writing, and arithmetic, for which he was indebted to the liberality of a gentleman in the neighbourhood. He was apprenticed, at the age of thirteen, to a shopkeeper in the small town of Snaith, near Newcastle, and it was while in this situation that he was first seized with a passion for the sea. After some time, he prevailed upon his master to give up his indentures,' and entered as one of the crew of a coasting vessel engaged in the coal trade. He continued in this service till he had reached his twenty-seventh year, when he exchanged it for that of the navy, in which he soon distinguished himself so greatly, that he was three or four years after appointed master of the Mercury, which belonged to a squadron then proceeding to attack Quebec. Herc he first showed the proficiency he had already made in the scientific part of his profession, by an admirable chart which he constructed and published of the river St. Lawrence. He felt, however, the disadvantages of his ignorance of mathematics; and, while still assisting in the hostile operations carrying on against the French, on the coast of North America, he applied himself to the study of "Euclid's Elements," which he soon mastered, and then began that of astronomy.

A year or two after this, while again stationed in the same quarter, he communicated to the Royal Society an account of a solar eclipse which took place on the 5th of August 1766, deducing from it, with great exactness and skill, the longitude of the place of observation; and his paper was printed in the Philosophical Transactions." He had now completely established his reputation as an able and scientific seaman; and it having been determined by Government, at the request of the Royal Society, to send out qualified persons to the South Sea to observe the approaching transit of the planet Venus over the sun's disc, a phenomenon which promised several interesting results to astronomy,-Cook was appointed to the command of the Endeavour, the vessel fitted out for that purpose.

He conducted this expedition, which, in addition to the accomplishment of its principal purpose, was productive of a large accession of important geographical discoveries, with the most consummate skill and ability; and was, the year after he returned home, appointed to the command of a second vessel destined for the same regions, but having in view more particularly the determination of the question as to the existence of a southern polar continent. He was nearly three years absent upon this voyage; but so admirable were the methods he adopted for preserving the health of his seamen, that he reached home with the loss of only one man from his whole crew. Having addressed a paper to the Royal Society upon this subject, he was

not only chosen a member of that learned body, but was farther rewarded by having the Copley gold medal voted to him for his experiments. Of this second voyage he drew up the account himself, and it has been universally esteemed a model in that species of writing.*

All our readers know the termination of Cook's distinguished career. His third voyage, undertaken for the discovery of a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific along the north coast of America, although unsuccessful in reference to this object, was fertile in geographical discoveries, and equally honourable, with those by which it had been preceded, to the sagacity, good management, and scientific skill of its unfortunate commander. The death of Captain Cook took place at Owyhee, in a sudder. tumult of the natives of that island, on the 14th of February 1779. The news of the event was received with general lamentation, not only in our own country, but throughout Europe. Pensions were bestowed upon his widow and three sons, by the Government; the Royal Society ordered a medal to be struck in commemoration of him; his eulogy was pronounced in the Florentine Academy; and various other honours were paid to his memory, both by public bodies and individuals.

Thus, by his own persevering efforts, did this great man raise himself from the lowest obscurity to a reputation wide as the world itself, and certain to last as long as the age in which he flourished shall be remembered by history. But better still than even all this fame-than either the honours which he received while living, or those which, when he was no more, his country and mankind bestowed upon his memory,-he had exalted himself in the scale of moral and intellectual being; had won for himself, by his unwearied striving, a new and nobler nature, and taken a high place among the instructors and best benefactors of mankind. This alone is true happiness-the one worthy end of human exertion or ambition-the only satisfying reward of all labour, and study, and virtuous activity or endurance. Among the shipmates with whom Cook mixed when he first went to sea, there was, perhaps, no one who ever either raised himself above the condition to which he then belonged in point of outward circumstances, or enlarged in any considerable degree the knowledge or mental resources he then possessed. And some will perhaps say that this was little to be regretted, at least on their own account; that the many who spent their lives in their original sphere were probably as happy as the one who succeeded in rising above it; but this is, indeed, to cast a hasty glance on human life and human nature.

That man was never truly happy-happy upon reflection, and

while looking to the rast or the future-who could not say to himself that he had made something of the faculties God gave him, and had not lived altogether without progression, like one of the inferior animals. We do not speak of mere wealth or station, these are comparatively nothing; are as often missed as attained, even by those who best merit them, and do not of themselves constitute happiness when they are possessed. But there must be some consciousness of an intellectual or moral progress, or there can be no satisfaction-no self-congratulation on reviewing what of life may be already gone-no hope in the prospect of what is yet to come. All men feel this, and feel it strongly; and if they could secure for themselves the source of happiness in question by a wish, would avail themselves of the privilege with sufficient alacrity. Nobody would pass his life in ignorance, if knowledge might be had by merely looking up to the clouds for it; it is the labour necessary for its acquirement that scares them; and this labour they have not resolution to encounter. Yet it is, in truth, from the exertion by which it must be obtained, that knowledge derives at least half its value, for to this entirely we owe the sense of merit in ourselves which the acquisition brings along with it; and hence no little of the happiness of which we have just described its possession to be the source; besides that, the labour itself soon becomes an employment.-CRAIK's Pursuit of Knowledge.'

1. The word is here used in the sense of a "mutual contract between master and apprentice, by which the master becomes bound to teach the apprentice his trade or profession, and the apprentice to give his time and services, and to pay an apprentice fee."

2. It was long imagined that there must be a great continent around the South Pole to counterbalance the land at the North; and it was in search of it that this expedition was undertaken.

3. If any one will read the account of

Anson's voyages, and consider the number of men that he lost as compared with the loss sustained by Cook, he will see the value of even a little knowledge in the preservation of human life and the diminution of human suffering.

4. Alexander the Great used to carry the poems of Homer about with him, and Cæsar, in the same way, carried some of the works of Xenophon. If the British sailor is to carry any work with him but the Bible, it ought to be either the Life of Nelson or Cook's Voyages.

"I ENTERED the Admiral's cabin," observed his confidential servant, "about daylight, and found him already up and dress

ing. He asked if I had seen the French fleet; and on my replying that I had not, he told me to look out at them, adding, that, in a very short time, we should see a great deal more of them. I then observed a crowd of ships to leeward; but I could not help looking, with still greater interest, at the Admiral, who during all this time was shaving himself with a composure that quite astonished me!! Admiral Collingwood dressed himself that morning with peculiar care; and soon after, meeting Lieutenant Clavell, advised him to pull off his boots. You had better,' he said, 'put on silk stockings, as I have done; for if one should get a shot in the leg, they would be so much more manageable for the surgeon.' He then proceeded to visit the decks, encouraged the men to the discharge of their duty, and addressing the officers, said to them, 'Now, gentlemen, let us do something to-day which the world may talk of hereafter.'

"He changed his flag about ten days before the action, from the Dreadnought; the crew of which had been so constantly practised in the exercise of the great guns, under his daily superintendence, that few ships' companies could equal them in rapidity and precision of firing. He had begun by telling them, that if they could fire three well-directed broadsides in five minutes, no vessel could resist them; and, from constant practice, they were enabled to do so in three minutes and a-half. But though he left a crew which had thus been disciplined under his own eye, there was an advantage in the change; for the Royal Sovereign, into which he went, had lately returned from England, and as her copper was quite clean, she much outsailed the other ships of the lee division.

"While they were running down, the well-known telegraphic signal was made of ' England expects every man to do his duty." When the Admiral observed it first, he said, that he wished Nelson would make no more signals, for they all understood what they were to do: but when the purport of it was communicated to him he expressed great delight and admiration, and made it known to the officers and ship's company. Lord Nelson had been requested by Captain Blackwood (who was anxious for the preservation of so invaluable a life) to allow some other vessel to take the lead, and at last gave permission that the Téméraire should go a-head of him; but resolving to defeat the order which he had given, he crowded more sail on the Victory, and maintained his place. The Royal Sovereign was far in advance when Lieutenant Clavell observed that the Victory was setting her studding-sails, and with that spirit of honourable emulation which prevailed between the squadrons, and particularly between these two ships, he pointed it out to Admiral Colling

wood, and requested his permission to do the same. The ships of our division,' replied the Admiral, are not yet sufficiently up for us to do so now; but you may be getting ready.' The studding-sail and royal halliards were accordingly manned, and in about ten minutes the Admiral, observing Lieutenant Clavell's eyes fixed upon him with a look of expectation, gave him a nod ; on which that officer went to Captain Rotherham and told him that the Admiral desired him to make all sail.

"The order was then given to rig out and hoist away, and in one instant the ship was under a crowd of sail, and went rapidly ahead. The Admiral then directed his officers to see that all the men lay down on the decks, and were kept quiet. At this time the Fougueux, the ship astern of the Santa Anna, had closed up with the intention of preventing the Royal Sovereign from going through the line; and when Admiral Collingwood observed it, he desired Captain Rotherham to steer immediately for the Frenchman and carry away his bowsprit. To avoid this the Fougueux backed her main topsail, and suffered the Royal Sovereign to pass, at the same time beginning her fire; when the Admiral ordered a gun to be occasionally fired at her, to cover his ship with smoke.

"The nearest of the English ships was now distant about a mile from the Royal Sovereign and it was at this time, while one was pressing alone into the midst of the combined fleets, that Lord Nelson said to Captain Blackwood,- See how that noble fellow, Collingwood, takes his ship into action. How I envy him!' On the other hand, Admiral Collingwood, well knowing his commander and friend, observed, 'What would Nelson give to be here!' and it was then, too, that Admiral Villeneuve, struck with the daring manner in which the leading ships of the English squadrons came down, despaired of the issue of the contest. In passing the Santa Anna, the Royal Sovereign gave her a broadside and a-half into her stern, tearing it down, and killing and wounding 400 of her men: then, with her helm hard a-starboard, she ranged up alongside so closely that the lower yards of the two vessels were locked together.

"The Spanish Admiral, having seen that it was the intention of the Royal Sovereign to engage to leeward, had collected all his strength on the starboard; and such was the weight of the Santa Anna's metal, that her first broadside made the Sovereign heel two streaks out of the water. Her studding-sails and halliards were now shot away; and as a top-gallant studding-sail was hanging over the gangway hammocks, Admiral Collingwood called out to Lieutenant Clavell to come and help him to take it in, observed that they should want it again some other day.