more deliciously in their lives than they did that night, on poultry and fine Highland mutton, hastily broiled on the live ashes. Rest was the next thing of which they stood in need; and their generous host led them to the inner apartment in the cave. There two sacks of heath were, by his order, brought in, and on these the wearied travellers were invited to repose. The officer had a considerable sum of money, and some costly trinkets upon him; but as he expected they would search him for his money, he did not attempt to secrete any thing. Their host either discovered or suspected their fears, and offered himself to be their guard. They dissuaded him as much as possible, but he told them plainly, that unless he kept constantly by them, he could not be answerable for the conduct of his companions. He, therefore, watched by them on the bare rock the whole of the night. In the morning they found themselves thus alone with him, and every thing as they left it in the evening; save that of the whole fifty men they had seen, not one was now visible but the chief of the gang. Another fire of wood was instantly lighted up, and as he told them they had nearly twenty miles to ride, before they could find any provisions for themselves or horses, they were prevailed on to eat very heartily of cheese and whiskey, ere they set out.

go to a free market for whatever we wan In such a situation money can be of no object to us; though it were, know that Serjeant More is above being hired todo what his heart tells him is right." "Are you Serjeant More?" exclaimed the officer. "I am." "Why, your name is a terror to the whole country round." "It is." "Do you know that a reward is offered for you, dead or alive? Why, then, do you trust yourself alone with two armed men?" "To show you that my heart is a stranger to fear." He then drew his sword, and leaning on it gently, "Sir," said he, "I was born a gentleman, and have lived a clown. Early misfortunes obliged me to conceal my name and family, and enlist in the army. My conduct there attracted the attention of my superiors, but I had no interest to rise higher than a halbert, and was discharged with the regiment in which I served. This way of life was then imposed on me by necessity. It is likely I shall be made an example of, to deter others from the same clandestine practices; and all I ask when you hear of my death, whether public or private, is, that you remember you once owed your life to him who never took one but in the cause of his country, when he fought for his king, and exposed his own. Farewell."

ANECDOTE.

Ar the battle of Talavera, a private of He then produced their horses, which the 83d regiment, whose arm had been had been well fed, and were in good spi- broken in the conflict, perceived one of rits. He likewise insisted in putting them the enemy's marksmen, who had ascendon the road, where they might be in no ed a tree, taking deliberate aim at a further danger of losing their way. On British officer. The soldier, disabled by this the servant was ordered to dismount his wound from using his musket, inand give him his horse; but he chose ra stantaneously drew his bayonet, which he ther to walk, and told them, he could threw with such excellent aim, that the easily keep up with them. At their part-point entered the jugular vein of the ing, "Sir," said the officer, "we are struck rifleman, perforated his throat, and killed at the whole of your conduct, from first to him on the spot. last, with equal admiration and gratitude. We have been treated like princes, where we expected our throats were to be cut. It is not in my power sufficiently to reward your generosity; but here is a small purse of guineas, which is all the ready cash I have about me. I can very well spare it, and shall think myself honoured by your acceptance of it. I am only sorry

NOTICE.

Subscribers and the public are respectfully informed, that the original edition of the Tales of the Wars, or Naval and W. M. CLARK, 19, Warwick-lane, Military Chronicle, is published only by Paternoster-row; J. Pattie, 17, HighLane; J. Hetherington, 126, Strand; street, Bloomsbury; J. Cleave, 1, Shoe Brittain, Paternoster-row; and may be had of all Booksellers.

J. LAST, Printer, 3, Edward-st. Hampstead-rd

the Duke of York, as commander-inchief, was in the centre with the red squadron; Count D'Etrées acting as admiral of the white, and the Earl of Sandwich commanding the blue.

The Dutch were not backward in preparing to meet the danger with which they were threatened. They had equipped and sent to sea a fleet of seventy-five large men-of-war, and forty frigates and fire-ships. It was commanded by the famous De Ruyter, assisted by Cornelius de Witt, the pensionary's brother, as deputy from the States. The Dutch admiral having put to sea, and being informed that the combined fleet was in Sole bay, in Suffolk, he, on the 28th of May, bore down upon them so unexpectedly, that many of their ships were obliged to cut their cables, that they might get out more expeditiously, and range themselves in order of battle.

and reducing her to a perfect wreck; the | captain himself being wounded, and twothirds of his men killed. The earl had now with unexampled intrepidity defended himself for five hours, but disdaining to retreat, another Dutch fireship approached under cover of the enemy's smoke, boarded the Royal James on the quarter, and the ship was soon in flames. While in this distress, and seeing his vice-admiral sail by, heedless of the condition in which he lay, he said to those who were about him, "There is nothing left for us now, but to defend the ship to the last man." When the fourth fire-ship grappled him, he begged his captain and all his servants to get into the boat and save themselves; which they did. Some of the sailors would not quit the admiral, but staid and endeavoured, at his command, to extinguish the fire, which in spite of all their efforts they could not accomplish, and all perished together, the ship blowing up about noon. Of one thousand on board her, six hundred had been killed previous to the fatal catastrophe. The Dutch writers give a different account of this matter; they say that the earl and one of his sons were smothered in the longboat, by the crew jumping in upon them; which cannot be true, since the genuine cause of the earl's remaining on board was, his apprehension that he might be taken in the long-boat, and made a spectacle to the Dutch.

Bankert, who commanded the van of the Dutch fleet, commenced the attack on the white squadron under d'Etrées, who received them with some appearance of courage, but soon sheered off, in consequence, as it said, of secret orders from his master not to expose the French ships too much, but to leave the English and Dutch to effect their mutual destruction. In the meantime, De Ruyter made a furious attack on the centre squadron, while Van Ghent engaged the blue under the Earl of Sandwich. The Duke of York, after a most obstinate conflict of several hours with the Dutch commander, was obliged, from the disabled state of his ship, the St. Michael, to shift his flag to the Loyal London. The Earl of Sandwich, in the Royal James, of 100 guns, maintained a most unequal conflict with Van Ghent's division. He was first attacked by the Great Holland, commanded by Captain Braakel, and a fire-ship. Braakel, though of inferior force, yet de- | pending on the assistance of his countrymen, who had the advantage of the wind, grappled the Royal James, and the Earl being ill supported by the rest of his squadron, was almost entirely surrounded by the enemy. Van Ghent was soon killed, and his ship being much disabled, sheered off. Another Dutch man-of-war and three fire-ships were sunk, and at length the earl succeeded in disengaging himself from Braakel's ship, after being grappled with her an hour and a half,

The death of their admiral, and the furious attack of part of the earl's squadron, which arrived, though too late, to his assistance, threw Van Ghent's division into such confusion that it was obliged to retreat, and withdraw for some time from the engagement. This afforded Sir Joseph Jordan, who had now succeeded to the command of the blue squa dron, an opportunity of uniting with the red, in order to assist the Duke of York, who, being deserted by the French, had suffered considerably from the powerful attacks of the enemy's two divisions under De Ruyter and Bankert. In this conflict, Cornelius Evertzen, Admiral of Zealand, was killed, and De Ruyter himself was wounded, and narrowly escaped being burned by the English fire-ships. His ship was at length so completely disabled that she was obliged to be towed out of the line, and it was

with great difficulty she afterwards reach- | ed home. Van Ghent's squadron having by this time rallied, bore down to the relief of their commanders, and thus saved them from destruction. Towards night, great havoc was made among the Dutch fire-ships, five or six of which were destroyed by one English man-of-war. The battle continued till nine at night, when the Dutch fleet being dreadfully shattered and disabled, were obliged to retreat; and the English, having suffered in an equal degree, were in no condition to pursue them.

In this sanguinary contest, the Dutch lost only three ships, one of which was burned, another sunk, and the third taken. Their loss in men is supposed to have been very great, as the publication of it was forbidden by the States.

wich, yet the character which he uniformly exhibited, does not justify the idea that he would wantonly sacrifice a life so useful to his country. The certificate of his funeral preserved among the archives of the Herald's College, has been adduced to corroborate a contrary opinion. It is there stated, that, “he staid in his ship till the last, when he was forced to put himself to the mercy of the seas, in which he perished."

His lordship's body was found nearly a fortnight afterwards; and the king testified, by the honours he paid to the corpse, how much he admired the man, how sensible of his hard fate, and how willing he was to mingle with the dust of his ancestors, the remains of such as died gloriously in their country's service. The fact stands thus recorded in the Gazette of June 13, 1672 :—

jesty's ketches was taken up, and brought into this port; where Sir Charles Littleton, the governor, receiving it, took immediate care for its embalming, and honourable disposing, till his Majesty's pleasure should be known concerning it; for the obtaining of which, his Majesty was attended at Whitehall, the next day, by the master of the said vessel, who, by Sir Charles Littleton's order, was sent to present his Majesty with the George found about the body of the said earl, which remained, at the time of its taking up, in every part unblemished, saving some impressions made by the fire upon his face and breast: upon which his Majesty, out of his princely regard to the great deservings of the said earl, and his unexampled performances in this last act of his life, hath resolved to have his body brought up to London, there, at his charge, to receive the rites of funeral due to his great quality and merits.

The loss on the part of the English was rather more severe. Two of their "Harwich, June 10. ships were burned, three sunk, and one "This day the body of the right hotaken. They had about two thousand nourable Edward, earl of Sandwich, bemen killed and wounded: among the ing, by the order upon his coat, discovered former were Sir Fretcheville Holles, rear-floating on the sea, by one of his Maadmiral, in the Cambridge; Captain Digby of the Henry; Captain Piercy of the St. George; Captain Waterworth of the Anne; Sir John Fox of the Prince; Captain Harman of the Triumph; Lord Maidstone, Sir Philip Cartwright, Sir Charles Harbord, and many other persons of distinction. But the fate of the gallant Earl of Sandwich was particularly regretted. It is also related that when his ship was on fire, the earl retired to his cabin, whither he was followed by his captain, Sir Richard Haddock, (almost the only officer that survived the loss of the Royal James) who, finding him with a handkerchief before his eyes, informed him of his danger, to which he replied, "he saw how things went, and was resolved to perish with the ship." It is said that on the preceding day, while the fleet was riding in Sole bay, the earl, apprehensive of being surprized by the Dutch, had advised that they should weigh anchor, and get out to sea. The Duke of York, however, not only rejected this advice, but even told the earl that it was the result of fear; which is supposed to have made such a deep impression on the noble admiral's mind, as to render him careless of his life. Though this is the account which most historians have given of the death of the Earl of Sand

"The Earl of Sandwich's body being taken out of one of his Majesty's yachts at Deptford on the 3d of July, 1672, and laid in the most solemn manner in a sumptuous barge, proceeded by water to Westminster-bridge, attended by the King's barges, his royal highness the Duke of York's, as also with the several barges of the nobility, lord-mayor, and

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drew nearer: when we were within fifty paces of them, they turned, and much execution was done among them, as we were followed by some Belgians, who had remarked our success.

But we had no sooner passed through them, than we were attacked in our turn, before we could form, by about three hundred Polish lancers, who had come down to their relief: the French artillery pouring in among us a heavy fire of grape shot, which, however, for one of our men killed three of their own. In the meiée, I was disabled almost instantly in both

the several companies of the city of London, adorned suitable to the melancholy occasion, with trumpets and other music, that sounded the deepest notes. On passing by the Tower, the great guns there were discharged, as well as at Whitehall; and, about five o'clock in the evening, the body being taken out of the barge at Westminster-bridge, there was a procession to the abbey-church with the highest magnificence. Eight earls were assistant to his son Edward, earl of Sandwich, chief-mourner, and most of the nobility and persons of quality in town gave their assistance to his inter-of my arms, and followed by a few of my ment in the Duke of Albemarle's vault, men, who were presently cut down, (no in the north side of King Henry VII.'s quarter being asked or given,) I was Chapel, where his remains are deposited." carried on by my horse, till receiving a blow on my head from a sabre, I was thrown senseless on my face to the ground. Recovering, I raised myself a little to look round, (being, I believe, at that time in a condition to get up and run away,) when a lancer passed by and struck his lance through my back; my head dropped, the blood gushed into my mouth, a difficulty of breathing came on, and I thought all was over.

NARRATIVE

OF THE SUFFERINGS AND MIRACULOUS

PRESERVATION OF LIEUT.-COL. PONSONBY, AT THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. Or all the instances of individual suffering and miraculous preservation which occurred in this tremendous contest, none perhaps combined so many interesting features as the situation of the Honour able Colonel Ponsonby, of the 12th Dragoons. The narrative, which is simple and affecting, is drawn up by a friend of the family, from materials occasionally and reluctantly furnished by the gallant officer.

"The weather cleared up at noon, and the sun shone out a little, just as the battle begun. The armies were within eight hundred yards of each other, the videttes, before they were withdrawn, being so near as to be able to converse. At one moment I imagined that I saw Buonaparte, a considerable staff moving rapidly along the front of our line.

I was stationed with my regiment, about three hundred strong, at the extreme of the left wing, and directed to act discretionally; each of the armies were drawn up on a gentle declivity, a small valley lying between them.

At one o'clock, observing, as I thought, unsteadiness in a column of French infantry, which were advancing with an Irregular fire, I resolved to charge them. As we were descending in a gallop we received from our own troops on the right a fire much more destructive than theirs, they having begun long before it could have taken effect, and slackening as we

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Not long afterwards, (it was then impossible to measure time, but I must have fallen in less than ten minutes after the charge,) a tirailleur came up to plunder me, threatening to take my life. I told him that he might search me, directing him to a small side pocket, in which he found three dollars, being all I had; he unloosed my stock, and tore open my waistcoat, then leaving me in a very uneasy posture, and was no sooner gone than another came up for the same purpose, but assuring him I had been plundered already, he left me: when an officer bringing up some troops (to which probably the tirailleurs belonged,) and halting where I lay, stooped down and addressed me, saying, he feared I was badly wounded: I replied that I was, and expressed a wish to be removed into the rear he said, it was against the order to remove even their own men; but if they gained the day, as they probably would (for he understood that the Duke of Wellington was killed, and that six of our battalions had surrendered,) every possible attention in his power should be shown me. I complained of thirst, and he held his brandy-bottle to my lips, directing one of his men to lay me straight