The
Dutch admiral thought proper to decline the combat, and retired into St.
John's road, near Bulloigne. Here he sheltered himself, both from the
English, and from a furious storm which arose. Prince Rupert, too, was
obliged to retire into St. Helens; where he staid some time, in order
to repair the damages which he had sustained. Meanwhile the duke
of Beaufort proceeded up the Channel, and passed the English fleet
unperceived; but he did not find the Dutch, as he expected. De Ruyter
had been seized with a fever: many of the chief officers had fallen into
sickness: a contagious distemper was spread through the fleet: and the
states thought it necessary to recall them into their harbors, before
the enemy should be refitted. The French king, anxious for his navy,
which with so much care and industry he had so lately built, despatched
orders to Beaufort, to make the best of his way to Brest. That admiral
had again the good fortune to pass the English. One ship alone, the
Ruby, fell into the hands of the enemy.
While the war continued without any decisive success on either side,
a calamity happened in London which threw the people into great
consternation. Fire, breaking out in a baker's house near the bridge,
spread itself on all sides with such rapidity, that no efforts could
extinguish it, till it laid in ashes a considerable part of the city.
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