Cfup.XXXVlIL from the I. of James I. to the Revolution,

*66^. to the Dangers of a second Engage-

l-SZ fa

to the Dangersment. ( r)

The Englijh Fleet having, therefore,^ - . we been refitted with wonderful Dispatch,tkpjf °f m few Weeks after, weigh’d Anchor^ndvWch- fr° m Southwold- onSVc’-Bay,to theNum-An- bet of about sixty Sail, and was now^pieba" 0 * ?ot under the Command of the Earl ofSandwich, who carried the Standard,having under, him in the Red Squadron ,Sir George Ascough, Vice-and Sir ThomasTiddeman, Rear-Admiral; In the fVhiteSquadron were Sir JVilliam Penne, Ad-miral, Sir TTilliam Berkley , Vice-and SirJoseph Jordan , Rear-Admiral: Andthe Blue Squadron was commanded bySir Thomas Allen, Admiral, Sir Christo-pher Myngs being his Vice-and Sir JohnHerman, his Rear-Admiral.

The States, in the mean Time, wereas assiduous in Repairing their Fleet,and having given the Command of it toDe R uyter, in the Place of Obdam, or-dered him to return immediately withthe Fleet he had with him, consisting ofseventeen Men of War. It was notthat they had conceived any Thoughtsof being revenged on the Englijh; Butwith a Design to secure their Merchant-men, homeward-bound from Smirna,and the Eajl-Indies. On the otherHand, the Englijh were, likewise, lessdesirous of Fighting, than of Seizing theRiches, which those Ships contained

579

1665,

to Sea, set Sail, with his Fleet, for theNorth Seas, where, according to theAdvices he had received, their Turky-Fleet, together with some of their Eajl~

India Ships were got North-about, and,for Security were put into Bergen inNorway. ,

During this, the King of Denmark, conc r c ° r J ed atdiscoursing one Day with Sir Gilbert CopenhagenTalbot, the Englijh Envoy, made great te faze theComplaints of the Dutch, who, he said, ^gerghea^had drawn the Swedish War on him,that he might be forced to depend onthem for Supplies, and to get the Cu-stoms of Norway, and the Sound, intotheir Hands, for Security. Tic Gilbert,upon this, told him, that a fair Oppor-tunity now ostored of taking his Revenge,by seizing their Ships at Berghen, whichwere valued at several Millions. TheKing of Denmark not thinking himselfa Condition to execute this Design

in

himself, the Envoy told him, he be-lieved the King his Master would lendhim his Ships, if he would engage tolet him have half the Spoil, to whichhis Danijh Majesty consented. KingCharles liking this Project, sent immedi-ate Orders to the Earl of Sandwich toput it in Execution : And upon theseOrders it was he set Sail for thoseParts.

This Affair having made a prettyDeal of Noise, in those Time, I ssiallgive my Readers a particular Account

The Earl of Sandwich, upon Advice,that the Dutch were not yet ready to put of it, upon a very good Authority.

7 H

An

" obeying it. He, indeed, put Brounker out of" his Service, and, it was said, that he durst: do“ no more, Brounker was so much in the King's“ Favour, and in the Mistress’s. Penne was“ more in his Favour after that, than ever be-“ fore, which he continued to his Son after him,“ tho’ a j ’Quaker: And it was thought, that all“ that Favour was to oblige him to keep the Se-“ cret. Lord Montague did believe, that the“ Duke was struck, feing the Earl of Falmouth,“ the King’s Favourite, and two other Persons“ of Quality, killed very near him, and that he" had no Mind to engage again, and that Penne“ was privately with him. If Brounker was so“ much in Fault as he seemed to be, it was" thought the Duke, in the Passion that this must" have raised in him, would have proceeded to“ greater Extremities, and not have acted with“ so much Phlegm.

Basnage, upon a Supposition of this Orderhaving been given without theDuke’s Knowledge,fays, this Prince, by such an Apology, accuseshimself of an unpardonable Weakness, in a Hero,to steep at the Beginning of a Triumph, beforehe had made his Harvest of Laurels compleat :But adds he, the Sequel stews the Duke was notthe most courageous of Men.

( r) Rapin, who always shews an Unwilling-nefs of saying any Thing to the Disadvantage ofthe Dutch , would have it thought, that the ill*nccess which attended them in this Day’s Action

was not so much owing to the Valour and Dexte-rity of the Englifi , as to the Misfortune of mostof their Ships being commanded by raw and un-experienced Officers, who were put into Com-mand by Favour of the Pensioner and his Friends;To the ill Condijct of many of these Officers,who were wanting in their Duty ; To the Deathof Obdam , who was blown up, and to that ofCortenaer , who was killed upon the Deck, afterhe had hoisted the Admiral’s Flag; And to manyother Causes, which are scarce intelligible to anybut those who are versed in Sea-Affairs. He willnot allow the Dutch to have lost in all more thannineteen (tho’ Basnage allows two and twenty)Ships; and says, the Englife (in which he followssome of the Dutch Writers, tho’ others are morgmodest) lost four, with fifteen Hundred Men,

To convince the incensed Populace, (who hadattempted to assassinate John Evertzen at theBriel) that the Fault lay very much in their Of-ficers, they sacrificed several of them to theirRage. Four (some say three) of them were pub*sickly ssiot at the Holder ; Four were ordered tohave their Swords broken over theirHeads, by thecommon Hangman; And the Master of the Vice-Admiral Cortinaer, to stand upon aScafold, withaHalter about hisNeck, under the Gallows, whilethe others were executed, and afterwards sept in-to perpetual Banishment. Two more were de-graded, and rendered uncapable of serving th§'States more,