ROBERT SOUTHEY 213 



leaving the ships of war in flames, made their 

 way into an inner basin where many transports 

 lay. Eight of these vessels were set on fire. 

 Several were taken in tow. The rest would have 

 been either destroyed or carried off, had not the 

 sea again begun to ebb. It was impossible to do 

 more ; and the victorious flotilla slowly retired, 

 insulting the hostile camp with a thundering chant 

 of " God save the King." 



Thus ended, at noon on the twenty-fourth of 

 May, the great conflict which had raged during 

 five days over a wide extent of sea and shore. 

 One English fire-ship had perished in its calling. 

 Sixteen French men of war, all noble vessels, and 

 eight of them three-deckers, had been sunk or 

 burned down to the water-edge. The battle is 

 called, from the place where it terminated, the 

 battle of La Hogue. 



Thomas rmbinglon Macaulay. 



Trafalgar (1805) -o -Cy -Cy 



(From The Life of Nelson) 



A BOUT half-past nine in the morning of the 

 "^^ 19th, the Mars, being the nearest to the fleet 

 of the shijjs which formed the line of communica- 

 tion with the frigates inshore, repeated the signal 

 that the enemy were coming out of port. The 



