1782, Captain Elphinstone, after a chase of several hours, captured a large French frigate, L'Aigle, of 40 guns on the main deck and 600

men.

The termination of the war in 1783 threw Captain Elphinstone out of employment, and he remained so for ten years. On the 9th of April, 1787, he married Jane, daughter and sole heiress of William Mercer, Esq., of Aldie in Perthshire, who died December 12th, 1789, leaving behind her one daughter, Margaret.

In 1793, soon after the war broke out with France, Captain Elphinstone was appointed to the Robust, of 74 guns, and under his direction the troops were landed at Toulon when Lord Hood captured that place. For his services on this occasion his lordship appointed Captain Elphinstone to act as governor of Fort la Malgue and its dependencies. His conduct in that post exhibited not only great personal intrepidity and exertion, but a consummate knowledge also of military tactics. When it was resolved to evacuate Toulon, the care of embarking the artillery, stores, and troops, was committed to Captain Elphinstone, who, although the enemy at that time commanded the town and ships by their shot and shells, brought off the whole of the troops, to the number of nearly S000, without the loss of a man.

On his return to England, Captain Elphinstone's distinguished merits were rewarded by his majesty with the order of the Bath. On the 11th of April, 1794, he was made rear-admiral of the Blue; and on the 4th of July of the same year, rear-admiral of the White; in which capacity he hoisted his flag on board the Barfleur of 98 guns, Vicecaptain Bowyer, who, having lost a leg in the glorious affair of the 1st of June, under Lord Howe, was obliged to retire for a time from the service. In the Channel fleet Admiral Elphinstone continued the remainder of that year.

Early in 1795, hostilities having commenced with the Dutch, the admiral shifted his flag to the Monarch of 74 guns, and sailed from Spithead for the Cape of Good Hope, having under his command the following squadron,-Monarch 74, Victorious 74, Arrogant 74, Sphynx 20, and Rattlesnake 15 guns. In Simon's bay, near the Cape, he was joined by the America 64, Stately 64, Echo sloop, and some Indiamen, with troops, and immediately sent proposals to the Dutch governor to surrender the Cape to his Britannic majesty's arms; which being refused, measures were taken by him, in conjunction with General Alured Clarke, for reducing it by force. On the 14th of July a landing was effected at Simon's-town, and possession obtained of that place which had been previously evacuated with the supposed intention of being burnt. The troops, advancing towards Cape-town, carried the strong post of Muysenberg, where General Craig waited for a reinforcement from St Salvador. After some weeks of inaction, an attempt to surprise the most considerable of the out-posts failed; and, though the English repelled a fierce attack, their efforts did not deter their adversaries from preparing for a general engagement. At this crisis the appearance of the expected reinforcement checked the eagerness of the enemy; the government proposed a cessation of hostilities, and terms of capitulation were adjusted on the 16th of September, by which it was agreed that the troops in garrison should be prisoners of war, and that the property of the Dutch East India company should be delivered

up to the captors of the settlement; but private possessions and civil rights were left inviolate.

The success of our admiral did not end here. The new Gallo-Batavian government resolved on making an attempt to regain possession of the settlement, and for that purpose a squadron of eight ships of war and a store-ship arrived off Saldanha bay early in August, 1796. Admiral Elphinstone was soon apprized of their approach, and prepared for battle; but, after anchoring within cannon-shot, with the humanity so natural to British officers, he sent a letter by a flag of truce to Admiral Lucas, the Dutch commander, requesting, that, to spare the effusion of human blood, he would surrender his squadron, which could have no chance of success in a contest with a British force superior to his own. The Dutch admiral yielded, and on the 17th of August surrendered his squadron, consisting of two ships of 66 guns, one 54, one 44, one 40, one 28, one 26, one 18, and a store ship.

On account of these eminent services his majesty was pleased, on the 7th of March, 1797, to confer on Admiral Elphinstone the dignity of a baron of the kingdom of Ireland. In the month of May of the same year Lord Keith was sent to Sheerness to superintend the naval preparations against the mutineers, who at that time unhappily had the actual possession and command of several of his majesty's ships at the Nore. Subordination having been restored, his lordship had for a short

time a command in the Channel fleet.

In the winter of 1798 Lord Keith hoisted his flag on board the Foudroyant of 80 guns, employed off Cadiz and in the Mediterranean, under the orders of the earl of St Vincent. On the 14th of February, 1799, he was promoted from vice-admiral of the Blue to be vice-admiral of the Red. On the 23d of June Lord St Vincent being about to return to England for the amendment of his health, resigned to Lord Keith the command of the Mediterranean fleet. Nothing very material occurred till the 17th of March, 1800, when his lordship had the misfortune to lose his noble flag-ship, the Queen Charlotte, by fire, in Leghorn roads. Of the crew, eleven were on shore with the admiral, one hundred and fifty were saved by boats; but the remainder, amounting to nearly seven hundred, unfortunately perished.

Lord Keith now hoisted his flag on board the Audacious, but afterwards shifted it to the Minotaur. He then proceeded with a part of his fleet to Genoa, which was in the possession of the French under Massena, and was besieged by the Austrian general, Melas. So closely did he blockade the port, that, at the end of about three months, the French, to avoid actual famine, capitulated. Malta shortly after surrendered to a detachment of his fleet; and, about October, in conjunction with Sir Ralph Abercromby, he made preparations for an attack on Cadiz, which, however, was abandoned, on account of the pitiable state of the inhabitants and garrison, among whom an epidemic disease, which very much resembled the plague, was, it appeared, making dreadful ravages.

On the 1st of January, 1801, Lord Keith was promoted to be admiral of the Blue; and he this year commanded, in the Foudroyant, the naval force employed against the French on the coast of Egypt. On the surrender of the enemy's army there his lordship was created, December 5th, 1801, a peer of Great Britain, by the title of Baron Keith

of Stonehaven-Marischal in Kincardineshire, and received the thanks of both houses of parliament. His services in Egypt were thus noticed in General Hutchinson's despatches: "During the course of the long service in which we have been engaged, Lord Keith has, at all times, given me the most able assistance and counsel. The labour and fatigue of the navy have been continued and excessive; it has not been of one day or of one week, but for months together. In the bay of Aboukir, on the New Inundation, and on the Nile, for 160 miles, they have been employed without intermission, and have submitted to many privations, with a cheerfulness and patience highly creditable to them, and advantageous to the public service." In a subsequent despatch the general recurs to the "many obligations" that he was under to Lord Keith.

When hostilities recommenced with France, in 1803, Lord Keith was appointed to the chief naval command at Plymouth. In the beginning of October of that year his lordship made an experiment on a small scale, with a new mode of attack on the gun-vessels in Boulogne harbour, which to a certain degree succeeded, and without any loss being sustained on our part.

On the 9th of November, 1805, his lordship was raised to the rank of admiral of the White, and in 1812 he succeeded to the chief command of the Channel fleet. On the 14th of May, 1814, he was elevated to the dignity of a viscount of the United Kingdom; and about a year before his death, which took place in March, 1823, he obtained leave to accept a grand cross of the royal Sardinian order of St. Maurice and St. Lazare, for his services at Genoa, in 1809. In addition to his other distinctions, he was, at the time of his decease, admiral of the Red; marischal of Ireland; secretary, chamberlain, and keeper of the signet to the great steward of Scotland; treasurer and comptroller of the household of the duke of Clarence, and a fellow of the Royal society. Prior to his elevation to the British peerage, he had successively represented Dumbarton and Stirlingshire. He was twice married, and left two daughters; the eldest of whom succeeded to the barony, and became the wife of Count Flahault, one of Napoleon's aides-de-camp.

Thomas, Lord Erskine.

BORN A. D. 1750.-DIED A. D. 1823.

THOMAS ERSKINE was the third and youngest son of Henry, tenth earl of Buchan. Like his other gifted brother, a notice of whom has been presented to the reader within these few pages, he at first attempted to push his fortune in military life, but about the age of twenty-six his better genius directed his attention to the law. He had received an excellent education in early life, along with his brothers, at St. Andrews and Edinburgh; but he now entered himself of Trinity college, where he took the honorary degree of M.A. in 1778. He was called to the bar in Trinity term of that year.

Almost immediately after his appearance at the bar an opportunity of distinguishing himself was afforded in the defence of Captain Baillie for a libel on the earl of Sandwich. In the course of his speech, the young advocate hesitated not to attack the noble earl in very indignant