regiment of foot-guards. This at once gave fire to the train, and the three remaining heroes breathed nothing but war: my second boy, George, took to the sea, and sailed for America; my third, Charles, enrolled himself an ensign in the tenth, and my youngest, William, disposed of himself as my second had done, and also took his departure for America under the command of the late Sir Richard Hughes.

has now

I had been dispossessed of my delightful residence at Tyringham, near to which Mr. Praed, the present possessor, built a splendid mansion, and I had taken a house at Tetworth in Bedfordshire to be near my kind and ever honored friend Lady Frances Burgoyne, sister to Lord Halifax. Here I passed the summer recesses, and in one of these I wrote the Opera of 'Calypso,' for the purpose of introducing to the public the compositions of Mr. Butler, then a young man, newly returned from Italy, where he had studied under Piccini, and given early proofs of his genius. He passed the summer with me at Tetworth, and there he wrote the music for 'Calypso' in the style of a serious opera. 'Calypso' was brought out at Covent Garden, but that theatre was not by any means possessed of such a strength of vocal performers, as have of late years belonged to it.1 Mrs. Kennedy, in the part of Telemachus, and Leoni in that of Proteus, were neither of them very eminently qualified to grace the action of an opera, yet as that was a consideration subordinate to the music, it was to them that Mr. Butler addressed his chief attention, and looked up for his support. I believe I may venture to say that more beautiful and original compositions were never presented to the English stage by a native master, though I am not unmindful of the fame of Artaxerxes; but 'Calypso,' supported only by Leoni and Mrs. Kennedy, did not meet success proportioned to its merit, and I should humbly conceive upon the same stage, which has since been so power

'Calypso' was performed only a few nights. Cumberland had adopted the readiest means to procure its condemnation, by imprudently attacking newspaper editors, in his prelude, as a set of unprincipled fellows. 'Mr. Cumberland,' wrote Walpole, 'has given the town a masque, called Calypso, which is a prodigy of dulness. Would you believe that such a sentimental writer would be so gross as to make cantharides one of the ingredients of a love-potion for enamoring Telemachus ? If you think I exaggerate, here are the

lines:

To these, the hot Hispanian fly,

Shall bid his languid pulse beat high.'

Proteus and Antiope are Minerva's missioners for securing the prince's virtue, and in recompense they are married and crowned king and queen.'--To the Rev. Mr. Cole, March 28, 1779.

'THE WIDOW OF DELPHI.'

205

fully mounted by Braham, Incledon and Storace, it might have been revived with brilliant effect. Why Mr. Butler did not publish his music, or a selection at least of those airs which were most applauded, I cannot tell; but so it was, and the score now remains in the depot of Covent Garden, whilst a few only of the songs, and those in manuscript, are in the possession of my second daughter Sophia, whom he instructed in singing, and with the aid of great natural talents on her part, accomplished her very highly. 'Calypso' as a drama has been published, therefore of my share in it as an opera I need not say much; it is before the reader, but I confess I lament that music, which I conceive to be so exquisitely beautiful, should be buried in oblivion. Mr. Butler has been long since settled at Edinburgh as a teacher and writer of music, and is well known to the professors and admirers of that art.

That I may not again recur to my dramatic connections with this ingenious composer, I will here observe that in the following season I wrote a comic opera, which I entitled 'The Widow of Delphi, or The Descent of the Deities,' the songs of which he set to music. Mr. Butler published a selection of songs, &c. from this opera, but as I was going out of England I did not send my copy to the press, and having now had it many years in my hands, by the frequent revisions and corrections which I have had opportunities of giving to this manuscript, I am encouraged to believe that if I, or any after me, shall send it into the world, this drama will be considered as one of my most classical and creditable productions.

Having adverted to the happiness and honor which I enjoyed in the friendship of Lady Frances Burgoyne, it occurs to me to relate the part which, at her request, I undertook in the behalf of the unfortunate Robert Perreau, when under trial for his life. The defence, which he read at the bar, was to a word drawn up by me, under the revision of his counsel Mr. Dunning, who did not change a syllable. I dined with Garrick on the very day when Robert Perreau had delivered it in court; there was a large company, and he was expatiating upon the effect of it, for he had been present; he even detailed the heads of it with considerable accuracy, and was so rapturous in his praises of it, that he predicted confidently, though not truly, that the man who drew up that defence had saved the prisoner's life, and what would he not give to know who it was? I confess my vanity was strongly moved to tell him; but he shortly after found it out, and perhaps repented of his hyperboles, for it was not good policy in him to over-praise a writer for the stage. When poor Dodd fell under the like misfortune, he applied to

me in the first instance for the like good offices, but as soon as I understood that application had been made to Doctor Johnson, and that he was about to be taken under his shield, I did what every other friend to the unhappy would have done, consigned him to the stronger advocate, convinced that if the powers of Johnson could not move mercy to reach his lamentable case, there was no further hope in man; his penitence alone could save him.

I had known Sir George Brydges Rodney in early life, and whilst he was residing in France, pending the uneasy state of his affairs at home, had spared no pains to serve his interest and pave the way for his return to his own country, where I was not without hopes, by the recommendation of Lord George Germain, to procure him an employment worthy of his talents and high station in the navy.' I drew up from his minutes a memorial of his services, and petitioned for employ: he came home at the risk of his liberty to refute some malicious imputations that had been glanced at his character: this he effectually and honorably accomplished, and I was furnished with testimonials very creditable to him as an officer; his situation in the mean while was very uncomfortable, and his exertions circumscribed, yet in this pressure of his affairs, to mark his readiness and zeal for service, he addressed a letter to the king, tendering himself to serve as volunteer under an admiral, then going out, who, if I do not mistake, was his junior on the list. In this forlorn, unfriended state, with nothing but exclusion and despair before his eyes, when not a ray of hope beamed upon him from the admiralty, and he dared not set a foot beyond the limits of his privilege, I had the happy fortune to put in train that statement of his claim for service and employ, which, through the immediate application of Lord George, taking all the responsibility on himself, obtained for that adventurous and gallant admiral the command of that squadron, which on its passage to the West

In the elections for 1768, Rodney was returned to the House of Commons for Northampton; but so great was his expenditure, that he was subsequently obliged to retire to France, in order to avoid his creditors. Here, he was offered, through the Duke de Biron, high rank in the French Navy. He thus replied: 'It is true, Monsieur le Duc, that my distresses have driven me from my country, but no temptation can estrange me from her service; had this offer been voluntary on your part, I should have considered it an insult; but I am glad it proceeds from a source that can do no wrong.' It is said that this spirited and patriotic reply, on reaching the admiralty, obtained for Rodney the rank of Admiral.

Rodney had fine qualities of heart, and distinguished talents as a commander. For his great services, it has been thought, his country bestowed on him an inadequate reward. The greater portion of his life was embittered by pecuniary difficulties. He died in 1792, at the advanced age of seventy-four.

ANECDOTE OF GERMAIN.

207

Indies made capture of the Spanish fleet fitted out for the Caraccas. The degree of gratification, which I then experienced, is not easily to be described. It was not only that of a triumph gained, but of a terror dismissed, for the West India merchants had been alarmed, and clamored against the appointment so generally and so decidedly as to occasion no small uneasiness to my friend and patron, and drew from him something that resembled a remonstrance for the risk I had exposed him to. But in the brilliancy of this exploit all was done away, and past alarms were only recollected to contrast the joy which this success diffused.

Here I hope to be forgiven if I record an answer of Lord George Germain's to an officious gentleman, who upon some reference to me in his concerns expressed himself with surprise at the degree of influence which I appeared to have-'You are very right,' replied my friend, 'that gentleman has a great deal to do with me and my affairs, and if you can find any other to take his place as disinterestedly attached to me and as capable of serving me, I am confident he will hold himself very highly obliged to you for relieving him from a burden that brings him neither profit nor advantage, and only subjects him to such remarks as you have now been making.'

It happened to me to be present, and sitting next to Admiral Rodney at table, when the thought seemed first to occur to him of breaking the French line by passing through it in the heat of action. It was at Lord George Germain's house at Stoneland after dinner, when having asked a number of questions about the manoeuvring of columns, and the effect of charging with them on a line of infantry, he proceeded to arrange a parcel of cherry stones, which he had collected from the table, and forming them as two fleets drawn up in line and opposed to each other, he at once arrested our attention, which had not been very generally engaged by his preparatory inquiries, by declaring he was determined so to pierce the enemy's line of battle, (arranging his manoeuvre at the same time on the table) if ever it was his fortune to bring them into action. I dare say this passed with some as mere rhapsody, and all seemed to regard it as a very perilous and doubtful experiment, but landsmen's doubts and difficulties made no impression on the admiral, who having seized the idea held it fast, and in his eager, animated way went on manoeuvring his cherry stones, and throwing his enemy's representatives into such utter confusion, that, already possessed of that victory in imagination, which in reality he lived to gain, he concluded his process by swearing he would lay the French admiral's flag at his sovereign's feet; a promise

which he actually pledged to his majesty in his closet, and faithfully and gloriously performed.1

He was a singular and extraordinary man; there were some prominent and striking eccentricities about him, which on a first acquaintance might dismiss a cursory observer with inadequate and false impressions of his real character; for he would very commonly indulge himself in a loose and heedless style of talking, which for a time might intercept and screen from observation the sound, good sense that he possessed, and the strength and dignity of mind that were natural to him. Neither ought it to be forgotten that the sea was his element, and it was there, and not on land, that the standard ought to be planted by which his merits should be measured. We are apt to set that man down as vain-glorious and unwise, who fights battles over the table, and in the ardor of his conversation, though amongst enviers and enemies, keeps no watch upon his words, confiding in their candor and believing them his friends. Such a man was Admiral Lord Rodney, whom history will record amongst the foremost of our naval heroes, and whoever doubts his courage might as well dispute against the light of the sun at noon-day.

That he carried this projected manoeuvre into operation, and that the effect of it was successfully decisive all the world knows. My friend, Sir Charles Douglas, captain of the fleet, confessed to me that he himself had been adverse to the experiment, and in discussing it with the admiral had stated his objections; to these he got no other answer but that 'his counsel was not called for; he required obedience only, he did not want advice.' Sir Charles also told me that whilst the project was in operation (the battle then raging), his own attention being occupied by the gallant defence made by the French Glorieux against the ships that were pouring their fire into her, upon his crying out, 'Behold, Sir George, the Greeks and Trojans contending for the body of Patroclus!' The admiral, then pacing the quarter deck in great agitation pending the experiment of his manoeuvre (which in the instance of one ship had unavoidably miscarried), peevishly exclaimed 'Damn the Greeks and damn the Trojans; I have other things to think of.' When, in a few minutes after, his supporting ship having led through the French line in a gallant style,

This plan of breaking through the centre of the enemy's line, was not, it seems, original with Rodney. (Vide the Supplement, Chap. XIII.) Its author is said to be John Clerk, who wrote a work on Naval Tactics. It is asserted, that Rodney once observed to Mr. Dundas: A countryman of yours, Clerk, has taught us how to fight; and if ever I meet the French fleet, I will try his way;' and during his last illness, in a conversation with Lord Haddington, relative to the action with the Count De Grasse, Rodney is reported to have waved his hand, and shouted, 'Clerk, of Elgin, forever!"