Vice-admiral Sir William Berkley endeavoured to fight his way through the enemy, who were five to one. When his ship was a wreck, his crew almost cut to pieces, and himself desperately wounded, he continued to refuse quarter, killed with his own hand several of the enemy who attempted to board, and, at length, when mortally wounded by a musket-ball in the throat, retired into his cabin, where he was found dead, stretched at length upon the table, and covered with the blood which flowed from his wounds. Note XX. ---- ---- _Joyful lines they hear Of ships, which, by their mould, bring new supplies; And in their colours Belgian lions bear._--St. 72. p. 117. The Dutch, in the morning of the 2d of June, were reinforced by a fresh squadron of sixteen men of war, giving them a decided and dreadful superiority to the English, whom, at the very first, they had greatly outnumbered. Note XXI. "_If number English courages could quell, We should at first have shun'd, not met our foes, Whose numerous sails the fearful only tell; Courage from hearts, and not from numbers grows._" St. 76. p. 118. The famous speech of Monk is thus given in the Lives of the Admirals. "If we had dreaded the number of our enemies, we should have fled yesterday; but, though we are inferior to them in ships, we are in all things else superior. Force gives them courage; let us, if we need it, borrow resolution from the thoughts of what we have formerly performed. Let the enemy feel, that, though our fleet be divided, our spirit is entire. At the worst, it will be more honourable to die bravely in our element, than to be made spectacles to the Dutch. To be overcome is the fortune of war, but to fly is the fashion of cowards. Let us teach the world, that Englishmen had rather be acquainted with death than fear."--Vol. 2. p. 367. Note XXII. _Our little fleet was now engaged so far, That like the sword-fish in the whale they fought._ St. 79. p. 118. The battle was renewed on the second day, with the same desperate courage, which had distinguished the first battle. The English _charged_, as was then the expression, twice through the whole Dutch fleet, doing and receiving infinite damage. But this unequal warfare could not last long, "when, at each tack, our little fleet grew less." The English had by this time lost, at least, nine vessels sunk and taken; and Monk bearing away with twenty six, being all that remained in a condition to fight, was pursued by De Ruyter with nearly three times that number. Note XXIII. _Close by, their fire-ships, like jackals, appear, Who on their lions for the prey attend._ St. 82. p. 119.