Laid up like old hulks, or enlisted in climes
Where the struggle for liberty calls on the brave,
The Peruvians, the Greeks, or Brazilians to save
From the yoke of oppression--there, Britons are found
Dealing death and destruction to tyrants around;
For wherever our tars rear the banner of fame,
They are still the victorious sons of the main.

A Trip to Portsmouth on board the Medina Steam-Boat--The
Change from War to Peace--Its Consequences--The Portsmouth
Greys--The Man of War's Man--Tom Tackle and his Shipmate--
Lamentation of a Tar--The Hero Cochrane--An old
Acquaintance--Reminiscences of the past--Sketches of Point-
Street and Gosport Beach--Naval Anecdotes--"A Man's like a
Ship on the Ocean of Life."

"Bear a hand, old fellow!" said Horace Eglantine one morning, coming
down the companion hatchway of the Rover: "if you have any mind for a
land-cruise, let us make Portsmouth to-day on board the steamer, while
our yacht goes up the harbour to get her copper polished and her rigging
overhauled." In earlier days, while yet the light-heartedness of youth
~181~~and active curiosity excited my boyish spirit, I had visited
Portsmouth, and the recollection of the scenes I then witnessed was
still fresh upon my memory. The olive-branch of peace now waved over
the land of my fathers; and while the internal state of the country,
benefited by its healing balm, flourished, revived, invigorated and
prosperous, Portsmouth and Gosport, and such like sea-ports, were almost
deserted, and the active bustle and variety which but now reigned among
their inhabitants had given way to desolation and abandonment: at
least such was the account I had received from recent visitors. I was,
therefore, anxious from observation to compare the present with the
past; and, with this view, readily met the invitation of my friend
Horace Eglantine. The voyage from Cowes to Portsmouth on board the
steam-boat, performed, as it now is, with certainty, in about an
hour and a half, is a delightful excursion; and the appearance of the
entrance to the harbour from sea, a most picturesque and imposing scene.
The fortifications, which are considered the most complete in the world,
stretching from east to west, on either side command the sea far as the
cannons' power can reach. Nor is the harbour less attractive, flanked on
each side by the towns of Gosport and Port