THE SPECTATOR WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY GEORGE A. AITKEN AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE OF RICHARD STEELE," ETC. WITH EIGHT ORIGINAL PORTRAITS AND EIGHT VIGNETTES IN EIGHT VOLUMES VOLUME THE FOURTH LONDON JOHN C. NIMMO NEW YORK: LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. MDCCCXCVIII S it is natural to have a fondness for what has cost us much time and attention to produce, I hope your Grace will forgive an endeavour to preserve this work from oblivion, by affixing it to your memorable name. I shall not here presume to mention the illustrious passages of your life, which are celebrated by the whole age, and have been the subject of the most sublime pens; but if I could convey you to posterity in your private character, and describe 1 John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, was born in 1650, and was therefore sixty-two when this Dedication was written. He was made Prince of Mindelheim by the Emperor in 1705, after the battle of Blenheim, and the palace of Blenheim was built for him at Woodstock; but after the battle of Malplaquet in 1709, the opposition to the prolongation of the war grew in force, and in December 1711, after an inquiry into various charges against the duke, he was dismissed from all his employments. In November 1712 Marlborough VOL. IV. b |