114 HOW A MAN MAY BE SUCCESSFUL. Few,' continues the eulogium, 'took a greater share in the conquest or government of the Punjab; perhaps none so great in both. To the last he was in that province a tower of strength. His form seemed made for an army or a people to behold, his heart to meet the crisis of an empire. Soldier and civilian, he was the type of the conquering race.' 7. Equally eminent for persistent purpose was the late Sir Charles James Napier, the hero of Sobraon, Aliwal, and Meanee. If beset by difficulties, he would exclaim, 'They only make my feet go deeper into the ground.' No danger daunted, no obstacle discouraged that ardent resolute spirit. With 400 English and 1,600 Sepoys he shattered to pieces, at Meanee, a well-armed Beloochee force, mustering 35,000 sabres! 'A watch, a razor, a piece of soap, and a brush, were equipments enough,' said this man of purpose, for any campaigner in India. To make England supreme was Napier's purpose, and wherever his arms advanced he accomplished it. 'Is there one,' said John Hunter, 'whom difficulties dishearten-who bends to the storm? He will do little. Is there one who will conquer? That kind of man never fails.' The young Nelson, who did not know what fear' was, became the victor of Aboukir, Copenhagen, and Trafalgar. And Wellington, who flinched not at Assaye, conquered at Waterloo. 8. Success as a soldier, then, it is evident, can only be obtained by him who devotes all his powers to the profession he has chosen-patience, energy, courage, purpose-concentrating them all in one burning focus, which melts down every obstacle. He who so abandons himself to his aim shall assuredly accomplish it. Let him not, indeed, like the French soldier, conclude that a marshal's baton lies concealed in every private's knapsack. He may remain one of the rank and file, or never rise beyond the sergeant's halbert, and yet his career be a success. If he resolutely do his duty; if he live a man's manly life of truth, honesty, and perseverance; if he seek to imprové to the utmost those faculties which he possesses; if he develope his heart, and mind, and soul, until he sympathises with all that is good, and beautiful, and noble; is he not successful? Shall not AN OLD SEA-KING. 115 angel-hands place on his glowing brow a crown felt even if unseen? The joy of a true man is in the struggle, not in the prize. The pursuit of knowledge,' said the Marquis of Halifax, 'has a pleasure in it like wrestling with a fine woman.' And the consciousness of duty performed, purpose achieved, hope fulfilled is a source of more exquisite and enduring happiness than the gauds which dazzle the eyes of little men! EXAMPLES. From the lives of certain illustrious naval and military heroes we now proceed to illustrate in detail the maxim which this book sets forth;-and the first place we give to that noble old sea-king-ultimus Romanorum. who but recently has passed away from among us : THOMAS, EARL OF DUNDONALD. 1. THOMAS COCHRANE, EARL OF DUNDONALD, was born at Aunsfield, Lanarkshire, on December 14, 1775. He was the son of Archibald, ninth earl, a man of much ingenuity, but little prudence, who contrived by ill-directed scientific pursuits so far to reduce an already impoverished inheritance, that he was verily a pauper though a peer. His son's position as heir to an earldom without an income was, therefore, at the outset, an unfortunate one. 2. When but nine years old, he lost his mother-a sad affliction for her irregularly administered family, and it is probable he and his five brothers would have been flung upon the world without an education, had not their grandmother applied her small income to meet their exigences. 'By the aid thus opportunely afforded,' says the earl, 'a tutor was provided, of whom my most vivid recollection is a stinging box on the ear, in reply to a query as to the difference between an interjection and a conjunction; this solution of the difficulty effectually repressing further philological enquiry on my part.' A Monsieur Durand succeeded to the post vacated by this pugilistic teacher, but his reign was prematurely terminated by certain Papistical ways 116 'A YOUNG GENTLEMAN.' which gave offence to the strict Presbyterian orthodoxy of the neighbours of the Dundonald family. 3. The young lord's passion for a naval life began to manifest itself in his very boyhood. But his father, though a man of science, was not a man of sagacity, and disregarding the boy's evident bias, determined he should enter the army. His uncle, the Honourable Captain, afterwards Admiral, Sir Alexander Cochrane, better understood his nephew's character and disposition, and assured that he would, sooner or later, enter the naval service, he enrolled his name, as a useful precaution, on the books of several vessels under his command,-the object being, to give him a few years' standing in the profession, should he eventually adopt it. Meanwhile, a kinsman of influence procured him an ensigncy in the 104th Regiment, so that Lord Cochrane had the honour of belonging to both services at the same time. 4. He had now another opportunity of making some small progress in his studies, being placed at an academy in Kensington for six months. Four years and a half then elapsed at home, in the zealous acquisition of knowledge from such books as he could procure, until his father, moved by his extraordinary industry, quiet perseverance, and the unalterable character of his attachment to a seafaring life, consented that his commission should be cancelled, and the renewed offer of his uncle to receive him on board his own frigate accepted. Accordingly, he joined the Hind, at Sheerness, on June 27, 1793, at the advanced age, for a young gentleman,' of seventeen years and a half. 5. His introduction to a naval career was marked by an amusing incident. The first lieutenant of the Hind was an 'old salt,' a seaman of the time of Benbow and Boscawen, who had notions of his own, and very limited ones, respecting a midshipman's fitting equipment. Regarding with portentous gaze the magnitude of Cochrane's sea-chest, he exclaimed, 'Does Lord Cochrane think he is going to bring a cabin aboard? The service is going to the devil! Get it up on the main-deck.' The carpenter, under his directions, then proceeded to saw off one end of the chest just beyond the keyhole, while the lieutenant commented on the lubberliness of shore-going people in not making keyholes where they could most easily be got at,' namely, at the end of a chest instead of at the middle! Notwithstanding this inauspicious beginning, Cochrane and Lieutenant Larmour were afterwards upon excellent terms, from the assiduity with which the young midshipman discharged his professional duties, and his zealous desire to make himself master of the minutest details. 6. After a cruise upon the Norwegian coast, the Hind returned to Sheerness, and Cochrane followed his uncle aboard the Thetis, a larger and more powerful frigate, then equipping for service in North America. She was attached to Admiral Murray's squadron, destined to operate against the French possessions, and arrived at Halifax early in 1795. Cochrane's attention to his duties was now rewarded by his promotion to the rank of third lieutenant,an incentive to renewed exertions and redoubled zeal, which, in their turn, again met with a due reward, -his appointment to a lieutenancy on board the flag-ship of Admiral Vandeput, Admiral Murray's successor in the command, on June 21, 1797. In the following year he returned to England, having served five years upon the North American station, and gained a high reputation as a diligent and promising officer. 7. He next joined the flag-ship of Lord Keith (despatched to relieve Lord St. Vincent in the command of the Mediterranean fleet), as a supernumerary, and on his arrival at Gibraltar (December 1798) received an appointment as acting lieutenant on board the Barfleur. In this capacity he served in the blockade of Cadiz, and in that pursuit of the Brest fleet which Earl St. Vincent so singularly interrupted. While at Palermo he made the acquaintance of Lord Nelson, from whom he received the characteristic injunction, 'Never mind manœuvres; always go at them' i. e. at the enemy - an injunction which Cochrane, in his after career, took care to follow. As yet, however, he 118 THE GOOD BRIG SPEEDY. had had few opportunities of 'a brush with the Mounseers,' or of displaying his remarkable personal courage. 8. The first occasion presented itself on the evening of September 21, 1799, when Lord Keith had his flag flying on board the Queen Charlotte, in Gibraltar Bay. The 10-gun cutter Lady Nelson, was then observed off the African coast, pursued by a number of gun-vessels and privateers. Lord Keith immediately ordered out the boats to her relief, First Lieutenant Bainbridge taking command of the barge, and Cochrane of the cutter. Before the boats got up, the Lady Nelson had surrendered, but Lieutenant Bainbridge, with his 16 men, made a gallant dash at her, boarded, and retook her, killing several, and taking prisoners 7 French officers and 27 men. Cochrane, in the cutter, with 13 men, pulled alongside the nearest privateer, and leaped on board, but, to his intense mortification, his boat's crew refused to follow. Regaining the cutter, he reproached them with their infamy; for the privateer's men had deserted the deck, the helmsman alone being at his post. They could not, however, be taunted into acting like British seamen, declaring that there were indications of the privateer's crew having fortified themselves below. 9. Lord Cochrane was now appointed to an independent command, having the brig Speedy placed under his orders a miniature vessel of war, of only 158 tons, carrying fourteen 4-pounders, a species of gun little larger than a blunderbuss, and a crew of 84 men and 6 officers. Despite her insignificant character, the young commander was very proud of his tiny vessel, 'caring nothing,' he says, 'for her want of accommodation, though in this respect her cabin merits passing notice. It had not so much as room for a chair, the floor being entirely occupied by a small table, surrounded with lockers, answering the double purpose of store-chests and seats. The difficulty was to get seated, the ceiling being only five feet high, so that (says Lord Cochrane) the object would only be accomplished by rolling on the locker, a movement sometimes attended with unpleasant failure. The most singular discomfort, however, was that my only practicable mode of shaving consisted in removing |