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a third is seen at a window above, waiting to efface his score in another way, by sluicing her with

water.

Such was the little world in which Howard Douglas suddenly found himself a notable. Having been only six weeks in the Academy, he must have become chief of his class while he was a neux, the title borne by the junior of a room. As such, he was expected to discharge those offices which could not be imposed on the small complement of servants; such as bringing in the water to wash for dinner, making the tea, and toasting the bread. Indeed, custom bound him to obey every command of the head of the room, though the neux is never required to do anything degrading, like the fags of other schools; and it is certain that Howard's yoke was not heavy, as he never made it a subject of complaint. Nor would many have thus ventured to put him on his mettle, for his bold and fearless nature made itself felt in a manner that precluded oppression; and he was soon as much a leader in the playground as the school-room. If he ever knew fear, he took every occasion to show that he held it in contempt; for none of the cadets approached him in feats of daring. One of his gambols was to run close to the line of fire when the Company was exercised with artillery, and this gained him something more than schoolboy plaudits, though only done in bravado, for his alert eye caught points in the practice which he afterwards turned to account. Sir Hew Ross describes him as more prudent during the latter part of his stay at the Academy, as he would then have been the first to prevent any one running into danger, and he had

acquired such influence in the Company that few would pursue what he opposed.

The vicinity of the Thames afforded him opportunities of nautical practice, which he did not neglect, though they could only be pursued under restrictions; for the authorities of the Academy kept a jealous eye on the river, and the regulations ordained that "the first cadet that is found swimming in the Thames shall be taken out naked and put in the guard-room." But he managed to be enough on the water to keep in his hand, and he always spread a sail in blowing weather, which brought out his points, while he paid more than one visit to Deptford Dockyard in search of higher knowledge. The holidays secured him a larger experience, for then he had the range of the Berwick and Leith smacks, in which he took his passage to and from Scotland, where he spent the interval. On board these craft he learned the mysteries of knotting and splicing, of plaiting points and gaskets, and of making grammets, and became expert in heaving the lead. We hear nothing from him of his reputation at the Academy at this period, and the good opinions he won from all around; but a memorandum of the time betrays his predilections by referring to his sailorcraft. "I will venture to say," he notes, "I know as much of cutter-sailing as any middy or mate in His Majesty's navy."

His enthusiasm for the sea had been sustained by the reverence he cherished for his father, which was of the deepest kind; for he observed the anniversary of his death as a sacred day through a period of seventytwo years. A packet among his papers attracted his

biographer by a label in his own hand which revealed this veneration in the inscription-"Relating to the services of my honoured father." The old name was now to be signalized by his own services in a career as brilliant.

CHAPTER III.

IN COMMISSION.

THE events passing at this time occupied every mind. The heart thrills at the incidents of the French Revolution even in the present day, and how must they have been felt when the Reign of Terror was in progress, and society looked on! It constantly seemed that human wickedness had reached its limit, when the newspapers reported atrocities which out-horrored what had gone before. War heightened the excitement, and strained every nerve of England, obliging her to maintain the forces of her allies as well as her own, and guard all her possessions, while she stood in fear for her own soil. The English people fired at this danger, and all classes caught the fervour. The most enterprising flocked to the army or navy; the agricultural population recruited the militia; the towns swarmed with volunteers; and the combined services numbered as many as 800,000 men at one period of the struggle. The island might then have been likened to a fortress, and the nation to its garrison.

Young Douglas felt all the influence of such surroundings. He had begun to note public events in his childhood, when his perceptions were quickened by the exploits of his father in the war with the American

colonies, and this gave him a political bias even at that time. The impression deepened as he grew up, and stood a witness of the French Revolution, and the ruin it spread through Europe. His patriotism was inborn, but it expanded under the pressure of the time, till the danger of invasion made love of country his dominant feeling. Thus his life was a testimony of devotion to England, showing him ever zealous to promote her greatness, and shield her from misfortune; nor can the most factious complain that he sought these objects by a Conservative course, since he had seen the country reel before the popular movements of his youth, one of which stripped her of half her dominions, while the other imperilled her existence. The same faith animated his old age, after an experience of eighty years, and was reflected in devotion to the State, loyalty to the Crown, and a deep sense of religion. The vulgar notion of a Tory found no warrant in such a character, who withstood innovation, but advocated progress, and always invited discussion. It might be well if vaunted Liberals would allow the same freedom, and show the same respect for opponents. "I never heard him speak ill, or even unkindly, of any one," writes one who knew him well. "If he disapproved of the conduct or opinions of others, he would say so; but always with apparent regret. His mind was too full of higher things to have space for envy or bitterness."

Sir Hew Ross mentions that he bore the same character in 1795, when he received his first commission,

1 The Chaplain-General, in a letter to the author.

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