Portugal is named as one of the theaters of England’s military reach in 1705. The novel gives no local scene or description of the country; its significance here is strategic, measured by the English force stationed there and its place in a broader account of national power.

Portugal in the 1705 military panorama

In a historical digression on Queen Anne’s popularity, the narrator lists three English armies abroad: 5,000 men in Catalonia, 10,000 in Portugal, and 50,000 in Flanders. Portugal therefore occupies a specific place in the passage’s survey of England’s continental deployments. The figures place the force there between the smaller contingent in Catalonia and the much larger one in Flanders, making the country part of a coordinated military presence rather than an isolated reference.

Campaigns and national reach

The account sets the Portuguese deployment among England’s other military and naval commitments. England had expanded its fleet to 150 warships by 1705, sent squadrons toward the East Indies and west of Spain, and maintained a reserve of 400 vessels. It was also described as active around Sardinia and the Balearic Islands, and as having taken Gibraltar and moving against Barcelona. Portugal is thus mentioned within a broad inventory of campaigns, maritime power, and overseas reach; the passage does not identify a particular Portuguese city, battle, or operation.

Place in the political argument

Portugal’s brief appearance contributes to the narrator’s ironic account of how national achievements are credited to the monarch. The passage contrasts the people’s military and financial exertions with the acclaim given to Queen Anne, whose popularity is presented as resting on little beyond occupying the throne during a period of English success. Portugal functions as one concrete item in that record of exertion: a named destination for troops in a panorama that makes the scale of England’s power visible while questioning who receives the credit for it.