The Ship
Royal Prince, Carrying One Hundred Guns, In Which He Was, And Which
Was Under Him, Commanded By Sir
Edward Spragg, was burnt, and
several other ships lost, and about six hundred seamen; part of
those killed in the
Fight were, as I was told, brought on shore
here and buried in the churchyard of this town, as others also were
at Ipswich.
At this town in particular, and so at all the towns on this coast,
from Orfordness to Yarmouth, is the ordinary place where our summer
friends the swallows first land when they come to visit us; and
here they may be said to embark for their return, when they go back
into warmer climates; and as I think the following remark, though
of so trifling a circumstance, may be both instructing as well as
diverting, it may be very proper in this place. The case is this;
I was some years before at this place, at the latter end of the
year, viz., about the beginning of October, and lodging in a house
that looked into the churchyard, I observed in the evening, an
unusual multitude of birds sitting on the leads of the church.
Curiosity led me to go nearer to see what they were, and I found
they were all swallows; that there was such an infinite number that
they covered the whole roof of the church, and of several houses
near, and perhaps might of more houses which I did not see. This
led me to inquire of a grave gentleman whom I saw near me, what the
meaning was of such a prodigious multitude of swallows sitting
there. "Oh, sir," says he, turning towards the sea, "you may see
the reason; the wind is off sea." I did not seem fully informed by
that expression, so he goes on, "I perceive, sir," says he, "you
are a stranger to it; you must then understand first, that this is
the season of the year when the swallows, their food here failing,
begin to leave us, and return to the country, wherever it be, from
whence I suppose they came; and this being the nearest to the coast
of Holland, they come here to embark" (this he said smiling a
little); "and now, sir," says he, "the weather being too calm or
the wind contrary, they are waiting for a gale, for they are all
wind-bound."
This was more evident to me, when in the morning I found the wind
had come about to the north-west in the night, and there was not
one swallow to be seen of near a million, which I believe was there
the night before.
How those creatures know that this part of the Island of Great
Britain is the way to their home, or the way that they are to go;
that this very point is the nearest cut over, or even that the
nearest cut is best for them, that we must leave to the naturalists
to determine, who insist upon it that brutes cannot think.
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