The degeneracy from the able combinations of Monk, Ruyter, and Tourville to the epoch of mere seamanship is clearly marked by the battle of Malaga, and gives it its only historical importance.

In it was realized that primitive mode of fighting which Macaulay has sung, and which remained for many years the ideal of the English navy:-- "Then on both sides the leaders Gave signal for the charge; And on both sides the footmen Strode forth with lance and targe; And on both sides the horsemen Struck their spurs deep in gore, And _front to front_ the armies Met with a mighty roar." Human movement is not always advance; and there are traces of a somewhat similar ideal in the naval periodical literature of our own day.

The fight was severe, lasting from ten in the morning till five in the afternoon, but was entirely indecisive.

The next day the wind shifted, giving the weather-gage to the French, but they did not use the opportunity to attack; for which they were much to blame, if their claim of the advantage the day before is well founded.

Rooke could not have fought; nearly half his fleet, twenty-five ships, it is said, had used up all their ammunition.