BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF ROBERT HENDERSON, ESQ. CAPTAIN IN THE ROYAL NAVY

Summary

In spite of Faction's blind unmanner'd rage,

Of various fortune and destructive age,

Fair Scotland's honours yet unchang'd are seen,

Her palms still blooming, and her laurels green,

Langhorne.

IN proportion to the danger and difficulties attendant on martial enterprise must be the stimulus to encounter them. It is, therefore, that the trump of martial fame is so loud, and her wing so strong—that her flight is bounded only by the limits of the world, and that her blast is heard in its remotest corners. To obtain this honorable publicity, the bonds of attachment to country, home, kindred, and the thousand comforts which they alone can supply, are broken, and the severities of martial duty—the extremities of heat and cold—the risks of the raging elements are preferred. To obtain this glorious blazon, death in its various terrors is viewed with a firmness of soul impossible to mere flesh and blood, unaided by this noble aspiration to a renown which shall preserve the name with the associated character of the hero, when the name and the character shall be all that remains of him.

But amidst the host of gallant naval officers who are candidates for this gratifying glory, it is obvious that all cannot be equally fortunate in opportunities of distinguishing themselves. The most ardent may pass through years of anxious vigilance, and useful diligence, without the occurrence of any hostile encounter under circumstances inductive of personal distinction.