had not put their helm about, they would have captured us, in consequence of our Captain not having taken the precaution to put chains to hold the yards, either because he had none, or that in the heat of the action it had slipped his memory; as our negligence only struck us after the danger was passed. Having nearly reached Conquet, we put back to sea, on account of a fog which arose on the coast of Brittany, which is rendered dangerous by several rocks thereabouts. The following day we arrived at Conquet, a small town, where we took on board a pilot for Brest, which is seventeen miles distant. The pilot told us that there was no fault to be found with the Dutch captain for not fighting, since the Queen had forbidden him. This, however, so from satisfying Captain Smitz made him fly into a passion, and he said thereupon all that anger could express, because the Dutch captain had ordered him to fire shot for shot, and had nevertheless abandoned him surrounded by five vessels. Being both at Brest, her most Serene Majesty made up their quarrel, and reconciled them after a manner, but Captain Smitz never forgot the behaviour of his superior officer. Brest is the depôt of the French Admiralty, where every thing is provided necessary for the equipment of vessels for sea. This place is of the highest importance, being the key of Lower Brittany. The harbour is the most capacious, and the finest which I ever saw, after that of Ormous [Ormuz]. I saw in this port the famous vessel "la Couronne," of upwards of eighty guns, the largest of which were forty pounders. The hull of the vessel was 1636 tons. On the stern were figured the arms of the late Cardinal Richelieu, with these words written, "SUBDIDIT OCEANUM." He has conquered the ocean. A device which might possibly have come to pass if this Minister had had health equal to his talent, and had been able to govern himself as he governed others. P.S. The observation of my valued friend Mr. D'Israeli, in the Fifth Volume of his most interesting and important "Commentaries on the Life and Reign of Charles I.;" when speaking of the secret anecdotes of years 1644 and 1645, and referring to the dispatches of the French resident at London, (Monsieur Melchoir de Sabran,) is as applicable to our traveller's mode of spelling proper names, (which have been preserved as originally printed), as to the value of a narrative relating to a period subject to party representations. Such documents, Mr. D'Israeli remarks, "are precious, as the personal observations of a foreigner who was intimately acquainted with the busy actors of the time. As is usual with the French, the writer could not contrive to write down their names, but by trusting to his own Gallic ear. It required some ingenuity to discover in Le Comte d'Orgueil, the Earl of Argyle; in Le Comte de la Dredayle, Lord Lauderdale; Milord Canouel, Lord Kinnoul; Colonel Guaiche, Goring; and it required some time to unmask Milord Ausbrick, to detect Lord Uxbridge." Many an English tourist in Ireland, however, may be charged with blunders quite as serious as any that can be objected against our French traveller; for instance, Mr. Curwen, M.P. in vol. ii. p. 4, of his Tour through Ireland, published about twenty years since, renders Ballincollig by Bally Cobleck, and translates Lord Mountcashel into Mr. Mc Cassel, &c. C. |