How we came to have a _Téméraire_ in the British Navy the name of course bears on its face. It was originally borne by one of Louis the Fourteenth’s men-of-war, and at the date of its adoption by capture into the British service, in 1759—“The Wonderful Year”—had been honourably known in the French Navy for upwards of ninety years. The first _Téméraire_ to sail the seas was so named, it would appear, by the Grand Monarque himself, the name being appointed to a man-of-war of fifty-two guns, built by contract in Holland for the French service, in the year 1668, when a war with England seemed at hand. King Louis, it is said, further appointed to the _Téméraire_ on her naming, as a special and distinctive figure-head, an elaborately carved and gorgeously coloured effigy of himself in his celebrated “Lion’s Mane” wig, sworded and spurred and wearing a military _just-au-corps_ tunic of cloth of gold over a scarlet vest with crimson breeches and crimson stockings—the orthodox attire of a French sea officer of the _Grand Corps_. This first French _Téméraire_ was a ship that the British Navy of her time saw something of. She formed one of the men-of-war present with the allied French squadron which played so very peculiar a part when attached to the Duke of York’s fleet in the battle of Solebay in 1672, and in the same way also she was present at Prince Rupert’s three drawn battles with De Ruyter in the following year. As an enemy a few years later, the first French _Téméraire_ fought against us both at Beachy Head and in the battle off Cape Barfleur, after which the _Téméraire_ escaped and found refuge under the harbour batteries of St. Malo. “_The Rash_” is what an official return on the French Navy, presented to Parliament on the 9th of February, 1698, calls the _Téméraire_, in accordance with the custom then in vogue of translating foreign men-of-war names appearing in British official documents. It seems a curious disguise for the name _Téméraire_ perhaps, although even then it is hardly so grotesque as the names under which some of the _Téméraire’s_ consorts figure in various House of Commons returns: “_The Without Danger_,” for instance, for _Le Sans Pareil_; “_The Undertaker_” or “_The Understanding_” (as two different official lists give it) for _L’Entreprenante_, another ship; “_The Jolly_” for _Le Joli_; “_The Fire_” for _Le Fier_; “_The Fiddle_” for _La Fidelle_, a frigate; the “_Turkish Lady_” for another frigate, _La Turquoise_, and so on.