reetly,
made too free with the wine on board.

"I do not, however," said he, in a letter to Captain Locker, "repine at
our loss; we have, in other respects, been very fortunate: for, on the
14th of August, we fell in with, in Boston Bay, four sail of the line,
and the Iris frigate, part of Monsieur Vaudreuil's squadron, who gave us
a pretty dance for nine or ten hours. But we beat all, except the
frigate; and, though we brought to for her, after we were out of sight
of the line of battle ships, she tacked and stood from us. Our escape I
think wonderful. They were, on the clearing up of a fog, within shot of
us; and chased us, the whole time, about one point from the wind. The
frigate, I fancy, had not forgotten the dressing Captain Salter had
given the Amazon, for daring to leave the line of battle ships."

This is the hero's own modest account of the affair: but, in truth, he
might have assumed all the merit of his escape. The pretty dance he
mentions, was led and concluded, by himself, with consummate skill and
address, among the shoals of St. George's Bank; where the line of battle
ships were unable to follow, had they even possessed his skill in
pilotage. They, therefore, at length, quitted the pursuit: though the
frigate, for some time after, continued to persevere; and had, about
sun-set, even approached within little more than gun-shot. At this time,
overhearing some of his men remark to one another, that they thought, as
the line of battle ships were not following, they should be able to
manage the frigate, he immediately told his brave fellows, in the most
kind and encouraging language, that he would, at least, give them an
opportunity to try for it: and, ordering the main-top-sail to be
instantly laid to the mast, the French frigate no sooner beheld them
thus bringing to, to engage, than it suddenly tacked, and bore away to
rejoin it's consorts. The ascription of this French pusillanimity, to
Captain Salter's gallant chastisement of the Amazon, on a similar
occasion, is a very refined compliment to that deserving officer, and an
admirable specimen of Captain Nelson's excessive candour and humility;
while the acknowledgment that he had, "in other respects, been very
fortunate," displays the genuine operation of nature in a valorous
British bosom, so successfully described by Goldsmith, in his admirable
tale of the Disabled Veteran.

It was at Quebec that Captain Nelson and Alexander Davison, Esq.
commenced t