WILLIAM DAMPIER.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—Referring to the fact of Dampier's marriage having been overlooked in a recently published sketch of the great navigator's life, I would mention that it is given with some detail in an admirable little work by Mr. Markham, entitled "The Sea Fathers" (Cassell and Co., 1884). It is therein stated, at p. 170, that during a brief sojourn of only six months in England in 1678, Dampier, then twenty-six years old, married a young person in the household of Lady Isabella Bennet, only child of the Earl of Arlington, and afterwards Duchess of Grafton. It is further stated, at p. 179, that previous to 1691 he appears to have lost his wife, brother, and all his near relations, and to have been quite alone in the world.
In Miss Isabel Dampier's most interesting communication to your issue of January 11th, that lady gives the date of W. Dampier's marriage as 1673, two years before Markham's, and adds that he died March, 1715, at St. Stephen's, London. This last is a most valuable piece of information, for Mr. Markham (p. 186) says :—" Dampier was in his sixtieth year
when he returned from his last voyage in 1711. But from that date he is entirely lost to us. We do not know either the date or place of his death. A diligent search might lead to its dis- covery, and the memory of a seaman whose life-history is the heritage of Englishmen, should inspire some zeal in this
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