Edward Pellew

“ In this action the Arethusa had 3 men killed, and 5 wounded.
On the 23d Aug., the squadron, under the command of Sir John B. Warren, cruizing off Brest, fell in with, and drove on shore near the Penmark Rocks, la Felicité French frigate of 40 guns, 18 pounders, and 350 men; and soon after two corvettes, l’Espion and Alert, mounting 18 guns, 9 pounders, and 200 men each. They at first took shelter under cover of three batteries in Hodierne Bay; but being hard pressed, cut their cables and ran ashore. The boats of the squadron were ordered under Sir Edward Pellew to destroy them ”

“ Sir Edward Pellew received this mark of his sovereign's favour. He was created Baron Exmouth, of Canonteign, a mansion and estate in the South of Devon which he had purchased for a family property; and the pension was settled on him which is usually granted when a peerage is conferred for eminent public services.
He was still in the Mediterranean when the news of his elevation reached him, and he received the first account of it from a newspaper. In allusion to it, he writes:—"I was never more surprised than at this event. Never was man more ignorant of its being thought of ”

“ You will have seen that a Peerage has been conferred on Sir Edward Pellew; you may suppose that Sir John Duckworth and myself have taken the proper means with Lord Melville for our services being taken into consideration, for a similar mark of distinction, and there is every [Pg 301] reason to believe we shall not be disregarded. ”

“ Do you know that you may be answerable for every enemy you kill? and, if I can read your character, you will kill a great many!" "Well, grandpapa," replied young Pellew, "and if I do not kill them, they'll kill me!"
He entered the navy towards the end of 1770, in the Juno, Captain Stott, which was sent to the Falkland Islands, in consequence of the forcible seizure of them by the Spanish squadron. ”

“ To Mr. Bunce, second lieutenant, I am much indebted for his exertions on the main-deck, and his diligence was unremitting in distributing men where most wanted. Mr. Ritchie, master's mate, was particularly distinguished for [Pg 36] his gallantry and activity; and the behaviour of the whole, my Lord, was such as entitles them to my warmest gratitude, and general commendation. Most of the wounded are dangerously so, being all by cannon balls. We had three guns dismounted.
"Edward Pellew."
Lord Sandwich's communication to him was equally kind and prompt. ”

“ His brother, who had always encouraged his every ambitious, and every honourable feeling, and who, even at this time, confidently anticipated for him a career of high distinction, of which, indeed, his past life afforded ample promise, would not for a moment listen to his entering a foreign service. He said, that every man owes his services, blood, and life, so exclusively to his own country that he has no right to give them to another; and he desired Captain Pellew to reflect how he would answer for it to his God, if he lost his life in a cause which had no claim upon him. ”

“ Mr. Pellew pleaded so earnestly for his young friend, and so positively refused to leave him, that the other at length consented to give them both a passage. From Lisbon they reached Falmouth in one of the packets. Little could he then suppose that he was next to see Marseilles as a commander-in-chief, and one day to save it from destruction. Twelve years after, when he had become a post captain, and was in command of the Winchelsea, he took under his protection a son of Captain Stott, who was then dead, and did every thing in his power to promote the young man's interests. ”

“ Sir Guy Carleton remained at Crown Point as long as the season would permit. He employed Mr. Pellew on the narrow inlet, which extends from Crown Point to Ticonderoga, along which his proposed operations were to be conducted; and Mr. Pellew attended to his charge with unceasing vigilance and activity. On one occasion, the American Commander-in Chief, Arnold, most narrowly escaped becoming his prisoner. Having ventured upon the Lake in a boat, he was observed, and chased so closely by Mr. Pellew, that when he reached the shore and ran off, he left his stock and buckle in the boat behind him. ”

“ But the following October saw the Frenchmen once more on the move; and it was not until after a smart engagement off Ushant between the Artois and the large French frigate Révolutionnaire, on which occasion Pellew commanded the squadron, that the French navy was completely cowed.
On the 2nd January, 1795, private intelligence having reached Sir Edward that the enemy's fleet, consisting of thirty-five sail of the line, thirteen frigates, and sixteen smaller vessels, had put to sea from Brest, he set forth from Falmouth with his little squadron of five ships to reconnoitre ”

“ While still a youth, he became aide-de-camp to General Phillips in Burgoyne's campaign, and was killed in the battle of Saratoga.
Edward, the second son of Samuel and Constance Pellew, was born at Dover, April 19, 1757. He was named after his maternal grandfather, and as there appeared at first but little probability that he would live, he was baptized on the same day. Before he was quite eight years old, he lost his father. The widow then removed with her family to Penzance, where he was placed at school with the Rev. ”

“ Pellew asked the question above stated, as he screwed up its successor, and exacted the death-duty of an ignition from it.
"They ought to be coming back soon," was the answer. "I told them I wouldn't have tea till they came. They're gone to see a protégée of Clotilda's, who lives down a Court. It's not very far off; under a mile, I should think. ”

“ The Fox reconnoitred Batavia on the passage, where a brig only was lying in the roads. The shoal water prevented the line-of-battle ships from proceeding beyond Sedaye, about 10 miles up the harbour on the right, from whence, in conjunction with Lieutenant-Colonel Lockhart, commanding the troops, I sent a commission under a flag of truce, consisting of Captain Fleetwood Pellew, Captain Sir Charles Burdett, of H.M. 30th regiment, and Mr. Locker, my secretary, to treat with the commandant of the Dutch naval force for the surrender of the men of war, lying at Griessee in a dismantled state. ”

“ Pellew determined that the men should not have leave, at any rate till the weather was cooler; but he neglected to make any explanation to the men. The consequence was a mutinous expression of feeling. The admiral ordered the drum to beat to quarters, and as the men did not obey, the officers, with drawn swords, were sent on to the lower deck, to force the men up. ”

“ I rest firmly assured that Sir E. Pellew has done ample justice to my conduct in his representation of the engagement to their Lordships; and I humbly hope no blemish will attach to my character, for a misfortune occasioned by an impatient ardour to signalise British valour opposed to superior force. I have the honor, to be, &c. ”

“ Seeing that—, who was esteemed, among his friends, the handsomest man of the day, had risen from his seat, next to Lady Roseville, in order to make room for me, I negligently and quietly dropped into it, and answered his grave and angry stare at my presumption, with my very sweetest and most condescending smile. Heaven be praised, the handsomest man of the day is never the chief object in the room, when Henry Pelham and his guardian angel, termed by his enemies, his self-esteem, once enter it. ”

“ I can ask those whom I like to my house—why should I be forced into asking those whom I do not like? In fine, my good Pelham, why should I sour my temper and shorten my life, put my green old age into flannel and physic, and become, from the happiest of sages, the most miserable of fools? Ambition reminds me of what Bacon says of anger—'It is like rain, it breaks itself upon that which it falls on.' Pelham, my boy, taste the Chateau Margot. ”

“ How few there are in the world who retain, after a certain age, the character originally natural to them! We all get, as it were, a second skin; the little foibles, propensities, eccentricities, we first indulged through affectation, conglomerate and encrust till the artificiality grows into nature.
"Pelham," said Vincent, with a cold smile, "the day will be your's; the battle is not to the strong—the whigs will triumph. ”

“ Well, well, there's one little truth we'll share alone, you and I." She raised herself in her chair and stooped her great face close to my ear: "We must know more of one another, my dear," she whispered. "I have taken a great fancy to you. We must meet again." [Pg 207] She hoisted herself up. Sir Walter Pollacke had hastened in and stood smiling, with arm hooked, and genial, beaming countenance in front of her. Mr Crimble had already vanished. Mr Pellew was talking earnestly with Lady Pollacke. Conversation broke out, like a storm-shower, on every side. For a while I was extraordinarily alone. ”

“ Pellew?"
"Needn't believe it, unless you like, Miss Dickenson. But it's true, for all that. Never was in love in my life!"
"You must have found life very dull, Mr. Pellew. How a man can contrive to exist without.... Isn't that wheels?" It didn't matter whether it was or not, but the lady's speech had stumbled into a pitfall—she was exploring a district full of them—and she thought the wheels might rescue her. ”

“ While I was in this kindly mood towards the great city and its inhabitants, my landlady put two letters in my hand—one was from my mother, the other from Guloseton. I opened the latter first; it ran thus:
“Dear Pelham,
“I was very sorry to hear you had left town—and so unexpectedly too. I obtained your address from Mivart’s, and hasten to avail myself of it. Pray come to town immediately, I have received some chevreuil as a present, and long for your opinion; it is too nice to keep: for all things nice were made but to grow bad when nicest ”

“ At one and the same moment both Mr Pellew and Mr Crimble returned to tea-cups which I should have supposed must have, by this time, been empty, and Lady Pollacke's widowed sister folded up her lorgnette.
"My dear Miss M.," said Mrs Monnerie dryly, with an almost wicked ray of amusement in her deep-set eyes, "wherever the top of Beechwood Hill may be, and whatever supplies of food may be caught on its crest, there is no doubt that you have been provided with the means of defending yourself. But tell me now, what do you think, perhaps, Mr Pellew's little 'instruments' are? ”

“ A man at my feet in a fit—the cause of it having very wisely disappeared, devolving upon me the charge of watching, recovering, and conducting home the afflicted person—made a concatenation of disagreeable circumstances, as much unsuited to the temper of Henry Pelham, as his evil fortune could possibly have contrived. ”

“ Pelham," replied Lady Harriett; and, turning to me, formally introduced us to each other.
"Are you any relation (asked the dowager) to Lady Frances Pelham?"
"Only her son," said I.
"Dear me," replied Lady Babbleton, "how odd; what a nice elegant woman she is! She does not go much out, does she? I don't often meet her."
"I should not think it likely that your ladyship did meet her much. She does not visit promiscuously."
"Every rank has its duty," said Lady Harriett, gravely; "your mother, Mr.
Pelham, may confine her circle as much as she pleases ”

“ Percival stands waiting for more, one-third of his cigar in abeyance between his finger-tips. Getting no more, he continues:—"Why—you don't mean to say?..." [Pg 115]
"What?"
"Well—it's something like this, if I can put the case. Take somebody you've just met and spoken to...." But Mr. Pellew's prudence became suddenly aware of a direction in which the conversation might drift, and he pulled up short. If he pushed on rashly, how avoid an entanglement of himself in a personal discussion? ”

“ Vincent, speaking of the incident afterwards, said that Pellew was ‘an excellent and valuable officer, but the most important service he ever rendered to his country was saving the British fleet in Bantry Bay. We know that it was the intention to burn the ships and join the rebels on shore.’ The Impétueux returned to the Channel with Lord Keith, and remained with the fleet under Lord Bridport, and afterwards Lord St. Vincent. In June 1800 Pellew was sent with a strong squadron to Quiberon Bay, where it was proposed to land a force of five thousand men to co-operate with the French royalists. ”

“ Pelham to dinner, when you knew we had nothing in the world but hashed mutton and an apple pudding? Is that the way, Sir, you disgrace your wife, after her condescension in marrying you?"
"Really," answered the patient Clutterbuck, "I was forgetful of those matters; but my friend cares as little as myself, about the grosser tastes of the table; and the feast of intellectual converse is all that he desires in his brief sojourn beneath our roof."
"Feast of fiddlesticks, Mr. Clutterbuck! did ever man talk such nonsense?" ”

“ The captain and others of the officers were on shore; those on board were young, inexperienced, and unequal to the emergency. The men were panic-struck; some of the soldiers broke open the spirit-room and drowned their despair. Pellew happened to be on shore at the time, and, running down to the beach, succeeded in getting on board. He then took command; a boat sent from the frigate came to his assistance, and by his exertions hawsers were laid out to the shore, and Pellew, with his sword drawn, directed the landing. Every one was safely landed before the wreck broke up. ”

“ Vincent rose in a sort of nervous excitement, and then reseating himself, fixed his dark bright eyes steadfastly upon me for some moments; his countenance all the while assuming a higher and graver expression than I had ever before seen it wear.
“Pelham,” said he, at last, “it is for the sake of moments like these, when your better nature flashes out, that I have sought your society and your friendship. I, too, am not wholly what I appear: the world may yet see that Halifax was not the only statesman whom the pursuits of literature had only formed the better for the labours of business. ”