CH A R ACTERS. 



761 



no means to be relied on. This part 

 of his remark was pretty stronjrly ve- 

 rified in (he last war, when the French 

 squadron got out of Brest, and land- 

 ed troops in Ireland. He thought 

 it was much better to let the lleet 

 lie ready in some sheltered situation, 

 whence it might proceed to sea with 

 almost any wiiul whatever : and he 

 asserted, that the place he had de- 

 scribed was Torbay. 



Hoisting the union flag at the 

 main, he began his cruize ott' Brest, 

 and in the bay, July l4th. Near a 

 month after, he got sight of the 

 French fieet, and chased them intrf 

 Brest. He then returned into the 

 channel, August the 10th, and an- 

 chored in Torbay. On November 

 the 18th, while cruizing in the bay, 

 he saw a squadron, to whicli chace 

 was given, but they effected tlieir 

 escape. 



May the 2d, 1794, the fleet, -with 

 the same commander, sailed from 

 St. Helen's. May the 21st, news 

 was heard of the French being oiF 

 Ushant. May the 28th, capt. Par- 

 ker, of the Audacious, (one of lord 

 Howe's fieet) engaged the Uevoiu- 

 tionaire, and made her strike ; but 

 she was rescued by five other French 

 ships coming up, one of which, 

 I'Audacicux, towed her into port. 

 May the 29th, a battle began, in 

 whirh, had the captain, (who was 

 afterwards, by a trial, found guilty 

 of a breach of orders,) done his 

 duty, lord Howe had got the French 

 info such a situation, that he doubt- 

 ed not of being able to give a good 

 account of the whole of ihem. The 

 battle of that day being thus im- 

 peded, was, before night, totally 

 intercepted by a fog. This fog was 

 not dissipated till June the 1st; and 

 it is remarkable, that during its 



continuance, earl Howe's youngest 

 daughter, then countess of Alta- 

 mont, coming Avith the earl her 

 husband from Lisbon to Ireland, 

 sailed through the midst of the 

 French fleet, happily without seeing 

 or being seen by any of them. Du- 

 ring the fog, the four other ships 

 tliat had accompanied I'Audacicux 

 from Brest, had joined their fleet, 

 though lord Howe knew nothing of 

 this reinforcement of the enemy, till 

 after he had written his letter of 

 June the 1st, to the admiralty. On 

 June the 1st, (the French having 

 now 29 sail of the line to 25.) the 

 action re-commenced; in which six 

 French ships Avere taken, a seventh 

 sent to the bottom, and the rest put 

 to flight — most of them in a shat- 

 tered condition. By the 13th of 

 June, the fleet returned to Ports- 

 mouth. The cro\vd of spectators to 

 see it arrive was immense : the il- 

 luminations in the capital lasted for 

 three nights together, and general 

 was the exultation through the king- 

 dom. 



June the 2G, their majesties and 

 the j)rincesses went to Portsmouth, 

 and dined with earl Howe on board 

 the Queen Charlotte. It was now 

 that the king presented the earl with 

 a sword of extraordinary value, and 

 a golden chain, to which a medal, 

 struck on the occasion, was tp be 

 appendant. 



From the 3d of September, 1794, 

 earl Howe made short cruizes for 

 the remainder of the winter. P'eb- 

 1705, he escorted the East and West 

 India convoy to clear the channel ; 

 and then cruized ofl' Brest and iti 

 the bay. IJut liuding his health de- 

 crease, and having been in varioui 

 active employments for the course 

 of more than 53 years, and having 



gotten 



