noyed at the loss which it had occasioned to them, dismissed him their service, and I, for what reason I could not well divine, shared the same fate. To do them justice, however, they paid me my arrears in full; and, as a trifle of my former stock yet remained, I was enabled by means of this two-fold fund to spend some weeks in the capital of British India very agreeably.

Ashore-life at that period was not, however, to my mind, and the heat of the climate oppressed me. I was glad, therefore, when an opportunity offered of taking service in the General Coote, a large East Indiaman, which with many more was preparing to set out for England. This was in 1795, after the war of the French Revolution had broken out, and at a time when the French navy was as yet formidable, so that merchant-vessels never put to sea except in large fleets, and under the convoy of one man-of-war or more. On the present occasion we mustered at least twenty sail, including the Lion, sixty-four; the Samson, fifty; and the Argo, of forty-four guns; and our progress was, as in convoys it necessarily must be, in the highest degree unsatisfactory; for the rate of going is determined by that which the slowest sailer in the fleet can keep up; and every night we are made to close in, lest amid the darkness we might either separate or be cut off by an enemy's cruiser. Yet the passage, though tedious, was not in any other respect disagreeable. No accident befell, no bad weather overtook us, but with the same sails and spars as when we stood out of the Ganges, and without being two miles away from our reckoning, we came to an anchor in the Downs. You may perhaps ask, - what was there in this to interest me? I had no friends nor relations in Deal, nor, as far as I knew, throughout the length and breadth of England; yet was I just as eager as those about me to tread once more the soil of my native land; for a sailor always makes friends where he may not have previously made them, and a lark ashore is to him a joy inexpressible. But this time I was not destined to be a participator in that: my old acquaintances, the press-gang, paid us a visit before yet the ship had swung to her anchor, and I had again the satisfaction of being told that the King stood in need of my services.

I was put on board of a frigate,—unless my memory has failed me quite, the Caroline,- a new ship, as yet imperfectly manned, and which the captain was making every effort to get ready for sea. He accomplished his purpose towards the end of January 1796, and some day in the beginning of the following month we stood down Channel. By and by, Cape St. Vincent bearing to the northward of us, we discovered several sail of ships in the offing, which proved, as indeed the captain expected them, to be a portion of Sir John Jarvis's fleet, to whom his orders directed him to attach himself. I think it was on the 6th of February that this junction was effected, from which date up to the 13th we kept beating up against a headwind, the ships narrowly escaping at times coming into collision during the darkness, and at least, in a single instance, running foul of one another. This was in the night of the 12th, when the Colossus and Culloden, both seventy-fours, came together with such violence, that the latter, as seen in the grey light of dawn, appeared a perfect wreck. But a noble fellow, Captain Troubridge, had the command of her, and a gallant crew obeyed his orders, which were issued so promptly, and so cheerfully and skilfully acted upon, as very soon to

put all the damage to rights. It really seems to me, now when I look back upon those times, that there was nothing attainable by human skill and activity which British seamen could not accomplish. Though the knees and cheeks of the Culloden's head, her head-rails, larboard cat-head, bowsprit-cap, bumpkin, jib-boom, and fore-topgallant mast were entirely carried away, and her bowsprit itself badly sprung, her ship's company, with the rough materials at their disposal, had in a few hours so trimmed her up again, that before the sun went down she was reported fit for service. I don't think anybody that saw that sight will ever be able to forget it.

We were steering at this time towards Cape St. Vincent, in the hope, as was generally understood, of falling in with the Spanish fleet, which, to the number of twenty-five or thirty sail of the line, was expected to pass from Barcelona to Cadiz, and ultimately to Brest. It will scarcely be forgotten that, at the period of which I am speaking, the French, having failed in an attempt to invade Ireland, were meditating a still bolder enterprise, the invasion of England herself. Accordingly, all the disposable marine of her allies, of the Spaniards in particular, and of the Dutch, was directed to join itself to the national fleet in Brest; by which means it was expected that such a superiority of force would be got together, as must effectually sweep the narrow seas, and lay the shores of England open. It was Admiral Jarvis's business to interrupt this arrangement if he could, and history has recorded how well he accomplished his object. Our fleet soon after it had been joined by five sail from the Channel, numbered only fifteen ships of the line, with four frigates, two sloops, and a little bit of a cutter called the Fox. Yet we held our course as boldly as if we had been seeking to engage an inferior enemy, and our sole regret from hour to hour was, that we could not discover them. At last on the 13th, the look-out ships made signal of an enemy approaching. Before the sun went down we had all cleared and made ready for action, and after dark guns were distinctly heard at a distance, which we were not slow to conjecture betokened the vicinity of the Spaniards. We accordingly kept well together, the admiral having so directed us, as a precaution against a sudden attack; and the ship's company lying down at their quarters, we took such sleep as in such a situation even British sailors may be expected to take.

There was some communication made about an hour after midnight to the admiral, by a Portuguese frigate which hailed him. We did not know at the moment what it implied; but the dawn of day enlightened us on that head, for it exhibited the Spanish fleet steering in loose and careless array towards Cadiz. They seemed at the same time to discover us, and a good deal of maneuvering took place, of the details of which I shall not be expected to give an account, even if my memory served me to do so, which it will not. I must content myself, therefore, with stating, that Admiral Jarvis, observing a great gap in the enemy's line, signalled his fleet to throw themselves upon it, so as, by engaging the Spaniards in detail, to reduce the battle to something like an equality; for it must not be forgotten that the Spaniards mustered in all twenty-five sail of the line,-one of one hundred and thirty, six of one hundred and twelve, two of eighty guns, and all the rest seventy-fours; whereas, out of our fifteen, there were but six which exceeded seventy-fours, and

one, namely, the Diadem, which fell short of that rating. So also in his frigate force Admiral Cordova far surpassed us, not fewer than eleven, with a brig, attending his fleet. But when did your hearts of oak care for odds. On we steered, ship after ship shooting ahead, in the most beautiful order, till we had lodged ourselves exactly where old Jarvis wished, and then to it we set, hammer and tongs.

What need is there for me to tell the tale of the great battle of Cape St. Vincent? What could I say about it, — except that the roar of cannon was ceaseless, and that the winds became hushed, and the sea calm, by reason of the violence of the mortal men who braved them. It was somewhere about half-past eleven in the forenoon when the first broadside was fired. I think, too, that the Culloden opened the ball; and if so, the gallant Troubridge had double reason to congratulate himself that the damage which he sustained in the collision on the 12th was by his crew so lightly thought of. But, however this may be, the action thus commenced raged with indescribable fury till near four in the afternoon. It was to no purpose that the Spaniards strove to rectify the error into which carelessness had led them at the outset, and from which Admiral Jarvis gave them no opportunity to escape. They could not, with all their efforts, bring their fleet together; so that, though numerically superior to us, almost as much as two to one, we contrived in every instance to bring against them a power, both of guns and men, at least equal to their own. This I may venture to say in reference to the science of the battle, and as to the deeds of personal heroism wrought, in an affair which saw Nelson carry, by boarding, first the San Nicholas, and then the San Josef from her decks, surely I may be excused from dwelling upon them. I can only say that, as far as my own observation went, every man in the fleet did his duty. But what were we of the Caroline about all this while? A frigate, as I need hardly state, is never brought into the line except in the last extremity, and we with our consorts were directed to keep aloof, but to be ready, wherever our presence might be needed, as well to receive the prizes as to afford succour to the larger ships, should they be overmatched. For a while we obeyed these orders literally; but an enemy's frigate happening to come in our way, we could not resist the temptation of engaging her, and to it we fell,-on our parts with hearty good will, and on the part of the Spaniard with a manifest disposition not to accept our favours without returning them. We had a tough fight for it; and, on the whole, a fair one, inasmuch as the ships, in point both of guns and tonnage, appeared to be pretty equally matched; and our loss in killed and wounded, as well as the damage done to our masts and rigging, proved that our adversaries were not to be cowed by trifles. We took her in the end;- she struck her colours after a very gallant resistance; and we congratulated one another on the result. There followed immediately a signal of reconcentration, the enemy having got together about seventeen sail, with which they threatened us, and in the confusion our prize, I am sorry to say, gave us the slip. This was the more tantalising that, when the condition of the several ships came to be inquired into, we were found to have sustained such damage, as to render a visit to some dock-yard necessary; we were therefore ordered to Malta, regretting only this, that the fruits of our hard knocking should not have gone with us.

SOME PASSAGES IN THE

LITERARY LIFE OF OLINTHUS JENKINSON,

BARRISTER-AT-LAW.

LET not those who are about to stand to me in the light of father confessors take exception in limine at the title I have chosen, nor affect surprise that there should be such things as Literary Passages in the Life of a Barrister-at-Law: consider for a moment " Brougham and Vaux simple avocat." Think of that, Master Brook. What a host is in that little sentence! Parliamentary speeches, decisions in chancery, Edinburgh Reviews, penny magazines-a motley band, like an Indian army, formidable by numerical strength. "Nomen multitudinis singulare quandoque verbo plurali jungitur, ut" I forget the example; but let that pass. Literary passages have existed in the life of Lord Brougham; but Lord Brougham was a barrister, therefore literary passages may exist in the life of a barrister, Q.E.D. Poor, poor Logic! In good truth, my brethren are a sad set; women cannot abide 'em, for they are very ill-favoured rough things; but there is much fun and merriment existing under that same long robe and wig. Good father confessor, as Alfred Tennison shrewdly observes when he wishes to know why man is man, and churches have steeples and not chimney-pots, and why the converse is true of dwelling-houses; will you have the kindness to riddle me— - riddle me-riddle me this: "Why law and hair have always gone together from the times of Egypt downwards?" Ah! good father, if you were but behind the curtain, and could see the dishes and wine-pots put out of sight under cover of a thundering " De profundis," you would wonder less and laugh more. Sure am I, that I, Olinthus Jenkinson, simple gentleman, as here I stand, know as little of the law of conveyancing, or, indeed, of any other kind of law; as the old lady on Dartmoor of what was what, when she took the Pharisees of Scripture for the fairies-es of her own pixie-haunted moors.

Some fifteen years ago I have a twilight recollection of having acted as junior counsel in some complicated cause, Heaven knows what it was about, but I am quite certain that I never did. This piece of legal service-which was about as important as christening a baby over in Kensington or Hoxton, or administering a round dose of salts to the paupers in one of the new union workhouses, might be to the other learned professions-was the only one on which I was ever engaged. Indeed, all my life I have been given to lying-in bed, as a délassement, and doing nothing as an occupation. Of how many busy people might the same be said with truth! But, despite of this, there has always been about me a kind of a sort of,-ambition I can scarcely call it, but great desire or appetite to see some of mine own lucubrations in print; not as desiring the praise of men, and all that kind of thing; for I should have preferred the anonymous or fictitious style, the "A. Z.," or "Heinsius Redivivus," or "Constant Reader," according as my contributions had been received by the Times Newspaper, or Classical Journal. Then would I have glutted over the darling lines, the offspring of my brain, a poor thing, sir, but all mine own; the hard earnings in the savings' bank; the

VOL. V.

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schoolboy's first watch that will go; the freshman's first wine party; the physicians first fee; the piece of bride's-cake under the maiden's pillow that has passed through the ring; the only son of his mother, and she a widow. No such luck was mine; regularly were my articles sent to the various magazines, cooked up in as many forms as Messrs. Ude and Jarrin could serve up a mushroom - regularly were they rejected. Like the man who, when asked if he had seen George the Fourth? answered "No! not exactly; but I know a gentleman who once very narrowly missed seeing the Duke of York." I remember once upon a time to have written antiquarian notes on a novel for a friend, who laid his scene in Norway. But, after many pros, and cons., and many trials of many bibliopolists, the poor thing was left to die a natural death, and my hopes with it; so that, unless I had advertised for an imaginary dog, or printed handbills as touching a watch that had never been lost, both of which proceedings I imagined to be beneath the dignity of my profession,- I, Olinthus Jenkinson, must have died without leaving one lasting lesson of wisdom, or glowing with the consciousness of having done some good in my generation.

But, I have bethought myself that, if I cannot prove a beacon. light to posterity, I may at least act in the light of a buoy; if my compilations cannot be made useful as models to go by, "they may at least serve as landmarks to be avoided." For many years I had abstained from the futile attempt of sending my children to the various boarding-schools now so well filled with other men's offspring; so that, on meeting some little time back with them (like the first five chapters of Waverley,) in the bowels of an old desk, I read and looked, looked and read - looked and read again. Could these, indeed, be they? "Long temps d'imposteur j'ai traité ce moi-même." O mole-eyed generation! had the trial been permitted me, what instruction, what amusement, might have flowed from these same yellow pieces of paper on a benighted world! One last attempt will I make to show what I might have done, had it not been for the malignant envy of certain people whom I forbear to name. The world shall judge between me and those who would have let my name go down to ages yet unborn-unwept and unhonoured. There was a melancholy sort of pleasure, a funereal joy, and undertaker-ish satisfaction in the reading of these old papers.

Good father, have you ever written that which in your inmost soul you believed to surpass all that had ever been written of the kind before? have you ever sent this for publication anonymously or ipsonominally? Have you known what it is to walk erect above your fellows, with the secret consciousness that now you have done it; smiling internally at those pretty jokes of your own familiar friend, with whom so lately you took sweet counsel? Have you waited for the first day of the month with the sort of nervous delight which a small boy feels when with trembling hand he extends the lighted match to let off his penny-artillery,-"Now-now! O Bill! there, you've shoved the priming off!"? Have you, I say, thus waited for the first day of the month? Have you known what it is to walk into your little sitting-room every morning with a frantic glare at the breakfast table, to see if the pass-ticket into Elysium, the lottery-prize, has yet arrived ;-" Ha! here it is at last!-square folded, and a wafer ;-from one of the clerks, I suppose."-You tear

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