The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bravest of the Brave, by G. A. Henty

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: The Bravest of the Brave
or, with Peterborough in Spain

Author: G. A. Henty

Release Date: January, 2005 [EBook #7318]
Posting Date: July 30, 2009

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE ***

Produced by Martin Robb

THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE

OR, WITH PETERBOROUGH IN SPAIN

By G. A. Henty.

PREFACE

My Dear Lads:

There are few great leaders whose lives and actions have so completely
fallen into oblivion as those of the Earl of Peterborough. His career as
a general was a brief one, extending only over little more than a year,
and yet in that time he showed a genius for warfare which has never been
surpassed, and performed feats of daring worthy of taking their place
among those of the leaders of chivalry.

The fact that they have made so slight a mark upon history is due to
several reasons. In the first place, they were overshadowed by the glory
and successes of Marlborough; they were performed in a cause which could
scarcely be said to be that of England, and in which the public had a
comparatively feeble interest; the object, too, for which he fought was
frustrated, and the war was an unsuccessful one, although from no fault
on his part.

But most of all, Lord Peterborough failed to attain that place in the
list of British worthies to which his genius and his bravery should
have raised him, because that genius was directed by no steady aim
or purpose. Lord Peterborough is, indeed, one of the most striking
instances in history of genius and talent wasted, and a life thrown away
by want of fixed principle and by an inability or unwillingness to work
with other men. He quarreled in turn with every party and with almost
every individual with whom he came in contact; and while he himself
was constantly changing his opinions, he was intolerant of all opinions
differing from those which he at the moment held, and was always ready
to express in the most open and offensive manner his contempt and
dislike for those who differed from him. His eccentricities were great