MEMOIR OP BRUCE. 
27 
nist, lie was obliged to make the best of his way to 
Holland. Thence he proceeded to Hanover, where 
he had the fortune to witness the battle of Crevelt 
(June 23, 1 758), the first engagement he had ever 
seen. 
Yielding to the romantic ideas of military glory 
with which that spirit-stirring scene had inspired 
him, he resolved to quit the peaceful walks of life 
and the insipid avocations of trade, and become a 
soldier. His imagination pictured to him the ex- 
ploits and the fame of his illustrious ancestors ; and 
he might probably have embarked as a military 
adventurer in foreign service, had he not received a 
letter at Rotterdam informing him of his father’s 
death. This intelligence, and the consequent suc- 
cession to the family estate, altered his intentions, 
and obliged him to return without delay to Eng- 
land. Having gradually disengaged himself from 
his partnership in the wine-trade, he made prepara- 
tions for returning to Scotland, the value of his 
property in the mean time having been consider- 
ably raised by the large demands of the Carron 
iron-company on his coal-mines. 
A circumstance at this time happened which 
formed the pivot on which the future destiny of 
Bruce was to turn. During his short stay at Ferrol, 
in Gallicia, he had been led, in consequence of a 
rumour of war between Britain and Spain, to con- 
sider that place as the most advantageous point for 
the British squadron to attack with a view to invade 
the country. This project Bruce now communi- 
