here; but, after considering the matter for some minutes, we felt that it was not exactly such as a gentleman might read aloud to a lady, the test we always put our questionable passages to. Those, however, who, like Joe in this story, are not nice, will be well repaid by consulting the original, vol. i. p. 202.

Lost and Found" is an excellent story. During the time Sir James Gordon commanded the Active, a seaman was pressed from a merchant-ship, who declared he had lost the use of one arm.

The Active continued two years on the Mediterranean station, and though subjected to a secret and strict watch, both night and day, J-'s faithful arm never betrayed the slightest muscular motion. Being suspected to be an excellent seaman, he was plied with every inducement and argument to desist from an unprofitable and unavailing imposture. He still appealed to his helplessness as a full title to his discharge, and though appointed to the most degrading duties, as sweeper and scavenger, his infirmity continued inflexible to the last.

In an engagement with an enemy's squadron, his captain had stationed him on the quarter-deck so as to be under his own eye. During the heat of the action he never lost sight of his darling object, preserving the most perfect presence of mind, recollecting that if he had "one hand for the king, the other was for himself;" for though fighting like a lion, it was observed that one arm only was employed at the gun-tackle-fall. His gallant commander now falling severely wounded, that important secret, which neither artifice, encouragement, threats, disgrace, or even the din of battle could induce him to reveal, the generous feeling of humane concern for his esteemed commander's misfortune betrayed in a moment. The honest tar, completely off his guard, was the first to pick up his mangled officer in both his arms. The grand discovery was first made by Sir James, who, though deprived of a limb, with admirable coolness, observed, "Well, my boy, if I've lost a leg, I'm glad to see you've found an arm.' As the reader will anticipate, he soon proved one of the best seamen of a "crack crew," and was ultimately promoted for his exemplaryconduct.'-Vol.i. pp. 210-212.

To those who have had the happiness of being acquainted with the above-named excellent officer, the turn of expression, and the very look and voice with which it was spoken, will be as distinctly present as if they had heard him speak. It is not saying too much' to assert, that in the whole range of the service, from top to bottom, there is not one man more universally beloved or respected, or of whom such praise could be uttered without the possibility of exciting the least spark of envy..

'Forced-Meat Balls' is humorous, but certainly never could have happened. The noble captain alluded to, knew well enough that it was not necessary to give a written order to enforce obedience even to an invitation to dinner: but the story is too good to be spoiled by such criticisms. • Matrimonial Motives,' in like manner, is much too excellent to be injured by any doubts as to its authenticity.

The next two or three sketches are very well in their way, though calculated, perhaps too exclusively, for the rudder-head. That which treats of discipline is more carefully written than the rest of the book: it is full of good feeling and good sense, and not the worse for containing abundance of common-places. The author's argument against putting culprits on what is called the Black List are quite unanswerable. Every offender should be punished according to the measure of his offence, and from that instant all recollection of the crime should be dropped, and the offender allowed a fresh start for his character. Many officers dispute the propriety of this rule, and think men who offend more than once should be punished more severely, and perhaps there may be reason in this; what we object to is, the practice of letting men feel they are marked objects, and that they have not as good a chance as their associates, even when they behave equally well. This consciousness weighs on the spirits, and, by deadening generous exertion, actually conduces to those very errors which it is the object of our discipline to prevent.

We are glad to hear an officer avowing his dislike to the vulgar punishment of "clapping men in irons." The passage relating to this subject is so good, that we venture to extract the whole of it; and we shall be very happy if, by meeting the eye of any officer, it shall have the effect of discountenancing a practice highly offensive to the feelings of every seaman, and almost always un

necessary.

During the war, it was almost universally the case, that men were "clapped into irons" for the most trifling offences; and even in cases where the commander must have been aware, from the character of the offence, that severer punishment would be necessary, the offender, though at sea, where escape was impossible, has been constantly put in irons. * Nothing can be more injudicious than such treatment; first, because the disgrace of being flogged before the ship's company is no trifling aggravation of the corporal punishment itself, whenever such punishment takes place; and next, where no such punishment ensues, the ship is deprived of the man's services pending a confinement, for which an apportionment of extra duty might be substituted, with the best effect both on the sailor and the service. A man of any spirit will naturally brood over and repine at the unnecessary disgrace thus inflicted for trifling offences. The injurious consequences of resorting to irons in the latter case may be most aptly exemplified by referring to numerous well-known instances, where a string of men, whose offences having been trifling, have been exhibited, each bolted by the leg on the half-deck, or other most exposed part of the ship, whilst visitors from the shore have been conducted round the vessel by their own officers. A sailor must be made of stone not to feel most keenly such ill-timed degradation. The

* Such a practice might be justified in harbour, as necessary to prevent the chance of the offender's escape.' (Note of the author.)

sentiment is not confined to the prisoner: an inference is drawn by the visitant (without at all being apprized of the cause of this severity) most discreditable to the character of the seamen and respectability of the service. Thus the injury is twofold; at once inflicting on the sailor unnecessary degradation and pain, whilst it serves the malignant purposes of malcontents on shore to calumniate the character of that constitutional force, which has hitherto been, and will ever continue, the natural bulwark of these sea-girt isles.'—Vol. i. pp. 249–251.

From the note at p. 247. of this article on Discipline, we are led to suppose that the author is not aware of the recent admirable regulations which have been established in the navy with respect to the payment of a portion of the seamen's wages abroad, and the alterations in the allowance of provisions. We have, indeed, frequently met with officers who were unacquainted with these most considerate and valuable changes, although the Admiralty order on the subject has been widely diffused. We may add that this order affords a gratifying proof of the degree of attention, which is paid by government to this important branch of the public service.

The article on Corporal Punishments' in the second volume is written with considerable care, and is calculated to do much good. Every reflecting person, who is well-informed upon the subject, knows that in order to render so extraordinary a machine as a man-of-war at all efficient, that is to say, ready at any given moment to encounter an enemy, there must be some system of discipline so strict, as to ensure the readiest obedience to orders, often of the most irksome nature. Were all parts of this machine 'composed of intelligent, zealous, and patriotic materials, the affair would be one of comparative simplicity: but when, on the contrary, it is made up of the most incongruous elements, the difficulty becomes very great. A captain of a ship has a difficult task in managing even the officers, who are men of education and reflection; but if he applies the same methods to the discipline of the crew he will obtain by no means similar results. It is not contended by any means that the seamen are not to be treated as rational beings, or that every thing is to be done by mere force - very far from it but we do say, and all experience shows this to be true, that if a large body of totally uneducated men are brought together, and expected to act in concert, entirely at the will of a superior, there must be a power of punishment in some shape or other. When to the want of education among the class we are describing, is added the want of moral habits incident, we fear necessarily, to the desultory life which they must always lead, and the peculiar nature of their duties, it becomes a most difficult problem to find out what is the sort of punishment which is best calculated to accomplish the end, which all parties allow to be essential to the well-being of the country,- namely, a highly disciplined fleet.

There can be no doubt that in former times, when there was no check, or scarcely any, on the power of the captain, a system

extremely tyrannical was thought by many officers to be indispensable to good order. Since the period, however, that all punishments are reported to the Admiralty, a most material change has taken place, not only in the amount of actual punishments, but in the feelings of officers on the subject; and a captain of a ship now finds it his interest as well as his duty, and we may add, also, his pleasure, to consider how he can keep his ship in order at the smallest expense of corporal punishment. When once the commander of a ship is duly impressed with the importance of this point, he soon communicates it to his officers, and if the cooperation in sentiment be hearty, and the due degree of vigilance be exerted by all ranks on board, a very small amount of this kind of punishment will be found sufficient. Some, we fear, will always be necessary to control those turbulent spirits, who have scarcely any feelings but those of the body to touch; and we believe it to be utterly impossible, while the character of the seafaring profession remains the same, to do away with this most disagreeable means of enforcing obedience. If a substitute could be found, well and good, and no doubt many improvements have been devised by officers who seriously set about it; but these still leave much to be done, as will be seen by consulting our author's chapter on this head. Meanwhile we think a needless outcry is raised against naval punishments, by persons who are quite content to have daily private whippings in jails, and public exposures at the cart's tail, without the least sympathy with this description of "poor suffering guilt."

Upon the whole, however, we confess we should be very sorry to see this important subject neglected, or even less talked of than it is. For the tendency of power is ever to run into tyranny; and wherever human suffering is concerned, justly or unjustly, we cannot be too close in our scrutiny. Our gallant officers afloat must, therefore, make up their minds to have their conduct very freely canvassed; and if they wish to escape the merciless chastisement of public opinion, they must be careful how they handle the cat themselves.

The galley-story about impressment, at p.27., vol. ii., is excellent; especially the account of the court-martial. 'Naval Tactics and Battles' is also very good; and though adapted principally for professional readers, contains many touches which cannot fail to interest all persons concerned in our naval glory. The chapter entitled Saints at Sea' contains much good sense; but the subject is a delicate one, and ought, we think, to have been more gravely written. It is a pity that good arguments should be hurt by incautious expressions; vulgar oaths, for example, occur too often in it, and indeed the same remark may be made of other passages in this work. It is seldom necessary for a gentleman, even in telling a sailor's story, to make use of those words which even the printer

scruples to give at length. There is also a long notice on the North-West Passage, written in no very good taste; to which are appended two extracts from imaginary critiques of the Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews, in a strain not altogether worthy of an Officer of Rank.'

ART. X. Literary and Miscellaneous Memoirs. By J. Cradock, Esq. M. A. F. S. A. 8vo. pp. 294. London. Nichols and Son. 1826.

VE

ENERATION for the character of a gentleman who has seen more than eighty winters pass away, and who still enjoys a vigorous old age, forbids us from treating these Memoirs with any thing bordering on severity. If it were consonant to good feeling to scrutinise minutely, a production issued under such circumstances, we might object to several of the details as being connected with persons and events too obscure to deserve the attention, which the author bestows upon them. We might further suggest that the greater portion of the volume consists of second-rate matter of this description, and that, in short, it is a book predestined to a speedy oblivion. But looking upon Mr. Cradock as one of the few literary men, now living, who were the companions of Johnson, Goldsmith, Garrick, Boswell, and the other members of that school, we are disposed to excuse a great many dull anecdotes in order to obtain, from such a venerable witness, a few good ones.

Turning to the better side of the picture, we shall find that the author has given us a volume which is by no means destitute of interest. It is well known that he belongs to that pleasant class of men, who set a high value on a good story, a good dinner, and a good glass of wine. We verily believe that, even at this moment, he has not lost his early passion for the stage, and that, as in his younger days, he would still ransack a whole library, or even expose himself to the pursuit of the sexton, in order to ascertain an ambiguous point in a pedigree. It would be indecorous to say of him that he was a thorough gossip, and yet it will be seen that he possesses some of the most essential qualifications for a character, which, however prudes may object to it, is nevertheless welcomed by every body, and by nobody more cordially than the said prudes themselves.

We cannot help admiring the dexterity with which Mr. Cradock commences his Memoirs. Having published,' he observes, 'an [a] historical tragedy on the subject of the Czar, in my eighty-third year, which met with a flattering reception, I am induced to look over a great mass of materials of past times, and select from them particulars, which, from their authenticity, at least, may possibly afford some entertainment to the publick.' We are warranted, therefore, in concluding, that if the tragedy had not appeared,