enters the army at sixteen, 208;
love, not war, the first-stepping-stone to his high fortunes, 208;
obtains a pair of colours in the Guards through the interest of his
sister Arabella, 208;
known to the French soldiery as "the handsome Englishman," 208;
complimented by Turenne on his gallantry and serene
intrepidity, 209;
Turenne's wager, 209;
solicits unsuccessfully the command of a regiment from Louis
XIV., 209;
declared by Lord Chesterfield "irresistible either by man or
woman," 209;
rises rapidly at Court, 209;
his daring adventure with the Duchess of Cleveland, 210;
presented by her with 5000_l._, with which he buys an annuity, 210;
marries Sarah Jennings, 210;
testifies the greatest affection for his wife, 210;
climbs fast up the ladder of preferment, 211;
coldly forsakes his benefactor James II., 211;
created Earl and General by William III., 211;
Duke and Commander of the British armies by Queen Anne, 211;
his deceitful and selfish character, 211;
if his soul was mean and sordid, his genius was vast and
powerful, 212;
his neglected education and consummate oratory, 212;
the most powerful personage in England, 214;
rules the household, parliament, ministry, and the army, 214;
rules the councils of Austria, States-General of Holland, Prussia,
and the Princes of the Empire, 214;
as potent as Cromwell, and more of a king than William III., 214;
writes a stern letter to his wife on her dissensions with the
Queen, 229;
detained in England by "the quarrel among the women about the
Court," 231;
Dean Swift's unjust insinuations, 234;
his courage called in question, and he is represented as the lowest
of mankind, 234;
his cold reception on his return from Flanders, 242;
his ruling passion--love of money--made him stoop to mean and paltry
actions, 243;
his motives for retaining command of the army under a Tory
Ministry, 245;
the mask of envy, hatred, and jealousy, 247;
the death of Lord Godolphin determines him to reside abroad, 247;
his request to see the Queen before his departure refused, 248;
furnished with a passport by his secret friend Lord
Bolingbroke, 248;
his steady correspondence with his friends, 307;
refuses to approve of the Peace of Utrecht, or abandon his desire
for the Hanover