on the Study of Humanity, desires me to be as particular,
if I had Opportunity, in observing the whole Interview
between his Highness and our late General. Thus
do Mens Fancies work according to their several Educations
and Circumstances; but all pay a Respect, mixed with
Admiration, to this illustrious Character. I have
waited for his Arrival in Holland, before I would
let my Correspondents know, that I have not been so
uncurious a Spectator, as not to have seen Prince Eugene.
It would be very difficult, as I said just now, to
answer every Expectation of those who have writ to
me on that Head; nor is it possible for me to find
Words to let one know what an artful Glance there is
in his Countenance who surprized Cremona; how daring
he appears who forced the Trenches of Turin; But in
general I can say, that he who beholds him, will easily
expect from him any thing that is to be imagined or
executed by the Wit or Force of Man. The Prince
is of that Stature which makes a Man most easily become
all Parts of Exercise, has Height to be graceful on
Occasions of State and Ceremony, and no less adapted
for Agility and Dispatch: his Aspect is erect
and compos’d; his Eye lively and thoughtful,
yet rather vigilant than sparkling; his Action and
Address the most easy imaginable, and his Behaviour
in an Assembly peculiarly graceful in a certain Art
of mixing insensibly with the rest, and becoming one
of the Company, instead of receiving the Courtship
of it. The Shape of his Person, and Composure
of his Limbs, are remarkably exact and beautiful.
There is in his Look something sublime, which does
not seem to arise from his Quality or Character, but
the innate Disposition of his Mind. It is apparent
that he suffers the Presence of much Company, instead
of taking Delight in it; and he appeared in Publick
while with us, rather to return Good-will, or satisfy
Curiosity, than to gratify any Taste he himself had
of being popular. As his Thoughts are never tumultuous
in Danger, they are as little discomposed on Occasions
of Pomp and Magnificence: A great Soul is affected
in either Case, no further than in considering the
properest Methods to extricate it self from them.
If this Hero has the strong Incentives to uncommon
Enterprizes that were remarkable in Alexander, he prosecutes
and enjoys the Fame of them with the Justness, Propriety,
and good Sense of Caesar. It is easy to observe
in him a Mind as capable of being entertained with
Contemplation as Enterprize; a Mind ready for great
Exploits, but not impatient for Occasions to exert
itself. The Prince has Wisdom and Valour in as
high Perfection as Man can enjoy it; which noble Faculties
in conjunction, banish all Vain-Glory, Ostentation,
Ambition, and all other Vices which might intrude upon
his Mind to make it unequal. These Habits and
Qualities of Soul and Body render this Personage so
extraordinary, that he appears to have nothing in him
but what every Man should have in him, the Exertion
of his very self, abstracted from the Circumstances