Admiral Fairfax. 



MY father was very good looking, of a brave and 

 noble nature, and a perfect gentleman both in ap- 

 pearance and character. He was sent to sea as 

 midshipman at ten years of age, so he had very 

 little education; but he read a great deal, chiefly 

 history and voyages. He was very cool, and of 

 instant resource in moments of danger. 



One night, when his little vessel had taken 

 refuge with many others from an intensely violent 

 gale and drifting snow in Yarmouth Eoads, they 

 saw lights disappear, as vessel after vessel foundered. 

 My father, after having done all that was possible 

 for the safety of the ship, went to bed. His cabin 

 door did not shut closely, from the rolling of the 

 ship, and the man who was sentry that night told 

 my mother jrears afterwards, that when he saw 

 my father on his knees praying, he thought it 

 would soon be all over with them ; then seeing 

 him go to bed and fall asleep, he felt no more 

 fear. In the morning the coast was strewed with 

 wrecks. There were no life-boats in those days ; 

 now the lives of hundreds are annually saved by 

 the noble self-devotion of British sailors. 



My mother was the daughter of Samuel Charters, 

 Solicitor of the Customs for Scotland, and his wife 



