Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 49.djvu/418

 at a skirmish before La Basse. At the siege of La Basse he received a shot in the head, which obliged him to leave the army for a time, and led him to return to St. Germains (ib. iii. 245). The king had by this time forgiven the prince his offences in 1645. ‘Since I saw you,’ he wrote to Rupert in September 1647, ‘all your actions have more than confirmed the good opinion I have of you. Next my children I shall have most care of you, and shall take the first opportunity either to employ you or have your company’ (, iii. 248). At the exiled court, however, Rupert met his old opponent, Lord Digby, and a challenge passed (October 1647); but mutual explanations and the intervention of the queen prevented a duel (, Original Letters, i. 153; Contemporary History of Affairs in Ireland, 1641–52, i. 731). In March 1648, however, he fought another of his adversaries, Lord Percy, whom he wounded, ‘the prince being as skilful with his weapon as valiant’ (Hamilton Papers, p. 178).

In June 1648 Rupert accompanied Prince Charles in his journey to Holland, and sailed with the prince and the revolted ships to fight the Earl of Warwick's fleet (, iii. 251). He was desirous of attending Prince Charles in his proposed expedition to Scotland, but the prince's council were against it; and Lauderdale, on behalf of the Scottish leaders, demanded that Charles should not bring with him one ‘against whom both kingdoms have so just cause of exception’ (Hamilton Papers, pp. 219, 234). Rupert wished to use the fleet to attack the Kentish ports, or to attempt something against Carisbrooke Castle, or to attack the Portsmouth fleet before it joined the Earl of Warwick. The failure of these designs he attributed partly to the supposed cowardice of Sir William Batten, who was the real commander of the prince's fleet, partly to the influence of Lord Colepeper. Rupert had old grudges against Colepeper, which were industriously cultivated by Attorney-general Herbert, and their mutual animosity distracted the council of Prince Charles. They quarrelled openly at the council-table; Colepeper challenged Prince Rupert, and was assaulted in the streets of The Hague by one of Rupert's dependents (, Rebellion, xi. 32, 63, 83, 128). In December 1648 it was resolved that the fleet should be sent to Ireland to assist the Marquis of Ormonde, and Prince Rupert was appointed to command it, in spite of the fear that he would not ‘live with that amity towards the Marquis of Ormonde as was necessary for the public service.’ In his ‘History,’ Clarendon attributes the appointment to Rupert's successful intrigues to obtain it, but in his correspondence he praises him for preserving and reorganising the fleet; in both he represents Rupert as the only possible choice for the post (ib. xi. 142, 149; Clarendon State Papers, ii. 467;, iii. 261–278).

On 11 Jan. 1649 Rupert sailed from Helvoetsluys with eight ships, and arrived at Kinsale about the end of the month. During his voyage, and after his arrival in Ireland, he captured a considerable number of prizes, the profits of which helped to maintain the fleet and to support the court of Charles II. He also relieved the Scilly Isles, the headquarters of royalist privateers, which Sir John Grenville was holding for the king (ib. iii. 289). But he gave Ormonde no effectual aid in the reconquest of Ireland, though urged by him to assist the land forces by blockading Dublin or Derry, and his correspondence with Antrim, Owen Roe O'Neill [q. v.], and other opponents of Ormonde caused new difficulties to the lord-lieutenant (, Life of Ormonde, iii. 438, ed. 1851). In the summer Blake, with the parliamentary fleet, blockaded Kinsale, reducing Rupert to great straits; but in October a gale drove Blake off shore, and Rupert escaped to sea with seven ships (, iii. 281–98;, iii. 459, 482). It had been intended that the prince should convey Charles II from Jersey to Ireland, but the king had now resolved to make terms with the Scots instead (, Charles II in the Channel Islands, ii. 345, 357, 374). Rupert accordingly cruised off the Straits of Gibraltar and the coast of Portugal, capturing all the English merchantmen he could meet. The king of Portugal, John IV, promised him protection, and allowed him to sell his prizes and refit his ships at Lisbon during the winter. On 10 March 1650 a parliamentary fleet under Blake appeared in Cascaes Bay at the mouth of the Tagus, denounced Rupert as a pirate, and demanded the surrender of his prizes. Meeting in the end with a refusal, Blake blockaded the river. Rupert attempted to blow up one of Blake's vessels with an explosive machine, and twice, on 26 July and on 7 Sept., made abortive endeavours to break out, which Blake frustrated. Finally Blake's capture of a portion of the Brazil fleet (14 Sept.) made the Portuguese anxious to be rid of their guest, and during Blake's absence at Cadiz Rupert once more put to sea (12 Oct. 1650). Entering the Mediterranean with a squadron of six ships, he sailed along the Spanish coast, capturing and destroying English