Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v1p1.djvu/14

viii preservation of the names of many brave officers, otherwise liable to be forgotten, and with their many meritorious actions in the warfare of their country, consigned to an oblivion which singly they are undeserving of, and collectively bid a proud defiance to; the present and succeeding volumes will contain the history of the numerous noble achievements of the eventful wars of the late reign, the brilliance of which is lost in the splendour of the more important triumphs by sea and on land. Having this for its design, I indulge a confident hope that it will be secure of consideration. To the Navy, I venture to think it cannot fail to be welcome: and to the British public, never insensible to the glory and security which it owes to his Majesty's fleets, I look with assurance for a favorable reception. It is urged as an objection to a work of this nature, that praise may be swelled beyond desert, or censure unduly restrained, while the object of the memoir is still in existence to encourage hope or excite fear; and truth be suppressed by expectation of favour or dread of resentment. If this objection were acquiesced in, the excitement of emulation in the youth of our country, by examples of merit, which is one of the most important objects of history, would in a great degree be defeated. In the Royal Navy, especially, the instances of living worth are hardly less numerous than of those gone by. How many are there, upon whom the approbation of the nation has been bestowed, and to whom Great Britain looks with as much expectation against the hour of her need for future services, as she regards them with 