mutiny bill, and declared, "that a standing army, in the time of peace, was ever fatal, either to the prince or the nation." He did not, however, long remain at variance with ministers; being made lord steward of the household, and created Duke of Greenwich, in February, 1718. In 1722, he opposed the bill for securing the freedom of election; and supported the resolu tion for expunging the reasons, contained in the protests of some peers, for their votes in favour of the bill. He vindicated the suspension of the habeas corpus act, and the bill of pains and penalties against Bishop Atterbury; and, in 1724, defended the mutiny bill, which had formerly met with his unqualified condemnation. Resigning his post of lord high steward, he was constituted master-general of the ordnance, and appointed colonel of the king's own regiment of horse, and-governor of Portsmouth. He now spoke against the bill for disabling pensioners from being returned to parliament; ridiculed an attempt that was made to prevent the influence of the crown in the election of the sixteen Scottish peers; opposed Lord Bathurst's motion for an address to the king, praying him to discharge the Hessian troops in the pay of government; strenuously resisted any reduction of the army; and, with the versatility of a political Proteus, affirmed "that a standing army never had, in any country, the chief hand in destroying the liberties of the state."

In 1735, he was advanced to the rank of field-marshal; in 1737, he defended the magistrates of Edinburgh, in the parliamentary debates relative to the Porteus mob, and once more became an opponent to the administration. He was, consequently, dismissed from all his places, and acted with bitter hostility against Sir Robert Walpole, until, on the downfal of that minister, he was restored to his former employments. In less than a month, however, he withdrew himself, with his usual caprice, from all connexion with the new-formed cabinet, and resigned office, for the last time. About this period, his enemies devised, it is said, a scheme for his ruin, which was to have been founded on a letter, addressed to him in the name of the

Pretender; but the crafty politician defeated their views, by forthwith communicating the forgery to government.

A paralytic disorder, under which he had long suffered, now began to make rapid inroads upon his constitution, and terminated his existence on the 3rd of September, 1743. He was buried in Westminster abbey, where a monument, by Roubiliac, was erected to his memory, some years after his decease, through the liberality of Sir Henry Fermer, who left, by will, £500 for the purpose. He died without male heirs, and was succeeded by his brother, the Earl of Ilay. By his first wife, the niece of a lord mayor of London, he had no issue; but, by his second wife, Miss Warburton, a lady of a Cheshire family, he had several daughters, who all married into noble families.

The Duke of Argyle possessed many discordant qualities. His bravery in the field of battle gathered strength from repulse, and he rushed to the charge with a contagious gallantry that spread itself among all around him. He displayed much of his natural impetuosity in the senate, tempered, however, with a subtle plausibility: directing his combined energies to one main object, namely, his own aggrandizement. To accomplish this, he became all things to all men. Interest was the pivot upon which the whole of his actions turned, and a disgraceful versatility marked every step of his political career. - No man, out of office, declaimed more plausibly on the liberty of the subject-no man, in office, maintained the prerogative with greater hardihood; and, however base or inconsistent was the part he acted, he supported it with unabashed effrontery. He was meanly ambitious of emoluments as a politician, and contemptibly mercenary as a patron; his pride knew no restraint but what interest imposed; while his bold, yet insinuating manner, choice and energetic copiousness of language, graceful person, and appearance of candour and honest conviction, rendered his most specious arguments successful; delighted such as he had already deluded; and confirmed the confidence of those whom he was about to betray. Thomson characterised his oratory as combining the charm of youth and the force of manhood, with the

broke out, and one of the soldiers attempted to stab Oglethorpe, who, however, parried the thrust; and, another instant, an officer, who was at hand, passed his sword through the insurgent's body. Another fellow fired at him from so short a distance, that the powder singed his face and attire; but the ball luckily passed over his shoulder.

Oglethorpe quelled the mutiny, but was soon assailed by other troubles. On the rupture taking place with the catholic king, his infant colony was assailed by the Spaniards, whose fort of St. Augustin, Oglethorpe had in vain attempted to capture. He repulsed the enemy, but soon afterwards abandoned the settlement; where, in return for his large outlay and benevolent exertions, he had met with nothing but vexation, abuse, and ingratitude. On his arrival in England, his chagrin was increased by the conduct of an individual named Cook, who, although Oglethorpe had treated him with great kindness, and raised him to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the colony, brought forward no less than nineteen serious charges against his benefactor; which were, however, so utterly destitute of foundation, that the accuser was indignantly dismissed from the

service.

During the rebellion in 1745, he was placed, with the rank of major-general, at the head of four companies of cavalry, called The Royal Hunters, which had been raised, at the expense of some loyal individuals, to act against the insurgents. A march of one hundred miles brought them to Preston, a few hours after it had been abandoned by the rebels; and Oglethorpe was accused of having lingered disloyally on the road. His conduct once more became the subject of a public inquiry, and he was again honourably, and, as it seems, deservedly acquitted. It is said, that being now much embarrassed in his circumstances, he practised physic, at Brussels, for his support, until, through the influence of his Scotch friends, he was placed upon half-pay as a general in the army.

In 1750, he actively promoted the herring fishery; in 1752, he resigned the charter of the Georgian colony to government; and, in 1754, having lost his election for Haslemere, although

he had been its representative since 1722, Oglethorpe retired to a seat in Essex, of which he had luckily become possessed, by his marriage with the heiress of Sir Nathan Wright. He amused his declining years by the society and correspondence of literary and learned men, and retained the full possession of his bodily and mental faculties to the last week of his long life. His death took place on the 30th of June, 1785.

Of a warm and susceptible imagination, Oglethorpe possessed more feeling than judgment, and betrayed a restless Quixotism in all his undertakings. Had the strength of his mind equalled the benevolence of his heart, he would have succeeded better. The want of common sense was his most fatal error: it frustrated his best intentions, rendered all his plans abortive, and exposed him to derision, ingratitude, and neglect.

Although exceedingly hospitable, he was personally abstemious. He delighted in intellectual conversation, yet, notwithstanding the extensive knowledge of men and manners which he had acquired, he was not eminent as

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a talker." Johnson, who, as well as Goldsmith, was frequently his guest, used to observe, that he never finished what he had to say; and, it may be added, he never completed what he wished to perform. He has suffered as much from injudicious praise as unmerited censure. Zachary Williams declared, that children yet unborn would lisp his name with gratitude; and Warton termed him, very absurdly, "a great hero and a great legislator." He was, in fact, a man of tolerable ability and much enthusiasm, who succeeded in neither of his blameless schemes, except that of spending his old age in comparative affluence, and amid congenial society. Thomson and Pope have both eulogized him; and Johnson once offered to write his life, if the general would afford him the necessary materials. He was an author himself, having published a pamphlet, against the impressment of seamen, entitled The Sailors' Advocate, for which Sharp obliged him with a sarcastic preface.

In person he was tall and thin; and his voice was so shrill, that when speaking in the house of commons, he was

distinctly heard by persons in the lobby. As he would never avow his real age, a report was circulated, to annoy him,

that, in his youth, he had shot snipes in the fields where Bond street had been subsequently built.

JOHN LIGONIER, second son of Monseuquet, a gentleman of a noble Hugonot family, was born in France, in the year 1687. He received his education in England; and, having a strong predilection for a military life, acted, when only fifteen years of age, as a volunteer, at the storming of Liege, on which occasion, he was one of the two first who mounted the breach: his companion, a volunteer, of the noble family of Wentworth, was killed by his side. In 1703, having purchased the command of a company in Lord North's regiment, he fought at the battles of Schellenburgh and Blenheim; in the latter of which, every captain in the regiment was slain except himself. In 1706, he obtained the rank of major of brigade, for his daring exploits at the siege of Menin. At Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Wynendale, he gained additional laurels; and at Malplaquet, twenty-two shots went through his clothes without wounding him. 1719, he assisted, as colonel and adjutant-general, at the attack made by Lord Cobham on Vigo; and, after the capture of Ponte Vedra, reduced Fort Marin, at the head of only a hundred grenadiers, although it contained twenty pieces of cannon, and a garrison of two hundred men.

In

During the war which commenced in 1739, Ligonier repeatedly distinguished himself. After the battle of Dettingen, in which his regiment had severely suffered, he received the honour of knighthood, under the royal standard. At Fontenoy, where he commanded the infantry, he reluctantly complied with the Duke of Cumberland's orders to retreat, and before he left the field, sent to the enemy's commander, Marshal Saxe, requesting that the dead might be treated with honour, and the wounded with humanity.

In 1746, he was appointed to the

chief command of the forces in Flanders. At Roucoux, after sustaining an impetuous onset, he effected so masterly a retreat, as to excite the admiration of his opponent. At the battle of Laffeldt, in 1747, he rescued the allied army from destruction, and enabled it to withdraw in good order, by charging the whole line of French cavalry at the head of the British dragoons. His horse having been killed, he fell into the enemy's hands; but his parole was immediately accepted, and Marshal Saxe observed, on introducing him to the French king, "Sir, I present to your majesty a man, who, by one glorious action, has disconcerted all my projects." The monarch, who had witnessed the action from an eminence, warmly applauded the gallantry of Ligonier, who was soon after exchanged, and resumed his command.

In 1748, though still in Flanders, and without having made any application to the electors, he became member of parliament for Bath. During the same year he was appointed lieutenant-general of the ordnance; in 1750, governor of the island of Guernsey; and in 1752, governor of Plymouth. In 1757, he became an Irish peer, by the title of Viscount Ligonier of Enniskillen; in 1763, an English baron; and three years afterwards, an English earl. At the time of his decease, which occurred on the 28th of April, 1770, he was fieldmarshal of the royal forces, a privycounsellor, colonel of the first regiment of the foot-guards, K. C. B. and F. R. S. Soon after his death, a monument was erected in Westminster abbey, recording the various actions in which he had borne a distinguished part.

renown

Lord Ligonier acquired throughout Europe, for the intrepidity which he displayed against his own countrymen. His abilities, as a general, were quite equal to his courage.

In

the midst of difficulties he was never without resources; and his talents were always most conspicuous when exerted to avoid an impending disaster, or to alleviate the consequences of a defeat. In private life, as in his public career, he frequently carried his point by

some peculiar expedient. A military visitor, from whose troublesome presence it was exceedingly difficult, by any of the usual hints, to obtain relief, Ligonier, on one occasion, dismissed in a moment, by beginning, with his fingers, to beat a retreat on the wainscot.

JAMES, the second son of Captain Patrick Gardiner, was born at Carriden, in Linlithgowshire, on the 10th of January, 1688. When fourteen years of age, he entered the army as ensign of a Scotch regiment in the Dutch service. At the battle of Ramillies, he was one of those who composed the forlorn hope appointed to dislodge the French from a churchyard. On this occasion, he planted his colours on an advanced ground, and, while encouraging his men, received a shot in the mouth, which passed through his neck, without knocking out a tooth, or touching the fore part of his tongue. He remained on the field until the next morning, when a Cordelier mistaking him for a Frenchman, carried him to an adjoining convent, where he was hospitably entertained and cured of his wound. He bore a share in almost every action fought by the Duke of Marlborough, in Flanders; and, at the siege of Preston, in Lancashire, signalized himself by setting fire to the barricado of the rebels, in the face of their whole army, at the head of only twelve men, eight of whom were killed during the exploit. He was afterwards appointed master of the horse to the Earl of Stair, whom he accompanied to Paris; where, fascinated by the temptations to which he was exposed, he gave himself up wholly to pleasure and sensuality.

A strange circumstance, however, which befel him in 1719, although it was attended with no immediate effect, eventually changed the entire tenour of his conduct. After spending a sabbath evening in gaiety, he retired to his chamber at eleven o'clock, when his party broke up; and, having an assignation with a married woman at twelve,

he resolved to beguile away the intervening hour with a book. The work on which he chanced first to lay his hand, was entitled The Christian Soldier, or Heaven taken by Storm: and he began to peruse it, under an idea that its contents would be amusingly absurd. Suddenly he thought he saw an unusual blaze of light fall upon the book, which he attributed to some accident that had occurred to the candle; but, on looking up, he believed that there was before him, as it were suspended in the air, a visible representation of our Saviour on the cross, surrounded with a glory; and he was impressed, at the same time, with the idea that he heard words to this effect, "Oh! sinner, did I suffer this for thee, and are these thy returns?" A faintness then came over him, and he fell into a chair, where he remained senseless, for a considerable time. This incident, had so powerful an effect upon his mind, that at length he became as remarkable for sanctity of life, as he had previously been notorious for debauchery and dissipation. Religion, however, did not render him inattentive to his professional duties; he was a strict disciplinarian, and watched over his men in the double capacity of a military as well as a spiritual director.

In 1743, he was appointed colonel of Bland's dragoons, and commanded that regiment at the battle of PrestonPans, in 1745. The day before the engagement took place, though much enfeebled by illness, he harangued his men in the most animating manner; and, on perceiving some timidity manifested by them, exclaimed, "I cannot influence the conduct of others as I could wish, but I have one life to sacrifice to my country's safety, and I