firing on the part of the French ship having at length for some time
slackened, and then altogether ceased, and yet no sign given of
surrender, the senior lieutenant came to Captain Ball and informed
him, that the hearts of his men were as good as ever, but that they
were so completely exhausted that they were scarcely capable of
lifting an arm. He asked, therefore, whether, as the enemy had now
ceased firing, the men might be permitted to lie down by their guns
for a short time. After some reflection, Sir Alexander acceded to
the proposal, taking of course the proper precautions to rouse them
again at the moment he thought requisite. Accordingly, with the
exception of himself, his officers, and the appointed watch, the
ship's crew lay down, each in the place to which he was stationed,
and slept for twenty minutes. They were then roused; and started up,
as Sir Alexander expressed it, more like men out of an ambush than
from sleep, so co-instantaneously did they all obey the summons!
They recommenced their fire, and in a few minutes the enemy
surrendered; and it was soon after discovered that during that
interval, and almost immediately after the French ship had first
ceased firing, the crew had sunk down by their guns, and there slept,
almost by the side, as it were, of their sleeping enemy.



ESSAY V.



- Whose powers shed round him in the common strife,
Or mild concerns of ordinary life,
A constant influence, a peculiar grace;