"to command, on the event of the laté action; and he defires they "will accept his moft fincere and cordial thanks for their very gallant behaviour in this glorious battle. It muft ftrike forcibly every British feaman, how fuperior their conduct is, when in dif "cipline and good order, to the riotous behaviour of lawless "Frenchmen. The fquadron may be affured the Admiral will not "fail, in his difpatches, to reprefent their truly meritorious con"duct in the strongest terms to the Commander in Chief."

"To the Captains of the ships of the fquadron.”

Soon after atchieving this gallant victory, the Admiral returned to Sicily, and where he was received as a deliverer. The King and Queen, exhibited the moft unequivocal marks of efteem and regard, and even the Grand Signor teftified his gratitude, by means of a fuperb prefent of jewels.

On his return to England every body was eager to behold" the hero of the Nile," and the theatres were always crowded when he appeared there. At length, after enjoying a fhort relaxation, he was called once more into active fervice and appointed fecond in command of the fleet deftined to the Baltic.

Having thus taken a furvey of the public character of Lord Nelfon, it next remains for us, to confider him as a private man. In the domeftic relations of life, his conduct appears to have been entirely unexceptionable. His attention to his father was always remarkable.

The old gentlemen had a practice, when the wea ther permitted, of walking for an hour before dinner: the Admiral, however engaged, fcarcely ever failed attending upon thefe occafions.

When, after the unfortunate attempt on Santa

Cruz,

Cruz, his Lordfhip lay ill, in confequence of the amputation of his right arm *, and it was ftill uncertain what the event might be, it is faid, that his principal anxiety was about his relations, rather than himfelf; and that he wrote to the Admiralty with his left hand, recommending Mr. Nesbit to their patronage, in cafe he died.

Nor is his attachment to relations ftronger than his regard for ftrangers in diftrefst. He appears to entertain a juft fenfe of benevolence, in its various branches particular inftances of which might readily be adduced, did the limits of this article permit. His feelings of private friendship are warm, and quick; fo warm indeed, that he has been known to fhed tears at meeting an old friend unexpectedly, upon returning from a diftant climate. To fome, thefe circumftances may poffibly appear trivial and inconfiftent with the dignity of hiftory; while to others, no lefs difcerning, they will affuredly be interesting; because they difplay feelings infeparable from true magnanimity; and give the beft infight into a great character.

When Lord Nelfon received the wound that shattered his right arm, he was in a boat, and held a fword that had been given him by his uncle, Captain Suckling, which he prized highly. Upon this occafion, he had the good fortune to fave it from falling into the water, by catching it with his left hand. This circumftance is faid to have given him peculiar pleasure.

↑ The noble Admiral, last winter, fent down a large collection of blankets to his native village, to be diftributed among the poor.

LORD MONBODDO.

JAMES BURNET, Lord Monboddo, is a defcendant from an ancient family in the thire of Kincardine. He received his education at a Scottish univerfity, at a time when an enthufiafin for all that bore the name of the claffical literature of Greece and Rome, was much more predominant than it is at prefent, in Scotland. Choofing to embrace the profession of a lawyer; he paffed, fuccefsfully, through the ordinary courfe of preliminary ftudies; and was, in due time, received a Member of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh.

From early youth, his application to his literary and juridical ftudies, was feverely diligent. Between claffical literature and the law of Scotland, there exifts a ftrong connection, arifing from the adoption of the forms and maxims of the civil law of the Romans, into the authority almoft of another Law of Nature, by the ancient legiflators and judges of the Scots. Accordingly, while Mr. Burnet rofe into reputation, as a lawyer; he, at the fame time, improved into profound erudition, that knowledge of the Greek and Roman Authors, which he had acquired at the school and the university. By the more intimate study of these authors, his first predeliction and reverence for them, were continually enhanced. He learned, as a man of tafte, to regard the philofophy and eloquence of Plato, of Ariftotle, of Demofthenes, with the fame veneration with which he had accuftomed himself, as a lawyer, to view the Code of Theodofius

Theodofius or the Inftitutes of Juftinian.

While

his enthusiastic admiration of the literature of Antiquity, increased; his opinion of the degeneracy and comparative meannefs of all that was modern, produced, by degrees, to fupreme contempt, and unutterable difguft.

Nor was this progrefs of his literary partialities, in any way, ftrange or unaccountable. Those books, from which he formed his judgment of the excellence of the literature of antiquity, were certainly among the moft perfect productions of human genius. But, they were commentators, and verbal critics, and reporters in the Scottish law, and crabbed theologians, and monkish hiftorians, and fcholaftic metaphyficians, who, at that time, compofed the affemblage of his literary acquaintance among the writers of modern times. His prepoffeffions were therefore, immoveably rooted, before he had been led to give to the best and most captivating advocates for the moderns a fair hearing.

In the mean time, the progrefs of his profeffional life advanced him to share thofe higher honours and emoluments which are acceffible to the Scottish Ad+ vocate. His family was refpectable. He enjoyed a small patrimonial estate, and fome fhare of political intereft. He was esteemed as a lawyer. He was honoured as a man of incorruptible integrity, utterly incapable of permitting any other confideration to prevail, in his breaft, over the facred regard ever due to juftice. In the year 1767, he obtained a Judge's seat, on the bench of the Scottish Court of Seffion. During

thofe many years which have fince elapfed, he has continued to discharge the duties of that high office, with an affiduity, a patience, a clear intelligence, and an uprightnefs, which do honour even to Juftice herself.

Of the truth of this praife, we may mention one ftriking proof. The Court of Seffion is the highest Court known in Scotland, for decifion in civil caufes. Every fuit or litigation, may be brought before this court, by appeal from the inferior judicatures; and there are few actions too petty, to be profecuted before it, even in the firft inftance. The business of the court, is, in confequence, almoft too great and multifarious to be regularly dispatched without any inconfiderate hafte, by which the ends of juftice might be defeated. On this account, it is a rule, for at least one of the judges, under the title of LORD ORDINARY, to fit alone, in an outer chamber, on the ufual days of bufinefs, for the purpofe of hearing and determining in all caufes at their firft introduction into this court: Nor is it, till after three fucceffive fentences, or interlocutors fhall have been pronounced in it by the Lord Ordinary, and ftill without fatisfying one or another of the parties, that a caufe may be, at laft, argued before the whole Court of Seffion. Very much of the moft laborious bufinefs of the court, is, therefore, tranfacted by the judges, acting fucceffively in the capacity of Lord Ordinary. The lawyers and their clients are exceedingly anxious, in every fair and honeftly-intended fuit, to bring it before one of the judges as Lord Ordinary, who is the most upright, the

moft