which will exonerate me from Hume's sweeping charge, that, " in relations of sea-fights, writers of the hostile nations take a pleasure in exalting their own advantages, and suppressing those of the enemy." I feel, also, a degree of pride in the proofs I have afforded, that a man may write an impartial naval history, and yet belong to the country the most conspicuous in it. I esteem the brave of every nation; but I glory in recounting the exploits, and in celebrating the renown, of the brave of my own. And I shall not, I trust, be considered less patriotic than the historian who says, " I confess, I love England," because I will not go the length of saying also with him, " and I hate her enemies." *

Could I have persuaded myself to make those " authentic and valuable works," the " Annual Registers," † rather than the log-books of ships and the official accounts on both sides, the groundwork of my statements, I should have escaped both the troublesome task of seeking particulars, and the unpleasant one of passing censure. The fulness of my details would not have obliged me, to violate historical unity, by dividing my subject into so many distinct heads; nor need I have run the risk of tiring the reader with the minuteness, nor of displeasing him with the technicality, of my descriptions. I should have cared less about the truth and originality, than about the easy flow and the " patriotic," which, in plain English, means the partial, tendency of my narrative; and, instead of employing five or six years, I should scarcely have taken twice as many months, to bring my labours to a conclusion. He who is best read on naval subjects, can best appreciate the extent of my researches for matter that is novel. The accuracy of my statements, a yet more important point, can best be determined by those who were engaged in the services I profess to narrate. Of the many accounts of sea-fights to be found in these pages, there is not one but contains something original, something which has never before been in print; if it is only the state of the wind, the name of the foreign captain, or the particulars of the force mounted by the contending ships.

* Bisset.

† Preface to Brenton, p. vi.

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