apt to regard as irreparable the loss of anything they had relied on for
the attainment of a favourite object. Only time can show that a strong
mind is not dependent upon accidental circumstances, but creates
facilities for itself, as a river will make if it do not find a channel
for its waters. But Lieutenant Pellew was too young to have learned this
lesson; and depressed as he was with grief for his patron, and
disappointment at the escape of the French frigate, his prospects seemed
altogether clouded. A letter which he wrote to the Earl of Sandwich on
this occasion, displays all the struggle of his feelings. Circumstantial
proof that everything was done to prevent the enemy from escaping; a
modest allusion to his former services; expressions of the keenest
sorrow for his loss; a bitter sense of his desolate condition; with
earnest appeals to every feeling of justice and sympathy, which might
induce the First Lord to extend to him the patronage not always given to
an unfriended claimant; yet still with anxiety to do full justice to his
officers and men, are blended in this very characteristic letter. It is
not certain that it was ever sent; for the copy preserved is too
carefully written for a rough draft, yet contains many corrections and
erasures. He was, perhaps, dissatisfied with it, and before he had
determined what to send, his promotion spared him the necessity of an
application. Still it is an interesting document, affording, as it does,
a detailed account of the action, a sketch of his former services, and
a transcript of his feelings at the time.


"MY LORD,--Your Lordship will receive herewith, from Admiral Drake,
an account of an action fought by H.M.S. _Apollo_, at sea, June 15,
which lasted for two hours and twenty minutes. I trust your
Lordship will excuse my troubling you with a private account of the
engagement, to inform you of many occurrences during the action