nd inhabitants which
rent the air resounded throughout the bay! Here, indeed, was a triumph
for our hero, who, only a week before, had been towed in from
Algeziras with his crippled and defeated squadron, with the loss of a
ship of the line; but now entering victorious with the same squadron,
reinforced, it is true, by the Superb, but diminished by the loss of
the Hannibal, while the disabled state of the Pompee had prevented
her leaving Gibraltar; after having engaged and defeated an enemy of
more than double his force, and having burnt two of their first-rates,
and taken from them a ship of the line.

"From the nature of the attack and retreat, there was not much hard
fighting on this occasion, and consequently little opportunity for any
display of that valour and skill which is so constantly manifested in
severe actions. The Superb and Venerable had the greatest, and almost
the only share. But the conduct of the Admiral, I will venture to say,
when all the circumstances are taken into consideration, must be
deemed fully equal to anything that has adorned the pages of England's
naval history. Instead of the recklessness of despair, to which some
might have attributed an attack with crippled ships against a force
every way so greatly superior, he manifested a calm and resolute
determination. His intentions were expressed with so much clearness
that, as I have already observed, signals were rendered unnecessary.
He waited with much patience and firmness for the enemy to bear up,
which would place them in a situation the least favourable for
resisting a simultaneous attack upon any portion of their squadron.

"When the governor, the garrison, and the inhabitants of Gibraltar,
who had passed the night with painful anxiety beheld the approach of
the victorious squadron, their joy and exultation knew no bounds.
Even the wounded at the hospitals, when they heard of the glorious
success which had attended their brethren in arms, raising their
stumps, joined in the general burst of acclamation. On the arrival of
the Caesar, the royal standard was hoisted, twenty-one guns were fired
at the King's Bastion, and the whole of this noble fortress was
brilliantly illuminated in honour of the victory."

After the termination of this contest,--a contest which may be said to
have lasted seven days, in which two battles had been fought under
peculiar disadvantages, and which ended in adding another brilliant
ray to the naval glory of