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NOTABLE MEN OF WALES ADMIRAL SIR THOMAS FOLEY. In the present number I propose to attempt a sketch of the life and services of a distinguished naval officer, a native of Pembrokeshire, whose career was passed in the days when the British navy asserted and maintained the supremacy of its country over that of every other nation ; and whose individual services contributed in no small degree to some of the most glorious successes achieved in that War of Titans carried on by Napoleon the Great against Europe in arms. I allude to Sir Thomas Foley, the friend of Nelson, leader of the British line at the battle of the Nile, and his Flag Captain at Copenhagen. In those days the life of the British sailor and his junior officers was not, perhaps, one of unmixed pleasure. Excitement there certainly was, and prize money, but the discipline was severe ; flogging reigned supreme ; mutinies, doubtless brought on by extreme severity, were not uncommon. The captains were despots, and in many cases tyrants; whilst the crews, often supplied by the Press (rang, were not derived from the most cultivated branches of the lower classes, and often drew down by their conduct those punishments, which were dealt out to them with an unsparing hand. In these days we are advo¬ cates of self-respect, and therefore substitute penal servitude for the old methods. The midshipmen of Rodney and Nelson were little more than children when they entered the service. Much of their time was passed in the darkness of the cockpit, and, doubtless, a fair share of bullying on the part of their bigger brethren was their lot. The junior lieutenants, unless they had good interest, remained lieutenants until their demise, though they may have done excellent service, and borne a conspicuous part in fighting their ships triumphantly through actions the description of which even now thrills the blood and excites the astonishment of a generation which knows not anything of a parallel nature. These were the days and the conditions when young Foley chose a sailor's life, with few other possessions than the mind of a gentleman—the tenderness of a woman—the heart of a hero.'