e which was the perfect combination
of elegance and strength; nor did I at Portsmouth, or anywhere else, see
a finer model. From the spot where I stand, I can catch a glimpse of the
dockyards, and the hulls of six dismounted men-of-war. I have been told,
that the Danish Government intends to build steam-frigates, and will
have nothing more to do with sailing vessels of war. The Danes may be
right, or they may be wrong; but what will be the result of any future
naval engagement where steam alone, or canvass alone is used, is beyond
the intelligence of any living creature. On all human events, such as
the issues of peace and war, human beings may conjecture, but cannot
determine so precisely.

When I returned on board, I found the cook very busily binding, with a
piece of yarn, an immense round of beef, which had been purchased for
the crew by R----, in order that they might have a regular
_jollification_ to-morrow, it being his birthday. Along the rigging were
white trowsers, check shirts, and all the other paraphernalia of a
sailor's wardrobe, hung up to swing to the wind, and dry; and, as Jerome
sat on the windlass, scraping and screwing his fiddle by way of tuning,
I could plainly be made to understand that Friday, the 21st of May, was
not intended to be passed over with the indifference of any ordinary
day,--at least, not on board the Iris. In a few minutes, while I still
listened to the plaintive screams of Jerome's fiddle, as he urged the
strings to their proper tension, the dingy shot alongside laden with
bundles of brown sugar, multitudes of raisins and currants, and a small
bucket of lemons. Jacko, also, mounted, as wont, on Sailor's back, rode
from end to end of the yacht, like a general officer, reviewing, and
sometimes descending to taste the different dainties as they arrived
from the shore; while Sailor would, for no reason whatever, but from
mere delight, burst into a loud bark, much to the consternation of
Jacko, who would leap from his seat in an instant, and standing, at a
little distance, on his hind legs, chatter with excessive alarm.

We dined early and went to the theatre. A play in fifteen acts was
performed. Tedious by its prolixity, the language, unintelligible to me,
made it still more wearisome. The music played in the orchestra was very
beautiful; and the officer, who had behaved so politely to us in
permitting the gates, on the first night of our arrival, to be opened,
seated on a high stool