best
friends will quarrel) and the supernumerary midshipmen sent on board for
a passage, generally ended in establishing my dominion or insuring for
me a peaceable neutrality.

I became a scientific pugilist, and now and then took a brush with an
oldster; and although overpowered, yet I displayed so much prowess, that
my enemies became cautious how they renewed a struggle which they
perceived became daily more arduous; till, at last, like the lion's
whelp, my play ceased to be a joke, and I was left to enjoy that
tranquillity which few found it safe or convenient to disturb. By
degrees the balance of power was fairly established, and even Murphy was
awed into civil silence.

In addition to my well-known increase in personal strength, I acquired a
still greater superiority over my companions by the advantage of
education; and this I took great care to make them feel on every
occasion. I was appealed to in all cases of literary disputation, and
was, by general consent, the umpire of the steerage. I was termed "good
company,"--not always to the advantage of the possessor of such a
talent; for it often tends, as it did with me, to lead into very bad
company. I had a fine voice, and played on one or two instruments.
This frequently procured me invitations to the gun-room, and excuses
from duty, together with more wine or grog than was of service to me,
and conversation that I had better not have heard.

We were ordered on a cruise to the coast of France; and as the junior
port-admiral had a spite against our captain, he swore by God that go we
should, ready or not ready. Our signal was made to weigh while lighters
of provisions and the powder-boy with our powder were lying alongside--
the quarter-deck guns all adrift, and not even mounted. Gun after gun
from the _Royal William_ was repeated by the _Gladiator_, the flag-ship
of the harbour-admiral, and with our signal to part company.

The captain, not knowing how the story might travel up by telegraph to
London, and conscious, perhaps, that he had left a little too much to
the first lieutenant, "tore the ship away by the hair of the head"--
unmoored, bundled everything in upon deck out of the lighters--turned
all the women out of the ship, except five or six of the most
abandoned--and, with a strong northerly wind, ran down to Yarmouth
Roads, and through the Needles to sea, in a state of confusion and
disaster which I hope never to see again.

The rear-admiral, S