MEMOIR OF DR WRIGHT. 11 



temper, and in the enlightened views which he de- 

 velopes of a more natural and rational mode of treating 

 this /lias malorum. Thanks to the radical improve- 

 ment in cleanliness and discipline which has long been 

 observed on board the Fleet, and to that better system 

 of anti-scorbutics, which consists in habits of tempe- 

 rance, in a liberal supply of wholesome viands, and in 

 strict attention to all that is known by regimen and 

 prophylaxis in general, the medical officers of the pre- 

 sent generation have triumphantly succeeded in pre- 

 venting, rather than in curing, the foulest blot in the 

 annals of the navy. 



Mr Wright had the good fortune to be present 

 at the great naval engagement off the Isle of Rhe, on 

 the 4th of April 1758, under Sir Edward Hawke. 

 He shared in the prize-money of the Raisonnable 64, 

 commanded by Prince Me in in gen, which was cap- 

 tured by Commodore Pratt en, on the 26th of April in 

 the same year ; and on the 16 th of August 1759, he wit- 

 nessed the great victory which Admiral Boscawen 

 achieved off Cape Lagos over the French Fleet under 

 De la Clue. His untravelled correspondents would 

 no doubt read, with wonder, the account he gives of the 

 Turks and Egyptians, the Armenians and the Jews, 

 with the peculiarities he observed in their habits and 

 costume. Of the classic shores of the Mediterranean 

 he speaks with enthusiasm ; and with the deepest awe 

 and veneration, when he alludes to those places where 

 the authors of the sacred volume were visited with the 

 language of inspiration. 



On the return of the Intrepid to Portsmouth to re- 



