fire or water was more frightful than the noise of the cannon.
The English gave their vanquished enemy all the assistance they could,
while with continued fury they assailed the rest. The English lost but
one ship, while they took eighteen of the largest Dutch ships, sunk or
burnt about fourteen more, killed four thousand men, and took two
thousand prisoners, who were brought into Colchester. Among them were
sixteen captains. As the bards of old stirred up the warriors of their
tribe to deeds of valour, so the naval poets of those days wrote songs
to animate the spirits of British tars. The following lines are said to
have been written on the eve of the battle by Lord Buckhurst, afterwards
Earl of Dorset:--

I.
To all you ladies now on land
We men at sea indite,
But first would have you understand
How hard it is to write;
The muses now, and Neptune too,
We must implore to write to you.
With a fa, la, la, la, la.

II.
For tho' the muses should prove kind,
And fill our empty brain;
Yet if rough Neptune rouse the wind
To wave the azure main,
Our paper, pen and ink, and we
Roll up and down our ships at sea.
With a fa, la, etcetera.

III.
Then if we write not by each post,
Think not we are unkind,
Nor yet conclude our ships are lost
By Dutchmen or by wind,
Ours tears we'll send a speedier way--
The tide shall bring them twice a-day.
With a fa, la, etcetera.

IV.
The king, with wonder and surprise,
Will swear the seas grow bold,
Because the tides will higher rise
Than e'er they used of old,
But let him know it is our tears
Bring floods of grief to Whitehall stairs
With a fa, la, etcetera.

V.
Let wind and weather do its worst,
Be you to us but kind,
Let Dutchmen vapour, Spaniards curse,
No sorrow shall we find;
'Tis then no matter how things go,
Or who's our friend, or who's our foe.
With a fa, la, etcetera.

VI.
And now we've told you all our loves,
And likewise all our fears,
In hopes this declaration moves
Some pity from your tears;
Let's hear of no inconstancy,
We have too much of that at sea.
With a fa, la, etcetera.

Notwithstanding this defeat, the Dutch in a short time were again ready
for battle. The fight lasted without interruption from three in the
morning till seven in the evening. The remains of the Dutch fleet made
sail for the Texel, but were not pursued by the duke. "After the