more floop of war, which joined the fquadron then cruizing on the coast of Scotland, under the command of admiral Smith. During this cruize an action took place, in which captain Howe gave a fine example of perfevering intrepidity. The Baltimore, in company with another armed vessel, fell in with two French frigates of 30 guns, with troops and ammunition for the fervice of the pretender, which the inftantly attacked by running between them. In the action which followed, captain Howe received a wound in his head, which at first appeared to be fatal. He, however, foon difcovered figns of life, and, when the necessary operation was performed, refumed all his former activity, continued the action, if poffible, with redoubled fpirit, and obliged the French fhips, with their prodigious fuperiority in men and metal, to fheer off, leaving the Baltimore, at the fame time, in fuch a flattered condition as to be wholly difqualified to purfue them. He was, in confequence of this gallant fervice, immediately made post-captain, and, on the 10th of April, 1746, was appointed to the Triton frigate, and ordered to Lisbon, where, in confequence of captain Holbourne's had fate of health, he was transferred to the Rippon, destined for the coaft of Guinea. But he foon quitted that flation to join his early patron, admiral Knowles, in Jamaica, who appointed him firft captain of his hip of 80 guns; and, at the conclufion of the war, in 1748, he returned in her to England. In March, 1751, captain Howe was appointed to the command of the Guinea station, in La Gloire, of 4 guns; when, with his ufual fpirit and activity, he checked the injurious proceedings of the Dutch governor-general on the coaft, and adjufted the difference between the English and Dutch fettlements. At the clofe of the year 1751, he was appointed to the Mary yacht, which was foon exchanged for the Do phin frigate, in which he failed to the Streights, where he executed many difficult and important fervices. Here he remained about 3 years; and foon after, on his return to England, he obtained the command of the Dunkirk, of 60 guns, which was among the fhips that were commiffioned from an apprehenfion of a rupture with France. This fhip was one of the fleet with which admiral Boscawen failed to obftruct the paffage of the French fleet into the gulph of St. Lawrence, when captain Howe took the Alcide, a French fhip of 64 guns, off the coaft of Newfound land. A powerful fleet being prepared, in 1757, under the com mand of fir Edward Hawke, to make an attack upon the French coaft, captain Howe was appointed to the Magnanime, in which thi he battered the fort on the island of Aix till it furrendered. In 1758, he was appointed commodore of a fmall fquadron which failed to annoy the enemy on their coafts. This be effected with his ufual farcefs at St. Malo, where a hundred fail of fhips, and feveral magazine, were deftroyed; and the heavy ge blowing into the fhore, which redered it impra&icable for the troops to land, alone prevented the execu ting a fimilar mischief in the town and harbour of Cherbourg. On the 1ft of July he returned to St. Helen's This expedition was foon followed by another, when prince Edward, afterwards afterwards duke of York, was in trufted to the care of commodore Howe, on board his fhip the Effex. The fleet failed on the 1st of Auguft, 1758, and on the 6th came to an anchor in the bay of Cherbourg; the town was taken, and the bason deftroyed. The commodore, with his royal midhipman on board, next failed to St. Malo, and, as his inftructions were to keep the coaft of France in continual alarm, he very effectually obeyed them. The unfuccefsful affair of St. Cas followed. But never was courage, skill, or humanity, more powerfully or fuccefffully difplayed than on this occafion. He went in perfon in his barge, which was rowed through the thickeft fire, to fave the retreating foldiers; the reft of the fleet, infpired by his conduct, followed his example, and at leaft 700 men were preferved, by his exertions, from the fire of the enemy, or the fury of the waves. In July the fame year (1758) his elder brother, who was ferving his country with equal ardour and heroifm in America, found an early grave. That brave and admirable officer was killed in a fkirmish between the advanced guard of the French and the troops commanded by general Abercromby, in the expedition againft Ticonderago. Commodore Howe now fucceeded to the titles and property of his family. In the following year (1759) lord Howe was employed in the channel, on-board his old fhip the Magnanime; but no opportunity offered to diftinguish himself till the month. of November, when the French fleet, under Conflans, was defeated. When he was prefented to the king, by fir Edward Hawke, on this occafion, his majefty faid, "Your life, my lord, has been one continued feries of fervices to your country." In March, 1760, he was appointed colonel of the Chatham divifion of marines; and in September following, he was ordered by fir Edward Hawke, to reduce the French fort on the Ifle of Dumel, in order to fave the expenfe of the tranfports employed to carry water for the use of the fleet. Lord Howe continued to ferve, as occafion required, in the channel; and, in the fummer of 1762, he removed to the Princess, Amelia, of 80 guns, having accepted the command as captain to his royal highnefs the duke of York, then rear admiral of the blue, ferving as fecond in command under fit Edward Hawke, in the channel. On the 23d of Auguft, 1763, his lordship was appointed to the board of admiralty, where he remained till Auguft, 1765. He was then made treasurer of the navy; and, in October, 1770, was promoted to rear admiral of the blue, and commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean. In March, 1775, he was appointed rear-admiral of the white: and was foon after chofen to reprefent the borough of Dartmouth in parliament. In the month of December, in the fame year, he was made vice-admira! of the blue. It was on one of thefe promotions that lord Hawke, then firft lord of the admiralty, rofe in the houfe of peers and faid, "I advifed his majefty to make the promotion. I have tried my lord Howe on important occafions; he never afked me how he was to execute any fervice, but always went and performed it.”— We are now to confider lord Howe as commander-in-chief on the American ftation, a very critical part of his life, and which at the time, was fubject to the cenfure and praise of contending A a 3 contending parties; but, leaving fuch difcuffions to hiftorical examination, we fhall proceed briefly to obferve, as it appears to us, that every enterprize in which his fquadron was concerned was uniformly fuccefsful; and he never failed in obtaining thofe objects that were within the reach of the naval force which he commanded. In 1778, France having become a party in the war, the French admiral (d'Eftaing) appeared, on the 11th of July, in fight of the British fleet, at Sandy Hook, with a confiderable force of line of battle fhips, in complete equipment and condition. Moft of the hips under lord Howe had been long in fervice, were not well manned, and were not line of battle thips of the prefent day. The French admiral, however, remained feven days without making an attack, and by that time lord Howe had difpofed his inferior force in fuch a manner as to bid him defiance. On d'Eftaing's leaving the Hook, lord Howe heard of the critical fituation of Rhode Ifland, and made every pofible exertion to preferve it. He afterwards acted chiefly on the defenfive. Such a conduct appears to have been required from the fate of his fect, and the particular fituation of the British caufe in America. He, however, contrived to baffle all the defigns of the French admiral; and may be faid, confidering the difadvantages with which he was furrounded, to have conducted and clofed the campaign with honour. Lord Howe now refigned the command to admiral Byron; and, on his return to England in October, immediately ftruck his flag. In the courfe of this year he had been advanced to be vice admiral of the white, and, s after, to the fame rank in the d fquadron. On the change of ad miniftration in the year 1782, Ind Howe was raised to the dignity of a vifcount of Great Britain, having been previously advanced to the rank of admiral of the blue. H was then appointed to command is fleet fitted out for the relief of Gibraltar; and he fulfilled the inportant objects of this expedition. That fortrefs was effectually relieved, the hoftile fleet baffied, and dared in vain to battle; and ditferent fquadrons detached to ther important deftinations; while the ardent hopes of his country's foes were difappointed. Peace was con cluded fhortly after lord Howe's return from performing this impor tant fervice; and, in January, 174, he was nominated first lord of the Admiralty. That office, in the fac ceeding April, he refigned to lord Keppel; but was re-appointed on the 30th of December in the fame year. On the 24th of September, 1787, he was advanced to the rank of admiral of the white; and, in July, 1788, he finally quitted h.s ftation at the Admiralty. On Augu 19 following he was created an earl of Great Britain. At the com mencement of the prefent war, in 1793, earl Howe accepted the command of the weftern fquadron, at the particular and perfonal requef of his majefty, and juftified the choice which his fovereign had made at fuch a perilous and impar tant moment. The glorious victory of the firft of June foon followed; the enemy's fleet, which was one of the moft powerful that France had ever equipped for fea, was totally vanquifhed, and feven fhips of the ere my's line were in pofleftion of the conqueror. onqueror. He now returned to ceive all the honours which a rateful country could beftow. On he 26th of the fame month, their ajefties, with three of the prineffes, arrived at Portfmouth, and roceeded the next morning in arges to vifit lord Howe's fhip the Queen Charlotte, at Spithead. His ajefty held a naval levee on board, nd prefented the victorious admial with a fword, enriched with dimonds, and a gold chain, with he naval medal fufpended from it. The thanks of both houses of parlianent, the freedom of the city of London, and the univerfal acclanations of the nation, followed the acknowledgements of the fovereign. In the course of the following year Je was appointed general of maines, on the death of admiral Forbes; and finally refigned the command of the western fquadron in April, 1797. On the 2d of June in the fame year he was invefted with the infignia of the garter. The laft public act of a life employed against the foreign enemies of his country was exerted to compofe its internal diffentions. It was the lot of earl Howe to contribute to the restoration of the fleet, which he had conducted to glory on the fea, to loyalty in the harbour. His experience fuggefted the measures to be purfued by government on the alarming mutinies which, in 1797, diftreffed and terrified the nation; while his perfonal exertions powerfully promoted the difperfion of that fpirit which had, for a time, changed the very nature of British feamen, and greatly helped to recall them to their former career of duty and obediSuch was earl Howe, who is gone to his grave full of years and honour, leaving behind him a name ence. which will mark one of the most Anecdotes of the late Mr. Bacon. TH of HIS celebrated fculptor was H born, in London, on the 24th of November, 1740. His father was a clothworker, in Southwark. years When he was about five age, he fell into a pit of a foapboiler, and must have perifhed if a man, who then entered the yard, had not difcovered the top of his head, and immediately drawn him About the fame time he fell out. before a cart, the wheel of which went over his right hand, and muft have crushed it, had it not fallen between two projecting_fiones.-When very young, Mr. Bacon.difcovered an inclination for drawing; but never made any great proficien In the year 1755, cy in that art. and at the age of 14, he was bound apprentice to Mr. Crifpe, of Bowchurch-yard, where he was employed in painting on porcelain. Mr. Crifpe had a manufactory of china, at Lambeth, where Mr. Bacon occafionally went and affifted. His then occupation, indeed, was but a feeble ftep towards his future acquirements, as he was chiefly employed in forming thepherds, thepherdeffes, and fuch like fmall ornamental pieces; yet, for a felf-taught artist to perform even works like these with tafte, and, in lefs than two years, form (as he did) all the models for the manufactory, was to give indications of no ordinary powers. But, as goodness of heart excels greatnefs of parts, we ought not to admit recording here a proof of his filial affection. At this early A a 4 period period he, in a great measure, fupported his parents from the produce of his labours, even to the abridging himself of the neceffaries of life. His capacity, however, for greater things difcovered itself on the following occafion:*« In attending the manufactory at Lambath he had an opportunity of obferving the models of different fculptors, which were fent to a pottery, on the fame premifes, to be burnt. Small circumftances often give rife to important events. From the fight of thefe models Mr. Bacon was first infpired with an inclination towards his art. He applied himself to it with the moft unremitting diligence; his progrefs was as rapid as his turn for it was fudden and unpremeditated: this will appear from the books publifhed annually by the fociety for the encouragement of arts, where it may be found, that, between the years 1763 and 1766, inclufive, the first premiums in thofe claffes for which he contended were no lefs than nine times adjudged to him." The firft of thefe attempts was made in the year 1758, on a small figure of Peace, after the manner of the antique. It was during Mr. Bacon's apprenticeship that he formed a defign of making ftatues in artificial ftone, which he afterwards perfected. The manufactory now carried on at Lambeth by Mrs. Coade originated. with him." About the year 1763 Mr. Bacon first attempted working on marble. As he had never feen this performed, he was led to invent an inftrument for transferring the form of the model to the marble, technically called year getting out the points, which inf ment has fince been used by may other fculptors in England and France. At this time Mr. Bacon lived in the city, where his family connections were; but, in the 1768, he removed to the weft end of the town; and it was then (being about 28 years of age), in attending the Royal Academy, inftituted that year, that he received his first inftructions in his art, having never before feen the art of modeling or fculpture regularly performed. "In the following year the gold medal for fculpture (the first ever given by that body) was decreed to Mr. Bacon; and, about two or three years after, his reputation was publicly eftablished by the exhibition of his ftatue of Mars, which recom mended him to the notice of the prefent archbishop of York, who, having defigned to place a buft of his prefent majefty in the hall of Chrift-Church-college, in the Univerfity of Oxford, prefented Mr. Bacon to his majefty, who was pleased to fit to him for this pur pose; and his execution of this work, added to the fame he had already acquired, procured him the Royal patronage, and an order from his majefty to prepare another buff, which he intended to prefent to the Univerfity of Göttingen. Her majefty was allo pleafed to give direc tions for a third, and Mr. Bacon has fince executed a fourth, which has been placed in the meeting-room of the Society of Antiquaries. He was foon afterwards employed by the dean and fellows of Chrift Church in forming feveral bufis fer What follows, in quotation, is taken from an authentic account in a respectable periodical publication for August, 1790. He became an affociate in 1770, and an academician in 1778. them, |