the
circumstantial. The first and the last are universally admitted to be
entitled to the most consideration, since the third can only be resorted
to in the absence of the two others. Of the positive evidence of the
verity of its contents, the book itself is a striking proof. It is hoped,
also, that there is no want of circumstance to support this desirable
character. If these two opening points be admitted those who may be still
disposed to cavil are left to the full enjoyment of their negation, with
which the Writer wishes them just as much success as the question may
merit.

To W. B. Shubrick, Esquire, U. S. Navy.

In submitting this hastily-composed and imperfect picture of a few scenes,
peculiar to the profession, to your notice, dear Shubrick, I trust much
more to your kind feelings than to any merit in the execution. Such as it
may be, however, the book is offered as another tribute to the constant
esteem and friendship of

The Author.

The Red Rover.

Chapter I.

Par. "Mars dote on you for his novices."

_All's Well that ends Well._

No one, who is familiar with the bustle and activity of an American
commercial town, would recognize, in the repose which now reigns in the
ancient mart of Rhode Island, a place that, in its day, has been ranked
amongst the most important ports along the whole line of our extended
coast. It would seem, at the first glance, that nature had expressly
fashioned the spot to anticipate the wants and to realize the wishes of
the mariner. Enjoying the four great requisites of a safe and commodious
haven, a placid basin, an outer harbour, and a convenient roadstead, with
a clear offing, Newport appeared, to the eyes of our European ancestors,
designed to shelter fleets and to nurse a race of hardy and expert seamen.
Though the latter anticipation has not been entirely disappointed, how
little has reality answered to expectation in respect to the former. A
successful rival has arisen, even in the immediate vicinity of this
seeming favourite of nature, to defeat all the calculations of mercantile
sagacity, and to add another to the thousand existing evidences "that the
wisdom of man is foolishness."

There are few towns of any magnitude, within our broad territories, in
which so little change has been effected in half a century as in Newport.
Until the vast resources of the interior were developed the beautiful
island on which it stands was a chosen ret