since he certainly showed him an army which had not been often equaled,
either in the number or goodness of the troops, and which, in those
respects, so far exceeded ours, that none can ever cast any reflection
on the brave young prince who could not reap the laurels of conquest in
that day; but his retreat will be always mentioned as an addition to his
glory.

In our marine the case is entirely the reverse, and it must be our own
fault if it doth not continue so; for continue so it will as long as the
flourishing state of our trade shall support it, and this support it can
never want till our legislature shall cease to give sufficient attention
to the protection of our trade, and our magistrates want sufficient
power, ability, and honesty, to execute the laws; a circumstance not
to be apprehended, as it cannot happen till our senates and our benches
shall be filled with the blindest ignorance, or with the blackest
corruption.

Besides the ships in the docks, we saw many on the water: the yachts
are sights of great parade, and the king's body yacht is, I believe,
unequaled in any country for convenience as well as magnificence;
both which are consulted in building and equipping her with the most
exquisite art and workmanship.

We saw likewise several Indiamen just returned from their voyage.

These are, I believe, the largest and finest vessels which are anywhere
employed in commercial affairs. The colliers, likewise, which are very
numerous, and even assemble in fleets, are ships of great bulk; and if
we descend to those used in the American, African, and European trades,
and pass through those which visit our own coasts, to the small craft
that lie between Chatham and the Tower, the whole forms a most pleasing
object to the eye, as well as highly warming to the heart of an
Englishman who has any degree of love for his country, or can recognize
any effect of the patriot in his constitution. Lastly, the Royal
Hospital at Greenwich, which presents so delightful a front to the
water, and doth such honor at once to its builder and the nation, to
the great skill and ingenuity of the one, and to the no less sensible
gratitude of the other, very properly closes the account of this scene;
which may well appear romantic to those who have not themselves seen
that, in this one instance, truth and reality are capable, perhaps, of
exceeding the power of fiction. When we had passed by Greenwich we saw
only two or three gentleme