( '59 ) 
LETTER XVIII. 
IS HALL in this letter refume the fub- 
jel of perfonal Courage, which Mr. Ad- 
difon, fome where, calls aftive fortitude : it 
is a fubjecl: of too much importance to a 
young man to be lightly difrnhTed. I re- 
member when, in the year 1778, 1 was wait- 
ing at Portfmouth to embark for America, 
I became acquainted with the Mr. Walters, 
who failed round the world with Lord An- 
fon, as chaplain to the Centurion, and who 
publifhed the account of that voyage. He 
was an intelligent man, a rational divine, 
a generous hoft, and a pleafant companion. 
One morning, as we were walking toge- 
ther on the rampart, and cafually fpeaking 
otfear^ he emphatically faid, Fear! fye upon 
it I it is an ignoble pajjion^ and beneath the dig- 
nity of man! I could have hugged him to 
my foul ; yet there was nothing ftrikingly 
new in this fentiment. Probably I had heard 
it many times before -, but never fo empha- 
tically exprefTed, nor fo perfectly in unifon 
with my own feelings at the time. The 
impreflion on my mind became indelible. 
There 
