om illness caused by
the immense exertions he had made through the campaign, and traveled but
slowly. He visited many of the German courts, and went for a few days to
the camp of Charles of Sweden in Saxony.

After this, by special invitation, he journeyed to the camp of the Duke
of Marlborough at Genappes, where he was received with much honor by the
great commander. He presented to him his two aides de camp.

"They have, my lord duke," he said, "been my faithful friends throughout
the whole campaign in Spain, they have shared all my dangers, and any
credit I may have gained is due in no small degree to their zeal and
activity. It is unlikely that I shall again command an army in the
field, and therefore I would recommend them to you. They will accompany
me to England, for they, too, need a rest, after their exertions; after
that I trust that they may be sent out to fight under your orders, and
I trust that you will keep them in your eye, and will give them the
advantage of your protection and favor."

The duke promised to do so, and, after a few days' stay in the camp, the
earl with his two followers started for England, where he arrived on the
20th of August, 1707, nearly two years to a day from the date when he
had appeared, with a force under his command, before Barcelona. But
the campaign itself, so far as he was concerned, had lasted less than
a year, as it was in August, 1706, that he rode into Valencia, after
having been deprived of his command.

In that year he exhibited military qualities which have never been
surpassed. Daring to the point of extreme rashness where there was a
possibility of success, he was prudent and cautious in the extreme when
prudence was more necessary than daring. With absurdly insufficient
means he all but conquered Spain for Charles of Austria, and would have
succeeded in doing so altogether had he not, from first to last,
been thwarted and hampered by jealousy, malignity, stupidity, and
irresolution on the part of the king, his courtiers, and the generals
who should have been the earl's assistants, but who were his rivals,
detractors, and enemies.

It must be owned that Peterborough owed this opposition in some degree
to himself. He was impatient of fools, and took no pains to conceal his
contempt and dislike for those whose intellects were inferior to his
own. His independence of spirit and eccentricity of manner set the
formal German and Spanish advisers of the king against