AN ANCIENT NAVAL HERO

In spite of his ninety-seven summers | Admiral Wallis stands on the drab and j yellow pavement of his sheerful en-trance-hall to welcome you in person to JTuntington, His , memory is every <whit as clear as it was when he fought eighty-two years Bince as a middy of the Cleopatra, and he disdains the use of a stick as he takes you into the little Btudy, where the soft summer breeze plays through the. open casements with his snow-white hair. You sit down in one of the easy-chairs, but your host takes a iar less luxurious (seat by the table laden with volumes of naval history which, naturally enough, enter largely into the composition of his library. Sir Provo Wallis has still the fuddy countenance of a man of middle •ge, he wears a well-fitting suit of dark tweed and a cool striped linen waistcoat ; he speaks of receiving the news Of the victory of Trafalgar while cruising in the Cambrian off Antigua as if he had just seen it in the Times or the Globe (to the careful reading of which he devotes most of his mornings), and »s he rises, with Jalmost youthful alactity, to fetch a paper or point out some Interesting memento, you quite forget that he is the sole survivor of events which are historical, and of a generation which has long since passed away. The admiral's father-in-law, General Bir Robert Wilson, played an important part in the politics of the Regency. Ho saved the life of General Count Lavallette at Naples, and the Count left him the fthnnjr 0000 ©f opleudidly bound works on Egypt as a mark of his gratitude, and Marshal [Ney's tortoiseihell tabatiere finds a place beside a snuff box made out of the wood of the Chesapeake 00. the narrow grey marble mantelshelf Sir Provo has given up a little table to the sole occupany of those dazzling blue and gold volumes « Tie Cruise of H.M.S. Bacchante,' and fck hand, a little crippled by the gout, reats on them affectionately, as he fights the battles of the 'Long War' over again for your special edification. ' Nothing eonld have been finer,' says the doyen of the British fleet, ' than the engagement of the little Cleopatra, with her twelve-pounders, and the great Ville de Milan, fought between Bermuda and the West Indies in February, 1805, four months after I joined the navy, and ten months before Trafalgar, I soon got over my midshipman's fright, and was as proud as the rest of them at our not hauling down our flag after all, and leaving the Frenchmen to do jj; for us. The manoeuvre lasted two hours, and we were only beaten by sbeer superiority of size and numbers. "We were, however, not long prisoners, for the Cleopatra was soon retaken by tht Leander, Captain Talbot, and we changed places with our captors. Yes, adds Sir Provo, with a sigh, 'those were the days when we were sailors, and uot stokers. Then our English tars were a mate* for the whole world. As I never commanded either a steamer or an ironclad, I ctn hardly say how we stand at present ; but I confess I have my doubts. At any rate, skilled seamanship will not oe the chief factor in the coming contest. You are, of course, much interested in the cruise of the Cuxieuse ; the cutting out of a French vessel in St. Ann's Bay seventy-seven years ago ; the sutoo^uent shipwreck on the eneuay's coast ; the destruction of two forty-four gun French frigates by the Gloire — of which Sir Provo Wallis was lieutenant— at Anse-la- Barque; and the surrender of Guadaloupe. The nonagenarian admiral goes out into the corridor and brings in his old messmate George Sartorius's admirable picture of the hoisting of the Union Jack of the Shannon over the starspangled banner of the Chesapeake, which he shows you, us he tells you in simple language the tale of the Ist of June, 1813. ' It was a time of disaster and anxiety. We had been losing ships in all directions, when Capt. Broke sent in his formal challenge to Captain Lawrence by a fishing- boat. The American Nelson signified his acceptance of it by firing a gun, and hoisting a large flag bearing the device ' Free Trade and Sailors' Rights.' Lawrence was sure of winning. A dinner was prepared for the prisoners ; there was a plentiful supply of handcuffs on deck , and several merchant-vessels came out to witness our discomfiture. We put off some six miles with three ensigns flying, and she bore down upon us over the smooth sea in gallant style. It was the death-grapple of two Kilkenny cats. They cheered and fired. We replied simultaneously with our shot. Three broadsides only were delivered, and eleven minutes saw the end of the fight. The .two vessels became entangled. Broke shouted for all who could to follow him, and when the ship 3 separated he signalled that he was securely in possession. Every officer on the Chesapeake down to the officiating chaplain was elain ; the courageous Lawrence, shot through the body, died four days afterwards in bis cabin ; Broke waa cut down and dangerousty Mounded by treachery; and Watt, our first lion tenant was killed by a bullet from tho foretop. It thus came to pass that, at the a&e of twoand-twenty, I took command of the Shannon, put my junior, Mr Falkiner, in charge of the prize, placed their own fetters on the wrists of our prisoners, and we set sail for Halifax. It was Sunday evening- when we arrived there, and everybody was in church, We were concealed by a fog till close to the harbour ; the yards of both ships were manned, and the British flag floated proudly over the American ensign. The rumour of our coming spread like wildfire ; the worshippers rushed down to the quays, and amongst those who welcomed us was ' Sam Slick ' himself. Sir Provo Wallis was born in Novia Scotia, and he is not a little proud of the colony which has given us Beckwith of Waterloo, Williams of Kara, Inglisof Lucknow, Watts and lelcher of Arctic fame, and such lawyeis as Judge Halliburton and Chief Justice Cochrane. He has a generous sympathy for Americans, and three-ar.d-thirty years after the memorable battle he revisited Boston. ' I should much like the members of the A. and H.A.C. now in England,' he adds, ' to tell their countrymen how an old man of ninetyseven gratefully remembers the reception he met with forty.one years ago at the hands of their fathers. Instead of tiie cold shoulder I had expected, joy boll* were rung, bonfires were lighted, azi'i I was welcomed at a great public Igqofv, i?h«n, I MJ*Yo for the first time

' God Save the Queen ' and « Yankee Doodle ' were played together in perfect harmony.' Captain Broke and his comrades came home, to be thanked by the Prince Regent, feted by the city, and paid off after the Treaty of Fontaihebleau. Mr Wallis, now promoted to the rank of commander, was in Paris when Napoleon left Elba, and a few weeks later, in the churchyard at Cambridge, he heard the joyful tidings of Waterloo. Then came his command of the Madagascar, when he received the thanks of the British merchants at Vera Cruz for ' his attention in protecting their interests ;' his expedition to Mogadur in the Warspite (the best beloved of his various ships), where he watched, the movements of the French squadron under the Prince de Joinville, and his sojourn in Syrian waters during the Civil War, when Hassan Pasha of Rhodes gave him the stone Bhot which adorn the gates of Funtington. In 1857 he was Commander-in-Chief on the south-east coast of America, and returned to England after his promotion to the task of Vice- Admiral, This was his last spell of duty afloat ; but his name is still at the head of the * active list.'