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286 the government of his country, it was but for him to suggest the mode of advancing his interests, to have them ratified to the fullest extent. Satisfied, however, with the many dignities and honours already conferred upon him, he deemed it would be an abuse of the royal clemency to solicit more. Every distinction hitherto obtained had come unsought for, and he might even have profited by greater, a peerage having been lately offered him; he might have exchanged his title of knighthood for that of lord; he had declined the honour. But why (the reader will exclaim) such moderation in one aspiring after fame? The answer is evidently because he sought to reflect lustre on himself alone; the angry and disappointed feelings engendered against his son, caused him to reject every hereditary privilege, however worthy of his ambition.

Though tracing his line of pedigree even to the Norman conqueror, yet, being in his first military onset comparatively but an obscure individual, it was not by good fortune alone, the martial glory which beamed around him, or celebrity accompanying his name,—he had certainly sprung to eminence from causes superior to mere adventitious ones; and thus he had successively risen to the honourable station he then filled. Good fortune may ensure success to the general in the