In a work, the peculiar province of which is to record the lives and actions of brave and honourable men, we trust that the candour of our readers will pardon us, should we sometimes be found guilty of the sin of repetition.–We have before had occasion to observe, that “man is so much the creature of circumstance, that, even in war, it is not possible that every latent energy of Valour can be called forth;” and that it will not, therefore, “be deemed a derogation from the merits of the greatest Commanders, whose daring and successful exploits reflect a lustre on our annals, to say that, if many others, who have passed to the grave unnoticed and unknown, had been placed in their situations, they would have achieved deeds of equally high import.”

This is not offered as an apology for the memoirs which we are about to present:–they need none; neither is it intended as an invidious allusion to any of our naval worthies, who “bear their honours thick upon them.”