THE name, and some of the deeds, of this man are already familiar to you. He was the son of a great admiral, the constant companion in arms and rival of a still greater; he combined in himself some of the finest qualities of each; he perpetuated the fame which his father had begotten, and he added to the ancient reputation a vigour and a character of his own, thereby becoming one of the singular instances in history, how, in the same profession and with the same means, a son can almost overshadow the greatness of his father, and have transferred to himself the popularity and affection with which the name he bears was received and cherished before he was born.

Old Martin Tromp, though a determined sea-dog, was a very homely man; that is to say, he liked the fireside quite as much as the cabin, and when duty allowed him to be on shore, there was nothing that so delighted him as to spend his days, surrounded by his wife and family, listening to their tales of school

fights or bird catching, and playing with them as gently and tenderly as if he had never shattered a powerful navy, and shaken a mighty empire to its very foundations. It was but natural that he should wish at least one of his sons to enter the profession in which he was already reaping great honours, but he knew from experience that sons do but seldom follow with hearty goodwill the footsteps of their fathers. His eldest son, Cornelis, however, seemed just the kind of lad that would have gone to sea of his own accord, and it was, therefore, with great satisfaction that his father took him on board his own ship at a very early age. Indeed, Cornelis could scarcely help liking the sea. His happy days of boyhood were associated with it, and he had always before him the important position to which his father had already risen. But his father was wise. He determined to make something good of his boy, not merely to help him to a good post, where he need not know much, or do more than draw his salary and eat his dinners. There were plenty of men on the fleet, and plenty of stout, fat-cheeked gentlemen in Amsterdam, or the Hague, who had done so for their own sons, and thought they had done very wisely. For they said to themselves, 'I have worked hard when I was young, I have made a lot of money, I am comfortably off, and I do not see why my son should be obliged to work. I belong to an Admiralty Board, and I will get him a snug, comfortable place.' But old Tromp spoke very differently. He said to himself, 'I have

worked hard and risen from nothing. Every man who can work ought to be ashamed if he is lazy, and I will make my son work while I have it in my power, and if he is worth his salt, he will thank me when he gets older.' And so after Cornelis had been playing about his father's ship till he was thirteen or fourteen years old, he was made a common sailor on some other ship, and his father used to laugh heartily when he saw him climbing aloft, with bare head and feet, to reef the sails or keep watch. I dare say young Cornelis did not altogether like it at first, but he soon grew accustomed to it, and when he advanced in age he saw the wisdom of his father's arrangements, for whereas the sailors looked upon the fine and wealthy young officers with contempt, they knew that young Tromp had been one of themselves, knew all their trouble and hardships, and, like De Ruyter and his own father, would see that they were well taken care of.

When his father was appointed Lieutenant-Admiral of the fleet, and fought that famous battle against the Spanish Admiral D'Oquendo in the Downs, young Tromp was scarcely nineteen years old, and is reported to have then made a very fair beginning of his fighting career.

In due time he was promoted to be Lieutenant, and eventually, when he was scarcely twenty-eight, he received command of a man-of-war, and was ordered in 1650 to accompany Admiral Van Galen on his voyage to the Mediterranean, for the suppres

sion of the pirates, who had lately become very troublesome. Now there was a good deal of haughtiness and determination of spirit about him, that was not at all softened either by the higher standing which his father's position naturally gave him, or by the early age at which he was, to a considerable extent, his own master. He treated some of the pirates in a rather off-hand manner I am afraid, and would have been all the better for a little of that prudence which distinguished his father. His first real engagement is of a sufficiently interesting nature to be described at some length. The war with England, having broken out, the States-General considered wisely that the English trade might be greatly damaged in the Mediterranean, because the traffic with Turkey and some parts of Italy was almost entirely in their hands. Admiral Van Galen was, therefore, sent expressly overland to Leghorn, where he took the command and sailed away towards Turkey. Commodore Sir Henry Appleton was already lying in Leghorn roads with his men-of-war, and saw Galen depart with serious misgivings as to the nature of his expedition, but as the Dutch had hitherto been very friendly in those parts, he concluded that nothing would be done. On the 6th of September, 1652, Galen descried eight English ships between the islands of Elba and Monte Christo, four being men-of-war and four armed merchantmen. Young Tromp, who led the van, received orders to attack, but the weather was so calm that the real battle had to be postponed till the following

day. It was then commenced with great resolution. on both sides, Captain Richard Bodley-or, as he wrote his own name, Badiley-endeavouring to protect the ships under his charge. The Dutch were too strong for him, however. One of his ships, the 'Phoenix,' was boarded by young Tromp and taken after a very severe fight, while the rest of the English ships were obliged to take shelter in Porto Longone, one of the harbours of the island of Elba.

I have been unable to discover what Appleton was about all this time, but it is very clear that Van Galen kept Bodley shut up in Porto Longone for five months, the neutrality laws not allowing him to commence an attack from inside. The distance from Elba to the mainland is only seven miles, while the straight line across the sea from Longone to Leghorn does not exceed fifty miles. Bodley and Appleton could, therefore, easily communicate with each other; but being divided, each had perhaps not sufficient faith. in the other. Tromp's ship had suffered so much that he was obliged to run towards Corsica; but the day after the fight, having been ordered to land at Elba and convey the Dutch Admiral's compliments to the Spanish Governor, he thought he might as well make the acquaintance of his opponent, and requested permission to call on Bodley. Bodley received him with the utmost civility, and showed by his kind reception how much he valued the visit. He gave the young captain a good dinner in his cabin, drank to the health of Van Galen, whose courage he praised, and greeted