Chap. I. from the Revolution to the Death of K.William, 62p

*689. the Splendour, by which the City en-deavoured to testify the Dutiful Re-spect they owed their Sovereigns. AndHis Majesty, on his Side, to shew theValue and Love he had for his Metro-polis, soon after allowed the Companyof Grocers to chuse Him, their Sove-reign, Master. The Miscarriages inIreland , were again taken into Conside-pj q r r ration, in the House of Commons, and^Mifcar- the Fault being laid chiefly on Mr.

in Shales , Purveyor-General to the Ar-sume^ re ' m Y> he was > at tbe Desire of theHouse,lament, removed.

r On the three and twentieth of Ao-

vember, of this Year, the House of^ r ° v ijton be- Commons being informed, That greattfs n ’fi>ed Quantities of corrupt and unwholsomA a A- Victuals, had been furnished to theNavy, this last Summer, which hadbeen the Occasion, as was conceived,of great Sickness and Mortality in theFleet; And the fame being attested byseveral Members of the House, upontf ol utionof their own Knowledge: It was resolved,Cof° u f e of " That Sir John Parsons, Sir Richardon " Haddock , Alderman Start, and Mr,t0u nt. " Nicholas Fenn, Victuallers of the" Fleet, should be sent for in the Cu-tc stody of the Serjeant at Firms, totc answer to the said Complaint.” To-wards the Conclusion of this Year, theLord Torrington having resigned hisPlace of sir st Commissioner of the Ad-

miralty, the Earl of Pembroke, who 1689,was just made Privy Counfellour, was jfe Ear l °fappointed to succeed him. J) first

CcmmiJJic-ner of the

Admiral Ruffel ordered lo carry the -Admiralty.

Sfueen of Spain to the Groyne, (p)

The King of Spain having marriedby Proxy the Princes Mariana of New-burg, Sister to the Empress, and theQueen of Portugal, His Catholick Ma- 'jesty desired an Englijh Convoy of KingWilliam, to conduct her by Sea to theGroyne.

Vice-Admiral being appoint-ed to conduct Her Majesty from Hol-land thither, and for that Voyage,some of the Ships of the MediterraneanSquadron, namely, the Duke, Berwickand Mountague being ordered him, thatI may give my Relations, with as muchMethod as possible, I shall here givean Account of his Proceedings to theGroyne, and then, in the next Chapter,relate those of Vice-Admiral Killegrew,to and from the Streights.

It was the four and twentieth ofNovember, when the Admiral was or-dered to proceed to Flushing, in Zea-land, with the Ship Duke, aforemen-tioned, of the Second Rate, fourThird-Rates, two Fourth-Rates, and twoYachts, there to receive on Board the

Queen

ferret j 00 The Count de Forhin (in his Memoirs)fc f j e du mentions a small Action he had, this Year, withtwo Englijh Men of War; which, as he assignsno particular Date to it, I shall place here, andgive the Relation in the Count's own Words.

At our Arrival (fays he, vis. himself, witha Frigat of sixteen Guns, and one Hundred andtwenty Men, and the famous John Bart , with aFr’gat of four and twenty Guns) at Havre deGrace , we found twenty Merchant-sbips ready tofail, who desired our Convoy. Off of the Isle ofWight we were chased by two Englijh Ships offifty Guns. I found the only Way to secureourselves would have been to have abandoned ourFleet, but not the most honourable ; I thereforetold Bart , if he would follow my Advice, wewould run the Hazard of a bold Stroke, whichwould certainly be for our Reputation : That theonly T hin g we could do, was to arm two of thebiggest Merchant-sliips, and to strengthen theCrew, by taking Sailors out of other Ships: Thatwith this Re-inforcement, we would venture toattack the two Englijh Ships, if they continuedthe Chafe : That he and I would board the Com-madore, while the two Merchant-men kept theother employed, by cannonading him : And, inshort, that if we were so happy to take the ShipWe proposed to engage, we would make Use ofher to attack the other. As he approved of myProposal, I attacked and boarded the EnglijhShip ; But, by Misfortune, Bart miscarried inhis Attempt of boarding'her, which I perceivingfew plainly we should be taken. The Soldiers

and Sailors of our Frigats, which could notboard, plied the Head of her with Shot and;Gre-nadoes pretty warmly. The two Merchant-men,instead of fighting, abandoned us ; upon whichthe other English Ship came to the Assistance ofhis Companion." We saw it was, in a Manner,impossible for us to escape; We continued, how-ever, the Fight, to give the Fleet Time to makeoff. The Engagement was very bloody for twolong Hours. Two Thirds of my Crew were kil-led, and I myself had received six Wounds, whichwere more troublesome than dangerous ; But, asI lost much Blood, I was obliged to go off ofDeck to be dressed. This gave Occasion to someof the Crew, who saw the Deck covered withdead Bodies, to escape to the Merchant-fhips.

Bart fared, in the mean Time, no better: Thegreater Part of his Men were killed, or wounded,and he himself wounded in the Head. When wesaw it was in vain to hold out any longer, weyielded our two Frigats, and went on Board theEnglish Ship we had been engaged with, whichhad lost her Captain in the Fight, and with whichwe were carried Prisoners to Plymouth.

(y>) Bishop Burnet calls, this Sending of a Bfi. Burnet.Fleet, to convoy the Queen of Spain, an unhap-py Compliment, which had almost proved fatal tous; For (adds he) they were so long delayed bycontrary Winds, that a Design of blocking upTmlon, was lost by it; The great Ships, whichlay there, had got out before our Fleet couldreach the Place.