miles to the westward of the Start, a sail was observed in
the south-east, winch was soon made out to be a French frigate. Before
six o'clock they had approached very near, the enemy making no attempt
to escape; and, indeed, if both nations had wished at this early period
of the war to try the merit of their respective navies by a battle, no
ship could have been better calculated than the _Cleopatra_ to maintain
the honour of her flag. Her commander, Captain Mullon, was deservedly
considered one of the most able officers of the French marine. As
Suffren's captain, he had taken a prominent part in the actions with Sir
Edward Hughes in the East Indies; and the code of signals then used
along the French coast was his own invention. The _Cleopatra_ had been
more than a year in commission, and, with such a commander, it may be
supposed that her crew had been well trained to all their duties.
Indeed, it was known that the enemy had taken great pains in the
equipment of their cruizers; and the generally inferior description of
the English crews, inevitable from the circumstance that a navy was to
be commissioned at once, had led to great apprehensions for the result
of the first action. The seaman-like style in which the _Cleopatra_ was
handled did not escape the eye of Captain Pellew; who, conscious of his
own disadvantage, from the inexperience of his ship's company,
determined to avail himself of the power which the enemy's gallantry
afforded him, to bring the ships at once to close action, and let
courage alone decide it.

In the courage of his men he placed the firmest reliance; and when he
addressed a few words to them, before they closed with the enemy, he
knew how to suggest the most effectual encouragement in a situation so
new to them all. To the miners, he appealed by their honour and spirit
as Cornishmen; a motive which the feelings of his own bosom told him
would, above all things, animate theirs. Probably there is no place
where local pride prevails so strongly as in the west of Cornwall. The
lower classes, employed for the most part in pursuits which require the
constant exercise of observation and judgment, and familiarized to
danger in their mines and fisheries, are peculiarly thoughtful and
intrepid; while the distinctness of name and character which they derive
from the almost insular position of their county, and the general
ignorance of strangers in the interesting pursuits with which they are
so familiar