From my own Apartment (@Steele, The Tatler from gutenberg.org)

The Seige of Namur was discussed in The Tatler.
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"From my own Apartment, April 20, 1709.
The nature of my miscellaneous work is such, that I shall always takethe liberty to tell for news such things (let them have happened never so much before the time of writing) as have escaped public notice, or have been misrepresented to the world, provided that I am still within rules, and trespass not as a Tatler any further than in an incorrectness of style, and writing in an air of common speech. Thus if anything that is said, even of old Anchises or Æneas, be set by me in a different light than has hitherto been hit upon, in order to inspire the love and admiration of worthy actions, you will, gentle reader, I hope, accept of it for intelligence you had not before. But I am going upon a narrative, the matter of which I know to be true: it is not only doing justice tothe deceased merit[120] of such persons, as, had they lived, would not have had it in their power to thank me, but also an instance of the greatness of spirit in the lowest of her Majesty's subjects; take it asfollows:
At the siege of Namur by the Allies, there were in the ranks of the company commanded by Captain Pincent, in Colonel Frederick Hamilton's regiment, one Unnion a corporal, and one Valentine a private sentinel:there happened between these two men a dispute about a matter of love,which, upon some aggravations, grew to an irreconcilable hatred. Unnion being the officer of Valentine, took all opportunities even to strike his rival, and profess the spite and revenge which moved him to it. The sentinel bore it without resistance, but frequently said he would die to be revenged of that tyrant. They had spent whole months thus, one injuring, the other complaining; when in the midst of this rage towards each other, they were commanded upon the attack of the castle, where the corporal received a shot in the thigh, and fell; the French pressing on, and he expecting to be trampled to death, called out to his enemy, "Ah,Valentine! Can you leave me here?" Valentine immediately ran back, and in the midst of a thick fire of the French, took the corporal upon his back, and brought him through all that danger as far as the Abbey ofSalsine, where a cannon-ball took off his head: his body fell under his enemy whom he was carrying off. Unnion immediately forgot his wound, roseup, tearing his hair, and then threw himself upon the bleeding carcass,crying, "Ah, Valentine! Was it for me, who have so barbarously used thee, that thou hast died? I will not Jive after thee." He was not by any means to be forced from the body, but was removed with it bleedingin his arms, and attended with tears by all their comrades, who knewtheir enmity. When he was brought to a tent, his wounds were dressed by force; but the next day, still calling upon Valentine, and lamenting his cruelties to him, he died in the pangs of remorse and despair.
It may be a question among men of noble sentiments, whether of these unfortunate persons had the greater soul; he that was so generous as to venture his life for his enemy, or he who could not survive the man that died, in laying upon him such an obligation?
When we see spirits like these in a people, to what heights may we notsuppose their glory may arise, but (as it is excellently observed bySallust[121]) it is not only to the general bent of a nation that great revolutions are owing, but to the extraordinary genios[122] that lead them. On which occasion he proceeds to say that the Roman greatness was neither to be attributed to their superior policy, for in that theCarthaginians excelled; nor to their valour, for in that the French were preferable; but to particular men, who were born for the good of their country, and formed for great attempts. This he says, to introduce the characters of Cassar and Cato. It would be entering into too weighty a discourse for this place, if I attempted to show that our nation has produced as great and able men for public affairs, as any other. But I believe the reader outruns me, and fixes his imagination upon the Dukeof Marlborough. It is, methinks, a pleasing reflection, to consider the dispensations of Providence in the fortune of this illustrious man, who,in the space of forty years, has passed through all the gradations of human life, till he has ascended to the character of a prince, andbecome the scourge of a tyrant, who sat in one of the greatest thrones of Europe, before the man who was to have the greatest part in hisdownfall had made one step in the world.[123] But such elevations arethe natural consequences of an exact prudence, a calm courage, awell-governed temper, a patient ambition, and an affable behaviour.These arts, as they are the steps to his greatness, so they are thepillars of it now it is raised. To this her glorious son, Great Britainis indebted for the happy conduct of her arms, in whom she can boast,she has produced a man formed by nature to lead a nation of heroes.

[Footnote 114: Edward Richard Montagu, styled Viscount Hinchinbroke, whodied before his father, on October 3, 1722, was the only son of Edward,third Earl of Sandwich. He was born about 1690, and became colonel ofthe First Regiment of Foot Guards, and Lord Lieutenant ofHuntingdonshire. In 1707, he married Elizabeth, daughter of AlexanderPopham, of Littlecot, Wilts, and of Anne, daughter of the first Duke ofMontagu. (See Nos. 1, 22, 35, 85, and the _Lover_, No. 38.)]
[Footnote 115: These lines are part of a song by Lord Cutts, under whomSteele had served as secretary when in the army. The verses will befound in Nichols' "Select Collection" (1780), ii. 327.]
[Footnote 116: Passion Week.]
[Footnote 117: First published as "By a Person of Quality." "Thegentleman I here intended was Dr. Swift, this kind of man I thought himat that time. We have not met of late, but I hope he deserves this character still." (Steele's "Apology," 1714.) This pamphlet is closelyin accord with the _Tatler_ in its condemnation of gaming, drunkenness,swearing, immorality on the stage, and other evils of the time. Swiftsuggests, too, a revival of censors.]
[Footnote 118: Forster suggests that it was Addison.]
[Footnote 119: See No. 1.]
[Footnote 120: This phrase, as well as Unnion's forgetting his wound, is criticised in a little book called, "Annotations on the _Tatler_, in twoparts," 12mo, said to have been written originally in French by MonsieurBournelle, and translated into English by Walter Wagstaff, Esq. London,Bernard Lintott, 1710. The annotator goes no farther with his annotations than to _Tatler_ No. 83. See Nos. 78, 191.]
[Footnote 121: "Bell. Catal.," c. 53.]
[Footnote 122: "A man of a particular turn of mind" (Johnson).]
[Footnote 123: In 1705, after the battle of Blenheim, Marlborough wasmade Prince of Mildenheim by the Emperor. Lewis XIV. succeeded to theFrench throne in 1643; Marlborough was born in 1650.]"

Richard Steele at age 37, The Tatler, 1709 George K. Aitken, ed. and footnotes