of his orders, and the importance of the despatches of which he was the bearer, induced him to forego the pleasure of attacking the Didon ; but, having since undeceived himself, apparently, as to his having been sent to recal Sir Robert Calder, and thereby been in any way instrumental " to the important victory obtained by Lord Nelson on the 21st of October, " * Lord William instructs Captain Brenton to dwell upon the necessity which he was under, to hasten to Sir Robert Calder with the intelligence of his having fallen in with the Rochefort squadron. Accordingly his lordship's apologist says : " On his way to join the vice-admiral, he fell in with the Rochefort squadron, with whose movements it became a serious part of his duty to make himself acquainted ; seeing them burn a merchant vessel in the morning of the 6th, he watched them narrowly during the whole of that day, and having lost sight of them in the evening, Lord William proceeded in search of the vice-admiral."

Passing by the (we will not say studied, but) highly advantageous obscurity thrown over the time when the French squadron was first discovered by the Æolus, as well as the error in the date of burning the merchantman, we will merely advert to what might have been the consequences to Ireland, had Captain Countess, of the Ethalion, in September, 1798, been contented with such a " narrow watching " of the Hoche and her consorts. † An overweening zeal generally defeats its object. Why need Captain Brenton have laid so much stress upon the necessity that Lord William Fitz-Roy was under of acquainting himself with the movements of a French squadron, which he suffered to make sail from him without an effort to follow it, unless can be called so, the bearing up of the Æolus, for a short time, after the enemy had disappeared?

In reference to the Didon, Captain Brenton proceeds: " That Lord William did not pursue her, was an exemplary act of obedience to his orders. A night's chase would have led him entirely off the station on which he was so urgently directed by his admiral to seek for Sir Robert Calder, and on which he had, within 24 hours, seen an enemy's squadron, and gained intelligence of a British squadron being very near him. " " On the following morning, at daylight, he fell in with Sir Robert Calder, delivered his despatches, and gave him all the important intelligence of which, by his lordship's log, he appears to have been in possession. " ‡

Well, what did Sir Robert Calder do, on receiving this intelligence, for which, according to Captain Brenton, the captain of the Æolus had " sacrificed his reputation ? " Did he not immediately make sail in search of the Rochefort squadron ? On the contrary Sir Robert Calder bent his course towards the

*  See p. 159

†  See vol, ii., p. 124

‡  Brenton, vol iii., p. 387,

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