mand!" The Sultan attended the three or four first visits of the surgeon to the four-footed patient, and, while the ball was extracting, spoke to the beast in a tone of command. The elephant obeyed his master, and, amidst the groans excited by the pain of the operation, while the tears were streaming from his eyes, offered no symptoms of resistance or of annoyance. After his wounds had received two or three dressings, and the anguish of the pain had abated, the elephant, with the other patients, would visit the surgeon in his tent, and wait for the assistance of the medical man with all the gravity of an intelligent being.

The Phoenix now returned to England, and, on the 28th of December, 1793, Richardson, with very great regret, bid farewell to his kind captain, Sir Richard Strachan, and joined the Alexander, 74 (Captain West), at Chatham. Unfortunately he met with a commander the very reverse of the friend he had left; for Captain West was one of a race of useless men that infested at that time the navy and army. Of high connections, and with relatives possessing great parliamentary interest, he had been pushed up rapidly to the command of a seventy-four before he had seen a shot fired. He took an immediate dislike to Richardson, whom he considered as forced upon him to the exclusion of his own friends; and he made no scruple of telling the officers that he meant to get rid of him, by some device, in order to

make room for a nephew. A slight quarrel took place in the midshipmen's berth, over a game of cards, when one of the party taunted the new comer with the assurance that he was to be degraded a step in order to give place to the captain's relative.

This aroused the pride of young Richardson, and he instantly repaired to Captain West, who coolly assured him that it was the case; and used such ungentlemanly and exasperating language, that the indignant middy, careless of the consequences to his future prospects, demanded his discharge, which was given with glee, as the insult was intended to bring about this issue. Richardson hailed a boat, and gave the man a guinea to put him on board the admiral's ship. There justice balanced her scales equally. He told his tale of illtreatment, and referred to his former gallant commander, who warmly espoused his cause. Sir Alexander Hood, after sifting the affair to the bottom, made the injured youth midshipman and master's mate of his own ship, the Royal George, 100.

The Alexander was ordered to Plymouth, and Captain West was superseded, and never employed afterwards in the royal navy. Subsequently his ship was captured by the enemy, when all on board, including the late captain's nephew, were taken into Brest, where they lingered seven years in prison. It was during Robespierre's reign of terror, and the crew, officers, and

marines on board were thrust into a large square vault, or cellar, where they found other prisoners, male and female, who had been seized while travelling in France. Here the sailors, never at a loss in a strait, gave a striking proof of their gallantry and ingenuity. As there was only one room for all purposes, the ladies and sailors' wives could not dress or wash comfortably, notwithstanding every wish to afford them privacy. The tars hit on this expedient: Jack brought a large tub of water into the female part of the room, and, placing it down, the women ranged themselves, with their faces outwards, in a semicircle around the washing department, while one at a time entered the protected ground and performed her ablutions. During this the men made the same circle in their part, and did likewise. Richardson's late coxswain (John Norton) and his wife were among the captives, and the latter attached herself, as lady's-maid, to a Miss S-, who had been seized while travelling, and was cousin to Mr. West. He, being a handsome, gentlemanly young man, soon gained the affections of the lady; and a cellar engagement was made between them, for fetters for life, so soon as they were released from their present unromantic quarters.

At last Robespierre met his well-merited end, `and an order came, but it was only to release the women, one hundred and fifty in number. The lovers were in despair, as the separation was to take place in the

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morning; and Miss S-- sobbed out her grief to her honest maid, who comforted her with a gleam of hope, and called in the aid of her husband. Norton, on hearing the tidings, looked very grave himself, took his pipe out of his mouth, mused for a few minutes, and then, slapping his thigh, stood erect, and grinned from ear to ear- - first at his wife and then at the young lady, who immediately felt a ray of hope. "John," she exclaimed, in agony, save him, and you shall no longer be a poor sailor. I have rich and powerful relations, who will make you a lieutenant, and a captain in time, if you help him to escape." "What I say," answered the blunt tar, "is as much for my sake as yours. I fear not the cannon's mouth or a prison, but I dread parting with my wife; so she shall put on your smoothfaced sweetheart's clothes, and he must be dressed in hers; and then, miss, none of us need be parted." This proposal was immediately adopted. Jack's wife put on the uniform, and the changeling passed muster in the crowd of women, who gathered close round him; and, after many adventures and escapes, he got safe to England with his cousin. When there they did not forget their friends at Brest, but, by dint of interest, got Norton and his wife exchanged; and the coxswain was made a midshipman, and rose to the rank of commander, when he was killed in action.

CHAPTER II.

Lord Hood at Toulon-Cowardice and Treachery of the Spaniards-The Duke of York's First Unsuccessful Campaign in Holland-Bravery of the Coldstream Guards-The splendid Retreat of Abercromby-The Doomed Midshipman and his Death-The Glorious First of JuneDeadly Fight between the Brunswick, 74, and the Vengeur, 74-Eight British Captains show the white feather-Norman method of punishment for Cowardly Officers-Richardson become Lieutenant of the Circe, 28-He saves the Life of a Painter.

A.D. 1793 TO 1794.

THE necessity, on the part of England, for dispatching squadrons to the stations at a distance from home, occasioned some delay before a British fleet could be got ready of sufficient strength to cope with the French in Quiberon Bay. On the 14th of July, 1793, Lord Howe, with the channel fleet, consisting of fifteen ships of the line, besides frigates and sloops, set sail from St. Helens, and cruised about until the middle of December, in hopes of bringing on an engagement. The French, however, kept safe in harbour; and, when the admiral returned to Spithead, the nation grumbled very much because the rival fleets had not met.

When France commenced hostilities, a powerful fleet