The next letter was written from Spithead, and is characteristic enough.
“H. M. S. Leander, Spithead, June 18.
“I am much better pleased with my situation than I suspected I would at my first coming on board. We have in our mess four Scotchmen, six Englishmen, and two Irish, so that we make a very pleasant company down in the cock-pit. We dine at twelve, and breakfast at eight in the morning. At breakfast we get tea and sea cake: at dinner we have either beef, pork, or pudding. But when we come into a harbour or near one, there are always numbers of boats come out with all sorts of vegetables and fresh meat, which are not left long in the boat—for the people all run, and buy up the soft bread, and fresh provisions.
“About nine o’clock on the 17th, we anchored in the Downs—the famous Downs—but, instead of seeing a large fleet of great ships thundering out a salute to us on our entrance, there was not one but a Dane and a Swede; so we had to moor ship in the now solitary Downs. All the hills along the coast are chalk. I should have liked to have gone on shore at Dover to get you a piece of the rock, but could not, as the ship was sailing as we passed it.
“We saw the coast of France, but were not near enough to see any thing that was going on in the French territories.
“We midshipmen are upon watch every night for four hours together; we do nothing but walk the quarter-deck, if the ship is not sailing. There is always half the crew upon deck when the ship is sailing, and we and the lieutenants order them to do so and so about the ropes and sails. All the men’s hammocks are brought upon deck, and laid in places at the side for the purpose, both to give room for the men to work under the decks, and to give them air. All the decks are washed and well scrubbed every morning, which is very right, as they are often dirtied.
“There is a sort of cylinder of sail-cloth, about two feet in diameter, which is hung above the deck, and is continued down through the decks to the cock-pit. The wind gets in at the top, and so runs down and airs the cock-pit, which is a very pleasant thing, down here, at the bottom of the ship.
“This morning, about eight o’clock, we arrived at Spithead, and saw the celebrated Portsmouth, but I did not go ashore the first day, as so many others were going; but I intend to go as soon as I get leave. As we were coming along we saw the Isle of Wight; it is very pretty indeed, viewed from the ship, whatever it might be were we on it. I saw some pretty places there, with plenty of wood round them. The sun was fast setting on the water in the opposite horizon, which had a fine effect, and cast a light upon the island, which I cannot describe to you, as it is such a rich country, and contains so many objects—it is too pretty to describe. There are some ships at Spithead, both large and small. In my next letter, if I go to Portsmouth, I will give you an account of all the harbour and docks, &c. &c. We remain here for ten days, I believe.”
These extracts, though of course sufficiently boyish, help to shew what may be made out of the most common-place details, when all things are totally new both to the writer and the reader. It is on this account I give a place to these juvenile lucubrations; for it is not about the particular incidents that we care, in such cases, so much as the state of feeling and genuine opinions of a young person, exposed, for the first time, to the actual contact of the world. It would be unreasonable to expect such ideas to be expressed in so many words; but they may be picked up, in some degree, by the very terms used in describing the most ordinary transactions.
The following letter shews how little difficulty people find in expressing themselves when well charged with their topic. On reading it over at the distance of nearly thirty years, I cannot help remarking how different, and yet how much alike, the same person may be at various periods of his life—how much changed in thought—in sentiment—in action! It is curious also to discover, how independent the man at one stage of life is of the same man at another stage—though, after all, they may possibly be more nearly allied in character, at bottom, than any two other persons who could be placed in comparison. At the same time, under the circumstances described in this letter, I really do not see that I should act differently at this hour.