TESTIMONIES TO HIS CHARACTER. 91 
his youth proved highly beneficial to him. The 
greater part of those distinguished officers who 
had sat as members of the court-martial, justly 
considering him much more unfortunate than 
criminal, extended their patronage to him imme- 
diately after his release; and through their 
good offices, and his own meritorious behaviour, 
he was subsequently advanced, step by step, to 
the rank he at present holds. The duties which 
have fallen to his share he has ever performed 
with a zeal not inferior to that of any other 
officer in the service. The young men who 
have had the honour of serving under him, 
many of whom now enjoy commissions, will 
readily and gratefully acknowledge, that, both 
by precept, and his own example, he invariably 
endeavoured to form their characters, as men 
and officers, in the solid principles of religion 
and virtue. In short, we do not hesitate to say, 
that his king and country never had a more 
faithful servant, nor the naval service a more 
worthy and respectable member."* 
What a chequered and eventful life was his! 
How zealously must he have laboured in his 
profession, who, notwithstanding the impedi- 
ments in his way, during the first five years of 
his naval course, could have earned, at the age of 
forty-three, such ample testimonies to his merit. 
This chapter cannot conclude better than with a 
spirited stanza from a copy of verses, written by 
one of the Montagu s crew, and sent to Captain 
* Marshall's Naval Biography. 
