s a man's finger, with a head not larger than that of a
bee, but a body such as I have described, filled with eggs, which
continually rolled out like a fluid from a reservoir. Never shall I
forget the shout of rapture which the gallant Admiral sent over half
the harbour, as he succeeded in gaining the object of his labour.

There are some men who go about everything they undertake with all
their hearts and souls, and this great officer was one of those. He
did nothing by halves and quarters, like so many other people. The
greatest deeds of arms, or the most trivial objects of passing
amusement, engrossed his whole concentrated attention for the time. He
was equally in earnest when holding out examples of private
generosity, or lending the heartiest and kindest encouragement even to
the least distinguished of his followers, as when performing acts of
the highest public spirit, or making the greatest sacrifices to what
he considered his duty. Everything, in short, that he did, or thought,
or uttered, bore the stamp of the same peculiar impress of genuine
zeal. So eminently exciting, and even fascinating, was this truly
officer-like conduct, that even those who had served under him the
longest often wondered at the extent of their own exertions when
roused by his example, and were led almost to believe that his very
look had something stimulating in it which actually gave fresh vigour
to their arms as well as to their thoughts. With all this, he was the
gentlest of the gentle, and accomplished whatever he undertook without
apparent effort, or the least consciousness that what he was doing was
remarkable.

I remember an instance of his skill in the small way. One morning,
near the spot where he had headed the storming party against the white
ants, a working party of the crew of the Illustrious had commenced
constructing a wharf before the dockyard. The stones of which this
platform or landing-place was to be built were, by Sir Samuel Hood's
orders, selected of very large dimensions, so much so, that the
sailors came at last to deal with a mass of rock so heavy, that their
combined strength proved unequal to moving it beyond a few inches
towards its final position at the top of one corner. The Admiral sat
on his horse looking at the workmen for some time, occasionally
laughing, and occasionally calling out directions, which the baffled
engineers could by no means apply. At length, his Excellency the
Commander-in-chief beca