iz Biographical Account of (Marcn, 
with much feeling, repeated nearly the whole of Gray’s Elegy 
(which bad appeared not long before, and was yet but little known) 
to an officer who sat with him in the stern of the boat; adding, as 
he concluded, that “ he would prefer being the author of that 
poem to the glory of beating the French to-morrow.” 
To-morrow came, and the life of this illustrious soldier was ter- 
minated, amid the tears of his friends and the shouts of his victo- 
rious army. Quebec fell of course ; and soon afterwards the fleet 
under Admiral’Saunders sailed for England. When they arrived on 
the coast they were informed that the Brest fleet was at sea, and 
that Sir Edward Hawke was in search of it. Without waiting for 
orders, Admiral Saunders sailed to reinforce Hawke, but came too 
late, the celebrated victory over Conflans, in Quiberon Bay, having 
been obtained (on the 20th of November) a few days before he 
joined. Whether the Royal William accompanied the rest of the 
fleet on this occasion, | have not been able to learn. The body of 
General Wolfe was brought home in that ship, and was landed at 
Spithead on the 18th of November. From that date to the begin- 
ning of next year find nothing concerning the Royal William, 
when that ship, with the Namur, and some others, under the com- 
mand of Admiral Boscawen, sailed on an expedition to the Bay of 
Quiberon. On this service the Royal William remained between 
five and six months, having been twice sent to cruise off Cape Finis- 
terre, for five weeks each time. 
About this period a series of letters from Mr. Robison to his 
father begins ; and though the letters do not enter much into parti- 
eulars, they leave us less at a loss about the remaining part of his 
seafaring life. 
On the 3d of August the Royal-William returned to Plymouth, - 
the greater part of the crew being totally disabled by the sea-scurvy, 
from which Mr. Robison himself had suffered very severely. He 
writes to his father that, out of 750 able seamen, 286 were confined 
to their hammocks in the most deplorable state of sickness and de- 
bility, while 140 of the rest were unable to do more than walk on 
deck. This circumstance strongly marks to us, who have lately 
witnessed the exertions of British sailors, in the blockade of Brest, 
and other ports of the enemy, the improvement made in the art of 
preserving the health of seamen within the last 50 years. The 
Royal William, notwithstanding the state of extreme distress to 
which her crew was reduced, by a continuance at sea of hardly 
six months, was under the command of Capt. Hugh Pigott, one of 
the most skilful officers of the British navy. Mr. Robison, indeed, 
never at any time mentioned his name without praise, for his know- 
ledge of seamanship, and the address with which he used to work 
the ship in such bad weather as rendered her almost unmanageable 
to the other officers. The art of preserving the health of the 
seaman is a branch of nautical science which had at that time been 
little cultivated. Our great circumnavigator had not yet shown 
