accounted for by fear, or by a dishonest wish to excuse the weakness of his conduct to his superiors. Losing all confidence, Conflans decided not to give battle, but to make for Quiberon Bay. He therefore hoisted the signal for retreat, and set the example by leading the way in the _Soleil Royal_. He did not believe that Hawke would follow him into the narrow and broken waters of the bay, but he calculated that if the English admiral did take this bold course, he himself could work up towards the peninsula of Quiberon, and so gain the weather-gage and the advantage of position over an opponent embayed on a hostile and unfamiliar coast. This is what he said in his exculpatory dispatch, but it has much the look of an afterthought, and the probability is that Conflans really hoped to reach the enclosed waters of the Morbihan before being overtaken. Had he been opposed to a commonplace officer, he would probably have succeeded. Hawke was too bold a man to turn his mind to considerations of superfluous prudence in the presence of an enemy who was manifestly seeking to avoid battle. The signal for the line abreast was hauled down and replaced by another, for the vessels nearest the French to pursue, to overtake, and to bring the enemy to action, and for all others to come on at their best speed, pressing into battle where and how they could. The two fleets swept on past Belleisle, rolling and pitching in the rising sea. It was shortly after two in the afternoon that the French admiral led his flying force round the Grands Cardinaux, and already the battle had begun with the ships behind him. The =Warspight=, Sir John Bentley, and the =Dorsetshire=, Captain P. Denis, were the first of the English ships to come up with and open fire on the enemy. They were soon joined by the =Revenge=, =Magnanime=, =Torbay=, =Montagu=, =Resolution=, =Swiftsure=, and =Defiance=. Thus, when the French ships ran between the Grands Cardinaux and Plateau du Four, all those at the end of their line were already mingled with their pursuers, and both the fleets came in together locked in a savage embrace of battle.