PREFACE. 66 THE propriety and policy of directing the attention of English boys of the nineteenth century to the achievements of men who, at various periods of modern history, have made their names known to fame as Sea Kings and Naval Heroes," will be questioned by few in the present circumstances of Europe. Under an impression that such is the prevailing sentiment, I have ventured on writing the following biographical sketches, with the object of interesting my juvenile readers in the careers of the principal personages among their ancestors, who, from the time of Rollo and Hasting to that of Nelson and Collingwood, figured conspicuously as maritime warriors; and I have endeavoured to give variety to the work by narrating with care the enterprises, the battles, and the adventures in which they took prominent parts. In a historical point of view, the advantage of such a book for boys will not be lightly estimated by any one capable of comprehending the importance of his tory as a branch of education, and able to appreciate the benefits to be derived by boys, in after life, from obtaining, at an early age, adequate ideas of great events and clear conceptions of renowned personages. But apart from the question of historical intelligence, I would fain hope that a knowledge of what our English heroes have done and suffered in the cause of duty and patriotism-leading brave lives in times of their country's trial, and dying glorious deaths in the hour of their country's need-may not be altogether without its influence in inspiring some of the rising generation with a noble ambition to emulate the heroic valour and rival the patriotic devotion so often displayed by their progenitors. J. G. E. |