I used constantly to attend my master; and I was charmed with this place.  All the time we stayed it was like a fair with the natives, who brought us fruits of all kinds, and sold them to us much cheaper than I got them in England.  They used also to bring wine down to us in hog and sheep skins, which diverted me very much.  The Spanish officers here treated our officers with great politeness and attention; and some of them, in particular, used to come often to my master’s tent to visit him; where they would sometimes divert themselves by mounting me on the horses or mules, so that I could not fall, and setting them off at full gallop; my imperfect skill in horsemanship all the while affording them no small entertainment.  After the ships were watered, we returned to our old station of cruizing off Toulon, for the purpose of intercepting a fleet of French men of war that lay there.  One Sunday, in our cruise, we came off a place where there were two small French frigates lying in shore; and our admiral, thinking to take or destroy them, sent two ships in after them—­the Culloden and the Conqueror.  They soon came up to the Frenchmen; and I saw a smart fight here, both by sea and land:  for the frigates were covered by batteries, and they played upon our ships most furiously, which they as furiously returned, and for a long time a constant firing was kept up on all sides at an amazing rate.  At last one frigate sunk; but the people escaped, though not without much difficulty:  and a little after some of the people left the other frigate also, which was a mere wreck.  However, our ships did not venture to bring her away, they were so much annoyed from the batteries, which raked them both in going and coming:  their topmasts were shot away, and they were otherwise so much shattered, that the admiral was obliged to send in many boats to tow them back to the fleet.  I afterwards sailed with a man who fought in one of the French batteries during the engagement, and he told me our ships had done considerable mischief that day on shore and in the batteries.

After this we sailed for Gibraltar, and arrived there about August 1759.  Here we remained with all our sails unbent, while the fleet was watering and doing other necessary things.  While we were in this situation, one day the admiral, with most of the principal officers, and many people of all stations, being on shore, about seven o’clock in the evening we were alarmed by signals from the frigates stationed for that purpose; and in an instant there was a general cry that the French fleet was out, and just passing through the streights.  The admiral immediately came on board with some other officers; and it is impossible to describe the noise, hurry and confusion throughout the whole fleet, in bending their sails and slipping their cables; many people and ships’ boats were left on shore in the bustle.  We had two captains on board of our ship who came away in the hurry and left their ships to follow.  We shewed lights from the gun-whale to the main topmast-head; and all our lieutenants were employed amongst the fleet to tell the ships not to wait for their captains, but to put the sails to the yards, slip their cables and follow us; and in this confusion of making ready for fighting we set out for sea in the dark after the French fleet.  Here I could have exclaimed with Ajax,