ing that a decision was not to be shortly expected, Evertsen requested permission to go home, as he was still suffering from his wounds. This he received at once, and reached home in July.

The province of Zealand, indignant at such treatment, moved in the States-General that the Admiral should receive a full acquittal, and be thanked for his services; but De Witt once more opposed and defeated the motion. The States remained neutral, but would not allow him to become what he should have been, president of the court-martial. Overwhelmed by so much enmity and injustice, Evertsen retired to his house. He appeared indeed before his own masters, the Provincial States, and was there received with every expression of confidence and respect; but the course of his enemies had so excited the populace throughout the country that they were reluctantly compelled to accept the veteran's resignation, while at the same time his brother Cornelis was appointed to the vacant post. John retired to Flushing, where, still enjoying the title of Lieutenant-Admiral, he was employed by the authorities in preparing a new fleet. A whole year was thus spent in comparative retirement, during which the old man endeavoured to forget the insults, indignities, and injustice which he had undergone. Meanwhile De Ruyter returned from his secret mission, and sailed out at the head of the fleet. The famous battles of that war I have already described to you in De Ruyter's life. The four days' battle was fought, and the younger Evertsen lost his

The feet csured victorious, but fearfully

Thet oud Tom Evertsen, who could not Perfect as home forgot his wrongs, and offered his I desire, he said, in words we

Baby quoted the proper time having come,

my life for the Commonwealth, as my father, one of my sons and four of my brothers have already had the good fortune to die on the bed of honour, in various battles with the enemy.' Zealand of course gladly accepted his services, and reappointed him Lieutenant-Admiral. Not even now could John De Witt stay his hand. Being in Flushing at the time, he was informed of the appointment, and immediately wrote a sharp and spiteful letter to the States-General, urging them to annul the appointment. For once, however, Evertsen's party triumphed. One of his friends moved that this 'letter be destroyed and not entered in the journal of the proceedings:' and the High Mighty Lords, considering for once that De Witt hade too far, ad-oted this course by a silent Evertsen as appointed second in comthe fleet leader of the vanguard.

In the 4th of, 1666, the fleet sailed. A month

fought. A death-like calm per

es. Slowly Evert

e enemy. It was

the battle. Half

he fight rath terrific fury. The

young, and cheered his

ree a shot struck him in

the leg, and threw him senseless on deck. The next morning he had brought his sixty-six years to an end. His body was buried with that of his brother in one grave, and a splendid marble monument in the Cathedral of Middelburg records in simple language the virtues and heroism of a great and unhappy

man.

CORNELIS TROMP.

PART I.

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