On the 15th ult. one of these catamarans, as they are
called, was launched against the foe from the _Vesuvius_ bomb.
The machinery had been set in motion, and the bomb's boat,
having towed it into range, was preparing to return to the ship,
when a shot from the shore batteries, falling close,
precipitated our gallant fellows into the water. We are happy
to add that they were all picked up by the boats of the squadron
with the exception of one seaman, recently shipped at Plymouth.
His name is given as Hymen; and the Captain of the _Vesuvius_
reports that he joined as a volunteer.
"We need hardly remind our readers that the name of Hymen has
figured prominently for a fortnight past in our advertisement
columns. If this gallant but unfortunate man should prove to be
none other than Solomon Hymen, Esquire, Chief Magistrate of
Troy, Cornwall, whose recent mysterious disappearance has cast a
gloom over the small borough, we commiserate our friends in the
West while envying them this exemplar of an unselfish
patriotism. _Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori_."
Troy required no further evidence. To those of us indeed who had
known the man--who, to borrow the words of a later poet, had lived in
his mild and magnificent eye--the news carried its own verification.
Precisely how--in what circumstances--he had volunteered, we might
never elucidate: but the act itself, when we came to consider it, was
of a piece with his character.
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