brought her again to action, and that after a contest of an hour and fifty minutes the enemy again retreated.-That as soon as your Majesty's ship the San Fiorenzo could repair her damages, and could again pursue the said frigate, she chased her again, but could not bring her to action till the following day, at three o'clock in the afternoon.-That, in the course of the said third action, which terminated in the capture of La Piedmontaise, the said Captain Hardinge was killed.-Your Memorialist represents to your Majesty, that your ship the San Fiorenzo carried 38 guns, and mustered 186 men, including Officers.-That La Piedmontaise carried 50 guns, long 18-pounders, and had on board 566 men.—That the said Captain Hardinge, notwithstanding such an extreme disparity of the force between the two ships, constantly pursued, as the Enemy on his part constantly retreated. That Captain Byng, of the Belliqueux, in his dispatch to the Admiralty, uses the following words respecting this enterprize: I think it my duty to inform you, that his Majesty's ship San Fiorenzo this morning anchored off Columbo, having brought in La Piedmontaise, &c. totally dismasted, which she captured after an action renewed three successive days, and on the last of those days that excellent and gallant Officer, Captain Hardinge, fell. By all information, a more severe, and a more determined action has not been fought in this war, nor one in which British valour has been shewn more conspicuously. I hear the San Fiorenzo had 13 killed, and 25 wounded; La Piedmontaise 50 killed, and 100 wounded.'- That your Majesty's Governor of Ceylon, in General Orders issued by him on the capture of La Piedmontaise and the death of Captain Hardinge, thus expresses himself:General Maitland feels it a duty he owes to his King and his Country, to state, that the San Fiorenzo, after an action second to none in the annals of British valour, and marked with a degree of perseverance which has rarely occurred, has towed into the roads of Columbo the French frigate La Piedmontaise. He feels it his duty to direct, that at four o'clock to-morrow evening the flag-staff of this fort be hoisted half flag-staff high, &c. that minute guns be fired, &c. and that these Orders be read at the head of the troops, and similar honours to the memory of Captain Hardinge be paid in every fort of this Island.' "Your Memorialist begs to observe, that upon all occasions, not one excepted, in which Captain Hardinge was in contest with your Majesty's Enemies, whilst in command, he has been recorded in the public dispatches, and in the London Gazette,' with high praise.-Your Memorialist represents to your Majesty, that he is the surviving son of your Majesty's former servant the late Nicholas Hardinge, esq. Grandfather of the said Captain Hardinge. That, honoured as your Memorialist, and as all of his family who bear the name of Hardinge feel themselves in the Naval conduct and in the death of the said Captain Hardinge, they are still anxious that his memory and fame shall be for ever in the direct view of their male posterity, in order that all and each of them, with such an example before them, may with improved energy and zeal devote themselves to the service of their King and their Country. "Your Memorialist therefore prays, That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to confer upon the male descendants of the said Nicholas Hardinge an honourable augmentation to their Armorial Bearings, which may commemorate for ever the conduct and glory of the said Captain George Nicholas Hardinge.— And your Majesty's Memorialist shall, &c." Extract from the London Gazette: "The King, taking into his Royal consideration the zeal, courage, and perseverance, of the late George Nicholas Hardinge, esq. Captain of his Majesty's frigate San Fiorenzo, manifested by him upon divers occasions, but more especially in the capture of the Dutch war-brig Atalanta off the Texel, after a desperate conflict in the night of March 31, 1804, by the successful enterprize of boarding and of cutting out that vessel, himself at the head of the party in the boats, and the first man who boarded her; and also in the signal and gallant service of commencing three successive engagements, between his Majesty's frigate San Fiorenzo and La Piedmontaise, a French frigate, off Ceylon, in March last; notwithstanding the great disparity of the force between the said frigates, that of the Enemy carrying 50 guns, and mustering 566 men, when his Majesty's frigate carried only 38 guns, and mustered 186 men, including officers; a conflict which terminated in the capture of the Enemy's frigate, but unfortunately in the death of the said Captain Hardinge, who fell with glory in the last of the said three actions; his Majesty has been graciously pleased, in commemoration thereof, to grant his Royal licence and permission, that the male descendants of the late Nicholas Hardinge, esq. Paternal Grandfather of the said Captain George Nicholas Hardinge, who died without issue, may bear for ever hereafter to the armorial ensigns of their Family the following honourable Augmentations, viz. to the Arms of Hardinge (being on a cheveron fimbriated three escallops'), a chief wavy, thereon a dismasted French frigate, with her colours struck, towed by an English frigate; and for an additional Crest (that of Hardinge being a mitre charged with a cheveron, as in the Arms'), the following, viz. a hand, couped above the wrist, grasping the sword of a British Naval Officer, erect, surmounting a Dutch and a French flag in saltire, on the former inscribed, 'ATALANTA,' on the latter PIEDMONTAISE,' the blade of the sword passing through a wreath of laurel near the point, and, a little below, through another of cypress; with this Motto, PosTERA LAUDE RECENS;' provided such honourable Augmentations be first duly exemplified according to the laws of Arms, and recorded in the Heralds' Office. And also to order, that this his Majesty's concession, and especial mark of his Royal favour, be registered in his College of Arms. "By His Majesty's Command, HAWKESBURY. Nov. 26, 1808." APPENDIX. No. I. EPITAPHS at MELBOURNE, in Derbyshire. In a separate Chancel or Chapel in Melbourne Church, appropriated to the Hamlet of King's Newton, and usually called the Hardinge Chancel, are several antient Monuments of the HARDINGE Family; amongst which are the following inscriptions of a recent date: 1. "Henry Hardinge, of Newton, Gentleman, which Henry died without issue December 1613. 3. "John Hardinge, of King's Newton, esq. died January 27, 1728, aged 43 years." of Youlgrave, in the county of Derby, esq. ** In the Tour which Captain Hardinge took in 1802 with his Uncle the Judge (see p. 60), they visited Melbourne church, to contemplate the Monuments of their Ancestors; and in a canopied recess in the chancel they noticed a very antient figure of a Knight, with a shield upon his arm, and that shield giving the coat now borne by the Hardinges, except that it placed the escallop-shells in the field, not upon the cheveron. The Captain, who had always laughed at the Heralds, entered (with his accustomed humour) into the discussion of this problem, insisting that he was descended from the Knight, whom he called Sir Hildebrand, and reprobating the degeneracy of the modern Hardinges, who had stolen their shells from the field, and had placed them upon the cheveron.-Being in town upon business, he called, at his Uncle's VOL. III. H request, request, upon a Herald whom the Judge personally knew. The result of their conference will best appear in the following Letter, which not only illustrates the Pedigree, but gives to the publick a little of that playful spirit which made the Writer such a favourite in the circle of his Relations and Friends: "MY DEAR FRIEND, "I am in despair upon Sir Hildebrand, whom ***** will not receive as my Ancestor; but he thinks, from old papers which he has lately found belonging to our Family, that he can trace us back to Edward III! "I saw the Petition of Gideon Hardinge (and his Brother), in which he states that Sir Robert Hardinge, at the Derby Visitation, disputed with Dugdale upon the fees, and, therefore, nothing was done.' The Petition prayed that their coat, which this (penurious) Ancestor of mine and those before him had worn for a hundred years, might be registered.' The Petition was granted, but a condition was annexed, that our cheveron and 'scalop-shells were to be also borne upon the mitre, to distinguish us from the Fitzhardings.' Why such a distinction should be forced upon us, to do the Fitzhardings honour at our cost, I despair to guess, unless power means right upon St. Bennet'shill. He thinks our coat engrafted upon the Melbournes; yet he says they were extinct in the reign of Henry VII.; and it is evident from the Petition of Gideon, that his cheveron had three 'scalops upon it, whereas my Sir Hildebrand, in Melbourne church, has them upon the field. "In short, the noble science of the Herald admits of so much latitude, that I think a Ducal fee would enable me to quarter a Ducal bearing. I hinted (with proper delicacy, and with softening colours) this idea to ***** ; who assured me, with alarming solemnity, that if the uncharitable world may have given them credit for such perversions, his conscience would not allow him to give any man a coat of arms to which he had not a just claim. He added, that his predecessor, Dugdale, was a liberal man, whom pecuniary circumstances would never have influenced; yet the fact stated by Gideon (and which does not seem to be disputed by the College) has an awkward appearance. I asked him what it would cost my Uncles to examine the Records in the Tower, so as to be carried back as far as Edward. He said, with infinite gravity, A mere trifle; 100l. at the most.' "Herald as he is up to the chin, I am very much pleased with him. He is intelligent, well-bred, and liberal. G. N. HARDINGE." "I am affectionately yours, No. No. II. Epitaph at Kingston, by Mr. NICHOLAS HARDINGE. vultuque ipso probitatis indice, Censu de suo subvenire gestiit: Artis ipse Medicæ studiosus. neque contumeliis neque fastidio prosequi, His virtutibus lenioribus ut neminem non auderet impium id feliciter consecutus ut ne odii metu veritas conticesceret ; in præceptis tamen iracundiâ carentibus, Humanitas ut eluceret, Testis benevolentiæ. Patri bene merenti Nicolaus Hardinge, Hujus Ecclesiæ Patronus, A. D. 1750.” Lines by Mr. Nicholas Hardinge, on the Loss of his Eldest Son. At mihi spem dederas, orisque animique venustas Te fore quem doctæ mea vellet Etona cohorti Addere, Pieriæ prolis Etona parens. Quem meus expeteret Camus, cui plauderet olim Te fore qui mecum curis elapsus et urbe, Me sene desuetæ fila movente lyræ, Seu Trentæ ad ripas, Thamesim seu propter amœnum, # 2 Fata |