CHARACTERS.
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a nature in itfelf, that it is hard to pronounce on either fide with- out the fufpicion of flattery or de- tradtion. I (hall fay nothing of his military accomplilhments, which the oppofite reports of his friends and enemies among the foldiers have rendered pr blematical: but if he be among thofe who delight in war, it is agreed to be, not for the realon*; common with other generals. T^ofe maligners who deny him perfonal valoiir, feem not to confider that this accufa- tion is charged at a venture; fince the perfon of a wife general is too feldom expofed to form any judgment in the matter: and that fear, which is faid to have fome- times difconcerted him before an aftion, might probably be more for his army, than for himfelf. He was bred in the height of what is called the tory principles, and continued with a ftrong bias that way, till the other party had bid higher for him than his friends could afford to give. His want of literature is in fome fcrt fup- plied by a good underftanding, a degree of natural elocution, and that knowledge of the world which is learned in armies and conrts. We are not to take the height of his ambition from his follicit- ing to be general for life: I am perfuaded his chief motive was the pay and perquifites, by con- tinuing the war; and that he had then no intentions of fettling the cro'.vn in his family, his only foa having been dead fome years be- fore. He is noted to be mafter of great temper, able to govern or very well to difguife his paf- fion% which are all melted dow^i or extinguiihed in his love of wealth. That liberality which na- ture has denied him, with refpcfl
of money, he makes up by a great profufion of promifes ; but this perfedion, fo neceffary in courts, is not very fuccefsful in camps among foldiers, who are not re- fined enough to underftand or to relifh it.
His wife the duchefs may juftly challenge her place in this lift. It is to her the duke is chiefly indebted for his greatnefs and his fall; for above 20 years (he pofTefTed, without a rival, the favours of the moft indulgent mif- trefs in the world, nor ever mif- fed one Tingle opportunity that fell in her way of improving it to her own advantp.ge. She hath pre- ferved a tolerable court- reputation, with refpeft to love and gallantry ; but three furies reigned in her breaft, the mofl mortal enemies of all fofter paffions, which were for- did avarice, difdainful pride, and ungovernable rage ; by the laft of thefe often breaking out in Tallies of the mofl unpardonable fort, ihe had long alienated her fovereign's mind, before it appeared to the world. This lady is not without fome degree of wit, and hath in her time affedted the character of it, by the ulual method of argu- ing againil religion, and proving the d' cf rines of chriftianity to be impoffible and abfurd. Imagine what fuch a fpirit, irritated by the lofs of power, favour, and em- ployment, is capable of adling or attempting, and then I have faid enough.
The next in order to be men- tioned is the earl of Godolphin. It is faid he was originally in- tended for a trade, before his friends preferred him to be a page at court, which feme have very
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