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Andre 24 St. Hermenegildo 120 Balandra Aglina 14 St. Fernando 120 St. Nicalao 14 St. 24-pounders each. Cæsar, Cawsand Bay, 9th June 1801. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of their lordships' secret orders, dated 6th instant; and, in compliance therewith, I have directed Captain Stirling, of his Majesty's ship Pompée, to put himself under my command.
Even within an hour from our first engaging, and before any of our ships had sustained much injury, the Pompée, which was remarkably well placed against the inner ship, which proved to be the French Admiral, had at one time nearly silenced her, and must have done so in less than ten minutes, had not an unfortunate flaw of wind broke her sheer; and from that moment she was unable to bring one of her guns to bear on the enemy's ship.
He published in a single year Rodogune and the Mort de Pompee, dedicating this latter piece to Mazarin, in gratitude, he said, for an act of generosity with which his Eminence had surprised him.
This is the only glory which the arms of Great Britain have to boast of. The Pompée was towed out of the action by eight boats, who came to her succour from the garrison of Gibraltar. She was kept afloat by casks, or otherwise could not have been brought in.
Here, indeed, was a triumph for our hero, who, only a week before, had been towed in from Algeziras with his crippled and defeated squadron, with the loss of a ship of the line; but now entering victorious with the same squadron, reinforced, it is true, by the Superb, but diminished by the loss of the Hannibal, while the disabled state of the Pompée had prevented her leaving Gibraltar; after having engaged and defeated an enemy of more than double his force, and having burnt two of their first-rates, and taken from them a ship of the line.
Mary's, and I shall join them with the Pompée and Superb the first easterly wind, and resume my station before Cadiz, where they cannot have more than four ships ready for sea; and, I may venture to pronounce, the Spanish ships will not come out, except the French take possession of the batteries and compel them.
The British admiral, therefore, ordered the action discontinued, and withdrew to the Gibraltar side; the Pompée having to be towed away by the boats of the squadron. Saumarez had failed, and failure, however explained, can hardly be carried to a man's credit; but his after course, by wresting success out of seemingly irretrievable disaster, has merited the highest eulogium.
To-day it has been the turn of "Polyeucte" and "La Morte de Pompee." Whatever one's objections may be, there is something grandiose in the style of Corneille which reconciles you at last even to his stiff, emphatic manner, and his over-ingenious rhetoric. But it is the dramatic genre which is false. His heroes are roles rather than men.
The characters of queens, which Mademoiselle RAUCOURT performs, are the first cast of parts at the theatre. It consists of those of mothers and a few parts of enraged or impassioned lovers. In the works of CORNEILLE, the principal ones are Cleopatre in Rodogune, and Cornelie in the Mort de Pompee.
Le Formidable was scarcely repaired after the battle of Algeziras, on the 6th, top-gallant-mast served as top-masts; but, in this damaged state, the brave Troude, instead of flying from the enemy, who might have captured him without firing a shot, offered them battle, as by this manoeuvre, as prudent as bold, he first extricated himself from two ships, which he greatly damaged, and at last totally dismasted the Pompée, which fought him bravely for an hour and a half.
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