attempt to escape, was declared confiscated, while they were themselves liable, if caught, to suffer the penalty of death.

Dumont de Bostaquet now had no home save under the flag of the Prince of Orange; and when such sufferings as those which we have so briefly and imperfectly described, are taken into account, we need not wonder at the ardour with which the banished French soldiers and gentry took service under the Prince who so generously gave them protection, and the fury with which they fought against the despot who had ruined them, driven them forth from France, and continued to persecute themselves and their families even to the death.

CHAPTER XI.

DE BOSTAQUET IN ENGLAND THE IRISH CAMPAIGNS OF

army

1689-90.

DUMONT DE BOSTAQUET was hospitably received by the Prince of Orange, and, on his application for employment, was appointed to the same rank in the Dutch that he had before held in that of Louis XIV. When the expedition to England was decided upon, such of the refugee officers as were disposed to join William were invited to send in their names; and De Bostaquet at once volunteered, with numbers more. Fifty of the French officers were selected for the purpose of being incorporated in his two dragoon regiments, red and blue; and De Bostaquet was appointed to a captaincy in the former regiment, of which De Louvigny was colonel.

The fleet of William had already been assembled at Maasluis, and with the troops on board shortly spread its sails for England. But the expedition, consisting of about five hundred sail, had scarcely left the Dutch shores before it was dispersed by a storm, which raged for three days. One ship, containing two companies of French infantry, commanded by Captains de Chauvernay and Rapin-Thoyras (afterwards the historian), was driven towards the coast of Norway. Those on board

gave themselves up for lost; but the storm abating, the course of the vessel was altered, and she afterwards reached the Maas in safety. Very few ships were missing when the expedition re-assembled; but among the lost was one containing four companies of a Holstein regiment and some sixty French officers and volunteers. When De Bostaquet's ship arrived in the Maas, it was found that many of the troop horses had been killed, or were so maimed as to be rendered unfit for service. After a few days' indefatigable labour, however, all damages were made good, the fleet was refitted anew, and again put to sea-this time with better prospect of success.

"Next day," says De Bostaquet, in his Memoirs, "we saw the coasts of France and England stretching before us on either side. I confess that I did not look upon my ungrateful country without deep emotion, as I thought of the many ties of affection which still bound me to it-of my children, and the dear relatives I had left behind; but as our fleet might even now be working out their deliverance, and as England was drawing nearer, I felt that one must cast such thoughts aside, and trust that God would yet put it into the heart of our hero to help our poor country under the oppressions beneath which she was groaning. The fleet was beheld by the people on the opposite shores with very different emotions. France trembled at the sight; while England, seeing her deliverer approaching, leapt with joy. It seemed as if the Prince took pleasure in alarming France, whose coasts he long kept in sight. But at length, leaving France behind us, we made for the opposite shore, and all day long we held along the English coast, sailing towards the west. Night hid the land from further view, and next morning not a trace of it was to be seen. As the wind held good, we thought that by this time we must have passed out of the English Channel, though we knew not whether we were bound. Many of our soldiers

from Poitou hoped that we might effect a landing there. But at three in the afternoon we again caught sight of the English land on our right, and found that we were still holding the same course. M. de Bethencour, who knew the coast, assured us that we were bound for Plymouth; and it seemed to me that such was the Prince's design. But the wind having shifted, we were astonished to see our vanguard put about, and sail as if right down upon us. Nothing could be more beautiful than the evolution of the immense flotilla which now took place under a glorious sky. The main body of the fleet and the rear-guard lay to, in order to allow the Prince's division to pass through them, on which every ship in its turn prepared to tack. There were no longer any doubts as to where we were to land. We distinctly saw the people along the heights watching, and doubtless admiring, the magnificent spectacle; but there appeared to be no signs of alarm at sight of the multitude of ships about to enter their beautiful bay."*

De Bostaquet proceeds to describe the landing at Torbay, and the march of the little army inland, through mud and mire, under heavy rain and along villanous roads, until they entered Exeter amidst the acclamations of the people. De Bostaquet found that many of his exiled countrymen had already settled at Exeter, where they had a church and minister of their own. Among others, he met with a French tailor from Lintot in Normandy, who had become established in business, besides other refugees from Dieppe and the adjoining country, who were settled and doing well. De Bostaquet expressed himself much gratified with his short stay in Exeter, which he praised for its wealth, its commerce, its manufactures, and the hospitality of its inhabitants.+

*Mémoires Inédits de Dumont de Bostaquet, pp. 214-15.

While in Exeter, De Bostaquet for the first time attended the English

After resting six or seven days at Exeter, William and his army marched upon London through Salisbury, being daily joined by fresh adherents gentry, officers, and soldiers. The army of James made no effort at resistance, but steadily retired; the only show of a stand being made at Reading, where five hundred of the king's horse, doubtless fighting without heart, were put to flight by a hundred and fifty of William's dragoons, led by the Huguenot Colonel Marouit. Not another shot was fired before William arrived in London, and was welcomed as the nation's deliverer. By this time James was making arrangements for flight, together with his Jesuits. He might easily have been captured and made a martyr of; but the mistake made in the case of Charles I. was not repeated, and James, having got on board a smack in the Thames, was allowed to slink ignominiously out of his kingdom and take refuge in France, there to seek the consolation of his royal brother Louis the Great, whose policy he had so foolishly and so wickedly attempted to imitate.*

service in the Cathedral, as conducted in the time of James II. He found it very different from the plain Calvinistic worship of the Huguenots, and thus recorded his impressions of it :-"What surprised me was to find that it seemed to retain nearly all the externals of popery. The churches have altars, two great candles at each side, and a basin of silver or silver gilt between. The canons, dressed in surplice and stole, occupy stalls on both

S

sides of the nave. They have a choir of little boys in surplices who sing with them; the music seems to me fine, and they have charming voices. But as all this is very much opposed to the simplicity of our Reformed religion, I confess I was by no means edified with it" (p. 223).

Little more than a month elapsed between the landing of the Prince of Orange in Torbay and the flight of James II. The landing took place on