hey are splendid examples of virtue, indeed, but of a virtue in
which most Englishmen can claim a moderate share; and what we admire in
their lives is a sort of apotheosis of ourselves. Almost everybody in
our land, except humanitarians and a few persons whose youth has been
depressed by exceptionally aesthetic surroundings, can understand and
sympathise with an admiral or a prize-fighter. I do not wish to bracket
Benbow and Tom Cribb; but, depend upon it, they are practically
bracketed for admiration in the minds of many frequenters of ale-houses.
If you told them about Germanicus and the eagles, or Regulus going back
to Carthage, they would very likely fall asleep; but tell them about
Harry Pearce and Jem Belcher, or about Nelson and the Nile, and they put
down their pipes to listen. I have by me a copy of "Boxiana," on the
fly-leaves of which a youthful member of the fancy kept a chronicle of
remarkable events and an obituary of great men. Here we find piously
chronicled the demise of jockeys, watermen, and pugilists--Johnny Moore,
of the Liverpool Prize Ring; Tom Spring, aged fifty-six; "Pierce Egan,
senior, writer of 'Boxiana' and other sporting works"--and among all
these, the Duke of Wellington! If Benbow had lived in the time of this
annalist, do you suppose his name would not have been added to the
glorious roll? In short, we do not all feel warmly towards Wesley or
Laud, we cannot all take pleasure in "Paradise Lost"; but there are
certain common sentiments and touches of nature by which the whole
nation is made to feel kinship. A little while ago everybody, from
Hazlitt and John Wilson down to the imbecile creature who scribbled his
register on the fly-leaves of "Boxiana," felt a more or less shamefaced
satisfaction in the exploits of prize-fighters. And the exploits of the
Admirals are popular to the same degree and tell in all ranks of
society. Their sayings and doings stir English blood like the sound of a
trumpet; and if the Indian Empire, the trade of London, and all the
outward and visible ensigns of our greatness should pass away, we should
still leave behind us a durable monument of what we were in these
sayings and doings of the English Admirals.

Duncan, lying off the Texel with his own flagship, the _Venerable_, and
only one other vessel, heard that the whole Dutch fleet was putting to
sea. He told Captain Hotham to anchor alongside of him in the narrowest
part of the channel, and fight his vessel t