Chap, VI.
during the Reign of Qyeen Ann.
781
1764. Fourth-Rates, and one Fifth, of ours,with which he arrived at Spithead. (b)There came out but thirteen Tranfport-Ships, the Rest being left behind ; Forthe Admiral was expressly ordered, bythe Queen, to fail with the first fairWind, and to take.with him' such ofthose Vessels as should then be ready.
Sir George Rookeh Voyage -to convoythe King of* Spain ^0 Lisbon. .
^parture All possible Haste was made, in fit-r Lisbon. t j n g out the Fleet j So that, on thefourth of January, the Admiral wasunmoored, and, on the sixth, stood to-wards the Back of the Isle of Height, tojoin the Transports, which went thro’the Needles. The next Morning, hewas off of the Start , having sent theSwallow, before, to Plymouth , to callthe Ships from thence. He continued
I speed his Course, with a favourable Wind,
0 Or t . *
,®d by a
°rm.
hill the tenth, when the Wind turnedNorth West, and blew very hard ; Thetwelfth, being in the Latitude of aboutsix and forty Degrees and a half, theWeather proved very bad, and the W.S. W. Wind Ib violent, that the Fleetwas dispersed, and it being impossiblefor the Transport ships to keep the Sea,they made the best of their Way forour Harbours. The Admiral endea-voured to keep the Fleet together ; Butfinding, that many of his Ships weredamaged in their Masts and Rigging,and others misting, he was forced to re-turn to the Channel, and came to St.Helen's, the twentieth, where the Dutch,and the Rest of his Fleet, were alreadyarrived. The Weather continued sobad, that Sir George could not come toSpithead, ’till the twenty-third.
His Majesty went on Shoar at Ports- 1704.mouth, where he continued ’till the Puts to SeaFleet was ready to fail again, which was °i ainiby the first of February ; Tho’ contraryWinds detained them still the twelfth,by which Time. a great‘Number ofMerchantrShips had joined the Fleet, totake Advantage of their Convoy. Thefive .and twentieth, the'Squadron, with And arrivesthe Transports, arrived in the River of Lisbon.Lisbon, after a fine Passage, without theleast Accident to so numerous a Fleet.
In their Passage, on the twenty-first, atNoon, being in the Latitude of threeand forty Degrees, and fifty Minutes,the Ant Hope, Greenwich, and a DutchMan of War, parted from the Fleet,being ordered to convoy between fortyand fifty Sail of Merchant-Ships to Lia-na and Oporto. In failing up the River,the .Admiral, on Board of whom wasthe King of Spain, was saluted by allthe Forts and Castles, with a triple Dis-charge of all their Cannon, strikingtheir Flags three several Times, beforethey fired.
The Fleet anchored below Belem,a League short of the King’s Palace,where Mr. Methuen, the English Ambas-sadour’s Son (his Father being confinedwith the Gout) went on Board, andwelcomed His Majesty, in the Name ofthe Qu,een of England, as,did the Dukeof Cadaval, the fame Evening, in .theName of His Portuguese Majesty. HisCatholick Majesty sent, the same Night,the Prince of Eichtenjlein, to return theCompliment, and to condole with HisPortuguese Majesty, for the Loss of theInfanta, his eldest Daughter, whom theKing of Spain was to have married ;
But she died a few Days before his Ar-rival. (st)
A
LL
u snet. The King of Spain landed, at Portsmouth,
[ gWals ol the six and twentieth of December : The Dukei ^ ^nn. of Sommerset was sent by the Queen, to receivehim, and to bring him to an Interview, whichWas to be at fVindsor. Prince George met him on| the Way, and he was treated with great Magnifi-
i cence. The Court was very splendid, and much
j thronged; The Queens Behaviour to him was
■ very noble and obliging; The young King charm -
i ed all that were there. He had a Gravity beyond
|, his Age, tempered with much Modesty. His Be-
haviour was, in all Points, so exact, that therewas not a Circumstance in his whole Deportment,that was liable to Censure. He paid an extraor-dinary Respect to the Queen, and yet maintaineda due Greatness in it. He had an Art of seemingwell- pleased with every Thing, without so muchas once smiling, all the while he was at Court,which was only three Days. He spoke but little,and all he said was judicious and obliging. He
took Leave of Her Majesty, the Evening beforeHis Departure, having, made several Presents toseveral Ladies attending Her Majesty’s Person,and particularly to the Dutehgss of Marlborough ,to whom He, in a polite Manner, gave his Ringfrom His Finger, said to be valued at a ThousandPounds; But these Largesses were sufficiently re-taliated, by the Present, it is said, Her Majestymade him, of fifty Thousand Pounds. To con-clude, His Majesty approved himself a most ac-complished Prince, to a most discerning and po-lite Court.
(s) The King of Portugal might, on this Ac-count, very well have dispensed with that vainMagnificence, with which he affected to receiveHis Catholick Majesty, and which that Court,could not, at that Time, well bear : But (faysBp Burnet) a National Vanity prevailed to carrythis too far, by which other Things, that weremore necessary, were neglected.