Make no mention of her broken
espousal, which is a subject upon which she cares not to touch. The
Earl of Marlborough has been good enough to write me a letter
speaking in high terms of you. This I handed to her to read, and
although she said no word when she handed it back, I could see that
she was much moved.
"My pen runs not so fast as it did. I will therefore now conclude.
"YOUR LOVING GRANDFATHER."
This letter gave great pleasure to Rupert, not because it restored
to him the succession of the estates of the Chace, for of that he
thought but little, but because his mother was saved from a match
which would, he felt sure, have been an unhappy one for her.
The winter passed off quietly, and with the spring the two armies
again took the field. The campaign of 1803 was, like its
predecessor, marred by the pusillanimity and indecision of the
Dutch deputies, who thwarted all Marlborough's schemes for bringing
the French to a general engagement, and so ruined the English
general's most skillful plans, that the earl, worn out by
disappointment and disgust, wrote to the Queen, praying to be
relieved of his command and allowed to retire into private life,
and finally only remained at his post at his mistress's earnest
entreaty.
The campaign opened with the siege of Bonn, a strongly fortified
town held by the French, and of great importance to them, as being
the point by which they kept open communication between France and
their strong army in Germany.
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