THE UNIVERSAL MAGAZINE. N° LXXXVII.-VOL. XV.] For FEBRUARY, 1811. [NEW SERIES. "We shall never envy the honours which wit and learning obtain in any other cause, if we can be numbered among the writers who have given ardour to virtue, and confidence to truth."-DR. JOHNSON. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. A singularly valuable production has said to have been particularly fond recently appeared on the continent: of Curtius and Cæsar. He was a The Memoirs of Prince Eugene, youth of great spirit, and so jealous written by himself. This MS. has- of the honour of his family, that, ing long been deposited in private when his mother was banished by the hands, has, at length, been given to king's order from the French court to the world. It possesses peculiar in- the Low Countries, soon after ber terest, as may be easily conceived. husband's decease, he protested against -The proprietors of the Universal the injustice of her banishment, and Magazine, having caused a trans- vowed eternal enmity to the authors lation of this work to be made, em- and contrivers of it. bellished with a likeness of Prince Eugene, have thought that it would be a valuable article to present to our readers, in this and a few of the ensuing numbers. Accordingly, to make it complete, they have given his portrait gratuitously in the present number; and, for the satisfaction of the general reader, we have drawn up a rapid sketch of the Prince's life previously to the period (1683) when he becomes his own historian. F RANCIS EUGENE, Prince of Savoy, was born in 1663, and descended from Carignan, one of the three branches of the house of Savoy. His father was Eugene Maurice, gene ral of the Swiss and Grisons, governor of Champaigne in France, and Earl of Soissons: his mother, Donna Olym pia Mancini, niece to Cardinal Mazarin. In 1670, he was committed to the tuition of a doctor of the Sorbenne: but his father dying before he was ten years of age, after the French king had given him the grant of an abbey, as a step to a cardinal's hat, and the government of Champaique being given out of his family, occasioned an alteration in his intended profession; which was indeed by no means suitable to his genius, although he gave great and early hopes of proficiency in the Belles Lettres, and is UNIVERSAL MAG. VOL. XV. He was yet, for a time, trained to the service of the church: but, having no relish or vocation that way, he desired the king, who maintained him according to his quality, to give him some military employment. This was denied him, sometimes on account of the weakness of his constitution, sometimes for want of a vacancy, or a war to employ the troops in. Apprehending from hence that he was not likely to be considered so much as he thought he deserved in France, and perceiving that he was involved in the disgrace of his mother, he resolved to retire to Vienna, with one of his brothers, Prince Philip, to whom the emperor's ambassador had, in his master's name, promised a regiment of horse. They were kindly received by the emperor, and Eugene presently became a very great favorite with his imperial majesty. At this period, Prince Eugene's Memoirs commences; and we shall now introduce him in propria persona, to the reader, after quoting his own Preface to his memoirs. The Preface of Prince Eugene. THERE are, as I have been told, many Italian and German manuscripts respecting me, which I have neither read nor written A panegyrist, whose name is Dumont, has printed a large folio volume, which he calls My Battles. M This gentleman is sufficiently turgid: them would ever have reached the he ingratiates himself at the expense gates of Vienna. To maintain apof Turenne, who, according to his as- pearances, he did not venture to prosertion, would have been taken at hibit, entirely, the young Princes of Cremona, in 1703, or killed at Hoch- the blood from going and distinguishstet, in 1704, if he had been opposed ing themselves in that war. I accomto me. What stuff! panied them, tired of being called the little avbé of Louis XIV. He had some regard for me, and probably he refused me the abbey from conscientious motives. I cared neither for the success of the church, nor of the court. Some future historians, good or bad, will perhaps take the trouble to enter into the details of my youth, of which I scarcely recollect any thing. They will certainly speak of my mother; somewhat too intriguing indeed, I had enough of society; but I wished driven from the court, exiled from Paris, and suspected, I believe, of sorcery, by persons who were not, themselves, very great conjurors. They will tell, how I was born in France, and how I quitted it, my heart swelling with enmity against Louis XIV, who refused me a company of horse, because, said he, I was of too delicate a constitution; and an abbey, because he thought (from I know not what evil discourse respecting me, or false anecdotes current in the gallery of Versailles) that I was more formed for pleasure than for piety. There is not a Huguenot, expelled by the revocation of the edict of Nantz, who hated him more than I did. Therefore, when Louvois, hearing of my departure, said, “so much the better; he will never return into this country again," I swore never to enter it, but with arms in my hands. I HAVE to follow the war. In short, at twenty years of age, behold me in the service of Leopold I, without his knowing it. He had fled from his capital, both at the siege and at the battle of Vienna. I was of opinion, at first, that it would be better to attach myself to the Duke of Lorraine, and to Prince Louis of Baden, rather than to the two electors of Bavaria and Saxony, to learn my trade. They both kept me in constant action, from one attack to another, and carrying orders into the hottest parts of the battle. THE Court was never more melan choly than in this year. It was that of the devotion of Louis XIV for the loss of his two sons, the Count de Vexin, the Duke de Vermandois, Colbert, and the Queen. I had been told that the Duke of Lorraine never employed, during the time of action, any but generals to convey or even to alter an order, if he needed it. I was duly sensible of the honour therefore, and he appeared satisfied with me. The confusion of this day can only be confusedly narrated. Sobiesky celebrated mass with his arms folded like a cross, in the church of Leopoldsberg. The Poles, who had climbed up thither, I know not why, descended like fools, and fought like lions. The Turks, who were encamped on the spot where I threw up my lines in 1703, not knowing which way to front, having neglected the heights, conducted themselves like ideots. The Emperor returned. I was prescuted to him. Not being yet familiar with German manners, I was much amused at his haughty interview with the king of Poland. As a volunteer, I was among the foremost in the pursuit of the Turks. Kuff His Most Christian Majesty, who, before he turned to devotee, assisted We performed this with great cele the Christians in 1664 against the In- rity; and, for my recompense, fidels, becoming afterwards a very stein being dead, they gave me his pious man, excited them against the regiment of dragoons on the 11th Emperor, and aided the rebels of December. For three months after Hungary. But for him neither of this great victory, I was the happiest Behold us at the siege of Buda. Many sanguinary sorties by eighteen thousand men. In the mean while, twelve thousand arrive(twice or thrice our number) to attack us. The Duke is eager to beat them, and has the goodness to write to the Emperor that I contributed the most towards the execution of that design. Prince Louis of Baden devoured me with caresses. The siege was carried on vigorously. It was there I received my first wound, a ball through the arm, while inspecting the trench by the side of the Prince of Salm. It was thought that the moment for a general assault had arrived; but it did not succeed: each attack was repulsed. There was some sort of misunderstanding between the principal generals. This often happens through their partisans. In short, after having Jest thirty thousand men, the Duke of Lorraine raised the siege on the 1st of November. seconded by the Elector, who was no The marriage of an arch-duchess with the Elector of Bavaria retarded the opening of the campaign. Excellent reason! The Duke of Lorraine went to examine Novigrade. The princes of the blood of France and Lorraine and volunteers in their train, who arrived from Paris, mingled with the escort. There they were to irritate the spahis with the pistol in their hands; and French heads fell beneath the sabres of the Turks. I saved the rest with my dragoons, whom ! brought up most opportunely. Delighted to find myself among all those young men, my former friends, and too young myself to scold them, I did nothing; but the Duke of Lorraine attacked them. He rated them soundly, tho' approving, in the bottom of his heart, the fine and noble courage of his cousins, Commerci and Thomas de Vaudemont, who afterwards served under me with so much celebrity. After remaining a month entrenched before Neuhausel, as it was intended to make the assault by the covered way, information was brought that a Serasquier had arrived with 60,000 men, that he had retaken Vicegrad, and that he was besieging Grau. We marched thither immediately, and he raised the siege at the approach of the Duke of Lorraine, who had left Caprara before Neuhausel. But here was the consequence. They reasoned and they raved at The Serasquier took up a most exVienna. It was for want of good en- cellent position. The Duke had him gineers, said one: no, said another, it informed, by some persons of the counwas owing to the knavery of Guido try, that he had only 20,000 men, and Stahrenberg, who had advised against that he was retreating half dead with the siege. A third talked of the ma- fear. The good Turk believed it. The lice of the commissariat or of mini- Duke halted in a fine position. I was sters, who withheld every thing that in the centre, under the Prince of Bawas most necessary from the besiegers, den with my dragoons dismounted. in order to weaken the authority of the The Elector of Bavaria commanded Duke of Lorraine, of whom they were the left, the Duke the right, in the jealous. As for myself, quite an in- front of which the brave but rash and significant person as yet, and thus up- hot headed youths, of whom I have on good terms with every one, (which already spoken, obtained, with much is more particularly the case when we difficulty, permission to range themare very young), 1 preserved the selves in a small squadron. They anfriendship of both my masters, Lor- ticipated the Turks, who attacked them raine and Baden, though the latter furiously and with horrid yells: but Was at enmity with the former, they were surrounded, and relieved |