Auditor of Greenwich Hospital. He was sent at a very early age to a celebrated school at Burton-upon-Trent; his whole Education was directed to the object of the Law, for which Profession his father originally intended him; he quitted this seminary when ten years old, in consequence of his father having, in conformity to his own inclination, determined to educate him for the sea service. He was rated a Midshipman about the year 1748-9, and served in that capacity on board the Gloucester, of 50 guns, the commanding Ship on the Jamaica station *. After an almost uninterrupted series of service, which, owing to the peaceable situation of public affairs, affords not sufficient interest to render a particular detail of it either necessary or amusing, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant f, and, not long afterward, selected by that admirable officer the late Sir Charles Saunders to serve on board his Ship.

He accompanied, accordingly, Sir Charles as his first Lieutenant in the expedition sent against Quebec: an expedition which, though successful in its termination, displayed, for a considerable time, nothing but a series of disappointments, and difficulties, that, had they not been combated by the utmost exertion of human ability, gallantry, and perseverance, might have proved insurmountable. He was most deservedly made Captain of the Porcupine Sloop in a few days after the Admiral got up to the North end of the Isle of Orleans. His former Commander 1, who had become intimately acquainted with the many excellent qualities he possessed, and which peculiarly fitted him to fill, with the highest honour to himself, and advantage to his country, the station of a Naval Commander, appointed him acting Captain of the Experiment, a post Ship, mounting 20 guns, during the indis position of Sir John Strachan, which event happened. two years before he was made a Commander. This temporary promotion was extremely fortunate to Mr. Jervis, who, having been ordered out on a Mediterranean cruise, had the • Bearing the broad pendant of the Honourable George Townshend. On the 19th of February 1755.

Sir C. Saunders, who proceeded to the Mediterranean at the commencement of the year 1766, as Second in command on that station,

fortune to fall in with a very large xebec trader, Moorish colours, though it was very evident the whole of her crew was French.

The superiority possessed by the enemy in point of natural force was so great, that the event of the contest would at best have been doubtful, had not that enemy been resisted, on the part of the English, by the most consummate ability, joined to the most active intrepidity. The xebec, exclusive of the advantage she derived from her low construction, particularly in smooth water and those light winds, which prevailed at the time of the attack, mounted 26 guns of very heavy calibre, besides a considerable number of large swivels or patararoes. The crew, which was nearly three times as numerous as that of the Experiment, consisted of men selected from the har. diest class of society, on whom the appellation of desperadoes might be very aptly and justly bestowed. The grand objects of their ferocious minds were rapine and plunder. Lawless in their pursuits, insatiable in their avarice, and most intemperate in what they considered their pleasures, they attempted (instead of displaying that cool and dignified conduct which, when he contends on honourable terms, excites our admira

tion even of an enemy,) to dart on their prey with the savage spirit of vultures, thirsting to satiate their voracious appetites.

The conflict, though furious, was short; determinate bravery prevailed over fury; and the assailants considered themselves extremely fortunate in not being so disabled as to prevent them from taking the advantage of a light and favourable breeze of wind, which in all probability preserved then from a discomfiture much more serious, if not a capture. Captain Jervis, having returned to England, he commanded the Unicorn by order, till the thirteenth of October, 1760, when he was promoted to the rank of Post Captain by commission appointing him to the Gosport, of 40 guns. He was present at the re-taking St. John's Newfoundland and conveyed the Trade from Virginia afterwards. He continued in the Gosport till the end of the war, very uninterestingly employed on the home service, where the lassitude with

which hostilities were permitted to linger, through the want of the power of offence on the part of the foe, and the generosity of Britain in disdaining to take advantage of that fallen state, afforded no opportunity for the exertion of the spirit of enterprize, however naturally it might wish to display itself in the service of its country. After having remained some time on the home station, Captain Jervis was ordered to the Mediterranean, whence he did not return till the conclusion of the war, and, being then paid off, held no subsequent command till the year 1769; when being appointed to the Alarm frigate*, of 32 guns, he was again ordered to the Mediterranean.

The command of a frigate on a foreign station for three years, during a time of profound peace, cannot be supposed, according to the general course of events, to afford any materials sufficiently interesting to attract the notice of a biographer. Captain Jervis was not, however, a perfect example of the truth of this general observation. In the month of August 1770, being at Villa-Franca, he had the honour of entertaining on board his Ship the Duc de Chablais, brother to the King of Sardinia, who expressed himself most highly gratified at his reception †, having found, not improbably with surprise, that elegance of manners, and the most polished behaviour, were not incompatible with the character of a Naval Officer.

Not long after the return of Captain Jervis to England, where he arrived in 1774, he was promoted to the Foudroyant, of 84 guns: a Ship originally belonging to the French,

• The Preservation of the Alarm, after she parted her cables and was bulged on the rocks of the Bay of Moroielles, may be considered as one of the greatest features of the Character of Captain Jervis.

His Royal Highness showed the greatest curiosity to be informed of the use of every thing he saw. He desired the chain-pumps to be worked, and a gun to be exercised, and between the several motions made the most pertinent remarks. Having satisfied his curiosity, he testified his gratification by the magnificent presents he made on that occasion. To the Captain he gave a diamond ring, enclosed in a large gold snuff-box; to the two Lieutenants a gold box each; to the Lieutenant of Marines who mounted the guard, the Midshipman who steered his Royal Highness, and those who assisted him up and down the Ship's side, a gold watch each, one of which was a Paris repeater, and another set with sparks, together with a large sum of money to the Ship's company. His Royal Highness stayed about two hours, and was saluted on his going aboard and coming ashore with one and twenty guns.

and captured from them in the year 1758, by the Monmouth of 64 guns. This appointment was a very convincing proof of the established and high reputation he had acquired in the service: for the Foudroyant was, with very great truth, considered the finest two-decked Ship belonging to the British Navy. His occupation from the time of his having first received his commission for this Ship was by no means suited to the dignity of his character and the abilities he confessedly possesses: for, owing to the multitude of frigates and sloops of war which the dispute with the American colonies rendered it expedient should be kept on their coast, it had become necessary to employ Ships of the line as cruisers, in the Bay of Biscay, in order to prevent, as much as possible, all intercourse between the revolted States and France: as on French assistance the colonists placed their principal dependence for support, and for those stores, without a supply of which they could not possibly have carried on the con

test.

*

Fortune, as if she had frowned indignant at the degradation both of the Commander and of the Ship itself, employed on a service that was much better suited to a sloop of war or a privateer, appears to have afforded him only one opportunity of making a capture; and even that was as ignoble as would be the destruction of a mouse by the fangs of a lion: but the unwarrantable interference of the court of France in a dispute which was of a peculiar nature, and which demanded their neutrality beyond every other case that could possibly have been framed, raised Captain Jervis, though at the expence of his country's welfare, into a situation better suited to both his talents and (waving the cause which gave birth to the effect) his inclination.

The Foudroyant being ordered to join the fleet equipped for Channel service, under the command of Admiral Keppel, Captain Jervis was selected by that gentleman to be one of his seconds; and it were almost a needless piece of informa tion, considering those subsequent occurrences in his life with which the whole world is intimately acquainted, to say that

The Finch, an inconsiderable vessel, bound from Nantz to Boston, with a cargo of arms and clothing, taking in the month of May 1777.

he distinguished himself to the utmost extent the existing circumstances of the action permitted: his gallantry not only reflected honour on himself, but may be considered as having been in no small degree instrumental to the preservation of many lives from among his people, which must have been lost had the force of his attack been less animated. The enemy shrunk from him in dismay, and left him, in more instances than one, disabled as he was, to enjoy the empty honour of defeating him; while the situation in which he was placed (as one of a community in which all the members were to regard the advantage of each other, and not seize, at the expence of irregularity, any opportunity of adding to their own peculiar fame,) prevented him from pursuing the blow he had struck, and completing his triumph by that unequivocal conquestthe surrender of his enemy. The evidence that he gave during the subsequent trial was spirited, and impartial. It proved him animated only by the strictest attention to what he considered that duty which he owed to his country, without conforming to the opinion, or entering into the views of any party whatever t. He continued uninterestingly employed

The Foudroyant had five men only killed, and eighteen wounded.

† Indeed it is impossible to convey a better idea of his Lordship's character and opinion relative to that engagement than by the following extracts from the clear, consistent, and pointed testimony, which he gave upon the court martial called upon Admiral Keppel.

Upon the following questions being put by the Admiral :

Question. Your station being nearest me during the pursuit of the enemy, and after the action, which gave you an opportunity of observing my conduct, and of seeing objects nearly in the same point of view with myself, I desire you will state to the Court any instance, if you saw or knew of any such, in which I negligently performed my duty on the twenty-seventh or twenty-eighth of July.

Ans. With great respect to you, Sir, and deference to the Court, I hope I shall be indulged with having that question put by the Court.

The Judge Advocate, mutatis mutandis, then put the question.

Ans. I feel myself bound to answer that question; I believe it to be consonant to the general practice of sea courts martial-I cannot boast of a long acquaintance with Admiral Keppel; I never had the honour of serving under him before; but I am happy in this opportunity to declare to this Court, and to the whole world, that during the whole time that the English fleet was in sight of the French fleet, he displayed the greatest naval skill and ability, and the boldest enterprize, upon the twenty-seventh of July, which, with the promptitude of Sir Robert Harland, will be subjects of my admiration and imitation as long as I live.

From the evidence given upon this trial it appears, that the Foudroyant, which had got into her station about three, and never left it till four the next morning,