ed in the
harbour, and, some days before the English arrived, all was ready for
their reception.

On the sixth of June the whole allied fleet was on the Atlantic about
fifteen leagues west of Cape Finisterre. There Russell and Berkeley
parted company. Russell proceeded towards the Mediterranean. Berkeley's
squadron, with the troops on board, steered for the coast of Brittany,
and anchored just without Camaret Bay, close to the mouth of the harbour
of Brest. Talmash proposed to land in Camaret Bay. It was therefore
desirable to ascertain with accuracy the state of the coast. The eldest
son of the Duke of Leeds, now called Marquess of Caermarthen, undertook
to enter the basin and to obtain the necessary information. The passion
of this brave and eccentric young man for maritime adventure was
unconquerable. He had solicited and obtained the rank of Rear Admiral,
and had accompanied the expedition in his own yacht, the Peregrine,
renowned as the masterpiece of shipbuilding, and more than once already
mentioned in this history. Cutts, who had distinguished himself by
his intrepidity in the Irish war, and had been rewarded with an Irish
peerage, offered to accompany Caermarthen, Lord Mohun, who, desirous,
it may be hoped, to efface by honourable exploits the stain which a
shameful and disastrous brawl had left on his name, was serving with
the troops as a volunteer, insisted on being of the party. The Peregrine
went into the bay with its gallant crew, and came out safe, but not
without having run great risks. Caermarthen reported that the defences,
of which however he had seen only a small part, were formidable. But
Berkeley and Talmash suspected that he overrated the danger. They were
not aware that their design had long been known at Versailles, that an
army had been collected to oppose them, and that the greatest engineer
in the world had been employed to fortify the coast against them. They
therefore did not doubt that their troops might easily be put on shore
under the protection of a fire from the ships. On the following morning
Caermarthen was ordered to enter the bay with eight vessels and to
batter the French works. Talmash was to follow with about a hundred
boats full of soldiers. It soon appeared that the enterprise was even
more perilous than it had on the preceding day appeared to be. Batteries
which had then escaped notice opened on the ships a fire so murderous
that several decks were soon cleared. Great bodies