52

HISTOKY OY ENGKLAMI).

CHAP.

XVIII.

JtiU2.

afternoon of the twenty-third of May all was ready. A flotillaconsisting of sloops, of fireships, and of two hundred boats,was entrusted to the command of Rooke. The whole armamentwas in the highest spirits. The rowers, flushed by success, andanimated by the thought that they were going to fight under theeyes of the French and Irish troops who had been assembled forthe purpose of subjugating England, pulled manfully and withloud huzzas towards the six huge wooden castles which layclose to Fort Lisset. The French, though an eminently bravepeople, have always been more liable to sudden panics thantheir phlegmatic neighbours the English and Germans. Onthis day there was a panic both in the fleet and in the army.Tourville ordered his sailors to man their boats, and would haveled them to encounter the enemy in the bay. But his exampleand his exhortations were vain. His boats turned round andfled in confusion. The ships were abandoned. The cannonadefrom Fort Lisset was so feeble and ill directed that it did noexecution. The regiments on the beach, after wasting a fewmusket shots, drew off. The English boarded the men of war,set them on fire, and having performed this great service with-out the loss of a single life, retreated at a late hour with theretreating tide. The bay was in a blaze during the night; andnow and then a loud explosion announced that the flames hadreached a powder room or a tier of loaded guns. At eight thenext morning the tide came back strong; and with the tide cameback Rooke and his two hundred boats. The enemy made afaint attempt to defend the vessels which were near Fort SaintVaast. During a few minutes the batteries did some executionamong the crews of our skiffs: but the struggle was soon over.The French poured fast out of their ships on one side: theEnglish poured in as fast on the other, and, with loud shouts,turned the captured guns against the shore. The batterieswere speedily silenced. James and Melfort, Bellefonds and