ned to
read:--

SIR,--You, having thought fit to take to yourself a
wife, are to look for no further attentions from

Your humble servant,
J. JERVIS.

The supposed culprit, guiltless even in thought of this novel
misdemeanor, hastened on board, and explained that he abhorred such an
offence as much as could the admiral. It then appeared that the letter
had been sent to the wrong person. Jervis was himself married at this
time; but his well-regulated affections had run steadily in harness
until the mature age of forty-eight, and he saw no reason why other men
should depart from so sound a precedent. "When an officer marries," he
tersely said, "he is d----d for the service."

Returning to England in February, 1795, Jervis was in August nominated
to command the Mediterranean station, and in November sailed to take up
his new duties. At the end of the month, in San Fiorenzo Bay, an
anchorage in the north of Corsica, he joined the fleet, which continued
under his flag until June, 1799. He had now reached the highest rank in
his profession, though not the highest grade of that rank as it was
then subdivided; being a full Admiral of the Blue. The crowning period
of his career here began. Admirable and striking as had been his
previous services, dignified and weighty as were the responsibilities
borne by him in the later part of a life prolonged far beyond the span
of man, the four years of Jervis's Mediterranean command stand
conspicuous as the time when preparation flowered into achievement,
solid, durable, and brilliant. It may be interesting to Americans to
recall that his age was nearly the same as that of Farragut when the
latter assumed the charge in which, after long years of obscure
preparation, he also reaped his harvest of glory. It is likewise worthy
of note that this happy selection was made wholly independent of the
political bias, which till then had so often and unworthily controlled
naval appointments. Jervis belonged to the small remnant of Whigs who
still followed Fox and inveighed against the current war, as unnecessary
and impolitic. It was a pure service choice, as such creditable alike to
the Government and the officer.

Though distinguished success now awaited him, a period of patient
effort, endurance, and disappointment had first to be passed,
reproducing in miniature the longer years of faithful service preceding
his professional triumphs. Jervis came to the Mediterranea