Mr. Ward Hunt is the favourite victim of Fate this
year. The 4‘ slings and arrows of outrageous fortune "pursue him as steadily as they pursued Hamlet. Mr. E. J. Reed, no trivial antagonist, has taken up his parable against him, and accused him of neg- lecting the interests of the Navy ; and yet another ironclad, the
Monarch,' has had a severe accident this week. On Sunday morning she came into collision with the Norwegian timber-ship Holden,' off the Start, and was obliged to put into Plymouth for repairs, and she will have to remain a week or ten days in harbour. She was struck just abaft the mizen rigging, and besides having a boat smashed, had her armour-plating started in two places, and other minor damages. This succession of little calamities will, very unjustly, do Mr. Ward Hunt quite as much harm as his absurd action in the case of the ' Vanguard' has done him harm very justly. To the unlucky, accidents accrue, just as wealth -does to the wealthy.
Previous page
