way they came. This firing brought the earl of Peterborough down from the upper part of the bastion, to see what was doing below. When he had just turned the point of the bastion, he saw the prince of Hesse retiring, with the men that had so rashly advanced. The earl had exchanged a very few words with him, when, from a second fire, that prince received a shot in the great artery of the thigh, of which he died immediately, falling down at the general's feet, who instantly gave orders to carry off the body to the next

convent.

"Almost the same moment an officer came to acquaint the earl of Peterborough that a great body of horse and foot, at least three thousand, were on their march from Barcelona towards the fort. The distance is near a mile, all uneven ground; so that the enemy was either discoverable or not to be seen, just as they were marching on the hills, or in the vallies. However, the general directly got on horseback, to take a view of those forces from the rising ground without the fort, having left all the posts, which were al ready taken, well secured with the allotted numbers of officers and soldiers.

"But the event will demonstrate of what consequence the absence or presence of one man may prove on great occasions. No sooner was the earl out of the fort, the care of which he had left under the command of the lord Charlemont, (a person of known merit and undoubted courage, but somewhat too flexible in his temper) when a panick fear (though the earl, as I have said, was only gone to take a view of the enemy) seized upon the soldiery, which was a little too easily complied with by the lord Charlemont, then commanding officer. True it is, for I heard an officer, ready enough to take such advantages, urge to him, that none of all those posts we were become masters of, were tenable; that to offer at it would be no better than wilfully sacrificing human lives to caprice and humour; and just like a man's knocking his head against stone walls, to try which was hardest. Having overheard this piece of lip-oratory, and finding by the answer that it was too likely to prevail, and that all I was likely to say would avail nothing, I slipped away as fast as I could, to acquaint the general with the danger impending.

"As I passed along, I took notice, that the panick was upon the increase; the general rumour affirming, that we should be all cut off by the troops that were come out of Barcelona, if we did not immediately gain the hills, or the

VOL. II.

houses possessed by the Miquelets. Officers and soldiers, under this prevailing terrour, quitted their posts; and in one united body (the lord Charlemont at the head of them) marched, or rather hurried out of the fort; and were come half way down the hill before the earl of Peterborough came up to them; though on my acquainting him with the shameful and surprising accident, he made no stay; but answering, with a good deal of vehemence, Good God, is it possible!" hastened back as fast he could.

"I never thought myself happier than in this piece of service to my country. I confess I could not but value it, as hav ing been therein more than a little instrumental in the glorious successes which succeeded; since immediately upon this notice from me, the earl galloped up the hill, and lighting when he came to lord Charlemont, he took his half pike out of his hand; and turning to the officers and soldiers, told them, if they would not face about and follow him, they should have the scandal and eternal infamy upon them, of having deserted their posts, and abandoned their general.

"It was surprising to see with what alacrity and new courage they faced about, and followed the earl of Peterborough. In a moment they had forgot their apprehensions; and, without doubt, had they met with any opposition, they would have behaved themselves with the greatest bravery. But as these motions were unperceived by the enemy, all the posts were regained, and anew possessed in less than half an hour, without any loss; though, had our forces marched half musket-shot further, their retreat would have been perceived, and all the success attendant on this glorious attempt must have been entirely blasted.

"Another incident which attended this happy enterprise was this. The two hundred men which fell into the hands of the enemy, by the unhappy mistake of the prince of Hesse, were carried directly into the town. The marquis of Risburg, a lieutenant general, who cammanded the three thousand men which were marching from the town to the relief of the fort, examined the prisoners as they passed by; and they all agreeing that the general and the prince of Hesse were in person with the troops that made the attack on Monjouick, the marquis gave immediate orders to retire to the town; taking it for granted, that the main body of the troops attended the prince and general; and that some design, therefore, was on foot to intercept his return, in case he should venture too far. Thus, the unfor

да

tunate loss of our two hundred men turned to our advantage, in preventing the advance of the enemy, which must have put the earl of Peterborough to inconceiva. ble difficulties.

"The body of one thousand, under brigadier Stanhope, being come up to Monjouick, and no interruption given us by the enemy, our affairs were put into very good order on this side; while the camp on the other side was so fortified that the enemy, during the siege, never made one effort against it. In the mean time, the communication between the two camps was secure enough; although our troops were obliged to a tedious march along the foot of the hills, whenever the general thought fit to relieve those on duty on the side of the attack, from those regiments encamped on the west side of

Barcelona.

"The next day, after the carl of Peterborough had taken care to secure the first camp to the eastward of the town, he gave orders to the officers of the fleet to land the artillery and ammunition behind the fortress to the westward. Immediately upon the landing whereof, two mortars were fixed; from both which we plied the fort of Monjouick furiously with our bombs. But the third or fourth

day, one of our shells fortunately lighting on their magazine of powder, blew it up; and with it the governour, and many principal officers who were at dinner with him. The blast, at the same instant, threw down a face of one of the smaller bastions; which the vigilant Miquelets, ready enough to take all advantages, no sooner saw (for they were under the hill, very near the place) but they readily entered, while the enemy were under the utmost confusion. If the earl, no less watchful than they, had not at the same moment thrown himself in with some regular troops, and appeased the general disorder, in all probability the garrison had been put to the sword. However, the general's presence not only allayed the fury of the Miquelets, but kept his own troops under strictest discipline: so that, in a happy hour for the frighted garrison, the general gave officers and soldiers quarter, making them prisoners of war."

Our limits, which we have already exceeded, will not permit us to detail the other various exploits of lord Peterborough in Spain; particularly his compelling king Philip to quit his dominions, by relieving Barcelona with a handful of men, compara

tively speaking, when it was besieged by the king and mareshal de Tess with an army of upwards of twentyfive thousand men; and after they had, with a loss of more than three thousand men, retaken Monjouick in twenty-three days, which lord P. took (as we may say) in one hour.

Captain Carleton mentions an almost unparalleled instance of publick spirit in the earl of Peterborough, as well as of generosity towards the very man who, unfortunately for the cause in which they were embarked, had succeeded in undermining the earl's authority and supplanting him in his command. The clergy and magistrates of Huette, hearing that lord P. suspected the inhabitants of having given intelligence to the enemy respecting his baggage, which had been plundered within a league of that place, and taken from the small guard which general Windham had appointed to escort it to the camp at Guadalaxara, and fearing that out of resentment he might lay their town in ashes, offered his lordship full satisfaction, and to pay in money or decontado the amount of what he had lost but he told them that "he had just come from my lord Galway's camp at Chincon, where he found that they were in a likelihood of wanting bread; and as he imagined it might be easier to them to raise the value in corn than in ready money, if they would send to that value in corn to lord Galway's camp, he would be satisfied."

:

The author's relation [p. 226] of the cruel and barbarous treatment, which a captain of the English guards and his party of convalescents, going to join their battalion, experienced from the Spaniards in a villa not far from Campilio, is sufficient to fill every one who reads it with horrour. In his account of the fatal battle of Almanza, he gives, with much candour and simplicity, a beautiful and interesting picture of the duke of Berwick, both as a man and as a commander. By the representations of

two Irish officers, who pretended to be deserters, and were properly instructed for the purpose, the duke made the credulous Galway believe that the duke of Orleans was in full march to join him (Berwick) with twelve thousand men. Galway there fore became eager to attack before the junction should take place; and the duke of Berwick was overjoyed to see him appear, a little after noon, with forces fatigued by a hard march of three long Spanish leagues in the heat of the day. Finding Galway ready to run headlong into the snare prepared for him, the duke drew up his army in the form of a half moon, with three regiments advanced to a convenient distance, in order to make up the centre, and conceal his disposition from the enemy; which regiments were expressly ordered to retreat at the very first charge. This stratagem had nearly the same effect on the English, who attacked them, which Annibal's contrivance produced on the Romans at the battle of Canne: for our troops, seeing the others retire suddenly before them, pursued them after their then customary manner with shouts and hallooings, till the duke, observing that they had advanced far enough, ordered his right and left wings to close, and thus cut off from the rest of our army all those who had so eagerly followed the imaginary runaways. His native sympathy, however, and goodness of disposition would not suffer him to allow his troops to attack those who had retreated to the top of

the hills under major general Shrimpton, and whom it was in his power to have destroyed; and thus he exhibited, in his own person, a striking verification of the noble maxim, "that victory to generous minds is only an inducement to moderation."

The few very concise observations, which the author makes respecting the recall of the earl of Peterborough, are calculated to create indignation in every honest and generous breast; and a universal sentiment of regret will also be excited, by the reflection that the zealous, faithful, and intelligent writer himself was so unworthily passed by without reward for all his services.

These Memoirs were first published in the year 1743, a few years before the commencement of our labours; and having become scarce and little known, they have been properly reprinted by an anonymous editor, who has duly executed his office by prefixing some introductory observations, and a few biographical particulars of the eminent hero who is the principal subject of them. Besides the useful military instruction which they afford, they contain much topographical and characteristick description; together with clear and distinct accounts of the manners, customs, and amusements of the Spaniards; for all which particulars we must refer to the volume, persuaded that a perusal of it will gratify the historian, the professional man, and the general reader.

THE specimens of Mrs. Steele's compositions, given to the American publick in Dr. Belknap's collection of psalms and hymns, excited a

general desire to see her whole works; and we congratulate the community, that they have at length made their appearance. Either the

English edition was out of print, or few copies of it, we presume, were imported; for, after diligent inquiry, we were never able to find but a single copy of a single volume. This edition is very neatly and correctly printed, and does credit to the respectable press from which it pro

ceeds.

Mrs. Steele's character, as a writer, is too well known to require notice; and too well established, to need confirmation. To many, who have not seen these volumes, it may be grateful to know, that they are more replete with evangelical truth, than the selected specimens, excellent as they are, may have led them to imagine. The divinity of Christ, the atonement, the influence of the Spirit, and the perseverance of saints, are here prominently exhibited.

The prose is of too poetical a cast; but the sentiments flow from a heart deeply affected with a sense of its own imperfections, and aspiring after the beauties of holiness. The poetry is seldom if ever, prosaick. It is of a character somewhat resembling the poetry of Watts; yet distinct and peculiar. It has its simplicity, its tenderness, its grace, and sometimes its sublimity. If, in general, it be less fertile in its imagery, it is more chaste; if less elevated, it is more equable; if less familiar, it is more delicate; if less adventurous, it is more correct. The author, distinguished for exquisite sensibility, as well as for ardent piety, cheered her own pilgrimage with these songs of Zion; and such must be their influence on every reader, whose soul is attuned to celestial harmony.