Commander._
[Born in Paris, 1663. Died at Vienna, 1736. Aged 73.]
One of the world’s great and successful generals. The great-grandson of
Emanuel, Duke of Savoy, his mother being niece of Cardinal Mazarin.
Refused a regiment by Louis XIV., he offered his services to the flag of
Austria, and fought as a volunteer for the Emperor against the Turks.
The deeds of the young soldier caused Louis XIV. to repent of his former
refusal, but the most tempting offers came in vain to Eugene. He took
part with Marlborough in all his great victories in the Low Countries,
expelled the French from Italy, and overthrew the Turks, from whom he
took the city of Belgrade. His renown at the peace of 1718, when he
retired from active service, stood as high as any soldier’s of the age.
In retirement Prince Eugene cultivated literature and the arts. His
services had extended through the reigns of three Emperors, and he
fought with almost unvarying success. He was ambitious of glory, and of
nothing else. He was never married. He invented no system of military
tactics, and he followed none. He had the faculty of discerning the
right thing to do at the right time, and of arranging his plans quickly
and ably in conformity with the circumstances by which he was
surrounded. His mind once made up, his intrepidity was boundless. He was
rigid in disposition; his figure was well made, though not tall; his eye
was black and piercing, and his complexion dark.
[A fine portrait statue by Canigia, a Piedmontese sculptor lately
dead.]
PRELATES AND THEOLOGIANS.