At last the French Admiral, seeing the platforms in the hands of the victorious English, the boom cut in pieces, and the allied fleet pouring in upon him, set fire to his own ship, and ordered the rest of the Captains under his command to follow his example. In this, however, he could not be so punctually obeyed, but that of his twenty one men of war and seventeen galleons, ten of the first and eleven of the latter fell into the hands of the enemy.

Rooke, on his arrival in London was hailed with the most triumphant acclamations by the people, received the thanks of the House of Commons, and was sworn of her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council.

In 1704, he was appointed to carry over to Portugal the Archduke Charles, who had been raised to the throne of Spain under the title of Charles III. Having performed this service, in pursuance of his farther instructions, he set sail for the Mediterranean, with the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt and a body of land-forces on board. On the eighteenth of May they appeared before Barcelona, hoping that it would declare in their favour. The discovery of a design to surrender to them the place, a few hours before the landing of the troops, disappointed those expectations.

After a few lighter services, in the month of July the fleet passed Cape Palos, and was soon afterward joined by Sir Cloudesley Shovel with a reinforcement of thirty three ships of the line. It was now resolved, in obedience to fresh instructions, to repass the Straits, and there await directions from the Kings of Portugal and Spain. Those Monarchs determined, that

they should make a sudden attempt upon Gibraltar. Rooke after a very spirited attack sent in a peremptory summons to the Governor, upon which the town capitulated on the twenty fourth of July, 1704: the garrison being allowed to march out with their arms and baggage, and three pieces of brass cannon; and the inhabitants to retain the privileges, which they had enjoyed under their former Sovereign.

The last public service performed for his country by Sir George Rooke was in an engagement at the head of thirty three sail of the line, twelve leagues off Malaga, with the French fleet of fifty ships of war and twenty four large galleys under the command of the Count de Toulouse: but though the engagement lasted from ten in the morning of the thirteenth of August till night, and was accompanied with a mutual loss of nearly 2,500 men, not one ship on either side was taken, sunk, or burnt. It was highly glorious, however, to her Majesty's navy, as the enemy had a superiority of six hundred guns, beside the advantage of cleaner vessels, and galleys to tow their large ships and supply them with fresh men in lieu of their killed or disabled. Rooke now sailed for Gibraltar, and having left 2,000 marines in that garrison, with a sufficient quantity of stores and provisions, returned home.

Of the capture of Gibraltar and the subsequent sea-fight Dr. Stanhope, in his Thanksgiving Sermon before her Majesty at St. Paul's, June 27, 1706, justly observes, That we were soon instructed in the mighty concernment of the first, by the seasonable refreshments our fleets found there; after a battle fought on our side with great inequality of

force, but with what resolution and success we need no other evidences than the disability of making any formidable figure at sea, which the French have manifestly lain under ever since.'

Yet all these public acknowledgements of Rooke's merit could not silence the calumny of his enemies: a party was formed against him at Court, by whom only a small share of the late signal successes was ascribed to his exertions. Chagrined at this treatment, and resolved at the same time that the affairs of the nation should not receive any obstruction upon his account, he passed the remainder of his days as a country-gentleman at his seat in Kent. A private seal was offered him for passing his accounts; but he refused it, and made them up in the ordinary way with the greatest accuracy.

He did not long, however, survive his retirement; the gout, which had for many years greatly afflicted him, putting a period to his life in January, 1709.

He was thrice married: first, to a daughter of Sir Thomas Howe, of Cold Berwick in Wiltshire, Bart.; secondly, to a daughter of Colonel Francis Luttrell, of Dunster Castle in Somersetshire, who died of her first child, George, the sole heir of his father's fortune; and thirdly, to Miss Knatchbull, of Mersham Hatch in Kent.

Dr. Campbell, in his Lives of the Admirals,' appears to have drawn the character of Rooke with considerable impartiality: "He was certainly an officer (he observes) of great merit, if either conduct or courage could entitle him to that character. The former appeared in his behaviour on the Irish station, in his wise and prudent management when he preserved so great a part of the Smyrna fleet, and particularly in

the taking of Gibraltar, which was a project conceived and executed in less than a week. Of his courage he gave abundant testimonies, especially in burning the French ships at La Hogue, and in the battle off Malaga, where he behaved with all the resolution of a British Admiral; and, as he was first in command, was first also in danger. In partymatters he was, perhaps, too warm and eager; for all men have their failings, even the greatest and best: but, in action, he was perfectly cool and temperate; gave his orders with the utmost serenity; and, as he was careful in marking the conduct of his officers, so his candor and justice were always conspicuous in the accounts he gave of them to his superiors: he there knew no party, no private considerations, but commended merit whenever it appeared. He had a fortitude of mind, that enabled him to behave with dignity upon all occasions, in the day of examination as well as in the day of battle: and though he was more than once called to the bar of the House of Commons, yet he always' escaped censure, as he likewise did before the Lords; not by shifting the fault upon others or meanly complying with the temper of the times, but by maintaining steadily what he thought right, and speaking his sentiments with that freedom which becomes an Englishman whenever his conduct in his country's service is brought in question. In a word, he was equally superior to popular clamor and popular applause: but, above all, he had a noble contempt for foreign interests when incompatible with our own; and knew not what it was to seek the favour of the great, but by performing such actions as deserved it. In his private life, he was a good husband and kind master;

lived hospitably toward his neighbours, and left behind him a moderate fortune-so moderate that, when he came to make his will, it surprised those who were present; but Sir George assigned the reason in few words: "I do not leave much," said he, "but what I leave was honestly gotten; it never cost a sailor a tear, or the nation a farthing."