Daniel Defoe

“ Opinion is a mighty matter in war, and I doubt but the French think it impossible to conquer an army that he leads, and our soldiers think the same; and how far even this step may encourage the French to play tricks with us, no man knows. ”

“ If we observe, through the whole Nation, either here in this Capital, or in any other Parts of England, allowing but for proportion of Merit and Dignity, we shall find more People belonging to Offices of Docks and Yards, to Offices of Stores and Victualling, who have made as good use of the Places in which they serve, and with no greater Fatigue and Danger than Figuring and Writing, as the best and richest General in Europe. ”

“ To conclude, As our great Commander is known to the World, or at least to the greatest part of it, to be Temperate, Sober, Careful, Couragious, Politick, Skilful, so he is Courteous, Mild, Affable, Humble, and Condescending to People of the meanest Condition. ”

“ No sooner had our Sovereign Lady Queen ANNE mounted the Throne, but in concert with her High Allies, she proclaim'd War against France; and having created my Lord, Duke of Marlborough, she sent him her Plenepotentiary into Holland to the States, and Captain General of Her Forces; and I am sure a great many Officers who had serv'd under him in the former War, were glad to see him once more at the Head of an Army. ”

“ Thus did Hannibal, who, in his moroding Marches, had spared some Grounds belonging to the Dictator Fabius, not out of any respect or kindness to his Person, but to bring him into Envy and Suspicion among the People at Rome; and so 'twas given out by one of the Tribunes, that Hannibal and he had, as it were, made a Truce; that the drift of Fabius could be nothing else but to prolong the War, that he might be long in Office, and have the sole Government both of City and Armies. ”

“ And no Person can believe, that Prince Eugene would endure that any Person in the World should share with him in his Fame and Glory, unless such an Hero, whom he thinks in all Points to be his Equal. As for the Troops under his Command, 'tis evident to the World, that they excel all others; for the sake of their Countries they are prodigal of their Blood; and under such a General, by their own Confession, when they go to Action, think of nothing else but Victory and Triumph. ”

“ As for his Acting in Concert with the Heroick Prince of Savoy, who is, without doubt, one of the ablest Generals of the Universe, and chusing of him to be his Friend and Colleague, is one of the strongest Arguments of his Art and Knowledge: Mutual Danger, and mutual Principles of Honour, have entirely united them. ”

“ That Defoe resented attacks on his hero can hardly be doubted—the Review and his pamphlets are a catalog of the general's triumphs, and no where does he attack unequivocably; even in No Queen he puts chief blame on rumors and on Marlborough's party. Harley's failure to make permanent provisions for Defoe may suggest some dissatisfaction, but even if the possibility that the Life was not expressly ordered by Harley is considered, it is noteworthy that nothing in it is offensive to Harley, and, more important, remarkable that it serves Harley's needs and ends at the time so well. ”

“ Therefore let not People think, that those Gentlemen who are call'd to fight Battles make use of those Employments, in the heat of a bloody War, for Diversion or Pleasure. They who have been Spectators of what they do and what they suffer, will soon be perswaded, that no People under Heaven purchase their Profits and Honours at a dearer rate.
'Tis a great happiness to a Nation to have a generous Race of Warlike People, who, at all times, are ready to venture their Lives in the defence of it. ”

“ In an age when duplicity, intrigue, personality, and an immediate history of violence characterized politics, John Churchill was a constant, steady military success even while his political and personal fortunes alternately plunged and soared. ”

“ Other Princes are concern'd in the War, as well as ours, and their Subjects are as desirous of Peace as any of us can be, yet this Peace can't well be obtain'd without a joint Consent; but if the Enemy against whom we Fight, will not come to any terms of Peace that are Reasonable, and Honourable, and Just, and upon which the War is founded, but in his pretended Treaties, chicanes and falsifies, and is altogether Insincere, then 'tis not the General's Fault if we can't have Peace; we are in for the War, and we must stand to it. ”

“ For the most eminent Virtues are but as so many fair Marks set up on high for Envy to shoot at with her poysonous Darts, and in all States, 'tis sometimes dangerous to be Great and Good, for cunning Envy is often very strong, and when once its Devices are effectually spread in the Mouths of the Multitude, will produce a Blast able to blow down the most lofty Cedar: 'Tis therefore for the good of the common People of the Nation, that I shall let them see the scandalous Reflections which are scattered abroad on the Honour of the Duke of Marlborough ”

“ In the Life, Defoe defends the general from the charge of avarice, the most plausible charge that the journalists were propagating. Marlborough's courage and skill had also been called into question in such papers as The Post Boy, and a spurious debate raged which could only injure Marlborough over the gratitude of the nation. Defoe alludes to pamphlets which impugn great men and represent them as "unworthy of the Favour of the Prince" slanting the charge that Marlborough had been rewarded perhaps too bountifully in order to imply that such writers were malicious, uninformed, and ungrateful. ”

“ A Sea-Captain, after the Service of Nine or Ten Years, is usually Master of a very great Fortune, he Sails in his Coach with rich Liveries for his Colours, and Steers from his City to his Country-House unenvied, and without unmerciful Remarks. ”

“ They give out, like Men of great Understanding in the Art Military, that the Duke is more beholding to his Good-Fortune than his Skill, in the Advantages he has gain'd over the French, and that he may thank the Prince of Savoy, and the good Forces which he Commands, more than his own Skill in War, for his great Reputation.
The Good-Fortune of His Grace ought to be attributed to the good Providence of GOD, for which, both he and the whole Nation ought to be thankful. 'Tis a great Happiness to have such a Fortunate General ”

“ Defoe's Life was his first biography; other "memoirs" of the Duke of Melfort (1714) , Daniel Williams (1718) , and Major Ramkins (1719) suggest the progression to The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719) and two other lives in that same year. Defoe's sometimes troublesome skill with narrative voices is, in the Life, a shadow of the competence displayed in Moll Flanders. Although the "old Officer's" voice is sustained and there are excellent touches, the distinctiveness and absorbing intimacy are only hinted at. ”

“ The first Scandal that is put abroad upon his Grace is this: That he has avoided several Opportunities of Fighting, not considering the great burden of Taxes that lies upon the Nation, because the War should be continued longer, whereby he may increase his Riches, and keep up his Power. Now how false this Report is, will easily appear.
For the Business of Peace and War does not depend on a General: 'Tis the Business of his Monarch, who best knows the proper times for such Treaties. ”

“ In short, 'tis all the Reason that a conquering General, who fights our Battels, and must look the Powers of Europe in the Face, as he is distinguish'd by Titles of Honour, so where-ever he goes he ought to be attended with Plenty and Riches. ”

“ When the Officers, coming from Flanders, after the Campaign, appear in the newest Fashions, which they bring over with them, with a good Ayre and genteel Mien, which is almost common to them, the People, who never saw the Hardships which they undergo, think them only design'd for Pleasure and Ease, and their Profession to be desir'd above any thing in the World besides. They often hear of Fights and Sieges, and of a great many Men kill'd in a few Hours ”

“ The honest Gentlemen in Town, call'd Agents, most of whom are risen from a mean Condition to be Members of Parliament, Justices of the Peace, and to purchase Estates, where-ever they can find out Land to be dispos'd of, who never ventur'd their Lives farther than from the Pay-Office to the Tavern; and yet they make a Figure in the World with a very good Grace, untouch'd, or not mark'd by any Observator. ”

“ No one knows better than your lordship the great use and expence of intelligence, and no one can better explain it; and 'tis for that reason I take the liberty to add a farther request, that you would be so kind to lay the whole, on some fitting opportunity, before the queen, being very well persuaded her majesty, who has so far approved, and so well rewarded my services would not be willing they should now be reflected on. ”

“ The French had coop'd up our Army under the Walls of Nimeguen, and much ado we had, by frequent Skirmishes, to hinder them from investing that considerable Frontier, at that time unprovided by the neglect of the Governour, as 'tis reported, of all warlike Necessaries for the Defence of it. A Man might then see but an indifferent Ayre in the face of our Forces: The States were under great Apprehensions, least the Enemy should penetrate into their Country; and nothing could recover them from their Fears, till his Grace, after three or four Days, had join'd our Army with some additional Troops ”

“ So may we say, that the many Battles and Sieges, fought and won by our Great Marlborough, in the Provinces of Gelders, of Limbourg, of Brabant, of Flanders, of Artois, of Hainault, shall be far excelling the most numerous Progeny to eternize his Name.
The other false Reports that are spread among the People, by the Enemies of the Duke, are these; That his way of Living in the Army is Mean and Parsimonious, unbecoming the Honour and Dignity of his Post. ”

“ As Professor John Robert Moore said, The Life is "exceptionally characteristic" of Defoe, so characteristic in fact that "one can recognize his style and manner as one would a familiar voice." [21] The list of phrases and mannerisms which produce this effect is extensive: The insertion of qualifying or explanatory phrases ("The first time that I had the Honour of seeing John, Earl of Marlborough, [for so I shall call him till he was created Duke] ...") ”

“ It becomes every honest Man, who knows more of the Matter, to set things in a true Light, to undeceive the People, as much as he is able, that they may be no longer impos'd on by such false Reports, which in the end may prove Dangerous and Fatal. ”

“ In this second phase of his military career, he won every battle, took every fort that he besieged, held the Grand Alliance together, broke the threatening supremacy of France, and established England as a major power. Yet, during these ten years, Queen Anne's ministry and Parliament underwent several major upheavals: the resulting shifts in policy and personalities alternately inconvenienced and vexed Marlborough. ”

“ Scarce less than a body of Three Thousand Men would suffice to secure that City if it were to be betrayed to them; now how such a Party could march over so many Canals, Morasses, and Trenches in that low Country, some part of the Enemy's, & most part of it their Friends, unobserved, and not look'd after, especially a Royal Army of theirs being at Hand, is not easie to be conceived by any Person who understands the Business of a Soldier. 'Tis a great Hazzard, a nice Difficulty for a French Governour to betray a strong City ”

“ It is with reluctance that Defoe is persuaded that Marlborough must be displaced, and even in the poem on the occasion of Marlborough's funeral, his disapproval seems to be more for the ostentatiousness and inappropriateness of the funeral than for the man himself. All in all, there is scarcely a line in The Life which does not bear Defoe's fingerprints. ”

“ Indeed Generals, tho' the most accomplish'd Heroes, are but Men, they are not Infallible, but may be mistaken as well as other Mortals, they are subject to Faults and Infirmities as well as their Fellow-Creatures; but then their great Services for the good of their Country ought to be cast into the Ballance, against their humane Mistakes; and not only Charity, but Self-consideration should give them very good Quarter, unless their Faults are prov'd to be Wilful and Contumacious. (38)
is a paradigm of his technique. ”

“ Dunkirk is suppos'd to be one of the strongest Fortresses of Europe, either by Sea or Land, the French King, by vast Labour, Art and Cost, having made it to be so, and accordingly regards it with a careful Eye, always keeping in it a good Garrison, with all manner of Plenty for the Defence of it. ”

“ But when several great Men, who were true Lovers of their Country, had fully inform'd his Majesty, that my Lord was always his most faithful Servant and Subject, and most willing to serve Him to the utmost of his Power ”

“ There is nothing new, saith Solomon, under the Sun; the same Causes will always produce the same Effects; and while Mankind bear about them, the various Passions of Love and Joy, Hatred and Grief, the cunning Engineer, that stands behind the Curtain, will influence and work these Passions according to his Malice, to the destruction of Persons of highest Worth. ”

“ By 1710, foreign policy had changed—a growing interest in trade and colonization urged Parliament to end a costly and now unnecessary war and had united the Tories, Jacobites, the Church party, as well as such diverse men as the Dukes of Argyll, Somerset, Newcastle, and Shrewsbury, a Whig. With the election of the radical Tory majority (240 new members were seated) to the Commons in 1710 and the creation of twelve new peers, [4] Harley's job of using diverse elements to form a moderate government became more complex. ”

“ That the Income and Revenue from the Profits of his Places are too much for a Subject: And that he minds nothing so much as getting of Riches. All which Reports are false and malicious, and only the Designs of his secret Enemies. ”