“The man of whom a concise account is now about to be given, in every respect, whether we consider his talents, his virtues, or his fortunes, merits a more circumstantial detail, and a better biographer. His father was a very respectable tradesman in a provincial town, where he arrived at honours, bestowed only on the most eminent and most opulent citizens. However, from some cause or other, when he died, his property was found inadequate to the maintenance of a son and a daughter. The son was destined for the law, and placed with an eminent attorney, but soon becoming tired of the drudgery of the desk, he went into the army; and the daughter was taken under the protection of a wealthy family, from which she afterwards happily married. The person of whom we are speaking had a commission in the Marines, and was in all Lord Rodney’s celebrated battles. He has been heard to describe with extraordinary pathos and effect, as the sublimest spectacle, and at the same time the most terrible, he ever witnessed, the blowing up of the seventy-four Spanish ship in the battle with Don Langara, in the Bay of Gibraltar. He served as Lieutenant under Captain Macbride, in the Bienfaisant. A detachment from this ship was employed to take possession of the Spanish Admiral Langara. Langara was pleased with the courtesy and gallantry of this young man, and an acquaintance, indeed friendship, took place, of which he reaped the advantage almost twenty years afterwards. He was, when on some military service, taken prisoner in the Mediterranean, and brought to Langara, who immediately recognized his quondam acquaintance, and offered him every indulgence in his power. The Englishman requested that his papers might be preserved without injury, which his official situation rendered highly important The request was not only complied with, but after treating him with the greatest kindness and hospitality, Langara gave him his release. Finding, that in spite of all his activity and exertions, promotion in the department of the Marines was very tardy and very precarious, he quitted this line of service. He afterwards went to the West Indies with General Bruce, as his Secretary. His gentle and conciliating manners made friends wherever he went, and he was recommended by General Bruce to his relative Lord Elgin, who was then English Minister at the Court of Brussels. On coming over to England with dispatches, he was, in an evil hour to him, introduced to the patronage of a very great man; from which patronage flowed all the troubled waters in which he was ever afterwards immersed, and finally sunk.