with any thing painful, or very humiliating, in the recalling. At my father's table (no very splendid one) was to be found, every Saturday, the mysterious figure of an aged gentleman, clothed in neat black, of a sad yet comely appearance. His deportment was of the essence of gravity; his words few or none; and I was not to make a noise in his presence. I had little inclination to have done so for my cue was to admire in silence. A particular elbow chair was appropriated to him, which was in no case to be violated. A peculiar sort of sweet pudding, which appeared on no other occasion, distinguished the days of his coming. I used to think him a prodigiously rich man. All I could make out of him was, that he and my father had been schoolfellows a world ago at Lincoln, and that he came from the Mint. The Mint I knew to be a place where all the money was coined-and I thought he was the owner of all that money. Awful ideas of the Tower twined themselves about his presence. He seemed above human infirmities and passions. A sort of melancholy grandeur invested him. From some inexplicable doom I fancied him obliged to go about in an eternal suit of mourning. A captive a stately being, let out of the Tower on Saturdays. Often have I wondered at the temerity of my father, who, in spite of an habitual general respect, which we all in common manifested towards him, would venture now and then to stand up against him in some argument, touching their youthful days. The houses of the ancient city of Lincoln are divided (as most of my readers know) between the dwellers on the hill, and in the valley. This marked distinction formed an obvious division between the boys who lived above (however brought together in a common school), and the boys whose paternal residence was on the plain; a sufficient cause of hostility in the code of these young Grotiuses. My father had been a leading Mountaineer; and would still maintain the general superiority, in skill and hardihood, of the Above Boys (his own faction), over the Below Boys (so were they called), of which party his contemporary had been a chieftain.

He

Many and hot were the skirmishes on this topic-the only one upon which the old gentleman was ever brought out-and bad blood bred; even sometimes almost to the recommencement (so I expected) of actual hostilities. But my father, who scorned to insist upon advantages, generally contrived to turn the conversation upon some adroit by-commendation of the old Minster; in the general preference of which, before all other cathedrals in the island, the dweller on the hill, and the plainborn, could meet on a conciliating level, and lay down their less important differences. Once only I saw the old gentleman really ruffled, and I remember with anguish the thought that came over me: "Perhaps he will never come here again.' had been pressed to take another plate of the viand, which I have already mentioned as the indispensable concomitant of his visits. He had refused, with a resistance amounting to rigour-when my aunt, an old Lincolnian, but who had something of this, in common with my cousin Bridget, that she would sometimes press civility out of season-uttered the following memorable application -"Do take another slice, Mr. Billet, for you do not get pudding every day." The old gentleman said nothing at the time-but he took occasion in the course of the evening, when some argument had intervened between them, to utter with an emphasis which chilled the company, and which chills me now as I write it-" Woman, you are superannuated."

John Billet did not survive long, after the digesting of this affront; but he survived long enough to assure me that peace was actually restored; and, if I remember aright, another pudding was discreetly substituted in the place of that which had occasioned the offence. He died at the Mint (Anno 1781) where he had long held, what he accounted, a comfortable independence; and with five pounds, fourteen shillings, and a penny, which were found in his escrutoire after his decease, left the world, blessing God that he had enough to bury him, and that he had never been obliged to any man for a sixpence. This was-a Poor Relation.

ELIA."

As the statements which have appeared in the public papers respecting this extraordinary man have been extremely erroneous, we give the following brief particulars of his heroic life, which may be relied upon. He was the second son of an old and respectable family, who resided at Meaford, near Stone, in Staffordshire; and his elder brother, like himself, lived to an advanced age, and was living within these few years. Without running through the events of his early years, it may be sufficient to begin at the time he was made Commander.

The first vessel he was appointed to, was the Porcupine, of fourteen guns, which he commanded in the year 1759: she belonged to the fleet under Sir Charles Saunders, and was sent with it, on the expedition against Quebec: what share personally he might have had in that brilliant and arduous enterprise is unknown; but from his character, and the similar qualities of the General who commanded the army, it is more than probable that his country owes him something upon that score. In the month of June of the next year, he was advanced to the rank of Post Captain, and appointed to the Gosport, of 44 guns, which was attached to the small fleet under Lord Colville at Newfoundland: he continued to command her till the peace of 1763. In the year 1770, he was appointed to the Alarm frigate, of 32 guns, and sent with congratulations to the Court of Naples, on the marriage of the King. It may not be unamusing to notice here, that the Alarm was the first ship in the British navy that was coppered, by way of experiment, in the year 1761. In the year 1772, the Alarm, which had suffered some damage on the rocks, sunk at her anchors in the harbour of Marseilles. This circumstance first afforded an opportunity of showing the genius and peculiar character of the The French officers, with the utmost kindness and attention, offer

man.

ed every sort of assistance to raise his vessel, which, however, with many expressions of gratitude, he declined; and calling his crew together, said, "Gentlemen, we are in a foreign port, the Intendant has voluntarily promised me any number of men I may want for the purpose of weighing the Alarm; which, however, I have declined: it is necessary here to show what we are able to do; we must weigh her ourselves." He did not deceive himself—the Alarm was actually weighed, to the admiration of every body, by her own crew alone. In the year 1776, he was appointed to the Foudroyant, of 80 guns, which he commanded for the whole of the American war; and was one of those captains who brought his ship into close action in Keppel's lame engagement, of the 27th of July, 1778, which was familiarly called by the sailors_the action of the Three Johns—from Captain Jervis, Captain Gower, and Sir John Lindsay, having principally distinguished themselves in it. On the 21st of April, 1782, while cruizing with Admiral Barrington, he fell in with Le Pegase, a French 74 gun ship, and took her single-handed in three quarters of an hour, after what the seamen call a smart action, in which he was slightly wounded.

He was in the course of the summer made a Knight of the Bath, by the late Lord Lansdowne, a minister more attentive to merit of all sorts, than any other who has held the reins of power in modern times, and who always remained his fast friend. He was again in action under Lord Howe, at the relief of Gibraltar, on the 20th of October of the same year, and again distinguished himself. On the 24th of September, 1787, he was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral, and hoisted his flag for the first time on board the Prince, of 98 guns, in the fleet commanded by Lord Howe, in what was called the Spanish armament. In the Russian armament of the following year, he

had no command. In 1793, on the breaking out of the Revolutionary war with France, he commanded, in the Boyne, of 98 guns, the naval part of the expedition which took Martinique and Guadaloupe: the attack was conducted and executed with his characteristic vigour and talent. Sir Charles Grey commanded the military. Soon after this time, Lord Hood was removed from the command of the Mediterranean fleet. He was a clever officer and a gallant man, but was remarkable for disagreeing with the military who were employed with him. He was succeeded by Admiral Hotham. There were at that time some excellent officers in the fleet; but somehow the hopes of the country, respecting it, were so sadly disappointed, that it was found absolutely necessary to send out a new commander-in-chief. Lord Spencer, who was at that time First Lord of the Admiralty, selected Sir John Jervis, who sailed out in the Lively, commanded by the present Lord Galloway, a distinguished young officer,-and joined the fleet in November, 1795, then off Toulon. Here it was that he found a fit theatre for his exertions; and it may be said of him with perfect jus tice, that no naval officer whatever has made the British name more il lustrious than he has done. He first began by making a severe reform, which was perfectly necessary, and he had the good fortune to be honestly supported at home by the Admiralty: the consequence of which was, that he created a system, which has produced a race of men whom without affectation we may call he roes, at the head of whom was Nelson, backed by Collingwood, Troubridge, Saumarez, Hood, Ball, Foley, and a crowd of others too numerous to particularize. On the 14th of February, 1797, off Cape St. Vincent, while cruizing with 15 sail of the line, he fell in with the Spanish fleet of 27 sail of the line, and brought them to close action; he succeeded in capturing four line of battle ships, two first rates, an 80 and a 74 gun ship: for this he obtained his Earldom. It was on this occasion that Nelson first had a fair opportunity of showing his great talents; for it would be an unworthy detraction from his

character not to admit that it was to his prompt decision alone that the victory was so suddenly obtained. These two great men have too much positive merit of their own, to make the share allotted to one of them a detraction from the fair fame of the other. From this time the name of Lord St. Vincent became known in every part of Europe, and he continued to command the Mediterranean fleet with unexampled success. It is perhaps his highest praise, that this very fleet of his was kept in the most perfect state of discipline and security, at a time when every other British fleet, at Spithead, the Nore, the Cape of Good Hope, the East and the West Indies, were in a state of open mutiny.

In June, 1798, the French Directory having formed extravagant notions of the importance of Egypt as a colony, sent out Bonaparte with an army of 33,000 men in a fleet of 13sail of the line from Toulon. The Government at home were so illinformed of the destination of this fleet, that their orders to Lord St. Vincent were to look to the southern coast of Europe; at the same time, expressing a little admiration at the suspicion that appeared to be enter tained by some people, of its being intended to occupy Egypt. Nelson was at that time cruizing off Sicily with three sail of the line; Lord St. Vincent sent him up ten more, under the command of Troubridge, remarking," they may say of me what they please, but I have sent a better commanded fleet under Nelson and Troubridge than ever swam upon the ocean." The Battle of Aboukir was the result. It may be something whimsical to remark, that at a subsequent period, an officer under the command of Lord St. Vincent, challenged him for appointing Nelson to this fleet instead of himself, after having in vain demanded a courtmartial upon him.

In the spring of 1799, Lord St. Vincent returned to England on account of his health, and gave up the command of the Mediterranean fleet to Lord Keith. On the 25th of April in the following year, he hoisted his flag on board the Ville de Paris, as Commander-in-chief of the Channel fleet. It may be res

marked of him, that he has made what may be considered important discoveries in that branch of the service to which he belonged. No officer ever kept his crews either in a better state of health or discipline than he did. He was the first man that showed the possibility of blockading Brest in winter, and the practicability of victualling ships at sea with fresh provisions and water, and that it was more economical as well as more salutary to his crews to victual them with fresh provisions in foreign ports. In Mr. Addington's administration, in 1801, he was made First Lord of the Admiralty, where he showed a vigour and activity wholly unexampled. He held his levees at six o'clock in the morning, and before sunset received a telegraphic dispatch to assure him of the safe arrival of his captains on board their respective ships. The fate of that administration is well known, and with it he went out of place: it is said, however, that before he quitted office, he expressed himself to some of his associates, whom he suspected of treachery to the minister, in terms which are not forgotten even at the present hour. In the short Whig administration which came into power on Mr. Pitt's death, he accepted the command of the Channel fleet; which he resigned upon the change that took place in the following April; after which he never accepted any command. Our limits will not admit of our enlarging further on the public services of this extraordinary man, to whom his country is so much indebted. It was not his fate to meet with many opportunities of fighting the enemies of his country, but he never was in action without

distinguishing himself: the enthusiasm and enterprise he excited in his fleet were beyond all example; as were also his attention and activity. It was his good fortune to find officers like himself of first rate talent. When he commanded the Foudroyant, hẹ had for his lieutenants two young men of the names of Lloyd and Nicholls: the former, though he had no opportunity of distinguishing himself before the public, was held in the highest estimation by all who had the happiness of being acquainted with him: it was no small honour to him that he was probably one of the very first persons who excited an interest against the slave trade; and from his abhorrence of oppression of every kind, he took a very active part with Captain Sutton, against the persecution he underwent from his superior officer, Commodore Johnstone. He afterwards commanded the Foudroyant, just before the peace of 1783, which was the only ship, with the exception of Captain Byron's, at that time at Spithead, which did not mutiny-he was equally remarkable for his humanity to his men, for the strength of his understanding, and the tenderness, lightness, and vivacity of his wit. Nicholls has since been made a Knight of the Bath: he commanded the Royal Sovereign in the action of the 1st of June, under Lord Howe, and obtained a medal for his services that day; he afterwards commanded the Marlborough, was Captain of the Baltic fleet under Sir Charles Pole, and was for a short time Comptroller of the Navy. He was also a Commissioner of Inquiry into Naval Abuses; and it is believed, that the tenth Report, which formed the groundwork of Lord Melville's

impeachment, was drawn up by him.*

To return to Lord St. Vincent; in private life he was a most lively companion, and every thing he said or did partook of the native vigour of his mind. He was active beyond all example, always up by three or four o'clock in the morning, almost to the last he was a highly accomplished man, with a good breeding that never left him, except that he sometimes thought it necessary to put it off when the exigencies of the ser

:

vice required it: he was a warm admirer of Mr. Fox; and the very last vote that was given by him was last year in favour of the Catholic claims. He married the daughter of Sir Thomas Parker in the year 1783. He never had any children: his Countess died in the year 1816. We are aware that he requires other pens and other publications to do him justice, but we cannot refuse ourselves the pleasure of paying this small tribute to his memory.

1.

2.

3.

4.

C.