Isaac Brock, the eighth son, was born in the parish of St. Peter-Port, Guernsey, on the 6th of October, 1769, the year which gave birth to Napoleon and Wellington. In his boyhood he was, like his brothers, unusually tall, robust, and precocious, and, with an appearance much beyond his age, remarkable chiefly for extreme gentleness. In his eleventh year he was sent to school at Southampton, and his education was concluded by his being placed for a twelvemonth under a French Protestant clergyman at Rotterdam, for the purpose of learning the French language. His eldest brother, John, a lieutenant in the 8th, the King's, regiment, being promoted to a company by purchase, Isaac succeeded, also by purchase, to the ensigncy which consequently became vacant in that regiment, and to which he was appointed on the 2d of March, 1785, soon after he had completed his fifteenth year. He joined in England, and was quartered there in different places for a few years. Having entered the army at so early an age, he happily felt sensible of his deficiencies of education, and for a long period he devoted his leisure mornings to study, locking the door of his room until one o'clock, to prevent intrusion. In 1790 he was promoted to a lieutenantcy, and was quartered in Guernsey and Jersey. At the close of that year he obtained an independent company, by raising the requisite number of men to complete it, and was put on half pay. He exchanged soon after, by giving the difference, into the 49th, which regiment he joined at Barbadoes, in 1791, and he remained doing duty there, and afterwards at Jamaica, until 1793, when he was compelled to return very suddenly to England on sick leave, having nearly fallen a victim to the pestilential effects of the climate, and an immediate embarkation being pronounced his only chance of recovery. His first cousin, Lieutenant Henry Brock, of the 13th foot, who was ill at the same time at Jamaica, died of the fever; and the survivor always thought that he was indebted for his life to the affectionate attentions of his servant, Dobson, whom he subsequently ever treated with the kindness of a brother, until he died in his service shortly before himself, in Canada. The mention of the following trait of great determination of character may serve as a guide to other young officers, similarly circumstanced. When Captain Brock joined the 49th, the peace of the regiment was disturbed by one of those vile pests of society--a confirmed duellist. Captain Brock soon proved to his brother captain, who took advantage of being a dead shot, that he was neither to be bullied nor intimidated, and the consequence was a challenge from the latter, which was promptly accepted. On the ground, Captain Brock, who was very tall and athletic, observed that to stand at twelve paces was not to meet his antagonist on any thing like equal terms, and, producing a handkerchief, insisted on firing across it. This