Another thing, strikingly conspicuous in Captain Cook, was the perseverance with which he pursued the noble objects to which his life was devoted. This, indeed, was a most distinguished feature in his character: in this he scarcely ever had an equal, and never a superior. Nothing could divert him from the points he aimed at; and he persisted in the prosecution of them, through difficulties and obstructions, which would have deterred minds of very considerable strength and firmness.
What enabled him to persevere in all his mighty undertakings was the invincible fortitude of his spirits. Of this, instances without number occur in the accounts of his expeditions; two of which I shall take the liberty of retailing to the attention of my readers. The first is, the undaunted magnanimity with which he prosecuted his discoveries along the whole southeast coast of New Holland. Surrounded as he was with the greatest possible dangers, arising from the perpetual succession of rocks, shoals, and breakers, and having a ship that was almost shaken to pieces by repeated perils, his vigorous mind had a regard to nothing but what he thought was required of him by his duty to the public. It will not be easy to find, in the history of navigation, a parallel example of courageous exertion. The other circumstance I would refer to, is the boldness with which, in his second voyage after he left the Cape of Good Hope, he pushed forward into unknown seas, and penetrated through innumerable mountains and islands of ice, in the search of a southern continent. It was like launching into chaos: all was obscurity, all was darkness before him; and no event can be compared with it, excepting the sailing of Magelhaens, from the straits which bear his name into the Pacific Ocean.
The fortitude of Captain Cook, being founded upon reason, and not upon instinct, was not an impetuous valour, but accompanied with complete self-possession. He was master of himself on every trying occasion, and seemed to be the more calm and collected, the greater was the exigence of the case. In the most perilous situations, when our commander had given the proper directions concerning what was to be done while he went to rest, he could sleep, during the hours he had allotted to himself, with perfect composure and soundness. Nothing could be a surer indication of an elevated mind; of a mind that was entirely satisfied with itself, and the measures it had taken.
To all these great qualities Captain Cook added the most amiable virtues. That it was impossible for any one to excel him in humanity, is apparent from his treatment of his men through all his voyages, and from his behaviour to the natives of the countries which were discovered by him. The health, the convenience, and, as far as it could be admitted, the enjoyment of the seamen, were the constant objects of his attention; and he was anxiously solicitous to ameliorate the condition of the inhabitants of the several islands and places which he visited. With regard to their thieveries, he candidly apologized for, and overlooked many offences which others would have sharply punished; and when he was laid under an indispensable necessity of proceeding to any acts of severity, he never exerted them without feeling much reluctance and concern.
In the private relations of life, Captain Cook was entitled to high commendation. He was excellent as a husband and a father, and sincere and steady in his friendships: and to this it may be added, that he possessed that general sobriety and virtue of character, which will always be found to constitute the best security and ornament of every other moral qualification.
With the greatest benevolence and humanity of disposition, Captain Cook was occasionally subject to a hastiness of temper. This, which has been exaggerated by the few (and they are indeed few) who are unfavourable to his memory, is acknowledged by his friends. It is mentioned both by Captain King and Mr. Samwell, in their delineations of his character. Mr. Hayley, in one of his poems, calls him the mild Cook; but, perhaps, that is not the happiest epithet which could have been applied to him. Mere mildness can scarcely be considered as the most prominent and distinctive feature in the mind of a man, whose powers of understanding and of action were so strong and elevated, who had such immense difficulties to struggle with, and who must frequently have been called to the firmest exertions of authority and command.
Lastly, Captain Cook was distinguished by a property which is almost universally the concomitant of truly great men, and that is, a simplicity of manners. In conversation he was unaffected and unassuming; rather backward in pushing discourse; but obliging and communicative in his answers to those who addressed him for the purposes of information. It was not possible that, in a mind constituted like his, such a paltry quality as vanity could find an existence.
In this imperfect delineation of Captain Cook's character, I have spoken of him in a manner which is fully justified by the whole course of his life and actions, and which is perfectly agreeable to the sentiments of those who were the most nearly connected with him in the habits of intimacy and friendship. The pictures which some of them have drawn of him, though they have already been presented to the public, cannot here with propriety be omitted. Captain King has expressed himself concerning him in the following terms: 'The constitution of his body was robust, inured to labour, and capable of undergoing the severest hardships. His stomach bore, without difficulty, the coarsest and most ungrateful food:—Great was the indifference with which he submitted to every kind of self-denial. The qualities of his mind were of the same hardy vigorous kind with those of his body. His understanding was strong and perspicacious. His judgment, in whatever related to the services he was engaged in, quick and sure. His designs were bold and manly; and both in the conception, and in the mode of execution, bore evident marks of a great original genius. His courage was cool and determined, and accompanied with an admirable presence of mind in the moment of danger. His temper might perhaps have been justly blamed, as subject to hastiness and passion, had not these been disarmed by a disposition the most benevolent and humane.
'Such were the outlines of Captain Cook's character; but its most distinguishing feature was that unremitting perseverance in the pursuit of his object, which was not only superior to the opposition of dangers, and the pressure of hardships, but even exempt from the want of ordinary relaxation. During the long and tedious voyages in which he was engaged, his eagerness and activity were never in the least abated. No incidental temptation could detain him for a moment: even those intervals of recreation, which sometimes unavoidably occurred, and were looked for by us with a longing, that persons who have experienced the fatigues of service will readily excuse, were submitted to by him with a certain impatience, whenever they could not be employed in making a farther provision for the more effectual prosecution of his designs.'
'The character of Captain Cook,' says Mr. Samwell, 'will be best exemplified by the services he has performed, which are universally known, and have ranked his name above that of any navigator of ancient or of modern times. Nature had endowed him with a mind vigorous and comprehensive, which in his riper years he had cultivated with care and industry. His general knowledge was extensive and various: in that of his own profession he was unequalled. With a clear judgment, strong masculine sense, and the most determined resolution; with a genius peculiarly turned for enterprise, he pursued his object with unshaken perseverance:—vigilant and active in an eminent degree:—cool and intrepid among dangers; patient and firm under difficulties and distress; fertile in expedients; great and original in all his designs; active and resolved in carrying them into execution. These qualities rendered him the animating spirit of the expedition: in every situation he stood unrivalled and alone; on him all eyes were turned; he was our leading star, which, at its setting, left us involved in darkness and despair.