that the new admiral, Monk,
Duke of Albemarle, fell in with De Ruyter's armament. There was no
thought however of retreat, and a fight at once began, the longest and
most stubborn that the seas have ever seen. The battle had raged for two
whole days, and Monk, left with only sixteen ships uninjured, saw
himself on the brink of ruin, when on the morning of the third he was
saved by the arrival of Rupert. Though still greatly inferior in force,
the dogged admiral renewed the fight on the fourth day as the Dutch drew
off to their own coast, but the combat again ended in De Ruyter's favour
and the English took refuge in the Thames. Their fleet was indeed
ruined; twenty ships had been taken or sunk and a far larger number
disabled; but the losses of the enemy had been hardly less. What the
Dutch had discovered, owned De Witt, was, "that English sailors might be
killed and English ships burned, but that there was no conquering
Englishmen." At the close of July in fact the two fleets, again
refitted, met anew off the North Foreland; and a second fight, as hard
fought as that which had gone before, ended in an English victory.
Twenty Dutch sail had struck or sunk, seven thousand Dutch seamen had
been slain, while the English loss was comparatively small. The
victorious fleet sailed along the rich coast of Holland, burning
merchantmen and plundering its undefended towns. But Holland was as
unconquerable as England herself. In a short time the Dutch fleet was
again refitted and at sea, and Lewis, whose aid had hitherto been only
in words, thought it time to act. The French fleet joined the Dutch, and
the English found themselves too inferior in force to venture on a fresh
battle for the command of the Channel.

[Sidenote: Parliament and the War.]

It was at this moment of national disappointment, with the fruit of
great efforts snatched away and the sea lost, that a fresh calamity at
home was added to the sufferings of the war. In the night of the second
of September a fire broke out in the heart of London which raged for
four days and reduced the city to ashes from the Tower to the Temple.
Thirteen hundred houses and ninety churches were destroyed. The loss of
merchandise and property was beyond count. Again the Parliament with
stubborn pride voted a subsidy of nearly two millions to refit the
fleet. But the money came in slowly. The treasury was so utterly
drained that it was agreed to fit out no large ships for the coming
y