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[DANIEL DEFOE]
A
SHORT NARRATIVE
OF THE
Life and Actions
Of His GRACE
JOHN,
D. of Marlborough
(1711)
Introduction by
Paula R. Backscheider
PUBLICATION NUMBER 168
WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY
University of California, Los Angeles1974
GENERAL EDITORS
- William E. Conway, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
- George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles
- Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles
- David S. Rodes, University of California, Los Angeles
ADVISORY EDITORS
- Richard C. Boys, University of Michigan
- James L. Clifford, Columbia University
- Ralph Cohen, University of Virginia
- Vinton A. Dearing, University of California, Los Angeles
- Arthur Friedman, University of Chicago
- Louis A. Landa, Princeton University
- Earl Miner, Princeton University
- Samuel H. Monk, University of Minnesota
- Everett T. Moore, University of California, Los Angeles
- Lawrence Clark Powell, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
- James Sutherland, University College, London
- H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los Angeles
- Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY
- Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
- Beverly J. Onley, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Typography by Wm. M. Cheney
INTRODUCTION
Opinion is a mighty matter in war, and I doubt but the French think itimpossible to conquer an army that he leads, and our soldiers thinkthe same; and how far even this step may encourage the French to playtricks with us, no man knows.
Swift's Journal to Stella, 1 January 1711
… the moment he leaves the service and loses the protection ofthe Court, such scenes will open as no victories can varnish over.
Bolingbroke's Letters and Correspondence,
23 January 1711
The career of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, reflects thepolitical battles of nearly thirty years of English politics. In anage when duplicity, intrigue, personality, and an immediate history ofviolence characterized politics, John Churchill was a constant, steadymilitary success even while his political and personal fortunesalternately plunged and soared. His military ability insured hisimportance to the Grand Alliance and his victories brought thereverence of the European powers opposing Louis XIV as well as that ofhis own people, but, at the same time, his successes also assured hisinvolvement with the fortunes of nearly every major English politicalfigure and movement in the yea