four days he followed them about everywhere; he tried all he could to begin a battle, but the pirates knew better. After having led him about for all that time without firing a shot, a storm arose, and the pirates slipped away. De With sailed home in disgust. Two of his captains, who were either afraid of fighting or offended at him, had sailed home before him, and told Admiral Tromp that the Vice-Admiral had knocked about the sea for four days in sight of a pirate fleet, without daring to engage it.

Tromp foolishly believed the story, and when De With came ashore you may imagine how he stared with astonishment and rage at being severely reprimanded by the Admiral. He broke out into the most furious passion, and insisted upon having a court-martial. Tromp advised him to be moderate, admit his fault, and ask the Stadtholder to pardon it; but this only increased his fury. A court-martial was held, with Tromp as president; but its progress was uncommonly slow; the evidence was scarcely to be got at, for every man in the fleet seemed to have taken a dislike to De With, and it was many months before the verdict was pronounced. De With had already threatened several times to take the law into his own hands if matters did not move on more quickly. He was honourably acquitted, as he really deserved to be, and his conduct as a faithful servant of the State and a bold seaman was praised; but it would seem that very few, beside himself, were glad of this honourable acquittal.

No accusation could have been more unfair, and more directly opposed to his character. There was

nothing he liked so much as fighting. If they had accused him of cruelty to his men, of ungodly language, of risking the lives of his men to very little purpose, he would probably have been condemned on any one or all of these charges; but unshrinking courage was perhaps the only virtue which he possessed. Tromp is usually praised for the defeat of D'Oquendo in the Downs in 1639, but there is no doubt that this battle would never have taken place but for De With. It came about in this wise. You will remember that the great Armada was expected. Tromp with his squadron was cruising in front of Dunkerque; De With was over on the English coast, when Captain de Groot came to him at midnight with an order from Tromp to join him immediately, as the Spanish fleet was in sight. De With asked what the Admiral was doing.

'I do not think he means to fight,' said the Captain. 'He held a council of war this afternoon; but he would give no advice, left the chair, and told the captains that they must make it out amongst themselves, adding that if we fight the enemy we are sure to be destroyed, and if we go away we will be received at home as scoundrels.'

When De With heard this he got into a fury. The idea of retiring when the enemy was in sight seemed to him something impossible. He made all sail at once, and came up with Tromp's fleet early in the morning. No

sooner had he got on board than he began blowing up the Admiral for his hesitation. Tromp shrugged his shoulders and looked miserable, for, being a cautious man, he never forgot that if he were defeated there was no other fleet to protect the coasts. But De With would have nothing to do with these scruples. He only knew two things-that the enemy was in front of him, and that he must fight him. 'We are in for it now,' he said; 'we can do nothing else but live and die as faithful servants of the State. Let us fly no longer, but attack the enemy.' 'But we can't,' said Tromp. Look at them; they are ten times as strong as we are,' and so saying he pointed to D'Oquendo's fleet, which covered the sea for miles. But De With didn't care. He knew only one thing a man-of-war should do, and that was to fight. 'I had rather get my neck broken by these Spaniards,' he added, than by the mob when we come back, without firing a shot.' Having spoken in this fashion for some time, Tromp at last gave in. At that solemn hour all differences were forgotten; they shook hands, and drank a glass of wine together in the cabin, while they settled the plan of battle. De With having gone back to his ship, singled out that part of the Spanish fleet which was densest, and where the largest number of great ships were lying close together. Thither he steered with his squadron of small vessels, and ran right into the midst of them. More than once he was surrounded by five large galleons, who directed their fire upon him from all sides, he sailing in be