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HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

strength, although she was not vain enough to consider it, as yet completely, suf-ficient to enable her to act in open display of those long-projected schemes whichher pride had flattered her with the hope of being able to carry into execution.The ambition of the queen, the same cause which had, for the fifteen years pre-ceding, kept the Spanish government in a perpetual state of secret, and,for a considerable part of the time, of publicly avowed enmity to that of GreatBritain, tended to produce a continuance of the same implacable spirit. The in-sults, and the depredations committed by Spanish armed vessels, and particularlyin the American seas, by that class called the guarda-costas; the barbarities whichthey were wont to commit, almost without exception, on all British subjects whowere so unfortunate as to fall into their hands, seemed the certain and the imme-diate forerunner of the dreadful rupture. The forbearance of Britain was singu-lar : her minister was averse to war; and cardinal Fleury, who held the samestation in France, was of the like disposition. Although it seemed, in 1737, thata rupture was unavoidable, yet the dispute was carried on with the ineffectualweapons of remonstrance, complaint, and threat, for nearly three years, ere themore decisive methods were resorted to. In 1739, the disorder seemed to havereached its utmost height; it had attained to its crisis, and the recovery from itdepended merely on the skilful management of those to whose care it was peculiarlyintrusted. The relative situation of the contending parties appeared not to forbodethe smallest room for apprehension on the part of Britain: while the navy of thelatter, without any exertion whatever, in an actual state of equipment, amounted tolittle less than one hundred ships of war, ready for immediate service : that of herthreatened antagonist reached not forty. Many were included even in the latternumber, which scarcely deserved to be ranked as ships of war, being vessels,which though armed even to a formidable extent, must be considered as of an in-fcrior class, being built for the peculiar service of conveying treasure from Ame-rica to Europe ; and its required protection from any free-booter, or unauthorizedadventurer, who, allured by the consequence of the prize, should be hardy enoughto attempt tire seizure of it.

Of Portugal, and France itself, it is scarcely necessary to take any materialnotice, during the section, or particular period of time included between thecommencement of the year 1571, and the conclusion of 17.39. The formercountry, ever inferior to her neighbour, sought not, by any extravagant attempt,ter expose herself to the ridicule, and, perhaps, the vengeance of a power to whose

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