e custom-house
officers. The tidings of this strange incident reached Madrid, and the
King of Spain, Charles the Second, sent for the English captain,
received him with great honour, and wrote a letter on his behalf to our
King James the Second, who on his return to England gave him a ship.
This was his introduction to the British Navy, in which he served with
distinction in the reigns of William the Third and Queen Anne. But his
obscure origin is the point here under notice, and the following
traditional anecdote is preserved in Shropshire:--When a boy he was left
in charge of the house by his mother, who went out marketing. The
desire to go to sea, long cherished, was irresistible. He stole forth,
locking the cottage door after him, and hung the key on a hook in a tree
in the garden. Many years passed before he returned to the old place.
Though now out of his reach, for the tree had grown faster than he, the
key still hung on the hook. He left it there; and there it remained
when he came back as Rear-Admiral of the _White_. He then pointed it
out to his friends, and told the story. Once more his country required
his services, but his fame and the echo of his victories alone came over
the wave. The good town of Shrewsbury is proud to claim him as a son,
and remembers the key, hung by the banks of the Severn, near Benbow
House. Whatever basis of truth the story may have, its being told and
believed attests the fact of the humble birth and origin of Admiral
Benbow.

Another sailor boy, Hopson, in the early part of last century, rose to
be Admiral in the British Navy. Born at Bonchurch in the Isle of Wight,
of humblest parentage, he was left an orphan, and apprenticed by the
parish to a tailor. While sitting one day alone on the shop-board, he
was struck by the sight of the squadron coming round Dunnose. Instantly
quitting his work, he ran to the shore, jumped into a boat, and rowed
for the Admiral's ship. Taken on board, he entered as a volunteer.

Next morning the English fleet fell in with a French squadron, and a
warm action ensued. Young Hopson obeyed every order with the utmost
alacrity; but after two or three hours' fighting he became impatient,
and asked what they were fighting for. The sailors explained to him
that they must fire away, and the fight go on, till the white rag at the
enemy's mast-head was struck. Getting this information, his resolution
was formed, and he exclaimed, "Oh, if that's