name of Captain Edward Cooke was cherished, or his fate lamented. There was a modesty in his private conduct, a humanity in his principles, and a moderation in the use he always made of authority, such as no one fellow-countryman can refuse to praise, though not all may choose to imitate. It was always his care to abstain, as much as possible, from making mere money prizes, from a sense of the distress which must accrue from such acts to the innocent individuals thereby ransacked of fortune. The manner, too, in which he treated prisoners, was liberal in the extreme: withholding them under restraint for as short a time as possible, he entertained them during the interval with ceremonious hospitality; and, at the moment of their liberation, declined to exact a parole, as he held it dishonourable to incapacitate any man from serving his country. In fine, upon the strength of such statements, it is not too much to aver, that his kind and brave feelings could only be balanced by one another, and his gentleness be equalled by his fortitude. 297 SIR EYRE COOTE, K. B. In the north cross aisle of Westminster Abbey, and immediately behind the lofty monument to Lord Robert Manners, and Captains Bayne and Blair,-stands a marble tribute to the memory of Sir Eyre Coote. It was executed by Banks, and, as is usual with the works of almost all our artists, the chief detraction from its merits is an allegorical design. In the centre is a trophy of armour, piled up against a palm-tree; on the left, Victory is personified in the act of hanging a portrait of the general from the tree; and on the right, a Mahratta captive appears doubled in grief. His hand leans upon an inverted cornucopia, the contents of which are falling upon a shield, traced with the arms of Great Britain. This figure has been much admired, and certainly, for attitude and expression, it deserves all the praise it has received-it is a very happy performance. The locality of the scene is indicated by the elephant beneath. The workmanship of this monument is correct and masterly, but it bears an air of nakedness and insufficiency, because the centre, comprising the tree and armour, wants both bulk and size. The inscription runs thus: This Monument is erected by As a memorial of the military talents of who, By the success of his arms in MDCCLX. and MDCCLXI., Expelled the French from the coast of Coromandel. In MDCCLXXXI. and MDCCLXXXII. He again took the field in the Carnatic, In opposition to the united strength of the French and Hyder Ally; And in several engagements Defeated the numerous forces of the latter; Eyre, the son of Chidley Coote, by Jane, sister of George, Lord Carteret, and a lineal descendant from that ancient Irish family which was raised to the Earldom of Mountrath, in consideration of the eminent services rendered to the cause of Charles I. by Sir Charles Coote, Bart.—was born in Ireland, during the year 1726. Adopting the profession of arms, he was attached to the royal troops who were employed to quell the Scotch rebellion in 1745, and nine years afterwards accompanied his regiment to the East Indies. In that country he obtained a captaincy during the year 1757, and was ordered to take possession of Calcutta, upon the surrender made of that place, to the British forces co-operating with Admiral Watson. By the execution of this duty he ranked as Governor of the place, an authority in which he was almost immediately superseded, by the arrival of Colonel Clive. next assisted in the reduction of Houghley and Chandenagore; and at the memorable battle of Plassey, usurped so prominent a part, as to be considered entitled to a particular share of the honours which crowned that victory. He Towards the close of the year 1759, General Lally made an effort to revive the military fortune of France in the East, by laying siege to Trichinopoly with an army of French and con1 federate Indians. But the hopes excited by this resolute movement were momentary; Coote, now raised to the rank of colonel, collected all the forces under his command together on the coast, and invested Vandewash. Three days sufficed to reduce the place, and on the 30th of November the garrison became prisoners of war. Thence passing on with haste to Carongoly, he urged another siege with a force so diligent, that within four days after the opening of his batteries, the garrison submitted to the restraints of subjugation on the 10th of December. During this short interval, Lally called in his detachments from every quarter, and made the most vigorous dispositions for recovering a place so important as Vandewash. He was already pressing a siege with considerable spirit, and had effected a practicable breach, when Coote made his appearance to relieve the attack. The battle that ensued on the 22d of July, 1760, was the consequence of these operations. General Lally counted 2200 Europeans, and somewhat more than 9000 Blacks; Colonel Coote mustered 1700 Europeans, and only 3000 Blacks; and the contest was fierce and protracted, as the great interests at stake naturally demanded. At length the French gave way, and soon fell into a total rout; they abandoned their camp, their cannon, and all the implements employed at the siege, and left 1000 men dead and wounded upon the scene of action. Lally fled in confusion to Pondicherry, and Coote prosecuted the advantages of a victory, which reflected the highest honours upon his name and talents, with unabated enthusiasm. He took Chittiput after the lapse of only a few days, and, without allowing himself the smallest repose, marched directly upon Arcot, and commenced a fresh siege. The trenches were opened on the 5th of February 1761; on the 10th, the capital of this immense province surrendered, and upwards of 300 Europeans were made prisoners of war. Pondicherry was the next strong hold of consequence attacked: a siege of two months reduced it under the authority of Great Britain;—and with that loss the power of France was annihilated in the East. Coote was now made Governor of Fort St. George at Madras, but some differences arose between him and the local authorities, and he returned to England, high in reputation. Here the nature of his achievements was properly estimated, and promptly honoured; he was decorated with the Military Order of the Bath, and by the Directors of the East India Company presented with a sword, hilted in diamonds, and valued at 7007. A few years of easy service succeeded, and as his regiment happened to be quartered in Scotland, the ministers availed themselves of the opportunity to make him Governor of Fort St. George in that country. Thus a rank which he had resigned in the East was re-conferred upon him in the West. But he was not destined to remain long absent from the sphere of his first victories: during the year 1779, the death of General Clavering again left vacant the chief command of the British forces in the Indies, and Sir Eyre Coote, though labouring under infirmities which made the climate almost certainly fatal, was urged to accept the station. He acquiesced in the proposal, and was accordingly gazetted a Member of the Supreme Government of Bengal, and Commander-in-chief of the British Forces in the East. Scarcely had he arrived at the seat of his authority, when Hyder Ally invaded the Carnatic, and he was obliged to hasten down to the coast of Coromandel with all the strength he could muster. In the month of July 1781, a battle took place at Porto Novo, between the troops thus drawn together, in which he struck the first blow of any great moment against the might of his rival, by giving an utter defeat to 150,000 men, with a chosen band amounting to no more than 10,000. The operations of 1782 began under very unpromising appearances: the French availed themselves of the signal power and great talents of Hyder Ally to regain a footing in India, and a band of Frenchmen under General Lally, took the field in concert with that mighty prince. Sir Eyre Coote met with unusual obstacles in advancing his troops from Madras, and found himself so much crippled, that he was obliged to address a complaint to the minister in England, for the purpose of confirming that full authority naturally incidental to the station in which he stood. This embarrassment was soon after augmented, by the utter defeat of a gallant detachment under Colonel Braithwaite, on the banks of the Coleroon. The particulars of this action are not so directly relevant to the subject of these pages, as to warrant any description here of the bravery with which it was fought, the obstinacy with which it was maintained, or the slaughter with which it was won; but it is impossible to allude to an event so singular, without some tribute of praise to that fortitude which enabled 2000 men, wedged in a hollow square, and only strengthened by 13 pieces of cannon, to resist the charges of 20,400 able troops, during an unremitted attack of six-and-twenty hours. Such were the unfortunate circumstances which now prompted the energy, and quickened the movements, of Sir Eyre Coote. Vandywash, so often the place of attack, again formed the point most exposed to danger, but the bare protection of a place so |