Gallery, one of which is given in fig. 4, the painting in oil by Charles Wilson Peale, and the engraving by J. M. Moreau (fig. 5), designed from the life in 1781, which all show the same regular features, the nose slightly enlarged at the point, and the fine lines of the mouth-the face of a student rather than a fighter. These

portraits are very different from the old chapbook pictures and the numerous engravings of the "pirate" Paul Jones, all of which are caricatures.

The British view of Jones has always regarded him as a rebel and a pirate. Certainly he was not a pirate, as he held a commission in the American navy; and his actions against this country were all (in his 6

VOL. XL.

estimation) to further the cause of liberty, and to help his adopted country to gain independence.

A student from his earliest years, he soon acquired an extensive

knowledge of his profession, and was ever eager to add to it. His letters show the command of language he had; his knowledge of French was perfect, and stood him in good stead during his service in Russia; he was also a diplomat of the first order, a friend of Franklin,

Jefferson, Lafayette, Morris, and many other distinguished men of the period.

Paul Jones, or rather John Paul, was born of quite humble parents in Kirkbean, in Kirkcudbrightshire, on the 6th of July 1747. The cottage recognised in the locality as his birthplace is shown in fig. 6. His father, John Paul,2 was gardener to Mr Craik of Arbigland.

From his earliest years young John Paul had great love of the sea and shipping; we find him in 1759, at the age of 12, engaged as an apprentice on board a small trader of 148 tons; in 1764 he is second

1 I find no record of his birth in the register of this parish: the only entries of births in the Paul family are of three girls, in 1739, 1741, and 1749.

"I

A stone erected in Kirk bean churchyard bears the following inscription:Memory of John Paul, Senior, who died at Arbigland the 24th of October 1767. Universally esteemed. Erected by John Paul, Junior."

mate, and in the following year first mate. In 1766-1767 he was occupied in the slave trade; however, after two voyages he refused to go a third time, as he was disgusted with his experiences. This fact is worth notice, as lending no support to the British view of his character, which made him out to be one of the most inhuman of men. In later years, after he had inherited his brother's estate in Virginia, he is found giving the slaves on the estate their freedom, again showing that his character was not deficient in sympathy for his fellow-creatures. In 1768 he was in command of a trader, the 'John,' and commanded this vessel for three voyages, visiting his brother William at Rappahannock twice during this time. This brother had been adopted by a well-to-do and childless Virginia planter named William Jones, a native of Kirkbean, and a distant relative of the Paul family, when in 1743 he was on a visit to his native place; and William Paul, by virtue of this adoption, took the name William Paul Jones.

Old William Jones, who died in 1760, had made John Paul the residuary legatee of his brother in case the latter should die without issue, on condition that John Paul should assume the name Jones as his brother had done. Accordingly, when William Paul Jones died in 1773, John Paul became John Paul Jones, and fell heir to a plantation of about 3000 acres, 20 horses, 80 head of cattle, and a sloop of 20 tons. He spent two years of his life on the plantation, and these years saw the beginning of the struggle for the independence of the American. States. In 1775 he sailed to New York, and while there wrote to various members of Congress, offering his services and the use of his seafaring knowledge. On 24th June 1775 he was invited to join the Provisional Marine or Naval Committee, in which he at once assumed the leading position, and led the committee so completely that it is now quite impossible to identify the other four merchant captains who were his colleagues, except one-Nicholas Biddle, of Philadelphia.

This committee founded the navy of America, and on 22nd December 1775 Jones was the first to receive his commission. He was put in command of the Alfred,' and ordered "to break her pennant." Obeying