CHAPTER III. RETROSPECTIVE EVENTS. 66 One end at least hath been obtained; my mind WORDSWORTH. My father, as I have before said, was an only son, and became an orphan when quite a child. Under the parental guardianship of his uncle, the good old Admiral, he rose to be an ornament to his profession; but, except in equal gallantry and zeal for the service, he has been described to me as offering, in many respects, the strongest contrast to the bluff old sailor, under whose auspices he had so rapidly advanced in his professional career. Entering the service at a period when the opinion happily prevailed, that a naval officer might unite the appearance and qualifications of a gentleman with a thorough practical knowledge of his profession, and without in any degree deteriorating from his efficiency as a seaman ;-when it was no longer considered imperative that the naval officer's hands should ever bear the marks of the tar-bucket t; his manner and language smack of the forecastle; or his general appearance and demeanour ashore, point out to wondering spectators a specimen of one of Smollett's naval heroes of old; my father, who entered the navy as such old-fangled notions were,-to the inexpressible horror and disgust of the remnant of the olden school-getting completely out of vogue; was apparently, in many and various respects, the very antithesis of the worthy old Admiral; but withal such an excellent officer, so thoroughly conversant with his profession, and of such undoubted and brilliant gallantry, that notwithstanding-as Sir Harry forcibly expressed himself all his "d-d new-fangled notions and infernal gimcracks," the preva lence of which was, he said, sending the service stern-foremost to a certain place rather warmer than the Arctic regions; the Admiral, in addition to the strongest affection for his gallant nephew, evinced likewise an ill-disguised admiration of his merits as an officer: my father having, as already observed, long served immediately under him, both as boy and man; during which time the strict old disciplinarian had witnessed, with marked approbation, his correct professional conduct; admired his coolness and self-possession in the midst of danger; and applauded the brilliant valour, of which he had oftened witnessed the display. All these circumstances had, in some degree, tended to reconcile the gruff old seaman to his nephew's delinquencies; and in no other light than that of delinquents could he ever bring himself to consider the advocates and followers of the "new naval school;" for all of whom, with probably this single exception, (and it is said that even this exception was not avowedly admitted,) he entertained the most profound aversion and sovereign contempt. If all accounts are to be credited,—and what every one affirms must, as the saying goes, be true,—Harry Beresford's character approached as near to perfection as is allowed unto poor weak mortals to attain, in this sublunary world, where human frailties and imperfections-even with the greatest and the best-so much preponderate and prevail. Alas! that an untimely fate should have prematurely deprived me of the precepts and example of such a parent; and by consigning me to the over-indulgent fonduess of a devoted mother, have materially increased the ebullitions of a naturally wayward disposition, which she was often totally unable to control; and which the good old Admiral rather than otherwise encouraged, perhaps from bearing in that respect some fancied similarity to his own. I have said that I often heard my father described, by all who knew him, as approaching as nearly as possible to the type of human perfection; as being frank, open-hearted, and generous almost to a fault; so much so, that his liberality would often cause him most seriously to inconvenience himself, in order to relieve the necessities of others; of so kind and considerate a disposition, that he is said to have never been known, either in word or deed, to hurt intentionally the feelings of a fellow-creature; but withal so alive to the infliction of injuries and ill-treatment on the unprotected and defenceless, as to have been not unfrequently involved in trouble and diffi culties, by taking up the gauntlet in their defence, and fearlessly, in such a cause, encountering the oppressor's wrath. I have often heard him described, by one who knew him well, who never ceased lamenting his untimely end; and who was from the footing of devoted friendship and almost brotherly intimacy, which long subsisted between them, acquainted with the most secret feelings of his generous breast, I have heard him described by this friend of his youth and manhood, as "a true and sincere Christian,—a brave and undaunted sailor, ever ready at the call of honour and duty,—a gallant, judicious, and first-rate officer,—and T |