128 FRAGMENT OF AN INTENDED ACCOUNT 



As a fai'ther evidence of the sentiments of the Admiral on 

 a subject where they are of so much weight, I have to quote a 

 very curious and valuable document, a copy of the First Part of 

 the Naval Tactics, with Notes on the margin by Lord Rod- 

 ney himself, and communicated by him to the late General 

 Clerk, by whom it was deposited in the family library at Peni- 

 cuik. The notes are full of remarks on the justness of Mr 

 Clerk's views, and on the instances wherein his own conduct 

 had been in strict conformity with those views. He replies in 

 one place to a question which Mr Clerk had put (published 

 after the action in spring 1780,) of which mention has been 

 already made, concerning the conduct of that action. The 

 first signal of the Admiral, as we have already seen, was for 

 attacking the rear with his whole force. The French, percei- 

 ving this design, wore, and formed on the opposite tack. This 

 made it impossible immediately to obey the Admiral's signal, 

 and the next that he made was for every ship to attack her 

 opposite. Mr Clerk's question was. Why did Sir George 

 change his resolution of attacking the rear, and order an at- 

 tack on the whole line ? — Sir George answers to this. That he 

 did not change his intention, but that his fleet disobeyed his 

 signals, and forced him to abandon his plan. 



An anecdote which sets a seal on the great and decisive testi- 

 mony of the Noble Admiral, is worthy of being remembered, and 

 I am glad to be able to record it on the authority of a Noble Earl. 

 The present Lord Haddington met Lord Rodney at Spa, in 

 the decline of life, when both his bodily and his mental powers 

 were sinking under the weight of years. The Great Comman- 

 der, who had been the bulwark of his country, and the terror 

 of her enemies, lay stretched on his couch, while the memory 

 of his own exploits seemed the only thing that interested his 

 feelings, or afforded a subject for conversation. In this situa- 

 tion, 



