goes some of my capital!” But if the pride of the proprietor—­if he can be called a proprietor who derives nothing from his property—­be great, what must be the feelings of the captain to whose guidance the bark is committed!  We can scarcely conceive a nobler subject of contemplation than one of those once indigent—­not to say absolutely done up—­watermen, perched proudly on the summit of a paddle-box, and thinking—­as he very likely does, particularly when the vessel swags and sways from side to side—­of the height he stands upon.

It may be, and has been, urged by some, that the Thames is not exactly the place to form the naval character; that a habit of braving the “dangers of the deep” is hardly to be acquired where one may walk across at low tide, on account of the water being so confoundedly shallow:  but these are cavillings which the lofty and truly patriotic mind will at once and indignantly repudiate.  The humble urchin, whose sole duty consists in throwing out a rope to each pier, and holding hard by it while the vessel stops, may one day be destined for some higher service:  and where is the English bosom that will not beat at the thought, that the dirty lad below, whose exclamation of “Ease her!—­stop her!—­one turn ahead!”—­may one day be destined to give the word of command on the quarterdeck, and receive, in the shape of a cannon-ball, a glorious full-stop to his honourable services!

Looking as we do at the above-bridge navy, in a large and national light, we are not inclined to go into critical details, such as are to be met with, passim, in the shrewd and amusing work of “The Passenger on board the Bachelor.”  There may be something in the objection, that there is no getting comfortably into one of these boats when one desires to go by it.  It may be true, that a boy’s neglecting “to hold” sufficiently “hard,” may keep the steamer vibrating and Sliding about, within a yard of the pier, without approaching it.  But these are small considerations, and we are not sure that the necessity of keeping a sharp look out, and jumping aboard at precisely the right time, does not keep up that national ingenuity which is not the least valuable part of the English character.  In the same light are we disposed to regard the occasional running aground of these boats, which, at all events, is a fine practical lesson of patience to the passengers.  The collisions are not so much to our taste, and these, we think, though useful to a certain extent for inculcating caution, should be resorted to as rarely as possible.

We have not gone into the system of signals and “hand motions,” if we may be allowed to use a legal term, by which the whole of this navy is regulated; but these, and other details, may, perhaps, be the subject of some future article for we are partial to

[Illustration:  TAKING IT EASY.]

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CORRESPONDENCE.