him.  The captain demanded an explanation.  Murphy told the story in his own way, and gave anything but the true version.  I could have beaten him at that, but truth answered my purpose better than falsehood on this occasion; so, as soon as he had done, I gave my round unvarnished tale, and, although defeated in the field, I plainly saw that I had the advantage of him in the cabinet.  Murphy was dismissed in disgrace, and ordered to rusticate on board till his eye was bright.

“I should have confined you to the ship myself,” said the captain, “but the boy has done it for me; you cannot appear on shore with that black eye.”

As soon as he was gone, I was admonished to be more careful in future.  “You are,” said the captain, “like a young bear; all your sorrows are before you; if you give a blow for every hard name you receive, your fate in the service may be foreseen:  if weak you will be pounded to a mummy—­if strong, you will be hated.  A quarrelsome disposition will make you enemies in every rank you may attain; you will be watched with a jealous eye, well knowing, as we all do, that the same spirit of insolence and overbearing which you show in the cockpit, will follow you to the quarter-deck, and rise with you in the service.  This advice is for your own good; not that I interfere in these things, as everybody and everything finds its level in a man-of-war; I only wish you to draw a line between resistance against oppression, which I admire and respect, and a litigious, uncompromising disposition, which I despise.  Now wash your face and go on board.  Try by all means to conciliate the rest of your messmates, for first impressions are everything, and rely on it, Murphy’s report will not be in your favour.”

This advice was very good, but had the disadvantage of coming too late for that occasion by at least half an hour.  The fracas was owing to the captain’s mismanagement, and the manners and customs of the navy at the beginning of the nineteenth century.  The conversation at the tables of the higher ranks of the service in those days, unless ladies were present, was generally such as a boy could not listen to without injury to his better feelings.  I was therefore “hinted off;” but with due respect to my captain, who is still living, I should have been sent on board of my ship and cautioned against the bad habits of the natives of North Corner and Barbican; and if I could not be admitted to the mysterious conversation of a captain’s table, I should have been told in a clear and decided manner to depart, without the needless puzzle of an innuendo, which I did not and could not understand.