BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF SIR ROGER CURTIS, BART. VICE-ADMIRAL OF THE RED

Summary

Set honour in one eye, and death in the other,

And I will look on both indifferently:

For, let the Gods so speed me, as I love

The name of honour more than I fear death.

Shaks.

That the achievements of the British Navy have, during the contest now happily concluded, shone with a degree of unrivalled splendour, is a truth universally acknowledged; and, should their country at a future day again require their exertions, we doubt not but deeds equally glorious will rival those that have reflected such lustre on our days; recollecting under whom the men were educated that are to lead our fleet to battle hereafter, we remember, that Philip formed the Generals who gained the victories of Alexander.

Sir Roger Curtis is the son of an eminent farmer, highly respected in the neighbourhood of Downton in Wiltshire, where he resided. Mr. Curtis evinced an early predilection for the honourable profession of which he has become so distinguished an ornament. His father, however, whose property was considerable, opposed the inclinations of an only son, and used every endeavour to divert him from the choice he had made; nor can we wonder that an affectionate parent should reluctantly consent to part with the prop of his declining years, and rather wish him to enjoy ease and independence on his paternal estate, than expose himself to the perils of a maritime life; every means having been ineffectually used to dissuade Mr. Curtis from his purpose, he at length obtained a slow leave to quit the cool sequestered vale of life.