Note (return) — MEMOIR

This period of his royal highness' life has probably arrived, and his appointment to the important office of Lord High Admiral will doubtless accelerate the beneficial effect. The public are perhaps sanguine in their expectations; but from early and subsequent proofs of the duke's devotion and attachment to the service over which he now presides, we have reason to think they will not be disappointed. It has been shown that his royal highness neither wanted zeal nor ability at any stage of his life, and the ardent assurances which have been quoted from one of his most recent declarations, bespeak that he still possesses the vigour of manhood, tempered with experience; and it must be truly gratifying to his royal highness to know that the honour and authority of the office of Lord High Admiral, have been revived, after the sleep of a century, as if to compensate him for past neglect, with their investiture.4 In truth, the alacrity with which the duke has already entered into the duties of his office, and the lively sense of justice he has manifested in dispensing its honorary rewards, must be gladly hailed by the service, and the country at large.