240 THE OPENING OF THE SIEGE. CHAP. Mild mirth. As tlionf,di in liis infinite tciidcrness . '. — for all that ho deems weak and helpless, he loves of all things to come ashore, -with his exuberant health and strong will, to give a help to the lands- men. Sometimes in those early days of October, whilst our soldiery wore lying upon the ground weary, languid and silent, there used to be heard a strange uproar of men coming nearer and nearer. Soon, the comers would prove to be Peel of the Diamond, with a number of his saiioi'S, all busy in dragging up to the front one of the ship's heavy guns.* Peel has died — has died young — in the service of his country ; but such was his zeal, such his energy, such his power of moving other men, that upon the whole his share of the gift of life was full and rich. Apart from the mere beauty of his form aiul features, there was a fire in his nature which gave him in that time of war an all but preternatural radiance. But whilst he was guiding the labours of his people with eye and hand and joyous words of direction or encouragement, the sailors used always to find their own way of evolving their strength. This they would do by speaking to the gun as to a sentient, responsible being, overwhelming it with terms of abuse ; and, since it commonly happened that the stress of their pull at the ropes would get to be in some measure timed by the cadence of their words, it followed that at each execra- tion the gun used to groan and move forward, as
- Captain William Peel, a son of the late and brother of the
present Sir Robert Peel. His gxins were 32-poun(ler8.
