2i2 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN.

CHAT. Charles’s reign, made a considerable figure, forIxxi. number of ships, valor of the men, and conducti6S9. of the commanders. Even in 1678, the fleetconsisted of eighty-three ships besides thirty,which were at that time on the stocks. On theking's restoration he found only sixty-tbree vesselsof all sizes 2 °. During the latter part of Charles’sreign , the navy fell fomewhat to decay , byreason of the narrowness of the king’s revenue :But James, soon aster his accession, restored itto its former power and glory; and before heleft the throne, carried it much farther. Theadministration of the admiralty under Pepys , isstill regarded as a model for order and œconomy.The fleet at the revolution consisted of onehundred seventy-three vessels of all sizes; andrequired forty-two thousand seamen to man it 1 .That king, when Duke of York , had been thefirst inventor of sea signals. The military genius,during these two reigns, had not totally decayedamong the young nobility. Dorset, JMulgrave,Rochester, not to mention Ossory, served onboard the fleet, and were present in the mostfurious engagements against the Dutch.

The commerce and riches of England didnever , during any period, increase so fast asfrom the restoration to the revolution. The twoDutch wars, by disturbing the trade of that

" Pepys’s Memoirs, p. 4.

" Memoirs of English affairs , chiefly naval.Lives of the admirals , vol. ii. p. 476.

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