SIR GEORGE, Admiral,** a gallant naval commander, was the son of Sir William Rooke, and was born at his father's seat near Canterbury in 1650. His merit raised him by regular steps to be vice-admiral of the blue, in which station he contributed largely to the gaining of the battle of La Hogue, on the 22d of May 1692. The vice-admiral was rewarded for this important service by a pension of L1,000, and he was subsequently made vice-admiral of the red, and had bestowed on him the honour of knighthood. He was in 1694 appointed admiral and commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean. During King William's reign Sir George was twice elected member for Portsmouth; and upon the accession of Queen Anne in 1702, he was constituted "vice-admiral and lieutenant of the admiralty of England, as also lieutenant of the fleets and seas of this kingdom." Upon the declaration of war against France, he was ordered to command a fleet sent against Cadiz; and on his passage home he attacked the Plate fleet, pillaged and destroyed it. For this action Sir George received the thanks of the House of Commons, and was appointed to a seat in the Privy Council. In the spring of the year 1704 Sir George commanded the ships of war which conveyed King Charles III. of Spain to Lisbon. In conjunction with Sir Cloudesley Shovel, he attacked Gibraltar in the month of July, when, by the bravery of the English seamen, the place was taken on the 24th,—an action which was conceived and executed in less than a week, though it has since endured sieges of many months' continuance, and more than once baffled the united forces of France and Spain. On the 9th of August of the same year Rooke fell in with the French fleet, which consisted of 52 ships of the line and 24 galleys. After fighting the whole of that autumn day, the enemy wore off to leeward in the evening and escaped. The French lost 3000 men in that bloody engagement, and the English 2000. This brave officer being at last obliged, by the prevalence of party spirit, to quit the service of his country, retired to his seat in Kent, where he spent the remainder of his days as a private gentleman. He was thrice married, and by his second wife left one son. "I do not leave much," said he on his deathbed, "but what I leave was honestly gotten; it never cost a sailor a tear, or the nation a farthing." He died on the 24th of January 1708, in his fifty-eighth year. (See *Life and Glorious Actions of Sir George Rooke, Vice-Admiral of England*, London, 1707). ROPE.