twelfth of November he arrived at Vienna, where he was treated with the highest marks of distinction and cordial friendship by their imperial majesties. His son-in-law, the earl of Sunderland, had been sent thither as envoy extraordinary; and now they conferred together with the emperor and his ministers. They resolved to maintain the war with redoubled vigour. The treaties were renewed, and provision made for the security of the duke of Savoy. The emperor, in consideration of the duke's signal service to the house of Austria, presented him with a grant of the lordship of Mindelheim in Suabia, which was now erected into a prin cipality of the Roman empire. In his return with the earl of Sunderland he visited the courts of Berlin and Hanover, where he was received with that extraordinary respect which was due to his character, and arrived at the Hague on the fourteenth day of December. There he settled the operations of the next campaign with the states general, who consented to join England in maintaining an additional body of ten thousand men, as a reinforcement to the army of prince Eugene in Italy. While the allies were engaged in the siege of Santvliet, the elector of Bavaria sent a detachment, under the command of don Marcello de Grimaldi, to invest Diest, the garrison of which were made prisoners of war.

§ XXXVI. On the upper Rhine mareschal Villars besieged and took Homburgh, and passed the Rhine at Strasburgh on the sixth day of August. Prince Lewis of Baden arriving in the camp of the Imperialists at Stolhoffen, not only obliged him to retire, but having passed the river, forced the French lines at Hagenau : then he reduced Drusenheim and Hagenau, but attempted no enterprise equal to the number of his army, although the emperor had expostulated with him severely on his conduct, and he had now a fair opportunity of emulating the glory of Marlborough, upon whom he looked with the eyes of an envious rival. In Italy a battle was fought at Casano, between prince Eugene and the duke de Vendome, with dubious success. The duke de Feuillade reduced Chivas, and invested Nice, which, after an obstinate defence, surrendered in December. All the considerable places belonging to the duke of Savoy were now taken, except Coni and Turin;

and his little army was reduced to twelve thousand men, whom he could hardly support. His dutchess, his clergy, and his subjects in general, pressed him to submit to the necessity of his affairs: but he adhered to the alliance with surprising fortitude. He withstood the importunities of

his dutchess, excluded all the bishops and clergy from his counsels; and when he had occasion for a confessor, chose a priest occasionally, either from the dominicans or franciscans. The campaign in Portugal began with a very promising aspect. The allies invaded Spain by the different frontiers of Beyra and Alentejo. Their army, under the command of the Conde das Galveas, undertook the siege of Valencia d'Alcantara in May, and took it by assault: Albuquerque surrendered upon articles: and then the troops were sent into quarters of refreshment. The marquis de las Minas, who commanded the Portuguese in the province of Beyra, reduced the town of Salvaterra, plundered and burned Sarca, but was obliged to retire to Panamacos at the approach of the enemy. Towards the end of September the confederates being reassembled, invested Badajox, by the advice of the earl of Galway, who lost his right hand by a cannon ball, and was obliged to be carried off; so that the conduct of the siege was left to general Fagel. He had made considerable progress towards the reduction of the place, when the marquis de Thessé found means to throw in a powerful reinforcement: and then the confederates abandoned the enterprise. The war continued to rage in Hungary with various success. Ragotski, though frequently worsted, appeared still in arms, and ravaged the country, which became a scene of misery and desolation. In Poland the old cardinal primate owned Stanislaus, but died before the coronation, which was performed by the bishop of Cujavia. In the beginning of the winter king Augustus had passed through Poland in disguise to the Muscovite army, which was put under his command in Lithuania; and the campaign was protracted through the whole winter season, notwithstanding the severity of the weather in that northern climate. In the spring the Swedish general, Reinchild, obtained a complete victory over the Saxon army, which was either cut in pieces or taken, with their camp, baggage, and artillery: yet the war was not extinguished. VOL. I. ૧૧૧

The king of Sweden continued obstinately deaf to all proposals of peace, and was become as savage in his manners, as brutal in his revenge.

§ XXXVII. At sea the arms of the allies were generally prosperous. Philip of Spain being obstinately bent upon retaking Gibraltar, sent mareschal de Thessé to renew the siege, while de Pointis was ordered to block up the place by sea with his squadron. The French officers carried on the siege with such activity, that the prince of Hesse despatched an express to Lisbon with a letter, desiring sir John Leake to sail immediately to his assistance. This admiral having been reinforced from England by sir Thomas Dilkes, with five ships of the line and a body of troops, set sail immediately; and on the tenth day of March descried five ships of war hauling out of the bay of Gibraltar. These were commanded by de Pointis in person, to whom the English admiral gave chase. One of them struck, after having made a very slight resistance; and the rest ran áshore to the westward of Marbella, where they were destroyed. The remaining part of the French squadron had been blown from their anchors, and taken shelter in the bay of Malaga; but now they slipped their cables, and made the best of their way to Toulon. The mareschal de

Thessé in consequence of this disaster, turned the siege of Gibraltar into a blockade, and withdrew the greater part of his forces. While sir John Leake was employed in this expedition, sir George Byng, who had been ordered to cruise in soundings for the protection of trade, took a ship of forty guns from the enemy, together with twelve privateers, and seven vessels richly laden from the West Indies.

§ XXXVIII. But the most eminent achievement of this summer, was the reduction of Barcelona, by the celebrated earl of Peterborough and sir Cloudesley Shovel, who sailed from St. Helens in the latter end of May with the English fleet, having on board a body of five thousand land forces; and on the twentieth of June arrived at Lisbon; where they were joined by sir John Leake and the Dutch admiral, Allemonde. In a council of war, they determined to put to sea with eight-and-forty ships of the line, which should be stationed between Cape Spartel and the bay of Cadiz, in order to prevent the junction of the Toulon and

On

Brest squadrons. The prince of Hesse d'Armstadt arriving from Gibraltar, assured king Charles, that the province of Catalonia and the kingdom of Valencia were attached to his interest: and his majesty being weary of Portugal, resolved to accompany the earl of Peterborough to Barcelona. He accordingly embarked with him on board of the Ranelagh; and the fleet sailed on the twenty-eighth day of July, the earl of Galway having reinforced them with two regiments of English dragoons. At Gibraltar they took on board the English guards, and three old regiments, in lieu of which they left two new raised battalions. On the eleventh day of August they anchored in the bay of Altea, where the earl of Peterborough published a manifesto in the Spanish language, which had such an effect, that all the inhabitants of the place, the neighbouring villages, and adjacent mountains, acknowledged king Charles as their lawful sovereign. They seized the town of Denia for his service; and he sent thither a garrison of four hundred men under the command of major general Ramos. the twenty-second they arrived in the bay of Barcelona: the troops were disembarked to the eastward of the city, where they encamped in a strong situation, and were well received by the country people. King Charles landed amidst the acclamations of an infinite multitude from the neighbouring towns and villages, who threw themselves at his feet, exclaiming, "Long live the king!" and exhibited all the marks of the most extravagant joy. The inhabitants of Barcelona were well affected to the house of Austria, but overawed by a garrison of five thousand men under the duke de Popoli, Velasco, and other officers devoted to the interest of king Philip. Considering the strength of such a garrison, and the small number of Dutch and English troops, nothing could appear more desperate and dangerous than the design of besieging the place: yet this was proposed by the prince of Hesse d'Armstadt, who served in the expedition as a volunteer, strongly urged by king Charles, and approved by the earl of Peterborough and sir Cloudesley Shovel. The city was accordingly invested on one side; but as a previous step to the reduction of it, they resolved to attack the fort of Montjuic, strongly situated on a hill that commanded the city. The outworks

were taken by storm, with the loss of the gallant prince of Hesse, who was shot through the body, and expired in a few hours: then the earl of Peterborough began to bombard the body of the fort; and a shell chancing to fall into the magazine of powder, blew it up, together with the governor and some of the best officers: an accident which struck such a terror into the garrison, that they surrendered without further resistance.

XXXIX. This great point being gained, the English general erected his batteries against the town, with the help of the Miquelets and seamen: the bombketches began to fire with such execution, that in a few days the governor capitulated, and on the fourth day of October king Charles entered in triumph. All the other places in Catalonia declared for him, except Roses; so that the largest and richest province of Spain was conquered with an army scarce double the number of the garrison of Barcelona. King Charles wrote a letter with his own hand to the queen of England, containing a circumstantial detail of his affairs, the warmest expressions of acknowledgment, and the highest encomiums on her subjects, particularly the earl of Peterborough. In a council of war it was determined that the king and the earl should continue in Catalonia with the land forces: that sir Cloudesley Shovel should return to England: that five-and-twenty English and fifteen Dutch ships of war should winter at Lisbon, under the command of sir John Leake and the Dutch rear-admiral, Wassenaer; and that four English and two Dutch frigates should remain at Barcelona. Don Francisco de Velasco was transported to Malaga with about a

d Voltaire, upon what authority we know not, tells us, that during the capituJation, the German and Catalonian troops found means to climb over the ramparts into the city, and began to commit the most barbarous excesses: the viceroy complained to Peterborough that his soldiers had taken an unfair advantage of the treaty, and were actually employed in burning, plundering, murdering, and violating the inhabitants. The earl replied, "They must then be the troops of the prince of Hesse; allow me to enter the city with my English forces, I will save it from ruin; oblige the Germans to retire, and march back again to our present situation." The viceroy trusted his honour, and forthwith admitted the earl with his troops. He soon drove out the Germans and Catalonians, after having obliged them to quit the plunder they had taken; and by accident he rescued the dutchess of Popoli from the hands of two brutal soldiers, and delivered her to her husband. Having thus appeased the tumult, and dispelled the horrors of the citizens, he returned to his former station, leaving the inhabitants of Barcelona amazed at such an instance of maguanimity and moderation in a people whom they had been taught to consider as the most savage barbarians.