f
the chief and patron, because his position requires it.

His temper was warm, the common failing of quick and active minds. No
one was more conscious of it than himself; and where he feared it had
given pain, he would labour to remove the impression by marked and
continued attentions. In the multiplicity of cares and duties which
surround a commander-in-chief, there are so many sources of irritation
and disappointment, that it is no wonder the mind should sometimes be
brought to that extreme point of endurance, when a small additional
annoyance destroys its equanimity.

The service in the Mediterranean was one of multiplied details,
individually too unimportant for history, yet calculated to influence
materially the progress and result of the war. Along the eastern coast
of Spain, the support and co-operation of the ships afforded that
encouragement to the inhabitants which in the western provinces they
derived from the presence of the British army. Even when the fortresses
had fallen, and Spain had no longer a force for a rallying point in that
part of the country, the guerillas, acting in concert with the fleet,
were enabled to perform exploits which alarmed and distressed the
invader, and kept alive the spirit of hope and resolution. Along the
shores of Italy and France, the most daring and brilliant enterprises
were continually achieved. Batteries and forts were stormed in open day,
and prizes, sometimes in whole convoys, carried off from anchorages
where they seemed to be unassailable. Looking at the evident danger of
such attempts, one is astonished at the constant success which attended
them, and at the generally inconsiderable loss sustained. It would be
unjust to the courage of the enemy, and still more to that of the
gallant officers and men who performed such services, not to state the
cause of this impunity and success. It was not that the defences on
shore were feebly maintained, or that their defenders were surprised and
overpowered by the reckless desperation of the assailants; but that the
different boat attacks were planned with a judgment, and supported by a
force, which prevented effectual resistance. Officers such as Hoste,
Gordon, Rowley, Maxwell, Duncan, Ussher, and indeed all, for no
commander ever placed more general and deserved confidence in his
officers than Sir Edward Pellew, were not men to send away their people
on doubtful and desperate services. The Admiral himself, much as he
admired