an irresistible attraction to all kinds of enemies which even its strong fortifications could not dispel. Ten years after it was founded by Heredia it was captured by the French. In 1586 Drake, fresh from humbling the Spanish pride at Vigo and San Domingo, here repeated his successes. Again, at the end of the seventeenth century the French took the city and obtained over a million of money. The power of the mother country was rapidly declining during the following century. Her home and foreign policy had so aroused the bitter antagonism of England that peace between the two countries was impossible. The war of “Jenkins’s ear” arose ostensibly over the treatment meted out to smugglers by the Spanish coastguards. The story told by Jenkins of his having his ear cut off fanned the smouldering indignation of the English people into a flame, and Walpole was reluctantly compelled by the popular clamour to declare war. In October, 1739, the operations were entrusted to Admiral Vernon, a fiery old sailor who gloried in his motto, “No peace with Spain.” Old Grog, as he was familiarly called by his contemporaries, was a gallant enough seaman, although a little given to bragging and blustering. He pledged himself to take Porto Bello; and when he accomplished this feat with the small loss of seven men, medals were struck in honour of him and his victory. Popular enthusiasm hailed him as a hero, and the public hero was returned to Parliament by a large majority. In the following year, with a larger squadron under his command, he set sail for Cartagena, confident in his power to take the city. He met with a stubborn resistance, however, and although he succeeded in capturing Fort San Fernando that guards the Boca Chica, his further advances were repulsed. General Wentworth, who accompanied the fleet in charge of the land forces, had serious differences with “Old Grog,” and these were not calculated to help matters. A company of soldiers were landed to take Fort San Lazar, but they were obliged to retreat, leaving two hundred dead and having over four hundred wounded. To add to the discomfiture of the English, yellow fever broke out and wrought great havoc, and the last attempt to capture the city proving unavailing, the fleet gave up the enterprise, retired from the harbour, and made their way to Jamaica, glad to escape the warmth of their reception and the enervating heat of the bay.