were limited to the bare necessities of the service, marked by rudeness on the one hand and cold incivility on the other. There were faults on both sides; but on the part of Codrington it may be said that the provocation was very great. It was known at the time that few officers in the fleet were better versed in theoretical tactics than Codrington. It is only since a selection of his correspondence has been printed (1880) that it has been at all generally known what his theory amounted to, or how completely his and all other theory was shelved by Sir Charles Napier. In February 1856 Codrington was moved to the Algiers of 90 guns, as commodore of a flotilla of gunboats; but the peace deprived him of any opportunity of using them, and may be said to have ended his active service.
On 19 March 1857 he became a rear-admiral, and from 1858 to 1863 was admiral superintendent at Malta. On 24 Sept. 1863 he was advanced to be vice-admiral, to be admiral 18 Oct. 1867, and to be admiral of the fleet 22 Jan. 1877. He was commander-in-chief at Plymouth 1869–72, but his flag was never hoisted on board a sea-going ship; he never had command of a squadron at sea. He had thus no opportunity of winning distinction or even recognition as a flag officer; but from the attention which up to the last he paid to every problem connected with the tactics as well as the organisation of fleets, there is little room to doubt that had opportunity offered he was capable of seizing it, and might in more troubled times have sent his name down to posterity among those of our most distinguished admirals. He died 4 Aug. 1877.
In recognition of his service at Acre he was made C.B. 18 Dec. 1840, and on 13 March 1867 K.C.B. His portrait by Lowes Dickinson, a good likeness, but a very inferior picture, is in the Painted Hall at Greenwich. He was twice married, and left a widow and several children.
[O'Byrne's Nav. Biog. Dict.; Selections from the Letters (private and professional) of Sir Henry Codrington, edited by his sister, Lady Bourchier (privately printed, 1880); Fraser's Mag., January 1881; personal knowledge.]
CODRINGTON, ROBERT (d. 1665), author, born 'of an ancient and genteel family in Gloucestershire,' was elected a demy of Magdalen College, Oxford, 29 July 1619, at the age of seventeen, and took the degree of M.A. in 1626 (Wood). After travelling, he returned home, married, and settled in Norfolk. In May 1641 he was imprisoned by the House of Commons for publishing an elegy on the Earl of Strafford (Letter of Codrington to Sir E. Dering, Proceedings in Kent, p. 49, Camden Society). Codrington was a voluminous writer and translator. His best known work is the 'Life and Death of Robert, Earl of Essex,' London, 4to, 1646, which is reprinted in the 'Harleian Miscellany' (i. 217, ed. Park). 'In this book,' says Wood, 'he shows himself a rank parliamenteer.' It is a compilation of small value, in which whole sentences are occasionally stolen from contemporary pamphleteers; the author seems to have had no acquaintance with Essex, and no personal knowledge of his campaigns. In the latter part of his life Codrington lived in London, where he died of the plague in 1665. He was the author of the following works, in addition to the one above mentioned, viz. translations from the French: 1. 'Treatise of the Knowledge of God,' by Peter Du Moulin, London, 1634. 2. 'The Memorials of Margaret de Valois, first wife of Henry IV of France,' 8vo, 1641, 1658, 1662. 3. 'The fifth book of Caussin's Holy Court,' London, 1650, fol. 4. 'Heptameron, or the History of the Fortunate Lovers,' by Margaret de Valois, London, 1654, 8vo. 5. Shibboleth, or the Reformation of several places in the translation of the French and English Bibles,' by J. D'Esparre, 1655. The British Museum Catalogue also attributes to him the translation of 'A Declaration sent to the King of France and Spain from the Catholiques and Rebells in Ireland,' 1642.
From the Latin Codrington translated: 1. 'The History of Justin, taken out of the four and forty books of Trogus Pompeius,' London, 12mo, 1654, 1664, 1682. 2. Sanderson's 'Several Cases of Conscience discussed,' 1660. 3. 'Life and Death of Alexander the Great,' by Q. Curtius Rufus, London, 1661, 1670, 1673. 4. 'Ignoramus, a Comedy,' London, 1662, 4to. Hawkins, in his edition of this play (1787), after pointing out some of the defects of Codrington's translation, concludes 'that he has preserved more of the satire, and even of the wit and humour of the original, than could well be expected, and it would be difficult to render some passages with more accuracy, or into so good English' (Pref. lxxxiii). 5. 'Prophecies of Christopher Kotterus,' London, 1664, 8vo. He was also the author of the 'Life of Æsop' in French and Latin, prefixed to Philpot's 'Æsop's Fables,' 1666, folio, and translated 'The Troublesome and Hard Adventures in Love,' 1652, 4to, attributed to Cervantes.
Codrington's English works are as follows: 1. A revised edition of Lloyd's 'Pilgrimage of Princes,' under the title of 'The Marrow of
