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still flying, being nailed to a splintered spar. So he left her unable at least to stir; and after he had gone about came himself yardarm to yardarm with the superb ‘ Ville de Paris,’ the pride of France, the largest ship in the then world, where De Grasse commanded in person. All day long the cannon roared. Rodney had on board a favourite bantam cock, which stood perched upon the poop of the ‘ Formid able ’ through the whole action, its shrill voice heard crowing through the thunder of the broadsides. One by one the French ships struck their flags or fought on till they foundered and went down. The carnage on board them was terrible, crowded as they were with the troops for Jamaica. Fourteen thousand were reckoned to have been killed, besides the prisoners. The ‘ Ville de Paris’ surrendered last, fighting desperately after hope was gone till her masts were so shattered that they could not bear a sail, and her decks above and below were littered over with mangled limbs. De Grasse gave up his sword to Rodney on the ‘ Formidable's’ quarter-deck. The gallant ‘ Glorieux,’ un able to fly, and seeing the battle lost, hauled down her flag, but not till the undisabled remnants of her crew were too few to throw the dead into the sea. Other ships took fire and blew up. Half the French fleet were either taken or sunk; the rest crawled away for the time, most of them to be picked up afterwards like crippled birds. So on that memorable day was the English Empire saved. Peace followed, but it was ‘peace with honour.’ The American colonies were lost; but England kept her West Indies; her flag still floated over Gibraltar; the hostile strength of Europe all combined had failed to twist Britannia's ocean sceptre from h e r : she sat down maimed and bleeding, but the wreath had not been torn from her brow, she was still sovereign of the seas. The bow of Ulysses was strung in those days. The order of recall arrived when the work was done. It was