de Toulouse wished above all things to attack.  He asked permission to do so, and, the permission being granted, he set about his enterprise.  He met the fleet of Admiral Rooks near Malaga, on the 24th of September of this year, and fought with it from ten o’clock in the morning until eight o’clock in the evening.  The fleets, as far as the number of vessels was concerned, were nearly equal.  So furious or so obstinate a sea-fight had not been seen for a long time.  They had always the wind upon our fleet, yet all the advantage was on the side of the Comte de Toulouse, who could boast that he had obtained the victory, and whose vessel fought that of Rooks, dismasted it, and pursued it all next day towards the coast of Barbary, where the Admiral retired.  The enemy lost six thousand men; the ship of the Dutch Vice-Admiral was blown up; several others were sunk, and some dismasted.  Our fleet lost neither ship nor mast, but the victory cost the lives of many distinguished people, in addition to those of fifteen hundred soldiers or sailors killed or wounded.

Towards evening on the 25th, by dint of maneuvers, aided by the wind, our fleet came up again with that of Rooks.  The Comte de Toulouse was for attacking it again on the morrow, and showed that if the attack were successful, Gibraltar would be the first result of the victory.  That famous place, which commands the important strait of the same name, had been allowed to fall into neglect, and was defended by a miserable garrison of forty men.  In this state it had of course easily fallen into the hands of the enemies.  But they had not yet had time to man it with a much superior force, and Admiral Rooks once defeated, it must have surrendered to us.

The Comte de Toulouse urged his advice with all the energy of which he was capable, and he was supported in opinion by others of more experience than himself.  But D’O, the mentor of the fleet, against whose counsel he had been expressly ordered by the King never to act, opposed the project of another attack with such disdainful determination, that the Comte had no course open but to give way.  The annoyance which this caused throughout the fleet was very great.  It soon was known what would have become of the enemy’s fleet had it been attacked, and that Gibraltar would have been found in exactly the same state as when abandoned.  The Comte de Toulouse acquired great honour in this campaign, and his stupid teacher lost little, because he had little to lose.

M. de Mantua having surrendered his state to the King, thereby rendering us a most important service in Italy, found himself ill at ease in his territory, which had become the theatre of war, and had come incognito to Paris.  He had apartments provided for him in the Luxembourg, furnished magnificently with the Crown furniture, and was very graciously received by the King.  The principal object of his journey was to marry some French lady; and as he made no secret