28th of September following, commanded in chief at the disastrous reembarkation of the troops at St. Cas, after a repulse before St. Maloes, where Major-generals Drury and Sir John Armitage were killed, five naval captains made prisoners, with eight hundred and eighty-two private soldiers, mostly the flower of the British army. Great as was this misfortune, by the concurrent testimony of all the brave men present, it must have been much more lamentable, but for the inflexible courage of the gallant commodore, who, when the strong nerves of the seamen advancing in their boats were evidently affected by the overwhelming fire of the enemy, seeing nothing but ruin or dreadful slaughter to the unfortunate troops collected on the shore, if they were then deserted, personally advanced in his barge to their relief, and, placing himself in the most conspicuous attitude, undauntedly led the way, through the thickest of the slaughter, bringing off all whom it was possible to save; and thus establishing for himself that character for inflexible courage, which attended him to the grave.

On the memorable 20th of November, in the year 1759, Commodore, then become Lord Howe by the death of his elder brother, killed before Ticonderago, acted a most distinguished and gallant part, as captain of the Magnanime, when Admiral Sir Edward Hawke gained his great and glorious victory over the French fleet under M. de Conflans off Quiberon Bay, where six ships of the line were lost by the enemy. When Admiral Hawke afterwards presented Lord Howe to the king, his majesty was pleased to say, "Your life, my lord, has been one continued series of services to your country.” Having been afterwards appointed a Lord of the Admiralty, and Treasurer of the Navy, in 1770 he was promoted to be Rear-Admiral and Commanderin-Chief on the coast of America. In 1782 he effected the relief of Gibraltar, and had a slight engagement with the superior combined fleet of France and Spain, off the Straits, and in the following year was made First Lord of the Admiralty. In 1793 his lordship accepted the command of the Channel fleet, at a time when that command comprised much which was of great and even vital importance to the country. The frenzy of new-born liberty in France was then at its acme. Their legions, animated by a spirit to them so novel and so buoyant, had triumphed over the best troops, and the most venerated military tactics of Europe. Already conquerors of armies, they aspired to be the vanquishers of fleets, impelled at once by the desire of extending revolution to England, and of relieving the pressure of a scarcity which almost amounted to a famine in the land. Vast supplies of grain, it was now known, were on their way to the ports of France; America had opened her abundant stores, and the seas were covered with their returning ships. Filled with these united hopes and projects, the Commitee of Public Safety had sent forth a fleet of twenty-six ships of the line, commanded by Admiral Villaret Joyeuse, acting under the control of Jean Bon St. Andre, a member of the Convention, invested with powers similar to those granted the commissioners with the armies; and it was this fleet that Admiral Lord Howe, with about the same number of ships, had so long anxiously pursued. 'It was on the 28th of May, 1794, that the enemy's fleet was first discovered by the British advanced frigates, about one hundred and

forty leagues to the westward of Ushant, and on the same evening was bravely attacked by an advanced squadron under Rear-Admiral Paisley, the result of which was, that the Audacious of 74 guns bore away for a British port, and the Revolutionnaire of 110, dismasted, steered for Brest, while by a singular chance, L'Audacieux, a 74 gunship, supplied her place in the French line. On the following day Lord Howe, displeased with the conduct of his leading ship, seized the first opportunity of breaking himself through the enemy's line, which was accomplished without producing any material effect, except obtaining the weather-gage. During the 30th and part of the 31st, both fleets were kept in a state of extreme anxiety, from their vicinity to each other during a thick fog; and on the morning of the memorable 1st of June, were drawn up in order of battle, each fleet consisting of twenty-five ships of the line, the British to windward and the French standing under an easy sail, waiting for the bearing down of their opponents; among whom some time was necessarily consumed in making such transpositions of the three-deckers, as were suited to the nature of the purposed attack, ship to ship, or every ship closely to engage her antagonist. But scarcely were these arrangements com. pleted, before a signal was made by the admiral, which diffused general satisfaction throughout the fleet, and is worthy of particular notice. Officers of a naturally intrepid spirit, absorbed by the duties of their high commands, are not always sufficiently attentive to the wants of those who have neither responsibility, nor the hope of exalted glory to animate them, during the awful stillnes which usually precedes a great battle; and therefore are sometimes deficient in the manifestation of that generous concern for the feelings of the thousands about them, which, when displayed at such a moment, elicits a spirit little short of absolute devotion for the glory of their chief. And in this instance, perhaps, men in general will have a difficulty in conceiving the high tone of satisfaction produced along the whole British line, by a signal simply purporting, there will be time to breakfast before the battle begins. It was not, as may be easily imagined, the cessation from immediate toil, proclaimed by the signal, that gave rise to this high satisfaction; neither was it the gratification arising from so necessary a meal at such a time; and still less was it any fears arising for the consequences of the approaching conflict, that made every deck resound with expressions of joy; but it was, simply, a pleasing conviction striking home at once to the bosom of every individual in arms, that, amidst all the important duties of command, his wants and his comforts were never absent from the noble mind of the commander-inchief.

The man who eats his solitary meal at an unusual hour, preparatory to a great mortal struggle for victory, will naturally be disposed to reflect, that the refreshment he is then taking may possibly be his last, and in proportion as reflection prevails, the cheering visions of conquest and laurels will gradually fade away. But there is a something so peculiarly animating, in great associations of men engaged in the same glorious cause, and attended by the consciousness that fifteen or perhaps twenty thousand brethren in arms are similarly employed, that, without taking into account the inspiriting effects of those bursts

of heroism, with which every great assemblage of warriors naturally abounds, it is ardently to be wished that something similar to such a repast as that described should precede every great struggle for glory; and now that telegraphic communications are established, it might always be excellent policy in the commander-in-chief, to communicate his own heroic sentiments to the heart of his fleet, by some energetic words of battle, or some such noble sentiment as preceded that mighty conflict where the immortal Nelson fell:

r

England expects every man to do his duty."

But, be this as it may, in the present instance full time having been allowed for that meal which was to be the last of so many of the combatants, about half past seven, the whole British fleet, by signal, bore down, every division steering for its opponent, and, under a heavy fire from the enemy, mixed with shouts of Vive la liberté, each ship calmly proceeded to take her allotted station to windward, or, in preference, to leeward, wherever she was able to pierce through the hostile line.

The Queen Charlotte, a first rate, bearing the flag of Lord Howe, had, from the moment of displaying the signal, sternly kept on her silent course for the Montagne, a much loftier ship, bearing the flag of the French commander-in-chief, and, in breaking through the enemy's line, had passed so close to her antagonist, that the tri-coloured flag actually waved over the British bulwarks, as they poured in their first broadside into her stern, which was done with so deadly a precision, that in a single instant the decks of the Montagne were covered with wounded or slain; and it appears that, about the same time, the battle became general along the whole extent of the hostile lines. The Queen Charlotte, after this dreadful opening, having taken her station close to leeward, very soon discomfited her lofty antagonist, and after a short contention, the French commander-in-chief, with the Jacobine of 74 guns, was seen bearing away from the contest, followed by all the ships able to make sail, some of which were partially and others totally dismasted, having recourse to their spritsails to effect their escape. The glorious results of this great day were seven ships left by the enemy, and among them the Vengeur, which sunk, when not more than two hundred and eighty of her men had been saved.

'With the six remaining trophies, Lord Howe and part of his victorious fleet proceeded to Spithead, and on the 26th of the same month, their majesties dined and held a levee on board the Queen Charlotte, presenting his lordship with a diamond hilted sword valued at three thousand guineas, and a gold chain to be worn round the neck, with a medal appended, which had been struck to commemorate the victory. 'The thanks of Parliament were unanimously voted for this great and seasonable triumph. Suitable pensions, honours, and medals were granted to the principal officers; and the liberality of the public was nobly displayed in subscriptions for the widows and orphans of the brave men who had suffered or fallen. Among the slain was Captain Montague of the Montague, and among the mortally wounded Captains Harvey and Hutt, of the Brunswick and Queen; less dangerously, Admirals Graves and Pasley, with the Captains Berkley and Douglas.

"In the captured ships were 690 killed, with 580 wounded, exclusive of those lost in the Vengeur.

'British loss, 281 killed, 788 wounded.

About two years afterwards, Lord Howe succeeded to the high station of admiral of the fleet, and in the following year, 1797, was honoured with the order of the garter.

In 1799 this great man deceased.

'On the 28th day of March, in the fifty-sixth year of the reign of his late Majesty, 1815, this noble ship, the Howe, of 120 guns, was launched at Chatham, in the presence of 20,000 spectators.'

The following instance of enterprise and endurance will show that those qualities are of no recent appearance in British seamen :

'It appears that in the third year of Henry VIII., the northern seas were much infested by the enterprises of a Scots seaman, Sir Andrew Breton, or Barton, who, with two ships, one named Lion, and the other the Jenny Perwin, under pretence of letters of reprisals granted him against the Portugeuse, by James III. King of Scotland, took ships of all natlons. On complaint of these grievances to the privy council of England, the father of the illustrious Howards, then Earl of Surrey, and afterwards Duke of Norfolk, declared that the narrow seas should not be so infested, while he had estate enough to furnish a ship, or a son capable of commanding one. The consequence of this was, that his two gallant sons, Sir Thomas and Sir Edward Howard, sailed soon afterwards in two ships, in quest of the pirates, and having been separated at sea, Sir Thomas in his ship brought Sir Andrew Barton in the Lion to action, and after a long and desperate conflict, forced him to surrender, though not before the gallant Scot had fallen among the slain, piping cheers on his whistle with his last breath.* About the same time, Sir Edward had taken the Lion's consort, the Jenny Perwin, and both these prizes, with all the men left alive, amounting to 150, entered the river Thames on the 2d day of August, 1511.

We must be allowed to insert the following specimen of eloquence, which must have been perfectly irresistible. It was a sort of advertisement for hands on board the Leander-a vessel fitted for the purpose of encountering the ships which the Americans called frigates.

"LEANDER! Who would enter for small craft, when the Leander, the finest frigate in the world, with a good spar deck over head to keep you dry, warm, and comfortable, and a lower deck like a barn, where you may play at leap-frog when the hammocks are hung up; has still room for a hundred active seamen, and a dozen stout lads for royal yards men. This whacking double-banked frigate is fitting at Woolwich, to be flag-ship on the fine, healthy, full-bellied Halifax station, where you may get a bushel of potatoes for a shilling, a codfish for a biscuit, and a glass of boatswain's grog for two-pence. The

*That which is now the boatswain's pipe or whistle was, in its origin, an indispensable instrument of command, in the hands of captains of ships of war, and is described as a most honorable insignia of office, worn by the Lord High Admiral, made of gold, and appended to a chain of the same metal passed round the neck.'

officers' cabins are building on the main deck, on purpose to give every two a double birth below. Lots of leave on shore; dancing and fiddling aboard, and four pounds of tobacco served out every month. A few strapping fellows who would eat an enemy alive are wanted for Admiral's bargemen.'

The chief merit of this work is, that the information which it contains is so condensed, that it is suited to make an impression upon the memories of men who are too constantly occupied to think much: it is a sort of naval bob-short, and will be at once useful and amusing to seamen of all descriptions.

KONINGSMARKE, THE LONG FINNE,

A STORY OF THE NEW WORLD.

WE cannot help looking with great anxiety at the progress of literature in America, and we feel some pride when we observe the steps which it has recently taken towards distinction. While the same language continues to be spoken in both countries, and similar tempers, habits, modes of thinking and acting, continue to prevail, as they do at present, it will be totally impossible to distinguish between the literature of America and of England. Its productions are interchanged between the nations, unaffected by, and superior to, commercial restrictions; and, notwithstanding the jealousy which, although in some degree subsided, exists to a large extent on almost every other subject, the people of both countries agree, as they ought and must do, to admire the literary works of each other, and to avail themselves of the advantages which they may mutually afford. What person, unless he possessed some previous knowledge of the fact, could tell, upon reading the greater and the better part of Mr. Irving's works, that he was not an Englishman? It is as notorious that his writings have had a certain beneficial effect upon the literature of the day in both nations, as that those of the author of Waverley have also produced the same result. The works of Mr. Cooper, the author of The Spy and The Pioneers, are only inferior to those of Mr. Irving among American authors; and it may reasonably be inferred that they would never have been written but for the novels of the Great Unknown. The anonymous author before us appears to be one of those easy writers, who, with no originality either of style or sentiment, can happily catch the graces of other authors, and yet not incur the charge of plagiarism; so that his tale resembles, in some degree, the works of the three writers we have mentioned, and yet is no otherwise indebted to them than men in general are for those accomplishments, that sçavoir vivre, which they acquire by the observation and society of persons of wit and breeding. Although we cannot but rank him inferior to all three, he is well entitled to bear them company; if he is never very original, he is always very amusing; and, although not entitled to take the lead, he makes an excellent second. We congratulate our transatlantic friends (if we may yet call them so) upon his appearance, and ourselves upon the good taste and good sense which has caused its republication in England.

Premising only that the style of Koningsmarke will be found very closely to resemble that of Knickerbocker's History of New York, we proceed to illustrate that fact, and to introduce the hero. The scene lies in the town of Elsingburgh, a Swedish settlement on the western bank of