TO LADY BRENTON.

Dear Lady Brenton,

In dedicating to you the Memoir of which I have been permitted to be the Editor, I cannot but feel how inadequate the portrait, which I have been endeavouring to sketch, must appear to you, to whom it now is offered.

I undertook the work indeed, chiefly from a sense of public duty; though without much hope that I should satisfy myself, or those by whom the charge was entrusted to me. It seemed fit and proper, that the world should be made acquainted with a character of such rare and peculiar excellence as that of your husband; and I felt that it was due to the naval service generally, and in particular to the younger members of it, that they should see how qualities of a very different kind might be combined in one man; and might render him, who was the ornament of his profession, a model of what man ought to be in every relation of life. My desire therefore was to do good to others, rather than to do justice to my subject; and instead of dwelling, as to you might seem natural and proper; on those various graces which endeared him to all, and to those most, who knew him best; I have endeavoured to shew what he was, by describing his behaviour under the several trials of his eventful life; and to extend the benefit of his example by making it more generally known.

I dare not suppose, therefore, that the offer of the following Memoir should have any other value in your eyes, than as a token of the affectionate remembrance, with which I dwell upon the character of your much loved husband. In this respect, had I attempted more, I should not have succeeded better; for language never satisfies the requirements of the heart; and you would still have felt, that the half was yet unsaid; after I had written all that I could, in endeavouring to express my admiration and regard.

My chief anxiety is, that the volume may be in some degree acceptable to those, whose benefit has been always contemplated during its preparation; and that the navy may not lose the benefit, which the example of Sir Jahleel Brenton is so well calculated to give. In my solicitude to secure this object, I have retained as much as possible of the language of the original memorial, which forms the basis of the narrative. I have sacrificed all attempt at forming a regular biography, that I might preserve its originality. I have allowed inequalities of style to remain, which may offend fastidious minds, that I might not weaken the effect of particular expressions; and the little that I have ventured to add, has chiefly been done for the purpose of enabling readers to draw those inferences from the events recorded, which he, writing with another object in view, and regarding what was written as merely a memorial addressed to his children, naturally assumed as certain to be drawn by those for whom he wrote, and did not think it necessary to add.

In these respects I have endeavoured to speak with the reserve, which should be felt when professional questions are discussed by one, who is a stranger to them; and trust, that I have only said, what he would have wished to have added under similar circumstances. It is satisfactory to me, however, to think, that whatever may be the deficiencies of the Memoir, it will at least draw attention to the man, while his qualities still linger in the recollection of his friends and his associates; for if the narrative does but lead to enquiry as to the character of the subject, I feel that there is no doubt as to the result that may be expected.

Though I feel it necessary therefore to apologize to you for the very inadequate portrait that is now presented, I am not without hope, that under God’s blessing, the exhibition of such a life may be beneficial to the world; and if this be the case, I trust that you will merge private disappointment in the consideration of general good, and be satisfied with what is done, in the hope it may do good to others. As for the comfort to be derived from such a memorial, I know you need it not; and would not seek it in such monuments as man can raise. Your consolation under loss is drawn from higher sources, and needs not the support of human praise bestowed on him, who was dearer to you than life itself. The recollection of his holy, humble walk, of his work of faith, his labour of love, his cheerful submission to pain, his forgetfulness of self, and his zeal for the good of others, forms for you a source of comfort, which no human honour can equal, and no earthly possession rival. This is your real consolation, and to the convictions on which this rests, the opinion of the world can add nothing.

But though you do not look to such a memorial as this for the comfort that you need; I am willing to hope, that if it should be the means of doing good; if it should make the memory of him you loved, as beneficial as his example was, it may be acceptable. The great and the good live not for their own generation only, but for those that follow. They bequeath their characters to mankind; and it seems an act of justice to them to collect, and to offer to public notice, the record of efforts which may awaken the emulation, or strengthen the faith of others; and lead them to excellence by the knowledge of the victories achieved by those who went before them.

If it should please God, then, to make this imperfect notice of Sir Jahleel Brenton’s course useful to that service of which he was so bright an ornament while living; you will forgive the insufficiency of the representation which meets your eye; and I shall be thankful, if in paying this tribute of respect to the memory of a friend whom I revered and loved, I can communicate any of his feelings to that profession, to which the country owes so large a debt of gratitude.

Believe me to remain,

Most truly and faithfully your’s,

H. RAIKES.

Chester, Sept. 30th.