17.", 



TROMP, CORNELLS VAN. 



TROUGHTON, EDWARD. 



170 



twenty from Portsmouth. Oil the 18th they discovered Tromp in the 

 EngliBh Channel, who, with a fleet of seventy men-of-war, was afford- 

 ing convoy to three hundred merchantmen. Blake outsailed his 

 comrades, and, attacking his old enemy, was on the point of being 

 roughly handled by a superior force, when Lawson came up and 

 relieved him. A running fight was kept up from off Portland to 

 the sands of Calais. Tromp anchored his convoy there, in water too 

 shallow for the English men-of-war to venture into, and the merchant- 

 ships escaped by tiding it home. The Dutch lost more ships than the 

 English, but the loss of men on both sides was about equal. 



The States exerted themselves to repair their ships, and Tromp was 

 again appointed to the command, which he accepted with reluctance, 

 not being satisfied with the manner in which the fleet was fitted out. 

 In the beginning of June the English fleet was off the Dutch coast. 

 An engagement took place on the 3rd, at which Blake was not present, 

 and Deane fell. On the 4th Blake came up, and the action was 

 renewed, but no decided advantage was obtained on either side. 

 Blake's impaired health obliged him to quit the fleet, and in Tromp's 

 last battle he was opposed by Monk. The fleets engaged on the 29th 

 of July. Both sides claimed the victory : but on the whole, the 

 English had the advantage ; and the Dutch suffered an irreparable loss 

 in the person of Tromp. He was entombed with great pomp and 

 solemnity at Delft. 



Tromp was a thorough seaman; he had learned his profession in 

 the obscure school of adversity. As a warrior it is sufficient praise for 

 him to say that the struggle between him and his kindred spirit Blake 

 was, in so far as they were personally concerned, a drawn battle. He 

 was homely in his manners, and declined every offer to raise him into 

 the ranks of the nobility. He bad a large fund of personal benevo- 

 lence ; was proud of no title so much as that of grandfather of the 

 sailors. He had three sons Marten Harpertzoon, Cornells (the subject 

 of the following memoir), and Adrieu ; and a daughter, born soon 

 after his great victory in 1639, and baptised in honour of it by the 

 formidable name of Anna -Maria - Victoria- Harpensis- Trompensis- 

 Dunensis. 



TROMP, CORNEL1S VAN, second son of the great admiral 

 Marten Harpertzoon Tromp, was born at Rotterdam on the 9th of 

 September 1029. He was educated for the hereditary profession of 

 his family ; and at the early age of twenty-one commanded a ship in 

 the squadron despatched, under Dewildt, in 1650, against the emperor 

 of Marocco. 



In 1652 and 1653 he served in Van Galen's fleet iu the Mediter- 

 ranean, and distinguished himself in various engagements. After the 

 action with the English fleet off Livorno, on the 13th March 1653, in 

 which Van Galen fell, Cornelia Tromp was promoted to the rank of 

 rear-admiral by the admiralty of Amsterdam. He took part in the 

 short sea-campaign of 1656 ; but after its termination he retired from 

 the service, and continued to lead a private life till 1662. In .that 

 year he was sent with ten ships to the Mediterranean to give convoy to 

 a merchant fleet. While there he inflicted a severe punishment upon 

 the Algerine cruisers. From the Mediterranean he was ordered by 

 the States, who were doubtful of the permanence of the peace with 

 England, and apprehensive for the safety of their merchant vessels, 

 on account of the unceremonious manner in which the English were 

 apt to commence a war by capturing them, to supply convoy to a rich 

 fleet expected from India. Tromp met with the merchantmen at sea, 

 and succeeded in bringing them all safely into port. 



In 1665 the war actually broke out. Tromp with his squadron was 

 attached to the fleet commanded by Wassenaer Van Opdam. On the 

 13th of July they encountered the English fleet under the Duke of 

 York. The Dutch were beat, but Tromp distinguished himself by 

 the skill and courage with which he fought his ship, which suffered 

 severely in the action. The scattered remains of the Dutch fleet 

 sought refuge in the Texel. The States by gigantic efforts soon 

 restored it to a condition to take the sea again. Ruyter was absent 

 on an expedition to the coast of Guinea, and Tromp was the only 

 other commander of sufficient eminence to be trusted with the charge. 

 But the party of the Van Witts, at that time in the ascendant, were 

 jealous of Tromp, who had inherited his father's attachment to the 

 house of Orange. He was ultimately named to the command, but 

 Van Witt, Huygeus, and Boreel were appointed commissioners to 

 watch and control him. Tromp had gone on board his vessel when 

 Ruyter returned and was appointed to supersede him. Tromp 

 naturally refused under such circumstances to serve in the fleet. 



In 1666 he accepted the command of the Hollandia of 82 guns, and 

 joined the fleet with which Ruyter engaged the English fleet under 

 Albemarle, on the llth of June. After a severe contest, resumed on 

 four successive day?, victory declared for the Dutch. Another engage- 

 ment took place on the 4th of August, and was renewed on the 5th. 

 Tromp had the advantage over the Vice-admiral Smith who was 

 opposed to him ; but Ruyter was worsted and only able by the most 

 daring and skilful rnanoouvres to bring off his shattered ships. Ruyter 

 attributed his defeat to Tromp, who had affected to act an independent 

 part and neglected to support him, and complained of his misconduct. 

 Tromp recriminated, but the States, by the advice of Van Witt, 

 deprived him of his commission, forbade him to hold any communica- 

 tion with the fleet, and placed him under provisory -arrest at the 

 Hague. He was soon after allowed to ^retire to a country-house he 



had built at Gravensand and called Trompenburg. It was a mansion 

 ridiculous enough, so constructed as to resemble a man-of-war. 



In 1672 he is accused of having manifested an indecent triumph on 

 hearing of the murder of the brothers, Van Witt. In 1673 his com- 

 mission was restored to him by the atadtholder, afterwards William III. 

 A formal reconciliation took place between Tromp and Ruyter. The 

 chief command of the fleet was given to the latter. In the engage- 

 ments of the 7th and 14th of June with the allied fleets of France 

 and England, Tromp displayed the moat reckless courage ; but on 

 both occasions he was indebted to Ruyter for bringing him ofl' when 

 he had engaged himself too far. 



A descent on the coast of France was projected by the States, and 

 Tromp was appointed to carry it into execution. He sailed on this 

 expedition from the Texel on the 17th of May 1674 : the land forces 

 were commanded by Count Horn. They were disembarked at Belle- 

 Isle, but returned on board without effecting anything, the fortress 

 having been judged impregnable. They were afterwards landed at 

 Noirmoutier, where they merely levied some contributions. Tromp 

 then proceeded to Cadiz, where he took charge of a merchant fleet, 

 and convoyed it in safety to the Texel. 



In 1675 Tromp visited England, and was created a baron by Charles 

 II. In 1676 he was despatched with a fleet to assist the king of 

 Denmark in his war with Sweden. The king, for his services, con- 

 ferred upon him the order of the Elephant, and the rank of count. 

 Count van Tromp, on his return to Holland, was appointed lieutenant 

 admiral-general of the United Provinces, a post left vacant by the death 

 of Ruyter. He accompanied the Prince of Orange in the expedition 

 against St. Omer. After this he retired from public life, and continued 

 in retirement till 1691. He was induced in that year to accept the 

 command of a fleet destined to act against France, but died at Amster- 

 dam on the 21st (some say the 29th) of May, before its equipments 

 were completed. He was interred at Delft. His professional eminence 

 was beyond question, though in that point of view he was scarcely 

 equal to his father ; while both as a man and citizen he was in worth 

 far inferior to him. 



TRONCHIN, THEODORE, was born at Geneva in 1709. His 

 father was of noble family, but was ruined in 1721 by some financial 

 speculations, and in 1727 was obliged to send his son to England, 

 where he was placed under the care of his relative Lord Bolingbroke, 

 who sent him to study at Cambridge. Shortly afterwards, he went to 

 Leyden to study medicine under Boerhaave. In 1731, at the conclu- 

 sion of his medical studies, he settled as a physician at Amsterdam, 

 where he was appointed inspector of hospitals, and married a grand- 

 niece of John do Witt. In 1750 he returned to Geneva, and was 

 appointed honorary professor of medicine. In this office, though no 

 duties were necessarily connected with it, he delivered lectures, which 

 were very numerously attended. But he obtained his chief renown 

 by his support of the practice of inoculation for the small-pox, the 

 propriety of which was at that time much discussed. Hs became the 

 most celebated inoculator of his day. In 1756 he was called to Paris 

 to inoculate the children of the Duke of Orleans, and in 1765 to Italy 

 to perform the same operation on those of the Duke of Parma, who 

 conferred patrician rank upon him, and made him his first physician. 

 In the same year the Duke of Orleans appointed him his physician, 

 and he went to reside in Paris, where he soon obtained a very extensive 

 practice. He was a man of cultivated mind, and of very pleasing 

 appearance and address, qualities which probably, more than any 

 great amount of medical knowledge, gained for him a very high repute, 

 both during his life and for some years after his death. He was 

 especially celebrated for his success in the medical management of 

 women and children ; and his practice, as far as it is recorded, seems 

 to have been guided by good judgment and common sense. He was 

 moreover, a kind-hearted and charitable man, devoting two hours in 

 every day to giving advice and money to the poor. He was a member 

 of the chief learned societies of Europe. He died at Paris in 1781. 



The only published works which Tronchin has left are tv;o theses 

 'De Nympha,' Leyden, 4to, 1736, and ' De Colicft Pictorum,' Geneva, 

 Svo, 1757 ; some observations on Ophthalmia and Hernia, in the 5th 

 volume of the 'Memoires de 1' Academic de Chirurgie;' and an edition 

 of the works of Baillou. 



(Condorcet, Eloge, in the Histoire de VAcadgmie des Sciences de 

 Paris, 1781.) 



TROUGHTON, EDWARD, the first astronomical instrument maker 

 of our day, was born October 1753, and died at his house in Fleet- 

 street June 12, 1835. He came of a family of respectable yeomen, and 

 was placed in the firm of his uncle and brother, who carried on busi- 

 ness in London as mathematical instrument makers. In 1782 the 

 Trough tons established themselves iu Fleet-street ; in 1826 Edward 

 Troughton, then the sole survivor, took Mr. W. Simms into partner- 

 ship. There is a full memoir of Troughtou in the monthly notices of 

 the 'Astronomical Society,' vol. iii., p. 149. A handsome subscription 

 bust, by Chantrey, is in the Observatory at Greenwich. In the last 

 years of his life Mr. Troughton was nearly deaf, only hearing by the 

 help of a powerful trumpet ; and he never could distinguish colours 

 otherwise than by their brightness, a ripe cherry and its leaf were to 

 him of the same colour. 



The larger astronomical instruments are not the facsimiles of one 

 another, which the smaller and more usual ones are, any more than 



