officers, and what at different times I learned from Clarence
himself. Captain Brydone was one of the rough old description of
naval men, good sailors and stern disciplinarians, but wanting in
any sense of moral duties towards their ship's company. His
lieutenant was of the same class, soured, moreover, by tardy
promotion, and prejudiced against a gentleman-like, fair-faced lad,
understood to have interest, and bearing a name that implied it. Of
the other two midshipmen, one was a dull lad of low stamp, the other
a youth of twenty, a born bully, with evil as well as tyrannical
propensities;--the crew conforming to severe discipline on board,
but otherwise wild and lawless. In such a ship a youth with good
habits, sensitive conscience, and lack of moral or physical courage,
could not but lead a life of misery, losing every day more of his
self-respect and spirit as he was driven to the evil he loathed,
dreading the consequences, temporal and eternal, with all his soul,
yet without resolution or courage to resist.

As every one knows, the battle of Navarino came on suddenly, almost
by mistake; and though it is perhaps no excuse, the hurly-burly and
horror burst upon him at unawares. Though the English loss was
comparatively very small, the Clotho was a good deal exposed, and
two men were killed--one so close to Clarence that his clothes were
splashed with blood. This entirely unnerved him; he did not even
know what he did, but he was not to be found when required to carry
an order, and was discovered hidden away below, shuddering, in his
berth, and then made some shallow excuse about misunderstanding
orders. Whether this would have been brought up against him under
other circumstances, or whether it would have been remembered that
great men, including Charles V. and Henri IV., have had their moment
de peur, I cannot tell; but there were other charges. I cannot give