The Duke also early devoted himself to a military life, and served under the great Marlborough. He distinguished himself at the battles of Ramilies, of Oudenarde, and Malplaquet, and assisted at the siege of Lisle and of Ghent. Such services were honorably rewarded by the King, who made him Knight of the Garter in 1710, and the following year sent him ambassador to Charles III. of Spain, with the command of the English forces in that kingdom. His support of the union with Scotland, rendered him for awhile unpopular with his countrymen, but his merits were acknowledged by all parties. George I. on his accession, restored him to the command of Scotland, of which he had before been capriciously deprived; and, in 1715, he bravely attacked Lord Mar's army at Dumblane, and obliged the Pretender to retire from the kingdom. In 1718 he was made Duke of Greenwich. He died in 1743, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where a handsome monument records his virtues.
The following couplet by pope immortalizes his fame.
"Argyle, the state's whole thunder born to wield,
And shake alike the senate and the field."
He had the honor, also, to be celebrated in very high terms by
THOMSON;
—"full on thee, ARGYLE,
Her hope, her stay, her darling and her boast,
From her first patriots and her heroes sprung,
Thy fond imploring country turns her eye;
In thee, with all a mother's triumph, sees
Her every virtue, every grace, combined,
Her genius, wisdom, her engaging turn,
Her pride of honor, and her courage tried,
Calm and intrepid, in the very throat
Of sulphurous war, on Tenier's dreadful field.
Nor less the palm of peace inwreathes thy brow;
For, powerful as thy sword, from thy rich tongue
Persuasion flows, and wins the high debate;
While, mix'd in thee, combine the charm of youth,
The force of manhood, and the depth of age."
[Autumn, 1. 926-941.]
XV.
HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO THE SETTLEMENT OF THE SALTZBURGERS IN GEORGIA.
Nachricht von dem establishment derer Salzburgischen emigranten zu Ebenezer, en der Provinz Georgien in Nord-America, &c. Von P.G.F. VON RECK. Halle 1774. From this, and a subsequent Journal of the same author, was published a very interesting little work, by the direction of the Society for promoting Christian knowledge, entitled "An extract of the Journals of Mr. Commissary VON RECK, who conducted the first transport of Saltzburgers to Georgia; and of the Reverend Mr. BOLZIUS, one of their Ministers." London, 1734. 12mo.
A circumstantial account of the settlement and of the affairs of these emigrants is given in a work which bears this title, "Ausfürliche Nacrichten von den Salzburgischen Emigranten, die sich in America niedergelassen haben, worinnen die Riesediaria des konige. Grossbritannischen Commissarii und der beyden Salzburgischen Prediger, wie auch eine Beschreibung von Georgien enthalten. Heraus gegeben von SAMUEL URLSPERGER." Halle, 1735-52. This journal of the proceedings of the Saltzburg emigrants, who formed the settlement of Ebenezer in Georgia, was continued from year to year, from 1734 to 1760; in several parts, which, bound up, make five thick quarto volumes. In Professor Ebeling's copy, now in the library of Harvard College, is the continuation, in manuscript, [perhaps the original,] and which was never printed, by JOHN MARTIN BOLZIUS, dated January, 1765. There is, also, a separate work, entitled Americanisches Ackerwerck Gottes, von SAMUEL URLSPERGER. Augs. 1745-1760. 4to. 4 vol.