wish to conceal the satisfaction with which the effect on this listener
was observed. He treated the whole matter as fact, and his criticisms
were strictly professional, and perfectly just. But the interest he
betrayed could not be mistaken. It gave a perfect and most gratifying
assurance that the work would be more likely to find favor with nautical
men than with any other class of readers.

The Pilot could scarcely be a favorite with females. The story has
little interest for them, nor was it much heeded by the author of the
book, in the progress of his labors. His aim was to illustrate vessels
and the ocean, rather than to draw any pictures of sentiment and love.
In this last respect, the book has small claims on the reader's
attention, though it is hoped that the story has sufficient interest to
relieve the more strictly nautical features of the work.

It would be affectation to deny that the Pilot met with a most unlooked-
for success. The novelty of the design probably contributed a large
share of this result. Sea-tales came into vogue, as a consequence; and,
as every practical part of knowledge has its uses, something has been
gained by letting the landsman into the secrets of the seaman's manner
of life. Perhaps, in some small degree, an interest has been awakened in
behalf of a very numerous, and what has hitherto been a sort of
proscribed class of men, that may directly tend to a melioration of
their condition.

It is not easy to make the public comprehend all the necessities of a
service afloat. With several hundred rude beings confined within the
narrow limits of a vessel, men of all nations and of the lowest habits,
it would be to the last degree indiscreet to commence their reformation
by relaxing the bonds of discipline, under the mistaken impulses of a