he law must
condemn such risings, humanity would pity them for the cause, and
justice must admire the forbearance displayed in them. At one of these
seasons of distress, when there was a great quantity of corn in the
customhouse cellars at Falmouth, a strong body of miners came in to
insist that it should be sold. Mr. Pellew, the collector, met them in
the street, and explained to them the circumstances under which he was
entrusted with it, and which left him no power to sell. They were
famishing men, and the corn was in their power; but they had come to
buy, and famine itself, with the almost certainty of impunity, could not
tempt them to steal. They received his explanation, and left the town
peaceably.

About eighty miners entered for the _Nymphe_ and joined her at Spithead.
She sailed on her passage from Spithead to Falmouth very badly manned,
having not more than a dozen seamen on board, exclusive of the officers,
who were obliged to go aloft to reef and furl the sails, the captain
setting the example wherever anything was to be done, and often steering
the ship. A corporal of marines was captain of the forecastle. Arriving
at Falmouth, after a rough passage, she soon picked up a few good men.
She took a convoy from thence to the Nore, another from the Nore to
Hamburgh, and a third from Cuxhaven to the Nore again; never letting
slip an opportunity to press as many men as could be spared from the
merchant-ships. The captain would remain in a boat all night, and think
himself amply repaid if he obtained only one good man. From the Nore,
she returned to Spithead, and thence sailed on a cruize, in company with
the _Venus_, Captain Jonathan Faulknor, having now a full proportion of
good seamen, though she was still short of her complement, and none of
the crew had ever seen a shot fired. She parted company with the _Venus_
in chase, but rejoined her on the 29th of May. On the 27th, the _Venus_
had engaged the French frigate _Semillante_, one of a squadron then
cruizing in the Channel under the orders of Captain Mullon, of the
_Cleopatra_. The action had continued two hours, much to the
disadvantage of the enemy, when the _Cleopatra_ was seen coming up, and
the _Venus_ was obliged to fly. On the _Nymphe_ rejoining her, the two
frigates went in pursuit of the enemy as far as Cherbourg. Thence
Captain Pellew proceeded to the North Channel, where some French
cruisers were reported to have gone; but having swept the Channel