BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF JOHN KNIGHT, ESQ. REAR-ADMIRAL OF THE WHITE SQUADRON

Summary

“The glory of ages emblazons your flag; around it the sacred shades of our noblest heroes hover. They call upon their sons to cheer the hour of danger, by their invincible emulation, like them to become the guardian angels of their country, and to acquire the blessings of their cotemporaries and of posterity. Nor will their inspiring examples be contemplated in vain. The patriotic heroes of our days have equalled, and will equal, the proud triumphs of their forefathers. They will still devote their labour to protect their native soil from all invasive profanation. They will still enjoy a celebrity, which no vicissitude can destroy.”

Turner's History of the Anglo Saxons.

There is something so peculiarly delightful in the task of tracing the professional services of existing merit; there is such a proud and honest glow experienced by the writer, who reflects that he is recording the illustrious actions of a countryman and a contemporary, that we think the sensations which he is then so fortunate as to possess, must be truly enviable. He almost conceives himself to be an actor in the glowing scenes which he delineates, and half fancies that the laurel which decks the brow of his hero forms also a garland for his own fame.