commanded
general respect and confidence. Though a Protestant, he had been,
during many years, in the service of Lewis, and had, in spite of the ill
offices of the Jesuits, extorted from his employer, by a series of great
actions, the staff of a Marshal of France. When persecution began to
rage, the brave veteran steadfastly refused to purchase the royal favour
by apostasy, resigned, without one murmur, all his honours and commands,
quitted his adopted country for ever, and took refuge at the court of
Berlin. He had passed his seventieth year; but both his mind and his
body were still in full vigour. He had been in England, and was much
loved and honoured there. He had indeed a recommendation of which very
few foreigners could then boast; for he spoke our language, not only
intelligibly, but with grace and purity. He was, with the consent of the
Elector of Brandenburg, and with the warm approbation of the chiefs of
all English parties, appointed William's lieutenant. [477]

And now the Hague was crowded with British adventurers of all the
various parties which the tyranny of James had united in a strange
coalition, old royalists who had shed their blood for the throne, old
agitators of the army of the Parliament, Tories who had been persecuted
in the days of the Exclusion Bill, Whigs who had fled to the Continent
for their share in the Rye House Plot.

Conspicuous in this great assemblage were Charles Gerard, Earl of
Macclesfield, an ancient Cavalier who had fought for Charles the First
and had shared the exile of Charles the Second; Archibald Campbell, who
was the eldest son of the unfortunate Argyle, but had inherited nothing
except an illustrious name and the inalienable affection of a numerous
clan; Charles Paulet, Earl of Wiltshire, heir apparent of the Marquisate
of Winchester; and Peregrine Osborne, Lord Dumblame, heir apparent of
the Earldom of Danby. Mordaunt, exulting in the prospect of adventures
irresistibly attractive to his fiery nature, was among the foremost
volunteers. Fletcher of Saltoun had learned, while guarding the frontier
of Christendom against the infidels, that there was once more a hope of
deliverance for his country, and had hastened to offer the help of his
sword. Sir Patrick Hume, who had, since his flight from Scotland, lived
humbly at Utrecht, now emerged from his obscurity: but, fortunately, his
eloquence could, on this occasion, do little mischief; for the Prince
of Orange was by no m