successful one, the ships were all burned, and most of their crews
slain. Another encounter with the fleet of Tripoli took place in
February, when the pirates were again defeated, and the bey forced
to grant all the English demands.

In 1677 the fleet returned to England, and with it Mordaunt, who
had during his absence succeeded to his father's title and estates,
John Lord Mordaunt having died on the 5th of June, 1675. Shortly
after his return to England Lord Mordaunt, though still but twenty
years old, married a daughter of Sir Alexander Fraser. But his
spirit was altogether unsuited to the quiet enjoyment of domestic
life, and at the end of September, 1678, he went out as a volunteer
in his majesty's ship Bristol, which was on the point of sailing
for the Mediterranean to take part in an expedition fitting out
for the relief of Tangier, then besieged by the Moors. Nothing,
however, came of the expedition, and Mordaunt returned to England
in the autumn of 1679.

In June, 1680, he again sailed for Tangier with a small expedition
commanded by the Earl of Plymouth. The expedition succeeded in throwing
themselves into the besieged town, and continued the defense with
vigor, and Mordaunt again distinguished himself; but he soon wearied
of the monotony of a long siege, and before the end of the year found
opportunity to return to England, where he plunged into politics
and became one of the leaders of the party formed to exclude the
Duke of York from the throne.

Although a close friend of Lord Russell and Algernon Sidney he had
fortunately for himself not been admitted to the fatal privilege
of their private councils, and therefore escaped the fate which