brought to the very verge of national dismemberment.

[In taking leave of the sea, it may be expected that I should say a few words respecting the life of a sailor. As I have already mentioned, the profession of a sailor has its hardships, but these were much greater at the time of my service than they are now. The duties of the men are now exactly regulated, and their comforts are cared for in many ways. On board of each vessel in the British navy there are now means of instruction, and a library; and the savings of the men are carefully secured for them, or transmitted to their wives or friends. On shore also, there are at various ports establishments called "Sailors' Homes," where discharged seamen may reside at a moderate expense till engaged in a new vessel. At sea, as on land, steadiness, temperance, good temper, forbearance, and other good qualities, are sure to command respect, notwithstanding the severities of discipline. It is likewise most advantageous for a man to possess a good education; for the more he can make himself useful, and be depended on, the greater is his chance of promotion.

A properly-bred sailor should, at the very least, be able to reef and steer-that is, adapt the sails to the wind whichever way it blows, and govern the vessel by the helm and compass. But besides these comparatively simple duties,

he should likewise be able to throw and calculate by the log, to work a reckoning, take an observation, find the longitude, and keep a logbook, in which all necessary particulars of the voyage are daily inscribed. The log is a contrivance for ascertaining the rate of speed at which a vessel goes. It consists of a long cord, having an oblong and loaded piece of wood attached to one end. This wood, when heaved overboard, remains stationary in the water, and consequently, as the vessel advances, the line must be let out from a reel held in the hand. The line is marked by knots and halfknots, representing miles and half-miles, and the number of these run off indicates the number of miles which the vessel is going at per hour. Every common seaman can cast the log, and calculate the speed of the vessel from it; but few can do any more, because they are contented to remain in ignorance, and inclined to spend their leisure time in trifling amusements rather than in study. Of course, such persons cannot expect to rise in their profession.]

It is astonishing how many cases are on record of individuals who, with scarcely any other education than what has been procured on shipboard, and while serving in subordinate and laborious situations, have attained distinction. The celebrated English navigator, Dampier, although he had been some time at

school before he left his native country, would have grown up in a state of ignorance, had he not exerted himself in self-instruction after he went to sea. Davis, the discoverer of the Strait which bears his name, also went to sea when quite a boy, and must have acquired all his knowledge, both of science and literary composition, while engaged with the duties of his profession.

Every one is acquainted with Cook's humble origin, and his distinguished career. By his own persevering efforts did this great man raise himself from the lowest obscurity to a reputation wide as the world itself. But, better still than all his fame-than either the honours he received while living, or those which, when he was no more, his country and mankind bestowed upon his memory-he had exalted himself in the scale of moral and intellectual being; had won for himself, by his unwearied striving, a new and nobler nature, and taken a high place among the instructors and benefactors of mankind.

This alone is true temporal happiness-a reward of all labour, and study, and virtuous activity and endurance. Vancouver was a sailor formed under Cook, and to him we owe an interesting ably-written account of the voyage which he made round the world in 1790 and the four following years. Falconer, the author of The Shipwreck, a popular poem,

spent his life from childhood at sea.

Falconer

did not permit the success of his poetical efforts to withdraw him from his profession, in which, having transferred himself from the merchant service to the navy, he continued to rise steadily till he was appointed purser of a manof-war, one of the best situations in the royal navy, and which can be held only by a man of education.

Robert Drury, who wrote an account of the island of Madagascar, and of his strange adventures there, was also a self-taught sailor. Drury was only fourteen years of age when he set out on his first voyage in a vessel proceeding to India, and he was shipwrecked, in returning home, on the island just mentioned, where he remained in captivity for fifteen years; so that, when he at last contrived to make his escape, he had almost forgotten his native language. He afterwards, however, wrote an account of his shipwreck and residence in Madagascar, which remains a popular work till the present day. Other cases might be mentioned, but these are enough to show that the hardships of a sailor's life are no serious bar to improvement, provided he be true to himself, and be guided by a proper sense of duty.

Unfortunately for myself, my neglect of moral improvement, the abandonment of my country's service, and my headlong folly and

improvidence, were errors now to be expiated. Having thrown myself adrift, with but slender resources, and far distant from my friends, I experienced the fate of many a disbanded and penniless tar. What hand to turn to for the means of subsistence I knew not. Determined at any rate to make an effort, I went about to different parts of the country seeking employ

ment.

I was not successful; and at length my money was all gone, and my shoes more than half worn out. When reduced to this sad extremity, and on the brink of despair, I was so fortunate as to discover an old shipmate; and through his kind influence, his brother-inlaw employed me to work in his cloth-dressing establishment. As I was ignorant of the business, and was not really needed, my board was to be my only compensation. I lived here happily for some time, and then got employment of a more lucrative kind, in another establishment, where I settled, and have since remained, thankful to have attained a haven of rest after the turmoils and dangers of a sealife.*

*The foregoing narrative is abridged, with some alterations, from a small work entitled Thirty years from Home, or a Voice from the Main Deck, being the experience of Samuel Leech. (Boston, 1843.)