years, was absolutely governed by him. He was always cool, and nobody ever observed the least variation in his countenance; he could refuse more gracefully than others could grant, and those who went from him the most dissatisfied as to the substance of their business, were yet charmed by his manner, and, as it were, comforted by it."[18] FOOTNOTES: [1] _Letters and Despatches of John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough, from 1702 to 1712._ Edited by SIR GEORGE MURRAY, G.C.B., Master-General of the Ordnance, &c. 3 vols. London, 1845. [2] "Marlborough," says Swift, "is as voracious as hell, and as ambitious as the devil. What he desires above every thing is to be made commander-in-chief for life, and it is to satisfy his ambition and his avarice that he has opposed so many intrigues to the efforts made for the restoration of peace." [3] "During the interval between the liberation of Marlborough and the death of Queen Mary, we find him, in conjunction with Godolphin and many others, maintaining a clandestine intercourse with the exiled family. On the 2d May 1694, only a few days before he offered his services to King William, he communicated to James, through Colonel Sackville, intelligence of an expedition then fitting out, for the purpose of destroying the fleet in Brest harbour."--COXE'S _Marlborough_, i. 75. "Marlborough's conduct to the Stuarts," says Lord Mahon, "was a foul blot on his memory. To the last he persevered in those deplorable intrigues. In October 1713, he protested to a Jacobite agent he would rather have his hands cut off than do any thing to prejudice King James."--MAHON, i. 21-22. [4] "Galli turpe esse ducunt frumentum manu quaerere; itaque armati alienos agros demetunt."--CAESAR. [5] _Despatches_, 21st September 1702. [6] _Despatches_, 23d October 1702. [7] Memorial, 24th August 1703.--_Despatches_, i. 165. [8] Marlborough was much chagrined at being interrupted in his meditated decisive operations by the States-General, on this occasion. On the 6th September, he wrote to them:--"Vos Hautes Puissances jugeront bien par le camp que nous venons de prendre, qu'on n'a pas voulu se resoudre a tenter les lignes. J'ai ete convaincu de plus en plus, depuis l'honneur que j'ai eu de vous ecrire, par les avis que j'ai recu journellement de la situation des ennemis, que cette entreprise n'etait pas seulement practicable, mais meme qu'on pourrait en esperer tout le succes que je m'etais propose: enfin l'occasion en est perdue, et je souhaite de tout mon coeur qu'elle n'ait aucune facheuse suite, et qu'on n'ait pas lieu de s'en repentir quand il sera trop tard."--MARLBOROUGH _aux Etats Generaux_; _6 Septembre 1703. Despatches_, i. 173.