"THE GOOD FATHER" OF THE FLEET.

DE RUYTER, released from the cares of war, now returned to his house in Amsterdam, situated in the Isle of Waals, on the banks of the Y, where he lived quietly for three years.

The appearance of his home and the style of living was that of an ordinary merchant of Amsterdam. In his manner he was as modest and unpretentious now as at any time of his life, always going about on foot, and being perfectly free of access. It was thus that Temple saw de Ruyter, and he describes his clothes as similar to those of any ordinary sea captain, adding that he went with only one attendant, and never in a coach. "And, in his own house, neither was the size, building, furniture, or entertainment at all exceeding the use of every common merchant and tradesman in his town." The account concludes with a pleasant companion picture of de Witt's simple life. If the life of the rich Dutch

merchant of those days was a quiet, and even a solemn one, his home surroundings were often particularly good in certain respects, and excellent furniture, china, and silver filled the reception rooms, on the walls of which hung the great works of art of the Dutch school. At a later period in our hero's life, we are able to obtain a clearer view of his home and its contents.

De Ruyter spent much of his time in listening to the sermons of the preachers in the churches during the week, as well as on Sundays, the religious element in his character coming into prominence wherever there was opportunity.

* Though Sir William Temple helped to smooth the way to reconciliation between England and Holland, and had a great admiration for eminent Dutchmen, he was perhaps too much influenced by the court life of his age to form a perfectly unprejudiced opinion of manners in Holland at this period, but the views of such an amiable and intelligent witness cannot fairly be omitted here. His "Observations upon the United Provinces of the Netherlands," edition 1747, says (p. 129), that it is a place where the "Earth is better than the Air, and Profit more in request than Honour; where there is more Sense than Wit, more Goodnature than Good-humour, and more Wealth than Pleasure; Where a Man would chuse rather to travel than live, shall find more Things to observe than desire, and more Persons to esteem than to love." Page 143, he says, more Shipping belongs to them than there does to all the rest of Europe."

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He would sit for hours, says Brandt, reading the Bible to his wife and a niece while they worked, or would exercise his voice in singing.

His food was of the simplest, and of the kind to which he was accustomed on his voyages. At festivals and public functions his sobriety, while it did not take from his cheerful good-fellowship, was marked at a period when licence even in Holland was not uncommon.*

In 1668 Engel de Ruyter, only 19 years of age, was made captain under the Admiralty of Amsterdam. His frigate being sent to England, Engel was received with the greatest kindness by the Court, Charles conferring a knighthood on him in honour of his father's abilities, and Albemarle being one of the foremost to shower courtesies upon the boy-captain.

Next year it is the King of Denmark who sees his opportunity to remember de Ruyter by a request for his portrait, and in 1670 the King

* Van Lennep, in one of his celebrated novels treating of the eighteenth century, viz. "Ferdinand Huyck" (apparently not yet translated), puts into the mouth of an old lady of high position in Amsterdam the remark, "My father used to tell me that Admiral de Ruyter, although of low origin, behaved in a perfectly well-bred manner, and was an enemy of swearing and drinking" (p. 276).

of Sweden competes with rival kings in honouring him by ennobling his stepson Captain Pauluszoon. In this last-named year the two royal rascals of England and France were again plotting against the freedom of the United Provinces, and what is now described as "tail twisting" began (the Dutch lion having two tufts to one tail, it was doubly interesting to them).

Louis, the more important of the two kings, by reason of the riches and population of his realm, and of his own higher abilities, had been frustrated in his aggressive designs on the Spanish Netherlands by the triple alliance of England, Sweden, and Holland.

At the end of the year 1670, the States General learnt that Louis and an army were to be very shortly at Dunkirk. The explanations made to their ambassador being of an unsatisfactory nature, it was resolved on the 2nd of January, 1671, to forbid the importation of French manufactures into the Seven Provinces. This preventive action was followed up by a decision to commission a large fleet during the summer under de Ruyter.

De Ruyter accordingly repaired to Helvoetsluis in May, where he received very precise instructions as to his duties as guardian of the coast.

Here the Rear-Admiral Adelaar of Denmark came to serve under him as an apprentice, by special request from his king.

The Dutch fleet was kept in readiness for an attack, and was exercised in evolutions and sham fights, by the lieut.-admiral. An international incident was soon to follow.

The English royal yacht Merlin passing along the coast, saluted the squadron of van Gent with several volleys, to which a reply of seven was made, and then nine. But the Merlin claimed that the flag should have been lowered. This was refused, owing to the vessels being on the Dutch coast. The discussion, once aroused, was not allowed to drop by the English monarch, and had already been actively carried on, when Downing was sent from England to demand satisfaction and the punishment of van Gent. The States General denied that the English demand had any justification under the existing treaty, but eventually proposed as a mark of their respect for the King of England, that their fleets should lower the flag to a single English man-of-war without their action being considered as an agreement in any way prejudicial to navigation. Downing refused to accept this proposal as being made too late.