HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

II

50 ; the Cheval Marin, of 44- guns*; with a few galleys, the demolition of whichwas a mischief too inconsiderable to be taken into the account. It is true, that, notlong afterwards, the marine of France sustained a second, and not less serious,.disaster, in the capture or destruction of the Magnanime, of 84 guns; theLys, of the same force ; the Ardent of 66 ; the Arrogant, of 62 ; and theMarquis of 60 ; which were surprised, by Sir John Leake, off Gibraltar ; beingthe squadron forming the blockade of that fortress, under the orders of the Sieurde Pointis. But it is also certain, that at the time of the attack made on Toulon,in 1707, being three years after the Malaga fight, from whence historiansdate the downfal of the naval consequence of Louis the XIVth, there were then,in that port, 4 6 ships of the line -f-, besides 29 frigates, fire-ships, and vesselsof smaller force or consequence.

The conclusion which naturally remains to be drawn from these facts is,either that the French King, grown wise by experience, saw too late the ab-surdity of his own chimerical projects, or that the means he possessed were inca-pable of supporting, any longer, a system raised on so weak and unstable a foun-dation. It is, perhaps, worth investigating to which of these causes thesubsequent events are ascribable. At the time of the attack made on the port ofToulon, in 1707, by the army under the command of the Duke of Savoy, andthe confederate fleet, led by Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovel, it is somewhat re-markable, that there were in that harbour, as above stated, 4 6 French ships of theline, 16 of which were of three decks | ; besides 29 frigates, and other vessels ofinferior force ; and that the combined fleet of Britain and Holland, at least suchpart of it as was immediately engaged in the attack, amounted to no more than43 ships of the line, of which six only were of three decks.

This circumstance very sufficiently proves, that the bubble, with which Louisthe XIVth had for so long a time, and so expensively amused himself, in blow-ing to the largest size it was capable of attaining, had burst through the slenderfilm which rendered it a visible object, and vanishing into air, was suddenlysnatched from human sight, till an adoption of the same ridiculously ambitiousprinciples, at some future period, should cause a repetition of the same childish,

* The latter not properly a ship of the line.

t No enterprize or expedition was ever undertaken by this formidable armament after the battle ofMalaga, except a frivolous attempt, made by the Count De Tholoure, in 1706, to co-operate withMarshal Tesse, in the siege of Barcelona.

J Four of them mounting upwards of 100 guns each.

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