The Tide was then running in pretty strong: However, my Feet in the Fall touching Ground, gave me an opportunity to recover my self a little; at which Time I catch'd fast hold of a Buoy, which was plac'd over an Anchor on one of the Ships there riding: I held fast, till the Tide rising stronger and stronger threw me off my Feet; which gave an Opportunity to the poor Fellow, our Lanthorn-bearer, to lay hold of one of my Legs, by which he held as fast as I by the Buoy. We had lain thus lovingly at Hull together, strugling with the increasing Tide, which, well for us, did not break my hold (for if it had, the Ships which lay breast a breast had certainly sucked us under) when several on the Bridge, who saw us fall, brought others with Ropes and Lights to our Assistance; and especially my Brother Officer, who had been Accessary as well as Spectator of our Calamity; tho' at last a very small Portion of our Deliverance fell to his share.
As soon as I could feel a Rope, I quitted my hold of the Buoy; but my poor Drag at my Heels would not on any account quit his hold of my Leg. And as it was next to an Impossibility, in that Posture to draw us up the Bridge to save both, if either of us, we must still have perished, had not the Alarm brought off a Boat or two to our Succour, who took us in.
I was carry'd as fast as possible, to a neighbouring House hard by, where they took immediate care to make a good Fire; and where I had not been long before our intended Host, the Master of the Ship, came in very much concern'd, and blaming us for not hailing the Vessel, before we made an Attempt to enter. For, says he, the very Night before, my Vessel was robb'd; and that Plank and Rope were a Trap design'd for the Thieves, if they came again; not imagining that Men in an honest way would have come on board without asking Questions. Like the wise Men of this World, I hereupon began to form Resolutions against a Thing, which was never again likely to happen; and to draw inferences of Instruction from an Accident, that had not so much as a Moral for its Foundation.
One Day after this, partly out of Business, and partly out of Curiosity, I went to see the Mint here, and having taken notice to one of the Officers, that there was a difference in the Impress of their Crown Pieces, one having at the bottom the Impress of a Cow, and the other none:
"Sir," reply'd that Officer, "you are much in the right in your Observation. Those that have the Cow, were not coin'd here, but at Paw, the chief City of Navarr; where they enjoy the Privilege of a Mint, as well as we. And Tradition tells," says he, "that the Reason of that Addition to the Impress was this: A certain King of Navarr (when it was a Kingdom distinct from that of France) looking out of a Window of the Palace, spy'd a Cow, with her Calf standing aside her, attack'd by a Lyon, which had got loose out of his Menagery. The Lyon strove to get the young Calf into his Paw; the Cow bravely defended her Charge; and so well, that the Lyon at last, tir'd and weary, withdrew, and left her Mistress of the Field of Battle; and her young one. Ever since which, concluded that Officer, by Order of that King, the Cow is plac'd at the bottom of the Impress of all the Money there coined."
Whether or no my Relator guess'd at the Moral, or whether it was Fact, I dare not determine; But to me it seem'd apparent, that it was no otherways intended, than as an emblematical Fable to cover, and preserve the Memory of the Deliverance of Henry the Fourth, then the young King of Navarr, at that eternally ignominious Slaughter, the Massacre of Paris. Many Historians, their own as well as others, agree, that the House of Guise had levell'd the Malice of their Design at that great Prince. They knew him to be the lawful Heir; but as they knew him bred, what they call'd a Hugonot, Barbarity and Injustice was easily conceal'd under the Cloak of Religion, and the Good of Mother Church, under the veil of Ambition, was held sufficient to postpone the Laws of God and Man. Some of those Historians have deliver'd it as Matter of Fact, that the Conspirators, in searching after that young King, press'd into the very Apartments of the Queen his Mother; who having, at the Toll of the Bell, and Cries of the Murder'd, taken the Alarm, on hearing 'em coming, plac'd her self in her Chair, and cover'd the young King her Son with her Farthingale, till they were gone. By which means she found an opportunity to convey him to a Place of more Safety; and so preserv'd him from those bloody Murderers, and in them from the Paw of the Lyon. This was only a private Reflection of my own at that Time; but I think carries so great a Face of Probability, that I can see no present Reason to reject it. And to have sought after better Information from the Officer of the Mint, had been to sacrifice my Discretion to my Curiosity.
While I stay'd at Bayonne, the Princess Ursini came thither, attended by some of the King of Spain's Guards. She had been to drink the Waters of some famous Spaw in the Neighbourhood, the Name of which has now slipt my Memory. She was most splendidly entertain'd by the Queen Dowager of Spain; and the Mareschal de Montrevel no less signaliz'd himself in his Reception of that great Lady, who was at that Instant the greatest Favourite in the Spanish Court; tho' as I have before related, she was some Time after basely undermined by a Creature of her own advancing.
BAYONNE is esteem'd the third Emporium of Trade in all France. It was once, and remain'd long so, in the Possession of the English; of which had History been silent, the Cathedral Church had afforded evident Demonstration; being in every respect of the English Model, and quite different to any of their own way of Building in France.
PAMPELONA is the Capital City of the Spanish Navarr, supposed to have been built by Pompey. 'Tis situated in a pleasant Valley, surrounded by lofty Hills. This Town, whether famous or infamous, was the Cause of the first Institution of the Order of the Jesuits. For at the Siege of this Place Ignatius Loyola being only a private Soldier, receiv'd a shot on his Thigh, which made him uncapable of following that Profession any longer; upon which he set his Brains to work, being a subtle Man, and invented the Order of the Jesuits, which has been so troublesome to the World ever since.
At Saint Stephen near Lerida, an Action happened between the English and Spaniards, in which Major General Cunningham bravely fighting at the Head of his Men, lost his Life, being extreamly much lamented. He was a Gentleman of a great Estate, yet left it, to serve his Country; Dulce est pro Patria Mori.