from _England_, without any other Amusements, than such as are common to
People under Suspence. Short Tours will not admit of great Varieties;
and much Acquaintance could not be any way suitable to People, that had
long been in a strange Country, and earnestly desired to return to our
own. Yet one Accident befell me here, that was nearer costing me my
Life, than all I had before encounter'd, either in Battle or Siege.
Going to my Lodgings one Evening, I unfortunately met with an Officer,
who would needs have me along with him, aboard one of the _English_
Ships, to drink a Bottle of _English_ Beer. He had been often invited,
he said; and I am afraid our Countryman, continued he, will hold himself
slighted, if I delay it longer. _English_ Beer was a great rarity, and
the Vessel lay not at any great distance from my Lodgings; so without
any further Persuasion I consented. When we came upon the Bridge, to
which the Ship we were to go aboard was fastened, we found, as was
customary, as well as necessary, a Plank laid over from the Ship, and a
Rope to hold by, for safe Passage. The Night was very dark; and I had
cautiously enough taken care to provide a Man with a Lanthorn to prevent
Casualties. The Man with the Light went first, and out of his abundant
Complaisance, my Friend, the Officer, would have me follow the Light:
But I was no sooner stept upon the Plank after my Guide, but Rope and
Plank gave way, and Guide and I tumbled both together into the Water.
The Tide was then running in pretty strong: However, my Feet in the Fall
touching Ground, gave me an opportunity to recover my self a little; at
which Time I catch'd fast hold of a Buoy, which was plac'd over an
Anchor on one of the Ships there riding: I held fast, till the Tide
rising stronger and stronger threw me off my Feet; which gave an
Opportunity to the poor Fellow, our Lanthorn-bearer, to lay hold of one
of my Legs, by which he held as fast as I by the Buoy. We had lain thus
lovingly at Hull together, strugling with the increasing Tide, which,
well for us, did not break my hold (for if it had, the Ships which lay
breast a breast had certainly sucked us under) when several on the
Bridge, who saw us fall, brought others with Ropes and Lights to our
Assistance; and especially my Brother Officer, who had been Accessary as
well as Spectator of our Calamity; tho' at last a very small Portion of
our Deliverance fell to his share.
As soon as I could feel a Rope, I quitted my hold of the Buoy; but my
poor Drag at my Heels would not on any account quit his hold of my Leg.
And as it was next to an Impossibility, in that Posture to draw us up
the Bridge to save both, if either of us, we must still have perished,
had not the Alarm brought off a Boat or two to our Succour, who took us
in.
I was carry'd as fast as possible, to a neighbouring House hard by,
where they took immediate care to make a good Fire; and where I had not
been long before our intended Host, the Master of the Ship, came in very
much concern'd, and blaming us for not hailing the Vessel, before we
made an Attempt to enter. For, says he, the very Night before, my Vessel
was robb'd; and that Plank and Rope were a Trap design'd for the
Thieves, if they came again; not imagining that Men in an honest way
would have come on board without asking Questions. Like the wise Men of
this World, I hereupon began to form Resolutions against a Thing, which
was never again likely to happen; and to draw inferences of Instruction
from an Accident, that had not so much as a Moral for its Foundation.
One Day after this, partly out of Business, and partly out of Curiosity,
I went to see the Mint here, and having taken notice to one of the
Officers, that there was a difference in the Impress of their Crown
Pieces, one having at the bottom the Impress of a Cow, and the other
none:
"Sir," reply'd that Officer, "you are much in the right in
your Observation. Those that have the Cow, were not coin'd
here, but at _Paw_, the chief City of _Navarr_; where they
enjoy the Privilege of a Mint, as well as we. And Tradition
tells," says he, "that the Reason of that Addition to the
Impress was this: A certain King of _Navarr_ (when it was a
Kingdom distinct from that of _France_) looking out of a
Window of the Palace, spy'd a Cow, with her Calf standing
aside her, attack'd by a Lyon, which had got loose out of his
Menagery. The Lyon strove to get the young Calf into his Paw;
the Cow bravely defended her Charge; and so well, that the
Lyon at last, tir'd and weary, withdrew, and left her Mistress
of the Field of Battle; and her young one. Ever since which,
concluded that Officer, by Order of that King, the Cow is
plac'd at the bottom of the Impress of all the Money there
coined."
Whether or no my Relator guess'd at the Moral, or whether it was Fact, I
dare not determine; But to me it seem'd apparent, that it was no
otherways intended, than as an emblematical Fable to cover, and preserve
the Memory of the Deliverance of _Henry_ the Fourth, then the young
King of _Navarr_, at that eternally ignominious Slaughter, the Massacre
of _Paris_. Many Historians, their own as well as others, agree, that
the House of _Guise_ had levell'd the Malice of their Design at that
great Prince. They knew him to be the lawful Heir; but as they knew him
bred, what they call'd a _Hugonot_, Barbarity and Injustice was easily
conceal'd under the Cloak of Religion, and the Good of Mother Church,
under the veil of Ambition, was held sufficient to postpone the Laws of
God and Man. Some of those Historians have deliver'd it as Matter of
Fact, that the Conspirators, in searching after that young King, press'd
into the very Apartments of the Queen his Mother; who having, at the
Toll of the Bell, and Cries of the Murder'd, taken the Alarm, on hearing
'em coming, plac'd her self in her Chair, and cover'd the young King her
Son with her Farthingale, till they were gone. By which means she found
an opportunity to convey him to a Place of more Safety; and so preserv'd
him from those bloody Murderers, and in them from the Paw of the Lyon.
This was only a private Reflection of my own at that Time; but I think
carries so great a Face of Probability, that I can see no present Reason
to reject it. And to have sought after better Information from the
Officer of the Mint, had been to sacrifice my Discretion to my
Curiosity.
While I stay'd at _Bayonne_, the Princess _Ursini_ came thither,
attended by some of the King of _Spain's_ Guards. She had been to drink
the Waters of some famous Spaw in the Neighbourhood, the Name of which
has now slipt my Memory. She was most splendidly entertain'd by the
Queen Dowager of _Spain_; and the Mareschal _de Montrevel_ no less
signaliz'd himself in his Reception of that great Lady, who was at that
Instant the greatest Favourite in the _Spanish_ Court; tho' as I have
before related, she was some Time after basely undermined by a Creature
of her own advancing.
_BAYONNE_ is esteem'd the third _Emporium_ of Trade in all _France_. It
was once, and remain'd long so, in the Possession of the _English_; of
which had History been silent, the Cathedral Church had afforded evident
Demonstration; being in every respect of the _English_ Model, and quite
different to any of their own way of Building in _France_.
_PAMPELONA_ is the Capital City of the _Spanish Navarr_, supposed to
have been built by _Pompey_. 'Tis situated in a pleasant Valley,
surrounded by lofty Hills. This Town, whether famous or infamous, was
the Cause of the first Institution of the Order of the Jesuits. For at
the Siege of this Place _Ignatius Loyola_ being only a private Soldier,
receiv'd a shot on his Thigh, which made him uncapable of following that
Profession any longer; upon which he set his Brains to work, being a
subtle Man, and invented the Order of the Jesuits, which has been so
troublesome to the World ever since.
At _Saint Stephen_ near _Lerida_, an Action happened between the
_English_ and _Spaniards_, in which Major General _Cunningham_ bravely
fighting at the Head of his Men, lost his Life, being extreamly much
lamented. He was a Gentleman of a great Estate, yet left it, to serve
his Country; _Dulce est pro Patria Mori_.
About two Leagues from _Victoria_, there is a very pleasant Hermitage
plac'd upon a small rising Ground, a murmuring Rivulet running at the
bottom, and a pretty neat Chapel standing near it, in which I saw _Saint
Christopher_ in a Gigantick Shape, having a _Christo_ on his Shoulders.
The Hermit was there at his Devotion, I ask'd him (tho' I knew it
before) the reason why he was represented in so large a Shape: The
Hermit answered with great Civility, and told me, he had his Name from
_Christo Ferendo_, for when our Saviour was young, he had an inclination
to pass a River, so _Saint Christopher_ took him on his Shoulders in
order to carry him over, and as the Water grew deeper and deeper, so he
grew higher and higher.
At last we received News, that the _Gloucester_ Man of War, with two
Transports, was arrived at _Port Passage_, in order for the Transporting
of all the remaining Prisoners of War into _England_. Accordingly they
march'd next Day, and there embark'd. But I having before agreed with a
Master of a Vessel, which was loaded with Wine for _Amsterdam_, to set
me ashoar at _Dover_, stay'd behind, waiting for that Ship, as did that
for a fair Wind.
In three or four Days' Time, a fine and fair Gale presented; of which
the Master taking due Advantage, we sail'd over the Bar into the Bay of
_Biscay_. This is with Sailors, to a Proverb, reckon'd the roughest of
Seas; and yet on our Entrance into it, nothing appear'd like it. 'Twas
smooth as Glass; a Lady's Face might pass for young, and in its Bloom,
that discover'd no more Wrinkles; Yet scarce had we sail'd three
Leagues, before a prodigious Fish presented it self to our View. As near
as we could guess, it might be twenty Yards in Length; and it lay
sporting it self on the surface of the Sea, a great Part appearing out
of the Water. The Sailors, one and all, as soon as they saw it, declar'd
it the certain Forerunner of a Storm. However, our Ship kept on its
Course, before a fine Gale, till we had near passed over half the Bay;
when, all on a sudden, there was such a hideous Alteration, as makes
Nature recoil on the very Reflection. Those Seas that seem'd before to
smile upon us, with the Aspect of a Friend, now in a Moment chang'd
their flattering Countenance into that of an open Enemy; and Frowns, the
certain Indexes of Wrath, presented us with apparent Danger, of which
little on this Side Death could be the Sequel. The angry Waves cast
themselves up into Mountains, and scourg'd the Ship on every Side from
Poop to Prow: Such Shocks from the contending Wind and Surges! Such
Falls from Precipices of Water, to dismal Caverns of the same uncertain
Element! Although the latter seem'd to receive us in Order to skreen us
from the Riot of the former, Imagination could offer no other Advantage
than that of a Winding-Sheet, presented and prepared for our approaching
Fate. But why mention I Imagination? In me 'twas wholly dormant. And yet
those Sons of stormy Weather, the Sailors, had theirs about them in full
Stretch; for seeing the Wind and Seas so very boisterous, they lash'd
the Rudder of the Ship, resolv'd to let her drive, and steer herself;
since it was past their Skill to steer her. This was our Way of
sojourning most Part of that tedious Night; driven where the Winds and
Waves thought fit to drive us, with all our Sails quite lower'd and flat
upon the Deck. If _Ovid_, in the little _Archipelagian_ Sea, could whine
out his _jam jam jacturus_, &c. in this more dismal Scene, and much more
dangerous Sea (the Pitch-like Darkness of the Night adding to all our
sad Variety of Woes) what Words in Verse or Prose could serve to paint
our Passions, or our Expectations? Alas! our only Expectation was in the
Return of Morning; It came at last; yet even slowly as it came, when
come, we thought it come too soon, a new Scene of sudden Death being all
the Advantage of its first Appearance. Our Ship was driving full Speed,
towards the _Breakers_ on the _Cabritton_ Shore, between _Burdeaux_ and
_Bayonne_; which filled us with Ideas more terrible than all before,
since those were past, and these seemingly as certain. Beside, to add to
our Distress, the Tide was driving in, and consequently must drive us
fast to visible Destruction. A State so evident, that one of our
Sailors, whom great Experience had render'd more sensible of our present
Danger, was preparing to save one, by lashing himself to the main Mast,
against the expected Minute of Desolation. He was about that melancholy
Work, in utter Despair of any better Fortune, when, as loud as ever he
could bawl, he cry'd out, _a Point, a Point of Wind_. To me, who had had
too much of it, it appear'd like the Sound of the last Trump; but to the
more intelligent Crew, it had a different Sound. With Vigour and
Alacrity they started from their Prayers, or their Despair, and with all
imaginable Speed, unlash'd the Rudder, and hoisted all their Sails.
Never sure in Nature did one Minute produce a greater Scene of
Contraries. The more skilful Sailors took Courage at this happy Presage
of Deliverance. And according to their Expectation did it happen; that
heavenly Point of Wind deliver'd us from the Jaws of those _Breakers_,
ready open to devour us; and carrying us out to the much more wellcome
wide Sea, furnished every one in the Ship with Thoughts, as distant as
we thought our Danger.
We endeavoured to make _Port Passage_; but our Ship became unruly, and
would not answer her Helm; for which Reason we were glad to go before
the Wind, and make for the Harbour of _Saint Jean de Luz_. This we
attain'd without any great Difficulty, and to the Satisfaction of all,
Sailors as well as Passengers, we there cast Anchor, after the most
terrible Storm (as all the oldest Sailors agreed) and as much Danger as
ever People escap'd.
Here I took notice, that the Sailors buoy'd up their Cables with
Hogsheads; enquiring into the Reason of which, they told me, that the
Rocks at the Bottom of the Harbour were by Experience found to be so
very sharp, that they would otherwise cut their Cables asunder. Our Ship
was obliged to be drawn up into the Dock to be refitted; during which, I
lay in the Town, where nothing of Moment, or worth reciting, happen'd.
I beg Pardon for my Errors; the very Movements of Princes must always
be considerable, and consequently worth Recital. While the Ship lay in
the Dock, I was one Evening walking upon the Bridge, with the little
Island near it, (which I have before spoke of) and had a little
_Spanish_ Dog along with me, when at the further End I spy'd a Lady, and
three or four Gentlemen in Company; I kept on my Pace of Leisure, and so
did they; but when I came nearer, I found they as much out number'd me
in the Dog, as they did in the human Kind. And I soon experienced to my
Sorrow, that their Dogs, by their Fierceness and Ill-humour, were Dogs
of Quality; having, without Warning, or the least Declaration of War,
fallen upon my little Dog, according to pristine Custom, without any
honourable Regard to Size, Interest or Number. However the good Lady,
who, by the Privilege of her Sex, must be allow'd the most competent
Judge of Inequalities, out of an Excess of Condescension and Goodness,
came running to the Relief of oppressed poor _Tony_; and, in courtly
Language, rated her own oppressive Dogs for their great Incivility to
Strangers. The Dogs, in the Middle of their insulting Wrath, obey'd the
Lady with a vast deal of profound Submission; which I could not much
wonder at, when I understood, that it was a Queen Dowager of _Spain_,
who had chid them.
Our Ship being now repaired, and made fit to go out again to Sea, we
left the Harbour of _Saint Jean de Luz_, and with a much better Passage,
as the last Tempest was still dancing in my Imagination, in ten Days'
Sail we reach'd _Dover_. Here I landed on the last Day of _March_, 1713
having not, till then, seen or touch'd _English_ Shoar from the
Beginning of _May_, 1705.
I took Coach directly for _London_, where, when I arriv'd, I thought my
self transported into a Country more foreign, than any I had either
fought or pilgrimag'd in. Not foreign, do I mean, in respect to others,
so much as to it self. I left it, seemingly, under a perfect Unanimity:
The fatal Distinctions of _Whig_ and _Tory_ were then esteemed meerly
nominal; and of no more ill Consequence or Danger, than a Bee robb'd of
its Sting. The national Concern went on with Vigour, and the prodigious
Success of the Queen's Arms, left every Soul without the least Pretence
to a Murmur. But now on my Return, I found them on their old
Establishment, perfect Contraries, and as unlikely to be brought to
meet as direct Angles. Some arraigning, some extolling of a Peace; in
which Time has shown both were wrong, and consequently neither could be
right in their Notions of it, however an over prejudic'd Way of thinking
might draw them into one or the other. But _Whig_ and _Tory_ are, in my
Mind, the compleatest Paradox in Nature, and yet like other Paradoxes,
old as I am, I live in Hope to see, before I die, those seeming
Contraries perfectly reconcil'd, and reduc'd into one happy Certainty,
the Publick Good.
* * * * *
Whilst I stay'd at _Madrid_, I made several Visits to my old
Acquaintance General _Mahoni_. I remember that he told me, when the Earl
of _Peterborow_ and he held a Conference at _Morvidro_, his Lordship
used many Arguments to induce him to leave the _Spanish_ Service.
_Mahoni_ made several Excuses, especially that none of his Religion was
suffer'd to serve in the _English_ Army. My Lord reply'd, That he would
undertake to get him excepted by an Act of Parliament. I have often
heard him speak with great Respect of his Lordship, and was strangely
surprized, that after so many glorious Successes he should be sent away.
He was likewise pleased to inform me, that at the Battle of _Saragoza_,
'twas his Fortune to make some of our Horse to give way, and he pursued
them for a considerable time; but at his Return, he saw the _Spanish_
Army in great Confusion: But it gave him the Opportunity of attacking
our Battery of Guns; which he performed with great Slaughter, both of
Gunners and Matrosses: He at the same time inquired, who 'twas that
commanded there in chief. I informed him 'twas Col. _Bourguard_, one
that understood the Oeconomy of the Train exceeding well. As for that,
he knew nothing of; but that he would vouch, he behaved himself with
extraordinary Courage, and defended the Battery to the utmost extremity,
receiving several Wounds, and deserved the Post in which he acted. A
Gentleman who was a Prisoner at _Gualaxara_, informed me, that he saw
King _Philip_ riding through that Town, being only attended with one of
his Guards.
_Saragoza_, or _Cæsar Augusta_, lies upon the River _Ebro_, being the
Capital of _Arragon_; 'tis a very ancient City, and contains fourteen
great Churches, and twelve Convents. The Church of the Lady of the
_Pillar_ is frequented by Pilgrims, almost from all Countries; 'twas
anciently a Roman Colony.
* * * * *
_Tibi laus, tibi honor, tibi sit gloria, O gloriosa Trinitas, quia tu
dedisti mihi hanc opportunitatem, omnes has res gestas recordandi. Nomen
tuum sit benedictum, per sæcula sæculorum. Amen._
_FINIS_