, 
the title of his maternal grandfather. He ferved a cam¬ 
paign in Flanders in 1692 under king William, and re- 
figned his poll at the treafury in 1694.; after which we 
hear no more of him in public life during that reign. He 
fucceeded in 1797 to the earldom of Peterborough, on the 
death of his uncle Henry, the fecond earl. 
In 1705 the earl of Peterborough was conftituted, by 
queen Anne, commander-in-chief of the forces fent into 
Spain in fupport of the archduke Charles, competitor for 
the crown, and alfo joint admiral of the fleet with fir Clou- 
defley Shovel. Taking the archduke on-board at Lilbon, 
the fleet proceeded to Barcelona, which city it was deter¬ 
mined to beliege, though the allied forces feemed inade¬ 
quate to fuch an enterprife. The blowing up of a powder- 
magazine having caufed the principal fort to furrender, 
the town capitulated foon after, and Charles, recognifed 
as king, entered it in triumph. A circumftance relative 
to this liege, greatly to the honour of the earl, is related 
under the article England, vol. vi. p. 704. The reduc¬ 
tion of the whole province of Catalonia followed that of 
the capital, and the caufe of king Charles gained continual 
accefiions. His party had obtained poffefllon of feveral 
ftrong places in Valencia, when king Philip fent a body 
of troops into that country for the purpofe of recovering 
them. This meafure called the earl of Peterborough into 
Valencia, who obliged the Spanifh commander to abandon 
the fiege of San Matheo, took Morviedro, and, by art¬ 
fully exciting fufpicions between the enemy’s generals, 
prevented their oppofing him in his march to the capital, 
where he was joyfully received. All his fuccefles were 
gained with an army inconfiderable in point of numbers, 
by extraordinary rapidity in his motions, and a daring 
fpirit of enterprife. He alfo appears to have poflefled a 
ready invention for ftratagems, fome of which went to 
the utmoft limit of what is deemed allowable in war. In 
1706 king Philip with a powerful army attempted the 
recovery of Barcelona, but was foiled by the fpirited re- 
iiftance of the inhabitants, and the activity of the earl of 
Peterborough, who, though unable with his fmall force 
to enter the city, polled himfelf on the neighbouring hills, 
and kept the enemy in continual alarm. The employ¬ 
ment he had found for the enemy’s arms in this quarter 
had given the earl of Galw-ay, with the Portuguefe troops, 
an opportunity of inarching to Madrid, and proclaiming 
Charles in that capital. A junddion was afterwards made 
between the different corps in Charles’s intereft, and lord 
Peterborough expected to have the chief command ; but, 
■being difappointed in that refpedt, he quitted the army in 
rlifguft, and, embarking on-board an Englifli (hip, failed 
for Genoa. The lofs of the battle of Almanza, and the 
other difafters in Spain, which followed the earl’s dere- 
liftion, expofed him to cenfure; and the queen refufed 
to admit him into her prefence till he (hould have juftified 
himfelf from fome charges tranfmittecl by king Charles. 
The coniideration of his conduft, civil and military, was, 
in confequence, taken up by both houfes in parliament, 
when he cleared himfelf fo effectually, that the enquiry 
was dropped, and the lioufe of lords voted that he had 
performed many and eminent fervices during his com¬ 
mand in Spain. 
In 1710 and 1711 he was employed in negotiations at 
Turin and other Italian courts. He w'as created a knight 
of the..garter in 1713, and foon afterwards was again fent 
into Italy as ambafiador-extraordinary to the king of the 
Sicilies, whence he did not return till after the queen’s 
death. In the reign of George I. and George II. he bore 
the commiflion of general of all the marine forces in 
Great Britain ; but it does not appear that he was again 
engaged in aftive fervice. 
It is the private charadter of this nobleman which we 
are now to confider, and which, indeed, more entitles him 
to biographical commemoration than his public actions. 
Born with an exalted imagination, a romantic call of mind, 
and a reftlefs activity, lie flood diflinguKhed from ordi¬ 
nary mortals in every thing he did. Such was his excefs 
of mobility, that the minifters ufed to fay they were 
obliged to write at him, and not to him. It was his own. 
obfervation, “ that he had feen more kings, and more 
poftilions, than any other man in Europe.” This part 
of Iris charadler is humouroufly touched in a poem of 
Swift’s on the earl of Peterborough, written in 1706. It 
concludes with thefe ftanzas •. 
A (keleton in outward figure, 
His meagre corpfe, tho’ full of vigour. 
Would halt behind him, were it bigger. 
So wonderful his expedition, 
When you have not the leaft fufpicion. 
He’s with you like an apparition. 
Shines in all climates like a ftar; 
In fenates bold, and fierce in war; 
A land-commander, and a tar. 
Heroic aftions early bred in, 
Ne’er to be match’d in modem reading. 
But by his namefake, Charles of Sweden. 
Lord Peterborough might well claim the notice of the 
wits, as he himfelf was a man of wit, and very ready at 
repartee. Among various recorded inflances of his viva¬ 
city, we (hall copy one, which charafterifes another cele¬ 
brated perfon as well as himfelf. Being once furrounded 
by a mob who took him for the duke of Marlborough, at 
that time in difgrace with them, he extricated himfelf by 
the following addrefs : “ Gentlemen, I can convince you 
by two reafons that I am not the duke of Marlborough : 
in the firft place, I have only five guineas in my pocket; 
and fecondly, here they are at your fervice.” So faying, 
he threw his purfe among them, and got off with loud ac¬ 
clamations. Of the freedom of his converfation an idea 
may be formed from what he faid of himfelf and the French 
general oppofed to him in the war for the Spanifh fuccef- 
lion : Que nous fomines de g rands dues pour combattre pour 
ces deux gros benets! “ What affes we are to fight for 
thefe two great fimpletons!” When he cultivated the 
friendfliip of Pope, he was probably in the lober evening 
of life ; and the poet’s lines which commemorate him, 
give a pleafing view of his rural occupations: 
And he, whofe lightning pierc’d th’ Iberian lines. 
Now forms my quincunx, and now ranks my vines. 
Or tames the genius of the ftubborn plain, 
Almoft as quickly as he conquer’d Spain. 
The hyperbole in the laft line needs no remark. 
Lord Peterborough poflefled as much paffive refblutiore 
as adtive courage. He was cut for the (tone by a furgeora 
at Briltol, who defired that he might he bound in the 
ufual manner during the operation. “It (hall never be laid 
(cried the earl) that a Mordaunt was feen bound and, 
being put in a proper pofition he remained in it without 
flinching till the operation was finifhed. His fortitude 
was rewarded by a fpeedy cure. He married for his firft 
wife the daughter of Alexander Frazer of Scotland, by 
whom he had two Cons and a daughter. Becoming a wi¬ 
dower, he formed an attachment to Mrs. Anaftafia Ro- 
binfonf a celebrated finger, who maintained a refpedtable 
and irreproachable charadter. It was a confiderable time 
before his pride would fuffer him to make thofe honour¬ 
able propolals to her which alone file would receive ; and, 
when they married, he engaged her promile to keep the 
alliance fecret. They lived apart till a dangerous illnels 
induced him to require her attendance at his houfe near 
Southampton, when he allowed her to wear her wedding- 
ring. He afterwards made a full and folemn declaration 
of their union in prefence of his neareft relations, intro¬ 
ducing it with an eloquent and pathetic teftimony to her 
virtues, and the obligations fhe had conferred upon him. 
He then went with her to Li(bon on account of his health, 
where he died in 1735, at the age of leventy-three. He 
