The English accounts, official and otherwise, demand from us a few words. Sir John Jervis's public letter has been complained of for its brevity. It is, indeed, both brief and obscure, and, for that reason, of very little use to the historian. Therefore we must not bear too hard upon the accounts drawn up and published by private individuals. Against Admiral Ekins, however, we have a complaint to make, that applies to nearly all the cases he records. He suffers his reader to pore over half a dozen quarto pages of dry tactical matter, and to inspect an equal number of numerously figured plates (none of which are to be understood at a glance), merely to tell him, that all he has read, and all he has looked at, is erroneous : another account, and another set of plates, are then given, entirely altering the features of the battle of which he is desirous to give an account.

If any one was capable of doing justice to the St. Vincent victory, one might suppose it would be the writer who had been intrusted by the gallant chief with all his memoranda respecting it, But we do not hesitate to say, and we appeal to facts for the truth of our assertion, that Captain Brenton's account of his patron's action is the most imperfect of any that has been published. Its brevity may explain its incompleteness, but only renders the more extraordinary its many inaccuracies. That this writer should be contented with giving a superficial account is, indeed, most singular, for he actually begins by saying, "The particular details of this memorable day deserve our serious attention." * However, there is no deficiency of declamation, as the following passage will demonstrate: "From this day the old fashion of counting the ships of an enemy's fleet, and calculating the disparity of force, was entirely laid aside, and a new era may be said to have commenced in the art of war at sea." The opponents of Sir John Jervis, it is admitted, were Spaniards every man of them ; and yet it is of Spaniards that Captain Brenton elsewhere says, "There is little credit to be gained in conquering such antagonists." † Where an admiral and a post-captain have failed, a colonel of infantry has in a great measure succeeded ; and this, strange to say, in drawing up an account of a battle at sea. For our part we cannot but acknowledge that, although we have discovered some errors in it, our difficulties have been greatly smoothed by a reference to Colonel Drinkwater's pamphlet.

During the night succeeding the action both fleets lay to repairing their damages ; and daybreak on the 15th discovered them on opposite tacks, each formed in line of battle ahead. Although possessing the weathergage, the Spaniards made no serious attempt to renew the action. We say, no serious attempt, because, at about 2 h. 30 m. p.m., the Spanish fleet did

* Brenton, vol. ii., p. 152.

† Ibid. p. 142.

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