The History of Henry Esmond, Esq., a Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen AnneThackeray, William Makepeace
History
The History of Henry Esmond, Esq., a Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne
Thackeray, William Makepeace
Great Britain -- History -- Anne, 1702-1714 -- Fiction; Historical fiction
The bravest man I ever knew in the army, and who had been present in
most of King William's actions, as well as in the campaigns of the great
Duke of Marlborough, could never be got to tell us of any achievement of
his, except that once Prince Eugene ordered him up a tree to reconnoitre
the enemy, which feat he could not achieve on account of the horseman's
boots he wore; and on another day that he was very nearly taken prisoner
because of these jack-boots, which prevented him from running away.
The present narrator shall imitate this laudable reserve, and doth not
intend to dwell upon his military exploits, which were in truth not very
different from those of a thousand other gentlemen. This first campaign
of Mr. Esmond's lasted but a few days; and as a score of books have been
written concerning it, it may be dismissed very briefly here.
When our fleet came within view of Cadiz, our commander sent a boat
with a white flag and a couple of officers to the Governor of Cadiz, Don
Scipio de Brancaccio, with a letter from his Grace, in which he hoped
that as Don Scipio had formerly served with the Austrians against the
French, 'twas to be hoped that his Excellency would now declare himself
against the French King, and for the Austrian in the war between King
Philip and King Charles. But his Excellency, Don Scipio, prepared a
reply, in which he announced that, having served his former king with
honor and fidelity, he hoped to exhibit the same loyalty and devotion
towards his present sovereign, King Philip V.; and by the time this
letter was ready, the two officers had been taken to see the town, and
the alameda, and the theatre, where bull-fights are fought, and the
convents, where the admirable works of Don Bartholomew Murillo inspired
one of them with a great wonder and delight--such as he had never felt
before--concerning this divine art of painting; and these sights over,
and a handsome refection and chocolate being served to the English
gentlemen, they were accompanied back to their shallop with every
courtesy, and were the only two officers of the English army that saw at
that time that famous city.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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