camel (or, as they say at sea, a cable,) to
pass through the eye of a needle; that having once passed, he would soon
have him in command of a fine frigate, with a good nursing first
lieutenant; and that if he did not behave himself properly, he would
make his signal to come on board of the flag-ship, take him into the
cabin, and give him a sound horsewhipping, as other admirals have been
known to inflict upon their own sons under similar circumstances. The
reader must be aware that, from the tenour of Sir Theophilus's letter,
the circumstances which we are narrating must have occurred some fifty
years ago.

When Jack was informed that he was to be a midshipman, he looked up in
the most innocent way in the world (and innocent he was, sure enough),
turned on his heels, and whistled as he went for want of thought. For
the last three months he had been at home, and his chief employment was
kissing and romping with the maids, who declared him to be the
handsomest Littlebrain that the country had ever produced. Our hero
viewed the preparations made for his departure with perfect
indifference, and wished everybody good-bye with the utmost composure.
He was a happy, good-tempered fellow who never calculated, because he
could not; never decided, for he had not wit enough to choose; never
foresaw, although he could look straight before him; and never
remembered, because he had no memory. The line, "If ignorance is bliss,
'tis folly to be wise," was certainly made especially for Jack:
nevertheless he was not totally deficient: he knew what was good to eat
or drink, for his taste was perfect, his eyes were very sharp, and he
could discover in a moment if a peach was ripe on the wall; his hearing
was quick, for he was the first in the school to detect the footsteps of
his pedagogue; and he could smell anything savoury nearly a mile off, if
the wind lay the right way. Moreover, he knew that if he put his fingers
in the fire that he would burn himself; that knives cut severely; that
birch tickled, and several other little axioms of this sort which are
generally ascertained by children at an early age, but which Jack's
capacity had not received until at a much later date. Such as he was,
our hero went to sea; his stock in his sea-chest being very abundant,
while his stock of ideas was proportionally small.

We will pass over all the trans-shipments of Jack until he was
eventually shipped on board of the _Mendacious_, then lying at Ma