“Even amid the exultation of victory a grateful country mourned his loss. A bountiful provision was made for his family; a public funeral was awarded to his remains, and monuments in the principal cities of his native land were erected to his memory. A sorrowing nation lamented over his bier, and Britannia, indeed, felt that old England’s defender was numbered with the dead.
‘Long as the hero’s thoughts could be exprest
His patriot soul upheld his country’s name;
And long as hostile virtue fires the breast
A grateful country shall prolong his fame.’”
CHAPTER XXI.
De Ruyter.—Van Tromp.—Columbus.—Vasquez da Gama.—Villeneuve.—Tom of Ten Thousand.—Hawkins, Drake, Blake, Hawke.—Rodney.—A female soldier.—Vincent, on the 14th of February.—Duncan, off Camperdown.—Admiral Howe, and the glorious First of June.—Maitland’s generosity.—Viscount Exmouth; his courage and humanity.—Codrington and the battle of Navarino.—The flag of old England.
“Who are the principal admirals of England, those who have been famous for their victories?”
“There have been so many of them, that you must be satisfied with a few. In my rambling way I will run over their names. There have been British admirals stern and kind-hearted, crabbed, and good-tempered, but all of them brave. A sailor’s figure-head, whether he be ‘before the mast’ or admiral of the fleet, should always telegraph good-humour to the craft around him; but some of our admirals have been crusty old boys. You remember, perhaps, my speaking of the hearty old admirals in the Naval Gallery of Greenwich, in their curled wigs, red, blue, and brown coats, loose robes, ermine capes, armour, and buff leathern jackets?”