r which he
had received from Captain Nelson, highly creditable to Lieutenant
Harrison, a transport agent; as well as to Mr. William Harrington,
master of the Willington, and the transports men; who were all anxiously
eager to serve on shore, or on board his majesty's ships, mentions
having taken possession of the Melpomene and Mignonne frigates: the
former, one of the finest ever built in France, carrying forty guns; the
other, only thirty-two. Captain Cunningham, charged with these
dispatches, who had been three months cruizing off Calvi, with infinite
diligence, and perseverance, under many difficulties, is recommended as
an officer of great merit, and highly deserving any favour that can be
shewn him.

Without wishing to detract from the merits of Captain Cunningham, it may
certainly be contended that he had not, during the time mentioned,
surpassed Captain Nelson, who receives no such decided praise, nor any
positive recommendation whatever.

These observations are drawn from the face of the public dispatches,
compared with a knowledge of the services and character of Captain
Nelson, as they were at that time manifesting themselves to all who
knew him.

His conspicuous merits, it should seem, were growing too conspicuous;
the power of his rising splendour, it might begin to be feared, would
too powerfully eclipse that which was getting into the wane; and,
therefore, though praise could not be entirely denied, it was by no
means to be lavishly bestowed. This is ever the cold and cautious
sentiment of mean and mercenary minds: it sometimes creeps into the
bosoms of even the liberal and the brave. In the former, it begets a
fixed principle of action; from the latter, it is generally soon
expelled by a little dispassionate reflection. It is like the last
struggle of age, contending against a conviction of the superior vigour
of youth: which, by a good parent, is often unwillingly relinquished, in
even corporeal considerations; scarcely ever, willingly, in those of
intellect.

Without meaning to hazard any particular application of these ideas,
there is good reason to think that he began now to be an object of
considerable attraction. His power, though still abundantly too confined
for his ability, had been in some degree extended; and his services
were, in consequence, so numerous and great, that he well merited
recommendation to an enlarged sphere of action.

That he thought himself slighted, is beyond a possibi