mor fatal to his military
efficiency. The admiral, on the contrary, was not more remarkable for
amiability and resolute personal courage than he was for sustained
energy and untiring attention to duty,--traits which assured adequate
naval direction, in case conciliation should give place, as it did, to
coercive measures.

It is to be regretted that the methods, or the opportunities, of naval
biographers and historians of the past century have preserved to us
little, in personal detail and anecdote, of a period the peculiarities
of which, if not exactly picturesque, were at least grotesque and
amusing. The humor of Smollett has indeed drawn in broad caricature some
of the salient features of the seaman of his day, which was that of
Howe's entrance into the navy; and those who are familiar with the naval
light literature based upon the times of Nelson can recognize in it
characteristics so similar, though evidently softened by advancing
civilization and increased contact with the world, as to vouch for the
accuracy of the general impression conveyed by the earlier novelist. It
is, however, correct only as a _general_ impression, in which, too,
allowance must be made for the animus of an author who had grievances to
exploit, and whose great aim was to amuse, even if exact truthfulness
were sacrificed at the shrine of exaggerated portrayal. Though not
wholly without occasional gleams of light, shed here and there by
recorded incident and anecdote upon the strange life of the seamen of
that period, the early personal experiences of individuals have had
scant commemoration; and with the exception of St. Vincent, who
fortunately had a garrulous biographer, we learn little of men like
Hawke, Howe, Hood, and Keppel, until, already possessors of naval rank,
they stand forth as actors in events rather historical than
biographical.

Of Howe's first services, therefore, not much record remains except a
bare summary of dates,--of promotions, and of ships to which he was
attached,--until 1755, the beginning of the Seven Years War, when he was
already a post-captain. Born in 1726, he entered the navy in 1739, at
the outbreak of the war with Spain which initiated a forty years'
struggle over colonies and colonial trade. With short intervals of
peace, this contest was the prominent characteristic of the middle of
the eighteenth century, and terminated in the conquest of Canada, the
independence of the United States, and the establishme