Capture of Gibraltar

The Capture of Gibraltar is recorded as one of England’s major successes during Queen Anne’s reign. The novel presents it not through a battle scene but within a broad account of English power and expansion, placing the captured stronghold beside the still-unfolding campaign for Barcelona.

Place in the historical account

The event appears in a sweeping description of England’s position between the victories at Hochstadt and Ramillies. The passage sets the capture against a picture of extensive military commitments: English forces were serving in Catalonia, Portugal, and Flanders, while the country maintained a large fleet. These details establish the scale of England’s campaigns without specifying that any particular force or operation produced the capture of Gibraltar.

The capture and its framing

The account states that England had taken Gibraltar and was taking Barcelona. Its contrast in tense distinguishes an accomplished capture from a campaign still in progress. No date, account of the fighting, participants, or immediate consequences at Gibraltar are provided; the event is conveyed as a concise item in a larger inventory of English gains.

Narrative significance

Set among victories, naval strength, and territorial advances, the capture contributes to the narrator’s portrayal of England as an expanding European power under Anne. The passage treats the achievement as part of the reign’s public grandeur, rather than as an isolated military episode, and supplies no further detail about Gibraltar itself.