through whom ministers had been changed, campaigns marred, and negotiations with foreign powers badly managed, began to work on her royal mistress's mind in favour of her brother, the Pretender. Happily, her efforts to have the succession altered were neutralized by another and rival favourite, the Duchess of Somerset, who sustained the House of Hanover. By means of Lady Masham, Harley earl of Oxford was turned out, and Lord Bolingbroke, who had been mainly instrumental in effecting the Peace of Utrecht, and who was in league with the Pretender, became all-powerful. Three days before the death of Anne, and, at the critical moment, the Whig Dukes of Argyle and Somerset took their places at the Council table, had Shrewsbury declared prime minister, with directions to secure the succession as fixed by Parliament, and thus frustrated Bolingbroke and the Pretender. Anne died 1st August 1714, in the 50th year of her age, and the Elector of Hanover was proclaimed king of England by the name and title of George the First.

Anne, although narrow-minded and bigoted, yet must be allowed some credit for the purer manners which distinguished her court from that of her father and uncle, notwithstanding the political intrigues of which it was the scene. The happy improvements introduced by her good sister Mary, William's queen, were maintained. The literature of the period became so refined as even till this day to be regarded as a perfect model of English writing. The names of Pope, Swift, Addison, Prior, Steele, are remembered as household words. Literature was highly honoured, and men of genius rewarded with distinguished offices. Addison became Secretary of State; and Prior, without advantage of birth or family connexion, was charged with political negotiations of the highest importance.

Cotemporary Sovereigns and Events.-France: Louis XIV. Sweden: Charles XII. Russia: Peter the Great. Peter the Great defeats Charles XII. at Pultowa (1709).

Questions.-1. What was the object of the War of Succession? 2. Write a succinct narrative of Marlborough's campaigns between 1702 and 1711. 3. What were the terms of the Peace of Utrecht? 4. What was the character of Anne's Court, and of the literature of her reign ?

A.D. 1714.]

GEORGE L

223

EIGHTH EPOCH.

A.D. 1714-1789.

EXTENSION AND SETTLEMENT OF BRITISH IMPERIAL POWER IN INDIA AND THE NEW WORLD UNDER THE HOUSE OF HANOVER. DURING THIS PERIOD, FROM GEORGE FIRST TO GEORGE THIRD, ENGLAND WON MOST OF HER COLONIES, LAID THE FOUNDATION OF HER INDIAN EMPIRE, AND SECURED HER NAVAL SUPREMACY. [During this Epoch flourished Samuel Johnson, Goldsmith, Hume, Gibbon, Robertson, Cowper, and Burns.]

1. George I.

The House of Brunswick.

A.D. 1714-1727.

THE OLD PRETENDER AND HIS DEFEAT-FOREIGN POLICY-THE MISSISSIPPI AND SOUTH SEA BUBBLES.

James I.

Elizabeth m. Frederic v. elector-palatine.

Sophia m. Ernest Augustus, elector of Hanover, descendant of the Guelphs.

George 1. m. Sophia of Brunswick.

GEORGE (fifty-four years of age) did not leave Hanover for England till seven weeks after Anne's death. When he did at length arrive along with

his son, Prince George, his plain, undignified appearance, and careless dress, did not much attract his loyal subjects, and seemed to accord too well with his phlegmatic temperament. During the interval that elapsed between Anne's death and his accession,

the government had been carried on by a Regency previously settled. The king, in his new ministry, included Marlborough, and placed the great duke at the head of the army. Robert Walpole was appointed one of the ministers of state.

A manifesto from the Pretender excited great ferment, because it plainly intimated that the last ministry of Queen Anne had promised him the succession. The House of Commons, after hearing the king's assurance through the Chancellor (for George could not speak English), that he would make the "Constitution in Church and State" the motto of his government, proceeded to take steps for bringing the partisans of the Pretender to punishment. The Earl of Oxford was committed to the Tower. The Duke of Ormond fled, and Bolingbroke was impeached. These acts, however, did not arrest the proceedings of the Pretender's friends, for on the 9th September 1715, the Earl of Mar raised his standard at Braemar, and was soon supported by the Marquis Tullibardine. Lord Kenmure was busy in the south-west of Scotland, being joined by Earls Nithsdale and Winton, while Forster, with the Earl of Derwentwater and Lord Widdrington, were rousing the people at Morpeth. But neither the Earl of Mar, who commanded the Scottish insurgents, nor Forster, who headed the movement in the north of England, possessed the smallest military capacity. The English insurgents having marched to Preston in Lancashire, without receiving the accession to their numbers which they expected, did not defend the town as they might have done, and the English generals, Carpenter and Wills, made captives Lords Derwentwater, Widdrington, Nithsdale, Winton, Carnwath, Kenmure, Nairn, and Charles Murray, with several other persons of distinction.

On the same November day, Mar was sacrificing his gallant Highlanders at Sheriffmuir. He had 10,000 men, but the cavalry were useless from ignorance of tactics; while the Duke of Argyle, the commander of the Royal forces, had but 3500—these, however, including three good cavalry regiments. The curious feature of the battle that followed was, that while Argyle was

A.D. 1716.]

THE PRETENDER S ESCAPE.

225

engaged pursuing his advantages against the Highland left wing, which, although broken, retired in order, attempting ten times to rally within a space of two miles, his own left wing had, without his knowledge, been signally defeated by the insurgents' right; while Mar, in like manner, ignorant of the defeat incurred by a portion of his own army, pursued the retreating portion of Argyle's. Mar, stopped in his pursuit, and marching back to Sheriffmuir, took up a position on an eminence, which he so foolishly abandoned as to wring from one of the Highland chiefs, Gordon of Glenbucket, the exclamation, "O for an hour of Viscount Dundee !" The consequence of the blunder was utter defeat. On the 22d December the Pretender (son of James II.), misled by false reports as to the number of his adherents, landed at Peterhead, and on the 6th January made his public entry into Dundee, with Mar on his right hand and the Earl Marshal on his left. On the 8th he reached the Royal Palace of Scone, near Perth, where he formed a Council and issued manifestoes. But his manner, which was awkward, and his stubborn temper and bigoted character, did not win friendship. In fact, there was disappointment on both sides. The Pretender expected to meet a large body of supporters; and the comparatively few insurgents, on the other hand, looked for a French army in the train of their royal chief, and saw none. The Pretender accordingly, perceiving how matters stood, made up his mind to escape as quietly as possible. Argyle, meanwhile, was approaching over ground covered with snow, and a country which had been laid waste in order to check his advance,—a cruel proceeding which entailed great misery on the inhabitants. The Pretender, Mar, and some others, escaped to France. Then followed the usual tragedies after a suppressed insurrection. Leading men, such as Lords Derwentwater and Kenmure, were executed; but, generally speaking, there was not much bloodshed.

The attachment of George to his Hanoverian dominions entangled the British nation in very complicated relations with foreign states. Philip v. of Spain was keeping his eye on the French throne, which, by the Treaty of Utrecht, he had renounced at the

close of the war of succession. The heir was a sickly child of six years old, and the kingdom was governed by the Duke of Orleans, as Regent, who, according to the treaty, was heir-apparent. Fearing the designs of Philip, the Regent proposed an offensive and defensive alliance with George, which, in his concern for his continental dominions, he agreed to, at the same time inducing the Dutch to sign the treaty. George, it must be remarked, by this act deprived the Pretender of French support.

Not content with the limits of Hanover, he was anxious to extend his kingdom, and temptation was thrown out by Denmark, which, as the price of his aid against Charles XII. of Sweden, offered him the rich districts of Verden and Bremen. A British fleet was sent into the Baltic, and England found herself at war for the sake of Hanover. The Swedish king, breathing revenge, took up the cause of the Pretender, and was planning an invasion of England in his support when he met his death at the sicge of Friedrichshall (1718).

The King of Spain, also enraged at the triple alliance concluded between France, England, and Holland, for the maintenance of the Treaty of Utrecht, determined to assist the enemies of George. Under the administration of the famous minister, Cardinal Alberoni, the power of Spain had wonderfully revived. This statesman determined to recover for Spain her former possessions in Italy, which, by the peace of Utrecht, had been transferred to the Emperor of Germany. A mighty fleet was accordingly equipped, Sardinia was seized, and the British government sent Sir George Byng to the Mediterranean with orders to fight the Spanish Armada (June 1718). The Emperor now found it his interest to adhere to the Triple Alliance (which thus became the Quadruple Alliance) to save his Italian possessions from the Spaniards. Byng sailed from Naples to save Messina (9th August), and, on turning the point of Faro, saw the Spanish fleet, composed of 27 sail of the line and 7 galleys, in order of battle, ance of the British Admiral, drew off. pursuit was somewhat checked by a calm. morning at ten o'clock, and at three the Spanish Admiral struck

which, on the appearByng followed, but his Battle was joined next