himself honourably as a captain in the army of Charles I. But he was more indebted for his fame to his literary accomplishments and the various writings which he published. Besides a number of works on husbandry and the sports of the field, he composed a lament for Henri III. of France; poems in "England's Parnassus," "Sion's Muse, contaynyng the divine song of King Solomon, in eight eclogues;" "England's Arcadia," a continuation of Sir Philip Sydney's famous work; and a tragedy entitled "Herod and Antipater."—W. B.
MARKLAND, Jeremiah, born in 1693, was the son of an English clergyman in Lancashire, and received his early education at Christ's hospital, London. After completing his studies at Cambridge, where he became a master of arts and fellow of St. Peter's college, he took service as a private tutor, and had an opportunity of travelling on the continent with his pupil. But the greater portion of his life was spent in studious retirement, prosecuting the literary labours and adding to the classical acquirements which have placed his name in the list of England's famous scholars. His edition of the Sylvæ of Statius is still highly esteemed. He edited also several plays of Euripides, and contributed valuable notes to other classical publications of that day. In the enlarged edition of Bowyer's Conjectures on the New Testament, published in 1812, his name frequently occurs; and the critical remarks which he contributed to that publication form an important element of its value, not only by their number, but by the learning and judgment which they display. He died in 1776, not more admired on account of his scholarly attainments, than beloved for the upright simplicity of his manners, and his charitable deeds.—W. B.
MARLBOROUGH, John Churchill, Duke of, the eminent commander, statesman, diplomatist, and courtier, whose extraordinary genius shed the greatest lustre upon the reign of Queen Anne, and whose "splendid qualities were mingled with an alloy of defects" which have been the source of keen controversy, was born at Ashe in Devonshire, on the 5th of July, 1650. His father, Sir Winston Churchill, was a "malignant," who suffered severely for his loyalty to the Stewarts, and was the compiler of what Nicolson styled "a diverting view of the arms and exploits of our kings," under the title of Divi Britannici, folio, 1675. The poor cavalier who, according to Macaulay, made himself ridiculous by the praise bestowed on kings in this book, obtained no more solid reward for his services and sacrifices than places at court for two of his children. His daughter, Arabella, was appointed maid of honour to the duchess of York; his son John, page to the duke. The former was seduced by the duke, and became his mistress. The latter, who had a singularly handsome person and most engaging manners, failed not to play his part in the scenes of profligacy amid which he lived. The little schooling he had received included the perusal of a copy of Vegetius, from which he is said to have derived his first inclination for a military life. In his sixteenth year he obtained from the duke of York an ensigncy in the guards, and made his first essay in arms at Tangiers, then an English possession and continually besieged by the Moors. After his return home an amour with Charles II.'s celebrated mistress, Barbara Villiers, duchess of Cleveland, was discovered by the king through the information of the duke of Buckingham. Churchill made his escape by jumping through the window. In 1672 he was sent with his regiment to Holland to fight under the duke of Monmouth against the Dutch, in support of the discreditable alliance with France. The "handsome Englishman," as he was called by Turenne, exhibited in his twenty-third year, as captain of grenadiers, that serene intrepidity which distinguished him through life. His professional skill was admired and improved by the great captain under whose eye he served. At the sieges of Nimeguen and Maestricht he greatly signalized himself. He was publicly thanked by Louis XIV., who specially recommended him to the favour of the king of England. At the conclusion of the second campaign in Holland, Churchill was made by the king of France colonel of one of the English regiments which accompanied King Louis' army in the campaign of 1674 against the imperialists. Strange was the fate that made this scholar of Condé and Turenne the conqueror of their proud master in his old age! After five years' campaigning Churchill returned to England, higher than ever in the favour and confidence of his sister's lover, the duke of York. The duchess of Cleveland had given him £5000 by way of compensation for his hasty flight from her chamber. With the prudence learnt doubtless among the privations of the poor cavalier's home at Ashe, and subsequently developed into avarice, the young soldier invested this sum in the purchase of an annuity of £500 a year, well secured on landed property. The transaction was certainly a highly advantageous one for him; yet he showed that he was not a mere fortune-hunter by marrying in 1678 Sarah Jennings, a lady of great beauty, wit, and force of character, who was by no means rich. To his union with this remarkable woman, whom he had wooed for three years before marrying her, Churchill owed much. Both husband and wife were handsome and able, both thorough people of the world, and sincerely bent upon attaining worldly wealth and distinction. The chief disparity between them was in temper; he being celebrated for an equanimity that nothing could ruffle, she equally famous for uncontrollable irascibility. Their love for one another must have been deep and sincere; for she exercised a sway over his mind which he never disputed, and weaned him at once from the licentious habits of a profligate court. He now obtained a regiment of infantry, and was sent, on a temporary breach between Charles and Louis, to negotiate an alliance with the prince of Orange against France, which was averted by a general peace. During the agitating times of the "exclusion bill," and the outcries against the duke of York in the latter years of Charles' reign, Churchill accompanied James to the Low Countries and to Scotland; escaped with him from the Gloucester when that ship was wrecked on Yarmouth Sands in 1682; and seven months afterwards was created Baron Churchill of Eymouth in the Scotch peerage, and appointed colonel of the newly-formed regiment of royal dragoons. His wife, who had been the companion from childhood of the Princess Anne, was at this time appointed a lady of her bedchamber. On the accession of James to the throne in 1683, Churchill was sent to Paris to notify the event to the French monarch, and to thank him for the gift of money which so basely inaugurated the English sovereign's foreign policy. The ambassador on his return was elevated to the English peerage by the title of Baron Churchill of Sandridge in Hertfordshire, where lay his wife's paternal inheritance. His military talents were ere long called into play by the miserable rebellion of his former commander, the unhappy duke of Monmouth. At the head of a small body of troops he grievously harassed the rebels on their march from Bridgewater. At the battle of Sedgemoor, although under the command of the incompetent earl of Feversham, he by his skilful dispositions decided the fate of the day, which, owing to the disorganized condition of the royal army, seemed for a moment doubtful. The cruel severities which followed the suppression of this feeble rebellion did not raise the character of the king in the estimation of his favoured subject. "I wish well to your suit with all my heart," said Churchill to a poor supplicant at Whitehall, pleading piteously for her brother's life; "but do not flatter yourself with hopes. This marble," laying his hand on the chimney-piece, "is not harder than the king." Beyond the rank of major-general and the colonelcy of an older regiment of horse-guards, Churchill received during James' short reign no acknowledgment of his talents and services. He manifested unequivocally his aversion from the king's projects for changing the religion of the country. When the prince of Orange undertook to rescue England from Romanist domination, Churchill not only became the medium of communication between William and his sister-in-law Anne, but engaged to prepare the English army for the projected change in the government. James, though a profound dissimulator himself, had no suspicion of Churchill's treachery until he was actually at Salisbury on the road to meet the prince of Orange. He had recently raised his favourite to the rank of lieutenant-general, and appointed him to a command in the army destined to repel the Dutch invaders. On the evening of the 24th November, 1688, the king held a council of war, at which Churchill saw he was distrusted. In the night he fled to the prince's quarters, accompanied by the duke of Grafton. This desertion was fatal to all hopes of success that James may have entertained, and exasperated the falling monarch in the highest degree. He retreated to London, only to find that his daughter Anne had fled from the palace with Lady Churchill. The dictates of reason and policy were forgotten in the royal desire for vengeance. When pressed to avert the storm by making concessions, including an amnesty to those who were in arms against him, he exclaimed, "I cannot do it; I must make examples, Churchill above all—Churchill whom I raised so high. He and he alone has done all this.
