134 FRAGMENT OF AN INTENDED ACCOUNT 



ciple which he had been the first to discover, — and who 

 knew, that he was to go down to posterity as the author 

 of a great and important improvement; — to the happiness 

 of a mind sustained by such reflections, and inspired by 

 the sentiments which must accompany them, what great 

 addition is it in the power of a Monarch, or even of the 

 Nation, to make? what is it that the common badges and 

 titles of honour and distinction can be supposed to add? 

 These may be fit, and even necessary emblems, for marking 

 degrees of merit of an ordinary kind; but when merit is trans- 

 cendant to a certain point, it can dispense with such conven- 

 tional symbols ; it shines of its own light, and enables its pos- 

 sessor to look down on the neglect or the ingratitude of the 

 world. 



But though these considerations may in some measure set 

 us at ease with respect to the author himself, and his own 

 feelings, it must be allowed that they take nothing from the 

 blame incurred by those to whom the Nation had intrusted 

 the power of dispensing its honours and rewards. Neglect 

 of merit will always operate as a discouragement to exertion, 

 and every instance of it tends to extinguish a portion of the 

 fire of genius, of that which often constitutes the sole riches of 

 the possessor, and is always a valuable portion of the patrimo- 

 ny of the State. Every mind is not provided with the power 

 of enduring neglect ; ingenious men are often the most sen- 

 sible of it ; and it is hard that the possession of talents should 

 be converted into a source of suffering. If the author of the 

 Naval Tactics had not been supported by such enlarged views, 

 and such high sentiments as we have mentioned, the circum- 

 stances of his case would have pressed on him with much se- 

 verity. 



That 



