the blue on the 3d of October.

A ludicrous circumstance occurred in the instance of a favourite
officer, Mr Bayntun, who had applied for permission to join Sir John.
Bayntun received in answer the following decisive note: "Sir, your
having thought fit to take to yourself a wife, you are to look for no
further attention from your humble servant, J. JERVIS." It happened
that Bayntun was a bachelor, and he instantly wrote an exculpatory
letter, denying that he had been guilty of so formidable a charge. The
mistake arose from a misdirection in two notes which the admiral had
written on the same subject. He had left them to Lady Jervis to
direct, and she had addressed them to the wrong persons. The
consequence, however, was, that Bayntun received the appointment, and
the married man the refusal. This inveteracy against married officers
seems strange in one who had committed the same crime himself; yet he
constantly persisted in calling officers who married moon-struck, and
appears at all times to have regarded matrimony in the service as
little short of personal ruin.

On the passage out, a curious circumstance occurred to the Zebra
frigate, under command of the gallant Robert Faulknor. The Zebra,
which had been separated from the rest of the squadron, saw one
evening a ship on the horizon. All sail was made in chase, and the
ship was discovered to be a twenty-eight gun frigate. All contrivances
were adopted to induce her to show her colours, but without success.
At length Faulknor, impatient of delay, and disregarding the disparity
of force, closed upon her, and jumped on board at the head of his men.
To his astonishment he found that she was a Dutch frigate, quietly
pursuing her way; and as Holland was at peace with England, equally
unexpecting and unprepared for an attack. This instance of apathy
night have procured her a broadside; but luckily the affair finished
with the shaking of hands.

On the 5th of February the expedition reached Martinique. On the 18th
of March Fort Lewis was stormed, General Rochambeau capitulated, and
Martinique was taken, St Lucie followed, the Saintes next fell, and
the final conquest was Guadaloupe. Thus in three months the capture of
the French islands was complete.

But an enemy more formidable than the sword was now to be encountered.
The yellow fever began its ravages. The troops perished in such
numbers, that the regiments were reduced to skeletons; and just at the
moment when the