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'Are you going to rest?' were my last words.

'No, sir. He's gone. It will be awful lonesome, I expect, along the line. I must see to the engine.'

I left him preparing to wash his own machine. In about twelve hours it would start on its return trip again. All things would repeat the experiences of the night-except poor Charley. We parted with a cordial pressure of the hand.

Six months after, at the door of one of the Company's workshops, I met a face I knew-paler than when I saw it last. It was no longer 'Charley's' face. It belonged to Mr. Brooks, an important man about the works and a favourite with the Company. My friend the autocrat had been as good as his word.

And how about Miss Nettie?' I asked, as I grasped him cordially by the hand.

'Come and see her,' he replied. She is now Mrs. Brooks, thanks to the kind offices of General Yeardley. I'd almost give my other foot that I had not shot him in the arm, for it was not at long range. But bless me! I forgot. For the old man's sake, Nettie says I must never say that any more. They have settled it among them that no man who had not a ruffianly black beard and moustache could have shot General Yeardley.'

CAMEOS FROM ENGLISH HISTORY.

CAMEO CCLXXVI.

1705-1712.

PHILIP V. AND CHARLES III.

THE death of Leopold I. made a great difference to the affairs of his second son, Charles, who was then in Portugal. The King Pedro V. being imbecile, government was carried on by his son João.

Gibraltar was besieged by the Marquis of Villadarias, but the Spanish supplies were insufficient, and he made little progress. Tessé was sent to supersede him, but did no better, and had to raise the siege, and go to meet the English force which had crossed the Guadiana and besieged Badajos. Before he came up, however, a cannon shot had struck off Lord Galway's hand, and it was thought expedient to retreat.

However, a thoroughly able and brilliant officer was on his way from England, Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough, who had a wonderful genius for war, and, indeed, for everything else, though he frittered away his opportunities by his fickle and dissipated habits, and had done nothing worthy of his talents up to 1705, the fortyseventh year of his life.

He came out to Lisbon with 5000 troops in the fleet of Sir Cloudesly Shovel, a runaway apprentice to a shoemaker, risen by his great abilities to the rank of Admiral. After consultation with the Archduke Charles and Lord Galway, he decided on making another attempt on the Mediterranean coast, and took Charles and his suite on board, entertaining them in a royal manner at his own expense. At Gibraltar he also took up the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, who had always been popular in Eastern Spain.

It was a favourable moment, for the Spaniards were greatly disgusted at the supremacy of the French at Court, and the Aragonese kingdom was always jealous of Castille, so that when the fleet touched at the Bay of Altea near Valencia, they found the people so ready to welcome them, that Charles III. was proclaimed by the populace.

The forces of Philip were in two divisions, one at Barcelona, where the descent was apprehended, the other on the Portuguese frontier, under the Duke of Berwick, who had again been sent to Spain, and was more than a match for Lord Galway. The other provinces were

unprotected, and there were only a few Guards at Madrid. There was only one fortified town, namely Requena, between Valencia and the capital; the distance was only fifty leagues, and Lord Peterborough was very anxious to make a sudden dash, drive out Philip, and place Charles on the throne.

He found, however, that the Archduke and the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt were not to be moved from their determination to besiege Barcelona, and for three weeks the army was obliged to beleaguer it without making any progress. At last the brilliant genius of Peterborough devised a sudden attack on the fort of Monjuich, on a hill surrounding the city. It was a most gallant and ably conducted attack, the fighting was desperate, and the Prince of Darmstadt was killed; but it was finally successful, and though the Viceroy of Catalonia, Don Francisco Velasco, was resolute to hold out to the last, the townspeople, and even his soldiers, rose against him. He had agreed to capitulate in four days, but the insurgents broke into mutiny, and began pillaging and using violence, so that only the arrival of Peterborough and his Englishmen stopped a terrible riot, and saved the life of Velasco, whom he secretly put on board ship for Alicant.

Charles solemnly entered Barcelona, on the 23rd of October, 1705, and much gratified the people by granting them privileges, and showing himself a devout member of their Church. Meeting in the street a procession carrying the last Sacraments to a dying man in a poor quarter of the city, he left his carriage, and followed bareheaded, and torch in hand.

His German council, however, were most mischievous in their greed, pride, and ignorance. Their minds were, as a Spaniard said, like goats' horns, hard, narrow, and crooked, and the Dutch officers were equally troublesome and obstructive to all Peterborough's measures. Nor could the English Earl trust any Spaniard unless all the rest of the family were in his hands as hostages.

The city of San Mateo, lying between Valencia and Barcelona, had declared for Charles, and was besieged by the Franco-Spanish army under the Count de Las Torres. Charles ordered Peterborough to relieve it, telling him that the besiegers only amounted to 2000 men, and that 16,000 peasants were collected to join him. Accordingly the Earl set off, but at Tortosa, he learnt that the army of 16,000 peasants was a mere imagination, and that Torres's force amounted to 7000 men, while he had but 1200. Instead, however, of giving up the attempt, Peterborough shut up the gates of Tortosa and guarded them so that no one passed out except two spies, one of whom carried a letter to Colonel Jones, the Governor of San Mateo, promising him confidently immediate relief, while the other was to let himself be taken by the enemy, and pretend to betray to them the approach of a large army. This was done, and the other messenger being captured with the letter, the information was

confirmed, and Torres, believing himself outnumbered, as soon as the English came in sight, retreated. Peterborough followed him as far as Albocazer, expecting a reinforcement from Barcelona; but instead of this, there came letters full of alarm to tell him that the Duke of Berwick had been recalled from the Portuguese frontier, and was about to fall upon Catalonia, and two more armies were entering that province. The Council of War decided that this enterprise must be abandoned, and the troops sent back, and the infantry were despatched to the sea port of Vimaroz, whence it would be easy to transport them to Barcelona in case of danger; but he himself, with 200 horse, still persisted in keeping on the rear of Torres's army.

They spread themselves out as much as possible, and did their utmost to appear a mere outpost of a much larger army; and they destroyed the first detachment which they overtook. Torres continued his retreat, and Villareal, which had shown itself favourable to the Archduke, was treated with great cruelty, being given up to the violence of the Spanish troops.

Nules, the next town, was Bourbonist, and had strong walls and a good garrison, so that it was expected to check the English advance. However, Peterborough would lose nothing for want of boldness. He made straight up to the gates, under a fire of musketry, and demanded speech with the Governor or with a priest. Then he told those who appeared that he was disposed to retaliate on them the blood of Villareal, but that he would give them six minutes for which to decide on an honourable surrender. Otherwise, as soon as his artillery came up, he should batter their walls and give no quarter.

Little guessing that there was no artillery to come, and recollecting the outrages of their own party at Villareal, the Nules people used their six minutes to decide on surrender, and the two hundred English were masters of the place. There, however, Peterborough was informed that the Duke of Arcos had been sent to supersede Torres, and to invest Valencia with 10,000 men, and the burghers wrote in the greatest alarm to entreat him to come to their rescue.

Feeling the need, he summoned all the forces he could collect, English and Spanish, with scarcely any reference to the Court at Barcelona. Most of them were on foot, but he had contrived to collect, at low prices, no less than eight hundred horses, and had their saddles and bridles sent by sea. At Oropesa he held a review of his infantry on one side of a hill, while he caused all his horses to be drawn up on the other side out of sight. At the inspection he expressed a wish that such troops could serve on horseback, and the officers agreed in the wish in a vague manner. Suddenly a commission for cavalry service was put into the hands of each, and being ordered to march forward, they came in sight of a fine set of horses divided into eight bodies, all ready for instant use, to their extreme delight.

Arcas was advancing on Valencia, and had stationed at Murviedo

to stop the English General, an Irish officer, called by the Spaniards, Mahoni. He was a brave and skilful man, but he was a relation of Peterborough's second wife, and this furnished an excuse for sending a flag of truce and asking for an interview, in which the Earl did his best to make the man a traitor; but failing in this, actually was base enough to send two feigned deserters over to Arcos to accuse Mahoni of treachery. They were believed, and the honest Irishman was sent under arrest to Madrid, where his innocence was proved; but Peterborough had succeeded in his object of making Arcos reject the suspected advice, and retreat over the mountains.

Philip himself now decided on setting out to reduce the insurgents, making the great mistake of taking with him the incompetent and cruel Tessé, who expected to prevent revolt by terror and bloodshed among insurgent citizens and peasantry, though he was timid in the day of battle. He had, however, 20,000 men, and the German Ministry were so much alarmed, that they tried to persuade Charles to embark and take flight; but the blood of the Hapsburg was not cowardly, and he resolved to remain, though the Count of Toulouse was coming to besiege him by sea. He declared that he would be guided by the Blessed Virgin, and kneeling in the Cathedral before her shrine, with all the populace round him, besought her counsel. Rising at length, he declared, no doubt with full conviction, that she had revealed to him that his faithful Catalans would never forsake him. The enthusiasm was immense, there were cries of a miracle, and the whole of the citizens, even the women and the clergy, were eager to serve in the defence. The Capuchin monks tied their long beards with the yellow and black Austrian colours, and served as soldiers, while the FrancoSpanish army invested the city, and began by retaking Monjuich, though not succeeding for three weeks, when its brave Governor, Lord Donegal, was killed, and it surrendered. Peterborough was meantime hovering about, carrying on a guerilla warfare, and waiting for reinforcements which General Stanhope was to bring. They were on the coast, but Stanhope was under the authority of the Admiral of the Fleet, Sir John Leake, and the latter would not go near Barcelona till he was joined by Admiral Byng with the fleet from Ireland. Communication was rendered very difficult by French cruisers, and the Spanish fishermen were afraid of carrying letters, and Stanhope therefore contrived to let Lord Peterborough know that the reception of a blank sheet of paper would be a sign that the fleets had joined. The blank paper arrived at last, and Peterborough's next plan was to draw the Count of Toulouse into a naval battle, hoping to destroy the French Fleet, but as he did not expect that the Count would risk a battle if the whole of the English numbers were visible, his object was to make a large portion keep out of sight. His commission gave him power to command the sea as well as the land forces, but only when he was actually on board.

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