he found in the fort to be nailed up; and then,
setting fire to those houses which were most windward, he collected his
men and marched towards the beach, where the boats waited to carry them
off. And the part of the beach where he intended to embark being an open
place without the town, the Spaniards on the hill, perceiving he was
retreating, resolved to try if they could not precipitate his departure.
For this purpose a small squadron of their horse, consisting of about
sixty, picked out as I suppose for this service, marched down the hill
with much seeming resolution; so that, had we not been prepossessed with
a juster opinion of their prowess, we might have suspected that, now we
were on the open beach with no advantage of situation, they would
certainly have charged us. But we presumed (and we were not mistaken)
that this was mere ostentation; for, notwithstanding the pomp and parade
they advanced with, Mr. Brett had no sooner ordered his men to halt and
face about, but the enemy stopped their career and never dared to advance
a step farther.

Our detachment under Lieutenant Brett having safely joined the squadron,
the Commodore prepared to leave the place the same evening.

ENGLISH HUMANITY.

There remains, before I take leave of this place, another particularity
to be mentioned, which, on account of the great honour which our national
character in those parts has thence received, and the reputation which
our Commodore in particular has thereby acquired, merits a distinct and
circumstantial discussion. It has been already related that all the
prisoners taken by us in our preceding prizes were put on shore and
discharged at this place; amongst which there were some persons of
considerable distinction, particularly a youth of about seventeen years
of age, son of the Vice-President of the Council of Chili. As the
barbarity of the buccaneers, and the artful use the ecclesiastics had
made of it, had filled the natives of those countries with the most
terrible ideas of the English cruelty, we always found our prisoners at
their first coming on board us, to be extremely dejected and under great
horror and anxiety. In particular, this youth whom I last mentioned,
having never been from home before, lamented his captivity in the most
moving manner, regretting in very plaintive terms his parents, his
brothers, his sisters, and his native country, of all which he was fully
persuaded he had taken his last farewell, believi