annoy the enemy, but with very little dependence on each other, or on the orders of the admiral; and in the different actions which the English fleet had with the Dutch, every thing was confufion as soon as the battle began. It is remarkable, that the famous penfionary De Witt, who from a statefman became a navigator and a great sea commander in a few weeks, made the same representation to the statesgeneral on his return from his first campaign.

dered her fecretaries to draw up in- ter than a collection of ships, on board structions, which were to be commu- of each of which the commander and nicated to the admiral, the general, 'his ship's company did their best to and the five counsellors of war, and by them to be copied and tranfmitted to the several ships of the navy, not to be opened till they should arrive in a certain latitude. It was on this occafion (says our historian Guthrie) ⚫ that we meet with the first regular sets of fignals and orders to the commanders of the English fleet. But, till the movements of a fleet have attained fome fort of uniformity, regulated and connected by some principles of propriety, and agreed on by perfons in the habit of directing a number of ships, we may with confidence affirm, that fignals would be nothing but a parcel of arbitrary marks, appropriated to particular pieces of naval service, fuch as attacking the enemy, landing the foldiers, &c. and that they would be confidered merely as referring to the final result, but by no means pointing out the mode of execution, or directing the movements which were necessary for performing it.

In the Memoirs of James II, written by himself, we have the following pafsage: 1665. On the 15th of March, the duke of York went to Gunfleet, the general rendezvous of the fleet, and hastened their equipment. He ordered all the flag officers on board with him every morning, to agree on the order of battle and rank. In former battles, no order was kept, and this under the duke of York was the first in which fighting in a line and regular form of battle was observed.'

This must be confidered as full authority for giving the duke of York the honour of the invention. For whatever faults may be laid to the charge of this unfortunate prince, his word and honour stand unimpeached. And we are anxious to vindicate his claim to it, because our neighbours, the French, as usual, would take the merit of this invention, and of the whole of naval tactics, to themselves. True it is, that Colbert, the great and justly celebrated minifter of Louis XIV, created a navy for his ambitious and vain-glorious master, and gave it a constitution which may be a model for other nations to copy. By his encouragement, men of the greateft fcientific eminence were engaged to contribute to its improvement: and they gave us the first treatises of naval evo

It was James II, when duke of York, who first confidered this practice as capable of being reduced into a system, and who saw the importance of such a composition. He, as well as the king his brother, had always showed a great predilection for the sea service; and, when appointed admiral of England, he turned his whole attention to its improvement. He had fstudied the art of war under Turenne, not as a pastime, but as a science, and was a favourite pupil of that most accomplished general. Turenne one day pointed him out, saying, Behold one who will be one of the first princes and greatest generals of Europe.' When admiral of England, he endeavoured to introduce into the maritime fervice all those principles of concert and arrangement which made a number of individual regiments and lutions. But it must ever be rememsquadrons compose a great army. bered, that our accomplished, though When he commanded in the Dutch misguided sovereign, was then refidwar, he found a fleet to be little bet-ing at the court of Louis; that he had

formerly acted in concert with the French as a commander and flag officer, and was at this very time aiding them with his knowledge of sea affairs. In the memorable day at La Hogue, the gallant Russel, observing one of Tourville's movements, exclaimed, 'There! they have got Pepys* among them. This anecdote is given on the authority of a friend, who heard an old and respectable officer (admiral Clinton) say, that he had it from a ness, simplicity, and propriety, that

But such a code being once settled, the character in which it may be expressed becomes a matter of rational discussion.

gentleman who was in the action, and heard the words spoken; so that what has long been a matter of general opinion, may now be confidered as fully authenticated.

It was on this occasion, then, that the duke of York made the movements and evolutions of a fleet the object of his particular study, reduced them to a system, and composed that Sytem of failing and fighting instructions,' which has ever fince been considered as the code of discipline for the British navy, and which has been adopted by our rivals and neighbours as the foundation of their naval tactics. It does great honour to its author, although its merit will not appear very eminent to a careless surveyor, on account of that very fimplicity which conftitutes its chief excellence. It is unquestionably the result of much sagacious reflection and painful combination of innumerable circumstances, all of which have their influence; and it is remarkable, that although fucceeding commanders have improved the subject by several subordinate ad ditions, no change has, to this day, been made in its general principles or maxims of evolution.

Till fome fuch code be established, it is evident that fignals can be nothing but arbitrary and unconnected hieroglyphics, to be learned by rote, and retained by memory, without any exercise of the judgment; and the acquifition of this branch of nautical kill must be a more irksome task than

Accordingly, the failing and fighting instructions of the duke of York were accompanied by a fet of signals for directing the chief or most frequent movements of the fleet. These also were contrived with so much judgment, and such attention to diftinct

there has hardly been any change found necessary; and they are still retained in the British navy as the usual signals in all cases when we are not anxious to conceal our movements from an enemy.

Notwithstanding this acknowledged merit of the duke of York's fignals, it must be admitted that great improvements have been made on this fubject, considered as an art. The art military has, in the course of a century paft, become almost an appropriate calling, and has therefore been made the peculiar study of its professors. Our rivals the French were fooner, and more formally, placed in this fituation, and the minifters of Louis XIV, took infinite and most judicious pains to make their military men fuperior to all others by their academical education. A more scientific turn was given to their education, and the affittance of scientific men was liberally given them; and all the nations of Europe must acknowledge some obligations to them for information on every thing connected with the art of war. They have attended very much to this subject, have greatly improved it, and have even introduced a new principle into the art; and by this means have reduced it to the most fimple form of reference to the code of failing and fighting instructions, by making the signals immediately expreffive, not of orders, but of fimple numbers. These numbers being prefixed to the various articles of the code

that of learning the Chinese writing. of instructions, the officer who fees a • Pepys was secretary to the duke of York."

gaged; but, in weak or wicked na- upon human nature. When Cæfar
tures, may betray to hazardous says that Caffius hears no music, it
schemes, or tempt to vicious courses. is no trifling observation; nor does
The fame principle, on the one part,
has made generals and admirals of
common foldiers and failors; or chan-
cellors and bishops of attorney's clerks,
fervitors * and sizers +; on the other
hand, it has produced projectors, spe-
culators, and forgers, and even con-
spirators, assassins, and ufurpers..

Diflike excited by personal Appearance. Cafar. Let me have men about me, that are fat;

Sleek-headed men, and such as fleep, o' nights:

Yond' Caffius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much fuch men are dangerous.

our poet barely mean by it, that Caf-
sius was not a merry sprightly man,
but that he had not a due tempera-
ment of harmony in his composition;
and, therefore, that natures so un-
corrected, are dangerous. On this
fentiment he has finely dilated in his
Merchant of Venice :

The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet
founds,

Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,

And his affections dark as Erebus:
Let no such man be trusted.

Antony. Fear him not, Cæfar, he's not dangerous;

He is a noble Roman, and well-given.
Cafar. 'Would he were fatter; but I racters appear in due degrees of fub-

On this scene between Cæfar and Antony, Mrs. Montague has the following judicious observation: 'In the tragedy of Julius Cæfar all the cha

fear him not:

ordination to the hero of the piece. Our poet, to interest us the more for Brutus, takes every occasion to make Caffius a foil for him. In this scene he is represented by Cæfar in an unamiable light: the opportunity of fo fit an occasion is taken, to make fome fine reflections on the malignant and envious nature of men, not softened. by the joys of mirth and the intercourse of focial pleasures."

1

In this speech, a truly philosophi

Bluntness.

Brutus speaking of Cafca. What a blunt
fellow is this grown to be!

He was quick mettle, when he went to
school.

Caffius. So is he now, in execution
Of any bold or noble enterprize,
However he puts on this tardy form.
This rudeness is a fauce to his good wit,
Which gives men stomach to digeft his
With better appetite.

words

cal reflection is made on the several
characters of men, taken both from
This is a fort of character which we
their persons and manners; and it is often meet with in life, and which has
one of the many instances of our au- generally the effect here attributed to
thor's knowledge and observation it.

* The lowest order of students in the university of Cambridge.
† The fame in the university of Oxford.

1

Proper Society recommended.
Caffius. Well, Brutus, thou art noble ;
yet, I fee,

Thy honourable metal may be wrought
From that it is dispos'd.*. Therefore 'tis

meet

That noble minds keep ever with their

likes :

For who so firm that cannot be seduc'd?

In this speech is a just and prudent maxim, respecting the persons and characters with which those should affociate, who would preferve, uncontaminated, their understanding, their virtue and integrity. If men of sense, taste, and virtue, have not any opportunity of converfing with their equals, they had much better live alone. They will be able to preserve these rare qualities much better in folitude than in unequal society. There is a contagion in mind and manners, as well as in bodies, when corrupt.

By which he did ascend. So Cæfar may : Then, left he may, prevent. And, fince the quarrel

Will bear no colour for the thing he is, Fashion it thus; that what he is, augmented,

Would run to these and these extremities :

And, therefore, think him as a ferpent's
egg,
Which, hatch'd, would, as his kind,
grow mischievous;
And kill him in the shell.

Our poet seems to have intended, by a fort of historical process, to shew how Brutus was led on, by degrees, to that act to which his nature was averse. He is here represented debating with himself on the point to which Caffius had been urging him. Cassius, in his foliloquy (act I. fc. 2.) in foli- seemed to intimate, that resentment had a share in his defire to take off Cæfar. Brutus, on the contrary, informs us, that no personal motives sway him, but such as are derived from an hereditary aversion to tyranny, and the pledge which the virtue of his ancestors had given the commonwealth, that a Brutus would not fuffer king

Brutus' Soliloquy on the intended Affaffination of Cæfar.

It must be by his death: and, for my part,
I know no personal cause to spurn at
him,

But for the general. He would be crown'd:
How that might change his nature, there's

the question.

adder;

r

It is the bright day, that brings forth the And that craves wary walking. Crown him!-ThatAnd then, I grant, we put a sting in him, That at his will he may do danger with. The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins : Remorse from power: and, to speak truth of Cæfar,

I have not known when his affections

fway'd
More than his reason. But 'tis a common
proof t,
That Lowliness is young Ambition's lad-
der,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his
face;

But when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base de-
grees

in Rome.

a

In this foliloquy, moreover, the too common frailty of man, in the circumstances of successful ambition, is strongly described, under two very just and poetical images; but the inference drawn from it, in the conclufion, is certainly carried too far. It might not have misbecome a heathen, perhaps, to prevent an evil, without any hefitation about the means; but Chriftianity forbids us to do evil, even though good should be the result of it.

Anxiety inseparable from premeditated
Conspiracy.

Brutus. Since Caffius first did whet me
against Cæfar,

I have not flept.
Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the firit motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream :
The genius, and the mortal instruments,

* The best metal or temper may be worked into qualities contrary to its original conftitution.

† It is proved by common experience.