Memoir of the Life and Services of Vice-Admiral Sir Jahleel Brenton, Baronet, K.C.B.
History
Memoir of the Life and Services of Vice-Admiral Sir Jahleel Brenton, Baronet, K.C.B.
Admirals -- Great Britain -- Biography; Brenton, Jahleel, Sir, 1770-1844; Great Britain -- History, Naval -- 19th century
I am not anxious to describe the subject of my narrative, in the form in
which he was known and honoured by the world; but in that in which he was
known to those who lived with him, and served with him; to his family and
his friends; to the men who shared his hardships and dangers, as well as
his successes and triumphs. I am not attempting to represent him as the
man of courage, enterprise and decision, formed for the hour of peril
and contest, fitted to lead and direct the energies of his service, and
carrying every heart with him, from the enthusiasm which his example
inspired; but I am desirous to shew that those qualities, for which the
world would easily give him credit, were united with elements of which
the world knew little, and perhaps thought less; but which had their
effect in forming the general character of the man, and made him what he
was in the different relations of life. I feel it due to him, and still
more to those who may be profited by his example, to trace the peculiar
qualities of his character to their source, and to shew the principles
from which they flowed; so that if there be in his life any thing lovely
and of good report; and this there is no one who ever knew him that can
doubt; it may be referred to its proper cause, and be ascribed to that,
which he himself knew, and felt to be the origin.
It will be my aim, therefore, in these pages, chiefly to dwell on those
features of mind, which though seen by few and observed by few, gave to
his whole character its peculiar dignity and grace. I shall endeavour to
shew, that the courage and enterprise, the firmness and self-resource
which rendered him while he lived the ornament of his profession, were
accompanied by qualities, not generally found in combination with these,
but which enhanced their value, and contributed to their excellence; with
patience, with meekness, with the tenderest consideration for others,
and the most unbounded benevolence. I wish to shew, that the brilliancy
of his public life was equalled by the purity and correctness of his
private life: that he was as amiable in every domestic relation, as he
was admirable in all official duties: and still knew how to keep the
warmth of his affections, in such subordination, that the call which
summoned him from that home, where all his happiness was centered, was
obeyed without a question or a doubt, whenever the interests of his
country and the service required it. Above all, I wish to shew, that the
secret, but the only cause of this unusual combination of qualities, not
often found in his profession, and sometimes considered as incompatible
with it; was that instinctive subjection of the heart to God, which
growing as he grew, and gaining strength and expansion by the trials of
his life, raised him from the state of a conscientious and upright man,
to that of a mature and confirmed Christian; which sustained him under
the various difficulties and burdens of his lot, by teaching him to
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