fifty sail had been mauling them for fifteen hours, the
_Admiral of the Hulks_ and the _Ascension_ of Seville had both gone down
alongside, and two other vessels had taken refuge on shore in a sinking
state. In Hawke's words, "they had taken a great deal of drubbing." The
captain and crew thought they had done about enough; but Greenville was
not of this opinion; he gave orders to the master-gunner, whom he knew
to be a fellow after his own stamp, to scuttle the _Revenge_ where she
lay. The others, who were not mortally wounded like the Admiral,
interfered with some decision, locked the master-gunner in his cabin,
after having deprived him of his sword, for he manifested an intention
to kill himself if he were not to sink the ship; and sent to the
Spaniards to demand terms. These were granted. The second or third day
after, Greenville died of his wounds aboard the Spanish flagship,
leaving his contempt upon the "traitors and dogs" who had not chosen to
do as he did and engage fifty vessels, well found and fully manned, with
six inferior craft ravaged by sickness and short of stores. He at
least, he said, had done his duty, as he was bound to do, and looked for
everlasting fame.

Some one said to me the other day that they considered this story to be
of a pestilent example. I am not inclined to imagine we shall ever be
put into any practical difficulty from a superfluity of Greenvilles. And
besides, I demur to the opinion. The worth of such actions is not a
thing to be decided in a quaver of sensibility or a flush of righteous
common-sense. The man who wished to make the ballads of his country
coveted a small matter compared to what Richard Greenville accomplished.
I wonder how many people have been inspired by this mad story, and how
many battles have been actually won for England in the spirit thus
engendered. It is only with a measure of habitual foolhardiness that you
can be sure, in the common run of men, of courage on a reasonable
occasion. An army or a fleet, if it is not led by quixotic fancies, will
not be led far by terror of the Provost-Marshal. Even German warfare, in
addition to maps and telegraphs, is not above employing the "Wacht am
Rhein." Nor is it only in the profession of arms that such stories may
do good to a man. In this desperate and gleeful fighting, whether it is
Greenville or Benbow, Hawke or Nelson, who flies his colours in the
ship, we see men brought to the test and giving proof of what we c