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HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

darling project, as well by conferring some rewards, as by promising most libe-rally that others of a still superior nature should attend their farther exertions,he succeeded so well in restoring his fallen idol to its former state, that by themiddle of the month of Mav, he was enabled to send to sea a fleet consistingof seventy-one ships of war, besides a sufficient number of small attendant ves-sels, such as fireships, bomb-ketches, advice-boats, storeships, and tenders.

Tourville, who, notwithstanding his former misfortunes, and contrary to theusual practice on such occasions, with respect to an unfortunate man, was suf-fered to retain his command, proceeded to the southward with his fleet, andentered Lagos Bay early in the month of June, having no less than one hun-dred and fourteen vessels of all rates under his command. The very unex-pected success he was on the point of obtaining, appeared as if thrown into hispower by a special act of providence, and as though it were intended to chas-tise the arrogance of his opponents, or convince them that the mightiest arma-ments are capable of being rendered inefficient, and that the events of war arein the hands of God alone.

The combined powers, with a fleet consisting of nearly 70 ships of the line,suffered Sir George Rooke, with the whole commercial navy of northernEurope, at that time bound to the Mediterranean, or Levant, under his convoy,to fall under the talons of this vulture. The result was, that Louis found himselfin possession of no inconsiderable part of this valuable convoy, together withcome of the ships of war which protected them ; and exclusive of the dis-grace resulting from the event, the combined powers sustained, in the vesselstaken or destroyed, amounting in number to upwards of ninety, exclusive ofthe ships of war, an absolute loss of more than one million sterling. Thusdid Louis almost miraculously appear not only to have regained that ascendancywhich his rash presumption seemed, in the preceding year, to have irretrievablylost, but actually to possess naval resources infinitely superior to those of the alliedpowers: for the little advantage made by the count de Thoulouse of one of thegreatest strokes of good fortune that ever occurred, nothing diminishes thesplendour of the sovereign’s exertions.

At any rate, he might boast of superior policy and judgment: for though noperson can deny the exertions made by him were wonderful, and almost incre-dible, yet the whole of his pains would have been thrown away, had the sta-tion of the combined fleets been taken with judgment. To return, however,to the immediate conduct of France, so decided was the superiority which

Louis