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which was mixed with impurity he could never endure. The heat of his youth a little inclined him to the passion of anger, and the goodness of his nature to those of love and grief: but reason was never dethroned by them, but continued governess and moderator in his soul."

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GEORGE MONK,

DUKE OF ALBEMARLE.*

[1608-1667.]

GEORGE MONK, the memorable instrument of

the restoration of Charles II., was descended from an ancient family, settled in the reign of Henry III. at Potheridge in Devonshire, at which place he was born in the year 1608. He was, likewise, educated there by his grandfather and godfather Sir George Smith, with whom he chiefly resided.

Being the younger son of Sir Thomas Monk, whose fortune had been reduced, he dedicated himself to arms from his youth; and in his seventeenth year entered as a volunteer† under his kinsman Sir Richard Greenville, then on the point of setting out under Lord Wimbledon on the ill-concerted and worse-executed expedition against Spain, in 1625.

This failure, however, neither damped his courage, nor changed his inclination; for, in 1626, he carried a

*AUTHORITIES. Hume's History of England, General Biographical Dictionary, and Harris' Historical and Critical Account of Charles II.

To this he was the more immediately impelled, by his having filially caned an Under-Sheriff who, contrary to his promise, had arrested his father at a public meeting of the county.

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pair of colours under Sir John Burroughs, in the enterprise against the Isle of Rhè. Hence he returned at the end of the war, in 1628; and the following year served as Ensign in the Low Countries, under Lords Oxford and Goring successively, by the latter of whom he was promoted to the rank of Captain of his own company. In this station, he was concerned in several sieges and battles; when after having during ten years of close application made himself master of his profession, and become extremely useful to the service, upon a disgust given him by the Prince of Orange, he returned to his native country at the commencement of the first war between Charles I. and his Scottish subjects. His military character, seconded by the powerful recommendations of the Earl of Leicester and Lady Carlisle, now procured him the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in Lord Newport's regiment, in which capacity he attended the King's northern expeditions.

The treaty commenced at Ripon, and the summoning of a parliament had scarcely put an end to this struggle, when the Irish rebellion broke out; and the Earl of Leicester, then Lord Lieutenant, having raised him to the rank of Colonel, he went over to that island, and for his various services was appointed by the Lords Justices Governor of Dublin. But the parliament interfering, his office was transferred to another; soon after which, he returned to England with his regiment and the rest of the troops sent home by the Marquis of Ormond,* and upon his arrival at Bristol was arrested by orders both from Ireland and from the court at Oxford, on a

* On his signing a truce with the Irish rebels, in 1643.

suspicion of his designing to join the parliamentforces. Hawley, however, the Governor of that city, convinced of his innocence, suffered him to proceed to Oxford on his parole; where he fully justified himself.

He was now raised to the rank of Major General in the Irish brigade, commanded by Lord Byron, and employed in the siege of Nantwich in Cheshire; but he was only able to join them in time to witness the taking of the whole by Sir Thomas Fairfax. From Hull, whither Monk was sent among the other prisoners, he was shortly afterward conveyed to the Tower of London, and remained in close confinement till November, 1646;* when, on the solicitation of his kinsman Lord Lisle,† he took the Covenant, engaged with the parliament, and agreed to accept a command in the Irish service.

With Lord Lisle he embarked for Ireland, in the beginning of the year 1647; but Ormond refusing to deliver up the city of Dublin without the King's command, they were obliged to steer for Cork, near which they landed. Not being able however to perform any signal service, and his Lordship's commission expiring in April, they returned home; soon after which Monk, being placed at the head of the parliamentary forces in the north of Ireland, for the third time revisited that kingdom. But the Scots under Major General Monro refusing to join the English in this service, the new Com

* During this period, he drew up his 'Observations on Military and Political Affairs, and sent them in MS. to Lord Lisle, by whose direction they were published after his death.

+ Eldest son of the Earl of Leicester, who upon the Marquis of Ormond's declaring for the King, was made Deputy of Ire land.

mander in Chief was involved in many difficulties, and eventually compelled to make a treaty with the rebel O'Neal, and to surrender Dundalk to Lord Inchiquin who commanded for the King. For the former of these measures, in particular, he was called to account by his employers, who however softened their censure as far as the General himself was concerned, declaring that he should not be questioned for his conduct:' but he never forgave the affront.

His elder brother dying about this period without male issue, the family-estate devolved upon him, and The found no small trouble in recovering it from the ruinous condition in which it had been left by his predecessors. He had scarcely settled his private affairs, when he was called upon to serve against the Scots, and rendered himself extremely useful to Cromwell, particularly at the memorable battle of Dunbar.

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After this victory, he was employed in dispersing a body of irregulars, known by the name of MossTroopers; and in reducing Darlington, Roswell, Borthwick, and Tantallon castles, in which they had been accustomed to take refuge. He was, also, concerned in settling the articles for the surrender of Edinburgh Castle: and, being left Commander in Chief in the north by Cromwell, when that general returned to England in pursuit of Charles II., he besieged and took Stirling, whence he sent all the Scottish archives to London, and carried Dundee by storm; in imitation of Cromwell's Irish cruelties putting Lunsdale, the Governor, and eight hundred men to the sword.

Soon afterward, St. Andrew's and Aberdeen submitted to his sword; but being seized with a violent

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