the bottom, whereupon the ship of course drags toward the beach. "Coming
home, are they?" rejoined Howe. "I am sure they are very right. I don't
know who would stay abroad on such a night, if he could help it." Yet
another time he was roused from sleep by a lieutenant in evident
perturbation: "My lord, the ship is on fire close to the magazine; but
don't be frightened; we shall get it under shortly." "Frightened, sir!"
said Howe. "What do you mean? I never was frightened in my life." Then,
looking the unlucky officer in the face, he continued, "Pray, Mr. ----,
how does a man _feel_ when he is frightened? I need not ask how he
_looks_."

The even, unaffected self-possession indicated by these anecdotes of the
early prime of life remained with him to the end, as is shown by another
incident collected by a biographer who knew many of his contemporaries.
"When Howe was in command of the Channel Fleet, after a dark and
boisterous night, in which the ships had been in some danger of running
foul of each other, Lord Gardner, then the third in command, the next
day went on board the _Queen Charlotte_ and inquired of Lord Howe how he
had slept, for that he himself had not been able to get any rest from
anxiety of mind. Lord Howe said he had slept perfectly well, for as he
had taken every possible precaution he could before dark, he laid
himself down with a conscious feeling that everything had been done,
which it was in his power to do, for the safety of the ships, and the
lives of those intrusted to his care, and this conviction set his mind
at ease." The apprehensiveness with which Gardner was afflicted "is
further exemplified by an anecdote told by Admiral Sir James Whitshed,
who commanded the _Alligator_, next him in the line. Such was his
anxiety, even in ordinary weather, that, though each ship carried three
poop lanterns, he always kept one burning in his cabin, and when he
thought the _Alligator_ was approaching too near he used to run out into
the stern gallery with the lantern in his hand, waving it so as to be
noticed." From Gardner's rank at the time, the conversation narrated
must have occurred during the early years of the French Revolution, when
Howe was over sixty-seven. As illustrative of character it is
particularly interesting, for Gardner was not only a much younger man,
but one whose gallantry and competence had been eminently proved as a
captain in several hard fought battles, while as an admiral in chief