blockaded by the extraordinary perseverance and enterprize of the navy of Great Britain. "As to the objection that had been urged against the Earl of St. Vincent, for not employing a greater number of gun-boats, that was a difference between the Noble Lord and the Right Ho. nourable Gentleman on a professional subject, relative to which, although he was not without an opinion, yet he would not then trouble the House with it. But in regard to the employment of armed cutters, he had no motives of delicacy, and he would not hesitate to declare that the taking them into the service was an arrant job; a job, because the men were rarely mustered, and the vessels were mostly in port. "He had his ideas with respect to the proper mode of defending the country, and those were directly against the use of such craft as had been recommended; for our shores, he was confident, would be much better secured by the service of fifty-gun ships and frigates. "There was one remaining point on which he wished to trouble the House, and that was the very considerable number of men that the admirable arrangements and indefatigable exertions of the Board of Admiralty had procured for the navy, and for which, in his opinion, they, and the Noble Lord who presided there, were entitled to the thanks and gratitude of the country." The Vice-Admiral concluded by observing, "that as he considered the proposed inquiry unnecessary, he would vote against the production of the papers that had been moved for by the Right Honourable Gentleman." On a division, Mr. Pitt's motion was lost by a majority of 71. In consequence of the late glorious battle, when the Hero of Aboukir closed his brilliant carcer by the decisive victory off Cape Trafalgar, October 21, 1805, a promotion immediately took place in the navy, in consequence of which Sir Charles Pole was advanced from the rank of Vice-Admiral of the Red, to that of Admiral of the Blue. MR. ELLISTON. ROBERT William Elliston, whose dramatic talents are well known to the public, was born in the parish of Bloomsbury, in 1774. His father, a watchmaker of some eminence, resided for many years in Charles-street, Covent Garden; his uncle is the Reverend Dr. Elliston, the much esteemed Master of Sidney College, Cambridge, who superintended and defrayed the expence of his education. At the usual age, young Elliston was sent to St. Paul's School, a seminary which can boast of having produced many eminent scholars, and given dignitaries to the church, as well as conferred ornaments on several of the learned professions. This gentleman was originally intended for the pulpit, but such has been his attachment to the drama from his infancy, that instead of taking orders, he has at length become duly authorised, in the language of the play-house, to give them. Private theatricals, which have, in our humble opinion, been productive of much mischief, first seduced our hero from the path that had been marked out for his future pursuits in life, and in which the high respectability of some of his relatives afforded well-founded hopes of travelling to advantage. An English thesis, which, as one of the senior * The subject of this thesis was, "Nemo confidat nimium secundis :" boys, boys, was delivered by him with much effect, at St. Paul's School, in the year 1790, seems to have hastened his fate; for we find him, in a few weeks after this effort, at the age of sixteen, performing the part of Pierre, at the Lyceum in the Strand, then occasionally opened as a private theatre. Pursuits of this description naturally produced remonstrance, and finally anger, on the part of those. who had pointed out a far different carcer. His fancy, however, soared beyond the reach of prudence, and he thoughtlessly threw himself on a wide world unprotected and unknown. His first public debut was at Bath, on the 21st of April, 1791, in the modest yet respectable Tressel in, Richard the III.* Notwithstanding the success of his. first efforts, it appears that he was unfortunate in his desire of procuring an engagement, the company. being full, and the manager of a provincial theatre. frequently looking with a suspicious eye to the increased expenditure of twenty-five shillings per week., * Colley Cibber, known only for some years by the name of Master Colley, also made his first appearance in an inferior situation. After waiting impatiently for the prompter's notice, he by good fortune obtained the honour of carrying a message on the stage to one of the chief actors of that day, whom he greatly disconcerted. Betterton asked in some anger, who it was that had committed the blunder? Downs (prompter) replied, "Master. Colley."" Then forfeit him," rejoined the other. "Why, Sir, he has no salary."-"No! Then put him down ten shillings a week, and forfeit him five." To this good-natured adjustment of rewars and punishments Cibber owed the first money he took in the treasury office. However, in consequence of the recommendation of Mr. Wallis, father of the late amiable Miss Wallis, now Mrs. Campbell, he repaired to Tate Wilkinson of York, where we have frequently heard him declare he spent much of his time in merely going through the routine of his business, which he considered as an intolerable drudgery; notwithstanding this, his natural requisites, added to some respectable patronage, gave him a pre-eminence on that stage. Tired, however, with the scanty fame a provincial theatre affords, and having also experienced some portion of that woeful alloy so frequently preponderating in the cup of delights, he was at length induced, in the pride of youth, to hasten to the metropolis, with the fond expectation of influencing his friends to exert themselves to procure him an appearance on the London boards. Previously, however, to his quitting Yorkshire, he opened a correspondence with his uncle, in which he attempted to palliate, with the usual weapons of youthful sophistry, his aberrations from duty. He, at the same time, called with solemn carnestness upon his relation, for a continuance of his affection, and with the desire of that alone, braced his mind to those exertions he would in all probability be called upon to make, as he was determined, if possible, to be the founder of his own fortune. His application did not fail of its desired effect. His uncle's love had only been veiled, not annihilated by a temporary anger; and when moved by the solicitous appeals of his nephew, the tenderness and affection affection of his bosom began to manifest itself in all that warmth of attention and regard that is allied to the character of friend and relative. After a short residence in London, through the medium of Professor Martyn (another of his uncles) and Doctor Farmer, he obtained an interview with the late George Stevens, Esquire, the celebrated editor of Shakspeare, who introduced him to Mr. Kemble. He was by that gentleman recommended to study the part of Romeo, against the opening of the present splendid building of Drury Lane. Circumstances, however, which delayed that event, together with the want of an article very requisite in a great city, money, operated as an impediment to Mr. Kemble's offer, and he felt himself obliged to seek an immediate engagement where money was to be obtained. Money is a good soldier, and will on," says Falstaff; so did not say Kemble; and so Mr. Elliston did not make his appearance at Drury Lane. His "poverty and not his will" accordingly obliged him to seek for cash, as well as fame, elsewhere, but he left his beloved Romeo with inconceivable regret ; "And spite of all his want, a secret shame Invades his breast at Shakspeare's sacred name." Pondering upon future measures, the name of Mr. Dimond, who was to perform at Richmond, met his eye. Thither he hastened, introduced himself without ceremony, and in a short discourse told the motive of his visit. During this interview, it was |