It was not without great difficulty that the Prince had prevailed on some Dutch officers of high reputation to submit to the authority of a stranger.

But the arrangement was eminently judicious.

There was, in the King's fleet, much discontent and an ardent zeal for the Protestant faith.

But within the memory of old mariners the Dutch and English navies had thrice, with heroic spirit and various fortune, contended for the empire of the sea.

Our sailors had not forgotten the broom with which Tromp had threatened to sweep the Channel, or the fire which De Ruyter had lighted in the dockyards of the Medway.