obtain the earliest information, hastened to Treverry as soon as he saw
that war was likely to break out, and advised his brother immediately to
offer his services to the Admiralty in person. Captain Pellew, too happy
in the prospect of exchanging the ploughshare for the sword, returned
with him to Falmouth; and the same night was on the road to London.

He was immediately appointed to the _Nymphe_, of thirty-six guns,
formerly a French frigate, which, by a striking coincidence, had been
taken by boarding in the former war, after having been disabled by the
loss of her wheel. He fitted her with extraordinary dispatch; but from
the number of ships commissioned at the same time, there was great
difficulty in manning her. Anticipating this, Captain Pellew wrote to
Falmouth as soon as he had received his appointment, and adverting to
the importance of getting his ship to sea quickly, he requested his
brother to assist him in procuring a crew--of sailors, if possible; but
if not, then of Cornish miners.

The choice may appear extraordinary, but Cornish miners are better
calculated to make seamen than any other class of landsmen; not so much
because they are always accustomed to difficult climbing, and familiar
with the use of ropes, and gunpowder, as that the Cornish system of
mining, with an order and discipline scarcely surpassed in a ship of
war, compels the lowest workman to act continually upon his own
judgment. Thus it creates that combination of ready obedience, with
intelligence, and promptitude at resource, which is the perfection of a
sailor's character. Familiarity with danger gives the miner a cool and
reflective intrepidity; and the old county sport of wrestling, so
peculiarly a game of strength and skill, now falling into disuse, but
then the daily amusement of every boy, was admirably calculated to
promote the activity and self-possession necessary in personal