Notices of the life and character of Sir Alexander Ball, and of the circumstances of the English occupation of Malta. Essays II-VI. pp. 226-301.

THIRD LANDING-PLACE.

Essay

xvii

II. Impression left by Sir A. B. on the author: state of Malta: corruption.

III. Personal memoir of Sir A. B.:
anecdotes of him.

IV. Ball and Nelson: Nelson's reli-
ance on him: Ball at the battle
of the Nile: explosion of the
ship L'Orient: anecdote.
V. Ball's habits of mind: conduct du-
ring siege of Valletta: behaviour
of English to foreigners: Ball's
decisive conduct with the court
of Naples: unjust and unwise
treatment of the Maltese by the
British government.

VI. Ball's popularity in Malta: jea-
lousy of him in the government:
discussion of the importance of
Malta to this country.

* FRIEND! were an author privileged to name his own judge, in addition to moral and intellectual competence I should look round for some man, whose knowledge and opinions had for the greater part been acquired experimentally; and the practical habits of whose life had put him on his guard with respect to all speculative reasoning, without rendering him insensible to the desirableness of principles more secure than the shifting rules and theories generalized from observations merely empirical, or unconscious in how many departments of knowledge, and with how large a portion even of professional men, such principles are still a desideratum. I would select, too, one who felt kindly, nay, even partially, toward me; but one whose partiality had its strongest foundations in hope, and more prospective than retrospective would make him quick-sighted in the detection, and unreserved in the exposure, of the deficiencies and defects of each present work, in the anticipation of a more developed future. In you, honored

* Dedication to the second edition.-Ed.

XX

friend! I have found all these requisites combined and realized: and the improvement, which these essays have derived from your judgment and judicious suggestions, would, of itself, have justified me in accompanying them with a public acknowledgment of the same. But knowing, as you cannot but know, that I owe in great measure the power of having written at all to your medical skill, and to the characteristic good sense which directed its exertion in my behalf; and whatever I may have written in happier vein to the influence of your society and to the daily proofs of your disinterested attachment;-knowing too, in how entire a sympathy with your feelings in this respect the partner of your name has blended the affectionate regards of a sister or daughter with almost a mother's watchful and unwearied solicitudes alike for my health, interest, and tranquillity;-you will not, I trust, be pained, you ought not, I am sure, to be surprised that