GSO 



TROMP TROPE. 



year, in connection with admiral Cornelitzoon de 

 AVitte, he attacked the powerful Spanish fleet under 

 Oquendo, in the Downs, which was assisted by the 

 English, and obtained a great victory. Oquendo's 

 own ship would have sunk had not Tromp gene- 

 rously sent a frigate to his assistance. This victory 

 made his name famous throughout all Europe, and 

 the king of France conferred on him a title of no- 

 bility. In 1652, hostilities commence! between 

 Holland and England, and Tromp and the English 

 admiral Blake fought on the Downs; the Dutch 

 fleet sustained some loss, and was compelled to re- 

 tire. Soon after, Blake having taken some ships 

 engaged in the herring fishery, Tromp received or- 

 ders to attack him ; but a violent storm dispersed 

 his fleet, just as the signal for attack was given, so 

 that he returned to port. This misfortune, although 

 Tromp was not to blame, gave occasion to the go- 

 vernment to dismiss him and appoint De Ruyter in 

 his place. Nevertheless the chief command was 

 again intrusted to him in the same year, and Nov- 

 ember 29, assisted by Evertzoon and De Ruyter, 

 he defeated the English fleet, which lay, under 

 Blake, in the Downs, so that it was compelled to 

 retire into the Thames, with the loss of five ships. 

 Upon this occasion, Tromp, in the spirit of a true 

 sailor, caused a broom to be fastened to his mast 

 head, as a sign that he would sweep the channel of 

 the English ships. About the close of the year he 

 entered a Dutch port with a large fleet of merchant- 

 men, and received the thanks of the states-general. 

 In 1653, Tromp and de Ruyter, accompanied by a 

 great number of merchant vessels, were attacked by 

 the united fleets of Monk, Dean, and Blake ; both 

 fleets were very strong, but the English were supe- 

 rior. An action of three days' continuance followed 

 in which the Dutch lost eleven ships, but retired 

 in good order, and carried their convoy home. 

 Tromp, who suffered no diminution of reputation 

 on this occasion, was sent out to convoy another 

 fleet of merchant vessels, which he carried to the 

 northern coast of Scotland, without losing a single 

 one. He afterwards attacked, in June, the English 

 fleet under Monk, Dean, and Lawson, near New- 

 port, but was compelled to retire to Welingen, with 

 considerable loss. He and De Ruyter saved one 

 another, upon this occasion, from imminent danger. 

 After obtaining additional supplies of ships and men, 

 Tromp sailed with eighty-five vessels towards the 

 coast of Zealand, where he came upon the English 

 fleet of thirty-four ships. A storm delayed the at- 

 tack ; but, August 6, 1653, having been strength- 

 ened by the arrival of De Witte, so that his fleet 

 amounted to 120 vessels, the battle began, between 

 Scheveningen and the Meuse. The first day nothing 

 decisive was effected. On the second day, Tromp, 

 according to his usual custom, broke through the 

 enemy's line, but was soon surrounded, and was not 

 supported by his own fleet. He fought desperately 

 in order to escape, till he fell, pierced by a musket- 

 ball. "Courage, my boys." exclaimed he, expiring ; 

 " my course is ended with glory." Every effort of 

 De Ruyter and the other officers, after the news of 

 his death, to keep up the courage of the Dutch 

 sailors, was in vain, and the English obtained 

 a dear-bought victory. Tromp is said to have 

 been victorious in thirty-three naval actions. 

 He had desired to die in the service of his coun- i 

 try. His body was interred with splendour, in 

 the church at Delft, and a magnificent monument 

 erected to his memory. The state caused medals 

 to be struck in honour of him, and sent a solemn ; 



deputation to his widow, to assure her of the pub- 

 lic sympathy. 



TROMP, CORNELIUS, the second son of the pre- 

 ceding, born 1029, commanded a ship in his nine- 

 teenth year, against the African pirates, and two 

 years later, was made vice-admiral. In 1665, in 

 the war between England and the United Provinces, 

 he was present at the battle of Solebay, where the 

 Dutch fleet was defeated, and the ship of admiral 

 Opdam blown up. The masterly retreat of Tromp, 

 allowed the victors to reap but little advantage 

 from their success. His conduct and courage gave 

 him a reputation little inferio; to that of his father ; 

 and, like him, he was devoted to the Orange purt y. 

 On this account, De Witte, although politically 

 opposed to him, thought it advisable to appoint him 

 to the chief command of the fleet, during the absence 

 of De Ruyter. After De Ruyter's return, Tromp 

 refused to serve under him, but was forced to sub- 

 mit. In the battle, which lasted four days, in the 

 Downs, July, 1666, he showed equal courage and 

 ability, without being so fortunate as De Ruyter. 

 In August, of that year, while he was pursuing, 

 with too much ardour, an English fleet which he 

 had defeated, he was cut off from the main body of 

 the Dutch fleet, and was thus prevented from going 

 to the assistance of De Ruyter, who was therefore 

 compelled to retire. Tromp brought his own fleet, 

 with little loss, into the Texel, but, upon De Ruy- 

 ter's complaint, was deprived of his command. In 

 1673, however, when the war between Holland and 

 the united kingdoms of England and France broke 

 out, Tromp was again taken into the service, and 

 was entirely reconciled to his rival De Ruyter. In 

 this war he distinguished himself by many victories 

 over the English. In 1675, after the peace, he 

 visited England, where he was received with the 

 greatest honour, and made a baronet by Charles II. 

 In the same year he was sent with a fleet to Copen- 

 hagen, to assist Denmark against the Swedes, and 

 was invested by the king of Denmark with the or- 

 der of the Elephant. After De Ruyter's death, he 

 succeeded him as admiral lieutenant-general of the 

 United Provinces, remained, during the war, in the 

 Danish service, and had a great share in the con- 

 quests of this crown in the north. In 1691, on the 

 renewal of the war between Holland and France, he 

 was appointed to the chief command of the Dutch 

 fleet, but very soon after died, at Amsterdam, May 

 29 of that year, and was buried in the splendid 

 tomb of his father. 



TRONA. See Soda. 



TROPE (from the Greek **<>(, turn) ; an ex- 

 pression used in a different sense from its ordinary 

 signification, for the sake of presenting an idea in a 

 ively and forcible manner. As the change of ex- 

 Dression made by the trope affects immediately the 

 chief idea of the sentence (for instance, when we 

 say, instead of " This cunning deceiver will ruin 



11 " This old fox will ruin us"), tropes differ from 

 igures of speech. Tropes are as old as the appli- 

 ation of language to invisible things. The want 

 of means to designate conceptions obliged men to 

 apply the names of sensual objects, often from very 

 obscure principles of resemblance, to intellectual 

 subjects. Every language possesses many words, 

 borrowed in this way, which have by degrees lost 

 their original meaning, such as spirit, conception, 

 &c. "Therefore," says Jean Paul, "every lan- 

 guage, in respect to intellectual relations, is a dic- 

 tionary of faded metaphors." But as these meta- 

 phors become abstract, the want of new tropes is 



