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ANECDOTES OF THE WAR IN SPAIN UNDER
THE EARL OF PETERBOROUGH,

AND

MANY INTERESTING PARTICULARS RELATING

TO THE MANNERS OF THE SPANIARDS IN THE BEGIN-,

NING OF THE LAST CENTURY.

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

EDINBURGH:

PRINTED BY JAMES BALLANTYNE AND CO.

FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND CO.,

AND J. MURRAY, LONDON.

1808.

EDINBURGH SOCis

tate Historical so

OF WISCONSIN

E 45 .CK7

PREFACE

TO

CARLETON'S MEMOIRS,

CONTAINING

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES

OF

THE EARL OF PETERBOROUGH.

FROM an anecdote in Boswell's Life of Johnson, we are referred to the following Memoirs for the best account of the military achievements of the Earl of Peterborough. "The best account of Lord Peterborough that I have happened to meet with, is in Captain Carleton's Memoirs. Carleton was descended of an officer who had distinguished himself at the siege of

a

Derry. He was an officer, and, what was rare at that time, had some knowledge in engineering. Johnson said he had never heard of the book. Lord Elliot had a copy at Port Elliot; but after a good deal of enquiry, procured a copy in London, and sent it to Johnson; who told Sir Joshua Reynolds, that he was going to bed when it came, but was so much pleased with it, that he sat up till he read it through, and found in it such an air of truth, that he could not doubt its authenticity; adding, with a smile, in allusion to Lord Elliot's having recently been raised to the peerage, I did not think a young Lord could have mentioned to me a book in the English history that was not known to me."-Boswell's Life of Johnson.

A short sketch of the life of this celebrated General may be no unpleasing introduction to a

f

* Mackenzie in his "Narrative of the Siege of Londonder ry," mentions no officer called Carleton. There is indeed a Colonel Crofton frequently spoken of. But as. Carleton himself served in the great Dutch war of 1665, we can hardly suppose him descended of a person distinguished by feats of arms in 1688.

volume, which derives its chief value from narra

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ting his glorious successes.

Charles Mordaunt, afterwards Earl of Peterborough, was born in 1658; and in June 1675, succeeded to the title of Lord Mordaunt and estate of his family. He was educated in the navy, and in his youth served with the Admirals Torrington and Narborough in the Mediterranean. In 1680 he accompanied the Earl of Plymouth in the expedition to Tangier, where he distinguished himself against the Moors.

In the succeeding reign, Lord Mordaunt opposed the repeal of the Test Act in the House of Lords; and having thus become obnoxious to the court, obtained liberty to go into the Dutch service. When he arrived in Holland, he was, as we learn from Burnet, amongst the most forward of those who advised the Prince of Orange to his grand enterprise. But the cold and considerate William saw obstacles which escaped the fiery and enthusiastic Mordaunt; nor although that prince used his services in the Revolution, does

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