when he was Lieutenant Ball, he was the officer whom I accompanied in
my first boat expedition, being then a midshipman and only in my
fourteenth year. As we were rowing up to the vessel which we were to
attack, amid a discharge of musketry, I was overpowered by fear, my
knees trembled under me, and I seemed on the point of fainting away.
Lieutenant Ball, who saw the condition I was in, placed himself close
beside me, and still keeping his countenance directed toward the
enemy, took hold of my hand, and pressing it in the most friendly
manner, said in a low voice, 'Courage, my dear boy! don't be afraid
of yourself! you will recover in a minute or so. I was just the same
when I first went out in this way.' Sir," added the officer to me,
"it was as if an angel had put a new soul into me. With the feeling
that I was not yet dishonoured, the whole burden of agony was
removed, and from that moment I was as fearless and forward as the
oldest of the boat's crew, and on our return the lieutenant spoke
highly of me to our captain. I am scarcely less convinced of my own
being than that I should have been what I tremble to think of, if,
instead of his humane encouragement, he had at that moment scoffed,
threatened, or reviled me. And this was the more kind in him,
because, as I afterwards understood, his own conduct in his first
trial had evinced to all appearances the greatest fearlessness, and
that he said this, therefore, only to give me heart and restore me to
my own good opinion."

This anecdote, I trust, will have some weight with those who may have
lent an ear to any of those vague calumnies from which no naval
commander can secure his good name, who knowing the paramount
necessity of regularity and strict discipline in a ship of war,
adopts an appropriate plan for the attainment of these objects, and
remains constant and immutable in the execution. To an Athenian,