CLIVE gradually accustomed them to danger, and by exposing himself constantly in the most perilous situations, shamed them into courage. He at length succeeded in forming a respectable force out of his unpromising materials. Covelong fell. Clive learned that a strong detachment was marching to relieve it from Chingleput. He took measures to prevent the enemy from learning that they were too late, laid an ambuscade* for them on the road, killed a hundred of them with one fire, took three hundred prisoners, pursued the fugitives to the gates of Chingleput, laid siege instantly to that fastness, reputed one of the strongest in India, made a breach, and was on the point of storming, when the French commandant capitulated and retired with his men.
Clive returned to Madras victorious,* but in a state of health which rendered it impossible for him to remain there long. He married at this time a young lady of the name of Maskelyne,* and her husband’s letters, it is said, contain proofs that he was devotedly attached to her.
abridged
An old-fashioned term for an ambush.
Madras or Chennai lies on the east coast of India, somewhat towards the south of the country.
Margaret Maskelyne (1735-1817) was sister to the Revd Dr Nevil Maskelyne (1732–1811), a mathematician who also served as Astronomer Royal from 1765 to 1811. He the first person to measure scientifically the mass of the planet Earth. It was Nevil’s elder brother Edmund (1728-1775), one of Robert’s closest friends, who introduced Clive to Margaret in 1752. See Blind Date.