THE naval history of the period in which this gentleman lived, and by his actions contributed so eminently to adorn, has been already so amply related in the memoirs of the Admirals Benbow, Sir John Leake, Legge, Sir James Wishart, Sir Cloudesley Shovel, &c. that to avoid a needless repetition, we shall in this confine ourselves principally to the individual share as a commander which Sir George took in the achievement of those honourable and brilliant actions by which the dignity of his country was enhanced in the eyes of foreign nations, and which has immortalized his memory in the minds of a grateful posterity.

Sir George Rooke, in whom the ardent thirst of glory prevailed to the relinquishment of that domestic ease and plenty, which by birth he was heir to, was the son of Sir William Rooke, the descendant of an ancient and honourable family in the county of Kent, and born in the year 1650. His inclination to the naval service seems to have been in direct opposition to his father's views. His firmness, however, overcame all remonstrance, and he was allowed to make a campaign at sea, as a volunteer.