addressing British officers—whom he always treated with great courtesy and hospitality—spoke with a broad Scotch accent, and sometimes entertained them with a relation of his own stirring adventures. He was unpopular at times, as great politicians sometimes are. Blaquiere says (1813), “Poor Peter was no longer an object of consideration with any party.” During the stay of Captain Lyon at Tripoli in 1818, Peter was in banishment, but the consul and chief people gave him an excellent character. Later, however, he again rose into confidence, for when Captain Beechey was there in 1821, Mourad Reis was much considered by his Highness, and acted as interpreter on the occasion of the Captain’s audience with his Highness the Bashaw. He also proved of great service to Captain W. H. Smyth, R.N. On the fall of the Bashaw—Yusuf Karamanli—he retreated to Sfax in Tunis, since which his fate is uncertain. When in the zenith of his power and greatness he paid occasional visits to Gibraltar. On entering the bay, he always fired a salute of four guns in honour of his uncle, serjeant Blyth, whom he treated with marked respect. This practice, however, he at length discontinued, owing to a shot, fired by mistake from one of his guns, having struck the wall of a ramp just above Hargrave’s Parade whilst he was paying his relative the usual affectionate compliment. ----- Footnote 27: Finch joined the company on the 21st October, 1782, at the request of the Duke of Richmond, in whose service he had been employed at Goodwood. Anxious to secure him for the company, his Grace promised not only to make him a sergeant at once, but to give him a written protection to preserve to him as long as he remained, irrespective of his conduct, the pay of that rank. Under these circumstances Finch accepted the protective credential, enlisted, and sailed with Lord Hood for the Rock. Holding such a charter, it was not to be wondered at if he sometimes overstepped the line of prudence. Not by any means particular in his appearance, nor scrupulous in his conduct or habits, he was not unfrequently brought before his officers; but no matter how flagrant his offence, the only punishment that could be awarded to him was suspension for a month or two from rank, but not from pay. Captain Evelegh, of the engineers, finding that Finch was becoming rather troublesome, and his sentences of but little effect, endeavoured to obtain the Duke’s warrant from its possessor, but he refused to surrender it, observing to the captain, “If you get hold of it, good-bye to my rank and pay.” Finch, however, was a first-rate carpenter and foreman, and these qualifications more than counterbalanced his occasional delinquencies. He was discharged from the corps on the 13th April, 1802. ----- Footnote 28: